The Feliciana Democrat., 1858-08-21
NO. Is.
Tbe feIitiana Democrat.
THE VICE PRESIDENT UPON THE
SLAVERY QUESTION.

~ S'"'ii'laIi Coinlnercial mas q lnll report
oil the proceedings of a Democratic meeting
lateiy held IN Florence. Kentucky, at which
Hon John Z. breckenridge, Vice President of
the United States, delivered q lengthy and ell
oqucnt speech upon the state Of political affairs.
The following extracts referring to the slavery
question in general, and the policy and power
Of the Black Republican party in particular,
may prove even more interesting in this lati.
tudc than in that in which they were spoken
The Kansas question was but an episode.
The course pursued by the Republican party
regarding Kansas was but an incident in the
policy Of that party which was now the over.
shadowing political power in the North. The
purposes of that party were broader and deep
er than resistance to the Administration in
Kansas betokencd. Its policy was certainly
10 prevent the admission of any more slave
States into the Uunion, and ultimately abo-
tionize all the States That his was the pol.
icy Of the party, was inevitable from its ante
ccdents Logically it could not be otherwise.
Here the speaker gave general review Of the
slavery question up to lS20-up to which
time slave and free States had been admitted
Unfortunately and when intervention against
slave States commenced.
The Wilmot Provso movement, and the re-
/
was related how the anti.savery sentiment Of
the north had been broadening, deepening and
rushing in more rapid current, The people
Of Kentucky, he thought, had not appreciated
the scope and force of the ant-slavery move
ment. The Republican party was now the
most powerful party in the Union, unless the
National Democracy were the stronger. No
party but the Democratic could withstand it
onyubprn II on yatinn cfronfr
compact, earnest, resolute and hopeful. And
darkly deceived were those who thought that
it conceived its work to be confined to anti
Lccomptonsm It's aims were to keep out all
new slave States in all ATTITUDES, to obtain the
preponderance in the General Government, and
TO use power to abolish slavery everywhere.
lie would to show its purposes, read from the
speeches Of the repr, sentative men of the par
IT, men belonging to the body over which he
had the honor to preside and with whom it
was his duty, as it was his pleasure, to cult
yate kindly personal relations. He read from
fiery ultra speech of Senator Wilson, and
then from one whom he styled greater than
Wilson "A man whose utterances were the prn
c;ples of his party-Mr. Seward of New York,
who in grand speech made in the Senate on
the 81 Of March, 1853, said Here Mr..
| Breckenridge read that remarkable and famous
paragraph addressed especially to Southern
Senators affirming that free labor at last appre.
hcndcd its mission, and was marching to con-
. quest
That's the programme said Mr.. Breckin-
ridge Along that line of march this party
must be met and resisted. The Constitution
was not in their way at all, for they did not
even acknowledge the binding force of one Of
its plaincst provisions, that concerning the re.
turn Of fugitive slaves. Garrison was more
= honest than they, for he acknowledged that
the Constitution was in his way. They grew
:: more bold and enterprising in their aggressions
. every year They were in the outer rim of the
+ whirlpool, and were rapidly fastening to the
e rock where Garrison stood, in the centre. They
would pause at no obstacle, be appalled, at no
!" ruin Already they had practically made
/. waste paper Of the Constitution. They were
i awaying one class of States against another
class Of States. And whenever the line was
: drawn across the nation, across which the af
% fcctionS and hopes of the people could not flow
y the Union was like girdled tree, doomed tc
5, speedy decay and DEATH Even now that ven
Il cradle, august and pure tribunal, the balance
h, wheel of the mighty machinery OF our Govern
men, the Supreme Court of the Uuited States
y was assailed with force and venom nearly un
= .paraIleled. a bill had been introduced int
.t the Senate TO re-organiZe this Court, and tn
d, threat that this reorganization should tax
n place was not an idle one Those who ha
~ undertaken the work were strong, rampant an
- confident and INSCRIPTIONS.
Id Bzag~ In the last volume Of Bancroft's Hi