The Opelousas patriot. [volume] (Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La.) 1855-1863, 1855-05-12

the tllnld, and IN fhtterlng ana cOntrofllIlS even
the most resolute-to say whether the Amerls5r
can party, if it had exposed its first etlortsat
union to the assaults Of such a force, wouldInot
soen have become an impossibility. The long
nursed enmities of political leaders on all sides,
they reason, would have been suspended, in a
temporary alliance to defeat the new dlsputant
Of their claims to supremacy over the pubic
will. ge~s.rr ~ S4lY.t. w.st
A party organization, whatever may be Its
ostensible form, is, as we have taken occasion
more than once to urge, more or less secret IN
action, and almost altogether so in the sources
whence it derives it counsel and design and it
is true, as the declarants whom we have just
quoted aver, That no political organization, des'
tisled to make any very profound impression
upon the regard Of the country by counteract.
ing and disappointing the aims OF powerful and
selfish antagonists, can expect to pass through
its process Of formation without cncounterlng
enmities that may be found inseparable, or
hazards amounting almost to the certainty OF
overthrow. To quote still further from the
declaration we have mentioned:
A new public opinion must attain its full
capacity for resistance before it can face the
opposition of the old systems and Interests
which it is designed to assail and conquer. The
history Of successful popular organizations, IN
all countries, demonstrates this fact. Their
fate has, in a great degree. generally depended
upon the prudent reserve with which, III their
i%ncipient movements, they have screened them
selves from assault.
We have noticed, while watching with some
interest the progress of the campaign IN Viz
ginia, that the Old Line Democrats, the real
true blues, are the most deeply affected aud
strongly exercised on this element of secresy,
which was adopted as one of the necessities OF
the case in the formation Of the new party. The
Old Hunkers of NewYork, New Hampshire,
Maine and Massachusetts, had a good deal to
say in the same lugubrious vein, while Sam =
was swinging his seven-leagued boots so tri-
umphantly over the soil Of those States.
Meantime, we see that one Of the annual
feasts of st. Tammany has come round again.
and that the old wigwam has been lighted up
with q council fire, and that over much smoking
of the calumet, and not a little inhibition OF
the ire-water, q new board Of "sachens," a
new " Sycamore" and a new Wiskinlsie,'
have been elected to serve as officers Of the
Tammanies for the year ensuing. The callfur
this meeting purported to be signed by /" one
hundred and lightweight imnortals."
Here now, we bethought us, as we lerused
this mysterious announcement, is another Of
these odious secret political associations, cor
corning which there has lately been so mucl.
good democratic ire awakened within the last
year. Here are the real Simon Pures Of the
good old democratic school electing the officers
Of a secret association to manage its affairs, to
keep the wires in good pulling order for the
coming year, to counsel in secret, to c%ontriye
in secret, the ways and means of carrying on
The polity of their party during that time.
Sachems, Sagamores and Wiskifkies. What
to the upinitiated mass Of the American peo-
pie is a Wishinkie?