Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1858-03-03
From the Washington Union.
Where the Democratic PARTY Stands.

Where the Democratic Party Stands
There are IN the Senate and House of Rem
resentatives one hundred and sixiy-fv men
who were elected as Democrats OF those,
one hundred and forty have pronounced in
favor OF the Lecompton Constitution, and in
slst4hat refusel to admit Kansas as State
under that instrument would be "a departure
from the Democratic doctrine of n-interven-
| tlon;" whilst fhe remainder, TWENTY-FIVE in
number, insist, if their votes upon the aues-
ton ef reference he considered test, that
| to SO admit her would be equally departure
from%that doctrine. Here, then, is wide
dlfterenceo of opinion between members of the
same party upon a question of vital impor-
tance in the policy of tho party, One or the
| other OF these positions must be wrong. If
the hrst is Democratic the last must be anti
Democratic; and Utce cerso and this being so,
| one class or the other of the disputants is ne
cessa1iiy acting ia opposition to the Demo-
cratic party and outside of the Democratic
organization. 1t is unnecessary for us to re-
peat here our reasons for believing that those
who advocate the immediate admission of
Kansas under the Lecomptoh Constitution
are Carrying out the doctrine of non -interyen-
ton, and acting in strict accordance with the
true policy of the Democratic party. If we
this belief, the fact that majority, both of
the Northern and Southern Democrats in Con
gress, making together one hundred and forty
out of the one hundred and siSty-fve Demo-
crate members, had decided in favor of this
policy, would be prtnaa tt1cie evidence TO our
mlndsthat it was the true Democratic policy
for 1t certainly appears to US, and we thuk it
Will so strike the country, that the twonty-
five Democrats who, it is said, will oppose
the admission Of Kansas undor the Lecomptop
Constitution, are for more likely to be in error
than the one hundred and forty who are
known to favor it; and this view of the aues-
ton VIZ. be greatly strengthened, We think,
when 1t Is remembered that the latter are
sustained in their position 10y the President
OF the United States. who has devoted near
forty years of his life to the service of the
Democratic party, and long been considered
among the ablest and safest expounders of
It's doctrines and its principles by the entire
Cabinet, each member of which, by reason Of
his great abilities and long services in the
cause of u smocracy is well fitted to be and
an Interpreter of Its measures and its policy
and last, though not least, by large major
ity of the democratic people, whose clear
heads and honest instincts always teach them
the right and lead them to persue it.
We do not presume to sit in Judgment upon
the motives of those Democrats who have seen
proper to oppose Mr. Buchanen's Kansas pol
icy nor do we arrogate to ourselves the right
to read them out OF the party because of such
opposition. We, however, do not hesitate to
declare that the admission of Kansas into he
Union under the Lecompton Constitution Is
now the recognised and wel-de6ned policy of
the Democratic party that it is SO considered
by very large majority of that party, both
in and out Of Congress-; aud that, whether it
be made test of party fealty or not, those
Democrats who oppose it are warning upon a
vital measure of their party, and to that ex-
tent, at least. must and will be regarded and
dealt with as aliens and enemies But men
cannot long occupy the double attitude of at
tachDent to party and Of hostility to any
one of Its leading measures. Having once
deliberately refused to abide the decision of
fairly aseertained majority upon measure of
party policy, they will sooner or later drift
into opposition upon all of them, and almost
before they are aware of it, find themselves
clearly without Its organization, battling side
by side with it's bitterest foes, to effect its de-
feat and accomplish its destruction Such,
We predict, will be the case with majority of
those Democrats VIII ohave taken.a prominent
and permanent stand in opposition to the pol
icy of the Administration and the Democratic
party In relation to Kansas, and who are now
acting in concert with the Black -Rcpublicans,
to defeat that policy