Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-07-13
southern Liberty pereneratins inse LII
coBse.

somewhat distinguished for publishing q
blacklist of Northern traders who were un-
sound on the slavery question, condemns In
the severest terms the attempts in that State
to put down the right of free speech in The
Douglas men by mob force. II seems that
even Hetschel v. johnson is not allowed to
address public meetings on his native soil,
but when he made the effort at Macon, was
'insulted and hung in efiigy" Mr.. Ham
bleton prouounccs this ''blighting stigma
upon the faie fame of Macon" and that mo
gentleman had any completely with so
damning disgrace" declaration which he
clinehes ss follows; -t t .lti.
I'VE say further, that we know the fact
that the parties who were engaged in offering
insult to Governor johnson, at Macon, are a
set ofneiarlous scoandrels, cowardly traitors,
and the basest paltroons. IL they are not,
they will prove themselves 10 the contrary"
Nothing could be fairer than this. If they
are not scoundrels, traitors, towards, and
base poltroons let them prove themselves the
contraryt The Confederaey continues:
"Gentlemen never offer indignities to re-
| spectacle citizens representing political par
&
and the freedom of speech is the essence and
| quintessence of true Democracy. And this
spirit of intolerance that is manifesting itself
at the South by the opponents of stephen A.
Douglas is the spirit of cowardice, and can
only exist in the hearts Of poltroons and mid
| night assassins. Let pelit-
| ical opponents meetas gentlemen, and discuss
| all questions at issue freely and fully, as be-
comes gentlemen, and not assume the attitude
of beasts and ingrates, and undertake by
brute force to prevent any manfrom uttering
his honest convictions. No gentleman will
countenance any other course. .
When parties are fortified with truth and
impregnable principle, they invite discussion.
But when they stand upon the quicksands OF
falsehood and deception, they are ever ready,
by brute force and cowardice, to override
truth and principle to save themselves from
immediate ignominy and disgrace"
This may be very creditable to Mr. Ham
bleton's heart, but we fear that it is so, very
much at the expense of his patriotism and
regard for Southern rights AS our four
cylinder contemporary remarks when he is
''peeling" to go to the bottom of matter,
''there are questions involved whose solution
reaches far beyond the politics of the hour,
and will affect, perhaps for ages, the destiny
of our people; and it becomes us to watch
closely the signs of the times, and detect, if
we may, the vital and the permanent among
the triAing and the fieeting"
| In the first place, that which the Confeder-
dcy treats as a Aeeting question of the appli-
cability of the Southern argument of mob
law and tar and feathers, lies at the very root
of Mr.. Douglass principles. In his speech al
Columbus Ohio, last summer, Mr.. Douglas
said that no principles could he sound which
could not be freely declared in every part o
| the Union. If the principles on which Mr.
| Douglas is nomir lted can not be advocated il
the South, then, by the test set up by tha
distinguished statesman, they are unsound
and he will be constrained to abandon hi
position. So, while Mr.. Hambleton imagine
himself enacting the novel role of champion
of free speech, he is really trying to obstruc
the free test of political principles-a tes
which Mr.. Douglas challenges.
In the second place, if glittering general
ties about free speech and free thought and
free press, such as the Coryederacy proclaim'
are to be taught as practical truths in Georgif
how long will it be before Republicans vii
be mouthing and ranting there, and cantin
that when persons are fortified with trut
and impregnable principles they invite di:
cussion; but when they stand upon the quick
sands of falsehood and deception, they ar
ever ready to override truth and principle t
save themselves from immediate ignomin
and disgrace"
It is sad to see this unaccountable negl
gence of Southern rights in those who hay
hitherto assumed to be sentinels on the ran
parts, and especially to see the walls of th
Southern confederacy, which have so Ion
resisted the Abolition siege, yielding to thi
Greek gift of squatter sovereignty, in who's
bowels they will find an enemy as fatal q
that which the coniding Trojans received
the bowels of the wooden horse of Pallas.