Glasgow weekly times. (Glasgow, Mo.) 1848-1861, 1854-01-19
Senator Douglas, Renort.

discretion Of the Committee.
Senator Douglas Report.
The Committee on Territories, to which
was referred bill for an act to establish
the Territory of Nebraska, have given the
same that serious and deliberate considera-
ton which its great importance demands,
and beg leave to report il back to the Senate,
with various amendments, in the form Of a
substitute for the bill.
The principal amendments which your
committee deem it their duty TO commend to
the favorable action of the Senate, in spe-
cial report, are those in which the principles
established by the compromise measures of
1850, SO far as they are applicable to terri
torial organization, are proposed TO be affirm
ed and carried into practical operation with
in the limits of the new territory.
The wisdom of those measures is attcsted
not less by their salutary and beneficial
effects in allaying sectional agitation and
restoring peace and harmony to an irrtated
and distracted people, than by the cordial
and almost universal appreciation with which
they have been received and sanctioned by
the whole country. In the judgment of your
committee, those measures were intended
to have far more comprehensive and en-
during effect than the mere adjustment Of
the difficulties arising out of the recent ac-
QUESTION Of Mexican territory. They were
designed 10 establish certain great princi-
pies, which would not only furnish adequate
remedies for existing evils, but in all time
10 come, avoid the perils of similar agia-
h,,, bIro, tho Of ell
ry from the halls of Congress and the poll
teal arena, and committing it 10 the arbtra-
ment of those who were Immediately intsr-
ested in, and alone responsible for its conse-
quences. With the view Of conforming
their action to what they regard the settled
policy of government, sanctioned by the up
proving voice of the American people, your
committee have deemed it their duty to in
corporate and perpetuate in their territorial
bill the principles and spirit of those meas
ures. If any other considerations were
necessary to render the prepriety of this
course imperative upon the committee, they
may be found in the fact that the Nebraska
country occupies the same relative position to
the slavery question as did New Mexico
and Utah when those territories were Or
ganized. 1t was disputed poirt whether
slavery was prohibited by law in the coun-
try acquired from Mexico. On the one
hand, il was contended, as legal PROPOSE.
ton, that slavery having been prohibited by
the enactments of Mexico. according to the
laws of nations, we received the country
with all its local laws and domestic institu-
lions attached to the SOIL so far as they did
not conflict with the constitution of the U.
States; and that law, either protecting or
prohibiting slavery, was not repugnant to
that instrument, as was evidenced by the
fact that e-half of the States Of the Union
tolerated, while the other half prohibited,
the institution of slavery. On the other
hand, it was insisted that, by virtue of the
constitution of the United States, every ci-
tizen had right to remove to any territory
Of the Union, and carry his property with
him, under the protection of law, whether
that property consisted in persons or things
The difficulties arising from this diversity
of opinion, were greatly aggravated by the
fact that there were many persons, on both
sides of the legal controversy, who were
unwilling to abide the decision Of the courts
on the matters in dispute. Thus, among
those who claimed that the Mexican laws
were still in force, and consequently, that
slavery was already prohibited in those ter
ritories by valid enactments, there were those
who insisted upon Congress making the
matter certain by enacting another prohibi-
ton. In like manner, some of those who
argued that the Mexican laws had ceased 10
have any binding force, and that the consti-
Triton tolerated and protected slave proper
ty in those territories, were unwilling to
trust the decision of the courts upon that
point, and insisted that Congress should by
direct enactment remove all legal obstacles
to the introduction of slaves into those ter
ritories.
Such being the character of the contro-
versy in respect to the territory acquired
from Mexico, similar question has arisen
in regard to the right to hold slaves in the
proposed territory Of Nebraska, when the
Indian laws shall be Withdrawn and the
country thrown open TO emigration and set
Element. By the 9Th section of "An act TO
authorize the Missouri Territory 10 form
constitution and State government, and for
the admission of such State into the Union
on an original footing with the original
States, and to prohibit slavery in certain
territories" approved March 6, 1920, it was
provided 'thnt in all territory ceded by
France or the United States under the name
of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty
six degrees and thirty minutes north laii-
tude, not included within the limits of the
State contemplated by this act, slavery and
involuntary servitude, Otherwise than in
the punishment of crimes whereof the par
ties shall have been duly convicted, shall
be, and is hereby, forever prohibited
Provided, always, That any person escap-
ing into the same, from whom labor or SER
vice is lawfully claimed in any State or ter
ritory of the Uuted States, such fugitive
may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed 10
the person claiming his or her labor or SER