The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1858-10-27
q ADDRESS
g OF THE G <H
REPUBLICAN CLUB,
r3I TO THE
ELECTORS OF PRESCOTT.


of important elections, to re-affirm the
principles upon which, in the event of sue
ces, they desire to administer the affairs
of Government. All experience has
shown that while the fundamental ideas
of political economy are generally under
stood, and substantially the same senti-
ments with regard to Republican free
dom lie in the breasts of all-at least in
each portion of the Union considered by
itself;--stil the actual history, tendency
and principles of each party are not always
SO wildly before the mind of every cleo
tor as to enable him to vote with that I'M
derstanding which his duty as an Amer
lean freeman in exercising the sacred right
of the elective franchise imperatively re-
quires. In the Northern Fart of our
Union this state of public sentiment is at
the present time more generally observed.
The position AMI aims of parties have
rapidly changed within few years.
Within the memory of those young men
who will cast their first vote at the next
election, the Wing and Democratic par
ties were exercised chiefly by questions of
financial policy, such as the Tariff, Ma
tional Bank, the Public Lands, etc., ap-
pealing directly to the pecuriary interests
Of all classes of citizens, and thus keeping
their minds constantly alive with the the
cries and transactions of the day.
But now the state of politics is wholly
different. 1t is true that two great politi-
cal parties are struggling for the mastery
as before; but they are composed of new
elements that have arisen out of the ruins
of old parties and grayitated by their in
herent laws, each to nucleus of common
effort; and while in the South this law of
gravitation was one of interest in the per-
petuation of human slavery, in the North
the impelling power in the formation of
parties was one of principle upon the alb
stract question of slavery, and sympathy
with an oppressed race. Unquestionably
the people of the North have had an in
terest in the exclusion of slavery in the
Territories; but it has been slight in COM
parison with the universal and paramount
interest of the South; and the question
before the parties of the North being
therefore mainly one of principle. it is not
strange t at many good and true citizens
should rest content with their principles,
and taking no active part in politics, per-
nit themselves to be deceived by the
shifting tactics, the fair expressions, and
the time-honored name of DEMOCRACY"
by which the slave power carries on its
schemes in the nation.
In view of these facts, the Republican
GLIB Of the City Of Prescott respectfully
presents to the electors of the city, the
h Sorry, doctrines and aims of the REPUB-
LIcAN PARTY, as distinguished from the
opposition, and earnestly appeals to them
for a candid examination and q favorable
veld ct at the ballot-box. We sin ;erely
believe that these doctrines constitute the
only safe guide in the administration of
our Government. We believe that their
ascendancy is essential to the perpetuity
Of the Union aud the lib rites Of the peo-
pie. We believe that tho Democratic
party is a Southern and pro-slavery
organization; that the object of the South
is to perpetuate and nationalize slavery
by means of this organization; and that
those acting with that party in the Nor
them States, who do not sympathize with
this purpose, are deceived IN regard to its
principles, or else make their politics a
mere profession for the attainment of
place and spoils. ori
The history OF the two parties rs they
are at present constituted, dates only back
to the election of FRANKLIN PIERCE to
the Presidential Chair. AT that time the
country had become tired of slavery agi-
tation, and the Democratic party in the
Convention which nominated General
Pierce for the Presidency, sagacously
perceiving this state of public sentiment,
adopted as the most conspicuous and i'm
portant part of their platform, resolution
pledging the party to resistance of all
further agitation OF the Slavery question
in Congress or out of proclaimed
peace between the two sections of the
Union upon the basis of the Compromise
measures of 1850; and with these pledges
to the people elected their candidate to
the Presidency by an overwhelming and
unprecedented majority. 1t is true that
large portion of the citizens of the North
deplored the Fugitive Slave Law as lar
barous code, calculated to convert the free
States into communities of slave catehers.
as law of federal usurpation against the
sovereignty of the States, denying the
right to the writ of habeas corpus and a
trial by jury; but the election of General
Pierce conclusively proved thai the ma
jority had determined to acquiesce in that
law, and INDUCED the hope that the South
would be satisfied and the country would
be at peace.
The Democratic party had a majority
in both Houses of Congress, and as the
Administration was so constituted that
the preponderance of power aud influence
in the cabinet was given to the South, the
Slave States had unquestionably the COM
plete control of the Government. Mark
the result, fellow citizens, and observe the
purpose of the South in obtaining the
control. Was it to maintain peace and
harmony between the different sections of
the Union' Was il to preserve to the