Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-02-16

gress, in December, 1853, was perfdiOus.. If
| we can, be certain that Benedict Arnold
broke his oath as an American General, BY
commencing negotiations with1the British
commHader, in Newly ork, can we not he
| equally certain that Stephen Arnold Doug
las, that SnallimpeTsonation OF selfish Gun.
ming, violated all the sacred pledges which
had elevated his party to power, when in
December, 1858, he volunteered to become.
the leader of the prO-slaVery crusade iu
Congress Was not the perfdy wilfGl p
Mind, the pledge was against IngitatiOnl
Did these men believe they could re-
peal the Missouri compromise, the most
venerated enactment then or ever on tile
National Statute book, the work of those
| great old statesmen of the second genera
ton OF the founders of the Republic, with
out producing hurricane of political.
agitation? No, no; they believed nothing
of the sort. 1t was simply an eNemplifica-
tion of the Southern maxim, "tlIat no faith
| is to be kept with the Northern people,
when the interests of slavery are con-
\, cerned.' oh Rome, thou hadst a little
before that time s"lOst thy breed of noble
blood! ~ Few great or commanding intel
/ lects then occupied seats amongst the
ISouthern delegation in Congress, or. they
would have said to the Illinois juggler,
"We suspect the Greeks even when they
bring gifts" begone with your torch.
away with your fire brand. We have
pledged our faith in every sacred way to
maintain the present compromises of the
slavery question. and we intend that
| Southern faith, like the chastity of CRsar's
wife, shall be not only pure, but above all
suspicion" "Eut the Missouri COmprO-
mise is unconstitutional" ''Then why
| Az, lov 70
law" "But the very prestige of snch
statute gives the Northern people some ad
vantage in settling the territory" "Then
let them have that advantage, we have
promised it to them in the most solemn
manner; wehave had our consideration; we
got Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and other
immense territories, upon the faith of that
compact, and we can see no advantage in
the presence of few shiVering slaves
upon the frozen prairies of Kansas, suf-
fcent to compensate us for opening the
| food gates of national strife, especially,
when they can not be opened again with
ont an act of perfidy." But no such wise
and manly language was addressed to
that small, ungontrous, selfish little poll
tician. His mischievous little statute was
hurried through Congress by executive in
| iluences, and has become the fruitful pa
rent of innumerable burnings, lynchings,
stabbings, shootings, murders and assas-
sinations on the bloodstained soil of KAN
sas, and of fear, jealousy, anger, hatred
and every other unensy and baleful pas
sion in the Union at large. The success of
this measure gave the first great and fatal
stab to Southern influence in the North
and West. Then it was that thousands,
yes myriads of men, who had been stanch
advocates Of the South in all previous
/ ESN fho frik fNf
slavery to be restless, turbulent, fnithless
and aggressive; in fact, too faithless and
too aggressive to leave further hopes of
peace and fraternity. Subsequent events
have strengthened this impression so dam
| aging to Southern influence. In fact, the
idea begins to gain ground that if force
is necessary to the extension of slavery,
force will be employed; instance the inva-
sion of Kansas by the Missouri border
rullians, early in 1855. That ifforce alone
| is inadequate to the task, fraud will come
to aid of force; instance the determined
attempts to force slavery upon a loathing
and unwilling people, by means of that
child of sin, the LecOmptOn Constitution.
Fellow citizens, are not these things just
so? Have sin aught extcnuated or set
down aught in malice" My Southern
Fellow citizens, in the name of the God of
truth, why do you not treat us with more
candor? If in 1852 you were dissatisfied
with the Missouri Compromise, and deter
1 mined to repeal it, why did you not say so?
Why did you meet us in Baltimore and re-
solve that there should be no more agit0-
tion of the slavery question, either in or
out of Congress, under any color or pre-
text whatevcr? And why did you obtain
myriads of our votes, for your favorite
candidate, upon the credit of yOur candOr
and moderation? If, in 1856, you were
dissatisfied with the doctrine of popular
sovereignty, if you were determined to have
! a slave code for the territories, If you veri-
Is believed that the Constitution carried
slavery into every inch of national terri
tory by its own native force, that ''thOse
territories are as much slave territory as
| South Carolina or Georgia." why did you
not manfully say so? Why did you meet
/ us Mt Cincinnati and resolve that the peO-
pie of the territories should be left per-
fectly free to form and regulate their own
domestic institutions in their own way,
subject only to the Constitution? If you
thought that they had no freedom on the
subject, that the Constitution forced sla-
very upon them, willing or unwilling, why
did you not speak out boldly and say so?
Why did you again obtain myriads of our
votes, by what must be upon that PROPOSE
tion, an uncandid concealment? But, cam
did or uncandid, why do you rest satisfied
with no terms, no concessions, no condi-
tions? Why do your demands forever
rise upon us? Why do you forever ad-
vance as we recedc? We have receded
far, far since 1852, aud your complaints
| against us are infinitely louder than they
were then. You reduce us to despair.
We love our country, our whole country,
including the, Southern States. We love
the constitution and laws under which we
were born, but we have faint hopes Of
preserving those blessings except by fur
tl,nr. n..nnSrinr,c -hirII our cnnscinnnns