Butte record., 1856-03-15

exh hlblted their utter lmpotency Tor good-
! their insufficiency almost for the ordinary
work of choosing a presiding officer, much
more for the management and control OF the
affiirs of great and enlightened nation.
! For sixty days have these Congressmen-
these regenerators, who, they tell us, s1rang
into being from the corruption OF both the old
parties-and surely no one will deny them the
benefit of some corrupt paternity-for sixty
days have they been striving to prove that,
like :. the bandits of Mexico, the pickpockets
of London. and the Thugs of India they,
| too, are possessed of a sufficient amount of
virtue for the purposes of organization For
sixty days I'll ke the victims of retributlve
justice in the neither world, doomed to roll
stones up unsurmountable hills and draw wa
ter in bottomless buckets" have they been
toling in an unceasing round OF prohtless
ballots and resultless efforts. For sixty days
have they been working upon the grand prob
lem Of superiority of the white or black
races, and when at last they have succeeded
in eecting the candidate Of their choice, they
are left much in doubt ms ever; Tor MIR
Banks has declared his own mental incerti
tude upon the subjsct, and his willingness,
upon general adInixture and fusion Of bloods,
to leave it to the natural laws of absorption
to determine whether all white men are to
become negroes, or all negroes white men
This, then, is the grand query of the age, far
transcendng in Importance that OF the ex-
possibility of saltpetre, or the individuality Of
the striker of Billy Patterson. Negro OF white
man, that is the question
Bat seriously, gentlemen, is it to be sup
posed that the people, who have witnessed
these shameful proceedings of the majority
their money squandered in fierce contensions
for personal ascendcncy-the public time con
sumed in angry squabbes over the petty
patronage thar attaches to the Office Of Speak
er-the high st functions of government pros
titutcd to the base uses Of corrupt, designing
and uuprincipled tricksters-the standard OF
political morality dragged down to the basis
Of personal aggrandizement and sectional sue
cess-in fine, our free and enlightened system
of government subjected to the scorn and ridi
cule of the crowned heads of Europe and ot
the enemies of popular institutions through
out the world can it be supposed, | say.
that the people who have witnessed these
things, will be induced to accord TO the per-
petrators thereof the endorsement of 6 the
sober, second thought :" Ne, gentlemen, a
Thousand times, no! The mutterings of the
popular Indignation are alrealy heard from
every portion of our Union, aud it only need,
IA occasion for its concentrated expression to
whcln and sink forever. aye, beyond the reach
ti Te-ulrtctlbuh1N virtue, IneSe guilty DGtFuI-
ers of stolen conf lence.
And turning to the party in our own State
Is the picture in any manner better calcu-
lated to captivate the popular fancy2 We see
party coming into power with the cry of
economy and reform upon its lips; but in what
manner have the promises in this respect,
made to the people before election, been car
ried out since ? Have any Of you discovered
where any leakages in the treasury have been
stopped? Can any of you point to where the
pruning knife of reform has been applied to
the looping off of any unnecessary expendi-
lures; | know not how it is, but for all that
| can hear and see, and taking the testimony
of extravaganza of some of their own organs,
it will be hazarding but little to predict that
when the balance-sheet comes to be struck, it
will be found that the expenditures of the
present legislature, so far from falling below.
will rather exceed those of any former. We
see q party which proclaim it as a leading
feature in its political creed, that the office
should seek the man and not the man the
office; and yet, to the utter exclusion Of modest
and retiring worth--and every one knows
there is any quantity of that material in the
Know Nothing ranks-it has given its endorse
ment to some of the most notorious profes
sonal office-seekers of which that or any other
party can boast. We see a party which vaunts
itself upon a passionate devotion to the Union,
to the exclusion of all sectional rivalries and
local jealousies; and yet so disturbing have
these influences proven themselves to be, that
its recent success has turned out to be bar
rem victory, and its fruits broken sceptre
We see a party that would &C bring the gov
ernment back to the purer and better days of
the Republic" and inaugurate new era Of
political morality and virtue; and yet We
already see the Legislature at loggerheads
with the Executive for rebuking a scheme of
private speculation, while every species of
vituperation has been heaped upon the heads
Of those, who in the face Of threats and in
Limitations, exhibited higher regard to the
wishes and interests of the people than 70 the
midnight elets of an unscrupulous league of
hungry office seekers We see n party that
would ostracise the citizen of foreign birth,
and the very corner stone of whose political
edihce is his utter exclusion from all partcipa-
tion in the affairs of government and yet it
nominates for the first office in its gift, u man
who but few years since, in the National
Senate, denounced Know Nothingism as an
&C accursed spirit, which had already inun-
dated the streets of some of our principal cities
in blood, and carried the incendiaries torch
even into the temples of the living God p
We see party composed of three-tourths old
time Whigs-men who have sucked Wing milk
from their mothers breasts and fed upon Whig
pabulum even from their swaddling days; and
yet, having first excluded every prominent
man of that former political persuasion frcm
even appearing before its caucus, it succeeds
within ftcO roteS of nominating for Senator,
one who, scarcely q twelve months since, de-
clared through the public prints of the State,
that he had " rather vote for the devil than
Whig" Is it to be supposed that a party
whose actions are characterized by such gross
and fragrant inconsistencies, can long expect
to retain the confidence of the people, Let
union and harmony pervade our own ranks,
and my word for 1t, it will receive most sig
nal rebuke at the great contest ahead.
In conclusion, gentlomen, let it be our proud
boast. that while we see a factious opposition
rent and sundered by sectional isms and local
jealousies, all tending to the weakening OF
those fraternal bonds which should exist
among members of the same great confed-
eracy, we stand upon platform broad as the
Union, comprehensive as its vast capabilities
and progressive as its onward and manifest
destiny. 1t is not indigenous to peculiar soils
or climates, but takes root and flourshes
wherever the flag of our Union waves 1t is
peculiarly national in its character--neither
mountain bound nor river girt-knows no in
vidlous lines-recognizes no geographical divi-
sons. 1t asks, yea, it demands, q subscrip-
ton to certain great political truths clearly
defined and boldly proclaimed beyond this it
does not seek to go. 1t points to the Consti-
tuition of our country as the only abiding test
Of political orthodoxy, and its sacred obser.
vance both in letter and snirit ~ eseentioI