The Constitutional. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1860-1861, 1860-10-06

Improvement, and yet they have been not only
retained in the democratic church, but have beer
specially appointed TO minister at the altar. Yea
after year, for the purpose of deceiving the PEG
pie into the belief that they have not departed
| from the ancient faith, the democracy reafirn
this resolution against Internal improvements
Year after year, and month after month, it is VIC
| lated until the fraud has become as palpable a,
| if written with sunbeam along The sky, Will
| what feelings then must honest men regard the
arrogant claim they set up to the inheritance Of
the Old Democracy They are not Legitimate
descendants from that hOnored stock-nor adop-
tied children, educated in the faith and clinging
/ with fond attachment to the principles by which
it has been distinguished They are not even
bastard offshoots, whose birth, though sinful, has
mingled in their veins portion of the genuine
blood. They are usurpng parasites to whom
the word democracy has 10 significance except
as means of obtaining office, and fittening upon
the public treasury.
Strict economy in the public expenditures is
another of the principles which you and have
been taught 10 consider essential to an honest ad-
ministradon of the government AMI to the pres
ervation of the Republican tastes, habits, purity
| and simplicity in these to whom the Icigns of
power are entrusted. The Convention which
| nominated Mr.. buchanan were not unmindful of
| the Importance of making this prominent article
of party faith. They copied il in their resolutions
with little hesitation as other articles of demo-
cratic policy, and with as little intention of adj
herring to it. Mr. Buchanan's own idea of ecOno
my may be gathered f ON his letter of 1852 be-
moaning the ex;rsyagance of Mr.. FillmOrcs adj
min siraiion, which he charged with running up
the public expenditures 70 the cnrrm, u sum of
SiO,0OOOOO. In March 1-57 h. was himself in
Augurated President of the United States and
clo,h he'd with power TO correct the abuse of which
he complained. In Two years, inst al of reducing
he had increased the public expenditures TO $50,
100000. Here was economy with a vengeance :
out of power he denounced The expenditure of
S4O,O00O0O an outrage to which an honest
people ought not 10 submit. power he expcnds
double the amount, and you required to shut
your eyes to this plain, pal pable, and open viola
ton of plighed fai,h-tO recognize him As the
head of the democratic church-and allow him 10
dictate for whom your suffrages shall be cast in
the coming Presidential election. | cannot an
sw, for you, but / answer for myself that re-
pudate his authority, deny his orthodoxy, and
scOrn his dictatiOn. If he is democrat I have
not sufficient intelligence to comprehend the
coed in which was educated 1.-The has been
faithful to his own standard of political principle,
figures have lost their value, or have lost the
capacity to understand them.
You will bear in mind, fellOw-citzcns that in
all have said have confined myself strictly To
facts established by the public records | have
tul testimony; and called 10 the stand no aucs-
tionable witness. The proof admits of no contro-
vrrSy. The only question is whether it is capa-
Bile of satisfactory explanation. l say that it is
not. i say that no excuse can be rendered for
those who assume the name, while trampng on
all that makes democracy respectable they
have banished the text books of Jefferson from
their party schools and not vcstige is left of the
principles which brought Andrew jackson into
Il. Il
plank it has been torn away, and in holding tn.
MISUNDERSTANDING faction to ;ust acc"rmt-
ability for all they have done. and of rccr,ancv
to the party among whom grew to manhood
and benz ah whose banner | have SO often gone
forth to battle. | am no rebel to the doctrine of
Jefferson and Jackson, and raise no hand against
their legitimate successors, but am here to waa,,.
an unreenting war upon those who have stolen
their colors
The old democratic pla. form was broad enough
for you and me. 1t was not broad enough for
them. They have made many additions, and the
worst of il is, that they have been faithful only
to those which are rotten at the core
They adopted a resolution in favor Of the Com
promise of 1850, and against renewal of the
slavery agitation IN Congress, or out of it, in any
form whatever. They had adopted tLe same res
OlutiOn i'll lcj2, and violated it two wears after
wards by repeating the Missouri COMPROMISE.
adopting it in 1856. In 1855 they violated this
second pledge, by urging upon Congress, the
admission OF Kansas, with not more than half
the requisite number of inhabitants, and under a
constitution whose adoption had been procured
by fraud violence, bribery and bloodshrd This
constitution thus adopted, was thrown like a fire
brand into the National Legislature, arOusing all
the worst passions of mtI, and exciting section
al strife whose end is not yet, and the bitterness,
Of whose fruits we are now fully able TO appreci-
at"
They promised us, to maintain the freedom of
the seas and to enforce the doctrine that tn. Ma
tional Flag protected the vessel at whose mast
head it was flying. Yet never have so many of
our vessels been detained and visited. Never
have insults to Onr National Flag been 50 fire.
qucnt; and never has there been such a mead
and eOwardly exhibition Of patience under the
wrongs and outragcs to which we have been sub
cctrd.
We were told that the Gulf of Mexico should
become an American lake, and over that sea no
dag should float except by our permission Over
that very Spanish cruiser has fired into
American vessels, and British gun-bOats detained
md visited our peaceful merchantmen almost
without 1emonStIance, and certainly without eff
fectiye resentment
In another resolution the right to annex all
,ircrunjacent islands and territories was broadly
asserted, and an implied sanction given to the ac.,
Jf American adventures having that object in |
view. In the teeth of this resolution Gen. Wal |
ker and his followers were seized upon the soil of
Nicaragua and forcbly transported to the United |
Staes-hiS property ACKNOWLEDGMENT made |
prisoner, and his rights, whether regarded as an |
American citizen, OF as President of Nicaragua |
illegally and ru,hlcssly cloven down
There is not one plank in that remarkable plat |
orm which has not been torn from its fast,n ings
not one promise which has been faithfully kept |
The kansas-N cbraska bill was a miserable. cheat |
the secedcrS are to be believed, and now. after
he fraud has formed its office, w, are rrdIirrd
o accept an explanatory resolution in full salts |
action, which Is itself 50 unmeanng and so |
worthless, that the attempt to force il upon the
'h,rcston Convention wears the appearance of |
desperate design to create disturbance-to break |
Up the Democratic organization, and pave the way |
or the election Of Republican President
In other times, when parties made some prrten- |
ions to honesty, the violation of any one article
II their published creed was esteemed a rricvous |
ln for which they were held to a strict accounta-
'ilIty; but here is party who have proved IT,
reant to ereTy one, and still retain the strength |
o struggle for the control of the Government |
he solution of this singular problem is to be- |
ound IN the fact that they have excited and svs-
enaicaiiy kept alive dangerous agitation upon |
he subject of slavery, and thus diverted the at
ention of the people from their misdeeds. Thu
legro has been to them cloak for every dcpar-
uTe from Democratic principle. Loud aud yihr-