Des Arc citizen., 1860-06-02
ID rda PEOPLE OF ARKANSAS.
E .LInX CIrIzFNs:

| ana or exp esSlH1 to those or my countFfmeH who have volHntarily paid me so distinguished compliment, my most sincere and grateful
 ackuow ledgments.
 | Holding it to be eBinently proper that one
 who asks the sutfrages of be people for office | of high import should hold free converse with them. and undisgui-edy portray bis political trnets. his antecedents past, and ? oclivitie~
 for the future; and feeling assured that it will
 be impossible for me to be heard from the stump, in every county in the State between
 now and the election. propose in this address to advert briefly to those portions of onr State
 and Federal policy whi h. by surrounding circumstances. are m de of paramount and
 vital impo tance. Preliminary. however, to what sha say as to measures. it may be needfu to allnda to myself. the man who al theu solicited call of his fellow-citizens offers himself as candidate for ihA executive chair. 'ha most exalted station that can be conferred by free people.
 [ Twenty five years since. i1 early manhood I beng well nigh native of the soil 1 cast my X lot wi n the destinies of Ark .nsas and with | the m itations of tme and accident have shared I in her joys, svmpal hized with her sori owS as ] one does who treads upon his atherland look | ing no where else for home in the fn uye l By the partiality and confidence of my fellow citizens have been Frequently entrusted with
 dnties connected with the administration of
 the Government, in all of winch believe il I will be at least conceded that, with whatsoeyei ability possessed, have disc harged my duty | honestly. faithfully. ssand wi hout the hope
 of reward or fear of pnn shnent" And such
 a heritage. though it be poos indeed. hop,
 to preserve untarnished and transmit to my
 children.
 The past are by-gones to be sure, but they
 are reliable indices from which to judge Of the l future. stefi#fl N s6
 l 1 h the sessions of 1918 and 1850 had the l homo of represent g the counties of Saline
 and Perry in the State Senate and in 1851 l was returned bs the good people of Pnaski to the lower branch of the General Assembly ; ppon each of which occasions l assidonsIy l advocated works of internal impr and
 sys ems of education; and in the latter year
 passed by my ownexertions, bill to supp, e>s | the circulation of small notes in the State r As to my poll ics, it is scarcely necessary I to say that am and ever have been a State
 Rights D nocrat, of the Southe Il schoo <, stamp or genus. d il this connection it i>
 perhaps as well to define my position touching | the vi al questions so deeply agitating th'
 country. in reference to negro slavery; fo l slavery in the South s only distingIShabe
 from that in the North by being confined here l to the fican or negro race--there. to tht l Caucasian or white. Negro slavery then thrl | sort peculiar to the South is the abSorbingl
 national topic, likely to prove an apple oil discord, and finally to sever the bonds of thY
 Union. {
 It is an undisgniSed fact now, that the
 Democratic party, the only remaining ariona:
 organization of men for political, religious, or
 social purposes is on the eve of disso ution :
 following which event, should it occur. the | conSei vatsve elements at the North will be-
 come paralized. The South left alone, and even though united, must prove poEeress for good in the admin strative departments of the | National Government. The diversity of sen | tlment North i'd South, tn eatenug so seri- | ously the dismem5erment of the Democratic
 party, arises dete mining the constitutional
 right of the shareholder to settle and remain | wlth his negro property in the newly acquired l territories belonging to and bought by the
 common blood aud treasu e of the whole na- | ton. ln fo ming the Federal compact. tn.
 ffamers of lh, Consultation contemplating no
 acquisition Of foreign terrlto y, or if mindfn | of such coming events omitted to ingraft such l provisions in that instrument as wond settle
 definitely the relative rights of the several 1 States, free and slave, and the rights of the
 citizens of each, some possessing negro pro- l perty others none it is but cahdor to say that | a satisfactory solution of this question, based l npon legal or constitutional grounds, free f. on
 donbt and snppo ted by competent and uu-
 biased precedent. is difficult to obtain; anu this is abandantiy evidenced hy. the diverse
 sentiment eminatiEg daily amngst the most
 enlightened and patriotic of our Southern
 citizens
 Bat fortunately for the country. for the | Southern States and thpi citizens whose live,
 and operty are to be inperiled in the settle
 ment of the Western territories. the conserva-
 tive and potent arm of thA government has
 been extended for their rotection and the enforcement of their constitutional rights r The Supreme Court at Washington, whose | expo ,itions of the law all ought to respect | and obey, have, in the Dred Scott case. a,- p oximated very near y to settlement of his vexed question at issue in the Democratic party whereby those who announce the doc | trine Of Cong es,ional protection to slavery 1 in the territories are susta ned the everse, Or sqlatter sove eighty doctrine. fnding little support or countenance ffom that tribunal. The Court remarks, in speak,ng of the un- cons Nationality of he Missouri Comp omse, that the Terri ory !" was acquired by he Gen efal Government the representative ant trustee of the people of he United States, and it must therefore be held h that eh ,racter for their common and eqpal benef' for it was the people of the several States, acting tn rough their agent and representatipe. the Fedora. Government. who in fact acquired the Te,rI- tory in question, and the Government hold it f f.r their common use nneii it shall be as>oci- ated with the other States as a member of the Uaion
 (. But until that time arrives, it is undonbt- edy necessary that some government should b. established in ordei to organize society and to protect he | habitants in their persons ani property; and the people of the United States could act in this matter only through the government which represented them, and tn ough which they spoke and acted when the Territo. was obtained it was not only wlthln the scope of it's powers, but it V as it's duty to pass such jaws and establish such gose ment as would enable those by whose au- thority they acted to reap the advantages anticipated from it's acquisilion''
 Tho court, in it's decision takes the ground tn it the ri Sht to hold negroes in the territo- ries is const utiona right belonging to the citizens, which neither Territorial LegiSla 2. ture nor Congress itself can destroy; but that on the other hand it is the duty of Con 2 ess to pass such laws as my be found hec- essary to protect the citizen in person aud property.
 7 think the opinion of the court decisive of 7the qneston and to the point, that il is the d4ttty Congress tU protect slavery in the Territories against unffiendiy legislation, and that for the protection of Southern rights " Congressional protection" is an indispensa ble requisite in Framing Democratic plat form, aud that the Southern Democracy should not be satisfied with nor accept anything less, than such declaration of principle, even though a nomination for President should thereby be defeated. For compromise and