Page 1 of Sep 27 1860 Issue of Athens Southern Banner in Athens, Georgia

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Athens Southern Banner (Newspaper) - September 27, 1860, Athens, GeorgiaV xxix num iii u of. Ati Coli Xiv Geo. Sep Ember 27, i860two Dolies per Puii lit aft and. l so Fecit of us j. C. Brec Kitridge at sex Inchon Kentucky on rank Ivy september Isser 1 Ling j of my neighbors friends o6 constituents to be assured 0i3-1 a cd profoundly Grete fid for Trio r. Welcome you have exle Mied to we. The circumstances under Ali iii / i per before you Are unusual i to it ii obedience to the request of friends whose wishes i have been accustomed to observe and if it he an Buncom a Liob in i iii for a person in Niy position to address assemblages of the people i can Only Jay i hone to discuss the topics which i shall handle of Day in manner not altogether unworthy the Winch i occupy. I Liall indulge in no language Wuich m my opinion will fall a cow the dig my of political Cal scission the Cori in Ion of my Lealih makes it ii Possi hic to extend Iny voice Over this vast Assembly but i Liopo it will become stronger i proceed. 1 appear by lord you to Day for the uni win Tirol Street Ali eater. At Baltimore in my judgment was devoid not Only of the spirit of Justice but even of the Otros of regularity. Climers the gentleman whom it nominated never received the vote required by the rules of the democratic whole states were excluded and disfranchised in that convention not to speak of individuals. The most acts of were perpetrated for the purpose of forcing upon the democratic organization a particular individual As the representative of a pc Nisiotis doctrine which 1 shall be Able to show is repugnant alike to reason and the . Owing to the Gross outrage of these proceedings a do cited majority of the do Lega is from your own stale withdrew from that convention declaring that it was not a National convention of the real democratic nearly the Cutie delegations from fire ii Southern states and the entire delegations from California and or ppm and Large and imposing minorities from other slates of the Union making in j whole or in part delegations from almost two thirds of the of the confederacy denounce re and separated Uncle the Rev. Robert j. Breckinridge. does not keep House and owns no slaves unless a he retains two that came by his wife. I know nothing of the investment in Ohio concerning which you in Quiric. But we All know Here that be was committed to squatter sovereignly Ever since his nomination in 1856, until finding that Douglas would overwhelm Hinr. In the North he changed his Creed and in his Frankfort speech last january turned southerner and advocated Protection by congressional As to the part of that letter relating to my personal , i have to say that i do not envy the taste or character of a gentleman who would be engaged in writing letters throw Ign tie Union Louching the priv at business of his neighbors. Whilst he is incorrect in some of statements i will not Merit the contempt of this audience by entering into details in to my private . A voice a Atli at is alien occupied Pic position which is now occupied by or. Douglas and his friends. I deny it and 1 shall now proceed to disprove it Lith As to myself and As to the constitutional democratic party. You have Beard a Good Deal of what is called my Tippecanoe sgt each. I went to the Stales of Indiana Michigan , and addressed the people in the a Turnn of 1856.�? none of those speeches were Ever written out beforehand and no one of them prep Areil by me except by the briefest notes and of the reports which various persons chose to make not one was Ever revised or seen by me. I have been amused to see the various versions of what they Call the Tippecanoe speech. For example i have in my hand a paper which represents me As saying at Tippecanoe a the people of the territories under the Kansas Nebraska act have the full right to abolish or prohibit slavery Ursoi a state to iii in which principle is Asj old As re Montien the Mower existed in Congrak or in a territorial Ingi Slature to exclude any description of property in cognized in the states during the Federal relation a pro slavery this he. Said. Was not True. The democratic party a pro slave in. Party nor an anti slavery party. Ial condition. Others and but a constitutional party. It rejected among them i. Douglas held that a the interference of the Federal gov territorial legislature might exclude Flave property. It was a constitutional a a inc in in a a a a thums clips body Cis Lions a Biclie Timve been made the result furnishes a striking warning of political management Ous ,ted Over other inc not perfect substitutes for , Nim to Snow Tomt the principles truth Ami Juliee. It but after All the Groat is 0 if i ution and Llie Union j Liat Art the principles Liidi ought to Ipp ruse a and surely it at any commend to the american tune a Coull be found in i ,�?z.,q.h-, at in ibis . Man lor addressing the people in 1 hut before i proceed i tidier i will i occupy it will be found j group together and answer a number iii in Case. Anonymous write and of personal Areiti salons some of which orators have chosen to k ii l had ten in origin in the state of Ken tia people bal i Atn a and Tucky and others