Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-03-08

tons Of Judge Douglas, and Mr.. Buchanan ana
the Northern Democracy, than to d'"ttdH
them and then turn round and form national
alliance with men who have been our lifelong
foes and do to-day hold and boldly promugate
the most insidious and dangerous antl-Southern
heresieS
We note again floating through the Southern
Opposition press the following article from
Prcntice's Louisville Journal" We take it
from the columbus Enquirer"
An Axrr-LrcourroslrE's SrANp.-Col. Marshall,
in the able and udicous speech which We published
last Saturday, aihrms nj Washington the views that
We asserted with less amplitude last December,
They are unques,onab!y the Deliberate appFgrySed,
snsiteruble views OF the Southern Opposition lney
constitute so far doctrine Is concerned, tue pest
and most and all that we can do towards cohsosida-
ton OF the Opposition OF the Union Du'! !" our
selves and 70 our country compe!s IL, indeed :" :"
thus far; but further no hope Of victory no dream o'
power, can tempt us. The Opposition OF the South
are ready to venture great deal Tor principle but no
thing for mere success without II. Nothing Here
We take our stand: orr feet planted FIRMLY on tue
constitution, on the accepted compromises OF the
union on popular sovereignty Us defined by the ie-
gsla,on Of ls5o and reasserted by the Crittenden-
Montgomery bill in 1855 Here We stand on this i'm
pregnabe constitutional basis. where Clay stood and
Webster fell midway between the rival hcres;es Of
the Wilmo, Proviso, Squa,;er Sovereignty and Lee
comptonism, combating each. dsiy!ng all! Here We
plant ourselves and respectfully bui urgently III
vite, solicit exhort, entcat the conservative patriots
OF the North stand with for the salvation o! the
Cuion for the honor and dignity OF the nation, for
the broad impartial welfare o; the whole people
More We as honest lovers Of our country cannot do
Is this not enough - LouiSgiUe ,har"Gi
Now here itis-Humphrey Marshals' speech
is to be the platform Of the Southern OPPOSE
ton. And conservative patriots of the North,
tout side Of the Democratic party Of course,
and uho are MeyD are entreated Ito stand
with u.s." the Southern 0pposition,l for
what? The rights Of the SOUTH Not word
of it.
Humphrey Marshall duly announced, and it
was quite unnecessary, that he does mot be-
long to the slavery propaganda Not he!
This to start with-and now what are the
principles avowed We adopt the Interpretation
of the oracular speech, which the Louisville
journal avows. The interpretation is we'll
nigh as oracular as the speech; but we venture
to give our reading Of it-what it will be con-
strued to mean in different sections of the Union
cannot be matter Of doubt.
Here ,re take our stand: That is, Mr.. Geo.
D. Prentice, and Col Humphrey Marshall-thc
Moses and Aaron Of this political exodus.
"Our feet planted firmly on the Constitution,
of course, eyerybody's are. with one interprc-
tation or another-and note that nobody'S feet
are ever more firmly planted" on any thing
than when in the act Of .jumPing 9r.
ION the accepted compromises Of the
Union"-what are they: The Constitution
was little shadowry, but these accepted
compromises of the Union are they not verify
the mythical foundations of dream-land?
ION popular sovereignty as defined by the
legislation of 1850, and re-asserted by the
Crittenden Montgomery bill of 1873.
Now this is too bad The Crittendcn-Mont-
gomery bill does not deserve such derisive
sheer as this 1t did not indeed, come up to
the exact standard Of popular sovereignty which
the great ant-Lecompton leaders desired to
establish. But to compare it with the COM
promise measures of 1850, to attempt TO couple
popular sovereignty measure Qor such the
Montgomery bill was at the bottom. in spite Of
its defectS) with the measure by which the peo-
pie of California received the right Of suffer
ing and voting by the bavonet:" Yes, the
compromise measures Of 1850 embody accu-
rately the idea Of popular sovereignty, as APP
piled to the admission Of new States, TO which
the opposition have unswervingly adhered
The operation is simple one No territorial
organization. No congressional act for the
constitution of civil authorities. Squatters from
China, Patagonia and the Sandwich Islands,
mixed mass of unnaturalized residents altogcth
er without form and void under the arbitrary
dictation Of a military camp, from the confines
Of which Brigadier-General Of the United
States, acting under the orders Of Mr.. Pres
dent Fillmore, proclaims a constitution for the
territory, enacts clause excluding slavchod
crs, and applies to Congress for the admission
Of California to the Union. Congress passes
an act admitting the new State, under the mill
tary anti-slavery constitution Such is the
avowed view Of popular sovereignty, now pro-
claimed by the press ofthe Opposition.
"Here WE stand on this imprcgnablc con-
sttutional basis, where Clay stood and Web
ster fell, mid ,ray betreen the riral heresies cf
the Wilmot Proriso. Squatter Sovereignty and
Lecomptonism-eombatt each, detyiSg all >"
This is valorous, for all that we see; but we do
not quite understand, aiterall. where our Repre-
sentative Marshall and George D. Prentice do in
fact. ststand." It is in the middle Of three things
of worse than doubtful orthodoxy, and all un.
popular. Somewhere. Perhaps the gcogra.
pher to Her Spanish Majesty could give us a
map of the terra ineognito-the political Cen
tral America which these knights Of political
errantry inhabit For ourself, all we can make
Of the matter is, that they are not fer >""th-
ern Rights, and are for the spoh.
In all candor and Kindness We ask of our
Southern Rights Opposition contemporaries if
this is the feast to which they invite the South
Is this the most lame impotent and ridiculous
conclusion Of all their furious defamation
against the National Democracy: Does it
come to this mist and moonshine and conscrva-
tive, anti-Southern compound of froth and mud
all their patriotic phillippics against the
SOutneru Oehioe'"|s >"Ni 'he ieduerShlp
of Col HUMPHREY MARSHALL and Mr..
George D. Prentice, is it in serious contcmpla.
ton to attempt the organization of a por'y'
And was this the object Of Mr.. Prentice when
he lately traversed the South and 'eetured in
Southern cities?
Verify, then, has the lantern grown dark and
the den become the home Of bats and owls
There is not Democratic statesman IN New
England who is not sounder and more reliable
than Marshall or his man Friday The whole