The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-09-11


speeches all through the country-South,
North and East-and expAtiating upon a va
riety Of topics, chief among which were the
antecedents Of Mr.. Breckenridge, into whom he
has been pitching without stint Of words or We
hemence; but he has never definitely stated
whether he (Mr. Douglas) is in favor Of fusion
that is, Of q union electoral ticket against Lin
coin and Hamlin in this State. If be Is not in
favor of fusion, then he is eleetioneering for
Lincoln; pnd as, without fusion, he cannot get
one electoral vote in New York, Of course he
is working for Lincoln, and against himself.
! AT the barbecue of to morrow Is just the ct
ting time to explain himself explicitly upon
that point, and it would be well for some one
to ask him the question while he is delivering
his Grafton.
The Presidential Question-Pubiic senti-
ment Right, bat Our Old Party Hacks
All Wrong.
In all great political revolutionary or reac
tionary movements, our old party politicians,
! while they imagine they are leading, are In re-
ality far behind the march Of public opin-
| ion. At all events thus 1t has been in all the
vicissitudes and changes Of our political par
ties since the day of Gen. taekson's elevation
to the Presidency.
| The democratic party, which was created by
| Gen. jackson. was founded upon the one great
idea Of the prostration Of that powerful mo-
neyed monopoly the United States Bank
With the prostration OF that institution the le-
| climate mission Of the democratic party II
Gen. Jackson was accomplished, and the wing
party of Henry Clay was beaten from the field
Since that day the successes Of wings and de-
mocrats in our national contests, with single
exception. have been the results Of accident
or some desperate expedient for the passing
hour.
In $780, with the United States Bank out OF
the way, and upon the financial troubles result
ing from the pet bank system, the remains OF
Gen. Jaokson's democratic party were SO badly
beaten that many sagacious men supposed that
this was the finishing blow. But this delusive
triumph Of the wings was turLed to ashes upon
their lips, with the disastrous efforts of Mr.. Clay
to re-establish that exploded institution, q
United States Bank. Defeated by the vetoes of
John Tyler, the bank question was again put
out CT the way, and the whig and the democra
tic parties were again left without any great
overuling specific issue between them.
In this exigency the leaders Of thedemocracy
bit upon the expeaient of the annexation of
Texas, for the campaign Of 1874, against the
wings under the banner Of Henry Clay. This
was a happy bit; but even the popularity Of the
Texas annexation project would have failed
against the universal personal popularity Of
! Mr.. Clay had he not written little half way
annexation letter to Alabama, which turned
over to Birney some fifteen .khoueand anti
slavery wings In New York, thus turning over
this State to Mr.. Polk, By the vote Of which he
was elected.
In ls4s the family quarrel between the Van
Buren, democracy OF New York and the Demo-
cratic Convention at Baltimore resulted in the
defeat Of Gen. Cass, by turning over the cleo.
toral vote Of New York 70 Gen. Taylor. Thus
the election of 1874 and that Of 1913 were both
determined by the mere diversion Of the antLsla-
very balance Of power Of the Empire State, and
thus this anti slavery element doomed up into a
formidable engine among the managing politi-
clans, especially Of the whig party.
The contest OF 1852, however, decisively ex-
hibited the feebleness Of this anti slavery ele-
ment against the united conservative forces Of
the country, in the election, almost BY the
scure New England politician over the most
distinguished military chieftain Of the age. This
was the result Of an issue which the people &C
cepted between the position Of Pierce, as the
head of q conservative movement, and the posi-
ION OF Gen. Scott, as the supposed instrument
of w. ii. Seward and other anti slavery agita.
tors to compass the control Of the government.
This election Of Pierce was a conservative
triumph agsinst the slavery agitators; but be
was too blind to perceive It. He accepted II
as a victory Of the democratic party, and the
leaders Of that party adopted the same fatal
blunder. Thus, overlooking the people and
the real issue Of his success, poor Pierce, with
Mr. Douglas and the managers Of the democra-
cy in Congress, was led astray to that ruinous
offering to the Southern democratic pro slavery
politicians Of the Cincinnati Convention, the
Kansas Nebraska bill, whereby the fact was
instantly discovered that the existence Of an ali
powerful democratic party was miserable do
fusion.
What next To save themselves from abso-
lutte humiliation, the managing politicians at
Cincinnati were compelled to cast overheard
both Pierce and Douglas and all others con-
cerned In that Kansas Nebraska rcopening Of
the slavery agitation, and to take up Mr.. Blu
chanan, whose perfect innocence In that matter
no man could question. Mr.. Buchanan's per-
sonal popularity, by the narrowest possible es.
cape, saved the demoralized democracy from
/ crushing defeat.
II was hoped that this narrow escape from
destruction would operate to teach some les.
sons Of prudence and wisdom to our demo-
cratic politicians; but the evidences TO the con.