St. Paul weekly Minnesotian. (St. Paul) 1860-1861, 1860-11-09
q ~ z 81
sllEsFItssE sS WA BASIIA1V STS.
TERMS, TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.

: in community half continent from any
If possibility of its reach. And yet this doc
g trine of Mr.. Douglas proposes to plant the
0 discussion and the settlement of the aucs
e ton, right in the middle of the people, to
e be affected by it Ito make that practical
which is otherwise theoretical Ito bring
e the same violent, fierce feeling to bear, not
G on slavery in the abstract, but on the ques-
ton of slavery or no slavery right at tho
. doors Of the dispataats. And that which
Q ends in bloodshed in Pennsylvania, is, you
5 are told. to find a peaceable solution on
!, the plains Of Kansas
& Mississippi is a slave state. There is no
; effort to make it otherwise and but dis
:. tant hope that it ever viii be otherwise,
Yet, suppose, my friends, that you or I go
there and denounce slavery as it appeared
among the .ireeks and Romans Plato
said man was "a biped without feathers;;n
] whereupon Diogenes plucked chicken
and setting it down called it, 'spato's
man. Well, you or ], after our lecture in
Mississippi, would probably, If no worse
II tate beteN US, reverse Plato ) definition and
GSinc poiualy OF o b;pe5l
Z ttstN nd yss IS xsag III tisese
4 citizens Of Mississippi, amend Nitls oTis
knife and revolver, into whose hands tl1e
peaceful solution OF the slavery question
is to be placed. He who has, all his life.
treated the ebullitions of struggling free
dom with the lash, and the advocates Of
liberty with the tar pct and feather bag, is
now to walk peaceably up to ballot box,
deposit small piece of paper therein,
walk quietly off full Of charity and liberty
to all mankind and await the issue We
have heard of one Seth Jones, who. when
indignant at his wife for some domestic
provocatiOn, vowed he would freeze himself
to death, and proceeded to sit out of doors
with the thermometer considerably below
zero. In a few moments, however. he re-
turned into the house and said, .he be-
taeced he could carry out a foo blankets az
at aods darned cold out ulsre ~. The cold
process vi freezing was not more congo
mai to Seth's warm temperament, than.
would be the methodical process of the
ballot box to the Mississipian Nor did
Seth fall back with greater delight upon
the blankets than would the Missssippian
on the old-iashiened adjudicators, the bowie
knife and revolver.
And yet, my friends, the comparison is
not fair one Pennsylvania and Miss;s- s
sippi are old States, long, Settled well or.
| gained, devoted to law and order. And
| yet, IN them, the discussion of Slavery in
the abstract can scarcely be tolerated with
out bloodshed. What results, then, NAV
we anticipate where there is neither wealth,
nor organized society, nor scarcely law:
where the population, instead Of being ho-
Inogeneons, is hurriedly congregated from
the most distant localities, and represent
ing the most divergent sentiments; and
where, too often, south Of 36 . 80 min.
we find the people ruder than the Indians
they displace. You have seen the account
OF traveller in Arkansas, who, while
ashore in village on the river bank, wit
messed fight in which two men were kill
ed. No arrests were made, and the nun
derers walked deliberately off. my
heavens" exclaimed tn, traveller, ~ don't
you arrest men for murder here p "Oh,
no." said bystander, 1--WE amt incorpo--
rated!"
The whole doctrine is farcical. That
which distracts the ablest delberative body =
in the world, the American Congress, and
which has disrnptured the Democratic
party, held together by old associations,
and by unity Of object, is to meet
peaceable solution on the great plains, at the
hands of men struggling for their pressing
interests, and held together by no tie save
common color and common language
Suppose, my friends, that when the
English Parliament was agtated and con-
vulsed, as this country now is, with the
working out or the disease of Slavery,
more particularly with the question of Sla-
very in the Colonies of Great Britain, some
man, fearing to espouse either side, and
protesting indifference to both, had arisen
and proposed to throw the burden off the
shoulders of Parliament, and leave the
whole question to the turmoil, the violence,
the narrowness and the selfishness of the
Colonies themselves. What would have
been bis answer? He would have been
sent covering from public life, leaving his e
name 6 wreck, mock, a jeer, and a blister
for all Coming time. He would have been
denounced as one who, when sent up to
legislate for the people, and save them
from their own passions, sought through
fear of the people, to throw back upon
them, nay, upon crude portion of them,
the perilous work he had been chosen to Z
perform.
Says Guizot, speaking of the English
Parliament of 1640, "They had reached
such pass that the two parties could no
longer live together-scarce sit within the
same walls" ~
Says Mr.. Breckenridge, speaking Of the
American Congress, "a stranger visiting
Washington would suppose the President
of the United States the ruler of two dis
tinct and hostile nations"
At this critical moment, when the ma
ton is all finder, waiting for the spark;
when the GREAT WORK, proceeding peacea-
bly,, walks amid shadowy dangers, Mr..
Douglas comes forward with the denoue-
ment. e &
"True, my friends" he says, in effect,
we cannot settle this question here; our
officers cannot keep order; and parlia--
mentary rules amount to nothing; we viii
come to blows and murder each other,
which would be neither respectable nor.
pleasant There is q great empty region
west Of US. You, Southerners pick out
your best men; and you, Northerners,
yours send them forth and let them hght
il out. For my part don't care which
wins" And so he washes his hands of
the whole matter, as did Pontius PLATE
when he handed over Christ to his exect- rs
TONERS.
And this, we are told, is great policy I
This is great craftsmanship This is,
+" Popular Sovereignty 49,
If the object is to pluck such dema-
gogues as Mr.. Douglas out of the trough
OF the sea, when the conflicting waters Of I
sectional strife smite and shatter each other, 9
then, grant you, this policy viii accom-
plish it. Ii the object is to have states--
men who fill the places Of the leaders Of
the nation, draw their pay with great re- .
gularity, and yet are unable or unwilling
to lead the nation, then this policy win ac-
complish it.
1T removes this question:" says Mr..
Douglas, I" from the halls Of Congress.n
1t is then the great end of esman-
ship to remove questions from lie halls Of
Congress-to dodge issues oschange the
venue of agitation ~
1t was said in condemnation of William /
Pitt, that he transferred the embarrassnents !
of bis own age to the shoulders Of suc-
ceeding one. What shall be said Of this
man, Douglas, who preserves order IN
Washington by removing the disorder in
Washington to Kansas who heals the dis. 8
ease at its natural outlet that it may break 8
forth with ten fold yirulence in another
part; and who is willing to chase the III
Ger from the belly to the members and Ill s.