Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1859-07-02
SENATOR DOUGLASS LETTER.

@SFIN a lOh OOOoA1Ao
The Latter of Senator Douglas received by
the telepraph and published in yesterdays
papers undoubtedly possesses one prominent
merit. viz extreme trankness. lhls ls#a
trature Il the character of Mr.. Douglas
which commands the respect even o. those
who. POLITICALLY Speaking, are at total,.Varl-
ance xithehim. There is no ambiguity 70
his o%p,nions no carefully considered retl-
censes no phrases of dubious meaning, leav.
ing purposely a Ioophole open for MANIFOLD
iuterpr citations. The Senator speaks MS
mind openly and boldly, and If ne IS mlsun-
derstood, the fault is certainly not his OWL
In the epistle under consideration ne ao-
dresses himself, without t.. slightest clrcum-
iocutlon, to the question propornded to him,
and saws in co. .dense.: and %laconic language
that he is willing that his name should DC
submitted tothe Charleston Convention, pro"
vided the Democratic party shall adhere TO
the principles proclaimed by it from 1897 TO
the election of Mr.. Buchanan in 1856. what
those principles are every body compre hends.
They embrace what is popularity. styled the
doctrine of n ,n-intervention, and constitute
the ground work of Democratic faith as ex-
pounded by the most approved commentator
up to a comparatively recent period. WIN
equal plainness does Senator Douglas declare
that if the party think proper to Tepudiate
these principles, and IN lieu OF them 10 inter-
poIate such new issues as the revival OF the
African slave trade, or a Congressional slave
code for the Territories, or the recognition OF
the mower Of Congress either to establish or
protect slavery in the Territories, beyond the
power of the pc. pie legally to control II, ne
will not accep ut the Charleston nomination II
rendered to him.
We are very far from being a partisan OF
Senator Douglas, but we confess TO an aon'l-
ration of dow uri ght, manly and honest P'a'h-
ness Of Speech. 1T is refreshing IN these DAYS
of vague seneralities and endeavors to cover
up and conceal thought beneath a mu't!'ooe
Of tawdv phrases. Senator Douglas IS is
both sincere aud ineligible in what ne says
In our opinion, too, he is something more
he is perfectly consistent. he never malt-
tanned any other doctrine than that now pro-
tessed. He stands where the Democratic
party stood a few years ago, and where II
uniformly planted itself until South Carolina
and Georgia fre-eaters began to devise new
and more stringent tests Of political alleg'-
ance. Let any man refer to the Congress.
ional Globe. and examine the debates which
occurred in both branches Of Congress PEN
ding the repeal OF the Missouri COMPROMISE
and the passage of the Kansas bill, anu ne
will not laii to perceive that every Democrat
ic supporter of these measures made nom
intervention" the burden OF his song-a1a
that their adoption was hailed at the South
Just as was the Compromise of 1850, as a tr'-
umph of the prime pie of non-lntervention,
There was no talk then of the power OF Con-
gress to establish, or protect slavery 10 the
Territories, but much of the right Of the peo-
pie to frame their own social and domestic
institutions. 1t may be that the new theo-
ries of Constitutional construction are the
best. 1t is possible that Congress may right
fully exercise a power which was not dreamt
OF being delegated to her by those who sus-
tanned the Kansas bill but there is NO doubt
that Mr.. Douglas has not been guilty of any
tergiversation. If his present views are er-
~roneous, they were equally SO when his COM
munion with the Democratic party was un-
challenged, for they are the same.
Leaving, however, this point, it might be
Sf ie5e tsis m tS associate /, 5uS Sg t heug !n5'1 wfii
somewhat premature. So many new ques-
tons may arise SO many contingencies may
occur.;.so constantly has expediency to be
consulted in settling the policy Of the Demo-
cratic party, that it is never safe to Predict
the shape that corning events will assome.-
All that seems clear in the premises is that
this Douglas lette+ will raise him up hosts Of
friends in the North, and s1eatly embitter
his enemies in the South. The purely Adj
m Illustration men and Office holders every
where will be dead against him. In the
South the ultra State Rights party will de-
nounce him as little better than a Freesoiler.
while the conses natives, and a large majority
of the opposition, who despair of finding a
national candidate, will transfer their hopes
and wishes to him. If We were required to
pronounce an opinion as to the consequences
Of this letter. we should say that it gives
Douglas the vantage ground. He will either
be nominated by the Charleston Democracy,
or he will be run as an independent candi-
date. That he~is now in the field for the next
Presidency seems to US beyond a doubt.N: o..
Bee. Y