American union. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1855-1859, 1855-12-29

same time it is to be presumed had any
knowledge Of the striking contradiction
thereto in the state of things then ex-
listing at the North, to which you made
no allusion in your speeches. a This of
course must have aided much in the
success of your election, and it is not
improbable was the most influential
cause in producing the final result.
A But however this may have been, sir,
l Irepeat, that my chief object in now
addressing you is to ask the favor of
You to say, in your usual and charac-
teristic trankness, and as an act OF sheer
Justice to the American, or Know No
thing party, whether, from the indica-
tions and demonstrations lately afford
ed by the party of determined adher-
ence to it's principles and objects in
the New York elections particularly,
and elsewhere, you are not now pre-
pared to admit that you were equally
in error or mistaken in attributing to
it secret and underhanded abolition de-
signs to the extent which you did in
your late Gubernatorial compaign -
Whether you are not now convinced
that in the decided hostile attitude
which the party evidently assumed, and
the bold and determined opposition
which it made in those elections to the
Seward-abolition-party as it is called,
and to abolitionism and free-soilism in
general, and the jealous activity which
it displayed under all the difficulties u
acknowledgements with which it was sur
rounded, and against which it had sub
.stantially done, ithas not fully redeem
ed and acquitted itself fall ground of
charge or suspicion of being an aboli-
ton party in disguise?
Permit me now, sir, in all sincerity,
to say, that | have, from the first, re-
garded the American or Know Nothing
party movements of the North, Qmean
of course, the whole conservatipep portion
of the party, as in New York for in
stancc7-not the hatrway disserOative
portion of it, as in Massachusetts, &c.)
asan 'oliye branch handed to the South
in order TO heal, as far as practicable,
the sectional .dissensions and discord
which have unfortunately so long exist
ed between the two portions of the
country, and which, at length, seems to
have arisen to a pitch, in the opinion of
many of our wisest statesmen and pa
triots, seriously to menace the exist
once and durability of our glorious
Union, anless some means can season.
ably be devised and applied to check
and allay the apparently swelling rage
and fury of the storm. But how, let it
be asked, has the South treated tn G
tender of this 'olive branch 2 Instead
of meeting it in a liberal and proper
spirit, has it not spurned it and treated
it with scorn, contempt and derision ?
or at least, has not the so-called Dems-
cratic party ofthe South, with but few
exceptions, done so? Has it not charg-
ed the said American party of the
North, in the tender of the said 'olive
branch, with gross insincerity and du-
pllcity, especially in regard to the
yexcd slavery question, with being an
abolition party, as before stated, in dis.
guisc; a party seeking, secretly and
underhandedly, to carry out the anti
slavery movement of the North against
the South, and to inyeiglc the South
into its diabolical designs. Yet, not.
withstanding this treatment, illlberal,
uncharitablo andunjust as it was known
andfelt to be by the said party---rely-
ing upon the purity and patriotism of
it's principles and objects, and the in
trinsic strength of II good cause, the
said party has held on in it's course,
with unyiclding and determined porso-
verance, manfully bufcting all the diff
ficulties which it has had to encounter,
and conforming the slanders, calum.
nies and opprobrium which have been
necessarily attempted to be hcaped
upon it, until now, beyond its most
sanguine expectations, as to the earll-
ness of the period at least, the bright
prospects Of success and of u final tri-
umph, have dawned luminously around
it. Yes, the insignia of final, glori-
Gus victory, has pcrched upon its BAN
I q a. n =. .
ner. May it not, therefore, now be
hoped that the eyes of the South will
be opened to see and appreciate the
laudablo and patriotic motives and de-
signs of this party !; to see thatwhat it
has beonand isaiming ut, is to combine
and concentrate the whole conserya-
tive strength of the North, be that little
or much, to be united with that Of the
South, in order thereby to form and
build up, if possible, a truly national,
constitutional, Union party which shall
timely avert from the Union its threat
encd fate--shall long preserve it and
its honored institutions in their pris-
tine purity, integrity and vigor. Now,
let me, sir, in sober seriousness, appeal