Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1858-11-12
Reign Of Calhounism.
.sThe evil thst men do. lives after them;
The good is Oft inferred With their bopes.''


The good is Oft inferred With their bopes.o
history. A dead statesman, Gays :he Spring
field Republican,, DOW controls our national
policy. His doctrines peryade and direct all
departments Of the government, aud in that
sense he, though dead, has more power than
any living man. The men in Office, from tie
president dowa TO the huinblest tlde-waissr, are
but the instruments of the policy which he
originated. John O. Calhoun is TO day king
of these United States. This is no exaggera-
tion, NO mere figure Of speech, but substantisl
verify, the evidences of which lie open to COM
mon apprehension. The fact is remarkable as
it is true. The great Statesman of South Car
olina did not get fairly recognized while living.
Even his own state, while il honored his con-
summate ability and his singular devotion to
pto-slavery ideas, had not courage to come up
to hs radical slavery doctrines, aud was in
clined to look upon him as poetic and visionary
in his schemes. The politicians of the other
southern states stood aioof from him, and CON
sidered his ideas quite impraciicable, while the
north held them in entire contempt. Nobody
believed then that the day would ever come
when the doctrines of Calhoun would mould the
prevailing policy of great national party, asd
of the general government. But the prophetic
soul of Calhoun looked forward to this result,
and that provision of the future which belongs
to all great minds made him confident and
assured, although the whole world was appar-
emily against him, and the eternal law of God
and the course of divine Providence seemed 10
be in direct hostility 10 the great scheme to
which he had devoted his life Aud when j.
q. Calhoun died everybody said that slavery
had lost its great champion, and that henceforth
she would make no more arrogant claims to
dominion. The event has disappointed all ex-
pectatioD. The theories of Calhoun, discarded
during his lifetime by bis own party, and dis.
trusted by his own section, have become the
doctrines of the democratic party and the
the government, and fidelity to them i. TO- aar
the test Of official fitness in the free as we'll e.
the slave states. The democratic perty is no
longer the party of jefferson, or of Jackson
it is the party of Calhoun, and lie, though
eight years dead, is more properly its dictator
than any and all living men in their ranks II
should take his name too. 1t is not Jeffer-
sunian party, ner democratic party 1t 10
simTly and wholly Calhoun party. That ex-
presses its entire character and creed
In bis speeches on the Oregon bill and his
celebrated "Address of Southern Members of
Congress TO their constituents Mr. Calhoun
advanced the doctrine that slavery was a ma
tional institution-the southern sta tesman had
before insisted that it was purely local, aud
that the general government should not inter
fere with land he declared tha, tho truo
policy of the South was to defer its partv dif-
ferences and 10 refuse all connection with auy
political party ut the North that would not sen
fierce the guarantees of the constitution IN
favor Of the South, and give to its peculiar in
stituion the patronage ard support of The gen.
eral government. This advice, repudiated NJ
t.s TING, has since been followed Siep bv
step the democratic party has assembled to ih.
topmost plank nf tbe Calhoun platform. and
has secured thereby the unanimous and nn-
wavefing allegiance Of the entire South. IL
has become southern party, mere sectional
party, devoted 10 a single sectional interest,
with only such support from the North as NAV
be secured by the hope of federal office, by
the purchase Of the votes Of the luercenary. or
6y practising upon the credulity of the igror-
ant In this perfect union of the South lies
its strength, as Mr.. Calhoun predicted, backed
as 1t has hitherto been, By tho. weakness and
division of the North. The slave power DOW
rules with undisputed sway. 1t has only 10
speak and 1t is done. The supreme court ss
we'll as tho executive, registers its ediets with
OUT hesHatlon. SlaVery IL declared 10 exist
constitutioDally in all the public domain, and
neither Congress nor the people Of the terri
tories cray exclude it, but arc, on the contrary,
soiemnly bound to cherish aud protect 1t, and
every other interest must give way before this,
the only really national institution.
VIII ibis reigu of Calhounism be perpetual,
or has it reached its climax, and is il destined
to fall as suddenly and mysteriously as i, has
arisen! There are evident signs of decay snd
demorslizatiou 10 the Calhoun party. 1t has
ventured too far upon upon the acquiesoenee of
its supporters in the free States. II has become
too confident in its power, and too arrogant
and aggressive to be longcr endured. The
Democracy Of Jefferson is now fairly p,tted
against it. the struggle will be brief and glo-
rious, II The supporters Of freedom and true
democracy ate but wise and faithful The
reign Of the dead man must be ended in 1860,
and the principles, which ought also to die,
shall be buried with bis bones beneath the
ccngenial soil of South Carolina. Tho party
of living men with living principles comes to
take rs piece and to write its singular history.
q