The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-11-10
EFFECT OF THE HARPER'S FERRY
AFFAIR UPON DOUGLAS.

Z
The spurious Democracy fatter themselves
that the Harper's Ferry invasion is to be the
run of the Republican party and in order to
m Ike it eHectual to that end, leading Repub.
ems are charged directly with completely
in the enterprises Of Brown. But these fab
| ri-1tions prove to be too absurd for belief,
and have been abandoned by all the more
intelligent and respectable of the party. 1t
is only the baser sort p which continue to
re erate them, while the shrewder managers
ia back upon the ground, that if the Repub-
Ii, ans were not parties to Browns operations,
th y are morally responsible for them; and
| til the violence of Brown was but the legiti-
m je fruit of Republican teaching.
Ne viii not now stop to discuss this ques-
ti6h but We cannot doubt that the sober Sec
ON thought of the country will arrive at the
CO iclusion that the invasion Of Virginia by
B. )wn was the natural retaliatory consequence
of.1he invasion of Kansas by Atchison and
Sttngfellow. The latter had their climax Of
outrage in the sack of Lawrence; which a
K -nsas citizen, turned into an outlaw by their
wi ,ngs, retaliates by the seizure Of Harper's
Fs Ty. The attack upon Lawrence had the
OF N connivance of the Federal Government.
TIE rufians went to their bloody work in the
ns ne of Federal law, administered by Pro-
SBvery Democratic President. That party is
tn. refore responsible for the late outbreak at
HI rper's Ferry. But behind all this, it is re-
sp nsible in having repealed the Missouri Com
pH&nise, which act of political per6dy is the re-
mo cause at once of the outrages in Kansas
an in Virginia.
ut it was not our purpose in the present ar
tioe to discuss this branch of the subject. Our
oh; oct just is to point out the effects, rather
tina the causes, of the recent outbreak.
Rome think that the Republican party will
SUI er from it, in consequence of the calumnies
wbl.h the organs of the Administration are cir
cuGaing and while it is possible that falsehood
an misrepresentation may be rewarded by tenn
POI sry and partial success, one thing is certain,
via . that old Browns invasion has been fatal
to ar. Douglas as Presidential aspirant.
IN article which we copy from the Richmond
E parer clearly indicates the moral of the
epat 1t has ruined the prospects Of Mr.. Doug
las and he may as well cease burning the mid
nil At lamp in the production of long essays
Til name Harper has been his undoing. The
NJ, ,azine and the Armory have oconspired
az INST him. His own unlucky hand applied
the match to the former and his enemies have
tui ,ed the guns of the latter against him with
ia, effect.
will be seen that the Richmond Enquirer,
th.&eading Democratic paper of the South,
de- iands more loudly than ever protection to
sls e property, and hurls the charge of trail
tor against the Southern man who, after the
H per's Ferry invasion, questions the neces-
sit or denies the right of Slavery to protec-
tiSs" This startling article in the Enquirer
VIZ be echoed and re-echoed, from the Poto-
m$c to the Rio Grande, by every Democratic"
orI4n; and we shall be greatly surprised if the
Sosthern Opposition do not assume the same
ul.a position. So that there will be no possible
cbshce TO rally the party to the support of Mr..
Douglas, or any other man who gives counte-
na1ce to his pcpular-sovereignty heresies. 1t
is Sew highly probable that the Charleston Con-
ve~s on will be compelled to repudiate that doc
tr-.s by name, and to declare in favor Of pro-
tesIIinn to slave property in the Territories, in
order to save the party from dissolution The
Southern wing will withdraw in body, unless
It's course is taken Their demands will be
4 ~ 9ter than ever before their spirit will be
hiSher; all opposition in their ranks in the
So will give way before the storm and poor
= Douglas seems destined to become as
SGtas and distasteful to the olgarchy as Mr..
Seward himsolfl
S.tfbe Washington organ of the Illinois Sena-
tos ranly endeavors to divert suspicion and
odium from that gentleman and his popular
sovereignty non-interventon " hobby, by rails
ing fhe hue and cry against the Republicans.
Thztrick is too transparent to deceive the slave
hoIsing interest. Whether Justly or unjustly,
they have come to the conclusion that Mr.
De,rglas runs with the hare, and holds with
the hounds; )" that while protesting to give Sla-
very an equal chance in the Territories, he
dses it with the consciousness that the over.
wslelming preponderance of non-slaveholding
=. migrants WILL nine times out of ten, convert
them into free States. They go so far as to as.
sert that his policy is even more fatal to Sla-
vers extension than that of the Republicans.
ant that its necessary effect is to keep up the
81 irrepressible conflict " between Freedom and
Slavery. The Republican plan would settle the
matter at once by act of Congress, in favor of
fir Abor; but, say the organs of the oligarchy,
NJ Douglass doctrine Of non-intervention -
and popular sovereignty are tocsins of war
between the opposing systems Of labor. Such
have for some time past been the views of the
majority Of Southern Democrats" and the af
fair at Harpers Ferry has served to give ad-
ditional force and plausibility to them.
Squatter sovereignty was hailed as a new po-
litical revelation, when it first dawned. 1t was
then believed to be an admirable dodge of the
Wilmot provso, and an infallible specific for the
introduction Of Slavery into the Territories But
it worked very badlyin Kansas, and secured that
immense Territory, with all north and west of it,
to Freedom forever in spite of the bred Scott de-
cison. Thisevent staggered the faith ofthe South,
andthe Democracy in that region denied with
bitterness the imputation of ever having sub
scribed to it. But the necessities Of the party
were great. 1t had been driven out of nearly
all the free States, and trembled at the thought
of meeting Northern constituency in 1860,
upon the. Southern policy of protection to SIa
very in the Territories. 1t was hoped that the
South might be induced to accept Mr.. Douglas
as the champion of popular sovereignty, and
thus save the party from certain defeat in all
the free States. Many leading Southerners had
espoused his cause, and 1t cannot be deniod