Daily American organ., 1856-04-16

serving the right TO form new States out Of any
portion Of said territory lying east OF the Sierra
Nevada mountains Z" my bill OF last
session had become the law of the land-which IL
certainly would have done If he Mr.. HALE) had
not united his forces with those OF the Senator
from South Carolina Mr.. Calhoun TO defeat it,
the whole of tho territory acquired from Msxsco
sOouId at this moment haze been dedicated TO free
dom forever, BY constitational provision"
In the same speech, speaking Of the effect OF
his own amendment to the Texas annexation
resolution, he said:
"While Texas remained an independent Power,
it was all slave territory from the Gulf of Mexico
to the forty second parallel of latitude. BY the
resolution OF annexation, five and halt degrees OF
this slave territory to-wit all between thirty-s1
and a half and the forty parallels were TO
become fixed, pledged, fastened to be free, and
not slave territory forever, by the solemn guaran-
tees Of law Here is territory stretching across
FIVE and halt degrees of latitude, scithdrascn from
slavery and dsuoted TO freedom, by the very act
which the Senator mr. WEBSTER has chosen to
denounce and deride as the Vork Of the Northern
Democracy"
And when the northern Democrats are ar
raigned and condemned for having contributed to
the extension of slavery, the fve and half de-
grees of latitude north of 36 deg. 80 min., for
which provision was made to be converted from
Stdee INTO Tfcs tcTTIOTy uOSOtUtcty, duu pfOuhoiy
double that amount south of that line by the
tion of the people Themselves when they come to
form a State constitution, ought to have been
brought to the notice of the public, and put to
our credit in the statement of the account"
Here we have Judge Douglass o,on inter
probation Of has oson action, connected with
the three most m0mentous measures touching
the public territories, for which his southern
friends give him so much credit lis it not
legitimate to present these record facts of his
toryy Still it is just to say, that Messrs
Douglas, Shields, and Richardson, are of the
very soundest of northern Democrats, and are
really entitled to much credit for the patriotism
and general nationality of their sentiments.
They are far better than the masses Of the
Democratic party at the North, who have been
80 fearfully complicated with Free-Soilism and
the Wilmot proviso. So generally has this
been so, that, after Mr.. Pierce's nomination
for the Presidency, the Washington Union,
edited by a Tennesseear forced to say
at least, have often sec $ language quoted
from it:
.aTne Free-Soa Democratic leaders Of the North
are regular portion Of the Democratic party /;
and General Pierce, If elected, ,OiH make no dis
hnction 6etsoeen them and the rest Of the Demo
cracy in the distribution of official patronage, and
IN the selection Of agents for administering the
Government"
The public offices soere accordingly filed, to
O great extent, by Free-soil Democrats from
the North--such as Dix, Bishop, Cochrane,
Fowler, Crocker, &c--while sound national
men--such as Dickinson, Bronson, and others
were neglected or prescribed. w. j. Brown,
of Indiana, who would have been made the
Demo cratic Speaker Of this House, in the
Thirty Second Congress, but for the acciden-
tai discovery that he had given written
pledge to Wimot that he would compose the
committees Nth F'ec-soil majorities, was ap-
pointed to, and now holds under the Admins
tration high and important Office. The pre-
sent Secretary Of the Interior is a Wilmot
Prociso Free soiler Of so strong type as to
deny that slares are property. Our Minister
Plenipotentiary to Russia is a Free-soiler. OF
the seventy delegates appointed by the Softs
to attend the Democratic convention in June
next, all wero old Buffalo platform Free-soilers
of lS46 (says tho New York National Demo
crat) but seven. But have not time to 60
further into these prolific details.
What is the present ostsnsible position of
the Democratic partyr Why, its platform is
not founded upon principle at all, but upon a
solitary measure--the Nebraska bill--which
is construed variously by its various support
ers. General Cass, for example, heads those
who see N it squatter sovereignty my col
league is of those who understand it very diff
ferently; General Shields is Of the class who
think it measure for freedom - and the
distinguished c. G.. Cambreleng, as orthodox
Democrat as any Of them is in love with it,
because he says it will so operate as to leave
not single square inch of slave territory in
the United States"
Where, then is the identity Of principle
where the soundness of the Democratic party,
of which my colleague speaksi The same
radical differences Of opinion which character
ize them on slavery questions, also attend
them on other leading branches Of public pol
icy. But my colleague claims that his party
are strict constructionists and before leave
this slavery question, let me call attention to
the fact that there is large section of the De-
mocratic party who are such strict construc-
tionists that they deny that the Federal Gov
ernment had the constitutional right to pass
the present fugitive slave law
Mr.. SMITH, of Tennessee. Do / understand
my colleague to say that any recognised part
Of the Democratic party at the North resist the
execution Of the fugitive slave lawf
Mr.. ZOLLICOFFER. cite the late distin-
guished gentleman from Massachusetts,, Robert
Rantoul, Jr formerly a member Of this House.
Mr. SMITH. Mr. Rantoul was an Aboli-
tionist, and was turned, heels over head, out
Of the Baltimore Convention, in 1852, upon
that very account
Mr.. ZOLLICOFFER. win give my col
league another instance, not of Northern man,
but Southern man, mean the present Sec
retary of War, who is reported rs saying, in q
published speech, that "when any State in the
Union shall choose to set aside the Fugitive
slave) law, it is ,oithin her sopereignty and
beyond oar poper." And further to have said,
that in such contingency, al, for one, Dilaeper
gipe my rote to ertend the arm of the Federal
p-per for her coercion"+ Such is the extent
to which strict construction is carried in the