The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1860-10-13

rhs,her she American idea i. to govern thi
continent. whether the occiien,si or III,
Hrseaisi theory Of society is to rsou,d Gu,
future, whether We are to ieeede !rem rrid
eipses which eighteen Christian cen,arie.
have been slowly establishing at The cost Q,
so many sanity lives at the stake so many
heroic ONES on the scatfold and the battle
field, Ia favor OF some fAneied assimilation
to the household arrangements Of Abraham,
Of which all that can be said with certainty
is that they dad not ada to his domestic
happiness.
We believe that this election is turning.
point in cur hi,sers; for. although there
are four candidates, hire are really, ID
everybody knows, but two parties, ard a
single question that divides them. The sup-
porters Of Messrs. Bell and Evere,s have
adopted as their platform the Constitution,
the Union, and the enforcement Of the Laws.
This may be very convenient. but it is surely
notyery explicit. The cardinal question on
which the whole policy Of the coun.ry is to
turn--a question, too, which this very
election must decide in one way or the other
lis the interpretation to be put upon cer-
tain clauses OF the Constitution. All the
other parties equally assert their loyalse.te
that instrument. Indeed. il is qaits2 iGe
fashion. The remoyers Of all the ancient
landmarks of our policy, the violatosa of
thrios pledged faith, he plAaAsss - -
treachery to established compromise, all take
refuge in the Consti.u,ion,--
.I.ike thieves that in heap pg, lie,
Secure against the hue aud cry.e
In the same way the frs, Bonaparte renewed
his profession Of faith in the Revelation a,
every convenient opportunity; and the Sec
ond follows the precedent of his uncle.
though the unini,ia,ed fail to see any logical
Mr. Bell loves the Constitution Mr.. Breck-
inridse is equally fond; that Egeria Of our
statesmen could be "harry with either,
were t'other dear charmer away" Mr..
Douglas consles the secret Of his passion
to the unloquac;ous clans Of Rhode Island,
and the chief complaint made against Mr..
Lincoln by bis opponents is thar he is TOO
Constitutional.
Meanwhile the only poin. in which voters
are interested is, What do they mean by
the Constitution Mr.. Breckinridye means
the superiority Of a certain exceptional .pe-
cies Of property over all others, nav. over
man himself. Mr.. Douglas, with a d,Ecren,
formula for expressing it, means practically
the same thing. Both Of them mean that
Labor has no rights which Capital is bound
to respect that there is no higher law than
human interest and cupidI.y. Both of them
represent not merely the nnrrow principles
OF a section. but the still narrower and IN ore
selfish ones Of q caste. Both Of them to be
SURE, have convenient phrases to be jussled
With before election, and which mean one
thing or another, or neither one thing nor
another, rs particular eSigency may seem
TO require: but since both claim the regular
Democatlc nomination, We have little diff
Guilty in divining what their course would
be after the fourth Of March, if they should
chance to be elected. We know too vel.
what regular Democracy is, to like either of
the two faces which each shows BY turns
under the same hood. Ever, body remem-
bers Baron Grimm's story Of the Partisan
Snowman, who in 1889 exhibited the royel
Bengal tiger under the new character Of
national, ns more in harmony with the
changed order Of things. Could the animal
have lived till 1913, would probably have
found himself offered to the discriminating
public as the democratic and social orna-
men. Of the jungle. The Pro- slavery party
of this country seeks the popular favor
under even more frequent and inconsruous
aliases: it isnow national, now conserra-
tire, now constitutional here il represents
Squatter Sovereignty, and there the power
of Congress over the Tcrrt aries; but, under
whatever name, its na' ure remains uncbang-
ed, and its instincts are none the les, preda.
tory and destructive.
Mr. Lincoln's position is set forth with
sufficient precision in the platform adopted
by the Chicago Convention; but what are
we to make Of Alessrs. Bell and Everett :?
Ilei.s of the stock in trade Of two defano.
parties, tho Wing and Know Not thing. do
they hope to resusc;tate them? or are they
only like the inconso!ab!e widows Of Pere
la Chaise, who, with an eye to former Gus.
temers make use Of the late Andsororth's
Sravekonc to advertise tha: they still carry
on the business at the old stand? Mr..
Everett, in his letter accepting the norina.
tion, gave us only string of reasons why he
should not have accepted it at all; and Mr..
Bell preserves a silence singularly at vari-
ance with his patronymic. The only public
demonstration of principle that We have
seen is an emblematic bell drawn upon a
wagon by single horse, with man to lead
him, and boy to make nuisance Of the
tnkiing symbol rs it moves along. Are all
the figures in this melancholy procession
equally emblematic? II so, which of the
two candidates is typfed in the unfortunate
who leads the horse?-for We believe the
only hope of the party is to get one OF them
n,a y,l E.-e bn, &knI
of Representatives. The little boy, we sup
pose, is Intended to represent the party,
which promises to be SO conveniently small
that there will be an Office for every member
Of it. if its candidate should win. Did not
the bell convey plain alluson to the lead
ing name on the ticket, We should conceive
it an excellent type of the hcllowness Of
those fears for the safety Of the Union, in
case Of Mr.. Lincoln's election, whose
changes are 80 loudly rung,-its noise hav-
ing once or twice gwen rise to false arms
of ere, till people found out wha. it really
was. Whatever profound moral it be
intended to convey, wo find in it similitudc
that is not without significance as regards
the professed creed Of the party. The in
dustrious youth who operates upon it has
evidently some notion Of the measured and
regular melton that BELTS the tongues of
well disciplined and conservative bells. lie
does bis best to make theory and practice
coincide; but with every jolt on the road
an involuntary variation Is produced, and
the sonorous pulsation becomes rapid or
slow accordingly. We have observed that
the Constitution was liable to similar de-
and We very much doubt
whether Mr.. Bell himself (sipcc, after nll,
the Constitution would practically be nothing
else than his Interpretation Of i,) would
keep the same measured tones that are 90
easy on the smooth path Of candidacy, when
il came to conducting the car Of State over
some OF the rough places 10 the highway
Of Manifest Destiny, and some Of those pas
sngcs in our politics which, after the FASH
ion of new countries, arc rather corduroy ip
character.
But, fortunately, we are not left wholly
10 the dark as to the aims OF the self-sty led
Constitutional party. One of its most dis.
tinguished members, Governor H1nt Of New
York, has given Us to understand that its
prime object is the defeat at all hazards of