Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1857-05-02
POLITICAL.
the Democratic partyy11.Its Unity and
Prospects,. .t,s

''"'lSto are uOGubIeQueHC IN tne illStO.
ry OF any and every party when, by some
violent political convulsions., peculiar cir
cumstances in extensive localities, or extra.
ordinary emergencies in matters temporarily
affecting the interests of certain States or
sections, more Immediately end perhaps
more anxiously than usual, they have been
made 10 wayer, and have been sometimes
seriously threatened with prostra,ion, IL not
destruction, And as their principles are
strong or weak, they are enabled toencoun-
ter opposition and adversely, with hopes Of
success or defeat, Just RS the forest tree
withsthnds the storm, with limbs untopped
and hodyunshaken, fits roots are deep ard
its branches stout; or reels and rocks be-
| meath the tempest's blast, from its topmost
bough to its base, if it has shallow hold
upon the earth Of which it is the offspring.
The Democratic. party Of this country has
had its tests and trials as well as the old
Wing party, and the ephemeral factions that
have hung upon the skirts of both, before
and after battle, inquest ofprizes apt spois.
There have been dark days in The calendar
i,ef Democracy, but ;ts pole.siar, the Consti-
tuition. HI never been hidden fremfview BY
the clouds thai have lowered Ger our house
! and almost at times eclirsed the gluries of
the past, the aspirations of the present, and
our hopes for the future. Patriotism may
be sacrificed TO sordid self.interest cxpedi.
ency may prcdonIinate over principle dir
trust and fear may drive the Dugald Dul-
ge!tys of Democracy into the ranks of an
opposition imposing in appearance, but is
! impossible TO destroy the vitality of a party
| that is indispensable to the existence Of The
government which has grown with its
growth. and strengthened with lts strength,
until, like the ivy vine on an antique wall, lit
is so intertwned that itcannol be torn away
| without tearing the wall with il. The old
Wing party wilhstood storms and shocks
with an astonishing ienacity But, like. di-
lapIdaied buildings or in6rm old trees, il fell
at last from its own. feebleness, on'a calm,
! still day, when;lhose who sat in its shadow
were wis(fully regarding it with reyivipg
hopes. In the interval between so and
So, like giant superanuated and worn out
with wars and wounds, what was left of
Whiggery fell; solitariy, and so softly as
barely to break the stiffness of that silent
hour which succeeded tie election of Pierce
to the Presidency. Since that day the
Democratic party has proved its patriotism,
and the power ofils principles, conclusively,
70, tens of thousands of those who were once
its most Prejndiced and apparently implaca.
bic enemy
Battling with abolitonism in The North
and Know Notlingism inGhe South, its ma
tionaIity. consistency and unvarying adhe-
lrence TO principle have been manifested
more clearly Than perhaps e"erbefnre. And
therefore those who have, been educated as
opponents OF Democracy whose early .asso
| ciatioHs taught them 10. .lenounce il as q po-
| Ii ical Pandora's boy, have had an opportu,
nifty of witnessing It's working under cilcum-
stances calculated to test il, And conse.
| quentIy our ranks have been reinforced with
hosts, of our old enemies, who have come TO
us, not as, captifes. but os converts, whose
lprejudices have yielded 10 honest convictions
| ofjudament and whoare dowra-where they
see tbeysshopld, ever ha8e Demonstrating
by the Constitution. shoulder, to shoulder
with the followers of the true faith OF the
Fathers Of the Republic. &, ~
The Democrats party is distinguished
toreiis unity, frontthe simplesfact. that ii}is
based upon principles applicable te&atike to
one sectionof the Onion and 60 every 9th
er, 10 New Hampshire and Texas, to Ohio
and Alabama. The principles ofthe Wing
party were national enough, ifthat had been
all that was needed, to eterfiize it.. But
they were radically wrong in7polNy, as theg,
were also too strongly tending to centraliza.
tion at the expense Of State, sovereignty aud
in contradiction to the construction of the
government The rights Of the several
States, as distincs from the Federal Govern
aent were never safe in its keeping while,
with the Democratic party, the most prom.
Observation-Disclosures its organization has
beeniaB ipfexible adherence 10 the rights
Of the. sovereign States, and always With n
due regard for the prerogatives assigned to,
the General GovernlnSnt.
Late events have been such as 10 leave
no margin for evasion or eduiyocation ON
the psrtofpolitical parties in this country.
Positive principles 10 all their native naked
ness, for good or for evil, baye, been brought
TO bear. directly upeu The poilics of the
country, Questions not susceptible OF de-
bate except npon the high ground of con
stlullonality, have almost exclusively en.s
gagged public attention. And It IS TO the
Demoersfic party thnl the nation has turned
lfos a vindcaiion Of the Oensthution and the
prolecGon.of The Union. - .s .ss.s...,
Nor,hnnd South, East and West, the
warfare is waged now, as ever, upon the
same platform and tho SANG principles, on
the parf Of the Democracy. Douglas of
Illinois, Toucy OF Conuecticul, Alexander
of New Jersey aud all that noile bants Of
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