The American patriot., 1855-01-10


in no great while the whole code of naturalization
laws will be brought into consideration. ss'
We hope that the ensuing election will return to
the United States Senate staunch Native Amerl-
cam that the nationality Of our country may be
vindicated, and that the foul stigma which the
foreign population has fixed upon our national
escutcheon may be wiped away. ea'is7le Q i6
Our readers doubtless would be glad toiknow
how this election will result, but this curiosity we
cannot satisfy. In the absence of any other data,
however, upon which we ulay build speculation
as to how it will terminate we offer them such
scant information as we have, with such reftec-
tons as the nature Of the case seems to demand.
If the condition of the parties was now as it was
two years ago. the result might be guessed at with
some degree of accuracy. But the great confu-
sion which prevails in the party ranks in conse-
quence Of the breaking up of old political organi-
cations, and the formation of new ones, deny any
information upon which conclusion might be
built approximating the relative strength Of Ma
tive Americanism and Old Fogyism, which now,
in the course Of change and revolution, have su-
perceded Whiggery and Democracy, nor IS itpos-
sitively known how the matter stands in the Legis
lature. From the signs of the times we may at
all events imagine that the contest will turn upon
the Native American doctrine, and that the battle
will be fought between the American and the Old
Fogy parties-the former the reform party, and
the latter that which holds the reins Of official pa
tronage, and is afraid to risk revolution for fear
Of losing the good things II already possesses
Acting upon this principle, the Old Fogy leaders
are anxious that things should remain as they
are, and to keep the people quiet are crying out
that "all is well-all is well, and "the alarm is
false one," when the enemy have already made
an assault upon our camp have approached right
up to our entrenchments, and are now busy in
demolishing our Notifications. }-l
The Old Fogics will, no doubt, attempt to re-
elect Mr. Slidell, the present incumbent, and THAT
MAN the American party cannot abide. The
cardinal principles Of the American faith are at
open warfare with any such political career as Mr..
Slidells has been, and between his promotion and
the designs of the new party there is not the least
shadow of sympathy. Fd
Mr.. Slidell-an intriguing, wire-pulling dema-
gogue-is very fit representative of the times
through which we have passed. His political sins
are so numerous that he has acquired the noto-
rious reputation from one extreme of our country
to the other as THE POLITICAL BUCCANEER
OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA. Recognized
as the Hero of the disgraceful prostitution of the
ballot-box which was enacted in the parish Of Pla-
quemines in 1874, the memory of that outrage
upon all law and political morality still survives
in the bosom of an abused people, and no doubt
| &c in, %bno
election, to strike terror into the heart of the poll
teal transgrcssor The defeat Of Mr.. Slidell will
be triumph to Truth and the new party-a death
blow would be given to the opposition, and Sc
we're lesson would be read in his fall to all those
political trickstcrs who placed their country ua-
der so many obligations to them, and who in the
eager pursuit of their own schemes of self
aggrandisement entirely loose sight of the interest
of the State.
Down with John Sldell-we have no use for
such men in our national Legislature. 1t was this
man who, in 1874, when party spirit ran so high
in the contest between Mr. Clay and Mr.. Polk,
chartered steamboats, to remove from the city of
New Orleans some thousand or fifteen hundred
foreigners, to whom the law of the land even un-
der its present liberal form, denied the right of
suffrage that the liberties Of the country might be
protected, to Plaquemines, where they DID VOTE
contrary to the statutes overawing the commits
sioners of the election, and committing all sorts
of lawless acts. of violence. Such misdeeds are
not in keeping with the character of the true pa
triot, and what guarantee have the people of our
State that such a man will not again SELL THE
INTERESTS OF HIS COUNTRY for a mess Of
pottage, should opportunity offer. We Judge the
tree by the fruit it bears. Wiz nai fs
In what does this OUTRAGE committed by
John Slidell on the baot-box differ from the trail
torism of Benedict Arnold? In nothing, except
that Arnold failed, and Sidell was successful The
act of one is as criminal as that of the other, and
in the esteem of all order-oving citizens the one
is as much a TRAITOR to his country as the
other.
In Arnolds case there are certainly some ex-
tenuating circumstances. His proud nature, goaded
to desperation by the injustice he received at the
hands of the Continental Congress, he was des.
peratcy resolved to be revenged by betraying one
important military post into the hands ofa foreign
enemy, and thus to strike deadly blow at the
American cause
In Shdells case there are no such palliating cir
cumstances and if his friends attempt to plead his
talents and ability in compensation, this is rather
an aggrayation of his guilt, since he knew so wei
} | what he was dnino and tho A. 81