Year: 1860

Wing party, IN a speech delivered ut
Frankfort, (Ky) November, 1850, made
use Of the following emphatic language,
which We reprint for the benefit Of those
Of his devoted admirers who may yet sur
vive, as also for the consideration Of every
citizen who may have at heart the true
interests Of his country in the present
anomalous crisis. Mr.. Clay said:


"If the agitation in regard to the fugitive
slave law should continue and increase, and be-
come alarming, II viii lead 10 the formation ut
two new parties, one for the Union, and the
other against the Union. Present parties have
been created BY the division Of opinions as re-
CARDS systems Of national policy, and as to
finance, free trade, or protection, the improve
ment Of rivers and harbors, the distribution of
the proceeds Of the public lands, de-. but these
systems Of policy springiug out Of the admin
istratiOn Of the government Ot the Union, loose
all their importance, IL that Union is TO be dis
solved. They sink into utter insigui6canee be-
fOre the all important, pervasiVe and Psra-
mount interest VI the Union itself, and the
platform If that Uniou party will be the Union,
the Constitution and the enforcement Of its
laws-aDd IL Il should be necessary to form
such . party, and Il should be accordingly
formed, ANNOUNcE ATsEhF IN THIS PLACE A
MEMBER OF THAT PARTY whatever may be its
component elements. Sir, 90 further. | have
had great hopes and confidence In the priuci-
pies Of the Wing party. as being most likely to
conduce 10 the prosperity and tho glory Of my
country; but il it be merged into a contempti-
BILE Abolition party and il AbOlitionism is to be
engrafted on the Wing creed, that MOMENT
RENoCNcE THE PARTY AND CEASE TO DE WHiG."


The voice Of the mighty statesman Of
the West comes up from the secret cham
bers Of the dead, in tones Of warning and
persuasion. AS freshly and as apprOpri-
ately is it heard speaking out, at this par
ticular crisis, as when Of yorc its thun-
ders shook the Halls Of our National
Council Chambers, or when the wood
clad hills and verdant Wales of his beloved
Kentucky echoed its sweetness. Though
often raised in support Of measures which,
as q Democrat, we believe were opposed
to the best interests Of the country, yet
never was it heard in the advocacy Of any
policy adverse TO the honor and perpetuity
Of the Union. Mr.. Clay was q patriot
although partisan, and when the safety
and honor Of his country were at stake,
he had the courage and the honesty and
the greatness OF soul 10 lift himself above
the minor considerations Of party policy.
Before his death he witnessed the "begin-
ming Of the end" Of the old Wing party,
as foreshadowed in the extract above. lie
saw the riCkcty craft breaking loose from
its moorings beside the rock of the Con-
stitution, the one portion drifting fast into
the murky waters Of Know Nothingism,
the other into the still darker and more
dangerous whirlpool Of Abolition fanati-
cisin. Hence it was that in the evening
of his glorious career he was found stand
ing side by side with the friends of the
Union, under the broad flag Of Democracy,
fighting for 4"the equal rights of all the
States" in all the Territories. And there
to-day, il alive, would he be found.


Upon the dissolution Of the Whig party,
hundreds Of thousands Of the conserva-
tive minded followers Of Mr.. Clay at the
North, having no sympathy for, nor SEN
timent in common with any of the count
less isms Of fanaticism and disunion, so
rife in that region, sought shelter under
the only banner that had inscribed upon
its folds, the "UniOn and the Constitu-
ton" That banner was the banner Of
Democracy. Since then they have fought
side by side with the true men of the
Democratic party, making common cause
with them against the common enemy.
Unfortunately the Democracy North have
been recently divided in their councils
They have found an Acheron in the camp
in the person Of Stephen A. Douglas, who
has created breach in their forces. Tn
der the glare Of false colors he is leading
portion Of them over to the camp of the
enemy. Seeing that Northern Democracy
is apparently following the same fate that
the old Wing party North did before it,
and is fast drifting upon the tide of fanat-
icism, the Old Line Wings arc beginning
to say Of the Democracy, as Mr.. Clay said
Of the Whig party,-"If AbolitiOnism is
to be grated on tho Democratic creed,
that moment We rcnouncc the party and
cease to be Democrats" Yes, il" Squat
ter Sovereignty" which is the worst and
most insidous form Of AbolitiOnism, be-
cause presenting itself in the habiliments
Of Democracy, IL, we say,-"DOuglasism"
is to be engraftcd on the Democratic creed
and is to be accepted as the orthodox doc
trinc Of the party, then indeed is it time.
not only for all the quondam followers of
the patriotic Clay to desert II, but for all
honest men to repudiate and denounce
Democracy. But there is no real semb-
lance between the two. True Democracy
is now what it ever has been, and this all
sensible men begin to see. 1t is just as
distinct from "Squatter Sovereignty" rs
it is from Black Republicanism. Though
the unscrupulOus and intriguing Douglas
may carry away a portion of the rank and
file, decciving them with false cOlors, from
the army Of the faithful, yet before they
reach the camp Of the enemy they will