The Placer herald., 1856-03-15


in triumph to the breeze, bearing upon its folds
the inspiring ription-DEMOCRACY AND
VICTORY.
Gentlemen we have every thing to encourage
us in the great contest ahead. We have seen and
the people has seen what is to be expected of the
jarring and discordant elements which compose
the opposition. In the popular branch of the
National Congress. although largely in the ascen.
dency, they have exhibited their utter impotency
for good-their insuiciency almost for the ordi-
nary work of choosing presiding officer, much
more for the management and control of the affairs
of a great and Heightened nation
For sixty days have these ongrcssmen-these
regenerators who. they tell u.s. sprang into being
from the corruptons Of both of the old parties
and surely one will deny them the benefit OF
some paternity-tor sixty days have they been
striving to prove that. like 1.-The bandits of Mexico
the pickpockets of London, and the Thugs OF
India" they too, "are possessed of sufficient
amount of virtue for the purposes of organiza-
ton" For sixty days, like the victims OF re-
tributive Justice in the neither world doomed to
roll stones up unsurmountablc hills and draw
water in bottomess buckets have they been
telling in unceasing round of proitless ballots
and resultless efforts For sixty days have they
been working upon the grand problem of supe-
riorty 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 as
ever for Mr. Banks has declared his own mental
ncertitude upon the subject, and his willingness,
upon general admiXture 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 transcending in
Importance that of the eXplosblity of saltpeter,
the individuality of the striker of Billy Patter-
son. Negro or white man, that is the question.
But seriously, gentlemen, is ii to be supposed
that the people, who have witnessed these shame
full proceedings of the maority-their money
squandered in fierce contentious for personal as
cendency-the public time consumed in angry
squabbles over the petty patronage that attaches
to the Office of Speaker-the highest functions
of government prosttuted to the base uses OF
corrupt, designing and unprincpled trcksters
the standard of political morality dragged down
to the basis of personal ACKNOWLEDGEMENT and sec
tiOna success--in fine, our free and enlightened
system of government subjected to the scorn and
ridicule of the crowned heads of Europe and Of
the enemies of popular institutions throughout
the wurd?-can it be supposed, say that the
people who have witnessed these things. will be
induced to accord to the perpetrators thereof the
endorsement of 1.-THE sober second thought" No,
gentlemen. a thousand times, mol The mutterings
of the popular Indignation are already heard
from every portion Of our Union and it only needs
an occasion for its concentrated expression to
whelm and sink forever aye beyond the reach
of resurrectonary virtue, these guilty betrayers
of stolen confidence.
And turning to the party in our own State-Is
the picture in any manner better calculated to
captivate the popular fancy? We see a 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 carried 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
I l-po, mt bou &c h,tfn oil
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 Legis-
ature, so far from falling below, will rather eX-
ceed these of any former. we see party which
procaims it as 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 indorse-
ment to some of the most notorious professional
office seekers of which that any other party can
boast We see party which vaunts itself upon
a passionate devotion to the Union, to the eXclu-
sion of all sectional rivalres and local ealouses:
and vet so disturbing have these influences proven
themselves to be- that its recent success has turn
ed out to be a barren victory and its fruits bro
ken sceptcr. We see a party that would "brng
of the republic and inaugurate new era of poll
tical morality and virtue; and yet we already see
the Legislature at loggerheads with the Executive
for rebukng scheme OF private speculation.
while every species of vituperation has been heap
ed upon the heads of those. who in the face of
threats and intmdatons, exhibited a higher re-
gard to the wishes and interests of the people
than to the midnight edicts of an INSCRIPTIONS
league of hungry oflice-seekers. We see a party
that would ostracse the citizen of foreign birth
and the very corner stone of whose political edi-
fee is his utter exclusion from all participation
in the affairs OF government; and yeti nomnates
for the first Office in its gift man. who but few
years since, in the National Senate, denounced
Know Nothingism as an ''accursed spirit which
had already inundated the streets of some of our
principal cities in blood, and carried the incen-
diaries torch even into the temple of the Living
God!' We see party composed OF three,fourths
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 from even
appearing before its caucus-t succeeds within
tico potes of nominating for Senator, one who,
scarcely twelve months since, declared through
the public prints of the State, that he had rather
vote for the devil than a Whig" Is it to be sup
posed that 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 it, it will receive most signal
rebuke at the great contest ahead
In conclusion, gentlemen, let it be our proud
boast that whilst we see tactious opposition rent
and sundered by sectional isms and local jealous
les. all tending to the weakening of those frater-
nal bonds which should exist among members OF
the same great confederacy we stand upon plat
form broad as the Union, comprehensive as its
vast capabilities, and progressive as its onward
| is Of 10
our creed that it knows no North. no South. NO
East, no West farther than such are recognized
by the Constitution. 1t is not indigenous to pecu-
liar soils or climates, but takes root and -four
ishes wherever the flag of our Union waves. 1t is
peculiarly national in its character neither
mountain bound nor river girt-knows no invidi'
GUS ln,s-recognizcs no geographical divisions
1t asks, yea, it demands a subscription to certain
great political truths clearly defined and boldly
| proclaimed; beyond this II does not seek to 60