elsewhere by a Liili titi Aitor to my , and thi v do through me it is al Lemplin a to strike Ritter lii at the Loiuis in a iii i blown the organization with which 1 1 Piave exhibited that treason makes Liv 4 a a to i it Hurr a put tit the memory of Arnold lop Ecla Liat part Ollie ice scr which publican government itself a not on to squatter sovereignly will be j by it id i never utter such an opinion de of in the accusations of Oiler men but i am now on the question of emancipation. Obs Cive the but. Until recently i had no reason to believe anybody Ever represented me As having uttered it. It is Only within wording of the Kuni Einice John c. A few w weeks that i remember to have Breckinridge Lias not been counted seen it in any . But 1 have a very High accuser upon this subject he May have Chen h j some a no less a person than the eminent for sympathy with his Micle re senator from Illinois. 1 have no time Robert j. now if there is an hero to space in comments upon the Propri Ely or delicacy of a gentleman who is among the thousands within the Somis j before the country for the office of of my voice who Ever heard or knew Llie name of one am connected. It begets in me al most a feeling of to uns-Pccla-1 wer some of them but As i have in. I posed upon the , i will go Lut fellow iii Zens before 1 come through them All As briefly is i pacers voice a go on 1 believe it has been published in almost every Southern newspaper of. The opposition parly that i signed a >�?T.iles. 1 have been charged wit i a petition for the Pardon of John Brown premature Ain biting i live been j the harpers ferry murderer and trait to those topics i despite to . Grief bit comprehensive statement in Gard to my in connection Kiili the presidency of the United of my sympathizing with the doctrines advanced by Rev. R j. Breckinridge let him now , or forever bold his peace. Cheers. Ami when Hon. George Robertson will produce one Man in or out of the county of Fayette who will say he believed or suspected that 1 was an emancipation st u will even that it was proper to write that letter. Cheers b the gentleman Means that there has always Between Rev. Or. Breckinridge and myself those relations of cordiality respect and affection which Are natural and proper the insinuation is True. But that is not the purpose of the letter. It is in con barged with intriguing for idiom a nation i i ave been Bargoil with i Jiing before the of the people and desiring to thrust myself be More them for Llie office in their gift. To All i answer that it is i Iolli untrue. 1 have written to nobody for their support. I have conversed with nobody soliciting support. I have intrigued with nobody have promised nobody. To these statements i Challenge contradiction from any human being. Cheers. A a voice a a that a so John nay More i did not seek or desire to be placed before the people lor the office of president by any convention or any part of any convention. When i returned to the slate of Kentucky in the Spring of 1s59, and was informed that some partial friends were presenting my name to the Public in that connection and certain editors whose presence i see Here had Iny name for the , i said to them All , i am not in any sense a candidate for the ,�?T�?T and i desire that my name might be taken Down from the Lead of to stir columns. It was done. A very Chi who is a candidate and giving Bis Parsi Tinl As to that gentleman a Opinio is. 1 shall waste no Tine in the discussion of the propriety of such a course. I Wii i to meet the Aeeti station. A i Lic Hon. A. A. ,in Public address made recently at Concord n. H., says a Ythi re not an honest Man in All America that will deny that James Buchanan and John c. Breckinridge in 1s5g, were Pleil ged to the doct iii of non intervention by with slavery in the territories a a Mark the word As it is there a i made speeches from the same stand or. This is who Liv untrue. So much for that. Cries of it has been extensively charged and that i was in favor of the of Jen. Taylor to the presi Dincy and opposed to the election of Cass and Butler. This also is wholly untrue. Cheers in the year 1847 there was a meeting in the City of Law a Kington in which i participated by which general a in Aylor was recommended for the presidency of the United . A Rulif Irence of opinion existed at that time As to the political sentiments of that Dis Lin Guise cd gentleman. I was assured in a manner to me that general Taylor a political opinions coincided in the main with those i held and i United in the .8non afterwards i went to Xvi in returned twelve months after warts in 18 is 1 found the Campaign in full blast with Taylor the candidate of the Wiigs and Cass and Butler in nomination by the National democracy. It is Well known to thou sails of those within the Sou nil of my voice that soon As i returned Home i took the slump in behalf of the Dora a action with the subject of Emancia with j. C. Breckinridge in 1856,when tion that lie was speaking Ami he be was his own claims to would convey the impression that 1 had been suspected of sympathy with the vice presidency and Beard him go the extreme length in Lavor of pop my Uncle upon that subject. A i Liat is near sovereignty in the the meaning of that letter. Judge i bin speaking of a Cutaia other Gen Robertson