Daily national Democrat., 1860-03-07
Stewards Position.

Various interpretations are given 20 the
"Irrcpres-ibc Conflict" declaration Of Mr
Seward in his celebrated Rochester speech.
John Brown accepted it as a wish which was
father to his own thought of invading the
Slave States and rcscuing the 'poor, Cypress
ed African from his bondage. lie was not
seconded 10y the "down.troddeu negroes be
cause, as the latter expressed it, "please God,
Marster" they hadn't got done seedin' yit.'
The Abolitiouists, who had hitherto denouuc
ed the Republicans as nerveless theorists un-
willing to push their principles into action
regarded it as equivalent to snatchinS their
own banner from their hands, and straight
way made the Irrepressible ConGictprocnma'
tion their motto and their slogan With this
understanding Of Seward meaning, no doubt
the rankest Abolitionists in the land would
support him for the Presidency. Hitherto.
their votes have been thrown away, in every
Presidential contest the Free Soil candidates
not being half ultra enough for them. The
leading Republicans, themselves, say, that
Seward meant by his "irrepressible" theory
no more than this That the public opinion
of the country would effect one of two things
either establish slavery in the free States OF
eradicate it from the slave States; that is &c
say, that the non saveholding voters of the
South, who are in the majority, would "aris'
in the majesty of their might" and vote fol
the abolition of slavery in the Southern
States as detrimental to the interests of free
labor and Of course personally injurious t'
| themselves and furthermore that judicia
decisions and Congressional and State legisla
tion would initiate finally against the insti
tuition and deprive it Of all governmental
sanction. A peaceaLle conflict, however ir
repressible is the kind which they say they
mean. Every step which is taken is to be {
legal one, and a constitutional one, so pro-
nounced by Republican Supreme Court o
the United States, and 80 pronounced by tn,
local Judiciary of the several States. They
discaim all force and violence, but insist up
on the freedom of speech and the inculcatiCr
of their doctrines, through the medium of tn,
public press, in every quarter Of the Union
As for the Southern politicians, generally
they interpret Stewards "irrepressiLle' doc
trine as nothing more nor less than declara
tion of war against the South-a war to be
prosecuted with vigor and pertinacity
whether by legislation, invasion, incendiar-
ism, insurreetion, murder or any other pro-
cess.
The fact that this declaration of Stewards
is thus ominously though yariously interpre-
ted shows how dangerous manifesto it is
The purpose is Acknowledged to be the same
in all the interpretations which are given
to wit the ultimate extinction of slavery il
the Southern States, if it is possible to b
DONE
Opposed to this theory of Stewards anC
theory, as it is, of the Republican party, i
the other extreme of Southern Opinion, pro-
claimed by Senator Brown of Mississippi
which is that the Constitution of the Unite,
States of its own force carries slavery with j
into the Territories and that these Territorie
are to all intents and purposes slave Terri
tories, whether the people inhaJiting them b,
opposed to the institution or not; Congress
being bound to enact slave code for til,
Territories-and furthermore that the Gov
ernment is bound by the Constitution to pro
tect and encourage slavery as much as tn
Republicans would oppose and put it down
Standing between these two extremes is tn
Old Line Douglas Democratic party of tn,
Union, whose doctrine is that the people
both Of the States and Territories shall regu
late their own affairs, without the interyen-
ton either of Congress or the citizens Of
other States to suit themselves and in their
own way-a right "as ancient as free gov
ernment itself" and one which cannot be
denied, unless with the intent to subvert free
institutions. it is simply the doctrine of self
government, and no man who values his own
Importance as an individual sovereign at the
banot-box, can afford to subscribe to any
other