Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1858-09-01


the Union; for the avowed object OF such ap-
peals to mere prejudice and passion Is sufi-
clentiy serious; it is not merely to change the
administrators of the government of the
country, but also to change that policy of
Denocratic nationality which has prevailed
for so many years. and has been the efhca-
clous instrument of the support and elevation
! Of the Union
God forbid that this should be. The con-
stitution was inaugurated by the men who
had madepg Revolution So long as their
great leader in peace war, the typical man
of the keyoiution, Washington, lived, party
divisions were of secondary account in the
+! government of the United States When he
dIed--when the work Of constructing and set
| ting ia motion the machinery of the Union
had been done-then the people of the Uni
ted States began to discuss aud to divide up
on theories of administrative policy; in other
words. to form into political parties; and the
! history OF the country exhibits the memorable
! fact that from that day to this, with brief and
| apparently but casual Interruptions. one grand
party has controlled the administration Of the
government.
1t has been the fortune Of that party to in-
ltlate all the great nieasures Of administrations
each one of which the adversary party oppo-
]
afterward as fact, and to accept if not ap-
prove them as theory. [ can remember but
one great measure OF policy, foreign Or domes-
tic, which had difereut origin. | mean tae
subsisting imperfect arrangement of the COM
non relations Of Great Britain and the United
! States 10 Central America; and that has never
| been anything but stumbling block and an
offence in the path of the Union. All the
signal steps in progress Of the country, as the
acquisition Of Louisiana, Florida and Califor-
MA, the accession of Texas, the vindication
of our rights on the side Of Great Britain and
Mexico by the successful prosecution of each
| the successive adjustments Of the financial sys-
TEN ofthe government. the determination of
the proper relation of the Territories to the
/ States and the Union; all these are the work
! OF the same Democratic and Natiouai ass0cia-
! ton of men and interests which still presides
over and administers the Government Of the
! United States.
All this, we are told, is to be changed, for
! the very reason that it is national; for the
reason that the ime-honored theory Of Ad-
ministratiOn refuses to be sectioual-refuscs
to defer to the exigencies OF the North, so far
as TO disregard the rights of the South-refu-
ses, in its paternal justice, to see or know
that there is North or South, al East Oh
the whole undivided Union, For this the
people of the United States are to be pessua-
ded to substitute a sectional administration. -
or, to speak more accurately, the people Of
the North are invited to make a second effort
to impose, by their sectional votes, such
sectional administration on The people Of the
United States.
Can this be done? VIII it be done? dc
not believe it I can see. on the one hand
political association, which holds in its keep
ing the traditional public policy of the couE.
try; which, at both ends Of the country, Nortl
and South, couragcously and conscientious
assumes the burden of nationality. in defiance
Of local jealousies and prejudicics; which alon,
processes g Constitutional political creed ant
follows q Constitutional theory of action
which calmly but resolutely maintains GU
international rights iu all emergencies; wh;ci
is Cons;itutionaly observation-disclosures it i
Democratic i'll principle. and thus concliate
together the rights of the States and the right
OF the universal people. l see, on the othe
hand, political association, which is not in
deed, an assocsation, but loose COZ glomer
ate only of the fragments broken off from 9th
er associations, which has no definite platform
Of doctrines and floats at random on the It'd
of public policy, in the hope of picking u
SoHE chdHcc heI!hSulan, IL hLpWS EOU "iere
who may bring it into port, which lives onl
by hateful vituperation Of the South, whic
is the refuge and receptacle Of all the croche.
iisms of the day.
Both vain things and all who in vain thing>
Huild their fond hopes OF glory or lasting fame,
Are the unaccomphshed work Of Natures hand
Abortivr, monstrouS, or unkindiy Mixed"
tossing and whirling about in that limbo G
vanity. Can those eminent men, who, O
the dissolution Of previous political associa
tons, have improvidently allowed thcmselve
to drift up into that limbo, govern and guild
their heterogeneous, incongruous and imprac
tcabe companions to any useful purpose
either in the attainment or the exercise c
power? / doubt. They may do it, admit
in single States. I deny that they can do i.
on the broad field of the Union