Litchfield enquirer., 1858-07-29
THE WHOLE DUTY OF A DEMO
 GRAF.

III euo PIOcecuiuSS U q HIe DemOcfaLlc Convention held in State which, for the pur- poses of our commentary and moral, it is un- necessary to mention, delegate is reported to have held the follow ing explicit and emphatic language in relation to the fealty demanded by the Democratic party of all who aspire to the distinction of being enumerated among its liege and loyal members:
 "It is characteristic of good Democrat that he is as perfect a obedience he is absol,ae in comand While he is private in the ranks he feels it to be his duty to obey the 5ehests o hs ary; when he is promoted to leadership he exacts implicit ebedience to the authority which has been vested in him. When we elected James Buchanan President of the United States also at the same time elected him President of the Democratic party; and he, together with the Cabinet and the Democratic Senators and Represen- tatives in Congress- trbun Is which the party it self set up in 1856 to deeare kat are Denoatc doc trines and Democratic measures."
 This declaration has at least the merit of candor and frankness It is apparent that the speaker, by virtue of capacious faith in the infallibiity of Democratic leaders and in the consequent wisdom of all their doctrines and measures, is perfectly honest in thus espousing a dogma which to those less deeply mbued with the Democratic spirit, may smack of ex aggeration, not to say seryity. For nothing, We are sure, but an unconscious maarete could have prompted the avowal of such sentiments, which are of nature to forbid the presump- tion that they were uttered in a spirit of af- fectation or insiucerity, since men are generally observed to practice hypocrisy only by way of assuming a virtue if they have it not. No man, we are sure, would ostentatiuusly wear a collar on his neck who had any faint or finger ing idea that freedom was, ill his case, prefer able to servitude and when we find De- mocratic orator giving in his adhesion to doc trines of faith which demand passive obedi- ence to the behests of party" we are bound but sincerity can account for such confessions.
 Assuming, however, the truth of the stand ard thus erected, we find ourselves none the less puzzled to discover where Democratic in- fallibiity may be always and certainly found. It is true we are told that the President, to- gether with the Cabinet, the Democratic Sen ators, and the Democratic Representatives, constitute so many tribunals" which the party has set up " to declare what are Demo cratic doctrines and Democratic measures" Now, admitting this to be the special func- tion of the high authorities designated, it may sometimes happen in the future, as it certainly has happened in the past, that these tribn- nals" themselves may be at variance in regard to the measures and doctrines which should be tests of party allegiance, insomuch that we find much the same difficulty which beset the English clerical wit in his attempt to discover the seat of "Papal infallibiity" amid the conflicting claims, as he understood them, of Pope, Cardinals, and Councils, jointly and sev- erally assuming to themselves the prerogative in question. And as he, in his state of un- certainty, doubted the value of a thing which nobody could find when wanted, we are dis posed, in like manner, to question the practi- cai'worth of the announcement made by this Democratic oracle, unless he will disclose some more effective means by which all alterations from Democratic orthodoxy may be instantly and unerringly detected. However "perfect in obedience" a "good Democrat" may be, it is apparent that he is still liable to the en- barrassments, together with the pains and pen- aities, of divided allegiance under the regi- men prescribed by the political Gamalie up OH whose declarations we have thought it proper to comment-Natiomal Intelligenees.