St. Paul weekly Minnesotian. (St. Paul) 1860-1861, 1860-11-09
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| POSSIBILITY OF Its reach. And yet this doc
trine of Mr.. Douglas proposes to plant sh
discussion and the settlement of the oucs.
tion, right in the middle of the people, t,
be affected by it TO make that practiea
which is otherwise theoretical Ito brin,
the same violent, fierce feeling to bear, no
on slavery in the abstract, but on the ques
ton OF slavery or no slavery right at TIL
doors Of tie disputants And that which
ends in bloodshed in Pennsylvania, is, yor
are told. to find peaceable solution OF
| the plains Of Kansas!
Mississippi is slave state. There is ns
effort to make it otherwise and but dis
tant hope that it ever viii be otherwise
Yet, suppose, my friends, that you or / &c
there and denounce slavery as it appeared
among the ireeks and Romans. Plato
| said . man was "a biped without feathers -
whereupon Diogenes plucked chicken
and setting it down called it, t'Pisto's
man" Well, you Or ], after our lecture in
Mississippi, would probably, il no worse
tate betell as, reverse Plato's definition and
psess4st thSs stxSipg anomaly olsss bjrsS
! FstH eatisers. And yes il IS one Of tisese
citizens Of Mississippi, aulent. Il iii bowls
knife and revolver, into whose hands tic
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 pot 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 few moments, however. he re-
turned into the house and said, .'he be-
taeced he sc0aLd carry out q f8so blankets as
it aoas darned cold out nere ~. The cold
process Ut 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 Mississippian
on the od-fashiened adjudicators, the bowie
knife and revolver.
And yet, my friends, the comparison is
not fair one. Pennsylvania and Miss;s-
sippl are old States, long, settled well or
ganized, 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-
mogeneous, 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 mur-
derers walked deliberately off. "My
heavens" exclaimed tn, traveller, "donst
you arrest men for murder here?' 'Oh,
no." said bystander, 'we amt incorpo-.
raie4n
The whole doctrine is farcical. That
which distracts the ablest deliberative BODY !.
in the world, the American Congress, and
which has disruptured the Democratic
party, held together by old associations,
and by a unity of object, is to meet a
peaceable solution on the great plains ,at the
hands Of men struggling for their pressing
and held together by no tie save
a common color and a common language!
Suppose, my friends, that when tho
English Parliament was agitated 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
Indifference to both, had arisen
md proposed to throw the burden off the
shoulders of Parliament, and leave the
whole question to the turmoil, the violence,
he narrowness and the selfishness of the
Colonies themselves. What would have
been bis answer? He would have been
'ent covering from public life, leaving his
name s. wreck, mock, a jeer, and blister
or all coming time. He would have been
as one who, when sent up to
egislate for the people, and save them
rom their own passions, sought through
ear OF the people, to throw back upon
hem, nay, upon crude portion Of them,
he perious work he had been chosen to
,erfTm.
Says Guizot, speaking of the English
Parliament of 1G4O, "They had reached
uch o pass that the two parties could no
onger live together er-scarce sit within the
anne wallis"
Says Mr.. Breckenridge, speaking Of the
American Congress, "a stranger visiting
" ashington would suppose tha President
It the United States the ruler Of two dis
met and hostile nations"
At this critical moment, when the ma
ion is all tinder, waiting for the spark;
vhen the GREAT WORK, proceeding peacea-
'ly, walks amid shadowy dangers, Mr..
Douglas comes forward with the denoue-
nent.
"True, my friends" he says, in effect,
we cannot settle this question here; our
Ulcers cannot keep order; and parlia--
nentary rules amount to nothing we will
ome to blows and murder each other,
which would be neither respectable nor.
'leasant. There is great empty region
vest of us. You, Southerners pick out
our best men; and you, Northerners,
ours send them forth and let them fight
out. For my part don't care which
wins" And so he washes his hands of
he whole matter, as did Pontius Plate
when he handed over Christ to his execu-
toner's.
And this, we are told, is great policy
This is great craftsmanship This is,
Popular Sovereignty
If the object is to pluck such dema-
,ogues as Mr.. Douglas out of the trough
4 the sea, when the conflicting waters Of
ectional strife smite and shatter each other,
hen, | grant you, this policy will accom-
'hsh it. If the object is to have states
men who fill the places Of the leaders of
he nation, draw their pay with great re-
,ularity, and yet are unable or unwilling
o lead the nation, then this policy viii ac-
omplishit.
sit removes this question:" says Mr..
Douglas, I" from the halls of Congress"
1t is then the great end of 2Aesman-
hip to remove questions from tie halls of
to dodge issues--to change the
'enue Of agitation &
1t was said in condemnation of William
Pitt, that he transferred the embarrassments
# his own age to the shoulders Of sue
;eeding one What shall be said Of this
nan, Douglas, who preserves order in
" Washington by removing the disorder in