The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1856-09-13
1)olitital.
10 the People Of the U. States

FEILOwC CITIES There are clrcumstan-
ccs which call for the appeal We make to your
most earnest attention. The times appear
To us startling and critical. There arc aspects
il the pending conte Tor the Presidency which
are very unusual and important. Nccannot
therefore, lorbcar freely to communicate some
of our aprrohcnsions, before we scperatc here,
and to call upon you at once to look full in
the face any dangers which may seem to
impcnd over the greatest popular government
OH earth.
Two of the political parties in the country
have pitched a Presidential battle upon sec
tional issues, and of So fearful character as
to stir the deepest passions of the American
people. Though in seeming conflict it can
not be disguised that those parties have in
such sort coopcratod as to press upon the
country one exciting issue after another, UNI
til, by dnt of continued evaporation, they
Lave nearly succeeded in arIaying, in hostile
columns one-half of the State of the Union
against the other. They appear mutually to
have employed all the energies Of party
powcrof cugending sectional distrust, prciu.
dice an | ciiniination, and now. for thetirSt llne
in the history of the government We find
truly Formidable party, fully organized, and
using every effort in their power to combine
States of the Union, in struggle for the cX-
ccutive power of the Conredcracy. In that
organization are included men who are sup.
posed TO be conservative and national, but
who are believed to he led, by excitement or
or misconccp,iun, into movements which. in
their cooler moments, they cannot but rcoil
from, as they would pcs'ilcncc and famine.
Its management has been essentially con
trollel by leaders who, under all circum
Sanccs, have steadily kept up an active, I'M
rcasing, and impacabe warfare upon the IN
situions Of the slavchoding States. Should
such party unfortunately succeed in the
present distracted state Of the public mind
in clccting II sectional President, supported
alone by the voters Of the non-slavcholding
States, we have too much reason to apprc-
bend that there might instantly spring into
cX s me- movement of resist nee the conSc-
uilcnccs Of which no human wisdom can fore
see, and no lover Of his country or friend of
popular government anywhere could fail, in
all coming time, sadly to dcplorc.
We do not believe they cal succeed, but
we may be really ''trcadng upon the brink
Of volcano, that is liable at any moment, to
burst forth and ovcrwhelm the nation.
But the Republican party is not alone re-
@ponsiblc for those appalling issues, nor is its
success the only danger to the stability ofthe
Government in its present form. The Dem
ocratic party has eagerly and rashly seized
upon those momcntous issues, and welded
them as the thunder bolts of party warfare
They have strvcn to madden the South and
TO concentrate Southern votes upon their can
t,atcs as the Abolitionl'ts have strlvcn to
madden the North and to concentrate North
Zen voters upon their candidates.
When their extreme measures are resisted
tannt national men, in the South, as sub
lnSsioniStS, orworsc than submissioniSts, as
the AboliiionistS taunt national men in the
North as ''doughfaccs.
They have apparently struggled to bring
about the formation of gcograph al parties,
such as the Father of his Country so clnphat-
irally warned us against, based upon qucs-
tons Immediately tending to split the Union
as under; and they have seemingly done this
for the petty purpose of securing q temporary
party triumph. The Union, in form at least
we think, would survive the success of such
aparty for the present; but its triumph would
probably keep the furnaces of sectional pas
son red hot, and ultimately, and it may be
Mt no distant day, its rash errors would en-
gender storm of sectional conflict beneath
winch the government would sink into ruins.
We think they, too will fail.
But we believe the time has come when
the common safety requires that the raging
sectional heats OF those parties should be
cooled The time has come when national,
conservative men, respecting the Constitution,
true to their whole country, and indignantly
frownlnG upon tho first dawning Of disunion, !"
should stand shoulder to shoulder, and unite
ill placing at the head Of the government a
l,l,.f Ca,