Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1856-08-22
THE WILMINGTON JOURNAL.
WILMINGTON, n. c.. MONDAY, AUG. Is. 1856.
Na1IonnIIsm and sectIonalIsm.

party. Such we take TO De the pufpor6 VI ou al VlC0
in yesterdays Herald, deprecatory of the almost GER
tain union of the whole Southern States upon the
Democratic nominees for the Presidency as 1ore
Swallowed by the result of the recent elections ana
still further indicated by the position OF the most IN
6uential members of the former Wing party, and oy
the withdrawal of strength from the present "Amerl.
can party
So far from The Democratic party being in any
measure sectional it's National Convention at Cincin.
natl presented spectacle unparalleled in the history
of the country by bringing together delegates from
every district in every State in the Union. Not one
was wanting Not one Not one was represented
by proxy. We question if any were represented by
alternates. How totally different from the Conven
ton by which Mr.. Fillmore was placed in the field,
which hardly contained representatives from half the
States certainly not from half the districts. In its
subseq, ent action there any sectionalism Was
there any division or shadow OF division on the plat
form OF principles None, whatever They were
adopted unanimously; and the North and the South,
as represented by their delegates, literally shook
hands over them. Was this the course of sectional
party How, again, was it with the Fillmore Con-
venlion, and how does its record compare with this
and which comes before he world as sectional party
now of the platform. although so obnoxious The
ne, biage platform of February last, that even the
Raleigh Register opposed it for some time, and con
tended that it had passed But after the business
of ne Cincinnati Convention had been finished did
W. find any convention cf boilers from section or
tn other? Such thing will be looked for in vain.
A was and is perfect unanimy, and public meet
irgs and State Conventions at the North well as
at the South respond to and endorse the political
principles avowed and the political nominations made
al Cincinnati. We all recoect how nearly every
State North seeded from the Fillmore Convention,
and how Northern American Convention called
and met at New York, repudating the principles and
the candidates of the Philadelphia Convention of
February. Compare these facts connected with the
Philade phia Convention which nominated Mr.. Fill
more, and the Cincinnati Convention which nominal
ed Mr.. Buchanan, and ask yourselves candidly where
and is the nationality, and where the sectional
ism. Is there seCtionallsm in party which at the
North numbers IN lis ranks Douglas and Cass and
Buchanan and Toucey and Richardson, and hosts of
Others like them and at the South is supported by
Reverdy johnson and Pratt and Pearce and Hunter
and Mason, and, not to particularze our own states
men, by the Unionloving State of North Carolina
above al price-and Cobb and Toombs and Stephens
of Geogi9 and Jones of Tennessee and Breckenridge
of Kentucky, and, returning to the North again. let
US add Choate of Massachusetts? Is it sectonasm
that brings these men-many of them former oppo-
nents OF the Democratic party-up to its support Is
1t not the reverse? Is 1T not because it presents the
last safe refuge Of nationalisn-he last hope for q
Constitutional Union.
Rut - 10
going all together in her dofenoe, the North na
be brought to fully unite in the attack upon her
We do not agree with any such idea The full unior
OF the South, showing that though long suffering anc
unwilling to make sectional issue She at length
united, fully united for the defence of her rights, il
Just the thing 10 bring the heterogeneous army of hel
TeVn is and would-be oppressors 10 their Senses By
showing them that the limit Of forbearance has beer
reached, and while it will cause those who are We
capable of thinking 10 pause on the brink of thu
abyss over which they stand, it will strengthen thu
hands II the true friends of the Union and the Con
stitut on at The North. The spirit of aggression, O
which the South justly complains, would never have
gone so far had her people been united long ago
NOr0 she has it in her power to be fully united Cir
cumsances Enthusiastically and unerringy point tt
the Democratic party as the basis upon which unior
Is to be formed. Believe us that any exhibition O.
weakness or want of concert Of action can only have
the effect to give fresh impetus 10 The encroachmen
OF the North, by conveying the impression that the
can be persisted in with impunity and believe u
farther, that there must be danger ahead which re
qulres active measures, and no paiatives whel
the fear is entertained that the union of the Sout
upon constitutional principles is 10 be deprecated les
1t should give offence to her would-be masters of th
North We are no disunonists, neither are W
alarm is, but we most certainly and surely thin
and b. eVe that the present state of things cannot
on IN be country for many gears, without renderin
uiSumtn inevitable. The thing must be met and W
VIII yer be IN more favorable position to meet
Than e ale at the present time Why, to what
length must the idea of Southern nferioritv have ad
vance j in one section, and been tacitly admitted
the other, when the Kansas-Nebraska bills mer
measures OF Justice placing both sections in pos
celVon OF abSoIute equality in the Territories are RI
ell oy the North with one dismal, universal howl viii
many at the South denounce the assertion Of the
own equality with the North as unwise and inexpt
ulent' An intense feeling OF American Nationalit
Is In our humble opinion, intense respect for til
equal constitutional rights of ALL not the asserto
OF superiority by one section orlhe acknowledge
OF lntenority by another. We do not believe wit
Mr.. Fillmore that the repeal of the Missouri Con
promise has been a PandOra's box, out of which ba
issued all the political evils that now aflc the cour
try. Evils, and evils too, of a nature which mu,
ultima eiy nave proved subversVe of our institution
must ave existed When the simple assertion of til