Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-06-24
From the Philadelphia Southern Monitor. J
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1860.

The Presidential campaign has been fairly
opened, and there can be no peace until alter
the election in November, 1850. May there
be peace, and reposc, and prosperity, then
Various candidates have been named as likely
to be ballotcd for in the different Conventions;
but. in the event of the present distinguished
incumbent declining to permit his friends to
bring him forward for a second term, We think
the Democracy and the country generally. have
pretty well settled down in the belief that the
contest for the nomination at Charleston will
be between Gov. Wise and Judge Douglas. No
one else is likely to be seriously urged, if it he
really the purpose TO elect the Democratic can
didatc. In fact, so far rs the Middle, Eastern
and Northwestern States are concerned, II We
suppose Mr.. Buchanan to be voluntarily out Of
the field, it may be said that the party is already
divided pretty exclusively between Douglas
and Wise. No others are thought Of As at
all likely to rescue a single non-slavcliolding
State from the Republicans and without such
capture, the election of a Democrat is an ad-
mittcd imposSibility. We are not prepared to
say what is the relative strength in the free
States of the two great leaders, but from what
we hear daily, the conviction is irresistible that
their friends combined embrace n;actecn-twen
tieths of the Northern Democracy and the
opinion very generally prevails that the South
is entitled to the next nomination. Moreover, the
conservative people of all parties in the North,
it is now quite apparent, have grown weary
and sick Of the ~fruitleeS slavery agitation, and
would rejoice in the inauguration oil a brave and
patriotic statesman, capable OF p%ronouncing
its final termination. Hundreds of thousands
believe the genius Of Gov. Wise would evolve
an e~tectual solution; aud since his amazing
triumph in 1876, and his subsequent admirable
administration of the government Of the Old
Dominion, the eyes Of the nation have been
fixed upon him as one possessing the colossal
intellectual proportions, and greatness OF soul
which distinguished the early Presidents, and
hence destined by Providence and the people to
become the Chief Magistrate Of his country
Even the fanatics and sectional cons p%irators
habltually consider him as the most dreadful
champion to be encountered in their REASONABLE
enterprises against the Constitution and the
Union. Ills nalnei is in all their papers, and upon
all their tongues. When they think Of him, they
believe in his prowcSs, and tremble. They
are aware he would defend the Supreme Judi
cial power, or perish in the attcmpt-or
that Tribunal, one Of the three co-ordi-
nate branches of the General Govern.
mcnt, is unquestionably the great bulwark
of Liberty. They know that in the discharge
of high Official duty, neither clanor, nor dan
ger, nor consequence, could arrest his action.
Such is the estimation in which he is univcr.
sally held in the North. In the South, he is
known TO be precisely the gallant and indolni-
table champion so long required by the weaker
section in the day of ITS peril. If he had been
nominated in 1852, there would have been no
Black Republican party organized for the Pre-
sidcncy-certainly, none of formidable dimen-
sions; and his accession in 1861 will be spcedi-
" followed by its decline and final destruction.
lie will put period to the unwarrantablc and
unlawful annoyanccs Of the AbolitioniSts.-
Tho underground railroad will cease its pratt
cal operations; the rights Of States and Of citi-
zens will he respected, and every species of
property, wherever legally held, will be amply
protected.