Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1856-11-29
The Lesson of the Canvass.

be q minority President. This success, 1t Is
now demonstrated beyond cavi', he owes TO
the continuance OF Mr.. Fillmore in the field.
The returns indicate that the entire North
would have been carried by Mr. Fremont but
for the diversion made in favor of sound, ma
~tional. conservative princi piles, by the Amer
lean party. Tie whole Republican press de-
nounce. in immoderate terms of wrath, the
Americans and Mr.. Fillmore for standing be-
tween them and a sectional victory. This
affords unrefutable evidence of the healthy
influence exerted in the past CANVASS by the
true conservative party Of the nation. For
the present, at least. the Union of the States
is secure. Sectionalism alone has suffered a
disastrous defeat. We say sectionalism alone,
for though the American party has carried
only one State, even while defeated, it has
conserved one OF the vital principles upon
which it is firmly based-the integrity Of the
Contederacy. If there be one thought to
which it clings with unyieldins tenacltl-
one idea of overwhelming Importance in its
political credit is the preservation OF the
Union. From one Of the ~tiercest political
struggles which our history records, it has
come forth with no faint OF sectionalism upon
its garments. 1t has preserved its conslsten-
cy as a national party, holding the same
opinions North and South. East ana West. It's
nationality drove fanatics at the North and
ultraists at the South from its ranks. With
the power Of defeating the Democracy in its
hands by a fusion with the opposition, it
sterrly stood aloof tIom all afi!iation with
any organization which protested to love a
section more than the whole Union.
Where can the opponents of the American
party point to the traitorons flag floating in
its ranks. bearing on its folds these words of
hostility to the South, and i'll omen TO the
Union Free speech. free labor and Free
Kansas % The Democracy. driven to despe-
a'inn b. the array ofthe powerful opposition.
eagerly seized upon these watchwords OF the
Fl ercest Sectionalists. and appropriated them
as its own, madly struggling TO jostle from
his platform even the leader himself of the
Northern Freesoil faction. Leading Demo-
Gratis uttered appeals to Sectional prejudices.
and struggled to surpass those a,rayed under
the banner of the North in devotion to mere
Northern ideas.
In all the Free States we can scarcely
now point to one single part of the battle
field where the Nationality of the Constitu-
ton was honestly mainta ined by the Demo-
cratic party. Where there was not an open
desertion, there was unjustifable tampering
with the foes of the Constitutional rights of
the South. Still. the result of the canvass in-
dicates that the election of Mr.. Bncharan is
due, not SO mach 10 this attempted deception !
which the heat Of the canvass fully develop
ed. The intri CUES, tergiversations and APP
peals to local prejudices Of the people, were
not so effective as the love of the Union which
was endangered.
IN to the time Of the State election in
Pennsylvania and Indiana, it cannot be de-
MED that Mr.. Bnchanan's chances were truly
small. The want of confidence in the ability
Of the man. fully to meet the ext gency of
the times, and his seeming unpopulatity in
all parts Of the nation, weakened the hopes
Of his adherents until they seriously enter
tanned the question Of defeating Fremont by
the support Of Mr.. Fillmore in many of the
free States. The popular vote shows that
unpopularily did not exist even up to
the last day Of the canvass, for he scarcely
received one third ofthe popular vote of the
Republic. He presents the first example of
a man raised to the highest exc cutive office
under circumstances so little calculated to
give any reason to his adheqnts for exulta-
ton.
The victory, in these two State mentioned.
in October, changed the character of the
1t became evident that it was ross-
IDLE to defeat fanaticism with Mr. Buchanan
and, conservative men of all parties, in the
hope Of saving the Union from the imminent
peril which threatened it in case of the cleo
ton of the candidate of a sectional party,
were reedy to waive personal predictions
and just admiration OF that gallant and pure
statesman, Millard Fillmore.
In Indiana and Illinois, and in some other
States, Americans openly aided the Demo-
cratic candidates for the Presidency, and the
spectacle has been witnessed of Re.
publican Governors elected by a majority Of
thousands, while the vote cast on the same
day and at the same place, elected the DEM
ocTaiic electors for President.
Though the American party has not car
Red its banner triumphantly through the