when called upon in re-1 to Cecii from the South bad had Gard to the authenticity of the letter i dressed the people iii the Iirth he replied that it was genuine but it says a in every one of their speeches 1 _ Quot r a advocated squatter sovereignty in broadest Here in the space of twelve lines you have the words a non intervention a Nunt citizen of the Commonweal a j Oer tic nominees and sustained Len a of Kentucky was presented by his a to the Best of my ability. A voice friends for that office i was grail few a fall to see it and United cordially in presenting him for the sii Trage of the american people. At no time in or out of the slate of Kentucky did i it loan act or utter a word which would bring my name in conflict with , or that of any other eminent american citizen who desired or whose friends desired for him that and if you have taken the trouble to read the proceedings of the Charleston convention you will remember when i received the Vole of Arkansas one of my friends arose and requested that the vote might be withdrawn declaring that 1 would not allow the use of if me pleasure to add that 1 worked All the More zealously because one of the gentlemen for whose 1 Laboured was a kentuckian my old commander and Iny cheers it is sail i was not present and did not vote at the election in Lexington in 1848. In Bat is True. Bui with the statement there ought to have gone an explanation Well known but which my opponents never that is entirely satisfactory. You Well know that at that Lime before the adoption of the cons Lillion a citizen might Vole anywhere in the state. It my name in compel Ilioiu with that of i so happened that Afler the Labois of the to whom the canvass and the courts i bad gone i have referred. On my annual Hunting trip to thenious ail when that convert icon Assem gains. There was with me a party of was a a confidential voice a confidential to he i done to think Liat mends the Case much. It would have Beci even belter to write it for the Public than As a confidential letter. Don t you think a voice but i have other things to consume my time to Day than such a a confidential a letters As that. Laughter i come to the fact. The Only Lime that the question of Cmar spation has bin raised in Kentucky in my Uay was in 1849, when we vere electing delegates to the conviction to form a new Constitution. Then or. Breckinridge and or. By were emancipation can i Dujics. I As a candidate fur the legislature canvassed the county to the Best of my ability in opposition to emancipation believing the interests of both races in the Commonwealth would be promoted by the continuance of their present relations and on that Issue Quot As you know i was at the polls or. Brecki Midge voted against me and 1 voted against Liim cheers because we were rear sent iii opposite principles and just so would it be again under similar circumstances. So much for that charge. I have seen pamphlets published and circulated All Over the Union for the a purpose of proving that 1 was a know nothing in the year 1855, in the state of Kentucky. Laughter 1 have no doubt that a very proportion of those to me were members of that of incr and if there is a Man among you who belong bled at Baltimore my feelings and my conduct were still unchanged in. Alter the disruption which took place there my name without any solicitation on Roy part and against my expressed wishes was Prisc Nice to the country for the office of pre Sidcot by a convention a n re under which certainly the most respectful consideration. No m a u could be vain enough to anticipate that his name would be placed before the country but having Beard that such a thing was possible 1 constantly said that a i Ilid not desire to be presented to the american people but was Content and More than Content with the honours which have been heaped upon me by my state and and i looked Forward Vith pleasure to the Prospect of crying Kentucky in the Senate of the Leniu a states for the next six . Cries of my name however was press cd and i fell that i could not refuse to accept the Nomiki nation under the circumstances will out Jib ndon iii vital principles and ire thaying friends. Applause a it is said i Hill was not regularly nominated and that an Emi Nerit citizen of la Luois was regularly nominated for the presidency. But this is a question which 1 have not time to discuss to Day and it has already been Therou Lily exhausted before the people. A i refer you to the Able letter of your delegates from this Quot congressional District a i Peter you to the Masc Ray and cd Baustiste speech recently delivered by Tny Noble Frie fid in Whoso groups we Are my j can Only Sav that the co Orentina which assemble Oak front a squatter sovereignly a and a popular sovereignty a ail evidently intended to convey the same meaning. These terms arc not synonymous and this Mode of employing language is Well adapted to beget . 