Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1858-11-04
Has Always Been So.

HI Has BCen So.
The Philadelphia Argus says it is
stated as a fact, by those who have paid
attention to the subject, that from the
time of Thomas Jefferson down to the
present day, the elections to every Sec
ond Congress of a Democratic Admin
istration have resulted, as the recent
one has, in a temporary triumph of the
-pposition. Net only so, but the same
thing is true so far as the other party is
concerned. Gen. Jackson, during the
whole eight years of his Presidency, had
oneor the other branch of Congress ar
rayed against him, and sometimes both.
The same was true ofMr. Van Buren,
In 1910, with the aid of hard cider, coon
skins and song singing, Gen. Harrison,
was elected by an overwhelming major
ity; yet in the second year of that ad-
ministration the elections all went the
other way, and its pet party measures
were all defeated except the Bankrupt
Law, and that only lived a few months.
Gen. Taylor was also elected by a large
majority. The second year of his ad-
ministration witnessed a revolution in
politics which would have left his sue
%cessor, the Vice President, without a
party, but for his sagacity in adapting
his political principles to suit the ext
gencies of the times. Mr.. Fillmore, by
taking a conservative position, and adj
vocating the Constitutional rights of the
South, sustained himself and saved what
was left of his administration from ut
ter humiliation. Then take the ad-
mi%nistration of Mr.. Polk-oEe of the
most popular We ever had-against
which less could be urged than most
others; yet in the second year Of his add
ministration, in 1916, he received quite
as pointed a "rebuke," so far as the ell
ection went, as the present Administra-
has in the estimation of the Opposition.
But let us look at the more recent illus
t~ration. No man was ever elected Presi-
dent when there was a strong party con-
test, by such n crushing, overwhelming
majority as Gen. Pierce; yet the cleo
tons which took place the second year
Of his administration, in 1854, were
much more disastrous than those which
have recently been held. He WIS Gre
buked' upon the very same question
which he-Opposition now falsely claim
to have tested for the first time, and
which they assert entered into the same
canvess-t e Kansas question.
The truth is, Mr.. Buchanan has not
been "rebuked" for his Kansas policy.
1t was the universal pressure of the
times, more than any thing else, which
brought about the recent revulsion in
politics, and was unjustly attributed to
the Administration. If Mr.. Buchanan
has been "rebuked," so was Thomas
Jefferson, so was Gen. Jackson, Gen.
Harrison, Mr.. Polk, Gen. Taylor, Mr..
Fillmore, and Gen, Pierce; SO have been
nearly all the Presidents we have had
in the last sixty years. The elections
of the second year of their several ad-
ministrations al terminated in precise
ly the same way(uniess even moro dis
asterously) that the late election has
done in Pennsylvania AMI other States
of the Union. This is a matter of his
tory, and yet the Democratic party liv-I
ed and grew stronger under all those re-
verses-and it will do so under the
present. The corrupt hangers on will
drop off; the dead weights upon u
glorious old party will be thrown aside.
Like Antaeus, our every fall to the
earth only increases our strength and
r~enovates our vitality.