The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1860-08-24
When will the Fire Brands be
QuenchedP


whole country has been agitatcd in rela-
ton to negro slavery, and what good has
resulted from it? Has it benefited North
or South, East or West, the negro or his
mastcrY Has single slave been liberia
ted by all this clamor, bitterness and ami
mostly? Millions OF dollars have been
expended--an army of incendiaries have
been employed in stirring up sectional
strife and hatred-but not particle of
good has been the result. On the con-
trary it has produced incalculable evil.
When the compromise measures Of
1850 were adopted, the patriotic mon of
all sections of the country fondly hoped
there was to be the end of this fruitless
and wicked controversy. Those measures
were not wholly satisfactory to every one,
it is true, but they were generally acqui-
esced in and ratified as a fnality. The
two parties endorsed them in their Con-
ventions, and there was a general DISPOSE
ton manifested in all quarters to allow
the veXation to rest in quiet. All were
ready to anathcmatize any one who should
disturb the matter, and reopen the sla-
very agitation, either in or out of Con-
gress.
In an evil hour in 1854, in order to
benefit the South, as it was alleged, the
Missouri Compromise which had been
virtually repealed in u quiet way, without
disturbing the sensibilities of any one,
was re-repealed in the Kansas and Ne
braska bill, and the struggle which had
already imperilled the existence Of the
Union, was precipitated upon the nation
again with more violence than evcr.-
What benefit has resulted from it TO the
South? None whatever. 1t is univcr-
| sally admitted to have been utterly barren
and proftable--utterly mischievous,
without the slightest possible advantage
TO any one.
Now, we have another fre-brand thrown
into our camp. A slave code for the tcrvi-
tories is demanded. Gu Bono? For
whose good? There are no slaves going
to a territory. Southern planters do not
peregrinate over the country with their
negro slaves, like a Yankee pedlar with
his wares. There is no necessity, there
fore, for such code. No exigency has
arisen to make such special legislation
necessary, and its agitation is the most
unfortunate movement which ever was
set on foot. 1t is the most unfortunate
event which could have occurred, both
for the North and the South. 1t has
broken up the Democratic party-it may
be the means of electing Black Rcpub-
lican President, and enable tho oppo=i-
ton party to hold the relns of govern
ment for the next twenty years.
Whitthorne o Squatter Sovereign.
| This man Whitthorn who is now can
vassing the State, abusing Douglas for
his squatter Sovereignty sentiments, and
Bell for his abolitionism, made speech
in Columbia, Tennessee, on the 7th of
May last, giving an account of the do
ings of the Charleston Convention. The
object of his speech was to prepare the
minds of the Democrats to 90 Tor Doug
las, who, he then felt confident would be
nominated at Baltimore.
That we may do Mr.. Whitthorne JUS
tice, we give his exact words, as publish
ed by the Maury Press:
81 believe, said he, Judge Douglas to
be a Democrat, and that he will strike for
the Democratic party. If he should be
nominated within rules, |, for one will
support him..
Mr.. Whitthorne further said he would
sooner trust his interests and his rights
into the hands of the man in territory,
who felled the tree by his side, who went
to the same mill, and whose children at
tended the same school with his, than
to risk the protection Of Congress- In
short, he would rather trust the Squatter
than the Congressman.