The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1859-07-21
From the Y. n. EUest7g Posi-
The Designs OF tEse SIave-DrIV-

N AAS " SLSO b2--@s 4
GPS.
If any evidence were needed of the
utter folly and impracticability Of the po-
litical position ofsuch fossils as OIr. Biyes,
Mr.. Winthrop and their coadjutors, we
have it ia the address Of Mr.. Stephens,
of Georgia, delivered at Augusta on the
I'd of July, and which we published on
Saturday. From the beginning to the
end It is a boast of the triumphs Of the
pro-slayery party, coupled with confident
vaticination Of its future strides in the
same glorious career. Why agitate this
question of slavery, asks 1Ir. Winthrop,
seeing that it is already dead? Why, ii
the same strain, echoes Mr.. Biyes, dis
cuss matter which has no proper con-
nection with our national politics g Its
general regulation" the latter adds, :" is
admitted by ali to be exclusively within
the domain Of state laws and state consti-
tutions. The few questions with regard
to it that can come within the province
of the general government are settled,
once for all, by the Constitution Of the
United States, and have received q prac-
tioal solution in the natural course Of
events, which leaves no longer any mo-
tive of interest or duty, either to the non
slayeholding or the slaveholding states,
for their continued agitation"
The remarks Of Mr.. Stephens are the
sufficient answer He shows not only
that the South regards itself as victorious
IN the past controversy, that it not only
does not deem the matter settled, but that
it is rallying its forces for new contests
and new triumphs. Dir. Stephens is not
one of the extreme or hot-headcd men Of
the district to which he belongs, but has
rather been distinguished for the consery-
ative and moderate tone of his opinions.
He may now be looked upon as retired
from the political sphere; the occasion Of
his address was a kind Of farewell to nub-
lie life; and it is to be presumed that he
spoke as the observant and intelligent
statesman who calmly watches the issues
Of events, and not as ,ne politician ambi-
tious for Office an1 disposed to fatter the
popular sentiment by which he is sur
rounded.
What was the substance of his speech !?
We have foored our adversaries on all
the great points on which we have come
in contact. First, we have secured the
apgexation of Texas, whereby the addi-
tiQn of four slave states to the Union is
made sure; secondly, we have established
the right Of the STAKEHOLDER to carry his
property into the territories Of the Union,
free from the Interference Of Congress. or
the mnlestation of the people under any
ridiculous dogma as to popular sovereign
ty; thirdly, we have invaded the Supreme
Court and compelled the judges, by the
decree in the case Of bred Scott, to assert
the superiority Of the slave code to the
dictates of human nature, and to the pre-
yiously established principles Of common
law; fourthly, by our allies in the North
we have succeeded in suppressing the
violence of the anti-s)2yery excitement
there; and, filthy, we have, by a steady
and determined discussion of the matter,
reversed the opinions of our fathers, and
brought the South to the conviction that
the enslavng Of human beings is not a
crime nor an evil, but a divine and bcne-
tcent Institution.
These are the achievements of the past,
according to Mr.. Stephens; these are the
principles which have won the sanction
and support Of the federal authorities, leg
islative, executive and judicial; these are
the results in which the South should
glory, and in the contemplation Of which
the public servants Of the South may sing
their swan-song en- the eve Of their politi-
e4l retirement But the South, he con
tinues, cannot rest satisfied with the pro
digious successes which it has already
achieved. 1t may be well enough for
such obsolete and timid spirits as Mr.
Winthrop and Mr.. Rivcs to prate of q
cessation of the controversy and to advise
their brethren of the North to lay aside
their weapons and 80 quietly to sleep.
The South has no desire and nc occasion
for the counsel. 1t cannot stop where it
is; it will not stop where it is and the
lazy dronings Of all the political preach
ers in the world shall not induce it to
slumber on the mere threshold of splendid
victories. As we'll might the allied ar
mics of Italy have cast aside their swords
after the battles of Montebello and Ma
genta, instead Of pushing their triumphs
into the very heart Of the historical
strongholds of the enemy.
The scheme for the future, then, which
Mr.. Stephens propounds to the South, is
the unlimited expansion Of slavery over
new territory to the west and southwest /;
Texas with her Eve slave states IS not suf-