New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-04-19
JFFPERsON vs.. DOUGLAS.


JEFFE RsON vs.. DOUGLAS.
Mr.. Douglas is in some respects remarkable
man. II has not been altogether without reason
that he has been attered with the title of political
giant Few men are able to stand like him be-
sriding the Senate and the UniOn as it were, with
one foot in Illinois, standing-grOuud which is
becoming little slippery and the other in a
Louisiana cotton plantation. Yet even Mr.. Douglas,
we suppose, with that graceful and becoming
modesty for which he is so eminently distinguished,
will be disposed to admit-Or, if he should not,
the people of the United States will nevertheless
be likely to be of opiniOn-that on great political
question the ideas of Thomas Jefferson may be
entitled to quite as much weight as those of Mr..
Senator Douglas.
Upon the subject of the present state of affairs
in Kansas. and the course which ought TO be pur-
sued toward the people Of that Territory, Mr.
Douglas has fully expressed his mind He thinks
tie people of Kansas are rebels in insurrecton
against the lawful authorities of the Territory, and
he plainly intimates that in his opinion the bayOnets
of the United States troops and the hemp of the
United States Marshals ought to be employed to
reduce them to unconditional submission The
conduct Of these Kansas rebels, as he calls them,
he represents as totally inexcusable, and the al
legged rebels themselves as deserving neither con-
sideratiOn nor mercy. Rebellion against the
constituted authorities is, in the eyes OF Mr.. Doug
las-wtose thoughts, perhaps, will run on such &C.
casions to bis Louisiana plantatOn-the highest of
crmes which, if not suppressed with due vigor,
threatens the downfall of the entire social fabric
Such are the ideas of Mr. Douglas and such is
the policy which he recommends. Now for the
purposes of this article let admit that the Bor-
der Ruffian view which that distinguished Senator
takes of the resistance of the people of Kansas to
the enactments of the bogus Legislature is the cor
rect ope Let Us suppose that the people of Kansas
had armed themselves not to resist the Outrages OF
Missouri army which had volunteered to enforce
the attachments of the bogus Legislature, but in re-
sstance to laws of which the binding force was I'M
questionable. Suppose this to have been the state
Of the facts, and yet what a different judgment
would Thomas Jefferson have pronounced upon
this admitted state of facts, from that proclaimed
BY Mr. Douglas, with an admiring mob of Border
Ruffan Senators at his heels
We are fortunately in possession of letter of Mr..
Jefersons dated Paris, Nov. Is, 1887, and written
to Colonel Smith, in which he expresses his opinion
of the famous rebellion of Shays in Massachusetts,
and the influence which that event ought reason
ably to have upon pending political arrangements.
The facts with respect to Shayss rebellion are pref
ty well known, but for fear that Mr.. Douglass
multitudinous ayocations may have left him no
leisure to study this part of our history, we shall
briefly recapitulate them. A great body of the
Massachusetts, farmers, weighed down with taxes
and private debts which threatened them with the
speedy loss of their homes, had risen in arms to
break up the sittiDgs Of the courts and to prevent
the further collection of either debts or taxes.
Mr.. Jefferson did not set up that this was a case
which at all justified the resort to arms.
He fully admitted that the rebels were entirely in
the wrong, but at the same time-contending that
the insurrection sprung not from wickedness, but
from gnorance-from a Misrepresentation on the
part of the insurgents as to the agency of the Gov
ernment in producing the evils of which they CON-
plained-he strenuously cOntended that they ought
neither to be regarded with adherence nor treated
with severity, "God forbid" he wrote, "we
" should ever be twenty years without such re-
"bellion" After again insisting that the insur-
rectou had grown out Of misapprehensons on the
part OF the people, no added: "If they remain
." quiet under such misconceptions, it is leth-
array the forerunner of death to the public
liberty. What country can preserve Its
liberties if its rulers are not warned from time
"to time that the people preserve the spirit OF
"re,istance Our Convention means the
Convention TO frame the Federal Constitution
has been too much impressed by the insurrection
ain Massachusetts,, and on the spur of the moment
"thcy are setting up Kite to keep the hen-yard in
"ordcr." We hope the Senate of the United
States will pay due attention to this hint. That
body seems to be a little too much impressed with
the alleged instruction in Kansas and they, too,
arc e ting ready their kite" in the shape of the
Douglas bill, "to keep the hcn-yard in order. ~
Surely the observations of Jefferson, ii they were