The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-04-29

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AN APPEAL IN BEHALF or THE DEMOCRATIC
PARTY. .aleafsF uesb ~
e, Itisvery hats in oar history 70 adduce arguments
to prove that feIcsl organisations necessary in
this and in IL tss Parties and elections
are wholly insepAxabls. The object il to make
choice Of certain persons by the people TO be- their
REPRESENTATIVES; ana in this great differences OF opin
ion must necessarily arises Political organizations
thon, may be Get downss inevitable in our govern
msnt Those based upon economical questions may
mbody an equal amount Of patriotism, and be equal
" safe administrators public affairs On the other
hand parties based upon sectional prejudces ideas
OF causes are always dangerous TO the government,
in which there u nothing geographical orlocal Hence
sectional parties best described utterly foreign
and repugnant to system. During large por-
tion of our history tho American people have been
arrayed into contending parties upon purely eco
nomicsl differences Of opinion, II - true, too that
those difsrencss often reached high point of
OF neiEhborhood between members, perhaps, of
thu sans hmily-and not, ~ now, between the
great North and the great South
II it has been tho fortune Of the democratic party,
by its conduct, to engender in opposition to il,
tional organisation, we should regard its in
that regard az formidable and inexcusable. But we
oentena; md the history Of the government amply
vndicaxcs the truth Of the declaration, that the dem
ocsstic party in instance. either in reference to
ordinary measures Of legislation in the advocacy
Of Fundamental principles, has ever given cause for
tho Organization Of geographical partiesin this
try IN all the ohunging phases Of our politics, up to
the present great closing controversy in which, with
Losses mud gains, we have steadily upheld the prin
ciples Of self-government- the doctrine Of congress
sional non intervention with the affairs of the Terri
toresor 70 express in the language Of the fathers
Of tho republic" State rights, have preserved
tono Of nationality and character consistent with
the great ends sought to be accomplished by the fed
eral Union. Partisans may smile in dersicn at the
suggestion, but c true philosopher win endorse its
justice, that the continuance Of the government of
the United States is impossible If the ascendency of
the democratic party ia impossible. That, therefore,
the latter will to exist in all it's force
power, and energy, 80 long there 10 acanting in
the country, as there is now, any other great ma
tional organization imbued with the spirit Of the
Union capable Of taking its place and answering its
ends, is certain tf m gtts - i-,t,s,i5y q
We do not hold II to be wholly out of the range
Of possibility, that the utter overthrow and dsin
tcgration Of the democratic party might be followed
by the formation Of new one. with elements sufR-
ciently conservative to preserve tho government.
The experiment is one, however, which it is much
safer TO treat metaphysical abstraction than as
reality. Whatever may have been the motives of
many Of the sectionasts when they first became ar
rayed with their party it is incidentally true that the
license of opposition, and the well known influence
Of their position in defeat and disappointment have
done much to build up in their minds political enmi
ties against the government itself which they have
not been able always to distinguish from the men
who have administered its affairs. In this way
the mere man Of section is educated into
ideas Of hostility to the Union. He seeks power,
and II is denied him. and he soon comes to
hate the system he cannot control and to despise
those patriotic opinions without which the govern
ment is impossible No wise man will ever over
look tho influence Of repeated disappontments upon
the nature and character Of the strongest mind
In this way patriotism, however ardent-devotion to
country, however complete---the love of the Union,
however strong and pervadingis liable to be turned
into animosities hatreds, and treason The expert
ment, therefore, of trusting sectionalists with
the administrston Of this government, is one of ex-
treme hazard, and one which we hold, under the
I economy Of our system. to be absolutely impossible
Ifit be Established, then, that political parties
are necessary snd inevitable, there be no diff
Guilty in convincing every patriotic of the United
States that il is his duty to exert all his power in