Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1856-06-07

TULIP GROVE. May 9th, 1856

IULR GROVE. Nay St9, 1906.
Sir Your letter Of the 4th uIt., forwarding
to me the proceedings of the American Party at
Sacramento, ratifying the nomination. at Phila-
deIphia, reached me yesterday;a and ahank you
for the kind terms in which ye1. have com~
municated them.
look ground, at an early day, in favor Of
the right of California TO come into the Union,
| with or without slavery in her State constitu-
ton, as her citizens might determine for them
| selves. uninfuenced by the action OF Congress;
and no one has Witnessed with more pleasure
than | have the peaceful solution which was
thus given to a question Of much alarm TO our
| country. The principle involved was that upon
which rests all our republican institutions; that
is, the right, within the limits Of the Constitu~
ton, of the people of the SSHtes and of the
Territories when forming q State Constitution,
to govern themselves, and nobly has this princi-
pie been indicated by California in the un.
paraieiled prosperity she has so soon attained
under her own laws. Il does not therefore
| surprise me to find her citizens prompt to lay
hold of the great national doctrines which form
the basis of the American creed. Exposed as
she is to An immigration from countries which
Inc lights ef civilization have scarcely vet
reached, she feels perhaps more keenly than
we do here, the necessity Of guarding the bal
Iotsbox from the dangerous influences which
will act through ii, if no discrimination is to be
made hereafter between the native American
and The foreigner just iauded on our shores
So too with the other great reforms proposed
by the American platform, which are the
restoration Of the government 10 its original
purity, and the correction of those abuses which
have converted sectional issues into an element
of political power, aud have brought the pat
ronage of the President into alarming conflict
with the freedom of elections. The principles
here involved naturally strike the minds, and
command the support of a Young and enter
prising people, who are fresh fBm the task of
forming a government of their own, and have
learned to appreciate at their proper value those
old party sgatchlords by which the 1aanu have
so often been made the dnpes of the designing
tsp.
The only matter Of regret TO me, air, is that
the friends of these necessary reforms did not
bring forward in connection with the name Of
Mr.. Fillmore, some individual for the Vice
Presidency around whom could be rallied
stronger guarantees for their success than be-
long TO my humble character and services. But,
however inadequate may be my name in this
respect, you may rest assured that it will sanca
ton nothing adverse to the great movement.
should have been recreant to the lessons I
received from Gen. Jackson, If I could have
witnessed in silence the attempt, within tea
miles of his tomb, TO revive the odious doctrines
of the Hartford Convention, or if | could sub e.
q%uently have given my sanction to that coali.
ton of sectional ultraists, which has secured to
the influences engaged in that disorganizing at.
Sor4rS sN Ahn oua rs Tnro1amao., Skn n~~N.ng
Of the Federal Government.
Gen. Jackson's whole life is a reputation of
the leadigg characteristics of what is nov
terme6 Demeegacy. In 1877 recommending TO
Mr. Mohaaa disappointment of a Federalist,
he warned against the excess of party
spirit. ls publications he announced
his c~onviCtis WI ought to be more A.
mericanized tion. One Of the strong
reasons assignee him for his veto of the bill
to recharter the DHAited States Bank, Is his
dread of Foreign Influence in the management
of that institution. And every one who knows
any thing of his administration az President
must remember with what indignation he de-
nounced the doctrines Of nuiliicatiOn severinQ
the ties even of long personal friendship rather
thau subject himself 70 the imputation OF com.
promising with heresies which be deemed fatal
to the perpetuity of the Union and the spirit of
the Constitution. In his Inaugural address,
too, he declared it to Be one of the high duties
of the executive to restrain the patronage Of
the Federal Government 30 that it should not
be brought into conflict with the freedom OF
elections; and iE the same patriotic paper, he
announced his determination to be guided BY
the great example set BY Washington and the
early founders of our republican system.
Now these brilliant points in the career of
this great man constitute our polar light as
Americans; and yet we are denounced az tvai~
to Democracy, and the whole patronFa of
the Federal Government is employed 20 OF.
tracise and calumniate Us.
It remains for our counfrynen to decide
which is the best democracy, that which acts
with US in upholding the doctrines of Washing.
ton, Jefferson, Madison and Jackson, or that
which has set us up that new theory Of State
rights out of which have sprung notification
and abolition, and ali the other isms that array
one portion of our country against smother, and
have impaired the maxims left by our fosefa-
Tiers.
It Is consoling to me- TO End that there are
men, like yourself, ID every quarter Of oar exs
tended country, who $50 the dangers which
beset ua from the causes thus briefly adveFted
@; and cannot doubt that the great body of
or fellow citixena everywhere will ultimately
CONCUR vita 40 In the stepa we have taken %
avert them. At all events. my dear, Sit, lei
what may come, We must do our duty, relying
upon the merits Of Onr cauee, and Che certainty
that truth will, ultimately. prevail over error.
Thanking you for your kind remembrance.
and for the too partial terms in which you and
other old Jackson Democrats have spoken Of
noe ct the public ueetiog Of who's proceedlngss