Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1859-12-21
The REGISTER and Mr.. !Gilmer.

no such pupil as Mr.. Gilmer. That gentleman has
taken his lessons from other "masters" than North
Carolina masters" as his recent conduct abun- |
dainty proves. He has been at school with the !
black Republicans; and he is now in one Of their
spelling classes, trapping" up towards the head.
He is already number &c. having trapped" twenty
Southern Americans and fifteen black Republicans
and he no doubt calculates and ardently hopes that
during the present week he will get to be head boy
in the class. If he can, let him. If he ~W desert
his own people and his own State and serve the en-
envy, let him do it.
One of the reasons the Register gives why Mr..
Gilmer and the Southern Americans cannot act with
the Democrats in organizing the House. is, that the
Democrats have heretofore "vlfed" and t'proscrib-
ed" them; and another reason is that the Demo-
Gratis themselves responsible for the present
dition of the country.
Let us see what these reasons amount to: So
far as utilization and prescription concerned it
is certainly fair towards opponents to say that
in this respect the two parties are even. Know
Nothings have been as bitter and proscriptive to-
wards Democrats as Democrats have been towards
them We go further and say, that our opponents
have been extraordinarily bitter and proscriptive;
and in proof of this point to the fact that but
few years ago they bound themselves by solemn
oaths not to vote for any Democrat for any office,
and to prescribe all Democrats from office whenever
they should have the power to do so. But suppose
the two parties hare been proscriptive towards
the other, is that good reason why they Should
Of 70 han,
ems them, the Constitution, the Union, and the
prosperity and safety of the SOUTH Is hsa time to
talk about partyabout party grudges and party aims?
We are surprised at our cotemporary We thought
at one time that he would lift himself above party
on this momentous question, and look only to. the
best means for saving the country; but his last is
sue shows that party is still in his hopes and cacu
lations Mr.. Gilmer must be sustained, no matter
what he may do. No man is fit to be Speaker who
endorsed Helpers book. The Register agrees to
that. Mr.. Gilmer offers resolution, the effect of
which is to prevent the House from saying what
our neighbor agrees to- and what ought to be said
and yet Mr.. Gmer must be sustained, and Mr.. Gil
mer must not be censured by Southern men. What
is that but party? What is that but disposition
to stand by mere man at the expense of the coun-
try? What is that but a declaration to the North
that Mr.. Gner is as true when it is known that
he is not as true as other Southern men?
In reply to the Registers charge that the Demo-
cratic party is responsible for the present condition
of the country on the slavery question, it would be
easy to prove that the very is the fact But
for that party the black Republicans would now
have been in power; and that party, as is we'll
known and generally admitted presents at this time
the only formidable barrier to abolition aggressions.
So far from having encouraged the agitation OF the
slavery question, the Democratic party has done
every thing it could to suppress it. The fact that it
has failed to suppress it is not its fault, but mis-
fortune to the country But what, in the meantime,
has the party to which our neighbor belongs been
doing? Why, from the very commencement of the
agitation in 1s47, the "opposition" party has ad
ded fuel to the fame. The entire Wing party North
was for the Wilmot proviso, Mr.. Clay himself de-
claring time and again that he would never consent
to the extension of slavery Every Wing Legisla
ture in the free States recommended, and every
Wing member of Congress from the same quarter
voted for that proviso, the object of which was te
exclude the South from the common territories
The same members voted almost in body agains
the fugtve-slave law. This same party ran for thu
Presidency in 1852 candidate so very Objectionable
on this very slavery ISSUE and so intimately denti
fled with Seward, that our neghber of the Register
declared before he was nominated that he would no
support him-and yet he dill support him. Finall!
the Wing party went to pieces, the prime of it
dissolution being that it was so abotionized Nortl
that Southern Wings would not act with it. The,
We had the Know Nothing party, and then the blacl
Republican party. Both of these parties rose Oh
the "ruins" of the old Wing party. First Wing
then Know Nothing, then black Republican. Thi
is the truth of history. Our neighbours Wh
brethren in the non-slaveholdng States agitate
against the South until they disbanded and becam
Know Nothings and their next step was into tn
ranks of the Seward party. Let him deny and dis
prove this, if he can. While the Democratic part
was demanding justice for the South and endeavol
ing to suppress agitation against her institutions
our neighbours political allies were waging fierc
war against us, and denouncng as "doughface
or hypocrite every Democrat North who stood u
for us. If those persons in the free States VIII
were once Wing, but who are now black Republ
cans, would cease to assail the South and cooperat
with the national Democratic party, we would 500
have peace, and the Constitution and the Unio
would be safe. The responsibility for the preser
unhappy condition of things is on them, and nj
on the Democrats. Let our neighbor of the Regi
ter reflect on this Let him remember and reflex
on the fact that those Wings in the nonslaveholt
ing States with whom he acted in 1852, are mainl
responsible for impending evils. They were h
brethren then; they are his and our enemies now
while the only friends the people of the South ha,
in that quarter are national Democrats and fe
snch men as Everett and Fillmore This is also tt
truth of history.
But the Register wants the Democrats of tt
House to go over to Mr. Gilmer and elect hi
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