Year: 1859

The Administration party Of this state are


beginning to be sore afraid They are fear


full that the Douglas sentiment will sweep


everything before IT, themselves included.


Indeed, like plant reeds, they are already


bending before tie storm, and presenting as


little resistance to it as possible, hoping that


it may pass over and still leave them green


and flourishing Accordingly they have


adopted platform, in which they have not


dared to assume, except by remote implica-
ton, any of the grounds upon which they
really do stand now and will stand hereafter
They have not dared to assert their belief in a
Slave Code for the Territories-they have not
dared to repudiate the Kansas.N ebraska Bill
nor have they ventured finally to read Ste
phen A. Douglas out of the Democratic par
ty, This course has been dictated by q very
pusillanimous and timeserying spirit. Their
motto is, Anything TO win" and in order
to carry out the motive principle of their ac


tion, they do not seem to care how pitiful OF


ridiculous position they occupy in the eyes


Of intelligent and high minded men. They


seem TO take it for granted also that the


masses of the people are fools and not able to


see through their transparent trickery. For


twelve months at time viii they denounee
Douglas or speak Of him as only to be tole


rated in the party; yillify him for his


Freeport speech and his rcteration of its doe
!


the ndiguities heaped upon him by the Pres


ident; slander him with base accusations of


demagogica motives in taking the positions


which he has assumed, and then expect the


people to believe them sincere when, OH the


eve of an election, they turn completely
around in the twinklng of an instant, and af.
feet to be better Douglas men than those
high-souled and true Democrats who have
stood by and sustained him in the darkest
hours of his adversely as well as in the sun
shine of his success Verify, they must sup
pose the credulity of the masses to be be-
yond computation. For months upon months
will their organs take ground against the con-
struction of the Kansas-N ebraska Bill put
upon it by Mr. Douglas in his celebrated
speech on the 28d of February last, in the
Senate of the United States, denouncing it
as heretieal and untrue, and then, all on a
sudden, proclaim with a concerted shout
loud enough to awake the seven sleepers
that Douglas is a sound National Democrat! !!
1t is plain that they think the intelligence of
the people limited and their gullibility i'm.
mense.


This counting of popular favor by base
assumption of hypocritical masks and dis
guises, will, in our humble opinion, advan-
tage them but little The game has been
played little too often. The people know
very well that such sudden friendships for
Douglas, after months of abuse or sneering
accusation, will not answer. 1t has not the
ring of the true metal about it. The smell
of the base counterfeit is plainly perceptible.


What would these men do, now were they
to obtain the ascendency in the coming con
test in this State, under shelter Of the name
of Douglas and under pretence of being his
friends -? Why, the first thing they would do
would be to put the heel Of selfsuficient ar
rogance upon the neck Of every true friend of
Douglas in the State. James Buchananism |
unadulterated and pure (if the latter term
can possibly be used with any propriety in
such conneetion) would rule the roost. The
Delegates to the Charleston Convention
would be sworn enemies of the Illinois
statesman, sent by packed Buchanan Con
yenton for the sole purpose of opposing his
nomination for the Presidency. The Douglas
party defeated, (by the larceny of their prin-
ciples by the Lecompton faction,) the cloven
foot of pure Lecomptonism would stick out in
full view, and the name of the beast be writ
ten upon the portals Of all the high places
in the land Douglas men would be read out
of the Democratic party, or what these Le-
compton apostates call the Democratic party, |
and they would find when too late that they
had weakly surrendered themselves and their
principles to the dictation Of men who scorn
the very name Of Douglas, and would wipe
him out of existence, were they only able to
do it. 1t would be too late, then to come
back to the Douglas organization and fight
the good fight over again. The great leader
of the party would have been betrayed by
the weak credulity of his own best friends,
and the stau.eh and true warriors who were
lately on the eve of victory would be bound
hand and foot in the camp Of the enemy, or
dragged at the wheels Of his triumphant
chariot.