1 held the doctrine of non intervention As it was originally understood and engrafted into the legislation of the country. Cheers it was non intervention ill respect to slavery by Congress nil by the Lerr sorial it is Lati Irr leaving it to the people when they should form a Constitution and become a sate to exercise the Sovereign Power of defining property and admitting or excluding slave or other prop City. This the non intervention of 1850�?this was the non intervention of Henry Clay As i May show presently in another connection. But i assume that or. Douglas in a his statement meant to declare that i in 1856, from the same stand with him advocated the doctrine that the territorial legislature has the right to exclude slave pro Mierly pending the territorial cum lotion. 1 presume he uses All these expressions in Llinat sense and indeed that is the question which Lias been the Ebule Bone of dispute. Well , 1 have first my own statement to oppose to that or the distinguished senator. At no Lime either before or after the a Sage of the Kansas Nehr ska Bill did i Ever question and the Cju agreed not to make it a subject of legislative a snide but to provide a Molt be in the Bill by which the question might be pro aptly referred to the supreme court of the u. States for decision and All parties were to abide by the decision of that August tribunal As a final settlement of the constitutional question. For this purpose whilst ordinarily an Appeal cannot be taken from a territorial court to the supreme court of the United Stales unless the matter in controversy amounts to n thousand dollars a clause was inserted in the Kansas Bill providing that any Case involving the title of a slave an Appeal might be taken to the supreme court without regard to Ilie value of the amount in controversy. Now during tie period Between the passage of that Bill and the decision of the supreme court All persons on each Side entertained to Weir own opinions. We in the South held that the territorial legislature did not possess the Power. Or. Douglas and Liis friends held that the territorial legislature did possess the Power. But on Toliese Points All were agreed 1st, that the action of the territorial legislature lust be a subject to the Constitution of the United states a 2d, Bat the limitations imposed by the Constitution should be determiner by the supreme court and 3d, that All should acquiesce in the decision when rendered. Cheers i think this a Plain and True statement and fur the up Siose of showing you Liat was the View taken by the Southern friends of the measure in , and certainly the View taken Bymjrselfr-1 proceed to read two or three extracts from a speech delivered byte in the House of representatives in 1854, before the Bill passe j a a we demand that All the citizens of the United states be allowed to enter the common territory with the Constitution alone in their . If that instrument protects the title of the master to Bis slave in this common territory you a Annot complain and if it does not protect his title we ask no help from Congress and the relations of the Constitution to the subject to Are willing to have decided by the courts of the United again a it contended on one band upon the idea of the Equality of the states under the Constitution and to Weir common property in the territories that Ern ment whether to introduce orto exclude slavery and ler the common territories of the Union open to common settlement from All the states he proceeded to say that each new state was entitled to form Constitution and enter the Union without discrimination by Congress on account of the allowance or prohibition of slavery. Hence if Kansas presented herself with slavery in her Constitution she must be admitted if without it still she must be admitted. Any other principle he added would be subversive of the rights and Equality of the states. A Otlie a allegation that or. Breckinridge proclaimed the doct inc of squat ter sovereignty is simply untrue. sad nothing Union which eth a Flaus Ible change of that nature Toum be in the autumn of the same year i receive to a slip from a paper containing remarks made by general Miles a distinguished citizen of that state who was at Rippe Cabioc and heard my speech in which he denied i had admitted this doctrine of the territorial Power. sent me a slip containing his speech. In the same month october 1856, some time before the presidential election in tie course of a letter to Biro i said a a you have to tales me Anre Ruy Ami i thank you for it. A hands off the whole subject by the Federal government except for one or two protective purposes mentioned in the come Luzion a the equal rights of nil sections in the con non territory and the absolute Power of each new state to Settle the question in constitutions these Are my doctrines and those of our platform and what is More of the Constitution. A i consider the assault upon me so absurd As to be unworthy of further the recollection of my letter to Gen. Miles had wholly faded from my memory and was revived Only a few Days since when that gentleman printed it in a Southern journal and sent me fellow citizens to the statement of senator from Illinois in which he undertakes to prove allegations against me by himself i thus oppose first my own statement next the proof furnished by Ray speech in 1854, pending the Kan Sas Nebraska Bill in Congress next tie testimony of the editor of the Kentucky statesman who is a gentleman against this Jet Wylie lying rajon Tyby the Sehic including Gener Sclass and senator dougla.