Semi-weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1852-1853, 1852-03-27
THE STANDARD.
RALEIGH, N. C.
SATURDAY. MARCH "a. 1852.
JUDGE DoUGLAS-THE REGISTER.

The Register states that Senator douglas ooogeu
the fugitiveslave law The Editor knows this charge
to be untrue. Judge Douglas was absent on business
which could not be neglected, when the bill passed
the Senate but he stated, his return, that he
would have voted for the bill had he been present,
and he the first man of either party to raise his
voice on the stump, in favor of the law. Has the
Register forgotten the Chicago scene, in which Judge
Douglas confronted thousands of Infatuated Adolf
tonists, and talked for this law until its berest
mics were silenccd Has the Editor forgotten that
under the influence of this Speech, the Common
Council of Chicago almost unanimously repealed an
act of theirs forbiddng their officers to interfere to
arrest fugitive? No, the Editor remembers all
this, but it does not accord with his business as
partizan to state the facts.
The Washington Republic not long since, made a
charge similar to the one preferred by the Register
against Judge Douglas but the Editor of that paper
came forward soon after, under comnaendable sense
of JUSTICE and not only apologized for his course on
the subject but bore strong testimony to the frmness
and patriotism of that distinguished gentleman. Will
the Register follow this example? Will it be hon
est enough to do simple justice to political oppo-
nent4 These pointed questions, but they are
justified by the occasion. 1t is evident that the Re-
gister is preparing for the campaign. The Editor is
taking lessons in stretching, to be able to judge
of his capacity in that respect before the heat of the
battle is upon US. We warn the people, and we
warn them in time, against his evasions, his tricks,
his misrepresentation. and unfounded statements.
The most enormous fasehoods will be brought in
to use against the Democracy and the champions of
the cause, during the ensuing summer and autumn {;
and it is therefore important that the people should
be put upon their guard. All We ask of them
is to proue all things, and hold fast to that which
is good. 9" Let them take nothing for granted, but
demand the proofs. A cause which can be supper
ted in other way than by misrepresentation and
falsehood, deserves to 60 down. Such cause ,oiH,
in the end, 60 down. 1t may prosper for time, and
the people may be, now and then, deceived; but the
doom of the demagogue is as certain as the ultimate
triumph of truth.
There several points in this matter which are
very annoying to the Register. They are these i:
Every Democrat who is spoken of for the Presiden-
cy, is sound upon this law, and pledged in the clear
est manner to maintain it and enforce it, if elected
while on the other hand, Mr.. Fillmore, though he
came out for il in decided terms in his last annual
message, would not sign it President until he had
procured the opinion of the Attorney General that it
was constitutional. Such men as Mr.. Buchanan and
Judge Douglas were fer it from the first; Mr.. Fill
more " seized upon it," he admits, only in the last
time, and as part and parcel of other measures, by
which, as is generally admitted, the South gain
ed nothing. He was ready to march troops against
Texas slavehoding State and to do it promptly and
at once but he required time to deliberate, and he
full of constitutional scruples that he had to
obtain the opinion of the Attorney General, before he
would approve law, the enactment Of ,ohieh
Joined by Of The pines provisions Of the Constita
tion. Again: The present law is not such one as
Mr.. Webster preferred, the records of the Senate
will show and Gen. Scott it is well known, has re-
fused to say whether he is for or against it. This
contrast, repeat is annoying to the Register and
hence the efforts of that paper to produce the i'm
preston that leading Democrats in the same pre-
dicament on this subject with leading Wings. But
all such efforts must fail. The facts are with the
Democracy, and they will remain just as they are
" fixed facts " on the records of the country. The
slang of partizans and demagogues neithe: OBJ
literate nor change them. We are content to leave
them with the people, and to abide their judgment
up on them.