Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1852-1852, 1852-03-12


ranks of Democratic statesmen stand men who
unite all those qualifications of personal worth
which our party has ever declared to beandis-
pcnsable, with the elements of popularity
infinitely deeper aud more enduring Than any
which circumstances and professional talent
have eiven.to the ,yainest, the most selfish, and
the most ridiculous of heroical eoxcombs,
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 Douglas is the adopted son Of IL
Iinois. He entered that State as journey
man carpenter; and attwenty.six years of age
he sat Judge upon the bench of her Supreme
Court. Since then he has successively filled
every honorable and high office which that
State could confer, and at the age of forty-one
he is facile 1,rinceps of the American Senate
,the bright and morning star of the National
Democratic Party-and is designated by mil
lions of voices from Maine to Texas, as the
future helmsnlan of the Nation. He is no re-
lie of the. past-no fossil remain of a bye-gone
time. No past defeat casts,its ominous shad-
ows in his path. Hope and youth blaze before
him; success sits like a halo on his brow. He
has already passed every contemporary COM
petitor yet all may see that the history of this
inal, is still a future. His political connexions
are yet;to be formed. He is the new man in
the field. He belongs 80 no Clique Of old To-
gies- in Virginia or anywhere else. With him
all ranks of the party-the young and the OBJ
scare, as well as the old and hitherto distin-
euished, will have their equal chance. lie has
no past .backslidings, no indiscreet speeches.
for,the orators and tbs presses of the Federal
party to match against the ridiculous qualities,
the absurd words, the folles, and the worse
errors of Winfield Scott. His Democracyis 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 vaciilation, nor has single.
sectional sentiment ever yet distorted his lips,
Boldness of movement, precision OF thought,
and the most enlarged views Of our na:ionsl
interests have ever guided him. Even his ge:
ographicaf position forbidsiFthe suepieiens OF
sectional feeling or thought. A resident OF a
free Stale, he is, yet a Southern Planter-ior
the Senator from Illinois is. the master OF an
estate and of slaves in North Carolina lie
has stood by the South in every trying scene
and on every test question, In every interest
he is irrevoeably Unidentified with JUS, and when
the uproar over the Fugitive Law coilsaisea
the North, Ire was the first man in free State
who bad the courage to stand iirtlre midst ana
denounce its enemies as the enemies ,ef. 1.-THE
Constitution and of the country's weal9He
never gave vote which the, ,straitest, Southern
[ n Il l. Iok II0 - IA
OF the people, and therefore never stops 70
think how he himself will be, affected by this
orfhat particular question, Sprung from them,
one Of them, he has confidence in their int intel
ligence and patriotism and therefore, when fol- !S
lowing his own common sense and the Cohstl-
tuition, never fears TO find himself at variance
with popular sentiment He is the true type
of this powerful and growing new country;
and its heart viii recognize its perfect repre-
sentative. Sprung directly from the people,
without the most remote aids of birth or for.
.tsne, educated by his,own thirst for knowledge,
he supported himself from Infancy by his daily
labor; and battling aloneag againstt the world, ne
has risen with the sheer force OF superb intel
lect and nndaunted heart, step by step, untilhe
now stands acknowledged and respected as
the chef champion of the Democratic Party.
Each class of men love and admire him most
who carries the excellencies of their order to
the highest degree. As dogs follow the most
successful huntsman and leave their masters,
SO do soldiers love more than life itself the
conquering General, SO do merchants worship
the most fortunate among the children OF Mann
mon, and so do artists think him the greatest
of earth who ,carries to the highest point the
chsel aud the pencil. Tried by this truisn',
the axiom of universal observation, Stephen A.
Douglas possesses greater elements Of popu-
larity in the United States than any other lty-
ing man; for.he has exemplifed in an nnpar-
aleled degree those characteristics which at
tract Ahe eyes of all the world to this new, this
Young, this growing, powerful and most sue
cessful country. Where shall we find such
another instance of our age and our land as
the life of this great statesman oferss ne
whom we saw few short years ago IN his
shirt sleeves at a carpenters bench making So
fas and bedsteads, now charms with ills elo.
ouence and impresses with his profound sagacl:
ty the first deIiberati7e body in the world
What splendid illustration is here of RePub-
lican institutions: Every American who re.
cards the great fact, must rejoice that his land
is the one upon--tthtis4 globe where thus much
may be attained by labor and purpose.
Where else could this occurs Whaf7a> guar
antee is given to mankind that merit will ever
be rightly estimated here when we shall see