The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1858-09-03
Dousla. Defines His po.,,,ou.

Douglas Defines His Posftf0n.
In the discussion at Freeport, ON the 18th
ult, Mr.. Douglas distinctly defined his posi-
ton upon four important issues, in the fol-
I lowing answers to the interrogatories of Mr..
Lincoln, his opponent;
/ KANSAS RIGHT TO ADMISSION.
First lie desires To know whether. if the
! people OF Kansas shall form Constitution
/ by means entirely proper and unob-ction-
able, and ask for admission a. State before
/ they have the requisite population for n
member of Congress, whether | will vote
for the admission. Well, even regret ex-
/ eeedingly that when he put that interrova-
/ tory 60 me, that he did not first answer il
| himself, instead of leaving Us to infer which
! side he was on. Gentlcmcn. Mr. Trumbull
during the last session Vt Congress, voted.
/ from beginning to end, against the admission
OF Oregon into the Union, although free
State, because she had not The requisite pop-
ulation. Mr.. rrumbull is in the field fight
in. tor Mr.. Liiicoln. would like to have
Mr.. Lincoln answer his own question. and
tell me whether he is fighting Trumbull on
that issue or not, but | will answer hisaucs-
| tons.
/ In my opinion, whenever Kansas has
people enough 10 constitute slave State
she has people enough for Il free State.
will not make any exception of Kansas To-
/ the other States of the Union. hold il 10
be sound rule of universal application TO
require Territories To contain the requisite
/ population for n member of Congress before
they come into the Union. made that
| proposition in the Senate in 1856. | re-
ncwed II in the Senate during the last
session, by bill providing that no Terrific
! ~ Of the United STATES should form A con-
s,itution and apply to the Union until it
had the requisite population. Congress did
| not adopt my general rule, requiring all the
/ Territories 10 have that amount of popula-
ton before they should come into the Union
but did make an exception Of Kansas and
( applied tine rule to Kansas alone. will
not stand by that exception. GApplause.
1 Either Kansas must come i'm the same aS
any other State, with whatever population
she may have, or the rule must be applied
to all the other States alike. | therefore
answer nj once, it having been decided that
Kansas has enough for "a slave State. hold
she has enough for free State Applause. |
| hope Mr.. Lincoln il satisfied on this uues-
| ton.
CAN 4 TERRITORY ENCLUDE SLAVERY?
The next question Mr.. Lincoln propound-
ell TO me is: "Can the people of II Terri
tory exclude slavery from their limits by any
fair means, before II comes into the Union as
a State ] answer emphaticnlly, AZ Mr.
| Lincoln has heard me answer u hundred
times, on every stump III Illinois, that in
my opinion the people of Territory can.
by lawful means, exclude slavery before il
comes in as a State. Cheers. Mr. Lin
coin knew that J had given that answer
over and over again. He heard me argue
the Nebraska bill on that principle, all over
the State in 1894 ) and q, and he has now
no excuse to pretend 10 have any doub,
upon that subject. Whatever the Supreme
Court may hereafter decide as To the alb
>tract question of whether slavery shall -gc
i'm under the Constitution or not. the peopl,
of Territory have the lawful means to ad.
init / or exclude It as they please. for TN,
reason that slavery cannot cxis; dav or an
hour anywhere, unless supported by loca
police regulations furnishing remedies am
means of enforcing the right to bold slaves
he furnished by local legislature. If thC
people of The Territory are opposed to slave
~ they will elect members To the Legis
lature who will adopt unfriendy Legislation
: to it. If they arc for it they will adopt IN,
legislative measures friendly to slavery. =
Hence. no matter what may be the decision
OF the Supreme Court on that abstract qucS
ton, still the right of the people to make j
slave Territory or a free Territory is per
. feet and complete under the Nebraska bill
| hope Mr.. Lincoln will deem my anSwc
satisfactory on this point.
THE ACQUISITION on FOREIGN TERRITORY.
The fourth question is Are you in favol
Of acquiring more territory, without rcgar,
to how it may affect the country on tn
+, slavery question That question is YER
ingeniouely and cunningly put. The Blac
Republican party, in their creed laid dow
the proposition that under no circumstance
:, would we acquire any more territory, ml
less slavery should be first prohibited in TN
country. | asked Mr. Lincoln, Are Won i
favor of that proposition Are you again.
: any further acquisition Of territory und,
: any circumstances, unless slavery is Pre-
hibited That he didn't like 10 answer.
:, ask him if he stands up To that article in til
=" platform. and he turns around, Yankee fasl
ion, and, without answering il himself, ash
me Are You opposed to admitting a sla,
territory answer him that, whenever
becomes necessary for our growth and pr
in greSs To acquire more territory, ann for
r without reference to the question of SLAYER,
and when we have got il, that we leave d
:. people in the territory free TO do the
please-either to make slave territory
a free territory, just they choose. Al
plause.
>. TEAvEL--The indianapolis Citizen say
" "travel on all the railroads centerinc in IN