New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-02-20
NUMBER 29S.
INE paEsIOENcY. .sLAvEaY N TAE TERaToaEsl

sa'1ons o. the South and may say Or the Consti.
s1''oh, snadcss me to hope that In the urcsent
emergency It viii still adhere ID that came yrhiel,
= mo less important in lover Of the rJnio,, than il
y hohest and patriotic ID Louisiauian M;ndfni
90 am that between seiashneas ana error t,sre I;
dmculty n choosing, when our interests anna.
rentiy inchne to the former r nevertheless enter
the belief that the desnes Of Southern poIitsca
are not SO greatly reduced that they are forced Il
choose between the selfshness OF John S,idelI and
the error Of Stephen "A. Douglas. witt, i ttoasafa
preferences for the latter, we yet have the option
q nominating some man in the next presidential
canvass who Is above both Of these objections.
\ whose mind il unsweryed By local or traditional
arguments, and whose government would be free
from the charge Of sectonalisni S in fact, who
would be constitutional Preaidents
It is not my design to refer in tbs article to The
particular evidences Of the unreliabiIty 81 Mr.
Slidell, for presume such labor would be superer
/ ogatory with the well-informed readers Of The
Crescent. The senior Senator from The State o
Louisiana has never connected his name with the
history craftsmanship of this country except by
the questionable performances at PIaquenne and
the erratic thirty million bill the one immortal fol
its knavery and the other evergreen for its folly.
He has no claim upon the people or the nation, ex-
cept such an one as he can forge OF buy, and as ]
! have too much confidence in the American people
to believe that they can be imposed upon or
| bought, you will allow me to dismiss Mr. Sidell
| from my consideration, as a. fat GcoaapH.
An error, however, which is fundamental and de-
structive in its nature, when propagated by bold
and persistent man, is quite as bad as an evil dis
position. Indeed, may pause to consider il it ia
| not worse. A bad man, like John Brown, will
push an error Of judgment as far as to attack and
destroy vested legal rights while selfish man
may be bought or fattered into the determined
support Of justice. In the one case we know that
our enemy will wage conscientious war upon us,
while on the other we have an equal chance to
make friend and supporter and suppose there
are but few Of your readers who would prefer de-
struction at the hands of blind reformer to safety
at those Of an unscrupuous charlatan
| consider MIR. Douglas to be a bold, impassioned
and honest statesman, willing to afford the fullest
protection where he esteems it DUE but determined
to suppress everything which his philosophy repre-
hended as pernicious or unconstitutional In fact,
| the very qualities which are accredited to him
leave me no other conclusion than that he would
be infexble in carrying out his principles of gov
ernment; therefore, while sincerely applaud and
commend his integrity while assisting in the coun-
ellis Of the nation, could but depore the fatality
which clothed him with power to enforce the dan
gerous heresy which his Judgment has embraced.
He is the representative Of most destructive prn-
ciple, and, therefore, much to be feared first be-
cause his election by the South would be ar en-
dorsement of his idea; and second because such
endorsement would place the South at the mercy
of the deluded fanatics who are arrayed against
our honesty, onr institutions and our peace.
1t Is time that we had done with errors. The
South lost great moral support in the fallacious
admission which she made almost century agone,
that African slavery was an evil which human leg
islation ought to eStirpate One hundred years
have not suficed to demolsh the error, but under
the present enlightenment each succeeding year
is doing the work brayely. st. Domingo, Central
America and Jamaica are living evidences Of its
untruth; and our present embittered public senti
ment is the afonement we are making for that unto
ward folly of our own admission. She made an
other mistake in compromising away her right tt
carry her slave property into the ter
ritory. That, too, has been fearfuIly visited upol
us In the broils which disgraced the Territory q
Kansas. Shall we now commit another folly
equally pregnant with evil consequences, in castin
away the right which the Constitution affords US
taking our slave property into the common terri
tories Of the nation2 Are we not satisfied with Oh
past madness, which led us to raise sentimep
above rightg And must we engender the fearf,
spirit of discord in the Territories, by declarin
that every unrecognized and ilegitimate organiza
| ton therein has the right to re-determine ques
tion which the Constitution and the Supreme Gour
have already set at rest?
In the case of bred Scott, the Supreme Court de
clared that the Southern stakeholder has Consti
tntonal right to carry his negro property into the
common territories Of the Union, with freedom tC
remain and hold it there until a State Consultation,
makes provision against the future tenure of such
property in the State. Under this decision there is
no power inferior to a State constitution which
can exclude slavery from the territories; for as
these latter must abide by the Constitution of the
United States, which establishes slavery therein,
| they cannot abrogate or destroy that privilege
Constitutional rights cannot be impaired by Con-
gress itself; then how can a creature of Congress
dissolve them! If such reasoning is allowed to
prevail, then Territories may make eayarse Tdcto
laws, or suspend the writ of habeas corpus at plea
sure. although these powers arc expressly denied
to Congress itself.
Under the Constitution, according to the Su !
preme Court slavery is NATIONAL except when it is
destroyed by positive statutory enactments, while I
in the opinion of MIR. Douglas it is local and sub
ject to the determination of every community. |
Under the Supreme Courts explanation of tie Con.
sttution slavery entitled to Federal protection in
the Territories under the reading Of Mr.. Douglas.
it is dependent upon legislation everywhere. We |
are, therefore, left to select which Of the two oe
trines we shall take; whether we shall hold ID a |
positive right, already ours or let it go and frht
for precarious footing in our own property. as i