Daily national Democrat., 1859-03-15
1ailp g|atiouaI Democrat.
ssThe Past CONTROVERSY

II
National, which at times deigns to descend
from the high pinnacle of personal abuse, tc
take its lowly stand among the humble users
of argument and reason, in its issue of Wed
nesday last has very suggestive article up
on what it chooses to term "the past con
troversy upon the Lecompton question. That
paper pending that controversy freely and de
oidedly expressed its views, it upheld the
doctrine Of popular sovereignty in its most
comprehensive sense" it "believed Senator
Douglas to lie mainly right in the abstract,
but it could not approve the course of that
Senator at that juncture"-it thinks that abe
should have been less inhexible in his advo-
cacv of distractions"
"The very nature of politics is opposed to
81 such intangible theories; for politics con
" ssts of system of laws adapted to the end
whether those laws are morally correct OF
otherwise. None but dreamers imagine
"moral and political science to be nearly
." akin. Expediency con titutes the marrow
q" Of the latter-it is n foreign element to the
former The end to be attained, in the in
stance to which We refer, was the peace o.
" the country That accomplished, the step,
whereby it was attained became on the in
" slant steps ofpropriety along the pathway
." of political virtue These were the views
" of Mr.. Buchanan; he correctly deemed the
preservation of the Union more conducive
" to our welfare as a people than the exist
" ence of the Territory of Kansas, were every
" foot Of its area pregnant with gold and
"jewels."
The National grants that abstractly con-
ridered, the Constitution of Kansas should
have been submitted to the popular vote,
which it was not but contends that this mere
abstraction must give way in order to pre-
serve "the peace of the coaatry;" and Doug
las and his adherents are set down as over
fastidious and as setting too much stress on
the moral fitness of things because they would
not bndly follow the road pointed out by
Buchanan and his advisers, and dared to diff
fer from him on the question of abstract right
v.rsw political expediency. The Douglas fol
lowers are admonshed to "beware where
they stand, lest they fall, that their steps
are tending toward the altar of democracy,
on whose sanctifed horns they are unwitting
ly preparing or being prepared to lay unhOly
hands. Let them stay their course, and re-
fleet before they farther 60"
never before have seen the Douglas Bu-
chanan issue so ingeniously and SO sugges.
gestivey painted l say suggcstively, because
these briefly expressed opinions of the Ma
tional seem to be intended to suggest more
than they speak. l think that not even the
autocratic National would dare to publish in
ertenso, the full width, extent and meaning of
the views intended to be conveyed in its short
article. 1t would prove too strong dose for
the great Masses who might perhaps be found
to be weak-stomached ard unable to digest
or fully to appreciate such strong medicine.
Mixed with it's sophisms, there is too much
Difference to acknowledged yet controverted
truth in the article, to fit it for general circu.
lation or for extended elucidation.
Heretofore Lecompton has declared and
maintained by tongue and pen, lst, That there
was no necessity for submitting the Kansas
Constitution to a vote of the people; Cd, That
the submission of the Slavery clause was in
fact and in truth submission of the Consti-
tuition; Sd, That the English bill fairly and
freely submitted that Constitution to q popu-
lar vote; 4th, That it did not submit it at
all. All these and worse errors, falsehoods
and inconsistencies have been deemed excel
lanf for fha if,,1, G.,
but now the National, the very mouth-riece
Of the Administration Democracy of Califor-
MIA kindly and considerably, for the benefit
of the enlightened few, admits that Douglas
was mainly right in the abstract" ignores
and abandons all the old vulgar clap trap ar
guments above adverted to and says in effect,
ave were wrong, but then morals and poll
ties are sciences that bear no relation to each
other, and the peace of the country must be
preserved"
think that the two sciences, morals and
politics, if rightly studied, will be found to be
harmonious. "Truth is always consistent with
itself" Every single individual truth through
out the world of universal knowledge har-
monies with every other of its myriad fel
lows Superficial observation may suggest a
seeming inconsistency, but closer examination
will result ever in favor of harmony. To il
lustrate: The perpetuation of the dynasty OF
Napoleon Bonaparte was necessary to France.
Josephine was barren. Napoleon divorced
her from him and married another. This was
politically right. But it is morally wrong
for man to put away his wife ergo, says
the National, Napoleon was morally wrong
tut politically right. This is false doctrine.
If Napoleon were politically right in his dy-
nastie ideas, which, by the way, he was not,
then was he right morally. Because the
wrong which he did his wife, was eompensa
ted and redeemed by the great Contemplated
good to France. In this light did Josephine,
herself the victim. view it. and gladly yet
sorrowfully vacated he- place by her hus-
bands side and submitted to what she deem
ed to be decree of Providence But the
National will call this distinction without
a difference Well, let us take it on the other
tack.
The National says that the peace Of the
country was at stake on the Kansas issue
That the submission of the Constitution to a
popular vote would have led to disunion.-
That the will of the people of Kansas was
"sacrihced to promote the public veal" That
President Buchanan "pronosed the transient