�. Let Roe however do tar. . To May he voted against it not because he did not be a Sieve the territorial legislature had the right to exclude slavery froth the territory but . did not believe it was consistent to decide the question legit actively which they had a de to leave to the court. General Cass says a the South consider that the Constitution gives them the right of carrying their slaves anywhere in the territories. If they Are right you can give no Power to the territorial legislature to interfere with them fhe major Wrt of the North believe that the Constitution secures right to the South. They believe of course in at this Power is Given to the legislature. I repeat that there is nothing equivocal in the act. The dil Terent constructions of it result from no equivocation iii it but from the fact that Here is an important constitutional question undetermined by tic supreme judicial authority and in the mean time individuals in filter ent sections of the Union put their own constructions on if. Vve Are necessarily brought to that state of things. In Herc is no Potter which the senator from Illinois can use no words which he can put into an act of Congress that will remove this constitutional doubt until it is finally settled by the proper Hir. Douglas in the same debate in speaking of the attempt of his colleague to coerce an opinion from him upon the whether the territorial legislature had the Power to exclude slave before they became a state said a my opinion in regard to the question which my colleague is trying to raise Here has been Well known to the Senate for . It Lias been repeated Over and Over again. tried the other Day As those associated with him used to do two years ago and last year to ascertain what were my opinions on this Point in the Nebraska Bill i told the a ens of the slav Bolding states of unquestioned intelligence and Hon May Lul Mii. Solhem with their slaves or next the statement of Gen. Miles six or eight gentlemen All of them belonging to the whig parly and on the Day of election they proposed to me instead of going As i intended to the nearest voting , some fifteen Miles we should ilc vote the Day to the Chase. If they had voted there would been six or seven votes for Taylor and but one cast for Cass and Butler. Cheers i accepted the proposition and we went Hunt iii Laii glider and if every Man had done As Well As inns def we would have carried the by forty thousand majority. Applause among those gentlemen 1 remember lie names of Iny friends Thomas s. Redila Nelson Dudley George p. Jour of and others who will recollect those acts if anything were necessary beyond my word. A \ Vicc a none Bolliing More needed another charge actively circulated throughout the Southern slates asserts that i was an Craane ipalion is in 1849, or at least voted for an . Gentlemen in connection with ibis accusation 1 feel it my duty to Call Voi r attention to a paper which i received last evening from one of the South in states called the i Muskeg be Alabama Republican and which contains a letter written by one quo Viown citizens in reference to my Public position and even in Tegarty to my private affairs. It was written . George Robertson to a or. Alexander of Alabama and is dated August 23d, i860. I quote so in Ucli of it As i desire to comment upon. A a a. C. Breckinridge has counted Here an emancipation st however much be Niay have been Inis peeled by some lor sympathy it ith his de to the order who Ever me in j entertain or utter the opinion that one of your Loiles or who does not territorial , prior to the i know that i was recognized from the of n stale Constitution had beginning As one of the most ii com right to exclude slave properly from promising opponents let him be Good the common Benito Rich of the Union. Promising enough to say so now. A Voce a Lac ainu to Why gentlemen 1 believe 1 was one of the first in Congress who took against the organization and when i a cured Home to the state of Kentucky in the Spring of 1855, finding it making great in the Imwon wealth ally of i had withdrawn from Public life to attend to my private , 1 it ill repealed speeches All Over this part of the stale. Cheers this statement May not be very acceptable to some gentlemen within the sound of my voice but i a to not want to deceive any Man. I stand upon my principles and am willing to avow them without the slightest regard to consequences. Applause gentlemen i am to Bis Day As having declared that i would make a political discrimination Between one of my Ovin religious belief and another and Between a native and naturalized citizen. I never Nlle rcd such a sentiment. Loud cheers the underlying principle Wii i me was Ali is that the condition of citizenship being once obtained no , Hillier of birth or religion should be allowed to mingle with political considerations. Applause 1 deem it Only necessary to Lake a lice statements Here succinctly and Niass on because i am speaking to assembler thousands who know the injustice of the charges. Bat fellow citizens to come to More extended to pics. It has been averted that i and the politic Oil which a connected have abandon ird the ground on which we stood in regard to the Toni trial ques Lions in 18m and that we no. And no nut Henic of mine can he found which sustains that charge. A of find it stated in this extract which 1 just now read to you which i never saw until the other Day an irresponsible stale nent made by 1 know not whom never Rev ised nor seen by to and As i will show Yon against the whole Tenar of my Public speeches. I. Hare suffix red a Gocial Deal by incorrect reports of my Suie Eybes. It would be Well perhaps in some respects since now through the Telegraph and the press Evev thing is dashed of by the first impression to adopt the plan of gentlemen in the last who write out their speeches before delivery. But i never do it. I Sifcak As 1 am moved to do when i stand before the people. 