Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1860-03-01

From the 81. Louis Democrat.
Many Querists Observation-Disclosures of
r. Judge Bates Political Opinions.
i Wedo not wish to cxaggerate the magnitude of
the Bates movement for the Presidency-to mpart
any hctious Importance to il, but we may be per-
mitted to say it has Enthusiastically assumd national
dimensions Its, therefore, no wonder that we,
as well as some of his intimate personal friends,
should be in the receipt accommodations daily in
relation thereto and for the purpose of learning.
exactly, what manner Of man Mr.. Bates is. IN
answer to inquiries from various quarters, we take
occasion to repeat what we have frequently said in
the columns of this Journal We speak not by au-
thority, by suggestion or by request but of
motioRi not from rumor, conjecture inference
but from knowledge. Should what VIC are about
TO say be insufficient to satisfy the inquiries made
VIC shall nevertheless have performed our duty in
the prenrses-hsve done all in power to satisfy
a very legitimate desire.
Since the dissolution of the Wing party Judge
Bates has been identified with no political organ
lzation, but, nevertheless he has not Withheld the
public expression of his opinion on each of the
questions which have been debated since that e.
vent. lie was free soil Wing and was designated,
recognized and prescribed as such in this State
We're IT not for his undisguiscd anti-slavery opin-
ions he would, in nil human probability have been
one OF the Representatives of Missouri in the United
States Senate for years.
He is welded to the cause of Free Labor both
IN opinion and practice. He denies that the Con
stitution extends slavery over the Territories; lie
declares that slavery should not be permitted to
enter any Territory which was free soil when ac
quircdby the United States, or which became free
at any period subsequent to its acquisitions that
power but Congress can plant slavery on snch SOIL
and that the bred Scott decision merely defines the
constitutional status of the negro the discursivc
essays of the justices which accompanied the rem
dering of the decision being in his opinion, mere
leather and prunela, possessing no intrinsic weight
and entitled to no extraordinary consideration,
either legally or politically.
But Mr. Bates rejects the motto "No More Slave
States. He argues that neither public policy,
precedent, or the Constitution authorizes Congress
or the Executive to discriminate between Free and
slave States in their application for admission into
the Union; and in this We fully concur with him.
The policy which received the sanction ofthe foun-
ders of the Republic, and which was carried out by
Jefferson himself, needs no defence, and my dis
pcnse with eulogy.
Such are the opinions of Mr. Bates on the rela-
tons OF slavery to the territories from their organ
ization to their admission States into the Union.
For the rest his opinions are such might be in
fcrred from his former political associations. He
isa protectionis; which regret; in favor OF The
Improvement of lake and river navigation bv the
General Government; cmphatically in favor of a
railroad to the Pac6c on any route which Congress
may choose; OppOScu 10 the cOnSOD0dtfOn OF the
mongrel population Of Spanish America with the
people of the United States; and in favor of govern
ing International relations by the principles of
public law. not by the code of pirates He has all
that horror of slavery agitation and all that devo
ton to the Union which distinguish old Wings who
have turned National Democrats. This, in con-
junction with his dislike of slavery. will explain
why he is willing to leave the redemption of Mis-
souri 10 natural causes exclusively, although he has
given freedom to his own slaves, cevating or re-
ducing Observation-Disclosures you may choose to call
ito the rank of n-sTavcnolier We dissent
from him in relation to the question of slavery in
Missouri. Like the physicians, we think it is wise
to aid nature in her efforts to cast of disease
However potential may the causes which alb
stracting slaves from the border slave States and
conccntra ing hemin the rice, cotton and sugar re-
gion, we DO not donbt for moment that emancipa-
ton with compensation would accelerate that sal
utary movement and rebound not only to the glory
but to the material profit of the whole confederacy.
However, rs the subject OF slavery in the States is
one with which the President any federal func
tionary have official connection, opinions
one WAY or the other, are 10 no degree essential to
the eligibility ofthe candidates whose names shall
be brought forward i'm the Chicago Convention.
The question next ARISES, would Bates il elect
ed President carry out his opinionsl We, and
those who know him best, believe he would He
has lived up to them all his life in slave State,
and now that he is getting old, the is not Mr.. Buc
anan's junior by more than six or eight years,) it
is no. likely that he would depart from them
They have grown into habits. Furthermore, the
necessities which hedge in the position would COM
pei him to carry them out. In any cxgency he is
incapable of breaking his plighted faith; and tho
none can foresce what power may bring forth. what
public policy may exact, or what human nirmity
may Weld to, We do not hesitate to affirm that Ed
ward Bates, albeit not Republican, may be trust
cd by the Republican party soon as Trumbul.
Banks, or any other of its prominent conservative
leaders.
His mature wisdom and perfect knowledge of the
structure Of southern society, would enable him to
give peace to the country; but if the threatened
evil should come, If militant treason should dare to
lii its black bloody flag in the South, his sword
would leap from its scabbard, and be returned to it
only when the rebellion was crushed ont, arfit
the knowledge that he possessed this lion trait
cf character, which caused Fillmore to tender him
the Secetarysnp of War. He would labor to
soothe sectional acerbity, by substituting Yves
| tern policy and the issues which 1T involves, for
the issues which are i'm controversy at presents and.
rs subsidiary to this. he worsd try 10 make il ap
parcr1 from the very outset that no effort Of the
slavery extensionists would be permitted to- CONVEX
/ free soil into slave SOIL That conviction once cs
tablished i'm the Southern mind, aggression on the
part of the South would cease, and the morbid po-
litcal excitement which prevails now would be SUI
perseded BY milder and more Salutary fccng.--
These considerations, in connection with the hap
py fortune which has preserved his name thus far
from being party motto or pirty w.tcfword. a
battle cry in either section, an insult to either
section, would constitute him the most useful of
Presidents and the most available of candidates in
the present position Of affairs.
Let us add, in conclusion, that he has won his
laurcls as speaker, writer. and an expounder OF
the Constitution. His greatest speeches have never
appeared in print; but they have left an impress
ion on the minds Of those who heard them, which
will never be effaced, and reflected lusre on his
reputation orator, which will not piss away
with his cotempor rrics His essays IN the Missouri
Republican in opposition to the Kansas Nebraska
Bill, in advocacy OF the Pacific Rail road and in
review of the bred Scott decison-the only pro-
auctions of his pen which We have carefully read
display reach of thought and force and felicity
of expression, which Justify IN saying that his
message, would excel those of any President since
Madison. But. better than all, his life is without
rrproach, and his good reputc pure, upright and
patriotic citizen is firmly established.
JUDGE BATES OPINIONS.
Our recent exposition of the political opinions OF
Judge Bates given for the purpose of satisfying
numerous correspondents, far as it was in our
power to satisfy them. We notice that various
newspapers insinuate doubt to whether these
opinions arc authentic. We have only to repeat
that they are authentic that they arc held by Judge
Bates, precisely as we have expressed them; and
that, although the article was written without any
~ hin, no bac