Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-11-20
To the Democratic Party of the United States
NATIONAL Dem. COMMITTEE RooMs,)
NOVEMBER 6. 1856.

Resident Committee, has been discharged
with the fidelity which the honor and the ex-
igency of that trust alike demanded, and the
committee has TO unite its congratulations
with your own in announcing the success of
the Democratic ticket by decided and graf
flying majority.
The struggle is over, and the Union is safe.
Ours is, indeed, a new and signal triumph.
Heretofore our victories have been achieved
over those who, like ourselves, were friends OF
the Union. This has been q conquest over
is enemies. Heretofore our antagonists have
contended with fraternal eagerness for the
honor OF promoting the progress or os insuring
the duration of the republic. Those whom
we have just vanquished sought, under a
treacherous adherence TO the forms of the
constitution, to rob it of all of its essence and
vitality. The principles Of the Democratic
party having become the established policy
OF the federal government, it became neces-
sary for its enemies to organize some new and
desperate combination to overthrow it. An
unnatural alliance between fanaticism and
venality has engendered a monster which the
Democratic party has with great peril sought
out and destroyed.
/ That monster was sectionalism.
The circumstances under which the evil
originated were peculiar. The land had been
ciouded by miasma of error. The belief
that enc part of the Union had been invaded
by the institutions of another, and that the
federal government had lent its power to pro-
mote this injustice, had spread with epidem-
ical rapidity. 1t had been injected into the
circulation of popular thought with all the
force of an unscrupulous press, and was
| rooH hrOa h. 1oy l,v+ H. xlo1-
representative influence. 1t seemed at one
time almost in vain to pursue with the anti
dote OF truth and reason this venomous error
as it sped through the channels of public
opinion.
Our enemies had chosen their ground with
skill; they had recruited their ranks with all
the Influences which would combine an army.
They proclaimed the ultimate abolition of
slavery as the incentive to the fanatic-the
division of the spoils as the reward of the
mercenary. The pretended invasion of a
sacred right constituted their appeal to those
with patriotic impulses, whilst feigned re-
gard for the Union was to secure the support
or neutrality of all whose material interests
were involved in its duration. These devices
had organized formidable array. Masses OF
honest and earnest men were deluded by the
teachers wnom they had trusted into the be-
lief that their government had betrayed aud
their fellow citizens had oppressed them.
Diyines, glrded with the sword and clothed
with the authority of the Gospel, preached
bloody resistancs to the laws as the most ac-
ceptable service to God. Woman quilted
her peaceful station to animate with her ap-
prehensions those to whom her wishes are
ever command; and the youth, indoctrinat.
ed by wiley managers, responded with enthu-
siasm to false appeals addressed to their in
nate and generous hatred of opposition. Pol.
iticians speculated philosophically upon the
capacity of the Constitution, caring only tc
know whetherits native strength of structure
would bear the agitation necessary to secure
the success of their nefarious schemes, and
still leave enough of stability to insure then
enjoyment.
1t was the purpose of these conspirators tc
} secure possession of the government if il
4 perished-as it must have perished-in theil
, grasp. 1t was their purpose to inaugurate the
North as the dominant section. The rule o
, eligibility was to be obedience to the sway
t and conformity to the opinions of the domi
? nant section. The subjugation of Ireland by
force, division, and bribery was to be repro
t duced upon this continent, and the Southern
D States were to be reduced to mere provin
| cial appendage of the federal government
: Such was the plan, and disunion must hav,
followed its accomplishment. Southern meI
D would have only differed as to the hour ant
. mode of separation. The cement which
binds the fabric of the Union would hav,
I lost its cohesion in the fires of the conflict
' and the majestic fabric would have crumbles
!. and fallen in ruins, never again to be recon
structed.
Mover was the republic in such peril
Never were the friends oe the Union, from
] any sufficient existing grievance, less prepar
ed to have apprehended conspiracy so afro
=. cious. But those to whom you had commit
ted the safety of the republic were faithful
: to their trust. The Democratic party was
:, by common consent acknowledged to be th
!. sole party of the Union, and was charges
q with its defence. Sound and truthful docu
1 ments adequate to the emergency were pre-
: pared, and circulated TO an extent scarcel
n inferior to that of the errors which they wer
; intended to counteract. Able and eloqueu
" orators were impressed into the service of tn
4 Union. They responded with an alacrit
: worthy that with which their ancestry ha
) repaired to the battle field il the same mol
; cause. Never was there more harmony i
the Democratic cause Never did patriots G
every party earn more true glory than whe
they enrolled themselves in the recent can
I. vass under the banner of Democracy, an
: marched to fight for the salvation of tn
= Union.
e Fellow-citizens, the contest is, for tn
h present, over. The Democratic party
q again in control of the government It Wi
c have ample opportunity to convince thos
J. who have been misled, that its only objeC
v is the establishment of equal rights, not tn
e propagation of a sectional policy 1t wi
i show the world that it desires only to pre-
d mote the political and commercial progres
1t of this great republic-to advance the caus
o of human civilization and liberty, not to &C
quire the property of other nations by fore
: or fraud. 1t will demonstrate that Demo
,e cratic principles are alone adequate to th
IS efiectual administration &C he governmen
and that they are, as they have been, full
competent to insure the success of that Re
publican empire which our fathers hav
founded and committed to our care.
. In closing the performance of the arduor
and responsible duties con6ded to our hand
= by the confidence of the Democratic part,
8 we have to return our thanks to Providenc
:, for having permitted us in any sense, how
N somever humble, to have been instruments
~ in preserving our beloved country from
- conspiracy so dangerous to its peace an
~ tranquility, and in having contributed to
" result so conclusive of the established ascer
y dancy of Democratic principles, and s
~ = suspicious to the permanency of the Union.
: CHAS. JAS. FAULKNER, Chair.
is G The betting Oh Kentucky has bee