Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1858-11-10
- For the STANDARD.
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND ITS PERILs.

For the Standard.
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND IT'S PERILS
MEssRs. EDrross {: Recent political events in this
country, suggest to my mind, few re6ections, as |
peculiarly appropriate to the state Of things now
existing around u.s. Whether these events are the |
premont0ry symptoms of premature decay in the |
body polite, or whether they indicate an inherent
weakaess i'm the system ITSELF are matters Of much
speculation and controversy. Sure it is, We Of
ten exposed to dangers growing out of sectional
heart-burnlngs and the Incorporate clashngs of |
ultra sentiments, promising to promote the public
good through methods diverse and oft times alarm.
ing. a difference in domestic institutions, will nee
esssarlly produce contrariety Of opinions but they
should be SO tempered with liberaty and justice |
as to leave evil effects from their free and unre
strained expression History and human experience
have proved with the clearness of a beam of light,
that people cannot long maintain free institutions
Who seek to impair confidence in each other by as.
saGng interests which it is the highest duty of the
government to protect. cursOry observer can |
see TINT we are not floating on tranquil seas, with
favorng> winds and cloudless skies, to make our
journey pe of long and uninterrupted harmony
and peace What can restore to all sections their
rights, and gVe the country the repose it SO
esty des'res,-;s question worthy not only of the
consideration OF he statesman but also of the pr
vate citizen.
The history of the Democratic party, is so familiar
to your readers that>ny extended observations up
on this point, will be entirely useless 1t is coeval
with the government, Nod its measures of public
policy have signally exehpied their wisdom, in
the trials through which We have. so successfully
passed. Discarding the centszing dogmas of al.
exander Hamilton, they confer ,pon the government
ample privileges and immunties to protect the in
tcrests Of the States without infringing upon any
rights compatible with their well beng as separate
communities. These tenets Of our faith command
the admiration of men, from the CONNECTION they
carry with them of their justice. and thsr adapta-
ton to the harmony and beauty Of our lucrative
system.
Amid the dsintegration Of parties we have seen
the Democratic party surmount the perils and Ian.
gers which have dissolved other political organi,a
tons. Whether in its struggles with the Unitee
States Bank, in its efforts to crush odious arts.
tocracy of manufacturers, in its resistance to for
eign aggressons at the point of the sabre and the
bayonet it has stood forth the conservator of
the grandest ideas of republican government ever
educed from the mind Of man. If its trials have
been great it's triumphs have been the more splen-
did. from the ordeal to which it has been subjected
Other organizations have arisen and succeeded for
brief period, but they have fallen before aveng-
ing public opinion, leaving not even the debris Of
respectable corporals guard to form rallyng point
for future conflict With the Democratic party a
defeat is not annihilaton, does it resort to
temporary eXpedients and paltry subterfuges to
cover lost prestige but appeals to the sober and
rejecting Judgment of the people to restore its
principles to their wOnted supremacy. 1t is not
my purpose to recur to the past achievements of
party but simply to refer to its position and its
pers, in the presen: excited condition of the coun
try.
During the existence of the Wing party, the two
parties were not divided by geographical lines
Each had its friends in the slave as well in the
non slaveholding States upon the ruins of the
Wing party" arose Know Nothngi>m, whose short
lived successes marked by heart.revolting sat-
urnalias of blood such will proclaim its shame
to coming generations. That, too, except in few
cities and isolated districts has passed away as
tale that is told" We now behold too formidable
political organizations in the country profess
eddy sectional, and the other national. Between
them must choose.
That enlightened statesman John c. Calhoun,
dated the most decided abolition movements in this
country, commencing in 1885, Certain it is, So
cieties then sprang up throughout the North, and
during the administration of Mr.. Van Buren, gave
| much trouble to the South. lncendiary documents
sent into the slaveholding States, while emissa
ries in the ne:arious and reasonable work of aboi
tioniSm were not slow in trying to excite the slaves
to rebellion against their owners Since 1885, the
| dimensions of this party have increased to power.
| full organization. Prior to 1856, it was unable to
carry single free State, but in the Presidential
election of that year Fremont swept New England.
! Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, and the populous States
Of New YORK and Ohio. 1t seeks to get control of
the government to accomplish its unholy Designs
and to dissolve the ties of fellowship and goodwill
! which ought 70 exist between the North and the
| South
| Last winter Kansas applleu lot auuSSIOn intO tue
Union, with legally framed constitution establish
| ing slavery. The emigrant aid societies of New
England had thrown the Territory into the widest
state of excitement. Collisions between the pro-
slavery aud anti-savery men were Of frequent &C.
currence, and blood, conhagraton, and rapine were
witnessed within her borders. The Lecompton
Constitution before Congress with the strong
recommendation of the President for the speedy ad
mission of Kansas into the Union. The dogma had
often been proclaimed that the North would never
consent to see the "area of slavery extended" by
receiving slave State into the COntederacy, and
from the opposition raised against the Lecompton
Constitution it seemed the dogma was to be faith
fully obeyed. LecOmpton was repused, eschewed
and rejected A compromise was offered and Lee
compton sent back to the people, with its claims
to the public domain restricted to about one half o.
its demands and recently it received its quietus by
the verdict Of the inhabitants. But another Difficult
ty presents ITSELF and threatens trouble to the coun
try. 1t is disposition on the part of few men
who with worse than punic faith, desire to force
Kansas into the Union because she has decided
against slavery part of her social system.
compromises but the play fittings of Legislators
then it is time for US to prepare to assume posi-
ton, beyond which it would be degradation and dis
honor to retreat
Again, we hear assaults made upon the Suprem
Court, because it pronounced distastefui decision
the Black Republicans, in the case of bred Scot
Us John A. Sanford. By this decision, two impor
tant principles established. First, the Mis-
> souri, Restriction Of 1920 was pronounced unconst
tutional. and secondly, that negroes are not cit
, zens" of the United States, according to the Con
stituton. The Black Republicans contend tina
Congress has plenary power to legislate over tn
subject OF slavery in the territories, and also avo
the equality of the white and black races. in a
the rights pertaining to citizenship Now the abe
litionsts in their crusade against Southern insttu
, tons, desire to remodel the Supreme Court, whic
they call the citadel Of slavery" by changing tn
mode Of appointing judges, and thus seeking I
make our highest judicial tribunal mere expoaer