Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1856-07-09

Wntfen IN tS4cs nDs Vtra -
bile Advertiser. This letter, AT the tine 81 ITS
reception by the person to whom Il was address
ed, vas rab.ished in the Mobile Register. De-
u,ccratio journal. Since the nomination oil Mr.
Rochanan the Advei tiser has made repeated
calls upon the Register to re'publsh It, hot the
calls have been wholly unavaiing The inielh
gent reader viii need No explanation Of tho rea
son. The letter is perfec, key to Mr.. Boehan-
ans opinions on the subject of slavery II fnl-
" chocolates his meaning when he declared
10 the Democrats of Washington City that The
people of TINT Territory california; assembled
in Convention to frame a State Censti,ution.hare
the sole the exclusive right to determine the
character Of their institutions. I, throws flood
Of light uponsthe import of the language used IN
his letter at acceptance. wherein he said 1.-The
..recen, legislation OF Congress respecting demes-
..tic slavery, derived as IL has been, from the
original and pure fountain Of legitimate pe,i
zeal power the viii Of the majority promises to
.sIlav the dangerous excitement. This legisla'
..tion is founded upon principles as ancient ms
a.free government itself and, in accordance with
"them has simply declared that the people of a
sTerritory. like those of State, shall decide for
themselves whether slavery shall or shall not OK
"ist within their limits At the date of this let
ter, August 2lst, ls4s, Mr.. Buchanan did not
believe that 'the people Of Territory" had like
the people Of State" tho right to decide this
question for themselves. Nor did he 40 believe
when during the same month, we beieve) he I'D
dressed the Democrats Of Washington City. and
referred to California. At that period, there can
be no doubt, he denied to the people of the
Territory, in their Territorial condition. the
power to determine for themselves the character
of their domestic institutions. Iio then repudia.
ted what is popularity termed Squatter Sovereign.
~ Bat the reason why he denied the power to
the people Of a Territory, and repndiated Squat.
ter Sovereignty, at that time, that there had
been no legislation by Congress investing the
people of the Territories with such power. and
in the absence Of such legislation he held that
CONGRESS bad the SOVEREIGN and Elk.
elusive power 10 iegisiate upon the subject Of
slavery in the Territories. In the ease of Cali.
foruia, Congress having declined to exercise this
power until the people had assembled, in their
sovereign capacity, in Convention, Mr.. Buch-
anan was of opinion that they then had tho
sole and exclusive power TO decide tho aues
ton for themselves, but prior TO that time
Congress had tho sovereign and exclusive
power, and might have properly exercised il.
This, we may infer, was Mr.. Buchanan's position
down to the passage of tho Kansas Nebraska
blk by which legislation, it is perfectly clear
that he row thinks, Congress has abdicated its
pow r in favor of the people of the Territories
In lS4s, Congress not having parted with its
opereign po,cer TO legislate upon the subject of
81 avery in the Territories. Mr.. Buchanan denied
10 the people thereof any such prerogaiive-but
the kansas- Nebraska legislation as n
surrender by Congress of it's sovereign power in
favor Of the people of the Territories. he now
that they no longer labor under the
disability which then debarred them from action,
but by virtue Of that legislation may like the
people ofa State decide whether slavery shall
or shall not exist within their limits After read
ing this letter we cannot conceive how a rational
doubt can remain that Mr.. Buchanan, like Gen.
Cass, regards the Kansas Nebraska legislation as
having established the principle of Squatter Sow
ereignty. We have put no strained construction
on it. We have practiced no special pleading in
regard to it. We have given the letter calm
and deliberate consideration, and we have here
stated what are our clear and thorough oonvic-
tons of its import. and of the position which it
conclusvely establishes Mr. Buchanan AS hold
ing,o this inconceivably important subject. We
now submit the letter to the public, not doubling
that they will concur in the conclusions to which
we have come:
WASHINGTON August 81 1s4s
r. Sanford, Esq, Dear Sir-I have lust received
yours Of the 18th instant in which you submit to me
the following paragraph and ask whether it contains
accurate version Of the conversation between MS
concerning my Bcrks county letter. on the occasion to
which you refer:
Happening to meet Mr.. Buchanan nj the Prcs-
dents evee on Friday evening, called his attention
TO this letter, and asked him il he intended to be mn
derstood as claiming that the population OF Terrific
ry in organized capacity had the right to control
the question of slavery in such territory He declared
that no such idea had ever been maintained by him
that the construction put upon his language by Mr.
Yancey was a peryersion Of its plain and obvious
meaning-that, in his opinion, the inhabitants of Il
territory as such had political rights falthouoh
they possessed all the private rights of American cit
izens that they had power whatever over the sub
Zee. OF slaveryand they could neither interdict or
establish it, except when assembled in convention to
form State constitution. lie further authorized and
requested to make any public use of these decla
rations that might think proper to any i'm
preston which Mr.. Yanceys construction of his Lam
guage in the Berks letter might have maden
With the addition which have inserted between
brackets, this statement is substantially and almost
literally correct according to my best recollection.
In my letter to Berks county Of 25th August, lSiT
had said, "under the Missouri compromise SLAYER,
was forever prohibited north of the parallel of SO de
grees 30 minutes, and south ofths parallel the ques
tion was left to be decided by the people, What pco
pleY Undoubtedly the people of the territory Assem-
bled convention to form Stato tint ,,n'n
ask admission into the Union and not the first ad
venturers, or first comers, who might happen t
arrive in the territory assembled in public meetint
If a doubt this subject could possibly exist, it
removed by the next succeeding sentence of my lei
ter proceed to state: Congress in the admission
Texas adnnted the same rulen etc Aud what rn