, 1860-12-08
THE PRTa1E CAUSE.

divided, douglas would certainly have
been elected" So say and believe q vast
number Of that gentleman's supporters.
But the fact is, if Mr. Douglas had not SO
shaped his course as to divide the Demo
cratic party he would have been in such d
hopeless minority in the Free States TINT
nobody would have thought Of nominating
him. # he Ind not, during the
past three years, hugged the anti
slavery sentiment so closely rs TO
alarm the South, be would hare been
utterly powerless at the North. The time
has exactly passed By when one man can
satisfy both sections; and those who re-
gard the division Of the Democratic party
as an original cause Of the disaster which
has overtaken that faction, betray gross
ignorance Of the great, 'palpable facts of the
late canvass. What created the division
in the Democratic party? Let each disci-
pie Of squatter sovereignty answer this
question before he settles in his own mind
the causes Of his party's overthrow.
1tr. Douglas fate in the various conyen-
tons Of his party has been not a little rc-
markablc in its zigzag cruelty: In 1852 a
formidable division Of the North stood by
him through forty-eight ballots In 1856
the North forsook him and the slave States
became his champion, giving him nearly all
the votes South and Southwest Of Virginia.
In 1860 free labor agnin rallies TO his support
with united front and the slave oligarchy
fight him even to the disruption and
demolition Of the party. To whnt
shall VIC ascribc these remarkable
changes Of sentiment in the two grand d.
visions Of the Democracy: We will not
undertake to say that R1r. Douglas .rasin d
considerable degree anti-slavery prior to
1852; that lie 4cas decidedly pro-slavery
from that period to 1856; that he has ex-
hibited an anti-slarcry front from that pc
riod to the present time. But We assert
without the fear Of contradiction that he
has 50 seemed to his party and the country.
And We appeal to the records Of the three
National Conventions here cited, rs incon-
trovcrtib1c evidence Of the fact
There has been no national Democratic
party in the United States for many years.
There has been Northern Democratic
party and Southern Democratic party.
The former has obtained the shell and
the latter the meat in all controversies
relating to the domestic policy Of the gov:
ernment Tie Northern wing, utterly dis
comfitted in the nomination Of Polk, and
cruelty cheated in the election, Of Pierce
and Buchanan, have struggled on und
clung to their organization, still hoping for
better things, Meanwhile, the Republican
party, protiting by all their misfortunes,
and by the unrelenting tyranny of the slave
drivers, gradually supplanted them in most
Of the Free States, and disputed the
ground with them in all 1fr. Douglas
had the sagacity to perceive that
he had travelled far enough in tho direction
Of the southern cross, and he came to re-
spectful but very firm halt The necoesi~
ties Of his position compelled to him TO an
nounce the doctrine Of " unfricndly lesisla-
tion," practically nullifying the Dred Scott
decision, and from this moment Ills feet
wc1e knocked from under him in fourteen
Of the fifteen slave States of the Confedcra-
c.. On the other hand, if he had not an
nounced his nullifying dogma, he would
have lost still greater area Of ground in
the North. There was no half way footing
to stand on; the inrprezsible conflict in
the party. had been narrowing itself to that
point where further lodging or compro-
missing was impossible. Whichever course
Mr.. Douglas might have chosen, his fate
was scaled