Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1858-05-25
RECONSTRUCTION OF PARTIES.

The reconstruction of parties seems iust now to bs
4gitating the remnants Of parties and factions all
over the Union. In the North ,hs little end Of the
Know Nothing are endeavori.i2 TO make terms with
The predominant party in that section. while the Black
Republicans are equally willing 10 "fst! 4 pss'' up
on the foreign question. The Fillmorites, through
The Buffalo Commercial. - have expressed the desire
70 unite all the elements of anti slavery upon come
common platform. The New York Tribune" prompt.
ly meets the overture and proposes an abatement Of
the late republican devotion to the rights Of foreign
ers. Speaking directly Of the American party, the
Tribune. says:
There are two points on which We think conces.
SONS should be made to the distinctive American
sentiment. The first is that of guarding most eftec'
lively the purity of the ballot-boI. 1t is not right
that the mere word Of any male biped in human forln,or
at the utmost his oath, often given under the double
stimulus of liquor and excited partizanship, should
be allowed to neutralize the vote OF q well known citi-
zen. The right 10 vote is too sacred, too precious, to
be rightfully subject to publication so easily as this.
II ia markedly just, it is urgently necessary, that the
right of every ore claiming 10 be a legal voter should
be- scrItinized more deliberately and established more
conc,usively than il can be ia the turmoil Of al cleo
ton.
While the Boston ATLAS and Bee" endorsing
the above sentiments of the Tribune" as ''liberal
and catholic" congratulates itself upon the prospects
OF a party that will 'soon grasp the power of this ma.
ton"
These, then, are to be the elements Of union be
tween the know.Nothings and the Republicans-the
hopes of plumber and power will form a platform
which is to abolish all Third Degree Know Nothing.
ism" and destroy all sympathy between the Re.
publicans and the foreign element Of our population.
This platform may gain the Know. Nothing element
Of the North, but 1t loses the same element at the
South, while it destroys the strongest feature of Re.
publican strength-the loreign rote.
But no sooner are the terms Of the compact agreed
upon than the friends of Seward step forward and
claim for him the use Of the new party. Says the
Courier"
THE Republican Party cannot fail to nominate a
Representative man for their candidate in 1860; and of
course Seward is the man. And what is more, if our
party should again look chiefly 10 expectancy in select.
Ing their nominee, the selection could not fail to fall
upon one who, by general consent, is admitted TO be
our ablest Statesman, aud who is discovered 10 be as
conservative rs he ia fearless and able. Even the
South have confidence in his coaIerrotisn, little as
they like his lndomitable energy in exposing slavery
extension"
Here goes, at one fell swoop, all other aspirapts.-
Crittenden, but a few weeks ago the idol of the OF.
position, is ru.hlessly laid aside, his claims not even
politely considered, while Banks, Chase, Mclean,
hV w., dTc " " tduu uaCh U t26 "h6pre.
sentative man. Stewards "erpedjency' ia one of the
chief reasons for his nominetion-his life long anti
slavery opinions render him the real representative
man of Northern llrties-snd the newly Adopted
sn,i.ioreignism Of the 'rribune," if it hold out a
prospect OF success, will doublessly be made q part
OF his Representative character. His conservatism"
Is intended as a joke-especially since his late speech
marking out the destinies Of tree labor. With the
unkindness Of this treatment to The other prominent
leaders of Know nottingham and Republicanism, ".
Of course have nothing to do, and only notice it as
another evidence of the iugratitude OF republics.
But what will our Southern American papers and
men cay to this late arrangement Of their friends at
the Nor,h' In the work Of reconstruction our
Southern contemporaries do not seem to have been
guided by tue instincts Of party success. as are their
late associates at the North. There unity of senti.
meni ie sought TO be made the basis of a platform of
principles upon which all anti slavery men can unite,
While al The South, division and Giscord seem
likely TO exist not only between the Americans and
he Democracy, but to some extent between tls
friends Of The different leaders Of the De,pocrscv
And The late discussion al Montgomery is certain. if
adopted by any portion Of the South, to sliensts every
Northern Democrat, anu unite the whole North upon
al au;..slayery platform. This Northern amslva,n Of
.o;i toreisnism and antisiayery can only be .hestual
y checked by a union of eli parties al the South mo-,
a platform upon which all The conservative men Of
~ North can stsad.
HIS eau never be done, il the slave trade be PET.
sis;ed in by its advocates and friends. Continued die.
custom and ~uaitation OF that subject can only produce
discord and division at the South, and solid unity ri
sil men of every shade of poitcalopinion at the North,
upon an anti slavery PLATFORM thus certainly and hope
!essly severing the las; link that binds together the
North and the South.
The "reoonstructiou" atthe North ia TO be upon an.
.,.sLacsry principles, while the "reoopstruotion" at