, 1858-04-23
From the San Francisco Herald.
The Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party.
The national Democracy Of the Uuited
States qte at this moment undergoing one
of the fabst severe tests that it is possible
to conceive. Year after year the ingenuity
Of their bitterest enemies has besn taxed
to the utternost to SOW discord in theil
ranks. Inscriptions in the extreme, bold
arrogant, and willy, our political opponents
have seized upon every point that promised
the least opening for an entering wedge
with which to rend the Democratic party,
aud lay it at the mercy Of its spoils-seeking
opponents. All efforts have been vain,
every attempt prostrated, every argument
triumphantly met and overcome, every
sophistry exploded and blown to the winds.
| Beaten, routed, abashed, it il easy to con-
ceive the extreme avidity with which they
seize on the apparent split in the Demo-
cratic ranks, caused by the Kansas question
Incapable Of discovering one flaw in those
glorious principles under which thsDUnion
has flourished aud to which we owe our
unparalleled progress as nation, they have
been compelled to hide their faces in very
shame, until again revivifed by the heat of
the contention on the question mentioned.
Their caterpillar existence, foul and loath-
some, had sunk into the silence, inactivity,
and insignifcance Of the chrysalis, from the
eerements of which they now hope to burst
into gay and joyous existence. To every
true Democrat it is quite unnecessary TO say
how vain, how transtory such hopes must
prove The Democratic party stand upon
principles as firm and as immutable as the
Rock of Ages; aud, although differences of
opinion may exist among themselves as to
the peculiar manner of giving public effect
aud vital action to those principles; yet it
were a sad delusion to suppose that any
change had occurred in the principles them
selves, or n the reverence and faith enter
tained in them by the party, This, then,
is precisely the error into which our enc
mics have fallen. They fondiy imagine
that, on account Of such difference, the
Democratic party is divided into two dis
tinct factions, at variance with each other,
even to the insane extent Of courting the
favor and countenance Of their hereditary
and unprincipled antagonists. tits the in
fatuation Of despair; the frantic clutch of
the drowning man, the last desperate hope
of desperate case. Uunalterably welded
to those principles that have SO triumphant.
ly withstood the test Of time, and the as.
sanlts Of insensate foes from abroad aud at
ara not so mad, so infatuated as to crnm6le
them into ruins for the sole purpose Of Civ
ing their enemies q triumph They may
divide and disagree on points Of applica-
tion; they may differ as to the precise man
ner in which q certain course Of policy
should be effected; they may vary in opin-
ion as 10 the particular mode in which q
fixed principle should be applied; but there
is and can never be any difference'in regard
to the principle itself. The Democratic
party, divided into two or more parts on
any given question is not less unit as a
party when opposed to any outside faction,
or political opponent Like two brothers,
they may quarrel and perhaps even 6ght.
bat it would be dangerous for any one else
to interfere In the controversy. The Uni
ted States Of America will disagree on
many points Of internal policy. The bound
less variety Of climate, soil andproductions;
the vast differences that exist in edueatioH-
al training, and the views and feelings in
cident thereto, must inevitably produce q
corresponding difference Of interests and Of
ideas between the residents Of the extremi-
ties Of the UniOB; but let q foreign power
dare to manifest any interference, and all
discords would cease immediately, family
quarreis be instantly adjusted, and tue
I 4 A l.. a