Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1856-02-23
VS.. ssQUATTER sovER-
EIGHTY

l Equator sovereignty lnto ue u'hoi t"aN 'nt
Nebraaka-Kanzas bill was designed to add any
thing to the political powers Of the settlers In
the territories, are in fair way TO hnd out
their mistake. Heretofore the people of any
territory have exercised the right to frame
state constitution, and ask admission TO the I'M
ion, whenever they saw fl. Vermont, Ken
lucky, Tennessee, Maine, Arkansas, Michigan,
Florida Iowa and California-nine states Of
the union--proceeded to construct their state
organizations without obiainng or asking, per-
mission from Congress 50 TO do. Indeed there
is no provision Of the constitution requiring any
such consent Of Congress. The territories
have always held that much Of sovereignty
1t has remained for democratic administration,
uuering loud but empty professions Of regard
for the right ofihe people TO govern themselves,
to deny this acknowledged prerogalye, and
not only so, but TO denounce it as treason and
insurreclion, and threaten TO crush ii out by
United States troops. Such is the end Of
squatier sovereignty, as interpreted and admp-
isiered for the purpose Of extending human
slavery over Kanzas.
When California was asking admission as
state, obicciions were urged by the South, re-
ally based upon her exclusion Of slavery, aud
among other things il was commended that she
could not come in because she had not previ-
ously obtained permission TO form state gov
ernment Her proceeding was in fact more ir
regular than that Of Kanzas, because she had
made her own territorial, as well as state or
ganization, whereas Kanzas has only made
prepara,ions for state government, after The
precedent Of the other states we have mentioned.
Nobody believes that the absurd cutlery Of
treason and Instruction would have been
raised il kaDzas were asking admission as a
slave state, under the rule Of the border ruff
ans.
While the admission of California was IN
der discussion in the T. S. Senate, Gen. Cass
boldly and ably yindicaied her right to admission.
and precisely upon the same grounds that Kan.
zas and the friends Of Kanzas now demad her
admission as a state. Gen. Cass owes il to his
reputation 20 take the same position towards
kauzas, eyen at the risk Of an open rupture
with the administration. We qaole some pas
. sages from his remarks in the California dis.
eussion. with the design Of giving more ex-
tended extracts hereafter. Let The reader sub
s,iiute Kanzas for California, and notice how
admirably these passages fit the exigencies Of
the present crisis
The senator from Georgia has said that the
people Of California had no right to organize
themselves into state government, and thai,
there is no instance Of such a proceeding in
The history Of our territorial establishments
So FAR as respects the creation Of state gov
eminent, and the application for admission into
nj MD af A. .f
gress, there are several such cases in our po-
lliical annals. So far as respects the organi-
zation Of political system itself, the creation
Of government, no such precedent, indeed ex-
lists for never before did Congress utterly neg
laci lis duiy, and leave a rich and remote ac-
QUESTION without organization, exposed to all
me eriks Of anarchy, and to.be scrcd oHly ~
thar 0'rn 'ris9on and frmness. Here is where
all parallel and precedent cease nor do | be-
lieye there is another country on the face Of
the earth where such legislative neglect OF
great interests can be found And are we to
be conducted through some poli,ico-meiaphysi-
cal process Of reasoning, and asked To prove.
step by step, the right Of one hundred thou
sand American citizens to provide for their own
social existence, and TO apply for admission in
iabllsh the ownership Of horse No, sir
there are far higher considerations than these
involved in such relation, and which appeal
at once 10 the head and heart Of every Ameri-
can.
The people, it is said, in forming govern
ment, had no right to 60 further than the ac-
tual necessity required, and should have con-
tented themselves with the smallest possible
modicum of freedom eau understand Why
4 government, exercising delegated and limited
powers, should be limited in their exercise by
the necessity which called them into action
But whrt Ptncipe Of human rights or human
reason requires people, necessarily called 10
institute government, to content themselves
with the least possible degree of liberty com
Paiible with the actual peace Of society, con-
fess my utter inability to discover. The rights
are their own, not ours, and, ifw compel them
to act, they must Judge what their interest re-
quires. do not contend that they have an
actual claim to admission into the Union.
do not deny that il is our right and our duty TO
look to their circumstances, and TO receive or
reject them as their numbers aud condition may
justify. II the number and condition Of the
people of California is not such as TO warrant
their admission, lei it be shown, and let their
application be refused. But do deny that the
nature Of their political organization, brought
about by our neglect, furnishes any valid reason
for excluding them from this great confederacy
into which they are so DESTROYS to enter.
You cannot stand up before the people of
this country and maintain such position
You are at war with those everlasting princi.
pies of human nature and human freedom
which no power can destroy, and, which, when
taken from people, are taken by force and no,
by right.
The senator denies that California is state !.
while, for my part, consider it as truly state
as any one on the face of the earth The SEN
ator from Maine, some time since, recalled a
remark upon this subject which leaves no other
answer to be desired He said it was men
that made states and il is o.. No, 49,.