WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1860
553
forth and vindicate the honor of their country at all hazards,- nor he the nerve and discernment to point the way! What independent man woul[d] be such a President? With the Constitution for his guide, he should be trammelled by no party pledges.-He should enter into no bargain with political cliques or party leaders, whose corruptions must be cloaked and who must be retained in office to save the party the odium of exposure; and who, ,vhen they could no longer impose upon his friendship, would turn their traitorous fangs to bite him. He should recognize no affiliations with men who have been untrue to the Constitution in both sections. He should accept no favor at the hands of such. Nominated by the Charleston Convention, he would endorse the heresies of each and every faction com- posing it, and a horde of these men, who have been striving for years to denationalize the democratic party, until they have reduced it to a combination of factions, would stand with their eternal cry of "spoils," in the way of every righteous endeavor of his administration. · Contemplate the scene now spread out before the gaze of the American people! The Democratic party, no longer represents the principles, which secured its triumphs in the days of Andrew Jackson. The Whig party which also had its triumphs, no longer maintains an organization. The great North, which eight years ago rall~ed with enthusiasm around the Democracy, is in the hands of a sectional party. Congress, the arena of sectional wrangle, while politicians are engaged in the task of President making; and Senatorial caucuses in accordance with centralizing tendencies, are arranging Platforms, still further to take the power from the hands of the people. What is the test of strength? Is it asked with respect to a candidate: Is he the choice of the people? Not so; the people are kept in the back ground to do the bidding of politicians and he who can secure the most of these, the people must vote for. With the fact that almost every Northern State is lost to the party by this denationalizing process, the country is expected to stand still, and let the crisis come, without making one effort to avert it. What hope can he, who is nominated at Charleston have of calling forth the conservatism of the North, to sustain the Con- stitution, and the Union, when his very nomination would carry a pledge to place in power those who have already been untrue to it? What hope, I say, would he have from the North, for it is
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