The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1855-05-18
THE BEDFORD GAZETTE.
Philadelphia Election.
THE USES or DISASTER.
TIE Testimony Of our OPp0neafs !

Some months ago, when we had reason to
believe that our suggestions would be received at
least in kindness bv those for whom they were
intended. we warned the American party OF the
.nnily it was provoking and the disaster At was
inviting. hv the liroScriptive and SuPremeiv sell
fish policy it was cherIShng. We reminded
that party. certainly in no iactIous or dlctao-
nal manner. that, whatever might be ITS lntrn-
tjan with reference to thousands who IN many
respects svmpathize with 1t, its internal seclu-
svrness aud external arrogance could not iaiIio
drive them from its tickets, and compel thrmto
i0in in any liberal effort 10 crush a political
power whose surface displayed little else than
fyranny of the most drspotic character For
4hat Effort we were rewarded by the Ieers OF the
simple. the curses Of the malignant, and The
systematic, vndictive opposition, personally
and politically, OF the great bulk OF the members
of the order and list OF disseminating su6Scrl-
bers embracing an hundred names, can testify
how substantially we have been repaid Tor the
frank expression of an honest conviction, touch
ing the future destiny Of the American party
That warning is still fresh in the recollection OF
our readers, and already the reaction provoked
hy the evils We desired to remedy, is beginning
10 tell with fearful fatality in that party, drs-
3ita the naddening zeal that almost unlnterruPt-
ed victory had inspired.
The four great cities Of the State-Phlladel-
phia, Lancaster, Pittsburgh and Allegheny
where Know Nothingism first found congo
NAL soil. and where during the last year IFS can
didates where triumphant by large maJorIiIeS,
have recently had municipal elections, resulting
IN either the discontinue of the American par
iv, or the election Of It's candidates by merely
nominal maioritits. In all but Philadelphia
the defeat was thorough and Overwhelming. and
IN the city Of Brotherly Love, where but year
ago the A rnrrican ticket was chosen by IRON
nine to twelve thousand majority, and nearly
all the members of both branches OF the Coun-
cils, IFS general candidates have but from two tc
three hundred ont of poll of nearly iiIty thou
sand, and the Councils are barely saved iron
ihp fusonists. And be it remembered, the gen
eral candidates like the candidates year ago
had the endorsement Of the regular Whig con
@ention, 50 that no necessary cause existed now
10 drive the Wings from the ticket that did no
exist last June, when the city was swept BY
Unprecedented malorties. 1t may be true, a
plead in pxtenuation of the blow, that the lat
Councils were little better than an organize
body OF respectable plunderers, and that there
bv thousands of votes were lost /; but had th
American party ceased in time to dream OF II
supposed omni potence, and manifested IFS re
SPect for public sentiment and the public we
fare by presenting such candidates as would IN
splre unbounded confidence, instead Of finsoen'
ly defying all who did not bow submissively
its edicts, it could have more than maintaine
lis overwhelming supremacy. As It IS, 1t b;
now lost the dazzling prestige of its power, ii
great element of its success, and it must hence
forth commend itself to the dspasSonate Jud2
ment ofthe people by the advocacy of hbe
al, enlightened and patriotic platform and Po
icy, or its decline and fall will be the next cha
Ter in its brief but brilian, history.
Any other party than the one most lnteres