The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1860-07-05

OF downright honesty ne has not failed
to avow his opinions Of public affairs
upon all fitting occasions.
This, ! know, may subject him TO Che
carping consurc of that class of polite
ians who mistake cunning for wisdom
and falsehood for ingenuity but such
men as Lincoln must act in keeping
with their own characters, and hope for
success only by advancing the truth
prudently and maintaining it bravely.-
All his old political autocodonts are, in
my Judgment, exactly right, being
square up to the old Whig standard
And, as to his views about "the pesti-
lent negro question, / am not aware
that he has gone one step beyond the
doctrine publicly and habitually avowed
by the great lights Of the Whig party,
Clay, Webster, and their fellows, and,
indeed, sustained and carried out by
the Democrats themselves, in their wi
ser and better days.
The following, 1 suppose, are in
brief his opinions upon the subject:
I. Slavery is a domestic institution
within the States which choose to have
it, and it exists within those States be-
yond the control of Congress. 2. Con-
gross has supreme legislative power over
all the Territories, and may, at its dis
erection, allow or forbid the existence of
slavery within them. 3. Congress, in
wisdom and sound policy, ought not so
Ito exercise its power, directly or indi-
rectly, as to establish slavery in any
Territory heretofore free. 4. And that
.iti is unwise and impoliticin the Govern
mont of the United States to acquire
tropical regions for the mere purpose
.of converting them into Slave States.
These, I believe, are Mr.. LiucOln's
opinions upon the matter of slavery in
the Territories, and [ concur in them
They are no new inventions, made to
suit the exigencies Of the hour, but
have come down to US, as tho DcclaTa-
ton of independence and the Constitu-
ton have, sanctioned by the venerable
authority of the wise and good men who
established our institutions. They are
conformable to law, principle and wise
policy and their utility is proven in
practice by the as yet unbroken current
Of our political history. They will pre-
vail, not only because they are right in
themselves, but also because a great and
still growing majority Of the people
believe them to be right; and the sooner
they arc allowed to prevail in peace and
harmony, the better for all concerned,
as we'll as those who are against them as
those who are for them.
am aware that small partisans, in
their little warfare against opposing
leaders, do sometimes assail them by the
trick Of tearing from their contoxls
some particular Objectionable phrases,
penned, perhaps, in the hurry of COM
position, or spoken in the heat of oral
debate, and holding them up to the pub
lie as the leading doctrines Of the per-
son assailed, and drawing from them
their own uncharitablo infcrcnces.-
That line Of attack betrays a little mind,
conscious Of its weakness, for the falsity
of its logic is not more apparent than
the injustice of its design. No public
man can stand that ordeal, and, how
ever willing men may be to see it ap-
piled to their adversaries, all finch from
the torture when applied to themselves.
In fact, the man who never said a fool
ish thing, will hardly be able to prove
that he ever said many wise ones.
consider Mr. Lincoln q sound, safe,
national man. He could not be section
al if he tried. His birth, his education,
the habits of his life, and his gcograph-
ical position, compel him to be nation
AL. All his feelings and interests are
identified with the great valley of the
Mississippi, near whose center he has
spent his whole life. That valley is not
a section, but, conspicuously, the body
Of the nation, and, large az it is, is not
capable of being divided into sections, for
the great river cannot be divided It is
one and indivisible, and the North and
the South are alike necessary to its com
fort and prosperity. It's people, too, in all
their interests and affections, are as
broad and general as the regions they
inhabit. They are emigrants, a mixed
multitude, coming from every State in
the Union, and from most countries ia
Europe; they are unwilling, therefore
to submit to any one petty local stand
ard, They love the nation as a whole
and they love all its parts, for they are
bound to them all, not only by a feeling
Of common interest and mutual depend,
ence, but also by the recollections Of
childhood and youth, by blood and
/ friendship, and by all those social and
domestic charities which sweeten life
and make this world worth living in
Tho Valley is beginning to feel its pow.
er, and will soon be strong enough to
dictate the law of the land. Whenever
that state Of things shall come to pass
/ it will be most fortunate for the nation
to find the powers of Government lodg,
ed in the hands Of men whose habits
Of thought, whose position and sur
rounding circumstances cOnstrain them
10 use those powers for general and no.
sectional ends.
1 give my opinion freely in favor Of
Mr.. Lincoln, and I hope that, for thu
good of the whole country, he may bt
elected. Butiti is not my intention t
take any active part in the canvass
For many years past have had lttl,
to do with public affairs, and have as
pired to no political Office; and now, il
| Wow 0F tho mad eycifempnt which oop