The Feliciana Democrat. (Clinton, La.) 1855-186?, 1857-05-09

| ihat can only see my lace
The angel that thou art, appear
Nor longer so thy figure hide,
AS it thou vert a chcrub mere,
That has facc--and nought beside.
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY-ITS UNI
\ TY AND PROSPECTS.
Instances are not unfrequent in the history
OF any and every party when by some violent
political conynsion, peculiar circumstances in
extensive localities or extraordinary emcrgen.
cles in matters temporarily efl'ccting the inter-
ests oi certain States or sections, more imme-
dIatey and perhaps more anxously than usual,
they have beey made to waver, and have been
sometimes seriously threatened with prostration
II not destruction. And as their principles are
strong or weak, they are enabled to encounter
opposition and adversely, with hopes of success
or defeat, just as the forest tree withstands the
storm, with limbs unlopped and body mistaken,
II Its roots are deep and its branches stout; or
reels and rocks beneath the tempcst's blast,
from its topmost bough to its base, if it has a
shallow hold upon the earth of which it is the
offspring. The Democratic party of this coun-
try has had its tests and trials as well as the
old whig party, and the ephcmcral factions
that have hung upon the skirts of both, before
and after battle, in quest Of prizes and spoils
There have been dark days in the calender of
Democracy; but its poIe.star the Constitution,
has never been hidden from view by the clouds
that have lowered DER our house and almost
ecpsed the glories of the past, the aspirations
Of the present, and our hopes OF the future.
Patriotism may be sacrificed to sordid sef.in-
terest; expcdiency may predominant over prin-
ciple; disrust and fear may derive the Dngald
Dalgetteys of Democracy into the ranks Of an
opposition imposing in appearace, but it is i'm
possible to destroy the vitality OF party that
is indispensable to the existence of the govern
ment, which has grown with its growth, and
strengthened with its strength, until, like the
lvy-vlne on an antique wall, it is so intertwined
that it cannot be torn away without tearing
the wall with it. The old Wing party stood
storms and shocks, with an astonishing tcnacty.
But, like dilapidated buildings or infrm old
trees, it fell at last from its own feebleness, on
4 calm, still day when those who sat in its
shadows were wistfully rgarding it with rcvi-
wing hopes. In the interval between '52 and
'56, like giant supcranuated and worn out
with wars and wounds, what was left of Whig-
gerry fell; solitarily, and so softly as barely to
break the stiffness of that silent hour, which
succeeded the election of Pierce to the Pres-
dency. Since that day the Democratic party
has proved its patriotism, and the power of its
principles conclusiyely, to tens Of thousands off
those who were once its most predudiced, and
apparently implacable enomics.
Battling with abolltonism in the North and
Know Nothingism in the South, its nationality, |
consistency and unvaryng adherence to prin.
ciple have been manifested more clearly than
perhaps ever Beforehand therefore those
who have been educated as opponnets of De-
mocracy, whose early associations taught them
to denouncc it as political Pandora's box, have
had an opportunity OF witnessing its workings
under circumstances calculated to test it. And
consequently our ranks have been reinforced
with hosts Of onr old enemies who have come
to us not as captiyes, but as converts, whoss
preudiccs have yielded to honest convictione
of Judgement, and who are now, where they
see they should ever have been--standing by
the Constitution, shoulder to shoulder with
the followers of the true faith of the fathers of
the republic.
The Democratic party is distinguished for
its unity, from the simple fact, that it is based
upon principles applicable alike to one section
Of the Union and to every other, to New
Hampshire and Texas, to Ohio and to Ala
bama. The principles Of the Wing party were
national enough, if that had been all that was
needed to entcrnize it. But they were radi-
cally wrong in policy as they were also to
strong y tending to Capitalization at the cx-
pense of state sovereignty and in contradiction
to the construction of Che government The
rights Of several States, as distinct from the
federal government, were never safe in its
keeping; while, with the Democratic party, the
most prominent characteristic since its organi-
2 ltlOn has been an inhe xihle ADHERENCE to the !