The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1859-09-09
Douglas in the Field as Magazine

- FRANKLIN SQUADS, NEW 1ORk,
Thursday Morning, Aug. 90, 1859. :
TO THE EDITOR or THE HERALD.
y Dear ,Sr.--We have the pleasure of
sending You herewith acopy of our Maya.
zine for September, in advance of publ
cation, containing Mr.. Douglas paper on
popular Sovereignty" You will observe
that the Magazine is duly copyrighted
We have. therefore, to request that you
will not copy any article therein without
our written consent. We have the honor
to be. very respectfully, your obedient
servants, HARPER x BRorHERa
For the Wisc-Donnclly letter the Al
bany Regency received twenty dollars
twenty pieces of silver. Judas 1scariot
got, for the betrayal of his Master, thirty
pieces of sivcr--ten more than the man
that cheated Wise. Judas had kept the
bag and cheated his employer during the
whole period Of his service, and, with the
proceeds of his last treason, he bought n
place and went there and hanged him
self. So Messrs. Cassidy & Co., instinc-
lively true to 50 appropriate an example,
have hanged themselves, rs the self-in-
ficted reward of the unparalleled mean
nesses, betrayals and political rascalities
which they have perpetratcd upon the
democratic party for over twenty years.
Stephen a. Douglas has taken warning
by the fate OF those whom Judas and Cas-
sidy imposed upon. lie has been too sa-
gacious to put either thirty ors twenty
pieces of silver into such handssfor th<
purpose Of slaughtering himself. He has
not been fool enough to write u letter and
allow the proceeds to go into other peo-
pies pockets. Cautioned in time, he has
taken care to get the money himself, and
has sold his brains to the Harpers, just as
any plebeian contributor to their maya
zine night have done. This is laudable,
an elevated example, to future political
aspirants, to hedge little, so that even
if defeated for the Presidency they may
gather up few dollars for their palms.
Messrs. Harper, having properly remuncr-
ated Mr.. Douglas for his services, natu-
i"iis iooN W ScHeIous puoHC lOT
compensation, and, that there may be no
interference with their enterprise. have
sent us the letter published above, signi-
flying in the usual form, that the effort
of Mr.. Douglas has been copyrighted, and
that transfer of it to our columns will
be under the direst penalties of the law.
We have glanced with curious interest
at the ingenious novelty of this mode of
speculation in politics invented by the
Senator from Illinois, and we regret ex-
tremely that we are not able, with good
conscience, to praise his composition
"Maud Elbert's Love Match" which pre-
cedes it, is much more interesting, and
the chapters of "'fhe Virginians,' by
which it is followed, contain quite as much
sound logic.
Mr.. Douglas opens his piece by identi-
flying the whole republican party of the
United States with William II. Seward
and, with the latter as his mouthpiece,
just sufficiently carcatures its platform to
make the result of his labor a man of
straw, which it must have appeared rath-
er farcical to himself to attempt the de-
struction of. He then passes on, with
enough of fiippancy, to an analysis of the
democratic party, which he affects to di-
vide, upon the slavery issue, into three
categories, viz: those who think as he
does; those who adopt the ultra fire-eat-
ing programme, and those ria malta specu.
lative pro-slaveryites who look for saliva.
ton to the Judiciary. The views of the
administration, and of the masses of ma.
tiortal democrats in all parts of the coun,
try who have endorsed Mr.. Buchanan
course, are not fairly stated in either one
of Senator Douglas divisions. The use
of superlatives and exaggerated adjec.
tives, in the second class of democrats
which he enumerates, is intended to con.
vey an erroneous idea on the subject
which might perhaps mislead some super.
fetal readers, but which will fail to nc,
complish the object of his article with
those whose opinions are more maturely
formed.
Having STATED his case" Mr.. Douglas
proceeds to argue it. He has evidently
intended to systematic and arrange, in a
report of thirty-eight columns, the scat
tered materials contained in his speeches
during the last sessions of Congress; but,
as an inevitable result of wanting the ex.
element and applause of an admiring
audience, he has badly accomplished his
task. He has told us what Congress can
do, and what he has made up his mind
it cannot do; what the trainers of the
Constitution thought Tor at least ought to
have thought and what he thinks about
their thoughts; what history, garbled,
can be made to prove; what taxes were
imposed on niggers in Virginia in l772,
and what penalty was paid for their in
PRODUCTION into South Carolina in 17G4
what New Hampshire, Rhode Island and
Massachusetts thought about slavery UNI
der George III; and so meanders down
the stream of time until he comes to an
alligator in Thomas Jefferson. Several
columns are devoted to the dcglutition OF
this important element in democratic
history, and to its presentation to the be.
logged reader in a by no means well di.
gested shape. Then come sundry other
Presidents, with a line or two from their
voluminous writings, as embodying the
thoughts and craftsmanship of their life
times. No representation could be more
unfair, unless it is the manner in which
extracts from the speeches of Clay, Davis,
Cass and Others are made at the close OF
the document.
The new contributor for Harper's
Monthly ends his composition with the