Washington sentinel., 1854-03-03
SENATOR DOUGLAS AND THE Me-
RRASKA BILL.


Some weeks since the Reporter, of Concord,
New Hampshire, published an article in favor
of the Nebraska bill, and urged its adoption
for the reason that it established and revived
slavery in the territories. We quote para
graph:
"The proposition, therefore, which northern
men are to look fully in the face, and to meet
without the possibility of evasion, is this:
Shall slauc,y be repired and re-established in
Nebraska and Kansasp And, as necessary
consequence, shall the slave States regain that
political preponderance in the Senate of the
United States which they have lost by the more
rapid multiplication, of late, Of free States
These arc the propositions which northern men
must meet and which they cannot now dodge
or evade."
To this article Senator Douglas, the author
of the bill, replied that such was not the object
or legal effect of the bill, and cited the 18th
section, to show that it did not either intro
duce slavery or prohibit it, but left the people
to decide for themselves, subject only to the
provisions of the Constitution of the United
States. In this letter he advocates the same
principles which he proclaimed to the world so
boldly in his speech in the Senate. We give
few extracts:
"The bill rests upon, and proposes to carry
into effect, the great fundamental principle of
selfgovernment upon which our republican in
stitutions are predicated. 1t does not propose
to legslate slavery into the Territories, nor out
Of the Territories. 1t does not propose to es-
tabsh institutions for the people, nor to de-
prive them Of the right Of determining for them
selves what kind of domestic institutions they
may have.
1sNon-intervention by Congress with slavery
in the States and Territories is expressly de-
clared to be the principle upon which the bill
is constructed The great fundamental prin-
ciple of selfgovernment, which authorizes the
people to regulate their own domestic concerns,
as recognised in the compromise measures of
1850, and affirmed blythe democratic national
convention, and reaffirmed by the whig con-
vention, at Baltimore, is declared in this bill to
be the rule of action in the formation of terri
torial governments. The two great political
parties Of the country are solemnly pledged to
strict adherence to this principle as final
settlement of the slavery agitation. How can
that settlement be final, unless the principle be
preserved and carried out in all new territorial
organizations ?"
A quotation is also made from the l4th sec
ton of the bill:
"That the Constitution and laws of the
United States, which are not locally inapplica-
BILE, shall have the same force and effect within
the said Territory of Nebraska rs elsewhere
within the United States, except the eighth
section of the act preparatory to the admission
of Missouri into the Union, approved March 6,
1920. which being inconsistent with the pr1nci-
pie of NoN.INTERvENTIoS BY CONGRESS ,oith sla-
reru in the States and Territories as recognised
Jy Tie legislation Of 1850, commonly called the
compromise measures is hereby declared inope.
rative and void, 1T BEING THE TRUE INTENT AND
MEANING Of tais act NOT to legistate slaceryinto
any Territory or State, NOR TO exclude ii there
from, bit to leae the people thereof perfectly
FREE TO FORM AND REGULATE THEIR DOMESTIC
INSTITUTIONS IN THEIR own WAY, SUBJECT ONLY
to the Consultation Of the United States"
1t is thus contended that the object of the
bill is to return to the doctrines Of the Consti-
tuition, and to leave the slavery question where
the trainers Of that instrument left it.
The article, to which this letter was in reply,
turns out to have been written by the Hon. Ed
mund Burke, and he replies to the letter over his
own signature in a bitter denunciation of Sena.
tor Douglas. We regret most deeply that Mr..
Burke should have engaged in this crusade
against the author of this great measure. We
fear that the effect his article and letter, know
ing as we do his great ability must be to furnish
arguments to the aboltionists and enable them
to oppose the bill, and strike down the sound and
patriotic men at the north who are risking so
much for the Constitution. In making this re-
mark, we do not wish to intimate even that
Mr.. Burke could entertain any such purpose;
for his whole public career proves that he is a
friend to the Constitution, that he upholds the