The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1857-10-10

No one who has read the Presidents let.
ter to Mr.. Siliiman and othas has failed Ia
notice the magisterial tone in which it IL
+couched, as If bis premises were unassaila-
Bile, his facts unquestionable, and his logic
inexofable and conclusive. And his pnrti-
Fans seem to regard it in the same tight in
which its author evidently viewed II, IS q
statement Of thecase which putt final quie-
tus upon the whole matter, and made an end
of all controversy forever. Now no candid
man Of decent Intelligence, familiar with IL
actual facts, the progress Of sentiment under
Southern pressure, and the change Of party
position and tactics, can help being disgust
ed at such gross perversity, such unblushing
impudence a. this in grave state paper,
put forth under the signature Of the Chief
Magistrate Of the nation. He might assume
the position he takes, and defend it upon
grounds Of expediency and State necessity;
but to ignore notorious occurrences, facts
that have already taken their place in ire
versible history, that are certified to, sealed
and recorded among the archives of the ma
tion-that is neither defensible nor decent.
Fortunately, without the citation of a single
fact about which there is any dispute OF
doubt, without the necessity Of an appeal
to any other document than such as the
President himself has furnished, there is
ample means for the most pointed and COM
plete refutation which can be rendered as
brief in statement as it is crushing in char
acter. ,a - ''t,.s:
The great point il as to the lawful exist
ence of slavery in Kansas, and the power OF
the people and of Congress over the ques-
tios. In his letter to Mr.. Silliman he says
ssSlavery existed at that period-when
the Kansas and Nebraska bill was passed
and still exists in Kansas under the Consti-
tuition of the United States. This point has
at last been decided by the highest tribunal
known to our laws. HoU Il could erer
hare been seriously doubted is a mystery
If confederation Of sovereign States ac-
quire new territory at the expense Of their
common blood and treasure, surely one set
of the parties can have no right to exclude
the other from its enjoyments, by prohib-
iting them from taking into it uhdterer il
recognised to be property By common
constitution '.
That is clear and decided. 1t has at least
the merit of frankness and plainness. 1t
says that the Constitution took slavery there.
Consequently that Congress cannot prohibit
it, that the people cannot remove it, until
the formation Of State Constitution, and
that it is mystery to him how all this could
ever have been doubted. Now no longer
ago than the few brief months that elapsed
since his nomination to the Presidency in
his public letter accepting that nomination
he said: sag 'a~
"This legislation-the Kansas and Ne
braska bills founded on principles as an
cient rs Free Government itself, and in ac-
cordance with them has simply declared that
the people Of a Territory, like those of a
State, Shall decide for themselves srheiher
Slavery shall or shall not erist rithin its
fimits.' @-' +rs"# ''s'
Here is the clear and unequivocal an
nouncement that the people Of Territory
have themselves the right to establish or
prohibit the institution prior to any arrange
ments for State government regardless of
interference from any quarter or by any au-
thority.
In his letter to Mr.. Sanford, dated in ls4s,
and extensively published last year, Mr..
Buchanan said. &
"Having urged the adoption of the Mis-
souri, Compromise, the inference is irresisti-
BILE that Congress, in my opinion, possesses
POUef 10 leglsiate upon the SUBJECT OF sla-
very in the Territories.'
Here he acknowledges himself one of the
original advocates Of this very restriction
which was removed by the Kansas Nebraska
bill, and proclaims the power Of Congress to
legislate upon the subject.
So that, by his own words, sustained by
his own recorded votes and speeches, Con-
gress has the power to prohibit slavery in
the Territories, the resident population have
the power to prohibit or establish it, and the
Constitution Of the United States confers
this power upon. Congress and the people,
and guarantees them in its exercise! And
yet, that any body else ever should have en-
tertained such sentiments for single mo-
ment, seems to him matter IF profound
"& ava >5
Reader! is that not a spectacle for free
men to look upon with equal establishment,
pity and regret? .."