Year: 1859

The Sacramento Standard seems to be
squaring itself for an onslaught upon the
position assumed by Senator Douglas in his
celebrated article in Harper's Magazine. BY
way of weakening the impressions upon the
public mind calculated to be made by the
prestige of the name of Douglas, it goes to
work, like skillful but not altogether fair
antagonist, to detract from the famed ability
of this great man, by the following misrepre
sentation of his true status intellectually:


"Mr Douglas is a great man in his own
way, and such an one as only the free insttu
tons Of America can develop With a Wig
orous tut untutored intellect, with natural
facility of expression rather than a critical
knowledge of his vernacular, ingenious more
than profound his forte is rather that of the
popular orator than of the essayist But,
on this occasion, he has done better in this
new line than we were prepared to expect ;
he has evidently "crammed' for the occas
ion"


SO far as the above remarks are concerned,
it is sufficient to say that many man as able
as the editor of the Standard, and we do not
deny him ability, has declared that the ar
ticle of Douglas in Harper's Magazine is one
Of tie most powerful and conclusive political
essays that have ever appeared in America


The Standard, after characterizing the in
tellectual standing of Mr.. Douglas, in the
manner above quoted, proceeds to deny the
Justice Of the classiGcations which Mr.. Doug.
las would make of the Democratic party
The classification, however, is immateral, il
the Standard does not deny the positions
taken. But it would appear that it does
deny them, and starts out in the denial by
declaring that the whole question at issue
should not be judged by any reference to
that mythical, intangible, indefinite thing
called the spirit of the Constitution" but by
the rule of true policy and the exigencies
of the times"


People may differ as to the applicability
of the terms mythical" Intangible" and
"indefnite" The ablest men of the Union.
the profoundest jurists that we have had,
have sought to follow "the spirit of the Con.
stitutian," and have imagined that there
were lights to be derived from it by which
they should be guided. And we think, with
all due reference to the matured Judgment OF
the editor Of the Standard, that the intelli-
gent citizens of this Union will much prefer
the safe guidance of the well ascertained and
well interpreted spirit of the Constitution
to any uncertain, dubious and fluctoatina
measures of mere temporary policy or expe-
diency. The article of Mr.. Douglas has con
clusively shown that "the spirit of the Con-
stitution" is against any such policy as Con
gressional Intervention with the subject OF
slavery either in the States or Territories.


The Placerville Oberyer does not like the
names given to some of our new Territories
Among others it mentions Washington Terri
ry-thinks some other name would have
been better, as there is danger of confound
ing Washington City with the Territory
cotemporary observes:


"'n this case we confess the name, we
think an appropriate one 1t is fit that one
State in this great Confederacy should bear
the name of the Father of his Country"


All right enough, but, suppose you named
every State in the Union after the Father Of
his Country, would it make him any mere
the Father of his Country, or any the more
venerated or esteemed? The objection Of
the Placerville Observer, on the score of con.
venience, is a good one. The City of Wash
ington and the State of Washington will lie
continually confused together, and the con
fusion will neither benefit nor damage the
immortal fame of the great Defender of our
Liberties. The whole world would know
him and remember his deeds of glory, if
there were not a city, town, county or State
in the Union that bore his name This con
tinent was named in honor of Americus Yes
pucius, but Columbus is still remembered
as the Great Discoverer.


Verify, no little upspringing embryo com.
monwealth of this Confederacy need render
itself uneasy, lest the memory of Washing
ton suffer- from a neglect on its part to per.
petuate his name 10y adoption. Washington
Territory might even be named Buchanan
Territory, and Gen. Washington not suffer in
the least from the preference. Buchanan
would still be Buchanan, and Washington
Washington.


ADvIcEs from the Sandwich Islands state
that the volcano is making grander display
than ever. The lava stream down at it:
mouth has been unusually brilliant. 1t was