Year: 1859

leaders of the ultra pro slavery party OF the


South speak with bolder tone, and gravely


discuss the question as to the policy of bring


ing about the re.opening Iof the slave trade


Those who thus favor this movement are
among the staunchest supporters of the Ad-
ninstration. 1t appears that, with them,
the South is everything, and the North moth
| ing. In this respect, however, Chat of advo-
eating exclusively the interest of one partic-
ular portion of the Union) they are not I'M
like the extremists of the Northern States.
Neither of these parties can with any show
of justice or reason, claim for themselves the
name of n National party. The are extrem-
lists, in the truest sense of the word Now,
We do not wish to be understood as speaking
of the Southern extremists in connection with
the whole South, or of those of the North
ble portion of that part of the Union In
deed their numbers are small when compared
with the great mass of the people. Slavery
is the great hobby of those parties, and com
pared with it, all other questions, however


important they may be, are considered by
them far less important than this great hob
10y. To it they make all other questions sub
sorvient 1t severed the Democratic party
at the time that the question of the odmis-
sion of Kansas was pending, and was used
as battering ram against the fortress Of pop
ular sovereignty. This slavery hobby is,
verify, a great institution. Yet, notwith-
standing the great mischief it has done, and
is still doing, we are told that it must still re-
main as the great question of the country.
We are told that the war between the parti-
sans of freedom and the parisans of slavery
must still 90 on. A member of the RepGbli-
can party in this State tells us, that 'the war
must go on, until victory crowns our system
and the Federal Government becomes the
consistent and pertinacious advocate of the
victorious idea, within the orbit of its consti-
tutional powers


In the above high sounding sentence, the
writer means to say. that the party to which
he belongs ought to carry on war against
the advocates of slavery, until his party, or
the other, shall succumb This has been the
language of the leaders of that party, for
long time past, and its effect has been to keep
up a feeling of bitterness between the North
and the South and the upshot of it all is,
that a portion of the people of the South arc
boldly advocating the re.opening of the slave
trade, as the best means of preserving their
peculiar institution of slavery 1t was
against this cry for unceasing war against
slavery, that Senator Douglas took so bold
stand in Illinois, when he defeated Lincoln,
the Republican candidate for the United
States Senate Lincoln said that there could
be no compromise between the North and
the South, on the question of slavery. When
the slavery prOpagandists desired to force
slavery upon Kansas, against the wishes of
her inhabitants, they were opposed by Sena-
tor Douglas on the ground that the people
should be allowed to settle that question for
themselves. Then it was that the Southern
extremists showed their hands, and made use
of the everlasting question of slavery to di-
vide the Democratic party. The stand taken
by Mr.. Douglas in Illinois on the slavery
question, and the position maintained 10y him
in the Senate, on the Kansas question, shows
the true, conservative and national ground
to be occupied through the discussion of the
slavery question. 1t yields to the North
what is due to it, and to the South also.


Upon that broad ground, all those who de-
sire to see the slavery question settled in n
manner just to all portions of the Union, can
stand, and act, and forever silence the cry
that, on that question, there is. or should be,
no middle ground. 1t is the ground upon
which all true Democrats can rally.