Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-04-09
REVIVAL OF THE wH1e PARrY.


REVIVAL OF THE WING PARTY.
When Know Nothingism first discovered it.
self in 1854, the Wing party, then in the ar
ticle of death, bequeathed to the fatherless
founding whatever it had of value in all the
slave States, and in some of the free. The be-
quest proved very injudicious one; for the
new tyro in politics, hilarious over sudden
and unexpected successes, soon fell into irreg-
lar habits, wasted its substance in riotous hy-
ing, and died soon after in most disreputable
manner BY sounding the Wing slogan over
the field of wreck and desolation, which it left
behind, it is now proposed to gather up some
possible fragments of the old Wing organiza-
ton, and to consolidate them anew under the
command of those decorous and conservative
leaders who were distinguished in the later
years of its power They are to accept no
such reasonable watchword as "first pure,
then peaceable;" but rather, peace first, and
pure if possible. All disturbing questions
are to be studiously ignored all agita-
ton is to be persistenty frowned upon
and all causes of offence are to be shun-
ned like pestilence. Standing upon plat
form of generalties, brave as lions in defence
of measures demanded by natural law, or set
tied by the stern judgment of time, yet timid
as doves at the approach of duties which in
the logical order of events, the present genera
ton is compelled to bear, they hope to form a
party, if not itself triumphant, at least power
full enough to dictate the conditions of triumph
to others. In Virginia the movement is ac-
curing much strength. Elsewhere it has only
cast shadow. Conventions are contemplated
in Louisiana and Alabama, while in New York
that select company of gentlemen known as
the Wing General Committee are still blowing
the cold and charred embers under the vain
halucination that they may again be quicken
ed into flame. These events derive their
chief Importance from the fact that the two
parties into which the country is now divided
are SO evenly balanced as to leave the power
of success or defeat in the hands of a very
small and otherwise insignificant faction, and
also from the fact that there is manifestly
disposition abroad to conciliate that faction at
the expense of the integrity of Republican
principles.
The erroneous notion that success consists
in getting majority of the votes at a given
election without special regard to the princi-
pies for which alone success is desirable, has
been the rock on which stronger parties than
ours have been split. Success is neither wise
nor profitable when it is founded on mere Goa
litions, between men of different opinions on
the only vital questions there are left in the
field. The policy is ruinous and suicidal of
buying up the nameless and unchristened fac
tions which under such governments as ours
are continually rising and dying. Men who
are with us in sentiment, and who would be of
use to us as allies, will never ask sacrifice of
us as the condition of their allegiance. AT this
particular time we cannot afford to be too prod
igal with our principles. They are not sus-
ceptible of modification and division at the ap-
proach of every election, and to accommodate
the fastidious statesmen who prefer standing
out in the cold rather than receiving the shelter
or encouraging the hope of the living genera
ton. "Thereis, says Edmund Burke, "a cour-
ageous WISDOM there is also false, reptile pru-
dence, the result not Of caution, but of fear"
AT the command of that courageous wisdom,
the Republican party sprung into life, and in
the first year of its existence was victorious in
eleven States, and but for that false, reptile
prudence which consolidated itself in the Fill
more party, would have been triumphant in
the whole land. Since that time, and without
abating a jot of its original purpose, its march
has been one of uninterrupted triumph. And
to-day it is power which no other party can
safely resist. How indefensible then, and
short-sighted, is that folly, which, in the pur-
suit of great purposes and manly results urges
a sweet and gentle inofensiveness, defers the
grand principles which are the foundations of
the party and the sources of its power, for the
sake of conciliatng men who have always op-
posed us, and only agree with us to-day, in
kind of doubtful dislike of common enemy?
The Republican party is now the only one
which i'll any degree meets the wants of the
free States. And they will visit any attempts
to demoralize it with instant and decided re-
buke. The anti-slavery sentiment of the
country is stronger than political leaders suffer
it to appear. And it will not tolerate constitu-
tional timidity or that conservation which
cries peace, peace, when there is no peace.
The times and people demand consistent,
outspoken, fearless party which in all its rela-
tons to the slave power will meet every issue
which it presents, honorably, and abide by it
till it is decided on the side of freedom. So
long as the Republican party maintains such
position, and engages in such work-so long
as it remains linked together on principles
which comprehend what is most dear and pre-
cious to freemen and essential to free common
wealths, they win stand by it 10 the end. But
when it begins to temporize to yield to exped-
tents, to cultivate the corrupt arts by which the
history of SO many other parties has been tar
nished, il will be exposed to the same retribu-
ton, and will share the same fate.
ARNOLD BUFFUM.-We copy on our first
page, from the NewYork Standard, an obituary
notice of the late Arnold Bufum, the truthful
ness of which will be recognized by many
readers of TUE Spy Reside what ia thara;r