The Oxford intelligencer. (Oxford, Miss.) 1860-18??, 1860-09-05
'r'ffTi''t.. ;I1'.''s' !

method of disposing OF this class Of small
beer politicians, would be, to request thcmto
! refer to the record of Mr.. Douglas, and point
out some instance in which his alleged friend
ship for the South has been manifested either
by speech OF vote. The great issue, now
presented to the country, is, whether the
constitutional rights of the South, in refer
enee to Tie Institution Of domestic slavery,
shah. or shall not, be conceded to her BY the
North. A fanatical party, animated by the
single sentiment Of hostility to slavery, and
banded together for the sole purpose of COM
passing its destruction, has obtained the con-
troll of nearly every Northern State, and so
debauched the minds of the great mass Of
the Northern people, that they are ready to
ovcrleap the barriers of the Constitution in a
relentless warfare upon our rights and inter
ests. The leading and ceatral idea of that
party Is. that slavery is wrong, a crime, a
sin, which it is their duty to reform and put
an end to, as speedily as may be. Talk to an
abolitionist about the law of the land which
sanctions slavery, and lie replies that there
| is "higher law" of God, which forbids
slavery, and which absolyes him from the
duty Of obedience TO the human law. Tell
him that the Constitution recognizes and qua
rantees slavery, and his answer is that tie
Constitution is "a league with He'll" The
South has friends" among the Northern
people, and many of thcm-sucll men as
O'Conor and Dickinson, and Pearce, and
Cushing--but, when they address their fel-
low-citizens in reference to the great question
of the day, they do not 2est their defence Of
the rights of the South upon the mere ground
that our local laws uphold slavery, and that
the Constitution lis pledged to its support.
They 60 behind these, to the sources and
foundations of morals and of law, and prove,
by arguments drawn from the Records of In
spiration and from the very nature Of man,
that the negro, as an inferior being, is in his
normal position when he is subjected to the
control of superior race, and, therefore,
slavery being right in itself, that it is properly
upheld by our laws, and sustained by the
Constitution. From this reasoning, it fol-
lows, inevitably, that it is the duty of every
citizen to yield to the Constitution and laws,
SO fart as they relate to the question of slavery,
an honest and cheerful obedience. The ar
gument takes from the aboitionist every pre-
text for his war upon our institutions, and
places the rights of the South upon the inn
prcgnable foundation of abstract and immu-
table justice. s...
VIII the advocates of Mr. Douglas under
take to claim for him that he is such a ''friend
of the South" as we have describcd3 Can
| they show where he has ever defended slav-
cry upon its merits! On the contrary, look
ing to his record as a whole, has he not uni
formly tuckled to the fell spirit of abolition
ism, by contending, merely, that its purposes
were violative of the Constitution and the
lawsl Who is so simple as to suppose that
men are to be deferred from the accomplish
ment of their fixed designs, by intcrposing
mere paper barriers which they regard with
contempt! Mr.. Douglas has long becnaware
Of the state of Northern feeling in reference
to slavery. He has known, from the first,
that the exclusion Of slavery from the Terri
tories was the settled policy Of the anti-slavery
men of the North, and that it was adopted
with the ultimate view of destroying slavery,
under the forms Of the Constitution, after an
amendment of that instrument had been ef-
fected, through the workings Of the far-reacll-
ing policy to which we lave referred. This
policy, however, was to be carried out by
means of Congressional Legislation, prohibit
ing slavery in the Territories and this could
not be done until the anti-slavcry party be-
came strong enough to control both Houses
Of Congress, and the Presidcnt--in other
words, until it should obtain. complete pos
session Of the General Government. Under
this state of things, Mr.. Douglas, "thc friend
Of the South" comes forward with his doc
trines of "squatter sovereignty" and Gun
friendly legislation" and, in effect, thus adj
dresses himself to the anti-slavery cohorts of
the North, eager and impatient for 'the good
time coming" when athe slave power" should
be broken: any good friends, you may lie
compelled to wait for years before you will
be able to execute your purposes in the mode
YOU have proposed to yourselves. Listen to
me, however, and I will show you how you
mag attain your end by a shorter cut. Or
ganize Emigrant Aid Societies, pour your re.
dundaBt aud landicss population into the
new Territories in such numbers as to over
wheIm the emigration from the South, and
let them prohibit slavery there by Territorial
legislation. You may be told that the Su-
preme Court of the United States has decided
that such legislation Mouldbe unconstitution-
al. Never mind that II prohibitory legis-
latiOn is thus defeated, you have only to re-
sort to ''unfricndly legislation which will
just as effectually operate to extinguish slav-
cry in the Territories as the other. IL they
don't want slavery there, they need not have