1 do not doubt the competency or desire to be Correct of the gentlemen making reports but it May frequently happen from the rapidity of utterance or Immis Linc Ness of de Ivey that they fail to catch the expressions and meaning of the speaker. Siul eed it is wonderful that the errors arc not greater and More numerous. 1 would in this connection request the reporters to give me an Opportunity of revising what is said to Day. 1. Now fellow citizens i will detail you briefly by As Clear a exposition As i can make of the circumstances under which the Kansas Nebraska Bill became a Law in 1854. The friends of the measure. North and South agreed that the Missouri line should be repealed and tie Territo by opened to settlement. But there was one capital Point on which they differed. Nearly All this Southern friends of the Bill and a few from the and that the local legislature cannot rightfully exclude slavery while in the territorial condition but it is conceded that die people May establish or prohibit it when they Couie to exercise the Power of a Sovereign . On fhe other hand it is said that slavery derogation of common right can exist Only by Force of positive Law and a it is denied that the Constitution furnishes this Law for the territories and it is further claimed that the local legislature May establish or exclude it any time Afler the government is organised. As both parties Appeal to the Constitution and base their respective arguments on opposite constructions of that instrument the Bill wisely refuses to make a question for judicial construction the subject of legislative conflict and properly refers it to the tribunal created by the cons Titu Tiro for the very purpose of a deciding All cases in Law and equity arising tinder then in speaking of the Equality of the states a carry the idea to the territories. What Are they ? to whom do they belong ? who Are to inhabit them and what Are their political relations to the rest of the confederacy they Are regions of country acquired by the common efforts and treasure of All the states they belong therefore to the states for common use and enjoyment he citizens of the states Are to inhabit them and when the population shall be sufficient they Are to become equal members of the i think this it sufficient to prove that at the period of the Pas sap of the Bill i did not hold the doctrine that a territorial legislature could exclude slave titi party from during the Terri Topial Coli edition but while i held prec Escly the opposition i was willing to refer the question to the court and to be bound by decision. The doctrines announced by me in that speech were just such As i have Ever declared in Kentuck a such As file isred in every Public address which i made in Ohio indians Michigan . , when. It was understood that i had been reported to have admitted that this Power belonged to the territorial legislature in the Root i of september or october 1857, tie editor of the Kentucky statesman a journal published in Lexington in alluding to this charge made the following statement to which 1 beg leave to refer you. Remember this was before the presidential election of 18 a it was our pleasure to accompany dlr. Breckinridge on the occasion referred to in his tour through i Ohio and iii mafia and to witness the warm response of the National democracy at Cinci Zinat i Hamilton and Tippecanoe to the avowal by him of exactly the sentiments we had often heard him proclaim in Kentucky and clearly embodied in the platform of our party al v a a a the said it had been charged that the do Mocio tic party intended to Fedel government to propagate slavery and that it. Was in who heard Roy speech at Tippecanoe and finally my letter to him written prior to the presidential election of 1856�?All these proofs being consist Lent with each other and. As i solemnly affirm also with my uniform of . A voice a now you Are it would not be difficult to accumulate testimony on Liis Point to any extent but i think 1 have pinned conclusively that the charge is unfounded and 1 will add that this was the position held by nearly All he Southern friends of the a Nebraska Bill a and by a portion of Northern supporters. These were our opinions and they were uttered on All proper occasions but we did not attempt to Force others to accept them. We had agreed to refer the question to the highest judicial tribunal in the Union. Cheers go to the records of Congress Rea Ltd the debates of that period. They will dispel the Clouds and darkness with which a multitude of words has obscured ibis subject. No historical fact is More certain than the South insisted on the repeal of the Missouri line to open the territories to common colonization from All the slates and that when met with the Dogma of territorial