Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 2, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 May 1858 — Douglas in the South. [ARTICLE]

Douglas in the South.

The New Orleans Delta has the following spicy comment’upon position of its quondam frtOnd and demi-god Douglas: “What are Andrew Jackson and his specialities of policy, Henry Clay and 1 is expedients for .tht“'hour —or, passing to the yet living, what with his Kansas hobby of 1854, from which lie has unhorsed himself] Jackson and ('lay lie in honored graves; they were men for the hour, who bravely did the' work of the hour. But as regards the needs that now exist, the circumstances in which the country is now placed, the fossils of nameless monsters entombed in the gratifications of theSiuriari period have nearly as much relevancy as they. As'for Douglas, he worked well fora time; hut lie lived fast; too early for his fame and his future, accomplished his best uses; blind with ambition and revenge, mistook his occupation, and went to carving images for a strahge idolatry; and so he has had his day. He was not penetrated with the philosophy of his own politics; he failed to and conscient iouslv recognize the full scope ol his own• principles. He could not isftderstand the mysterious but •most true relation that exists between Proslavery, in its widest and most generous sense, and Democracy, with its most vital wants and highest aspirations. He coujd not see, or has Refused to acknowledge, that negro slavery oh, this continent is the most conservative element of liberty, and most unyielding foundation on which democratic institutions—that is to say, institutions recognizing, unjyerstilly, the equal political rights and privileges of white men—can be established artfl defended. And he shot madly from hisVsrbit, on’the Lecompton tangent, and wanders blind and rayless in the immensity of room which he "finds on the road he has taken to political obscurity.” The New Qifea is Courier, an organ of Southern Deihocricy, publishes the last speech of Senafor Douglas, on the Lecompton question, accompanying it wft.li some comments, from which we take the following extract:

“Less than two years ago, the cohorts of the great Demagrocy moped obedient to the call of Mr. Doyglas. Hu was the acknowledged champion, the undisputed and undisputa ble leader :of the greatest, the most united, and tbeipost invincible party ol free citizens the world ever saw. For fifteen years he had adhered to the doctrines of that party, through and ill-report; for ten he had been distinguished in its ranks; for two he had been at its Jiead7~ He was the victorious Achilles in.the great b; ttle of the Senate, : n 1854, oft"the Kansas bill, and every Democrat from Maine to Florida, from California to Virginia, East, West, North and South, recognized him faithful exponent, as the man he delighted to honor.

“At the convention of 1856, his beautiful Bresise, was ravished from him. Another than him was named by the great Democracy as their candidate lor the immense and glorious office s>f the President of these United States. A crowd of Lfiiputians pressed him to the ground and pierced his skin with their little arrows. His wrath has been grand, like the wrath of 'Achilles. It has spread the Phrygian plain ot Washington with the bones of a multitude of little men, untimely s|»in. That wonderful small potatoe,' Bigler, at a single blow; Green barely survived by the solid vote bet hind him; our little lawyer, Benjamin, steered very clear of his blows; our ndroiand sensible Slidell either did ur did not briefly deliver the Administration programme late at flight, or early in the morning, of one of those disgraceful night sessions which som£);iincs deface the dignity of the Senate, while Douglas was sick in bbd; yet_vyhen the great fallen one came again to take his place, tie demolished without an effort all these lfis adversaries, and triumphing as far us persona l strength was available, kicked then),-carelessly aside,-’as a man would kick a clfii} out of his path.”

I Tell the Gjf.sti.ema* Distinctly it is Not. —ln the Itpuse debate on the English substitu e, Mr. Gilman, of Maine, asked Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, this questiou: ‘-Is the constitution (Lefeonipton) submitted by this bill!” Mr. Stephens answered thus: ‘ I tell the gentleman distinctly it is not!"