The Oxford intelligencer., 1860-10-10

49,. !. -
TMr Identity Of that political organization
which b now supporting Bell and Eu&ett. with
this old Federal party Of 1900, with the National
Republican party Of 1895, and with the Wing
and Know Nothing parties of later years, has
often beenSsmDsratsd- The principles ofAhe
party. to-day, are essentially the same as those
Of sixty years ago: the party having. in fact un.
dergone no msterial change except in the COM
psratively unimportant matter Of its name. The
history Of the party has been not less strongly
marked, throughout its entire career, by con.
stantuniloFnitysin Ne employment of the same
! system Of party mara cement tksn by persis-
tent adhereiess d lie sam: distinguishing party
principles. That system is wholly based upon
the expediency Of the moment and calculated
only. ~, kin sd At stlsp 70 retain, political
power. The leaders Of the party, from the first
hour Of its existence up to the present moment
seem always To- have believed, and still 70 BE-
tliese,. that the bGre achievement Of = political
victory at the ballot-box, without much regard
to the character Of the means resorted to for
their purpose, was entirely sufficient unto the
day" and that they might thereafter safely trust
to their Wits or rely some lucky occurrence
in the chapter Of accidents to enable them to
hold the power they had thus acquired The
consequence Of their adoption Of this system of
temporary expediency has been, that the party
has succeeded only at rare intervals, and with
great -dificdrty, In obtaining the control Of the
Government and that, when it was in power, it
always lost the confidence Of the people with
such speedy facility that its tenure of authority
has never yet exceeded four years in any single
instance It Is the Characteristic and fatal mis-,
take-or vice-of the party, to promise what it
cannot perform.
ton Of the younger Adams to the Presidency,
the 'extravagant expenditures" Of Mr.. Monroe's
administration were severely denounced by the
presses and orators Of the National Republican
party, who averrcd that all the operations Of the
general government could be carried onafef half
the sum that had been expendcdby Mr.. Monroe.
Mr.. Adams was placed in power, and, instead Of
carrying on tbe government more economically
than his predecessor had done, he exceeded all
former expenditures sby many millions and I'M
dcrtook to inaugurate system of internal i'm
provements by the general government which,
had il been carried out would have involved the
expenditure Of hundreds Of millions Of dollars.
This enormous discrepancy between the promis-
es Of his patty, when out of power, and their
performances, when they were in power, exerted
an influence strongly adverse to Mr.. Adams, and
was one Of the chief of the controlling causes
which led tahis scfsatt,eGeh: Jackson in 1928
In 1910, the wings succeeded in pcrsuading
the people that the pccuniary distress, which
then SO universally prevailed throughout the
country, was the result Of the measures adopted
by Gen. Jackson and Mr.. Van Barren and that
the Independent Treasury, proposed by Mr.. Van
Buren,, must be set aside, and a National Bank
established, OF the country would iLfallibly be
ruined They promised loudly Ard with appa-
rent earnestness, that II they were but placed in
power, they would inspire confidence, revive
trade, restore prosperity, and reform the curren-
cy, in week. They elected Gen. Harrison to
the Presidency, and passed bill to create . Ma
tiOnal Bank; bit q was vetood by Nr4Tyier; and
the party thercupon had the modification of
witnessing general and gradual return to pros
perity, not only without National Bank, which
they had declared to be indispensable to the
well-being Of the couatry, but, also,-which |
was far more grievous, and much more difficult
to bear-under the operation, Of that Independ-
ent Treasury system, which they had so indg-
nantly denounced as incompatible with the
existence Of sound convertible paper currency,
as well totally destructive Of all industrial in:
terests rTRss u was demonstrated, not only
that the Wing party were mistaken in regard to
the real causes e[ and the proper remedy for,
those pccuniary evils which had borne so heavily
upon the people, but, further, that the party,
before the election, and in order to obtain power,
had made promises which, from their nature,
we're incapable Of fulflment The country at
,nce lost al confidence in. tbe. ability of the
Wings To- conduct the public affairs, and Mr..
Polk, . Democrat Of the old school, was
placed, in 1915, at the helm Of State
In 1856, the Wing yarty, as an organiza-
ion, was no longer known. The mass of its
members, and tile greater number Of its leaders,
bad been -Absothet by Knew .Nothingism- In
he meantime, the slavery Question. and especial
y that phase Of the question which regards the
,ower Of Congress over slavery in the Terrific
les, had assumed an importance Of the gravcst
md DIVISIONS in refstence to that
question: narked BY great violence and bitter
hess, were rapidly estranging the people, North
md South, and threatening even the safety Of
he Union itself For time, the .KnOw-NOth-
ngs were in . qusndaU. They knew not how
% deal with that Troublesome question II they 4
iOok hold Of it by the Southern handle, they
rould infaIlibly repel from their alliance every
nan who entertained freesoil opinions; while,
IN the other hand, Il they seired it BY the North
I'm handle, they would as certainly drive from
hem every man who believed in the doctrine Of
State equality, and who claimed the right 10 20
INTO any Of the Territories. with any description
" properly hat he might choose TO carry thith
4. In this emergency, the party again resOrted
10 = temporary erpedient which contemplated
nothing beyond the immediate exigeney Of the
OCCASION In view Of Ore daRgerous character
II the question to which we have alluded, they
brsvely resolved-to let Il alone They would