Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1855-05-08
THURSDAY, MAY 3, 1856.
POLITICS.

| POLITICS.
| Rditor's Sanctum, empty, swept ana arnished-D
| enters in likeness Of I'd, Snooks-An enemy sus
| ses.s politics for the caption Of q leader-W,
snooks, assuming the chair editorial for the
Politics-Bah! Now should we have Jove'
nostrils-the eyes of Medusa. Is there no paten
curling of the upper lip, taught by Thespis o
some other-no fell rendering of the forehead
no mortal eye-blast to wither up this social fun
gus? We put a question to you, wise Rabbis
learned in the law--What in the DEVILS name i
you and the thousands at your beck are striving
after? What miracles ore to be worked out will
these agonizing convulsons Of the elbow ant
this retching of the thorax? Imprimis, we en-
treat you to unravel US this mystery of "Whig,'
this reconcile problem Of "Democrat." "Par.
ties" thundcrs stump oratory, ainging rigid arms
sky-ward, care founded on principle" Credu.
lous multitudes sit gaping and from the open
throat of the many come up huzzas ever so loud
Tremendous applause" writes the veracious
reporter. We ask you, then what principle
what vital truth you contend fsr; nor shall you
put us (Snooks) off with hair-brsadth disagree
ments on the tariff-you shall eonfound US no
longer with the abacadabra of consttutionalities
and constructions and demonstrations. We find
your democrat wing and your whig most
thorough democrat on all these. Lght-air theo-
ries, nicely spun by philosophers in musty
dark closets these things to rule an actual pco-
pie with real, practical, working existence2 No,
sir, the movements--the steps of u great people
are not guided by such tow strings. When the
people-when that giant circumstance, the ne
cessity of the times, calls for change of Revenue
Laws, are your creeds needed, We (Snooks) won
der; and if Pacific Railroad be needed--if the
age requires 1.-THE nation wants tive find your
democracy explaining away its quarrel with whig-
gerry, and kindly offering the Federal property to
the people, Notwithstanding the constitution
What then are the issues involved in this quarrel?
What potent meaning has this word Democrat or
Wing to the people which sways it like the fiux
of ocean?
[Snooks' MSS. unintelligiblc here--evidently
corned.l
Now, the doctrine that parties being necessary
in free governmental is necessary to keep up
party disclpline-and that it is essential in order
to preserve the organization of partics-to in
hibit all questions not included in the arbitrary
schedule of propositions handed down from de-
funct statesmen or ancient convcntions-is sim
PLY intended to Obfusticatc us (Snooks.)
Parties arc doubtless necessary in u free gov
crnment, but they are no less inevitable than
necessary. But the parties which can have sal
utary influence free nation, not those built
on speculative theories and penned up in rigid
dogmatic lines. or tethered to changelcss Thesis
but parties founded on appreciated discerned
principles, evolved in the progress of events, from
the necessities of the times. Parties are not ar
tifcial formations; they are natural, free, spon-
taneous as the waves of the sca-as little sub
ject to caucus and convention as they. To say
therefore that the parties called Wing and DEM
ocrat are the only legitimate organs of public
opnon-the only orthodox channel through
which the popular will can reach or impress it
self on the government, is an absurd felton,
Those old parties if they ever had use, have
served their uses-they have had their day. The
circumstances which called them forth, exist no
longer. The National Bank is dead--Jackson is
dead-thc Devil is dead. 1t is monstrous trick
of ambitious cunning to rule this age with the
symbols of defunct dynasty. Napoleon III. is
Emperor of France-ruler of millions-for no
other reason than that he bore tho magic name,
Napoleon. No less than he, the Wing and Dem
ocrat of America bind the masses to the purpo-
ses Of personal ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, from an adroit
perpetuation of lifcless tradition, hollow,
tinkling prestige.
They are two old rotten teeth, aching and fes-
terng in the jaws of the national treasury, raven
ousy crunching the buttered crusts of Office, or
crashing in the agony Of disappointed greed.
Pull them out, in
Gods name-pull them out Let them give place
to parties founded on known issues, real issues
substitute facts for fiction. Leave demagogueism
to itself-the people to themselves. Abolish the
cant of political bigotry and quackery-the huge
chalatanism which overrides the republic, and let
us discuss something of what we want.