The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-11-05
WHAT WILL THEY DO NOW l--PAkTIEs IN
THE NEXT CONGRESS.


ton is settled, they are deprived of an issue,
they must invent some new ore. Will they
adopt the old Wing creed of q Protective Tariff
and National Bank ?"
The Republicans will not change their
ground. Like the National Democracy, So
called, they differ among themselves in regard
to Banking und Tariff. Some are for Free
Trade and Hard Money; some for Protection
and Banks some for Revenue Tariff with
incidental protection, and Banks with the most
stringent safeguards. Like the. soscalled De-
mocracy, they tolerate the widest differences
of opinion upon these subjects; and there Is
no danger that these will becoHe Party CUES
tons.
The Buchanan Party have possession of the
Federal Administration, VII control the next
Congress, and of course VIII be responsible for
the financial policy of the country. If they
choose to let the present Tariff alone, the Repub-
licsn party, being in the minority, will not be
called upon to disturb it. Should they initiate
any measures wisely calculated to promote gold
and silver currency, Republican members will
doubtless encourage them so, ig they are not
in earnest, but only propose to WIN some credit
with the People by empty declaration against
Paper Money, endeavoring to throw upon the
Republican party the onus of advocating it, it
will be just as well for them to ktep quiet. We
do not think the Republicans will be caught in
any such trap. Even the. NeW York Tribune,
with all its devotion to Protection, wants no
such issue for the Republican patty:
ave have been falsely charged" it says,
I" by the Journal Of Comm eree with abandon.
ing the platform of the epubiican party, in
favor of Protective Tariff, Nothing could be
further from the fact. We propose no altera-
ton of the Tarif-recommr md none-any more
than we propose or reco npend National
Bank. The People, whetl or wisely or unwise-
ly, have chosen Democrt tic Congress, which
could not be induced to ems ct Protective Tar
if, if it were certain that thus Only could thou.
sands of laborers be preserved from starvation,
and the country from abs )lute ruin. The in
terests of the party are paramount with its
functionaries, and for thea to brotect the in
dustry of the country woul1 be u commit pc.
litical suicide. The powe is ia their hands,
and they will use it for ts,eir Political advan-
tage, not for the good of tae People. Believ-
ing that a cycle of Hard Money and Free
Trade is therefore inevitable, we exhort every
one to shape his business accordingly, and not
look to the Government for a relief that will
certainly not be afforded. 1t were mad to live
in hopes of what Congress, to be hereafter
elected, may do three or four years hence"
This is sensible. Holding precisely opposite
views concerning Protection and Banking, we
yet agree with the Tribune IN the practical con-
clusion to which it comes.
What, then, will be the issues Precisely
what they have been since the organization of
the Republican party. Shpll Slavery or Free
dom control and shape the policV of the Fed
eral Government, and dete mine the destlnies
of the Union This is the question in contro-
versy betweenthe Republics ms and the socalled
National Democrats, and it viii occupy as
much of the time of the ne> Congress as it did
of the last.
Is the Age really ignora, of the movements
in its own party? Look the Southern Sec
ton, constituting the bod of it: what is it
about? Thinking and talk ng of the monetary
crisis? Discussing questio Js of finance Pre-
pairing for new issues? 1t one idea is Slave.
ry, and its necessities. I'll 3 South is divided,
not between Wings and D. ,mocrats, or Demo
Gratis and Americans, but between those who
believe in National Democs tcy' az the guardian
of Slavery, and Mr.. Bucbap On as perfectly loyal
to all its interests, and thoee who question the
good faith or suficiency Ct both. The Rich
mond (Va.) Enquirer is the leading organ of
the former, the Richmond WAY South, of the
latter. One faction assumes to be conserva-
tive, the other is denounced as destructive. To
the former belong Henry a. Wiae and ma
jority of the Senators from the South to the
latter, Senators Hunter and Toombs, General
Quitman and Jefferson Davis.
The course of Governor Walker in Kansas
and his relations to the Administration, for m
the special subjects of controversy. The Gov,
ernor, as we all know, took the ground, in his
public addresses, that the location of Slavery
is determined by climatic laws; that it is not
adapted to the latitude of Kansas that the
principle of popular sovereignty is the only true
and safe principle for the settlement of the ques-
tions at issue between the North and the South
that he would insist on the full application of
this principle to the question Of Slavery in
Kansas that the Constitu.s onal Convention to
be held in Kansas ought to submit the question
for its solution to the actual residents of Kan.
sas, and the decision of majority, whatever
it may be, should be binding; that ouch was
the opinion of the Administration by which he
was appointed and that, should the Conven.
tioE refuse to submit that question to the act
ual residents, then he would do all in bis power
to have the Constitution s ant back.
This was bold position for a Southern man,
and yet, none other could ,e taken without falls.
flying the position of the SPECIALIZED National De.
mocracy, and the declarat ms of Mr.. Buchanan
himself in his Inaugural. If the South would
not assent to this policy, gould not agree that
majority of the actual ..ettlers should deter
mine their own domestic institutions, in form.
ing a State, there must be IN end of all connec.
ton between Northern aid Southern Demo
crats--it would at once be manifest to all that
it was resolved to rule by force, in violation of
the Democratic Principle.
But the South" and its associates assailed
the Governor with great severity, and some of
them did not scruple to implicate Mr.. Buchan.
an. At first, the Richmond Enquirer was stag.
gered, admitted that Governor Walker had been
imprudent, but indicated the Administration.
As to submitting the Constitution to the people
of Kansas, it could see no difficulty in that,
provided proper construction were given to
that term, the People," Who were they ?
Obviously those who had elected the delegates
to the Convention They had been aacettained
by the registry to be "the People y of Kansas.