New-York daily tribune., 1856-01-16
A ID ID II T. S S
DEMOCRATIC STATE CONVENTION,
Held at Syracuse Jan. 10 1856.
Their Opinion on Democracy, Republican
ism and Temperance.
OF The

SecfnddnCy OF DSmoCTdtt ptlhClPifr.
Wketler we are night IN this you must Judge If not
We have erred with some Of the wiset patriots aud
sfatesmen that ever lived. We are tar from claiming
that the Democratic party has never gone astray or
fhst al good men have adopted its faith. Uood men
have sometmes opposed it, but we think IRON MS
taken views; and bad men have sometimes joined II
under like delusion. What We claim for II Is that
IL political creed in harmony with the true spiIlt OF
cur institutions, and that It cannot ia IN uphodlng
them while Il keeps near the light o. ts OVID pncples
We invite your attention to some considerations Oh
this subject.
The Democratic party was designed merely a. a
meaps of influencing the oourse OF pubic or govern
mental Affairs by the concentrated acton OF po1tcs
opinion leaving all other matters 10 the iree ana ui
biased choice Of the citizen. II was not organized
ss of it, former proeeecd trends seem TO nave
assumed, 10 keep watch aud ward over the entire do
main Of taste and sentiment, thought and duty or to
act as spy upon the private opinions or pursuits OF
men, BIT IN judgment upon their consciences, or con-
trol Their outward conduct except through the
rightfu action Of Government. These are heresies OF
modern growth entirely alien 10 the principles for
which the lustrOus defenders Of our faith, with JEFF
ferson at their head steadfasy contended IN former
year, Their objects were purely governmental Ia
their nature and their political creed, though broad
enough 10 reach every subject of Governmental con-
eerp extended further. On other subjects, where
Government could not or should not act, their creed
was either silent spoke only to admonish US of the
duty Of forbearance and the danger of interfering. 1t
was fashioned indeed, with most wise and cautious
reference TO the true principles Of regulated liberty
prescribing one for the opinions he held the altar
at which he wOrsbiped, or the place where he was
born; and countenancing tyranny over him in any
Of biz private relations For it was the creed OF men
who, with arms in their hands had ut rebuked the
nnighteous intermeddlng OF one usurper, and
feared that another might succeed; men who had
read history, and knew how surely this evil spirit OF
tyrannica encroachmen urks in the shadow Of power
and how destroys the energy Of the citizen, wastes
the springs Of public action, and oradcates from whole
communities tie virtues Of sedependence, courage,
and patriotism. II the past has left any adm0nion
for the present which should be needed by every
statesman and every friend Of the country, it Is that
the powers Of States and Nations have been pressed
beyond due limits; and that the business Of governing
men by organic public force has been oyerdOne. The
truth Of this admonitiOn is illustrated in the condition
Of every people who have been compelled to submit
Tor centuries TO minute Police regulations until they
ceased 10 rely, not only Themselves but almost on
Providence and looked hstlessly TO Government
the fountain of morals, religion, right, and duty. it,
importance il attcsted by al those limitations upon
Governmental action 50 carefully prescribed in our
written Constitutions and the Democratic creed, in
view Of the neverccasng tendencies of power to
large Itself, warns Us thattnsumbcring nay "eternal
"vIglance, is the price Of liberty"
TIE disregard of these admonItOrry lessons cleaned
from bitter experience of the past, has betrayed many
into views of the true objects of political
association and the appropriate functions OF Govern
ment; views harmless enough while they remain mere
speculations of the cleset, but which found emf
nently mschievous in practice. Without adyerting at
present TO other illustrations let Us turn for moment
TO the course which some now invite us TO take win
regard 10 the subject of domestic Slavery More than
during the period Of national existence the
efforts of men protesting unbounded sympathy for
the slave to induce Government TO act in furthcrance
of their theories orgefu Of every other object of po
hical association, have given just cause for serious
alarm And recently nay within the last few months,
other men, with loud professions ofDemocracy on Their
bpe, while their hearts are Tar from 1t, have banded
themselves for renewed and more formidable efforts to
evoke the spirit of Aboltonism, withIa the gloomy
passions which wait on it, This last organization was
deemed important by its authors and abetters a. to
call for the instant abandonment cf every other political
creed and its advent was accordingly ushered in by
formal resolution, announcing that the Wing and Dem
ocrac parties were 10 exist no Onger that henceor-
ward there 10 be no more Wings and Democrats,
but that all were to be Anti-Savery Republicans. Nor
was the surprise excited by this announcement 1T all d
mnishcd when were told in effect atterward by the
Chief Captain of the new forces thus mustered against
the peace of the Union that the owners Of slaves
TO be treated "a an odious "aristocracy" which "ln
"every case and throughout all hazards, should be
abhoTcd aud avoided" that the Interests OF the
North and South were therefore directly and irec0n-
ciaby antagonisc; that the citizens of these differ
ent sections of our common country could no longer
dwell together in unity; that the compromises OF the
Constitution were n hollow truce which had been kept
too lOng that Congress must be urged To set them at
defiance, and assume uucompromsnc, aggressive,
Anti-SaveTy ground; and that every other effort Of
Government must be subOrdinated TO this, and every
other test OF political faith at abandoned. Aud
&c remove all doubt from our minds a. to the temper
and resolution with which the warfare was TO be
w8god we Were told little later through the columns
of leading paper devoted 10 the cause, that the
South about 10 be called into fearful account not
for commerce. but for reRgCuRcc."
When we consider that these aVowals made in
the name Of what claims TO be great party, and
that they not uttered in the heat of blood but
prepared for the public eve after consultation and de-
hbetion, they invest the subject with solemn and
startling interest and may well excite gloomy fore
holdings 20 the future. The time il come, fellow
citizens, when the ground which stand should
hoca In la sp.1 aplt tha "A fnf falo
IN the coming struggle clearly delneated and under
stood.
Without pausing TO inquire here whether Congress
has power TO act in accordance with the views OF this
new sect-a question which admits Of no answer but
unbesitating negative If We rightly appreciate the
tendency of their doctrines-we pass 10 the more
practical and broader inquiry whether ought to adopt
iheml Let give these the benefit of their dis
chalmers. Let US admit that they do not propose TO
interfere with Slavery in either of the old thirteen
States that they intend insult to their brethren OF
those States, while branding them objects Of Gov
enmental disrust and abhorrcnce; that they arc athr
forpeace and tranquility while invoking the demons OF
dscord and strife that they Vcnerstc the Union while
denouncng the wisdom which framed 1t a. treason
against Human Rights" and that they hope TO per-
petuate its blessings by joining hands with them who
hate and If and pray for It's overthrow. Grant
that all of them do not the tendency Of their
tons or the inevitable end of their career and that
they doing this evil with vague expectation that
some possible good may come NJ last Still. the quCs
ton is not what they intend ultimately expect, but
what course should othefs take whose OF duty
vet uDsubducd by the frenzy If snatcism the lu
of pOwoTl L. II wise s just, Il right any con-
seiyablc vew-nsy is II not both absurd and criminal
to eouutenance the theories which now, for the fr>t
time our national history this motley throng of poll
tclans claims shall be enforced IN every case ar1
Throughout all hslsrds" by direct Governmental a.
ton
We have assumed that they are not yet 80 for gone
an delusion as 10 mediate any present assault upon
slavery IN The old thirteen States though even this /.