Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-10-11
LFrom the New York Courier / Enquiror.I
The Progress of RovoIT+ton

l. TAs - Z
II is essentially necessary to look hack
nj the past to learn how fast and how fa r
we have gone within the past ten and es-
peclally the last six years. It has becn /.
path OF enormous divergence from the old
ana well tried ways. The leaders of this
aggression have not hesitated to acknowl-
cage the distance they have won and the
tflumPhs they have achieved. One of the
souhaest and most honorable of these
men, Senator K. NJ. T. Hunter, of Virginia,
0ut the other day before the BrcclSinrirlpe
state Convention ut Charlottesville fairly
ADMITTED this great fact, in the folds Of
which he involved all the conflict that il
now going on. in the country. Nobody
can question this truth; it is as palpable
as the most material fact that occurs. and
us alarming to the patriot as anything we'll
coulu be. Its name is Retrogrcssion, nuu
what In Europe is entitlnd Ro sIIu
PfIHclples OF the men of the Revolution of
l776, and their immediate successors, and
found in Webster and Clay consistent and
unLiring antagonists. Calhoun was its
parent. He mused upon it day and night
in the dark recesses of his gloomy mind,
and he left it as legacy of sorrow
to his country. Its most efficient help
or has been Stephen Arnold Douglas,
but it has gone farther than he intended,
and has made him to be t'the engineer
hoist by his own petard." 1t has conquer
ed the whole South, and steps boldly forth
upon the domains of the North, where it
finds but too many ready TO lend it favor
Where were we ten years ago Let the
words of the. late Senator Butler, of South
Carolina, uncle to Preston s. Brooks, give
thGreply. Inl95O, on the l2th of February
Mr.. Butler Indignantly repellcd the inti-
nation which came from Mr.. Douglas,
that Slavery was seeking extension. 81
wish to ask" said 3Tr. Butler, 'the Senator
from Illinois, whether the South, or any
Southern member, or anybody else upon
this floor, or anywhere else, has introduc-
ed proposition TO ertsnd Slavery! Has
there ever been q proposition to extend it?
Never: tre hare neVcr expressed such 1Uish.
WE WANT NO EXTENSION. Hands off. Let
us alone. That is all we ask. Yet it is
here asserted (by Mr.. Douglas) rs if it
were positively proposition made by the
South, that we want to extend Slavery"
And Mr.. DouSlas expressed his deep grnti-
fcation at the disclaimer, and represented
himself willing fully to belicyeit.
That is what Southern men wanted ten
years ago. They had what they wanted I;
tlrry declared themselves satisfied, and re-
solved upon stopping all further agitation
How thoroughly all these fair promises
have been broken, how diametricnlly the
then existing status has been reversed is
Obvious to a child! The cry of the trained
bands of slavery extension now is, that
the continuance of the very state of things
SO satisfactory to the foremost men of
their party ten years ago. is cause for Dis
union, for disruptiug this most glorious OF
| Political Fabrics. Thus we show the per-
verse energy of the Slavery Extensionists.
They leave all Constitution, all precedent
all moderation, all fixity of policy, and
rush on and on, and onto whittier
that, if not firmly and finally checked,
will be universal ruin. The Republican
party propose to do no more than that
which so entirely satisfied Mr.. Butler, and
the declaration of which met the hearty
appreciation of Mr.. Douglas. "Hands of
Let us alone,n is the Republican cry
not only for slavery within the limits o.
the Slave States, but for liberty within
the Free Territories. The pleasant graf,
ulations of Mr. Hunter, Mt the further ad.
vance of slavery extension, must be ter
minated, and IL return to the times when
! he first entered upon public political life
made the principle of Federal Administra.
tiOn. But we quote the remark of Mr.
Hunter on the occasion above referred to
by way of confirmation of the views WI
have here hastily developed a so Il
"When 1 first entered the Federal Coun
ellis, which was at the commencement o
Mr.. Van. Burens administration, the mora
and political status of the slavery. ques
tion was very different from what it nov
is. Then the Southern men themselves
with but few exceptions, admitted SLAYER.
to be a.moral evil, and palliatcd and ex
cused it upon the plea of necessity. The
there were few men ottany. part to b
found in the Notwithstanding States VIII
did not maintain both the Constitutional
ty and expediency of the anti-slaycry reso
luton, now generally known rs the vii
mot proyiso. Had any man at that da