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The South (Richmond, Va.) has been trying to reconcile the feud between Judge Douglas and the Slave Oligarchy, but enters a seasonable protest against the support of Judge D. for the Presidency, saying:
Already some of our friends are pressing the claims of Judge Douglas for the Presidency. – The people are not prepared for this; let his friends wait. This movement will hurt – it cannot aid him. There is a vast difference between a Senator from Illinois and a President of the United States. We may feel pleased that an avowed Free-Soiler cannot fill the place of Douglas in the Senate, but it is very different when we are asked to prefer him to the truest and noblest of our party for the highest office in their gift. On the next Presidential election, we believe, weighty events, probably the future destiny of this Confederacy will depend. No mistake should be made in selecting our candidate. Not only should a Black Republican be beaten, but the purest and soundest Southern man should be elected. Our party should be in no hurry to name its candidate. There is time enough for all necessary preparation; there is no need to have a candidate put up as a mark to be fired at from now till 1860. Whenever we do select a candidate, we desire that he shall have a clear record, and a position which requires no explanatory defense, but one which shall command admiration and enforce support.
The South will not touch DOUGLAS. In the first place, he is not “a Southern man.” Secondly, his record is not “clear,” and his position requires an “explanatory defense.” The South thinks DOUGLAS good enough as far as he goes, but he does not go far enough to suit them. – Hence he must be ruled out. So, too, BUCHANAN, like PIERCE, after having been “used” by the South, is to be laid aside for some more available candidate. This is just what Mr. BUCHANAN deserves and might have expected, at their hands.
