The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-11-07
ADDRESS OF DURANT DA pONTE
BEFORE THE
Breckenridge and Lane Club of New
Orleans.

FELLOW DEMOCRATS: After the able man |
ner IN which the questions at issue during the |
current Presidential canvass have been dis |
cussed before you on previous occasions, 1t is |
unnecessary for me to continue the argument |
on those points. Moreover, the near approach
OF the moment when the contest is to be decl-
ded, renders it more appropriate, perhaps, to
pass the intervening time in preparation for
the momentouS issues which the termination
oil the conflict may precipitate upon us. The
time may soon come when the Democratic
party may be called on to redeem the promi- |
Ses it has made to stand by the rights of the
South and maintain the equality of the States
For, however Union saving fanatics may
strive to disguise the fact no one else can
doubt that the issue of the present contest is
a purely Sectional issue; that its result is to
determine the position which the South is to
oceupy-inside or outside of the Federal
Union; whether, in the triumph of our
principles, the rights Of the South and the
equality of the States are to be maintained or
in the triumph of Black Republicanism the
Government is to be sectlonalized and the
South driven to the choice between degrading
submission to the rule OF Abolition masters,
and resistance, revolution and separation.
OF the four parties now in the field, the
two | have mentioned are the immediate
representatives Of this m0mentous issue of
this irrepreSsible conflict between Southern
and State equality, and the sectional ambition
which is striving to conquer and subjugate
the South, under the forms OF the Constitution,
and under the shadow of the Union. The
other two parties, strong though one may be
at the South, and powerful though the other
| may be at the North, are merely accessories
notwithstanding that one OF them-that led
by Mr.. Bell, is thrust by the pecullariteS of
its position into a situation OF prominence, If
not of responsibility.
The other party-the one led by Mr..
| Douglas has but few followers in the South.
| 1t is great in words and small in numbers.
| Like its illustrious leader, it talks big and
| looks little But it claims to be strong at the
| North Because it may be able to carry
! few Northern States, but insists that the
| South should support its candidate. But why
is it strong at the North ? 1t is strong at
the North for precisely the same reason that
| it is weak at the South--because it is essen
tally Northern party. For this very reason
it is the duty of Democrats, and OF Southern
men to vote against it, and not, as claimed by
its friends to vote with it. l assert that the
party. of which Mr. Douglas is the chief is
equally with Mr.. Lincoln's, the representa-
tive Of the idea Of sectional domination and Of
| Northern hostility to the South The only
difference consists in The fact that while one
openly ayows its hostility, the other carefully
wells its designs beneath specious phrases and
delusive pretences. Yet the great fact remains
that Mr. Douglas, like Mr.. Lincoln, is a sec
tional candidate Mr.. Lincoln represents the
division of the country into North and South,
and is the candidate OF the North. Mr..
Douglas represents the division Of the old
| Democratic party into the Northern wing and
the Southern wing, and is the candidate of
the Northern wing If the election OF Mr..
Lincoln would be triumph Of the North over
the South the election of Mr.. Douglas would
be triumph Of the Northern Democracy over
the Southern Democracy
As to its effects on the rights and interests
of the South in the Territories, the triumph
of the one would not materially differ from
the triumph of the other. While the avowed
object of Lincoln is to deprive the South Of
the rights she claims in the Territories ac-
auired by the common blood and the common
treasure Of all sections of the Confedcracy, by
the absolute refusal to admit into the Union
any more slave States, the effect Of Mr..
Douglas doctrines would be precisely the
same, by sublecting Southern rights in the
Territories, and the tenure of Southern prop
erty, 20 the preudices, the passions, the ami
mosties of a local and hostile majority.
But it would be a mistake to suppose that
the Territorial question forms the only point
OF disagreement between Mr. Douglas and the
Democratic party. Although he denies to
the Federal Government the right to inter-
vene in the Territories for the protection Of
Southern rights, he prociaims the duty OF the
Federal Government to intervene within the
States for the purpose Of cOercing them into
a Union which may have become destructive
of their rights, degrading to their honor, and
abhorrent to their feelings.
In one of his speeches, made during his re-
cent invasion of Virginia, he dared to declare
upon the soil within which repose the bones
Of Washington, jefferson, and Madison, men
who had dedicated their lives and their for
tunes to the cause of freedom and of Constr
tntionaf filerty-that IL Mr. lincoln were
elected President, he (Mr. Douglass would
assist him in maintaining his authority ovel
the South, and that he would hang as high a:
Hannah, any man who should dare to resis
the standardization of the Government in thu
hands Of Black Republican Administration
Hannah was hung very high and mucl
fear that the little Illinois Senator is entirely
/
ecution of any Southern patriot. In the same
breath with this insolent and traitorous threat
he dared to invoke the memory of jackson
Why fellow Democrats if you should clothC
a bare-poe in the martial cloak which Jack
son wore that day he drove the British legionS
covering to their ships, moved to impetuous
flight the hofdes of abolition would seek safety
in their Northern hauntS, and the minionS Of
| omission ink tn no aarth
But for all the practical purposes of the
contest We may dismiss this party into the
oblivion which awaits it in the atlectionate
and capacious bosom Of Black Republicanism.
Much more important is that party which
under the tiimsy pretext of love for the
Constitution and the Union, by appealing to
the traditional affection Of the South, for the
Confederacy formed by our revolutionary
| fathers and for that instrument by which our
! rights in the Union and our equality as SOW
ereign members of the Union, are supposed
to be secured, is attempting to seduce us into
submission to sectional tyranny, and tame
| acquiescence in the destruction of our rights.
This party is more to be dreaded than the
| Black Republicans themselves. The foe who
openly assails. is less to be feared than the
| false friend who counsels degradation and dis
honor And, behind all those fine phrases
that glowing rhetoric, that paraphernalia Of
bells and banners, which are pressed into the
service of our adversaries-behind the fierce
invective which they pour out on all who pro-
claim their high resolve to stand by Southern
rights-behind all this are hdHen, the degra-
daton and dishonor involved in tame sur
render of our equal rights in the Union, and
in submission to sectional despotism.
On the banner of this Union. saving party,
are to be found as symbol, the words "Union
and Constitution But in the speeches of
their orators and the columns of their news
papers you find a hundred words for the
| Union where you find one word in favor of
maintaining the Constitutional rights of the
| South. You who have listened to their
speeches, You who have read their journals,
can you recall single word of encouragement
| to the South, in the death struggle she is
wagng with Northern fauaticism? No, fellow
| Democrats-it is all for the Union, nothing
/ for the South In the address of their Nation
al Committee, we are told that the election of
| Mr.. Lincoln might be dangerous to the coun-
| try on account of its effect on the sensitive
susceptibilities of the Southern people, but
that address continues-"we can conceive Of
no contingency in which we should not regard
the dissolution of the Union as the greatest of
CItQU2tEkeS anu CuulG "ildt Will we Slldll
ever continue to prize the Union as the most
precious jewel of our souls"
Ii Mr. Lincoln were elected President Of
the United States, if the army and the navy
and the treasury were in his hands, if Black
Republican majorities controlled both Houses
of Congress, if the seats on the bench Of the
Supreme Court, which have been adorned by
the genius of Marshall and illustrated by
the learning of fancy, were filed by Black
Republican Judges that would be calamity,
but not such a calamity as dissolution of
the Union If the North were to seize upon
the Federal Government and administer it
solely for her own benefit, and to the prejudice
of the South, that would be a calamity, but
not to be compared with such a calamity as
dissolution of the Union. If your homes
were invaded by Abolition armies, under the
authority of the Federal Government ; if your
5,roll;ngs were fired by the incendiary'S