The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1855-10-05
THE FUTURE.
tfrom the Memphis Whig)

Whatever may be the proper degree Of
Importance attached to tho new issues pre-.
sented by the American party, nothing is
more apparent than the fact that the Slave.
ry question transscnds all others in the
magnitude of the results Of its final sou-
tion.
We have every reason TO congratulate
ourselves that our party has assumed on this
question, the only position which can insure
the safety of the South and the pcrpriury
of the Union. No Van Buren,, Sumner,
Chase, Hale, Rceder, nor Wilson, can find an
abiding place upon the American PLATFORM
We have accomplished more than any polti.
cal organization has hitherto done in driving
from us all such men. We have, it is true.
exhibited greater devotion to principle,
truth and justice to the South, and to the
Union, than we have policy. In adopting n
pro'Slavcry platform, we have given up all
anti-Slavery strength. For this very reason.
when our position is thoroughly understood
and we are relieved Of the prcjudicial forms
which still to some extent cucumber our par.
tlSan made of organization, we will surely re.
ccivc the support of all honest men, who
caring naught for mere partisan success, have
no aims nor ends, save those of unsclish
patriotism.
1t is hard for an American to believe that
mon in this land Of freedom, where all the
hopes of our county are ccntered in the viz.
tue, honesty, intelligence and patriotism Of
our people, that her men will desert party
because it may be weak or act with one
simply because it is strong; yet we see every
day in the anti American press the idea ever
advanced that the American party has and
can have no strength at the North, that il has
been defeated at the South, and therefore. it
is unworthy the aid and conntcnnrce of
Southern men. Contrast, if you will, the
johnson Platform adopted here in Memphis,
Il Southern city, by the 50 called " Democrat
ic" Club, and published in the Appeal, with
the American Platform adopted at phi'adel.
phia. The former merely states that the
creed and principles of the Democratic Dalti.
more Platform of 1852 are re-assertcd and
Reimbursed. How does his Southern Demo
cratic Platform dispose Of the Kansas-Ne.
braska act which has come into being since
1882 and at this moment involves the des.i-
ny Of the Union. From the platform adopt-
ed here, no living man can tell whether the
Johnsonte Democracy of Tennessee are
with the Syracuse Softs, or Bronson and
Dickinson l1ards, Of New York, on the pres.
cnt issues arising out Of the Great slavery
question.
Any honest man must sec feel, and know
that the sole object in view when these non.
commlttaI platforms are adopted is, to secure
the support Of both the IlardS and the Softs
10 hold on to the purchased strength of
the Administration, and still to effect Il cor
rupt and deceptive alliance with the Bronson,
Dickinson and Stanton Democrats OF the
Union. In other words-strcngth, success,
the spoils, are invariably the producing causes
OF such partisan conduct and policy, while
truth, principle and patriotism are utterly g-
nored. The meaningless Memphis "Demo.
cratic q platform is simply designed to
sweep Tennessee and the Union with the iil-
thy besom of JohnsOnism ia 1856.
So different has been the conduct of the
American party, that even in National Con.
vention, whose action involved the result of
National contest, that to-day there is not
Van Buren, nor II Wilson connected with our
party. The Abolition and Freesoil attaches
Of the original Know-Nothing "Order" have
abandoned the American party, and with
Chase and Seward at their head, have ASSUME
ed new name and "Abolitonism," and not
"Americanism," is their war cry, or are, with
the Appeal, adhering to the fortunes Of the
Pierce Administrations
For the first time in the political history
of our country, party has been organized
which, regardless Of success or defeat in any
State or throughout the Union, has dared,
, through its National representatives, to speak
plain, unequivocal truths in regard to this
slavery question. For the first time there
has assembled at Philadelphia political Ma
tiona Convention whose enac,ments betray
fidelity to the rights of the South, as unden. |
able and as unimpeachable as they 60 to the !
whole American Union.
| advise no step backwards; | would not !
sacrifice an iota of principle for the most |
brilliant partisan or personal success; but !
that right and justice may triumph, that un-
mitgated demagougcism may not longerrule |
our political parties and control the destinies
of our State and nation, that we may secure |
the rights of the South, and the perpctuaton
OF our institutions through all coming time, !
let US so remodel our mode of organization |
that we may be freed from those insane pre-
Judices which have everywhere deprived us of
members and strength.
While it is undeniably true that if every
American citizen, and every subsequent gen
Grafton of Americans, would take the oaths, |
and abide by them, said to be administered to |
members Of our party, the Constitution of |
our country would remain forever unmpair-
ed, and our laws, institutions and Union !
would retain all their primeva strength and |
purity; while this is all true, yet it is,ndw the
part Of wisdom and of patriotism, in the
present deporable condition of national par
ties, and OF the relations between The North
ern and Southern sections of our confedera-
cy, to abandon all secrecy, and all those
formula which only deprive us of strength