The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-10-08

" decide the important question foe themselves,
whether they will continue, modify, or abolish
Sstvery. To them, and 10 them alone, does this
Question belong, free from all foreign interior
eEce."
On every occasion duHng the Senatorial ca.
rser of Mr.. Buchanan, when the Missouri Com
rr5nise was in any way drawn in question, he
stetd forth as its zealogs defender. But the
Missouri Compromise Aet, prohibiting Slavery
il y large portion of United States territory,
WIS en- act of Congress. When Arkansas pre-.
segted herself for admission as q State, with a
Constitution pre-eminenhy slsvefolding, Mr..
Buchanan voted for admission, expressly on the
ground that she was entitled to st under the
Missouri Compromise. Afterwardt, during the
agitation of the Wilmot Proviso Question, he
made his advent in Washington, and used all
hi influence to induce the warrirs parties to
agree upon an extension of that Compromise
to- the Pacific ocean. Did he b4fieve in its
co. stitutionality2 If he did not, his public
record on that question is a record of acts vio-
laive of his oath to support the Constitution of
ths United States. If he did, whence his sud-
der agreement with the opinion of the Supreme
Colrt, that the Compromise was ueconstitu.
tienal, and that Slavery goes into Federal
Territory under the Federal Cons,itution !?
Whence his surprise that such an opinion
could ever have been doubted?
Has he convictions of his own2 Has he any
ozvictions at all? The Missouri Compromise,
swept away by the act Of 1854, aad Squatter
Sovereignty, or the right of the people of a
Territory to settle for themselves sae question
ofsSavery, being substituted, MI. Buchanan
embraced that doctrine, It was, in his judg-
msaf, a fundamental principle of republican
inAlitutions. The people of Territory, and
they alone, have the right to decide the ques-
tor of Slavery within their own limits. In his
letter accepting the Cincinnati nomination,
dassd June IL, 1856, he says explicitly:
: The recent legislation of Congress respect
ing domestic Slavery, derived, as it has been,
from the original and pure fountain of legiti-
mGse political power, the will of the majority,
pr fhiyes, ere long, to sllay the dangerous ex-
element. This legislation IS founded upon
principles as ancient as free gocer7snsent itself;
and, in accordance sOith them, has simply de-
cL0red that the people ofa Territory, like those
of a State, shall decide for themselves sDhether
SlGVery shall or shall not eriat Dithin their
limits. The Nebraska. Kansas act does no
more than give the force of law to this ele-
mentary principle of self government; declar-
ing it to be the true intent and meaning of
this act, not to legislate Slavery into any Ter.
ritory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but
to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form
and regulate their domestic institutions in their
own way, subject only TO the Constitution of
the United States"
Here is downright assertion of the right of
the People of a Territory, "like that of a
State" to prohibit or tolerate Slavery. There
is no qualification as to time mo word that
can imply an opinion that the right exists only
when the People come to form State Consti-
tuition. The paragraph proves that he held, or
intended to be understood by the Northern
Democracy as holding, the doctrine maintained
by Messrs. Cass and Douglas, in relation to the
power of the People of Territory, while in
Territorial condition, over the subject of Sla-
very.
Having repudiated his old, cong cherished
Missouri Compromise, bow long did he hold
this doctrine of Squattef Sovereignty Just
nine mOnths-until the Pro-Slasery Judges of
the Supreme Court went out of their way, last
March, to pronounce judgment upon political
questions. Squatter Sovereignty received no
more favor at their hands tban the Missouri
Compromise. The right of Congress to pro.
hibit Slavery in the Territories was denied; but
30 was the right of the People Of Territory in
their Territorial condition. Slavery was bold
ly placed upon a constitutional basis. The
Constitution recognises slaves as property
as property they must be recognised in all Uni.
ted States Territories. No power can forbid it
there, except that of the people, sOh<g they come
to form a State Constitution!
Mr.. Buchanan is an aged statesman; one
might suppose him to have some fixed princi-
ples5 but no-he sbjures Squatter Sovereignty
with as much facility as he had repudiated the
Missouri Compromise, aud takes the earliest
opportunity to proclaim bis new creed of Sla-,
very, Constitutional and Supreme, wondering
how it could ever have been doubted.
Look again at the paragraph quoted. The
Congtitution recognises slaves ss property.
Shareholders have a perfect right 70 carry this
property into any Territory of the Union
Slavery exists, under the Constitution, in Kan
sas, of course, in Nebraska, Minnesota, Oregon,
Washington, Utah, and New Mexico. Neither
Congress, nor Courts, nor the PEOPLE, nor the
Legislature of any Territory, can interdict it
therein-the Shareholders right is paramount.
This is the new creed of Democracy, as ex-
pounded by James Buchanan. Is it any won
der that the " 6re-eaters (" of the South are
generally silenced, and that the Richmond En-.
quirer boasts that his policy is the policy of
the Slave States on the Slavery question ?"
John c. Calhoun never demanded more:
James Buchanan has come up to the full
measure of the exactions Or the Slave Power.
Bank suspensions will &c sse-nercantile fail.
ures be orgotten-comhercia distress pass
awai the country is full TO repletion; values
are not destroyed, but only changing hands
the panic will coon subsidy, confidence will be
restored, and the sun of prosperity will shine
out IS brightly as ever. But, the dark policy
of THIS Administration, anG the monsSrous, anti.
Republican doctrines broeched by its leader,
and sanctioned by his Parry, will be perpetua.
ted, until these United States be converted
intO'a vast slavehOlding Empire, the opprobri-
um and horror of modern Civilization, or until
a majority of the PeOpl.s subordiuating all
min2r considerations, wrest the Federal Gov
erSTent from the hands Of the Slaveholding
lntsest, and WELD it for the extension and es.
adjustment of Free Institutions.
80 HoPEFUL-The London Times has pub.