The true Democrat., 1857-05-26
Q tie members cf He Amerjcan
pnrtN in (nIltoll7in

| FELLOW -CITlZENS- have received within
 the last week or two several letters from pro-
 minent and influential individuals among vo, asking my opinion touching the expedieucv oi 1 continuing the organization of the American party in California forfutnre political purposes; and have also received by the last mail from
 the Atlantic States formal communication
 from the highest official source known to the American party of the Union, as a national organization, suggesting the propriety of imme- | dlate steps being taken in this Stale for the | sending of delegates to the national Amr,ican convention, cXpecei to assemble a few months | hence in the city of Louisville Under such circumstances, l trust t will not appear un-
 seemly, or be looked upon as an attempt to die. tate to others, if make in ths form declara- ton of such views as conscienton,lv enter tain upon tl;s interesting subject claim. of course, nc special Influence or control over the opinions or action of others, but desire simply | that there should be no mistake in any quarter in reference to my own particular attitude at a
 moment so important in the country'S history as the present, and especially that there should 1 be no misunderstanding on this point among those with whom it has been my honor to co. 1 operate for several years past, and from whom
 l should most reluctantly separate at this time | The American party in California, as I have always understood, was originally set on foot by some of the most honest and patriotic men l have ever known, mainly for the purpose of securing faithful execution of the compromise measures of 1850, of suppresSing the agitation of the question Of domestic slavery, and pre- serving the Union Its 'll from the dangers which seemed to meuace 1t from the prevalence of feelings of fierce sect onal hostility in two oppo- site quarters of the confederacy However it may have been elsewhere, the American party in this State has been at al times wholly un- tainted either with the heresv of abolition or that of secession. " Universal religious toera- ton" has been w,h a cardinal principle; and
 in regard t0 the naturalization laws, We have contented ourselves as a party with insisting upon " judicious revision" thereof Resolu- tions on these SuDlects, and an avowal, in nne- quivocal language, Of an earnest desire for the establishment of a railway from the Pacific ocean to the Mississippi river, comprised almost our whole distinctive party creed. We support. ed Fillmore and DonclsOn in the late presilen- tal campaigu because under all existing cir cumstances we thought that the great objects which we had at heart would be more certainly attained through their inetrumeutality The presidential contest Is now with the history of the past Mr. Pierce, administration is at an end, and d new and bright era is visby dawn ing upon us Mr. Duchauan has been formally
 naugurated, and his cabinet officers have been
 appointed. His inaugural address has been
 promulSated among his countrymen, and all
 lalr-mlnded and unprejudiced men must ac-
 knowledge It to be manly, diguiiied, and pat
 rotlc document. l cannot but regard 1t as equal in merit to any production of the kind
 which has heretofore emanated from the fede-
 ral executive since the days of Washington.
 Whilst there is nothing in it which have not
 been gratified to read, there is at the same time
 nothing that any reasonable man could have
 desired it to contain which is not to be found
 in some part of that document, and expressed
 too, in language most luminous and forcble.
 IL breathes throughout spirit of genuine na- tlonallty and nlightened conservatism; and he denounces sectiohallsm in manner to leave no doubt of his inhexible determination to main-
 tain the Union inviolate against all its enemies
 wheresoever located. He pledges himself to do all in his power to suppress the dread ques. ton which has for so long period disturbed
 the peace, and put the republic :tself in ieopar- dy. He asserts the old and approved doctrines of the national democratic party of the Unon
 upheld by its members in the days of J efferson, of Jackson, and of Polk; and he proclaims bold
 ly and unmistakably the great principle of non- intervention, as first promulg gated by Gen. Cass in his Nicholson letter, and afterwards embod- jed in the democratic platform of 1846, and in the compromise measures of 1850, in the sup. port of which Clay, Webster, Cass. and a Dickinson established claims to the eternal gratitude of their countrymen. The new pre-