The Winchester appeal. [volume] (Winchester, Tenn.) 1856-1856, 1856-04-26

not, to do so now," and then proceeded
to say 81 hold, in the absence Of express
) authority, that Congress has no constltu
rional right to legslate upon the subjec
u. of slavery" Again, he said, 81 am op
posed to any legislation on those sub
jects, abiding to the restoration of the
Missouri restriction, and to the prohibition
of slavery in the Territories. As to beat
ing Mr.. Wright, he said, sit was not the
anti.Nebraska issue that determined tha
election" My colleague makes, therefore
direct issue with the declarations of the
gentleman from Pennsy lvania, and doesno
disclose upon what authority he does So
or furnish any evidence that it genuine. y
But first, word as to Mr.. Richardson
My so.called assault consisted merely
in propounding questions which drew
from him his owx real opinions. lie
disclosed, that he was still the advocate
Of the constitutionality of the Wilmot
Proviso, and that under certain circum'
stances he had, in 1850, pledged himself
to vote for it; bat that he now repudiated
the pledge to vote for the Wilmot Provi
so, which | was real y much gratified at,
for | have long regarded the gentleman
from Illinois as one Of sounJest of North
ern Democrats. | regard other promi.
nent Democrats of that State, at the head
of whom stand Senators Doug as and
Shields. But, while csncede this, is it
not my right, nay my duty, to point out
the yet very unsoundness of their actual,
recorded opinions? If such exposures
embarrass them, or gentleman who en-.
dorse and support them, tits not my fault,
but the fault of the political records they
have made for themselves, For exam.
pie, | have a sketch of a speech before
me, which General Shields made in de.
fence of the Nebraska bill, at Springfield,
Illinois, in the fall of 1854, which ap.
peared in the Washington Union of Octo'
Der %, of that year. Now, remember.
ing that the Nebraska bill is the present
Democratic platform, this extract is i'm
portant. Here it is: see upon what
ground he defends that measured He
said:
kansas and Nebraska were free now
and the people there would keep them
free. The establishment of slavery in
those Territories was not only imProba'
bic, but impossible, and it was always
wiser and better to let people work out
great good for themselves than have it
forced upon them by others; and this was
the way in which freemen always do
what is great and good, by their own free
and voluntary act. The principles of
intervention would not only keep
Kansas and Nebraska what they are now
would by its full and fair
operation, if we acquire the continent to
the Isthumus of Dairen, work with such
powerful force and effect that no man
would ever see another slare Territory
on this cOntinent.'
The Washington Union, in the article
copying this extract, expresses its graft.
fcation that Gen. Shields, in the can.
vass in his State, giving powerful aid to
his distinguished colleague, Judge Doug
las and remarks, that in this particular
speech, 'he sustained the principles ofthc
Nebraska bill with great force and effect'
He was giving powerful aid to Judge Doug.
las. And what was Judge Douglas do.
ing? | have no copies Of the speeches ne
was making in Illinois; but have an ex-
tract of letter he addressed to the editor
of the Concord IN. H.) Patriot, dated
FEBRUARY Is, 1854, in which, speaking of
the allegation in the North that the Ne.
braska bill opens the whole country to
slavery, he asks:
why do they not state the matter tru'
|y, and state that it opens the country to
freedom, by leaving the people perfectly
free to do as they please?'
This is very similar to sentiments ex'
pressed by the same distinguished gentle
man in the Senate, in his speech on the
Territorial question, on the 18th and
l4th of March 1850. He said:
Last year introduced bill for the
admission Of all the country acquired
from Mexico by the treaty OF peace into
the Union as one State, reservmg the
right to form new States out of any Por'
lion of said territory lying east of the 81
ezra Nevada mountains
elf my bill OF last session mad become
the law of the and-which it certainly
would have done if he (Mr. HALEY had
not united his forces with those OF the
Senator from South Carolina Mr.. Cal
houn] to defeat 1.-THE whole of the ter
fitory acquired from Mexico would. at
his moment. have been dedicated to free.
lom forever, By a constitutional proris'
iOn'
In the same speech, speaking of the ef,
feet of his own amendment to the Tex
as annexation resolution, he said:
while Texas remained an independ.
,nt Power, it was all slave territory, from
The Gulf of Mexico to the forty second par.
alel of latitude. By the resolution of
The annex alton, five and half degrees
Of this slave territory, to.wit: all between
lhirty.six and half and the forty second
parallels were to become fixed, pledged,
10 be free, and not slave territory forever