The Ripley advertiser. [volume] (Ripley, Miss.) 1843-1897, 1856-05-08
Volume XIV.


institutions upon it; no right to legis-
late in regard to its domestic affairs
for all time to come, as the Missouri
provision did--but you shall leave it
TO itself to mould its own institutions,
subject only to the rights and limita-
tions ofihe Constitution, so that when
it arrives at maturity it may, with a
republican constitution, put on the
complete habiliments of sovereignty
and appear amid the national constel-
laton, not as a star of inferior or su-
pcrior magnitude, but as apeer among
peers.
As to the question ofslavcry especi-
ally, the Inconsistencies bill leaves
it where the trainers of the Constitu-
ton left t--not as one OF the ends Of
the confederation, not as an object of
! Congressional legislation, but as the
subject matter oirghts existing ante
riorly to the Constitution, guaranteed
By hat instrument to the States e. peo-
ple;& ~ not TO be impaired or destroyed
by Congress by any legislative power
under Congress, or any power what
ever save State when in its sover-
eign capacity it frames its constitution
and enacts its laws.
Few men would have had the bold
ness to attack and unmask the error
involved in the Missouri Compromise,
committed rs ii was more than third
of Il century ago, and certainly re-
spectacle if only for its antiquity. Op-
positc elements in principles and poll
tics had We'd in nursing it into vigor;
it had taken a deep root in the popu-
lar mind; it was commended to the
people by its priests and apostles, with
a sort of sacramental unction, as much
more than an act of legislation, as a
semi-constitution or supplement al
least to that instrument, and as such
with revercntial awe, it was generally
accepted; and it required strong
hand, fearless soul and a resolut'
purpose to ovcrturn a colossal wrong
so consecratcd by custom and by au
thority.
But if priests make idols, idols make
iiconoclasts. With dauntlcss and un'
wavcring faith, Stephen A. Douglas
approached this idol, amid its bowling
priests and prophets-and he "smash
ed it" most 'emphatically. 1t was he
who had the strong hand and resolutt
will to drag up by the roots the erro'
of thirty-iour years, and leave th'
space for truth and justice to fiourisl
in.
What other man living would have
done this deed? That no one elst
could or did accomplish it, is undeni
able. When the Missouri Restriction
was passed, Stephen A. Douglas wa'
eight years old. Many men of grea
influence, of national regulations,
and filling a vast amount of room il
the political world. have figured am
bitiously since then, but not one evel
dared to attack this grim and awc-in
spring measure. Confcssing it to bl
wrong, they preferred to glide smooth
" along with the current, to rest indO
lcntly beneath the shade of the upa'
tree, rather than breast the storm o.
opposition which they knew would
burst upon them if they should at
tempt to uproot the hoary iniquity anc
restore the Constitution to its earl
purity.
Any man can glide smoothly or
with the stream, many have strength
to pull the oar, some the skill to steer
the craft, but few will venture t.
change the current or throw the chan
mel in different direction.
The Missouri restriction, as we have
before observed, was not only grea
error but a great wrong; and those i
most wronged will scarcely make
themselves illustrious examples o
gratitude justice or honor, if they re
fuse to avail themselves of the first op
portunity to evince their cordial ap
probation of him who alone was no
10th to take upon himself the respon
sibility, but boldly confronted, com
battcd and overcame that wrong! !
is true there were Southern men whit
would not have shrunk from this re
sponsibility; but had the proposition
for its repeal emanated from South
ern man, it would have been looked
upon as a sectional measure AM
would not have passed; and it wa
Douglas who stepped forward to di
vest it Of the appearance OF section
ality and to incur to be denounced
throughout the North as renegade
and traitor.
lfa man suffers personally and po
litically the injurious consequences o
an act of iar-seeing patriotism AM
justice, let him also have the benefi
Of the good say we! Is the faithfn
warrior who has won the fight for u
+ entitled to nothing but the honorable
+ wounds and mutilatiOns he has re
lccivcd2 Mr. Douvlas has had the for