Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1857-02-07
SAN.

Some OF the Democratic papers are facilitating
themselves with the idea that the American Party
Of Tennessee does not intend, in the coming can
vRsss 70 press the distinctive prin0pesO OF the Par
~. They have never INSIDE greater mistake. 1t
IS the purpose of the American Party, If we do
not wrongly interpret the spirit now prevalent,
not TO suffer itself to be turned aside BY any inte-
rior ISSUE from the discussion of the great ques'
lions which gave rise to it. The people OF Ten
nesses have not yet had an opportunity OF render
ing their decision upon those questions separate
and spsFt from al others"
Our neighbor seems to forget that the people of
Tennessee were, on two important occasions, call
ed upon topronounce upon the merits of Sam, and
that in their deliberate judgment, they condemned
him to death. Alasi poor SAM BE has suffered
that extreme psnslty-is.dead and buried. But
in the language of the Philadelphia Argus, we
remember him in the dsy Of his vitality Although
his existence wss but short, be made great noise
in the world. BE swallowed up ell that remained
Of the Wing party after the lamented Clay and
Webster had gone to their account; and it must not
be denied that be frightened some Of our Demo.
cratic brethren most terribly. We DO not think
tho heart Of the Democracy ever papitatsd 50 pain
fully before. And no wonder. East and West;
North and South, Sam played the part Of con-
queror. The prestige of invinebility preceded
him, and the most astonishing victories were eve
ryWhere streWn in his path. Mysterious and in
visible, who could Withstand him
Fortunately it is more difficult to bear prosperity
than adversely. The founders Of this wonderful
party were, it is true, merely men Of straw-being
deficient in intellectual stamina, in prudence, in
discretion. Like the parvenu Goldfish sristoOracy,
they could not keep their own counsel but must
divulge the tricks and receptions by which their
success hsd been achieved. A beef-psted coclney
grown suddenly rich, delights to expatiste on the
adFoitness with which be circumvented his victims.
And Sam could not keep his own secret, after he
had carried cities Congressional Districts, Legiss-
lures and States. He became altogether too con-
fdspt Nothing, he supposed, could arrest his
progress to the Presidency. And almost everybody
believed the same thing. The panic even spread
scross the broad ocean, and immigration was
checked. Thousands Of Irishmen and Germans
remained in their native potato patches and vine
yards, who had made up their minds to work upon
the American railroads. or bake bread for US in our
cities and villages. It was thus his opponents
made premature surrender and Sam himself ex-
ulted too rsshly.
The citadel Of the Democracy, however, still
held out. But the time had bean appointed to
storm it, In the cid mother Of States, in the land
Of Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Patrick
Henry, the GROWING triumph was to seal Sans
omnipotenCs. 1t was in the pleasant month of
Nay. No other election was on the tspis. The
Argus eyes of the thirty one States were fixed uP-
on devoted Virginia to witness Sans final achieve
msnt All bis orators were sent thither. The
artillery of his press ell over the Union opened
Concentric FIRE on the last strong hold Of Demo-
cEscy:
But the Democratic champion who had been
selected to wage the desperate war against the
hitherto victorious legion of Sam, was, himself
endued with an inherent prestige Of invinCibity.
Never, throughout his political career, had be re-
tired from any field Of contest but as a victor
Alone be entered the lists, his eagle eye only the
brighter for the incSlculable odds against him.
His lion heart was insensbe to the trepidstion of
his friends who witnessed the appalling spectacle
he knew that enduring lsurels were to be won in
times of difficulty and danger; and, scOrning to
await the onset, he boldly charged upon the foe
Z" with helmet down and lance in rest, " and the
result has become portion Of our political history
Sam was pierced through OF Mason End DiXon's
line. AL Of him south Of that boundary fell
psralyzsd to the earth and after q few spasmodio
commissions expired forever. Then his northern
sztremities were seized upon by the most infamous
crew that ever disgraced humanity, and were
galvanized into 3 semblsnce Of animation. But
that base use, that vile association, was the final
destruction Of Sam, here and hereafter. His yer-
tebrs had been disloosted in Virginia, but his soul
was to be damned in New England and New York
The Infamous set was contaminated on the night
preceding the Presidential election, when Kenneth
Raynor read the following despatch from Willard
Fillmore SaoessE would justify my friends in
formings union with the Fremont Black BE
pubHcans) " TO defeat Buchanan" This perfdy
was not known in Maryland until after the election
Alas, poor SsmI If be had not exscted more
than q reasonable probation from foreigners If be
had not prescribed them from Office, nor prosecuted
them for their religion, how different might have
been bis fate A certain term of residence, opeF.
ative only in the future, would not have affected
the citizen Of foreign birth then in the country,
and the party might have been q national one
But the temptation to incite Protestant denomina-
tons against the Roman hierarchy, was too strong
for resistance his education was sadly defective
or be would have known that the blood Of the
martyrs is the seed of the church, and that the
puritan Bects were as capable of practising pre-
sCription and intolerance, as any other specimens
of corrupt humanity. The Independents and
Presbytsrisns, in the middle Of the sixteenth CEN
tury, afforded an indelible example to Europe;
and the Ward Beechers and Theodore Psrkers in
our own country, have desecrsted the holy altlrs
turning their churches into dens of thieves arse
nails for murdersrs, and brothels for hoary adul-
terers
But the Tatsbane Of Sam, and that which contri-
buted most powerfully to his fnal dissolution was
his embrace of Abolitionism. That Ingredient is
certain death to any party. Ii is war on the
Constitution-s bsttering ram aimed at the Key
stone Of the Federal Arch, and Of course every pa
triotic citizen twill stand from under. In civil
wars al moral and legal restraints are snnhiated
Trade, commerce, Improvement, are Destroyed
The Banks, and al moneyed institutions become
the common objects of plumber; and rich men are
Unfortunately and Temorselessly pursued and
plucked by ell parties and factions
There is but one course left for the honest fol-
lovvsrs Of Sam who cannot stomach the arsenic of