Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-12-21

MONDAY, DECEMBER 81, 1857.
the Principles of the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
RIII.


instrumental in that memorable occur
renee, was, we have long since been salts
fed, intended to give that party the means
Of retaining power by deceiviDg the people.
The opposite interpretations of the bill,
North and South, instituted Immediately
after its enactment into law, and steadily
persisted in, left us no other conclusion.
There has been no coincidence of opinion
between the great body of the party, in
the two sections of the Union, upon the
matter of Interpretation, and there prOba-
bly, never will be any. The agreement to
differ as to the proper construction and
yet to work together, availed them in the
Presidential election; but, now that an
other scene in the drama is in the process
of enactment, and Kansas is about to de-
mand admittance into the Union, the bond
of union bids fair to be rent in twain, and
the sham democracy broken to pieces.
Mr.. DOUGLAS, the engineer under whose
auspices the bill was put through Congress,
unwilling to yield up his construction of its
principles, preferring the direct path of
duty, to the tortuOus windings Of the party
plotter, insists upon carrying out those
principles as he understood, and intended
them to be understood by his confederates
of the North, if not of the South. We
believe he will carry the masses of his par
ty, North, with him, for they have been
IL ho 1nlu
in moment become oblivous of the les
sons they have received Members Of
Congress may yield TO the seductive temp
tations of federal patronage, but the
sturdy hearts of the masses are proof
against such promptings. The prospect is,
therefore, that Douglas will triumph, and
his party, unless the President and his sup
porters yield, be broken upon the wheel of
the principles of the Kansas bill. Heaven
knows they deserve such destiny, and
were it not for the consequences which
might ensue, the country might well rejoice
in the event.
But this quarrel, growing out of the
practical application of the principles of
the Kansas-Nebraska bill, portends more
than the death of the sham democratic
party. 1t threatens a sectional cOntrO-
versy of such a character as has never
been experienced-a controversy which
will eclipse that of 1919, and that of 1850,
both of which, through the intervention of
compromising cOunsels, were deprived of
their terrors. This promises to precipltate
a conflict between the North and the South,
embittered by recOllectiOns of the past,
and at a time when the people of our sunny
cline are beginning to feel that the cup of
oppression is full and the dag Of endurance,
f0rbearance, and compromise fOreUer gone
At such time and under such circumstan-
ces as these, is it not worse than folly for
Southern men-for the representatives of
a Southern people in a Legislative body -
to waste their energies in attempting to
destroy Southern statesman, whose great
mind will be needed if the strife come, be-
cause he did not sustain the Kansas-Ne-
braska BILL the principles of which have
been so misunderstood, and promise so
much mischief? Does it not more behoove
Southern men to labor for the promotion
of the public good, by seeking to smooth
the asperities, to cut off the jagged points
of our political controversies, and to
strengthen the "good right arms" of our
public servants? Mr.. BELL is one of the
most powerful, yet most conservative, of all
our Southern leaders. Let him be stricken
down, and the South will lose the advan-
tages of his influence and great ability,
on a theatre where they can most avail.
Let him alone then, sham democrats of
Tennessee; at least, until your party shall
every where agree as to what are the prin-
ciples you would punish him for not sup
porting.