The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1858-07-01


men went to Harrisburg for the purpose
of protesting against the threatened con-
secration of Lecouptonism there. A horde
of sycopbants and servile, Office holders
and Office hunters swarmed there too; and
after gallant struggle, memorable in
D arty annals, series of resolutions was
carried over the heads of a resisting and
intrepid minority, aud so the foul work
was again ratified and affirmed.
So much for the seed sown in Pennsyl4
vania. So much for the adm onitions Of
The PRESS. The harvest soon came;
and what a harvest it wasl Bickeriug
and bad blood appeared in every county
in the Commonwe altb Discussions were
carried into every State in the North. The
Dem ocratic party were beaten in every e.
lection that took place in the free States,
aud the last result was the defeat of that
great party in the city of Philadelphia
By an overwhelming majority. The proph.
ecy made in these columns has been ap.
pallingly fulfilled.
But did tho unfortunate results referred
to induce the advocates of Lecomptonism
to pause in their mad careeri On the
contrary, Northern Representatives, with
the protests of hundreds of thousands Of
Democrats ringing in their ears, stub
-bornly insisted upon supporting that mon
strous proposition. And now a new scene
in the drama is about to be enacted, and
the people are called upon unresistin2ly
to assist in and shout over it's perform.
anee. The men who forced Lccomrton
through Congress-the men who insulted
the public seDtiment-the men who de-
serted the pledges Of 1856, who applaud.
ed the prescription of the champions, tried
and true, Of that principle; these men noaO
call upon the masses OF the Northern Dem.
ocracy to re elect them to tie neat COngrerS,
and thus to seal. By q popular decree, the
graoest act Of pOIIticalt@rpNs'Ole andheacdt.
ery TO be tound IN political annals !
But in the name of great party, We
say No to the demand. We assert that
enough has been lost for this disbonoring
example. We declare that sufhciency
of sacrifice has been u ade in the name of
despotic doctrine. We insist th at those
who have attempted, and who have failed
in the attempt, to commit the Democratic
party to this doctrine, should stand back
and allow other meD-men trusted and
tried, who know the wishes of the people
and respect them TOTO take the nomi-
nations for the national councils; for if
this is not done, hundreds of innocent
Democrats must fall in the effort to ele-
vate the guilty. In this State, every Dem
ocratic member of Congress but three has
demoralized himself by voting for Lecomp-
tonism in one or another of its shameless
DISCUSSES. We ask, in all candor, wheth
er these men are to be put upon Demo
cratic tickets, like so many dead weights,
to carry down others upon those tickets
who had nothing to do with the sacrifice
and the surrenderl
For here is the practical question, after
all. LecomptoniSu is not a virtue, but
Iie-it is not principle, but heresy-
it is not even decent expedieDt, bot an
ipcarnatc and fostering corruption. 1t
has no vitality in it, like the principle of
the Kansas and Nebraska act, which.
when we fell for it in 1854, by its casti-
city aud its power, shortly after rescued
those who had stood by it. and restored
the Democracy to the power which they
bad temporarily lost
To vote to noninnte those who suppor-
ted Lecompton is, then, to endorse all this
wrong, this falsehood, this surrender, this
party stult fcstiou; and we deny that We
are called upon by any act of gratitude, or
of policy, to do any such thing. In every
countyin Pennsylvania there are members
of the Legislature and county officers to he
chosen at the October election. Shall the
hundreds of men Interested in these elec-
tons be sacrificed to crafty the base am
bition of those men who dem and that the
,hall be endorsed and applauded for their
votes upon Lecomptonismi Again we
say No; and therefore it is-apart from
the principle of the thing, apart from the
chastisement which every advocate OF
LecoWpton deserves at the hands of the |
people he has betrayed-that to save the
organization of the Democratic party and
TO rescue from defeat innocent men, the
members Of Congress from Pennsylvania
who deserted the Cincinnati platform of
1856 should be quietly withdrawn, and
left to obscurity and penitence until their
offence has been forgotten and forgiven.