The gazette and Democrat. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1860-1860, 1860-08-30
NO.22.
Bells Position on the slavery Q6esliou.
Prom tha NJ Innls na,,c...e

Aos"oh % the SIhSery 0uesttous
pfomthe 81. Louis Democrat.
The result Of the Kentucky election, and
the impulse thereby given to the Bell and
Everett movement, rtnder Il proper that
the opinions Of Bell 90 the Slavery ouss.
ton should bs fully aud correctly made
known to the public. Nor is this diff
cult task. He has served in Congress
and Cabinets; be participated in the great
controversies Of 80 and 81. HIS record
Is therefore extensive. ard judging from a
letter OF his. recently written snd pub.
lished. be refers 10 Il viii, pride, and con-
Gdebtly invites its inspection. We think
il will be found, on examination, that he
is a decided pFo-slsVery man; that his
opinions on The Slavery question are iden-
ticaI with those professed by the Breek'
ioridge Democracy, and not at all with
those which were held by Clay and the
Whig party. True, he is not an agita-
Tor Of that question, and that is the sole
difference in the premises between him
and the Southern Democracy. Neither
does he counrcDance disunion, nor uea.
son Of any kind. His policy is to protect
and extend Slavery within the Union,
without contemplating the alternative Of
secessfon in the event OF that policy being
frustrated We believe We thus define
his position correctly on tie paramount
issue Of the time, and esp eially of the
present canvass; aud in doing SO We
serve to elucidate the causes which have
given Kentucky to the Union party By
"a sweeping majority. Assuming that
Kentucky is mainly Pro Slavery. but ct
the same time devoted 10 the Union. it
follows that Bell must have beaten Breck-
inridge there, as the letter is identified
with party which supposed 10 be tainted
with disunion. The fate Of the Douglas
faction in che Slave States seems to be.co-
operation 6rst. and incorporation ultimate
!y with the Union party.
In the election referred n, the Douglas
men generally voted for Leslie Combs,
and in bis addres, published few days
ago, that gentleman does not fail to ae-
knowledge the favor, nor to laud the INA.
tional Union Democracy synonym of
his own coming for Squ tier overeignty
Democracy. Special causes in this State
will 20 far to counteract, for the present,
the mutual tendency to fusion on the part
cf the followers Of Bell and the followers
of Douglss; but yet W. have little doubt
that as a general thing the later will act
with The former in Novem er, unless the
Brrckinrdgs mov' mpnt, initiated BY Polk,
Greene and Hughes, sh uld prove fail
IRE.
The protection and extension Of slavery
within the Union is the platform on which
John Bells record establishes him. In
the great debate on the Compromise meas
ures Of 1850, he argued that slavery is
,ig&t in itself. and benifcentiD its opera
tiOns aud results: that the powers and re-
sources the Cdnfsdsracy would not be
half what they are, except for slave labor;
and that theinsitution is in harmony with
the laws Of nature, aud has pre-, allied in
all ages and countries. This is sufficient
ly explicit. Indeed the force OF language
can no further 60 in panegyrizing the in.
stitutioh. But We have also an emphatic
avowaI Of the Calhoun theory, (now the
specially Of the Southern or Breckiniidge
Democracy ON the sCdustitutioualrights'
OF slavery in the Territories. In the same
speech. Mr.. Bell afirms that the ''sound-
ness OF the doctrine that the Constitution
carries slavery, proprio vigore, into the
Territories; that the flag Of the Union
protects The citizen in The enjoyment of
his rights OF property OF every description,
recognized as such in any OF the States.
on every sea and in every Territory Of the
Union" cannot be successfully impesch-
| ed
That 'fae foregoing is u, inadvertcnt as
sertion, no 'rhetoric,l flourish but mstur-
ed opinion, is shown by the Senator's vote
ON the Kansas Nebraska bill, four years
later.
'Ou the 18th Of February, 1854, that bill
l,eiug before Senate. Mr.. Douglas
moved, by way of amendment, TO insert
the following, containing the very virus
and deadly iangs OF the disastrous mea-
sure: "wbich Ohe Missouri Compromise
being inconsistent with the principles OF
non intervention by Congress With Slave
ry in the States aud Territories, as recog-
nized by tue Legislation cf 1850, (eom'
monty called the Compromise measures.
sis hereby declared 'iHoperatire and Void."
These are words in which the Missouri
Compromise was abolished, and John Bel
of Tennessee voted for their adoption and
their incorporation in the bill, as well al
Atchison, Geyer and Douglas. AS Bel
has never accepted Squatter Sovereignty
his vote on that occasion was aecessarih
cast in conformity with the Southern in
ter probation of tbs principles Of the Ksn
. sas Nebraska bill :" in other words. in con
formily with the declaration quoted above
which he bad made four years previously
: : These facts speak Cor themselves. We
!, have no comment to make OIL them fur
>, ther than to presume the utter impossible
;, ity Of any Republican or Benton DemocFa
voting for the man who himself voted TO
the abrogatiou of the Missouri Compromise
and who declares that the Constitution es
:, tahllshes Slavery in all the Territories.-
Il We grant that Bell voted against the ksp
= sas. Nebraska bill on its passage. but b
did so because /. gave aliens the same pr
70 vlieges as natives in the new Territories
: n circumstance which has no sort Of reli
"a ton to his position on the Slavery gue'
"a tion.
>. TERRIBLE EFFEcrs OF DR0UGTH In TEt