The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1856-04-12
REPUBLICANISM Il s.DENOCRACY."



are those who believe Cor profess to believe)
that as it is necessarily dangerous in its char
arfer, the good sense of the public will prove
fatal to its perpetuty There are those who
desplse and would crush it, not because they
believe it to BE- bad, but simply because they
believe it to be good. There are those who
have lived without reflection, and are still
incapable Of the exertion which it implies,
who persist in thinking that the Republican
party was originated without cause and mere
ly by accident. and who expect day by day to
see 1t dissolve like the fabric Of a vision
There are those who live wholly in the pres
ent. The past teaches them no lesson, and
they kindly leave the care of the future to
Divine Providence With men like these it
is perhaps useless to reason. Success, immc-
date, brilliant, and lucrative, is the only
standard by which they Judge any movement.
They will continue to sheer, to libel, to nick
name, and to SANDER the Republican party,
until it has become an established power in
the State. With every victory, their re-
spect for it will marvellously increase; and
when it has Gas it will have) at its disposal
the power and patronage Of the government,
We care not to count how many of those who
now profess to dcspisc it will be found call
ing upon the immortal gods to witness that
they have been for it from the beginning,
have always sustained its principles, and have
always predicted its success. The election
Of Mr.. Banks staggered these gentlemen i'm
measely; the election Of Republican Presi
dent would make them the subjects of con-
version swifter than that Of the Apostle Paul.
That the Republican party will make it
self felt, and powerfully felt, in the approach
ing Presidential election, no one, qualified
to Judge Of political affairs, will re likely to
deny. Putin. the slave States out of tie
question, it is already quite as strong as ev
er the VII z party was in its palmlest days.
1t controls great States by great maiorities
its power n the House of Representatives is
now beyond dispute and, more than all, it
las hold upon the affections of the people
which time and circumstance cannot weaken.
1t is now the only party really alive in the
United States The Democracy are its only
ANTAGONISTS They, indeed. still seem TO
live, and to move, and to have being. Yet
nobody out Of their own ranks can fail to see
that they are nothing but an embodied ira
lition. We think tqui'c possible that TIE
Democratic party will never rally after the
next election. Certainly it ought not to. 1t
is acting under false name: it is dong
business upon false prctcnce>; it is the YER
icst cheat and d,uson in the world. Its
hear; j, in the past. 1t can do nothing but
appca! to precedent and l'attcr phrases, which
meant somcthin. when they were first utter
ed. \ more bisotcd, stupidly conservative,
bitterly arl>tocrstic party never existed. Ii
used 70 talk of freedom of thought and ac-
ton. Of the progress Of humanity, and OF the
right, of speech. Now, it chattcrs only otthe
power O. the Government, of the sacrc1ne>S
Of enacted wron.. OF the danger of dom.
RIGHT Beaten bv the people. it retreats 20
the Senate, the most arirtorra'ir body IN the
! II
upon Presidential vetocs. Fearful of the
>Iisl test expression OF the popular feeling. it
is always ready TO appeal to the military
power Of the State. Afraid Of free speech,
ii finds high treason in bold AMI manly avow-
al of opinion. In short, ii is intolerant. per
scouting and tvrannou>. 1t is behind the
time 10y half a century. and is doomed to
death by laws, the operation OF which can by
no possibility be avoided The institutions
of the 'nitcd States were framed to limit
the existence of just such parties and until
those institutions are radically changed, no
party essentially aristocratic can hope for
prosperity. or even Tor life.
Yet it follows. Just as certainly, that there
must be in the United State party, in the
highest sense OF the word, demo cratic-a
party which shall see clearly that the great
objects of good government are the pro-
lection of the weak against the strong, the
mitigation OF human suffering, the develop
ment of all the resources of our nature, the
vindcation of violated rights, the encourage
ment Of industry and enterprise, and the de-
tense ofthat generous and intelligent policy
which alone can prevent the wonderful chan
ces of this century and of this country from
being worse than wasted. We must have a
party which shall appreciate and care for all
the interests Of the country-for the COM
mercc which whitcn every sea, for the asri-
culture which makes green every hill and
valley, for the manufactures which build up
great cities, feed large populations, and add,
every hour, to the wealth OF the nation. We
must have a party which acknowledges man
as man, under whatever oppression he may be
suffering, however lowly may be his lot. We
must have live party, not welded to the lies
and legends OF the past, but working we'll in
the present, and hopeful of the future. We
must have party worthy OF this intelligent
and powerful people.
Such political organization is necessity
Of the times, and it will come just as surely
as the sunrise. We do not know by what
name it will be called, but We thing we dis
Germ in the Republican party its germ, des-
tined to be developed, and expanded far be-