Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-04-06


Canada which they will probably DO some
dav IN the Greek kaiends. OF course, the Uni
ted States must have had full sovereignty over
tb;s territory. or they could not have ceded IT
and Great Britain would never have treated
with US for It,
Perhaps it will be answered, it is very true
/ the United States have full sovereignty over
/ their Territories az against foreign sovereIgns,
both when they receive and when they cede
territory. and. in fact, at all other times; but
then they have not that sovereignty as against
the sovereign People, who are settlers, owners,
and occupants Of soil within the Territories.
Some distinction Of this kind Is constantly IN
situated, of course, in the vaguest manner 10
IL time that this hocils p0cts were siited, or
secuted from the field of controversy --drummed
out with those who employ it. The nsc Of it
is as disrespectiul to freemen as it is inhuman
to tho slave It can be intended for no purpose
but to mystify which, in this case, IL as good
as to convince because in honest minds 1t
equally paralyzes resistance. The adversary
desires no more. lnaction, acqniescence, are
as valuable to him ~ concurrence and support
Let the free States be passive, and leave the
slave States alone; and, like the weird sisters,
They'll do, they'll do, and they'll do" .
The settlers and inhabitants OF any Terri
tory. ir citizens of the United States, are, in
common with all other citizens of the United
States, partakcrs Of the common right OF SOW
ereignty over the Territories, which resides to
the fullest extent in the whole body OF the
People but they do not, by becoming settlers
Of the Territories, acquire any additional or
peculiar right Of sovereignty over them. II
they do. when and how does that right attach
to them and ut the same moment detach itself
from the whole People Of the United States
for il is plain, that whatever sovereign rights
the former acquire, must be in derogation OF
the previous and complete sovereignty OF the
latter Is it when one settler enters, or Dozen
OF twenty, or fifty or a community large
enough to fo,m Government II it attaches
to five hundred or five thousand, it attaches to
fifty to twenty OF to ono, the moment he en-
ters He may make laws, subject only to that
general jurisdiction which belongs to the Uni
ted States, but which would apply in this case
only in limited sense, rs it applies to the
States. Sovereignty would descend upon the
single settler Just as certainly as upon the heir
apparent in hereditary monarchy, on the
death or demise of the reigning sovereign and
rather more mysteriously. The first fquatter
would be king. This il too absurd; but it is
precisely the absurdity, stripped of mystifica-
ton and delusion, which is urged with effect,
as sound reason, by hundreds of pressesthrough-
out the country.
The right to Territorial self government at
taches to the settlers only when the United
States grant it, by defining the boundaries, en-
acting laws, and appointing officers or author
ling the inhabitants to elect them but even
then they have this right only 20 far rs the
United States think proper, out of it's full store
house of sovereign rights, to impart it, Thus
in organizing the earliest Territories they pro-
vided for the appointment by the President Of
the United States, Of Governor and Judges
investing them jointly with Legislative power,
and not giving to the inhabitants the election
of one OF those important oficers, nor of any
officer, even of town, parish, or school dis
trict, unless the authorities, thus constituted,
thought proper in their Legislative capacity to
confer upon them the right to elect them At
later period, Congress instituted Legislative
Councils in the Territories but the appoint
ment of the members was vested in the Presi-
dent of the United States. Lastly, Legislatures,
eligible by the citizens, have been wisely SUBJ
stituted in the Territorial acts. But how far
are any Of these systems from conceding to the
people of Territory the full right Of sover-
eighty, even in the somewhat limited sense in
which it belongs to State In all these cases
and at all times up to this day. Congress has
reserved to itself the right of revising the acts
Of the Territorial Legislatures, and vetoing or
modifying them as il deems expedient; and it
has exercised this right in various instances
We see, therefore the people Of the United
States bearing, from the first moment of the
acquisition of territory up to the end Of its
territorial existence, the most undoubted
badges of full and complete sovereignty over
it. No legal Government can exist in il, but
in virtue Of their acts and no legal Govern
ment, when created, can do anything contrary
to their will They can at any time annul its
laws, and abrogate its existence. And where it
shall have attained apopulation which may en-
title il, If erected into State, to two Senators
and full Representative in the House, it can
escape from pupilagc only by the consent Of the
people Of the United States, expressed through
their agents and servants in Congress.
IL these things do not demonstrate the exist
ence of complete sovereignty, supreme domin-
ion in the people Of tho United States over their
Territories, subject to no restrictions or limita-
lions except those imposed by conscience and
by God then there is no such thing az sover-
eighty, actual or ideal, in the world or in
works Of political science.
The States within their respective jurisdc-
tons possess this same sovereignty, with tho
exception Of few Of it, highest and most CON-
prehensive attributes, which the People have
thought proper To exercise, not through their
State officers, but through the fundamentally
Of the Government Of the United States--such
rs raising revenue by taxing imports, coin
ing money, raising and supporting armies and
navies, regulating commerce, and making war
and treaties of peace, friendship, and commerce.
Thus full or integral sovereignty is divided and
distributed by the People between the several
States and the United States the latter pos
sossing its most important and the former its
most numerous attributes--each having a
part and both together the whoie. What they
both together possess over the States the Uni
ted States alone possess over their Territories.
But il is admitted that every State has power
10 prohibit Slavery or to abolish il, IL il al
ready exists. Then, may not the United States
within their Territories prohibit or abolish it
Strike, BUT HEAR.