The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1858-10-13
aflilstsIlaneous.
1.-THE True Intent and Mean
ing - OF Douglas FreepOrt
Speech.

Except his opposition to the Lecomp-
ton Constitution, no incident in the career
of Senator Douglas created more surprise
than his exposition of the modes in which
Che people of a territory may abolish sla-
very. The most devoted adherents of
Popular Sovereignty were staggered at
an Interpretation of that doctrine, which
elevated it above the constitution, as ex-
pounded by the bred Scott decision.--
To the uninitiated. among whom we
class ourselves, it wore the lineaments of
the doctrines of a higher law than the SUI
preme law of the land. Reasoning by an
alogy, it was at once perceived that if the
people Of territory could legitimately
defeat and nullify the constitution of the
United States, the people ola State could
do it with at least equal propriety. 1.-THE
Territory of Kansas, for instance, by un-
friendly legislation could abolish slavery,
or any other institution guaranteed by
the supreme law, South Carolina by the
same means, could nullify the revenue
rights of the Federal Government, and
Massachusetts, render the fugitive slave
nugatory. 1t is no answer to this to say
that notification is a prevalent doctrine
| in South Carolina and Massachusetts,
When the sovereignty Of the States tram
sends the sovereignty of the United Sta
ties, Federal Government is impossible.
Such a form Of government can only be
maintained by maintaining the suprema-
cy of the federal laws. But the Consti-
tuition is more sacred than an act Of Con-
gress, and it is the Constitution itself
which Territorial Legislatures according
to Senator Douglas, might defeat and
render nugatory by unfriendly legislation.
He seemingly ascribod q higher soyer-
eighty to the territories W ich are the
mere creatures of the Federal Govern
ment, than Calhoun did to States, which
are the original sources whence the pow
ers of the Federal Government are deriv-
| ed. The sovereignty of the States as inn
piled in the dogma that they possess a
right to nullify the laws of Congress and
secede from the Union, would be q soy
ereignty incompatible with the existence
of the Federal Republic; but the Terrific
rial or squatter sovereignty acknowledged
by Douglas in his Freeport speech, was
apparently the most radical and revolu-
tionarv form of that doctrine which has
yet been proclaimed. We decline to pur
sue the argument to all its logical conse-
quences. Suffice it to say that it seemed
the most odious embodiment Of higher
law, that it contemplated an appeal from
the Supreme Court, to "tumultuous town
meetings,"-to use Douglas own Ian
guage-and that it was an ascript;on of
sovereignty and supremacy to mobocra-
cy. So it seemed, and SO it was under
stood. $50
But new light is thrown or the sub
iect by the Richmond Enquirer, in an
editorial article which will be found in
our editorial columns this morning. 1t
will be remembered that the Richmond
journal calls for Federal Slave Code for
the Territories, and insists that the nom
inee ofthe Charleston Convention shall
be pledged to that measure. The same
condition is proposed by other pro-slayery
journals, and the presumption is that it
will be the next ultimatum of the slavery
.propagal d. Douglas has been strenu-
ously supported through his canvas by
the Enquirer. That journal has con-
stautly interposed in his favor, since his
anti-Lecompton rebellion. 1t has done
all in its power to prevent his being I'M
churched by tie angry elders of his par
ty. 1t is the organ of the Douglas Wise
Walker coalition for the succession in Is
go. Douglas has been announced by the
central organ ofhis party in Illinois as a
candidate for the nomination at the Char
| leston Convention. The revelations of
the ENQUIRER exhibit the platform and
the mana Federal Code for the Terri
tories and Douglas. Thus will the anti
Lecompton men regain the votes of the
South, and wrest the inside track from
Buchanan, Hunter, Davis, Toombs, and
the rest of that faction. The Freeport
speech was preliminary to this move
ment. Douglas has foreshadowed in that
speech, the terms which be will concede
to the South, if they give him the nomi-
nation for the Presidency. In the Ian
guage Of the Enquirer, ''Ho has come
forward boldly to point out to Southern
men the exact locality and nature of the
nuisance to which they are subjected