The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-01-06
The Drift OF Popular ssntIn....

The Drift OF Popular sentImsnJ. 4
The Baltimore Sun, in discussing the
question as to the proper course to be
pursueA to relieve ths country from its
present emharressments, remarks in g.
judicial spirit: IN
s"There are those who favor what 10
called the passive policy OF making mo-
separate Democratic nomination for the
Presidency. and trusting to the chances
OF division in the Republican ranks,
and the nomination OF candidate hy
the moderate 81 we'll! az the Radical or
extreme wing OF that party. There are
others who oppose any surrender or
abandonmeuh either Of the Democratic
organization or Of Democratic prinoi.
pies, but who advocate the nomination
OF suoh a candidate upon such platform
as would be acceptable to conservative
men OF both parties, and whom mode.
rate Republicans, disgusted with the ex-
travsgance Of their own extremists.
would And no difficulty in supporting.
''What is the best and wisest course,
under all the circumstances OF the case,
to be pursued. is no easy matter, a prio-
ri. to determine. Political pirates can
not be made to order, or extemporized
just to meet An emergency. They grow.
and as they are wanted and when they
are wanted. and not before. They are
formed by the natural accretion OF ele-
ments possessing the requisite affinity.
just 80. In like manner, parties disap-
pear and dissolve when they have run
their course, and there is no longer any
thing to hold them together. They
have their natural period OF growth and
OF decline. and those conditions of their
existence cannot be arbitrarily or capri
e!o1siyc anticipated or dispensed with.
tney cannot be unmade any more than
made at pleasure. A great party cannot
be blotted out OF existence and made to
disappear from the political arena simply
by wishing or resolving that it shall be
40. Iu other words, the problem is one
which will most probably solve itself. II
the time is ripe for the formation OF q
new party or the disappearance OF an
Old one, or fer that old one to toke upon
it new form of growth and expansion,
and to enter upon new phase In its ca
reer. We need not disturb ourselves abou.
the event. which will assuredly happen,
according to the working OF the general
law We have indicated, and which, in the
political history OF our ogn county, hae
oeen verified and illustrated in the suc
oessive rise Of the old Republican and
Federal parties, the Wing, the Demo-
cratic. and q second Republican party
having nothing in common with its pre-
iecessor but the name.
AT the same time it must be conceded
that the earnest discussion of the uues-
ton es to what shall be done, and how
the conservative strength of the ooun-
try shall lie brought out and developed.
and arrayed as unit on the side of oon-
.titutfonal governments and OF political
honesty and reform. is rendering Q moot
valuable servioe. Ie cannot fail to lead
to broader and juster comprehension
ut the necessities Of the political situa-
tion, and to the removal of many OF the
barriers created by prejudice aud misap-
prehension which have heretofore kept
men OF the same way of thinking from
cooperating and sosing together. II
this way discussion will prepare the way
for union, and out of it will grow and
shape themselves the real issues in the
coming contest, which will be the true
dividing line OF parties. It is the agita-
ton OF subject Of the greatest moment
20 the whole country. aud not, there
fore, to be eontemptuously treated or
hastily disposed OF.