St. Paul weekly Minnesotian. (St. Paul) 1860-1861, 1860-11-09


Is throwing the bullock to the starved,
wolves that they may make q Peaceaole
solution Of it
WHY. my friends, this doctrine of Squat
ter Sovereignty is more barbarous retro
cession than slavery itself ltiavokes ra--
pine, desolation, and slaughter; the rule Of
the red right hand, the governmental the
strongest.
But let us turn to some consideration Of
the man by whom this dangerous and un-
precedented doctrine is announced.
Great virtues excuse great errors. "A
nali"n," says distinguished philosopher,
"wili pardon many things in those who
Serve them"
BY the character of this man, Douglas,
additional light win be thrown upon his
doctrine.
A statesman who aspires TO lead the
American people should possess in an emf.
nent degree those moral attributes which
distinguish us from all other nations.
In the FIRST place he should preeninenuy
possess keen, an undying love for that
principle of liberty which originated us,
lifted US up, buoyed as forth on the great
tide Of time, and hose development seems
under the hand of God, the primal purpose
of our being.
Not love for liberty in the abstract, as
rich memory or vague conception, but
practical, actual liberty, as applied to hn-
man beings, to the amelioration Of their
condition, to the blessing and the benefit
ting Of them.
For who among Us. my friends, has not
been the better for this gift, Liberty!
History, chanting the worlds advance,
ever recurring refrain;
"Our God hath crushed the tyrani,
cur God hath raised the slave,
And Knocked the counsels OF the wise,
And the valor of the brave"
Well, here is this great principle and
there is Mr.. Douglas. Jury, look upon
the prisoner. Prisoner, look upon thejury.
What say you-guilty, or not guilty 7"
"Why," says Mr.. Douglas, ! care not
whether Slavery is voted up, or voted
down"
Think Of it, American people
He drew in that sentiment from the
mountain air Of Vermont, when his infant
lungs inflated for the first cry.
He got that idea from the public schools,
founded and supported for the sake of
Liberty.
The institutions Of free government,
wrought out of the worlds sorrowful ex
perience, enabled him to rise that he might
enunciate it.
God has poured the accumulated bullion
of the past into the lap of the present, and
has built up this amplest theatre Of all the
ages, on which stands Mr.. Douglas,
spreading his legs, cooking his hat, rolling
his auid, and announcing his amiable and
entertaining doctrine, Z" | care not whether
slavery is voted up or voted down."
Well, let us go q step farther
The worlds history is action and reac
ton. To-day, peace tomorrow, war.
The excuses of Charles produced the Re
public. The excuses Of the Republic re,
acted into the Protectorate. The excuses
Of the Protectorate swung back into the
Restoration. The excuses Of the Resto-
ration reacted into another Revolution
So in France. The abuses Of the throne
begot the Republic; the abuses of the Re
public, the Empire; the abuses of the
Empire, the Restoration the abuses Of the
Restoration. the Republic; the abuses of
the Republic, another Empire.
The pendulum once violently displaced,
will continue to swing backward and for
ward, with gradually decreasing oscillation,
until the last faint vibrations die away in
remote ages, which feel while they do not
comprehend them.
And yet, my friends, there is, through
all these movements, which may appear
wild and unfruitful, one continuous chain
Of progress, never forgotten, never varied,
never lost sight of:-the first links of
which glimmer in the faintest recoections
OF history, the last of which lie bright and
massive and rcfulgent in our own midst at
our very feet.
And as our eyes look back over the
turmoils and troubles Of the agtated
world, that one continuous chain alone ap-
pears the line of Gods purpose All else,
kings, despots, usurpers, revolutonists,
the blind and brutal instruments of His
great will.
Violence can eventually be but tributa-
ny TO that will Wisdom, prudence, ge-
MUS can not avert il. Neither the capaci-
ty OF Stafford, nor the audacity of Laud
can delay it. improbable alike to the vi.
ces or the virtues Of men, uniniluenced
alike by popular tumults or ages Of peace
that great chain stretches on, unobscured,
undertaking, the index OF our destiny, the
sole clue to the Almighty's meaning.
Where are now the men who shouted
applause when the head Of Cromwell, cut
10 Gpl,, nd l.l, r..
on the pixies Of the kings soldieryY
Where are now the wild masses, who in
1850 followed Lord George Gordon to the
very doors OF the Parliament House?
Where are now the opponents of Zach
AIRY Macaulay, of Henry Brougham, of
Wilberforce?
Scattered, mouldering, forgotten, in ten
thousand nameless graves. Over them
the long grass waves, the great winds
play, the little flowers blossom
''Their hands are dust,
Their swords are rust"
But whittier, ah whittier, goeth that great
principle OF humanity against which they
warred Whittier goeth that great princi-
pie OF hRarn progress against which they
yainly flung themselves? Broad as the
world, vast as time, it PAGES forth along
the track of the ages, decked with the star
ry crown of unchanging victory.
Small indeed is the strength ofman, vain
indeed his devices, against the eternal
movement of en- immortal principle. Lo!
it passes over him away from him-and
leaves hun iorsaken upon its track like the
scattered bubbles Of the great wave.
Well, what says Mr.. Douglas to the
cause of human progress?
Hear him -
Between the white man and the black
man my sympathies are with the white
man; between the black man and the croc-
odlle, | rather prefer the black man."
In the days Of ancient Rome, when Pop
Mar Sovereignty was exhibited in the am.
phitheatre, it was matter of Indifference
whether the man or the crocodile won,
They left them perfectly free to form their
Own institutions y their own way" Their
doctrine was, "non-intervention. They