Power to exclude her confident in the constitutional strength of her position she offered to test it by the opinion of the supreme court and that offer was solemnly accepted and the agreement placed on the records of the Counley. And now having vindicated myself and the constitutional democracy from the charge of having abandoned the we held in 1854-56, i turn upon my accuser and undertake to show that he High self abandoned the him it was a Jud Iaal question. This would not suit them. Why to Weir object was to get me to express a judgment so that they would charge me with having urged a different View at Home though i had expressed the same opinion Here pending that question and though i had in piously Many times avowed the same thing. My answer then was and now is that if the Constitution carries slavery there let it go and no Power on Earth can Lake it away but if the Constitution does not Cany it there no Power but the people can Cany it there whatever May be the tribe decision of the constitutional Point would not have affected my vote for or against the Nebraska Bill. 1 should have supported it just As readily if i thought the decision would be one Way As the other. will also find that i stated i would not discuss the Legal question for by the Bill we referred it to the courts. Still later on the 15th of May last in the Senate or. Douglas said a a in the debate growing out of the Toombs Bill my colleague put the question to me Afler it had been answered Over and Over Ami again in the previous speeches whether or not a territorial legislature bad the Power to exclude slave in. had heard my opinion on that question Over and Over again. I did not choose to answer a question that had been so often responded to but referred him to the judiciary to ascertain whet Lier the Power existed. I believed the Power existed others believed otherwise. We agreed to differ we agreed to refer it to the judiciary we agree to abide by their decision.�?�. Iii Ink i have shown that upon the Point of dispute Between the friends of he Bill As to the Power of a territorial ice suture to exclude slave property it was agreed to refer it to tic supreme court and. When it had been Jii Dii rally determined that we should abide by their decision As a settlement of the constitutional question. Now Bear with me while 1 read a very Little from the opinion of tie supreme court of the United states in the died Scott Case rendered in the Spring of 1857, and three years after the passage of the Kansas Bill. My friends oceans of Ink have been a cd and thousands of speeches have been in Ade All the itch words of demagogues and All possible forms of starting tie question have been by Butis to tbs Poirer Flo agr a ail in this connection they say a a a but the Power of Congress Over the person or property of Vilien can never be a Mere discretionary Power under our and form of gov cziment the port cars of the gov emment and the rights Quot and privileges of the citizen a Ira regulated and plainly defined by the constr Fuliben itself.�?. It Cannat a when it enters a the United states put off character and assume discretionary or despotic Power which the cons it ution has denied to it. A the territory being a part of the United states the a government and the citizen both infer it under the authority of the constr Tillion with their respective rights defined and marked out and the Federal nov emment can exercise no Power Over his person or property beyond what that instrument confers nor lawfully deny any right which it has then proceeding with judicial sex. Act Lude Quot a a the rights of private property have been up carded with equal care. Thus the rights of property Are United with the rights of person and placed on the same ground by the fifth at need intent to the Constitution which provides that no Poison shall be deprived of life Liberty and properly without due process of Law. And an act of Congress which deprives a citizen of the United states of his Liberty or property merely because he came himself or brought his property into a particular territory of the a United states and who committed no offence against the Laws i could hardly be dignified with the name of due process of Law. A a the Powers Over person and property of Wlinich we speak Are not Only not granted to Congress but Are in sex Piess Terras denied and they Are forbidden to cd arc ise them. A and if Congress itself cannot it to this if it is beyond the Power contend on the Federal government it will be admitted we presume that it could not authorize a Tern trial gov Einum Clit to exercise them. It could Confer no Power on any local government established by a Sajtl Jority to violate the provisions of the Constitution.�?