Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1858-11-25
The Douglas Plot.


The Douglas Plot. i
Under this caption The Free Soula. 1
Independent paper published on slave sol
at Newport, Kentucky, has the followie
article. Read it: ts e@
There is deep-laid plot in progress 1
secure the election of thoroughly Pfo
Slavery Democratic President in 1860, VA
shall carry out the systematic operations Q
the Slave Po~ssfosnationalizihg Slavery
But few of :he Democratic presses and pol
iticians, either in the Northern or SouthI
States, understand this scheme as yet; bu
they will all, or enough Of them to seems
its success, be let into the secret, in dn,
time, and be found advocating that whiel
some of them are now zea:ously opposing
The Washington Sta,, in late articil
censuring The Richmond South for its frie67
ship for Douglas reveals ti1f Plot. u{1S
sciously perhaps, in the following 1ME
cant sentence:
"The scheme Of Douglas, Forney & Co.,
is to carry the North in 1860, BY whirls
wind of excitement in favor Of the rights
of squatters in Territories to exclude slave.
holders by fegislating ag1inst them"
There it is in nut shell. That is The
key to many otherwise inexp licable things
that have recently attracted public atten-
tion. The plan is to carr, the Free States,
or as msny of them as may be needed, "hy
d whirlwind of excitement" in favor of the
Douglas pretense that Slavery can be ex.
cluced from the Territories where it has q
constitutional right to be, "by unfriendly
legislation" 51 go '-f7s
Stephen A. Douglas is the greet central,
the pivotal mipd in this plot, on whom has
fallen the mantle of John C. Calhoun, as
his worthy successor il the propagation
and perpetuation of Slavery Douglas lacks
the frankness and directness of Calhoun :;
but his position and aims are different
Calhoun was a Slave State man, and sought
to unite the Slave States in one solid .yha-
lanx for the preservation and spread of
slavery. Douglas lives in Free State,
and Calhoun's purpose having been accom-
plished, the mission of his disciple is tot
wheedle and deldde the Free States into
the support OF the grand scheme for which
the Slave States have united. e
Douglas, as was his great prototype,
Calhoun. has been accused Of change and
inconsistency. But. like his master, he
has only appeared to be changeful and in-
to the super6cial-to those who
could not comprehend his'views or fathom
bis designs. To the one object-the great
purpose of his political life. he has been as
rue as the needle to the pole. Politicians
devoted to the Pro-Slavery cause are be-
ginning to understand and appreciate him.
Did not Douglas carry out the Calhoual
Tor making the Tefrif6vfes an
subject to Slavery, BY procuring therepealf
If the Missouri Compromise! Did he not,
1t the same time, inveigle Free State men
nto she approval and support of that meas
Ire by the transparent, yet to this Gay pop
liar humbeg, of "Popular Sovereigntyi"
Did he not oppose the Lecompton fraud to
make capital for himself and to strengthen
he Slave Democracy in the Free States.
And has he not for months in Illinois, ex-
.rted his utmost capacity as reasoner and
in orator, to wheedle voters in that and
'ther Free States into the support Of him.
'elf and his party, by conte nding that the
'eople Of the Territories can, if they wish,
'xclude Slavery @by unfriendly legislation"
while he admits, in the same breath, the
Pro- Slavery doctrine Of the Supre met Court,
hat Slavery has constitutional existence
n all the Territories!
Douglas stands by The Calhoun dogma of
he constitutional right of the STAKEHOLDER
o lake his slave property into, and hold it
n all the Territories, and tickles the ears
ind steals away the hearts of Anti-Slavery
Democrats and other men in the Free
'tates with his exclusion of Slavery by
unfriendly legislation. This exclusion,
ike Popular Sovereignty, is the lure, the
'ait; the real thing has been and is the ex-
ension and domination of the Slave Power.
The war between Douglas and Buch anan
vas mere personal affair-a pleasant epi-
ode in the grand epic of which Douglas is
he hero. 1t viii! only further his purposes.
few, like Forney, have understood him
rom the beginning. They have seen tina:
e was the man to bringt the Free States
nto the support of the Calhoun or Pro-
Slavery policy. The attacks upon Douglas
ave already measurably ceased. There is
silence in the Democratic camp, ominous
hat the chiefs are in co4ncil.
When the Free Stated becams. -assansed
t the repeal of the Missouri Compromise.
hey had to be appeaset with the Hattering
deception of sPo?uIaf Sovereignty."-
When they foolishly took Douglas at his
vord, and attempted sto make Kansas
free State, they wers met and successfully
essted by those whs understood the real
meaning of the Popular SovereignsySlause
n the Kansas Nebraska Bill. The latter
determined in hotihas,e to make Kansas,
y force or fraud, Slave State. Their
Peration, to this end, and especially the
Iecompton and English Conference bills,
ave again aroused the Free States, as the
ecent elections abundantly testify. Again,
he FreeNorth must be pacaled, and
norsef thrown to it as to an angry dog. The
Little Giant" stands as the man. for this
special mission. With one hand extended
owards the South, be swears by the Dred
Scott decision; and with the other waving
'ver the North, he says to the frowning
be still. The people
Il the Territories can, ii they win. exclude
Slavery by "unfriendly legislation"
This reveals the plot. Douglas and his
associates have two objects in view. Ono