Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1860-08-10

sufrounueu, ana WHICH SnOulu nave re-
strained him.
Whatever conclusions may be drawn as
10 my estimate of Mr.. Breckinridge's char
acter as politician, / can only say that my
esteem for him is profound when brought
into comparison with that which | enter
tain for his Democratic competitor There
are few, if any, living men concerning
whom moro has been said, and less really
known, than Stephen A. Douglas Of Illinois.
There are thousands, by far too many
thousands now sustaining him under the
mistaken and delusive idea that he is di-
recting bis efforts to counteract the plans of
the Southern Democracy. This is fright
ful hallucination, but natural one, when
we take into consideration the humilating
fact that all that devotion could do has
been done, By those surrounding his person,
to distort a true record, and to stamp a
counterfeit character for him on the public
mind. Viewing him as one of the most
unsafe and treacherous of leaders, you will
pardon me certain statements which it now
seems necessary should be made, and the
correctness Of which, presume will not be
impugned. l have not yet forgotten when,
in the winter of 1856, during the first
session of the Thirty-fourth Congress, the
residents of Kansas, asseverating that the
cardinal principles of the Kansas Nebraska
act had been wantonly and wickedly nuIli-
fed; that fraud and violence concocted in
the blue lodges of Missouri had invaded
their homes and imposed foreign rule up
on them for the purpose of forcing upon
them institutions which they abhorred,
and invoking the interposition of Congress
in their behalf, the prided father of "un-
trammelled popular sovereignty" turned his
back upon his violated child, and closed his
ears, as in death, to complaints of outrage
almost without parallel in the civilization
of the century. These despoiled pioneers,
who had taken up their abode in the Terri
tory under the most solemn guarantees of
selfgovernment, only asked to prove their
accusation and to be relieved from oppres-
sion. In other words they declared that
they had Lever been able to enjoy self-gov-
eminent, that they were ruled by invaders,
and demanded the sovereignty conferred by
law upon them. Mr.. Douglas should have
been the first to fly to their relief; and il
he had been as completely dedicated to the
principles of his bill as some would make
US believe, he would have urged investiga
ton and carried it. So far from having
done SO, he put himself in the lead of thos'
Senators most hostile to an exposition, ant
became the mere mouth-piece, advocate
and apologist of those engaged in the worl
of forcing Slavery upon an unwilling people
(, He enjoyed at that time the full confidence
ofthe South, and his democracy was orthodox
because he was loyal to his task masters, will
ling to do battle for their most extravagan
demands. He was then Chairman of th
Committee on Territories, and call atten
tion to his report as such, made March IL
1946, as conclusive upon the point l hav'
stated. In that paper he could find moth
ing to say against foreign conspiracies tt
invade the soil of Kansas and control elec
ton, but he bad much to offer in coudem
nation of eastern associations to encourage
removal thither. He could discover no ir
regularities in the return of Mr.. Whitfield
the Pro-Slavery Delegate to the House o
Representatives, but he clearly discernec
that the Territorial Legislature was legal
Neglected body, with perfect authority t,
enact the most cruel and arbitrary slave
codes and that the complaints of fraud anC
force we're gotten up merely to stimulat
and excite Northern emigration.
/ At the time of which speak, there wa
+ no one in Congress or out of Congress,
office or out of office, who exerted himse
: moro untiringly to perpetuate that reign {
: terror inaugurated to insure the admissio
, of Kansas into the Union as a slave State
J fear there are many now bearing up th
banner inscribed with the name of this Ser
, ator who have never fully understood, {
who have forgotten this tarnished page i
} his history. If there has ever beon NOR
5 determined foe to the growth Of freedom
= in Kansas, or to the principles of the NJ
f braska-Kansas bill, than Stephen A. Doug
, las, be has been able to keep himself yer
) much under cover. 1t is gratifying, how
} ever, to make single remark in his favor
| it is this, that ho seems as willing as th
most ardent of his friends to divert after
ton from this period in his career. al
: not aware that in either essay or address
> he has ventured to recur to it; but on tn
> contrary he seems disposed treat it as
: blank in his life.
: wretched people. cannot certainly So
' how this may have been; l only state
S sudden and miraculous change came owe
' him, and for a while he seemed to glory i
the name of "rebel." He opposed the aC
j mission of Kansas under the Lecompto
e Constitution with seeming seriousness, 40
: then announced his determination to vot
i for the greater iniquity, the "English Bill
s 1t was then the honored and heroic Harri
o who now sleeps in death, shed tears of al
! guish, and gave utterance to his despair
2 Over this again the vail has been CAREFUL
!, and closely drawn by tho guardians Of M
q Douglas fame. His admirers have acte
: wisely, as ithas prevented doubtless, man
n unpleasant surmises and suggestions. I
s that boldest, and truest, and greatest Of a
Q the warriors in tho battle for the right Di
q vid @. Broderick, is Mr.. Douglas indebte
o Cor his rescue from whirlpool which woul
o certainly have engulfed him--from stai
n which would have obliterated his heroisI
y in connection with the cause to which b
= has so ostentaliously professed to devot
Q himself. / withhold the words in which th