Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-07-10
Slavery in the Territoris 8.

4 declaration that Slqrery eriStS 6g TIE C0IfSti
tuition IN all The Territories Of the United States
iras only lost in the Committee ofthe Cincinnati
Contention by single rote.
The foregoing paragraph IN emphatic
italics, has been going the rounds of the
Black Republican, press. Lest from frequent
repetition, the aSserVatiOn may gain credence
in credulous quarters, it is proper that we
should pronounce it absolutely false. The
writer hereof having chanced to be amembel
of the committee on resolutions of the Gin
cinnati Convention, and having been present
at all their sessions, speaks of his own
knowledge upon this point.
A proposition in substance, that the Fed
eral Constitution authorizes slavery in the
Territories of the United States, was brought
before the Committee at two separate times
first by the member from Florida, and
afterwards by the member from Mississippi.
In the first instance it was rejected, without
debate, by more than A thFee-Q quarters vote.
In the second instance, the subject was briefly
debated, chiefly by Southern members. The
members from Virginia South Carolina,
Alabama Florida and Mississippi sustained
the proposition, while those from Georgia,
Louisiana, Missouri, and two or three other
OOuIncTn H. L HC
Der from Georgia spoke earnestly against it.
He said the battle upon that question had
been once fought in the South, and the party
holding 10 the affirmative of it disas!rously
defeated. Georgia has declared against it
emphatically, and either of the Southern
States as einphatically. He alluded to the
argument contained in the late Senatorial
speech of Gen. Cass on the subject, charac-
terizing it as surprisingly able, sound and
unanswera5le. Mr.. Soule, of Louisiana, dis
sented from the proposition, and Mr.. Hudson,
of Missouri, remarked that he did not wish
to consume time in speaking against it-he
wanted to UOte against it. The opponents of
the proposition, North ard South, assumed
that it was purely judicial, and in no
manner political question, but thai, even
though it were of political consequence, a
case involving the doctrine being before the
Supreme Court, it would be highly improper
for the Convention to undertake to determine
it in advance. The Committee having come
to vote, instead of but one majority against
it, the proposition had not more than six or
eight votes in its favor. The action of the
of the Committee was received and adopted
NiIuOut ulSoSLtiuS NOlCc
What the judgment of the Supreme Court
will be in the case before it involving the
question of the Constitutional existence of
slavery in the Territories, may be inferred
from its Judgment hitherto in a case involv-
ing the same question. In the case of Priqq
Us. Pennsylvania, the unanimous opinion of
the court was that slavery can exist nowhere
except by force Of the local law of the place.
Should this doctrine be reafirmed-and who
doubts that it will be ?--the resolve of no
convention can effect or change it. 1t will
be the fundamental law Of the land.
In his letter Of acceptance of the Presiden-
tial nomination, Mr.. Buchanan, in terms per-
fectly distinct and definite, defines his posi-
tion regarding slavery in the Territories
Referring to the endorsement by the Ma
tional Convention of the popular sovereignty
principle of the Kansas law, his interpreta-
ton of that law is, that Congress has "simply
declared I've use his own language-"that
"the people Of a Territory, like those of a
State, shall decide for themselves whether
slavery shall or shall not exist within their
limits" Could language be employed
that would more emphatically express dissent
from the doctrine of the existence of slavery
by Constitutional warrant in the Territories
than is here employed 10y Mr.. Buchanan :?
or that would more emphatica.ly express
adhesion to the doctrine OF polpuar or squat
ter sovereignty
Thus falls one of the legion of audacious
falsehoods and calumnies which the Black
Republican press let loose upon the country
since the Cincinnati Convention, and in the
propagation of which the Black Republican
pulpit has been most active. After this ex-
posure, we surely need not call attention to
the ridiculousress of that other pretence
that the Cincinnati platform, as it stands,
recognizes the doctrine of the universally OF
slavery Detroit Free Press.