The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1854-05-06

S'c minors undtr twenty -ers years OF age: and
It is the business of the states. through their
delegations in Congress to take care of these
minors until they are of age--rmtil they are
ripe for state government then give them
that government. a,nlatmit them to an equal
Is with their fathers. That is tho law, and
tila sense Of the case, aud has been so ac-
klowledgcd since the first ordinance in 1874,
by al authorities, Federal and STATE, lcgiSla-
tive, judicial and executive. The States in
Golsits, arc the guardians Of the Territories,
aad a,p bounl to exercise the guardianship,
mad cannot ablicate it without II breach of
erilst and a dercliction of duty. Territorial
sovereignty is a monstrosity, hrn i'll timidity
and ambition, hashed into existence IN the
hot incubation of Il presidential canvass, and
revolving to the beholdcrs when :..lst present
81.
Well do I remember that day when it was
first shown in tire Senate. Mark Anthony
did not better remember the day when Csezar
first put on that mantle through which he wa,
afterwards pierced with three and twenty
"cavieus stabs-" 1t was in the Senate in
1875 and was received as nonscnsc-as tire
essence Of nonsense-.s the guintcsscnce of
nonsense--as the fve-tilnrs distilled essence
1t political nonscnsicality. Why, sir, the
Territory hsclf is the property Of the States,
and they do what they please with it-per-
init it to be settled Or not as they please cut
i. up by lines, as they please; sell it, or give
i; away, as they please; CHASE white people
from it, as the please. After this farrago-
this olapodrdr-comcs a little stump speech
INJECTED in the brly Of the bill, and which
must have prodigious effect when rccitcd in
the prarics, and out towards the frontiers,
and up towards the heads of The creeks. I
viii read it, and hope without fatiguing the
House, fc. it is both brief and beautiful and
rUn; thus:
1t being the true intent and meaning of this
net not to legislate slavery into any State or
Territory, nor to exclude it thercfrom: but to
leave the people thereof peril ely free to form
and regulate their domestic institutions in
aheir own way, subject only to the Consttu-
tion Of the United Statos.'
This is the speech, and pretty little thing
Itself, and very proper to be spoken from a
stump in the prairie. 1t has intent, and
true intent; which is neither to leeislae sla-
very into. or out of any State or Territory.
Then why iegislate at all Why all this dis
,nrbancc if no effect is produced, and things
to remain just as they ware Let well enough
alone, WAS the old doctrine; to make we'll
enough stiI better, is the doctrine Of progress.
and that in spite of the Italian cpitaph, which
says: 81 was well, and would be better; took
physic, and here am"
But the State must he greatly delighted at
the politeness and forbearance of this bill. 1t
puts States and Territories upon precisely
equality with respect to the power of Con-
gress over them. Congress does not mean to
put slavery in Or out Of any State Or Terrific
ry. To all that polite abncgation, have to
say that in respect Of tie States, it is the SUI
lererogation of lnodesty and humility, as Con-
eress happens to have no power to put slavery
s's them, oc out of thcm and i'll respect Of the
Territories, it is an abdication of constitu-
tional power and duty; it being the right of
Congress to lcgislate upon slavery in Tcrritori-
cs, and its duty to do so when there is occa-
SIGN for it-as in 1877 and 1920.
lobject to this shiy -shally willy-won'ty
oa'ty-can' ty style oflegislation. 1t is not
legislative. IT is not parliamentary. tbs not
manly. 1t is not woinanly. No woman would
talk that way. No shilly shally in woman.
Nothing Of the female gender was ever born
Young enough, or lived long enough to get be-
logged in such quandary as this. 1t is one
,i,ng or the other with them and what they
say they stick to. No breaking bargains with
ihtm. But the end Of this stump speech is
the best of the whole. Different from good
milk, i'll which the cream rises to the top, it
here settles to the bottom, and is in these
words:
Leave it to the people thereof, that is to
say, Of the States and of the Territories to
regulate slavery for themselves as they please,
only subject to the Constitution CT the United
States"
Certainly this is new subsection for the
States. Heretofore they have been free to
regulate slavery for hclnsclves-admt it, or
reject it, and that not by virtue of any grant
Of power in the Constitution, but by virtue of
IN unsurrcndercd part Of their old sovereign
ty. 1t is also of the new Territories Here
tofore they have been held to be wards of
Congress, and entitled to nothing under the
Constitution but that which Congress extended
to them. But this clause Is not accidently
here; it is to keep up the dogma of the Con-
stitution in Territories: but only there in re-
laton to slavery, and that for its admission
not rejection.
Three dogmas now nAict the land; vilelcet;
squattcr sovereignty, intervention, and
no power in Congress to legislate upon slavery
in Tcrritorics.-And this bill asserts the
whole three, and beautifully illustrates the
whole three, by knocking each one on the
head with the other, and trampling each I'M
RI c,pt ,tr fn- H.