The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1860-07-12


bushel. With the boldness of conscious
rectitude, and the frankness of downright
honesty, he has not failed to avow his o.
pInions of public affairs upon all fitting
occasions.
This, / know, may subject him to the
carping censure of that class of politicians
who mistake canning 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 brasely. All his old polit-
ical antecedents are, in my judgment, ex-
actly right, beipgsquare up to the old
Wing standard. And as to bic views a.
bout "the pestileut negro question:" I am
not aware that he has gone one step be-
yond the doctrine publicly and habitually
aVowed By the great lights of the Wing
party-Clay, Webster, and their follow
ers-and, indeed, sustained and carried
out By the Democrats themselves, in their
wiser and better days.
The following, l suppose, are in brief
bis opinions upon that subject: l. Sla-
very is domestic institutions within the
States which choose to have it, and it ex-
lists within those States beyond the con-
troll of Congress. Congress hes su-
preme legislative power over ell the Ter
ritories, and may, at its discretion, allow
or forbid the existence of slavery within
them. 3. Congress. in wisdom and sound
policy, ought not so to exercise its power
directly or indirectly, as to plant and es-
tablish slavery in any Territory therefore
free. 4. And that it is unwise and im-
polite in the Government of the United
States to acquire tropical regions for the
mere purpose of converting them into
slave States.
These, believe, are Mr. Lincoln's o,
pinions upon the matter of slavery in the
Territories, and | concur in them. They
are 20 new inventions, made to suit the ext
gencies of the hour, but have come down
to us, as the Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution 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 pro-
ven in practice by the as yet unbroken
current of our political history. They
will prevail, 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 are allowed to prevail in
peace and harmony. the better for all con-
cerned, as well as those who are for them.
am aware that small partisans, in
their little warfare against opposing lea
ders, do sometimes assail them by the
trick of tearing from their contexts some
particular Objectionable phrases, penned,
perhaps, in the hurry of composition or
spoken in the heat of oral debate and
bolding them up to the public as the lea
ding doctrines of the person assailed, and
drawing from them their own uncharita-
bic differences. That line Of attack be-
trays little mind, conscious of its weak
ness, for the falsity of its logic is not more
apparent than the injustice of its design.
No public man can stand that ordeal, and
however 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 foolish
thing will hardly be able to prove that he
ever said many wise ones.
I consider Mr.. Lincoln o sound, safe,
rational man. He could not be sectional
if he tried. His birth, his education. the
habits of his life, and his Biographies al
position, compel him to be national. All
his feelings and interests are identified
with the great Valley of the Mississippi,
near whose centre be has spent his whole
life. That Valley is not section, but,
conspicuously, the body of the nation,
and, large as it is, it is not capable of be-
ing divided into sections, for the great
river cannot be divided. 1t is one and
indivisible, and the North and South are
as broad and general az the regions they
inhabit. They are emigrants, mixed
multitude, coming from every State in the
Union, and from most countries in Eu-
rope; they are unwilling, therefore, to
submit to any one pretty local standard.
They love the nation as whole, and they
love all its parts, for they are bound to
them all, not only by feeling of common
interest and mutual dependence, 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. The Valley is beginning
to feel its power. 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
lodged in the hands of men whose habits
of thought, whose position and surroun-
ding circumstances constrain to use those
powers for general and not sectional ends
/ give my opinion freely in favor OF
Mr.. Lincoln, and hope that. for the good
of the whole country, be may be elected
But it is not my intention to take any ao
tive part in the canvass. For many
years past I have had little to do Will