Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1857-09-29
Is sELF-GOYERNMENT ONLY AN EXPERT
MENT STILL?

enabled to Withstand the tempess of popular passion
and prejudice and continue fixed forever, or whether
they will sooner later be- prostrated and destroyed
is question, we Thick, TO be determined, perhaps,
within the next four years. 1t does not necessarily
follow that as long the Union lssts our institutions
will be unimpaired and our system Of government
.uccsssful The Union 10 only thetenementi the Con-
stiution occupying and animating it, contains the
perm tbe genius and essence Of freedom. 1t Is only
by the preservation Of the principles upon which the
confedsracy was formed that the great theory OF self
government In the United Ststes can be illustrated
and placed beyond the pale of experiment. Is the
present political condition Of the country favorable
Or pimical TO the maintenance Of those principles =
An affirmative answer to this interrogstory 10 readily
furnished in the fsct that the same great cardinal Ca
non, of the Constitution which were observed in the
primitive policy of the republic, are still adhered
to by the Democratic party. The government
!. administered now with g rigid regard to
the rights of the States md 70 all constitu.
tjnal limitation Of federal authority, char
acterizsd The course of the sterling statesmon
and patriots Of the original republican party
As long as the Democracy are enabled TO MAINTAIN
their ascendency in the control of the country there
is no danger that the true principles of the govern
ment will be perverted or abused. But the Demo-
cratic party has formidable opposition in the fa-
natcs Of the North. And whether they or We are to
bear off the palm of victory in iSeo' must remain
an unsettled question, until the decisive battle
has been fought and won. The election OF
a Black Republican President would be the
signal of the South for dissolution OF the
Union. The secession of the slave States would
be for the purpose Of preserving that constltu'
toua liberty, which the Abolitionsts are threatening
to destroy. And hence continuance OF the Union
after an inauguration of the policy OF the BLACK he-
publican party would be sure symptom OF the rapid
decsdance of that spirit of liberty and those institutions
which are the protection and preserVa
ton Of our system ofgovernment. Absorption OF the
conedsracy under such circumstances would bea most
encouraging idcstion of the capacity of the Southern
people to govern themselves.
The National Democracy hold out the on.
ly hope for the Union. They are srrayed IN
uncompromising antagonism to the deadly en-
emies of the institutions of the South, who are
restrained by no considerations of justice or con.
st,u,ona law in their determined purpose and earn
eat efforts to sunihlste negro slavery. The Black
Republican party is essentially sectional. The Demo
cratic party cannot be otherwise than tne
origin and character Of ts principles and the nature
of it's organization. Black Republicsnism acknow
lsdgss no other policy than that Of hostility to an IN
,,itution, in which fifteen sovereign States OF the
cenfederscy are vitaly interested The Democratic
cau.e is the cause Of the whole country. The one de-
rives ia principles from the Constitution, and strive
TO promote equally the welfare of all the States-
The other only ask, for power, that it may establish
tyrsnny of savsgsism over the sacred covenants
and guaranteed rights Of civilized society. The ont
aims to elevate the political condition OF man by al
ennobpe exercise Of the highest virtues guided DI
/. the most enlightened intellect. The other would
degrade selfeovernment into socialism, anarchy and
Intimate despotsm. Which Of these two great anita
ponistc elements, now struggling, the one for the
o.oesson the other for the maintenance Of the mas
tery will triumph at the next Presidenuai election
remains to be determined and to no ordinary extent
nv the conduct of the Southern wing OF the Nationa
Democratic party. The slaveholding States canno
a,nect the Northern people to concur in their senti
ents as to the propriety and policy of negro slavery
all thew can reasonably ask, is that our constitution
al robts shall not be invaded that the States shall no
ba nterfered with in any way In their regulations re
anectue the institution of slavery and that the peo
nls of the territories North and South and East AM
West, when they are prepared 70 apply 10
) admission as a State, shall adopt or reec
slavery, as their sovereign will may diosa'e
, sltooetber unniuenced by the federal govern
) ment. There are tens OF thousands OF Norm
erp men who are willing to concede to US, all 'ha'
and in order to dsabuse the minds. Of those deude
opponents of slavery who are taught to believe tha
. - !, the desire and design Of the Southern pee
pie to force their institutions into the tertore',
hecomss us, for our own sake, for the sake OF 10
Union and ssfgovernment, to be calm ana caa''ou
lest the language Of just demand may Dc caPso'e
being tortured into meaning morethan cnim Oh ou
<. rights. 1t is not unnatural that uitralsm IN on
asctiou should give rise 10 ultrasm also In the olhe
Bu, the Southern people have no necessity for fan
,cism. They ask no more than that their cons'i'.
t;onel rights shall be maintained. Their course
c,os, and legitimate and lust Their position 10 In
nreonabs against argument, sganst every thing ot
the fury of fanaticism.
n The policy Of the Administration should be tn
policy of the whole South-nstlonal, CONSTITUTIONS
moderate in tone, but determined in purpose aud In
peratiye in the demands Of right The recent cour'
of the Southern sectiouasts has been calculated NJ
onlv to do discredit to the Administration and u
National Democracy In the South, but also to ian II
!. flames of fsnaticism in the North
4 Mr.. Buchanan is revilsd by the sboltionista b
csuse they say, he msAifests favortsm towards u
j. South. And yet these strategic traitors VINO p0se
tho nonusr mind of the North with their calumnie
NAV turn TO their dsluded listeners and tell them tn
even james Buohananis not Southern enough Tor u
i slsveholdsrs They have only to addace eIsrac
u from some Of the Southern journals to- 'eemingi
substantjste such a statement. And yet MIR. bncl
snsn was the choice Of the South. The slaVeholaln
States sustain him, and will stand by him throughou
His policy s the policy Of the slave States on the saV
r ~ question few FIRE eaters may repudiats H. out
sense of the great mass OF the soutnei
Q people will not.
" The Uoion can be preserved and self'governme
sscured only by adherence by both sections 10 II
plain principles of the Constitution.
Z. ANOTHER CHANCE FOR THE sHRlEKER'
Thelast Congress, it will be remembered, organise
. q new Territory under the name Of Dacotsh. Ih
. Territory says the Albany Argual includes gre
mart Of the valley Of the Sioux, the valleys of II
,James and Yermillion rivers. and large tracts
:, beautiful bottom lands lying on the missouri.
raoard to the climate it becomes milder to the W 81
: ,rard 40 much go that the winters in the Northwe'
, arm mart of Dsco.ah are said to be not much mo
osvs,o than In Northern Pennsylvania. The pr
vs;ling want of this entire region is timber Its Chi
attractions are fertile SOIL pure air and water 81
>. an unusually healthy cmste and it Is believed 81
i, to possess an abundance of mineral coal.
y As Kansas CONTINUES the Argus) will shortly
. admitted as State, with Republican Constitute
= and one department of hypocrtic bowling be clo''
" m. II will be we'll for the Black Republicans to lo
to Dscotsh for field of political enterprise. "Bee
ing Dscotah and the rights Of Sioux" will be - 60
ID parry cry ss bleeding Kansas and negro franoni'
- which will be soon worn out.
u ,,o 1rrSr TuTvns MEANT