WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1856
359
Now, let us reflect for a moment, and observe that I, too, if not reared "beneath the shades of the Hermitage," was taught under the pure, vigorous, and national Democratic teachings of the revered and brave old chief, whose wisdom brought honesty, purity, and vigor into the public service with strength, love of Union, honor, and renown to the whole country. I marched with that old chief, and kept step with his Democracy throughout his public life; and since he departed, I have never deviated for a moment from his principles; and I tell you, you can say most truly, that not only the issues formerly dividing the old Whig and Democratic parties, can no longer be said to have any prac- tical existence, but that those parties themselves have no distinc- tive character. They have faded, become extinct and expired. One, the Whig party, lives only in the memory of its great name, its great abilities, and its great failures to accomplish practical results; the other, although it retains the name of Democracy, has no memories to which the present organization can refer without a blush of shame. The Democracy of to-day is a "com- pound" of heterogeneous materials; it has dwindled down to mere sectionalism, and is now but a faction. It has lost the principle of cohesion, and boasts no longer a uniform policy. When it fol- lowed with us the flag of the "old chief," it had a consistency of principle and firmness of purpose which always accompanies a clear conviction of right. It had clear heads, patriotic hearts, and clean hands ever ready in its support. It spoke wisdom, and quiet at home, and every section rejoiced in our general prosperity; it announced its foreign policy, and negotiations abroad were no further necessary than to communicate that announcement. Where is that Democracy to-day? Swallowed up in unmitigated squatter sovereignty-in sectional bickerings and dispute-in dis- regarding compacts between the different sections of the Union, the repeal of which has led to insurrection in Kansas-in getting up Indian wars, wherever Indians could be found, as a pretext for increasing the regular army, the estimated expenses of which at this time are $12,000,000 per annum, when $300,000 judiciously expended would secure peace with every Indian tribe on the con- tinent, and induce them to embrace the arts of civilization. The foreign policy of the present Democratic President has been far from creditable to our government. It, too, has shown a disposition to court an alien influence to sustain it, while it has declared and practised relentless proscription against native- born American citizens. I will pursue this point no further. To ruminate upon it is painful enough for a man who loves his
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