The Opelousas patriot. [volume] (Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La.) 1855-1863, 1855-09-01
THE LOUESLANA DEMOCRAT a
COL, w. 3. LEWIS.

We promised in our Inst issue to notice the
article in the Louisiana Democrat Of the 18th
ult., wherein Col. Lewis is charged with hav-
ing said, in his speech at the Alexandria Bar
becue, that he would have opposed the Kan
sas-Nebraska bill, had he been in Congress,
etc. etc. 5.-a.
1t SO happened that we were at Alexandria,
and heard the speech referred to, wherein he is
said to have denounced the Kansas Nebraska
bill because it conferred the right of franchise
Upon inhabitants Of foreign birth. Our recol-
lection of bis language places the matter in a
very different light. Col. Lewis said that he
objected to that principle Of the Kansas-Ne-
braska bill which allowed u~nnathralised for
eigners to vote, and would have opposed it on
that account" Mark the difference : not " in
habitants of foreign birth" but u~n,natmafsed
foreigners. We have given that part Of his
speech, if not exactly in his own words, yet
precisely the idea. If the Democrats version
were true, why did not MI. Wicklife, in his
answer to Col. Lewis, make that capital out
Of the unfortunate assertion which the Demo-
crat attempts Was he SO dull that he did
not detect it, or that he could not see the effect
i've use that could be made of it? .
Col. Lewis has been misrepresented by the
article in question. Upon no other ground
than the comforting of the franchise-right upon
unnaturalized foreigners, the natural enemies
Of Southern institutions, would he have voted
against the Kansas Nebraska bill and it is
now attempted to show that, because he could
not swallow that odious feature of it, he is un-
sound, and would be unsafe as the representa-
tive in Congress of a slaveholding people!
Now we are aware that M. Martin is a
forcible writer, and that he often contrives to
make q pretty good argument Of a bad cause,
land he has now a large field for his peculiar
talent that way but the idea that he can
bring the people of this District to believe that
Col. Lewis is not as warm in his attachment to
the South, and will not as strongly advocate.
should he become their representative, every
single measure calculated to further Southern
interests, as any other man, is absurd, and be-
You'd even Dawes great abilities.
AS a member of the American party, and
subscribing to the twelfth article of the Phila-
delphia Platform, Col. L. is bound to oppose
q repeal of the Kansas-N Nebraska bill (now
that it is an existing law ~, Or a restoration
of the Missouri Compromise, by the following
clause in that article:
1.-THE National Council ha. deemed it the best
guarantee OF common justice and of future peace to
ABIDE, RY and MAINTAIN the EXISTING LAWS upon
ne subject of Slavery as a FINAL AND CONCLUSIVE
SUPPLEMENT OF that subject, in spirit and in sub
stance.n
What more does the South want? What
assurance, beyond an endorsement of this senti-
ment, does she require from her representa-
tives? None. The man who holds these
views can never forsake Southern interests, or
cooperate with abolition agitators. 1t would
be ridiculous to suppose that Col. Lewis could
sympathize with Northern fanatics-he,
who was born and reared in Louisiana-who
was nursed by, inherited, and has ever since
been the owner of negroes, to forget the asso-
Citations of childhood, the institutions of his
native State and his attachment to the South,
to affiliate with Seward, Hale and Chase
Nonsense !