The Placer herald., 1859-03-26
The Democratic Party---Its Vitality---Its
Future.

Those who believe, or affect to believe,
that the Democratic party because it has
suffered few reverses in a recent antagon-
ism with It's foes, is prostrated beyond re-
covery, have not profited by the lessons Of
the Past and betray an utter ignorance of
the political history Of their country. If
defeat had never overtaken tiff its march
heretofore had been one unbroken crisis of
triumphs--if its banners had never been
trailed in the dust by the shock of opposing
forces-political scers might now, with some
show of plausblity, predict its permanent
and ultimate downfall. But as the case
stands, all the experience of the past is
against them; and the present is not the first
time that short-sighted casusts, glorying in
the temporary defeat Of our great old party,
on some short-lived issues some trifling Ques
ton invoked for the nonce to mislead the
multitude, have prophecied its disintegration
and ruin. But all such anticipations have
proved to be the "stuH that dreams are made
Of and, like "thc poisoned chalice, return
ed to plague the INVENTOR" with their grim
mockeries.
1t must not be forgotten, because it has
become inexorable in history, to guide our
steps in the future that with every defeat
the Democratic party has sustained, especi.
ally on great and vital issues has come re-
newed strength, courage and vigor; and facts
will bear us out in asserting that every re-
verse which it has sustained, has tended to
its publication, and endowed it with renewed
power for the accomplishment Of good, and
for the fuliilment of its great and glorious
mission. Had it been like other parties,
which it has successfully encountered and
overthrown, founded upon no living, and
enduring and imperishable princp pIes-but
the mere instrumentality of ambitious dema-
gogues in the race for power or the mere
embodiment of some selfish interest, local
or national in its aims-it coul not have
withstood the rude shocks which it has re-
PEELED and "laughed TO scorn" in its progress
up to this hour. This very circumstance
alone attests with an eloquence more power
ful than words can portray, its nationality,
its pery necessity to oar existence as q nation
and that, like the memory of the great Wash
ington, it is "enthroned in the hearts of the
people,
The Democratic party What has it not
done for the country: All that has been
done for the achievement of the Nation it
has achieved. No other rasty bat it has a
past to dwell upon with pride and satistac-
tion-no clustering memories to swell the
patriotic bosom-to send the blood quicker
through his veins, and to cause his heart to
throb with more rapid pulsaions when the
glory of his country and its countless bIes-
sings occupy his thoughts and inspire his
oratitpla II hos roll;n1 nr,u,l tho cto MI
and of the Constitution and the Union in the
hour Of the EXTREMIST peril, and trampled
their sacrlleoious foes in the dust; it has en-
arged the boundaries of this country, by
peaceable acquisitions; it has given the great
Valley of the Mississippi from its source
to its confluence to the commerce and IN
dusty of our people; it has vindica:ed our
rights upon the ocean in the face Of the
world, and mado the name of an American
talisman in every cline; it has cloven down
the vast money power, that threatened to
enmesh our liberties, and to reduce the
masses of this free land to a condition worse
than Egyptian bondage; it has been the
champion and defender OF Civil and Religious
Liberty, and protected the foreignb born citi |
zen from those who would have placed a
brand upon his brow, and driven him, like
Cain was driven, from the presence of civilz-
ed life.
These are some Of the achievements and
the acts of our glorious Old organization
A party with such record cannot be put
down. 1t is even now, at this very moment,
take the country over, as strong as it ever
was, and it is gaining strength everywhere
and rapidly. Like the giant Anteus, it has
struck the earth; and it will, as it ever has,
gain new vigor and vitality with the rebound.
Let our opponents beware. When the lion
shakes the dew drops from his name, then
look out for his spring.