Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1852-03-10

we meet them 70 the vivid descrip-
tons of glowing fancy, charming multi
tudes and filing them with excitement,
shall we oppose naught beyond a learn
ed discourse ON the Constitution, on the
tariff, or on free-trade 2 1t would be
idle to do SO, we should have no listeners.
Should we seek to portray the dangers of
abolition, or discuss the .propriety of for
eign intervention, the case will be the
same if the Drum and Fife come along
we shall have no hearers.
We saw this in 1910. We felt it when
one of the most distinguished OF Wing
orators declared that he would no more
think of stopping in his imprisoned dis
course to answer an argument, than
would railway train in its rapid transit
stop to punish the barking of dog.
10 all this, for it is our custom, and
respect for the intelligence of the people
makes it our policy, we must oppose a
statesman of enlarged and liberal views,
whose past history affords true index of
what his future course will be, one who is
identified in feeling and principle with
the Democratic party; man of &C
knowledged standing, of unquestioned tai
ent-AND ONE WHO HAS THE ELEMENTS OF
POPULARITY.
Have we such men? Yes. All adj
init that we have many who possess the
first named qualifications; and fthe con-
test between Scott and any one of the
leading Democrats, who are regarded as
his probable competitors, was to be de-
cided by their capacities for the supreme
post Of President, we should all feel ca
sy and indifferent, But that we have
now within our reach chief statesman,
with elements of popularity equal to
those of Scott, is subject of doubt with
many who recollect the military politics
of the past. Certain it is, that we have
no military men at this time in our party
whose military achievements we can
fairly place in contrast with those of Scott.
To enter that war with the weapons now
in our reach, would be to fight gun
boat against a seventy flour. But there
are other and stronger means to reach
the peoples heart than by the roar of
cannon, the glitter of steel, and the pomp
Of desolatiug war; and we assert that in
the front ranks of Democratic statesmen
stand men who unite all those qualltica-
tons of personal worth which our party
has ever declared to be indispensable,
with the elements of popularity infinitely
deeper and more enduring than any
which circumstances and professional tai
ent have given to the vainest, the most
selfish, and the most ridiculous of hcrol-
cal coxcombs.
We propose to illustrate this assertion
Without disparaging any other great
name, we will single out one among the
first, and let his strength re-assure the
faint hearted and lift up those who fall.
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS is the adopted
son of Illinois. He entered the State as
journeyman carpenter; and at twenty six
years of age he sat as Judge upon the
bench Of her Supreme Court. Since then
he has successfully filled every honorable
and high office which the State could con-
fer, and at the age of forty-one he is .faciIe
princeps of the American Senate-the
bright and morning star of the National
Democratic Party-and is designated by
millions of voices from Maine to Texas, as
the future helmsman of the nation. He
is no relic of the past-no fossil remain of
a bye-gone time. No past defeat casts its
ominous shadow in his path. Hope and
youth blaze before him; success sits like
halo on his brow. He has already pas
sed every contemporary competitor, yet
all may see that the history of this man
is still future. His political connexions
are yet to be formed He is the NEW
MAN in the field, He belongs to no clique
of old fogics-in Virginia or anywhere
else, With him all ranks of the party
the young and the obscure, as well rs the
old and hitherto distinguished, will have
their equal chance. He has no past
backslidings, no indiscreet speeches, for
the orators and the presses of the Federal
party to match against the ridiculous
qualities, the absurd words, the follies and
the worse errors of Winfield Scott. His
Democracy is the -" chrysolyte without
flaw !" in his political career there has
been no variance nor shadow of turning.
In his whole life there has not been one
hour of vacillation, nor has single Sec
tional sentiment ever yet distorted his lips.
Boldness ofmovement, precisionofthought
and the most enlarged views of our ma
tional interests have ever guided him.
Even his geographical position forbids
the suspicion OF sectional feeling or
thought A resident of free State, he
is yet SOUTHERN PLANTER-for the Sena-
tor from Illinois is the master of an estate
and Of slaves in North Carolina. He has
stood by the South in every trying scene
and on every test question. In every in
terest he is irrevocably identified with us.
and when the uproar over the Fugitive
Slave Law convulsed the North, he was
the first man in a free State who had the
courage to stand in the midst and denounce
its enemies as the enemies Of the Constitu-
ton and of the country's veal. He ne
yer gave vote which the straightest
Southern Democrat could wish to blot