UNITED STATES'

DEMOCRATIC

REVIEW.

OCTOBER, 1859.

LOGICAL RESULTS OF REPUBLICANISM.

THE opposition throughout the country are speculating on the result of the recent elections in several of the eastern, middle, and western States, and some of the more violent presses of the Republican party assume that the nominal success attending their efforts in these States, proves the strength of the principles enunciated in the sectional platform of 1856, as recently elaborated and extended in the extreme views of Senator Seward of New York, Mr. Lincoln of Illinois, and others, who are presumed to speak for the Republican party at the present time. If the two systems, free and bond. labor, which have respectively characterized the northern and southern States for a long period, and under which both have prospered in a degree unparalleled in the history of nations, are now to commence a relentless war on each other, until one or the other shall be exterminated, then, as a consequence, the confederation is at an end,-the United States no longer exists -the American Republic has proved a failure, and its founders have labored in vain. This we do not believe, although the country is not free froin danger, and it is well to remind politicians that one of the ancient prophets administered a severe rebuke to the head of an Ishmaelitish tribe for proclaiming peace! peace! when there was no peace. A proclamation of war was issued against the institution of this country in the Republican convention of 1856, which nominated Col. Fremont as its chieftain, and although his defeat caused a truce, the war is now renewed in a more formidable manner, and the

head of the column placed in the hands of a more able, skilful, and determined leader, Senator Seward. No one can fail to admire the boldness of this leader in marking out the lines of his campaign for 1860, however much we may deprecate the recklessness of his course, or view with apprehension the hazard to which his policy exposes the interest of the country. In this renewed crusade against the peace of the Union the Republicans are to be sustained by the American party. This is clearly indicated by the result of the recent elections, and we cannot fail to regard without apprehension the course now being pursued by these parties. The mission of the American party seems to consist in its ability to excite unkindly sentiments between persons from different countries and professing dissimilar religious opinions, while the aim of the Republican party appears to resolve itself into an effort to sever the bonds of brotherhood existing between different sections of one common country. That two parties thus engaged in creating and promoting contention between members of the same confederacy, instead of aspiring to advance the interest and promote the honor and prosperity of all, can easily fuse, is obvious, and therefore few men of discernment are surprised at their amalgamation, and the absorption of the American faction by the Republicans. That both of these political cabals are capable of doing any act, however treasonable, against the State, is natural and inevitable. It is a mystery how any conscientious man can countenance the course pursued by the Republicans and Americans. If such men would bear in mind the great truth, that the Almighty has pronounced a blessing on the peacemaker, and a curse upon him who stirreth up strife, neither of these parties would derive much encouragement from the better class of citizens, for they both undoubtedly occupy the position of the latter character, while the Democratic party sustains that of the former.

The result of the recent elections clearly demonstrates the fact, that the opposition are becoming more and more a mere local organization, and while this combination may succeed in keeping from us some of the State Governments for a limited period, it can never again aspire to the dignity of a national party, or by any possibility obtain control of the national government upon the strength of its own merits or the popularity of its principles.

The principles and sentiments of a party can only be determined by its official acts, and the concurrent opinions of its leading members. J. C. Fremont received the nomination of the Republicans at the Philadelphia Convention, and of the North Americans at New York. In accepting the last nomina

tion he styled it the "second Declaration of American Independence." Both branches of this Republican American party glory in the appellation of opposition, and we shall so regard them. Their Philadelphia and New York platforms, and the leaders who represent them, all breathe the same turbulent, bigoted, sectional spirit of opposition, not only to the Democratic party, but also to the Constitution of the country, the institutions of the States, and the sovereignty of the people of the Territories. They deny to the American citizen the right of self-government in the Territories, under the pretence that its exercise would interfere with the privileges of negroes! They denounce the Government of the country as accessory to murders, robberies, and arson, without the shadow of proof, while they themselves are guilty of every crime known in the blackest catalogue of infamy and treason; under the guise of humanity, they perpetrate the most heartless cruelties, and beneath the cloak of religion they blaspheme the name of the Almighty. They outlaw one half of the States, and threaten them with fire and sword if they do not succumb, on the pretence that they love the Union, asserting at the same time, that the North has the right to govern the country; affect horror of polygamy and slavery as twin relics of barbarism, while they tax the State for the support of their own lust and traffic in the blood of human beings. They preach abolitionism and practise amalgamation, and attempt to conceal their infamy under the cry of "freedom!" They denounce the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and have not the manliness to ask its restoration. They proclaim the right of Americans to rule America, and persecute citizens for their religious opinions, and ostracise them on account of the place of their birth, and in the face of this conduct, they invoke foreign aid in subverting the institutions of the country! They call on the venerated names of Washington and Jefferson to sustain their untenable dogmas, when it is a historical truth that not one of the Revolutionary patriots ever sustained sectionalism or religious bigotry. Under the garb of freedom of speech and of the press, they employ obscene, licentious, and treasonable language, stimulate immorality, rapine, and war, instead of inculcating the Divine precept of peace and good will to men.

If these charges seem harsh toward the Republican party, it is to be regretted that it has given occasion for them, and that they are too true. The proof may be found in its own record, written by the hand of its members. The Philadelphia Convention of 1856, which inaugurated the Republican party, adopted, among other resolutions, the following:

"That we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial

legislature, of any individual or association of individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any territory of the United States while the present Constitution shall be maintained."

"That the Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power over the territories of the United States for their government, and that in the exercise of this power it is both the right and the duty of Congress to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism-polygamy and slavery."

The first resolution denies the right of Congress to the absolute government of Territories, and the second asserts its supreme power in the premises. It is difficult to explain the inconsistency manifest in these resolutions on any other hypothesis than that the men who framed them were willing to concede the right of Congress, under the Constitution, to perform any act that might be agreeable to their views, but deny the power to do any other act of which they should disapprove. Whatever may be the meaning of these incongruous resolutions, it is an indisputable fact that they are opposed to the admission of any more States into the Union, with southern institutions, and that they deny the right of the people to adopt their own form of government in conformity with the Constitution, which provides "That the power not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, is reserved to the States respectively or to the people." The section on which the opposition depend to justify their position is often misquoted in a manner to appear to give Congress the supreme governmental power in Territories, when in truth it does nothing of the kind. It reads as follows:-"Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the Territories or other property belonging to the United States."

The construction placed on this section of the Constitution. by the Republican party would give to Congress the same right to dispose of a civil community that it possesses in regard to the disposal of mere property belonging to the United States, such as the public lands, buildings, arsenals, dock-yards, &c. This Constitutional language admits of no doubtful or two-fold rendering-Congress may dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations "respecting the land," but not the sovereignty of the Territories when once peopled. The founders of the Republic had no such design, nor have they by any word in the Constitution vested in Congress or given to any other department of the Federal Government, au arbitrary power over the local and domestic affairs of the people, whether in Territory or State. The original Thirteen Colonies occupied a similar position in their relations to the Crown of Great Britain