The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-06-02
From the New York Times
The NEW SOUTHERN PROGRAMME.


We publish in another column the opinions
held with regard 10 the political future, by a
very sensible Southerner, Mr.. Boyce, of South
Carolina. He lays down, in. if possible, still
broader terms than ever, the doctrine broached
by Jefferson Davis and the fre-eating set to-
wards the close Of the last session of Congress
touching the duties of the Federal Government
and the Federal Legislatures towards Slavery
In the Territories. Slaves, in short, according
TO him, are property ike any other property,
and are entitled 10 the same treatment as other
property at the hands Of the United States, in
all places over which it possesses exclusive
jurisdiction. Judge Douglass invention of
Squatter Sovereignty is utterly repudiated, and
Mr.. Boyce declares that nothing would induce
him toIsupport anybody for the Presidency who
adhered to so pestilent a heresy. The notion
that any settler has anything to do with the ma
ture of the property which his neighbor brings
with him into the new region, any more than
with the fashion of his chairs or the cut of his
coat. is declared by Mr.. Beyce to be mathe-
matically" absurd. He considers IT. in other
words, " as clear AZ a mathematical problem,
that the South have right to be protected with
their slave property in the Territories, and that
Congress, or their instruments, the Territorial
Legislatures, should afford this protection.
This letter furnishes one more indication of
the ruin which threatens Mr.. Douglass hopes
of Southern support at the next election. The
doors of the Charleston Convention are to be
closed against his doctrines. Squatter Sover.
eighty was a good thing while it lasted. II
seemed at one time likely to entitle him to a
niche in the Southern Valhalla. 1t was looked
upon as asplendid weapon for chivalrous hands.
There lay the broad lands, and here was the
glorious law. Under Its egis, Southern gentle
men were to pour into the new Territories with
their Ethiopian retinues, and laugh the chat
terlng, gibbering, bowling Yankees to scorn.
and whip them, if need be, over the border
How horribly mistaken they were who looked
forward TO any such contamination the result
has shown; and, TO do the South Justice. il would
be impossible to acknowledge her errors more
frankly than she does. Governor Wise. in an
able letter which we published few DAYS ago.
deplores 1t bitterly. The truth is gradually
dawnlng upon the Southern mind, that what.
ever Yankees apply themselves to in earnest
that is, make q business of-they are pretty
sure to do thoroughly and effectnally. They
have not competed successfully with the South
in the arts of parliamentary warfare, simply be-
cause no class of Northerners have ever made
parliamentary strategy business. But in what
else do they fail In shipbuilding. ship-sa;I
ing, mOney-making, fighting, slave-tradine. ma
chine-inventing, weaving, spinning. delying
preaching, sporting, everything, in short, under
heaven which promises decent per centage
either of money or glory, they are unriyalled.
Was IT not madness for anybody to suppose
that, if they set about colonizing, they would
not succeed there also That if the gains of
fighting were only made certain, thew would
not turn out with the best weapons in the
world, and kill their men at 600 yards The
story of the Kansas troubles for the last five
years is simply an additional proof of what
Southerners ought to have known, that there is
nothing SO versatile as a Yankee that the
9dHcherie of Northern members of Congress
was due simply to the fact, that Northern mem
bers were never allowed by their constituencies
10 make Congress a profession, and proved
nothing whatever with regard to the capacity
of the "section" for working other kinds of
political machinery. The Kansas struggle made
1t evident, that if the spread of Slavery were
made dependent on the comparative ability of
North and South in the work of colonization.
Slavery was already doomed.
The result has been, that colonization is
given up, and the Slavery propagandists have
fallen back once more on Congress, bruised,
battered, and forlorn. They convey their black
dolls to the Capitol, and ask for protection from
the naughty Yankees. The change of Ian
puage which Mr.. Boyce's letter exhibits is not
more remarkable than the change of feeling.
The North is no longer " craven" "cowardly'
"sneaking," "mean," "despicable," but i'm
perious.f 1t threatens the South with domi-
nation" 1t is likely soon TO acquire possession
of the Government; so Mr.. Boyce advises
separation from the Union, IS the last resource