Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1854-02-25
SENATOR DOUGLAS IN REPLY TO EX-GOVERNOR
COLES.
WAsHrsGros, FrBnUAnY Is. 1854.

i WASHINGTON, FEBRUARY Is, 1854.
SIR; valued friend has had the kindness to call my
attention to communication directed to me in this morn
ngs National Inteligencer, in which you assume the
responsibility Of arraignng me- in terms neither kind
respectful for alleged misrepresentation Of the
laws and territorial history my own State
As for your attempt provoke controver-
sy by making yourself voluntary witness against the
of of the facts stated in my speech
the Nebraska bill, you say:
" hope that my personal relations to that State will
excuse my calling your attention in brief to
few Of the erroneous assertions to which allude"
OF your personal relations to the State Of
Illinois will furnish ample excuse for pointing out
few of the assertions In order that the pub
lie curiosity may be graed by knowing how distinguish
ed parsonage the witness is viii that you were
Governor of Illinois under peculiar circumstances
and that you abandoned the State it was
cerained that the inducements which took you there
could longer be made available Your avowed object
is to vndieate the truth of history aud do Justice
the conduct and character of Illinois"
| How far such q motive is consistent with the whole
tenor of your communication and to what extent you
have succeeded in accomplishing laudable purpose
shall leave the public to determine afte, calling attention
few facts pertinent to the issue you have made Re-
ferring to my speech, you use the following language
hju Slauery any of Territories, and if attempt
ed, would have been null and void, well from the
want of power in Congress to pass it from determ
nation Of the people establish and protect slavery in
defiance of Congressional enactments If this had been
known, how much time and excitement would have been
saved'
After attribung this statement to me- you proceed to
yndcate the ruh Of history by showing that slavery
had been prohibited in the territory northwest Of the
Ohio river by the ordinance Of 1887 Having rescued
this important historical fact from that oblivion to which
you suppose it had been consigned you to
late yourself upon the great achievement with much
compacency if you had not misquoted my speech and
attribute to statement which had never mode, in
order to get opportunity of proving that which
of may have heard before. In order to give you
opportunity vndicate the truth history from the
assertions your communication will in
ve your attention to what did say in that part of my
speech from which you profess to have derived
thority for the above statement
set me ask you where have you succeeded in exclud-
ing slavery by Of Congress from inch of the
American soil? You may tell that you did it in the
Northwest Territory by the ordinance Of 1857. will
show you by the history Of the country that you did not
accomplish any such thing. You prohibited Slavery there
iac but you did not frciuds it in fact Illinois
part of the Northwest Territory With the exception
of few French and white settlements, it was vast
Wilderness filled with hostile savages, when the ordi
nance Of 1887 adopted Yet, sir, when Illinois
organized into Territorial Government it established
and protected slavery and maintained in spite of your
ordinance and in defiance of its express prohibition"
cheerfuly forgive you for this erroneous assertion
for without you would not have had the opportunity of
making known to the present generation the important
fact that slavery prohibited by the ordinance o17S7
in the Northwest Territory.
The next assertion for which you desire
to be excused for calling my attention is that slavery
in 10
fance of the ordinance of 1877. You admit, however,
that few slaves introduced into the Territory
der the laws of Virginia. before the ordinance of 1887 and
that they held and treated slaves only during
the entire period Of the Territorial Government but
the State admitted into the Union This fact proves
the truth Of what are pleased to call my erroneous
assertions so far as they relate to the existence of sa
very the Territory under the ordinance and in defiance
of its prohibition But you suggest that the failure (of
the ordinance to abolish and exclude the existence of
slavery might have arisen from the ignorance of the
French slaves Of their rights under the ordinance
from their fear Of punishment from their masters il they
claimed them it may have been from prejudice and
interest in the officers whose business 1t was 10 sec
ce done them. Whatever the cause cas local in
| character, and not attributable to Congress"
Here the substantial fact is distinctly admitted It is
admitted that slavery did exist in the Territory and
after it became State that its existence perpe
tuated by local causes in disregard of the ordinance
and without the sanction and in opposition the autho
rity of Congress- do not perceive that your
anu copJectures cnange the result am not aware that
French slaves any ignorant of their rights
under the ordinance than any other slaves that they
any afraid Of their masters that the officers
governed by interest prejudice in that Territory
than elsewhere Upon this latter point, however,
inclined to yield full credit your testimony, mas
much you oficeholder during the whole pc
Rod Of your residence in the State and while Governor
especially charged by the constitution your
to the laws faithfully executed Be the cause what
it may, the statement in my speech which you have pre-
sumed to pronounce erroneous assertion is now
established and admitted, to w.t. that while Congress
prohibited slavery there By icU it did not exclude it
| fact. But, sir, perhaps you will now be disposed to
change the ISSUE and soy that when you arraigned
before the public upon the charge Of having misstaed
the facts and violated the truth Of history, and made
yourself the voluntary witness to prove the charge in
of your personal relations to the State Of
Illinois, you meant only to deny the truth of the other
statement in the same paragraph, to wit that the Ter
ritoria Government introduced and protected slavery
and maintained it in spite of the ordinance and in def
of its express prohibition elf this be the material
allegation in your bill of indictment against me- will
proceed to the trial of the issue upon the record In
cordance with the provision Of the "act to divide the ter
ritoy Of the United States northwest Of the Ohio into
two separate governments" approved May 1900 that
district of country embraced within the limits Of the
States Of Indiana Illinois, and Wisconsin erected
into distinct political organization, under the name of
the Indiana Territory and continued to be thus governed
until the further division Of the territory in 1909 and
the establishment Of the Territory of Illinois. BY rec
TO the laws Of Indiana for the year 1907 at
49, you will find an act concerning the introduction Of
negroes and mulattoes into this Territory signed Jesse
b. Thomas Speaker Of the House Of Representatives, D.
Chambers President Of the Council and approved Sep
TENDER IL, 1907, by William Henry Harrison Governor
AZ. n.