Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-02-23
tror the 1ptslligopser,l
Sectional strife-No. 9.

! the attention OIL the EeaueF WAS GdtlFu ~
the pledge of the Baltimore Convention
! dgaiIist slavery agitation, by which the
4 Pierce administration was brought into
power, and to the periidy which wantonly
broke that pledge. The utmost strength
of the administration thus elected, thus
pledged to peace, was eXcrted TO carry the
repeal of the Missouri compromise through
/ the House of Representatives. And yet
with all this aid, the fre-brand owed its
safe passage through that House to arti-
flee In Committee of the Whole the
wide range of debate puts an odious
measure in peril; and the facility of en-
I grating amendments upon it, often de-
taches from such q measure, its timtd ana
wavcring supporters. it therefore be-
came an object, with its friends, TO get the
bill in question out of the committee. In
pursuance of this object, they suddenly
and by concert and conspiracy, moved to
strike out the enncting clause of the bill.
This motion carried of course, and was
equivalent in parliamentary usage, TO the
rejection of the measure. Then the COM
mittcc rose and the chairman reported that
the committee having had the Kansas and
/ Ncbrask bill under consideration, had di-
rccted him to report to the House that it
ought not to pass. This direction was
riven by striking out the enacting clause,
and in no other manner. The opponents
of the measure were taken by surprise, all
debate in the House was cut off by the
gag of the previous question, ruthlessly
applied. The House reversed tie report
of the committee, and the bill passed by a
petty aud meagre majority. Was ever
fraud, was ever trick, was ever artihce
worse Employed !!
Reader, was not right in telling you,
Il, ,,,,o,, 81, e,,Iinrf Of the frnc
States could seldom expect, from their OPP
ponents, any portion of candOr or fair
dealing? \ flower of rhetoric is now cX-
tensivcIy employed by Southern orators,
to the effect that the Missouri compromise
was stigma upon Southern institutions,
and its repeal demanded by a sense of
honor. Mr.. Vice President Breckenridge
makes use of this trope in his late Frank
fort speech, in which he declares that he
never could vote for territorial bill con-
tanning this stigma upon the institutions
of the South. Oh, gentlemen, why did
you not discover this important point OF
hOnora little sooner? Were Clay, Pimkney,
Lowndcs and their Southern cOmpatriots,
destitute of sense of honor? If so, why
did Won endorse them so fully by the above
mentioned resolution of the Baltimore
Convention, against slavery agitntiOn!-
WHY did YOU rcnounce and abandon this
point of honor through the whole political
campaign of 1852? \ man never makes
Doorcr figure than when insisting on Il
point of honor, which he has uotoriously
neglected and repu6iatcd in times past
y suspicion of insincerity is fatal TO honor.
The author of this Kansas and Nebras-
kn bill is soon to be before us i'll II more
prominent position than ever. as the cnn-
didatc of the Southern party, for the Pres
idcncy of the United States. Tom Paine,
in some of his works, says that he never
liked the word politician" it always re-
.mindcd him of the word "hOrSc-jockey.
This was by association of ideas. y sim
liar association of ideas will present the
same dcspicablc word to the minds of the
American people, when Stephen A. Doug
last is mentioned.
When Sydney Smith, with his sharp stick,
was pursuing the Canning and Perccyal
administration, he asserted that he was
not animated by hopes of glory, but by
love of utility, '.as n hurgomnster hunts Al
rat in Dutch dyke, for fear ii should flood
n province" TScc It'll letter to Abraham
PIymley.l have the same feelings to-
wards this professor of political legerdc-
main. In the repeal of the Missouri Com
promise lie was mere volunteer. The
people demanded nothing of the kind.
No petition for that baleful measure went
mp from the Morrill, South, East or West.
If Mr.. Douglas forcsaw all the disastrous
consequences of his measure, all the burn-
ngs; lynchings, murders and sl"ughters,
which have originated in it, whore was his
patriotism? If he did not foresce these
things, where was his sagacity? 1t is but
charity to suppose that he did not forcsee;
that he was simply pursuing his own little,
selfish, personal interests in his own way,
reckless and regardless of the interests of
his country and of humanity at large.
Well might the Swedish Prime-Minister,
in the last century start his son, upon his
travels, with an injunction to go and visit
the different Capitals of the world 'and
see how little wisdom snfficcs to govern
mankind"
This policy of Mr.. Douglas has some
times been defended and even applaudcd,
as an exemplilicotion of the doctrine of
popular sovereignty Who, on the conti-
ereignty? Who, on the continent, has
mpngned that doctrine, since the day ON
which our ancestors made that famous
declaration, "that all men are created
equal; that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights;
that among these are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness. That to secure these
rights governments arc instituted amongst
men, DERIVING THEIR JUST POWERS FROM
THE CONSENT OF THE GovERNED; that when
ever any form of government becomes des-
tructive Of these ends, ii is the right of the
people to alter or abolish it, and to instt-
tute new government, laying its founda-
ton on such principles and organizing its
powers in such form as to them shall seem
most likely to effect their safety and hap
piness?" When Mr.. Douglas, therefore,
asserted the doctrine of popular sovereign
tv, was he not making an assertion which
no man felt disposed to contradict? Was
he not asserting mere truism? Was he
not doing more-wns he not employing the
nnnarnns and cXnltnd lnnnnnrn nf Iihnrtv