The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-11-11

logized extravagantly for their extraordinary
patriot SIN, nationality, Gberality, courage. Thai
was fol- y. The standard of public virtue must
be low indeed where opposition to such an in
fanny is thought to entitle man to an apothe
osis
| Those gentlemen acted very well--like SEN
sible and patriotic men but are good sense
and patriotism political principless Did Pro
lection SITS in former days vote for sensible and
patriotic Free Traders? Was it customary in
4 formersdays for Democrats to rally under Wing
leaders, because they happened to perform some
generous deed? The world of politics has not
hitherte been governed by the affections.
Alas while Representative Marshall in the
House was opposing the Lecompton Bill, he
was lakoring to vindicate to his constituents his
eminent Pro-Slavery orthodoxy and Sena-
| tor Beg took care, while denouncing the vile
thing, TO magnify his loyalty to the Slave Inter
est of the South, for whose benefit that very
thing llas devised! Any of these gentlemen
would cave felt wounded, had he been claimed
as harboring the slightest sympathy with Repub
licans or their Principles. Extravagantly as
they weTe lauded, their courage was not equal
to their conviction They did not dare to vote
for the rejection of what they knew to be a
Fraud.. The utmost they would consent to do
was, forgive the people of Kansas chance to
reject /. Constitution which they themselves
ought ) have branded as an infamy. And when
the Re- publican members, after having voted
directly against the measure, seeing that it must
pass, uiless they would unite in the support of
the Cri,tenden- Montgomery amendment, gave
their sotes reluctantly for that proposition,
some of those very gentlemen disingenuously
charged them with having surrendered their
doctrine of the power Of Congress over the Ter
ritories, and embraced the Principle of Popu-
lar Sovcreigntyl" This was VIGOROUSLY false /:
everybt dy knew that the case was exceptional
that it .gould be unfair to draw it into prece
dent nat the Republicans voted for the amend
ment .ist, because it afforded the only chance
for saving Kansas from Slavery, secondly, be-
cause they knew that, were the Constitution
submitted TO the People of that Territory, it
would inevitably be rejected and that they did
not dream of conceding or qualifying single
principle on which they had been acting.
But, The politicians, who regard politics as
a struggle betweend the ms and the Outs; those
who tremble with apprehension at what are
styled sectional issues those who still inger
over the traditional giories of Democratic and
Wing conflicts, and devoutly look for resurrec-
ton of old issues and those who think nothing
Of Principle, but everything of success, fancied
that they saw in the Douglas feud, the Critten-
den aud Bell demonstration, the estimation
placed by Republicans upon the services of those
gentlemen, and the conduct of the Republican
members in relation to the Crittenden amend
ment, grounds for expecting a general rally
of all the Elements of the country disaffected to
the Administration kind of nondescript
Peoples Party. The Republican Party was to
be ignored, but its adherents were to be
gratifed with tremendous resolutions of con-
demnasion against the Administration for its
sectionslism and its Kansas policy. Pop
ular Sovereignty" or the policy of allowing the
People of a Territory to admit or reject Slavery
for themselves, was to be endorsed, so as to sat
isfy Douglas and Forney on one side, Critten-
of all sections were to be conciliated by the ex-
clusion of sectional issues. Americanism was
to be satisfied by pledges to maintain the purity
of the elective franchise. The Tariff Interest
was to be secured by declarations in favor of
Home industry. The timid, the conservative,
the prS udiced, were to be propitiated by thrust
ing ashse such veterans in the recent conflicts
as Chase, Seward, and Hale, and giving promi-
hence . Crittenden, Bell, and other National
statesi en-
Eart last spring the movement was formally
initiated in this city by circulars sent out all
over tie Union, by wcll-known Old Wing,
recently an American. Then followed the
great neeting at Philadelphia, in June, and
similaa demonstrations in Delaware, profess
eddy with view to the Inauguration of
Peoples Party. An earnest call was made
upon other States to do likewise. The Phila-
delphis newspapers of a certain stamp abound
ed in discussions on Nationality the folly of
sectional issues, the necessity of grand rally,
to save the country from the ruinous measures
of Buchanans Administration. The Ne,o York
Tribune gave countenance to the policy of the
movement, and strenuous effort was made to
carry i. out in New York State, BY union of
the Republican and American Parties, on a
mixed State ticket with a Platform, from
which it was seriously proposed to exclude any
reference to Slavery, except a general indef-
mite expression Of sentiment in favor of its
non-eYssension. Had the project succeeded,
there would this day have been no Republican
Party in that great State. The late election
would have been without a definite meaning
The position of the members of Congress elect
wOuldshave been involved in doubt The cause
of Freedom would have been betrayed; the
foundation would have been laid for Protec-
ZIONIST, Conservative, American, Compromise
Party which would finally have embraced Mil
lard Fillmore, and repudiated William H. Sew
ard {
Ths miserable scheme failed. The Repub-
lican Convention reafirmed the Principles of
the Earty, nominated a genuine ticket, the
Party went into the canvass on its own Princi-
Piles, and the result shows that it commands
large majority OF the voters of the State
To put the issues beyond all doubt, Mr. Seward
took occasion, short time before the election,
to deliver two speeches, which were quickly re-
published throughout the State, re-stating and
Reinforcing, in bold and eloquent language, the
Principles and purposes of the Republican
Party The demonstration was timely. 1t was
| an estnguisher on the scheme of Peoples
Party Politicians in this District, who had
| studied the signs of the times in Philadelphia,
/ aud l,arnad from, 4la .ol..-. e IL ~ n