Posted on 07/04/2020 7:07:12 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
To-day, the eighty-fourth anniversary of our national independence, will be celebrated throughout the country, but nowhere, probably, with more enthusiasm than in the Metropolis. The almost continued noise of exploding fireworks during the past few days, the flaming handbills of the pyrotechnists, the multifarious excursions advertised, and the extensive transportation of fireworks by overloaded fond parents, having an eye to young America, have already given us a foretaste of the celebration that is to take place to-day. It is true that the City Fathers have only been pleased to appropriate less than one-fourth the sum set apart for the entertainment of the Japanese, but even at that, it is fair to presume that the people will be better pleased with the expenditure. The music, the fireworks, the regatta are tangible returns which even the overburdened tax-payers may recognize, however seriously they may think they "pay too much for the whistle." They may be gratified with the reflection that they often pay too much and don't get any whistle at all.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: Sometime in the future.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed.
Posting history, in reverse order
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by reply or freepmail.
News by Telegraph – 2
Our National Anniversary – 2-3
The Theatres on the Fourth – 3
Fourth of July in Brooklyn – 3
From Pike’s Peak – 3-4
The Execution of Harden – 4
The Walton and Mathews Murder – 4-5
The Slave Trade – 5
Property in Man (Letter to NY Times by James A. Hamilton) – 5-8
Editorial: The Presidential Election – 8
Editorial: The Slavery Question – 8-9
Visit of the Prince of Wales – 9
Another Supposed Slaver Seized – 9
Children for the West – 9
Serious Riot among Firemen – 9
Police Reports – 9-10
Coroners’ Inquests – 10
Judge Douglas on the Union
On Saturday night last Judge Douglas was serenaded at his residence in Washington, and spoke briefly in acknowledgment of the honor thus done him. Among other things, after declaring how deeply he was impressed with the responsibilities of his position, and his trust that Providence would impart to him the strength and wisdom to comply with all its requirements, he said:
"Our beloved country is threatened with a fearful sectional antagonism which places the Union itself in imminent peril. This antagonism is produced by the effort in one section of the Union to use the federal government for the purposes of restricting and abolishing slavery, and a corresponding effort in the other section for the purpose of extending slavery into those regions where the people do not want it. [Cries of "that's true."]
The ultra men in each section demand congressional intervention upon the subject of slavery in the Territories. They agree in respect to the power and duty of the federal government to control the question, and differ only as to the mode of exercising the power. The one demands the intervention of the federal government for slavery and the other against it. Each appeals to the passions and prejudices of his own section against the peace and harmony of the whole country. [Cries of "That's so," and applause.]
On the other hand, the position of all conservative and Union loving men is, or at least ought to be, that of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the Territories. [Cries of "That's the true doctrine," and applause.]
After referring to the ground occupied by the party in 1848, 1852, and 1856, he said:
"As the chosen representative of that great party, it is my fixed purpose to keep the faith and redeem that pledge at all hazards and under all circumstances. [Three cheers for Douglas.] The safety of the Union depends upon a strict adherence to the doctrine of non-intervention. Intervention means disunion. Intervention, whether by the North or by the South -- whether for or against slavery, tends directly to disunion. Upon this identical question an attempt is now being made to divide and destroy the Democratic party, because the minority of the interventionists could not intimidate the majority into an abandonment of the doctrine of non-intervention. They have seceded from the organization of the Democratic party, and are endeavoring to form a new party in hostility to it [Cries of " let them go, we can whip the disunionists North and South.]
Secession is disunion. Secession from the Democratic party means secession from the federal Union. ["That's so," and applause.] Those who enlist under the secession banner now will be expected on the 4th of March next to take up arms against the constituted authorities in certain contingencies.
We have been told that in a certain event the South must forcibly resist the inauguration of the President elect, while we find those who are loudest in their threats of such resistance engaged in the scheme to divide and destroy the Democratic party and thereby secure the election of the Republican candidate. Does not this line of policy look to disunion? [Cries of " Yes, but it cannot be effected," etc.]
Intelligent men must be presumed to understand the tendency and consequences of their own actions. Can the seceders fail to perceive that their efforts to divide and defeat the Democratic party, if successful, must lead directly to the secession of the Southern States? I trust that they will see what must be the result of such a policy, and return to the organization and platform of the party before it is too late to save the country. [Applause.]
The Union must be preserved. [Cheers.l The constitution must be maintained inviolate, [renewed cheers.] and it is our mission, under divine Providence, as I believe, to save the Constitution and the Union from the assaults of Northern abolitionists and Southern disunionists. [Enthusiastic applause and three cheers for Douglas.]
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Letters from Judge Douglas.
[rustbucket: Paragraph breaks below are mine for readability, and the bold font in the text below is mine for emphasis]
The Baltimore papers, in their reports of the proceedings of the national Democratic Convention, (assembled at the Front Street Theatre in that city) publish the following which we believe are the only items of interest in those proceedings not heretofore given to our readers.
After Judge Douglas had been nominated for the Presidency:
A letter was read from Judge Douglas to Gov. Richardson, authorizing the withdrawal of his name as a candidate, if necessary to secure the ascendancy of the party. It is as follows:
Washington, 11 P. M., [Private.] June 20, 1860.
Mr Dear Sir : I learn there is imminent danger that the Democratic party will be demoralized, if not destroyed by the breaking up of the convention. Such an event would inevitably expose the country to the perils of sectional strife between the Northern and Southern partizans of congressional intervention upon the subject of slavery in the Territories.
I firmly and conscientiously believe that there is no safety for the country -- no hope for the preservation of the Union -- except by a faithful and rigid adherence to the doctrine of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the Territories. Intervention means disunion. There is no difference in principle between Northern and Southern intervention. The one intervenes for slavery and the other against slavery; but each appeals to the passions and prejudices of his own section against the peace of the whole country and the right of self-government by the people of the Territories. Hence the doctrine of non-intervention must be maintained at all hazards.
But while I can never sacrifice the principle, even to attain the Presidency, I will cheerfully and joyfully sacrifice myself to maintain the principle. If, therefore, you and my other friends who have stood by me with such heroic firmness at Charleston and Baltimore shall be of the opinion that the principle can be preserved, and the unity and ascendancy of the Democratic party maintained, and the country saved from the perils of Northern abolitionism and Southern disunion, by withdrawing my name, and uniting upon some other non-intervention, Union-loving Democrat, I beseech you to pursue that course.
Do not understand me as wishing to dictate to my friends. I have implicit confidence in yours and their patriotism, judgment and discretion. Whatever you may do in the premises will meet my hearty approval. But I conjure you to act with an eye single to the safety and welfare of the country, and without the slightest regard to my individual interests or aggrandizement. My interests will be best promoted, and my ambition gratified and motives vindicated by that course on the part of my friends which will be most effectual in saving the country from being ruled or ruined by a sectional party.
The action of the Charleston Convention, in sustaining me by so large a majority on the platform, and designating me as the first choice of the party for the Presidency, is all the personal triumph I desire. This letter is prompted by the same motive which induced my dispatch four years ago, withdrawing my name from the Cincinnati Convention. With this knowledge of my opinions and wishes, you and my other friends must act upon your own convictions of duty.
Very truly, your friend,
S.A Douglas
[rustbucket: there is another similar letter to the Chairman of the New York Delegation that I haven't included here.]
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