�. Again a it seems however to be supposed that there is a i Florence Between properly in a slave and other property and bar different rules May be applied to it in expounding the Constitution of the United slates. And the Laws and usages of nations and the writings of eminent jurists upon the relation of master and Slae and their Mutual rights and duties and the Powers Wlinich government May exercise Over it have been dwelt upon in the but after showing that of nations stands Between the Jie Ople of the United states and their the p Owers of the government Raul the rights of the citizen under it Are positive and practical regulations plainly written Down and that no usages of other nations or reasoning of their jurists upon the relations of roaster and slave can enlarge the Powers of this gov Cement or take from the citizens the rights they have reserved. They Sav a and if the Constitution Recognises tie right of property of the master in a slave and makes to distinction Between that description of property and agreement he solemnly made at the de to eloquent appeals to the pastime the Bill Biassed Sions and prejudices of be people the of the United states have been made in the discussion of great applause and 1 do not make myself a witness against him to do it. I will prove it by aim self. Voice a Good Good a and applause a in a debate in the Senate of the United states on the 2d july 1856 upon a Bill to authorize the people of Kansas to form a Constitution and slate government preparatory to admission into the Union As a state when a question arose As to the True meaning of tie Kansas Nebraska Bill and the limitation on he Power of the territorial government air. Trumbull offered be following me ailment As an additional Section to the Bill be it furl her a a opted. That the provision in the act to organize the territories of Nebraska and Kansas which declares ii to be the True iii tent and meaning of said act a not to legis late slavery into any territory or state nor to exclude it there from but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to. Form and regulate their a Domestic institutions in their own Way subject Only to the Constitution of the United slates a was intended to Andi Loes a by be r Tippo or leave a to the ple of the Tern Iory of kans Fult Power at any Tinie Lirou Job to or tonal legislature to exclude slavery front said Territo or tax cd ize add regu a a it ibis Issue. Let us for a moment turn aside from this hot Seething boiling cauldron of partisan and demagogue warfare to the Calm enlightened judicial utterance of the most August tribunal on Earth. A repeated applause this opinion was concurred in by All the judges except two and was delivered by the illustrious chief Justice of the United states. In speaking of lie acquisition of territory the court says. A a but As we have before said it was acquired by the general government representative and trustee of the people of the United states Ami it fiust therefore be held in that character for their common and equal Benefit for it was the people of the several Stales acting through their agent and representative the general govern nent who in fact act Luedthe territory in question and the government Bolds it for their. Common use until it shall be associate with the As a member of the in no cant no Dera Gog ism. Notra there but a simple cd car Lucid d is a passionate exposition a of it a constitutional troth. A the court proceed to Iray that unti rih a time Amyes when the territory is of Snead As a a Tate prov Lind of no cos other properly owned by a citizen no tribunal acting under the authority of the United slates whether it be legislative executive or judicial has a right to draw such a distinction or deny to it the Benefit of the provisions provided for the Protection of private property against the encroachments of the government. A now As we have already said in an earlier part of this opinion upon i different Point the right of property in a slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitution. A and no word can be found in the Constitution which gives Congress a greater Power Over slave Pio Petty or which entitles property of that kind to less Protection than property of any other description. The Only Power conferred is the Power coupled with the duty of guarding and protecting the owner in his now my fellow citizens i cannot conceive of a simpler or clearer judicial exposition. The Points of the opinion arc briefly these the territories have been acquired and Are held by Federal govern rent As trustee for the slates and be citizens of All the states tray Hohl and onion their property in them until they take on the functions of sovereignty and Are Ajini ted into the Union. The citizen enters the common territory with the Constitution in his hand and the Federal Gove ziment can exercise no Power Over his person or property beyond what hat instr Orient confers nor. Lawf Iiley. Deny any right which it ,reserved and. Since the Federal government cannot do this still less Camit authorise a Leisi trial government to exert so those Powers. It cannot Confer on any local government established by authority the Power to violate the Constitution. Between slave Pope by and other property Rio distinction exists prop Eily in Staves is recognised by the Uip led. States and there Vyford in Liat instrument which g yes Congress greater Power Over it or which entitles it to less pro Terlion than other property but the Only Power Trieb Congress has is the Power coupled with the thu tyr of gear Ding and protecting the owner in his rights / a a a a a of co��enttq.8tanl Jun these Privi copies la Jill not Nch a by the us Wieme co Oie a High a. Of visit ton Haa Fateen manifested tax sch be rom there prone plea he cause the Qash went up from a state an4

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