The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-12-02
NO. 622.
norGLAs DENOUNCED BY DAVIS.

DOTGLAS DENOUNCED By DAVIS
IN MS speech at Jackson on the 18th ult.,
-I..gbere commented on, Senator Davis reads
u, Douglas out of the Democratic :" ranks,
oh Is little ceremony as he would brush away
r,osouito. In our notice of the speech, we
Lo,a omitted any reference to this portion of it,
3 rho reason that we were not willing to i'm
LA in the middle of a long article matter
e .pch piquant and pithy interest. We cordi-
m, commend the following extract to the en-
,basiastic friends of Judge Douglas.
We must say that Mr.. Davis is as unsuccess-
81 IN defending his consistency in this instance,
go have elsewhere shown him to be in his
.r.1ance to the Union. But that is of no sort
...anseouence. He is an able and a determined
man and will brave it out, right or wrong, as
!. and his party have done in the case of the
infamous Lecompton fraud.
Ne think that Mr.. Douglas was warranted in
,I.eipg the construction he did upon Mr.. Davis's
p,rtand speech, which he enormously supposed
- have been made at Bangor; and the expla1
nation given by Mr.. Davis removes any doubt
,rb;rb the language of the extract might
r;r, rise to. Indeed, we never read or heard
= more unfortunate explanation. He states
that his attention had been called by his Dem
o-r,tic friends to the "delusion practiced on the
,..ople of Maine, by which many were led to be-
Ijere that there was a purpose on the part of
me South, through the Government of the
United States, to force !Slarery not only into
n, Territories, but also into the non-slavehold-
I'M, States of the Union To counteract this
~Jqlusion,' Mr. Davis assured them that
though the right TO carry slaves into the Ter
r.,yres would remain, the remedy being with
held. il would follow that the owner would be
Practically debarred, by the circumstances of
The case, from taking STARE property into a Ter
rito,g. rIere the sense Of the Inhabitants ,oas
unused 10 its introduction. So much for the
oti1epcated .talIacy Of forcing !SLace,y upon
aag community
There can be no mistaking the purport of
,hi. language, as explained by Mr.. Davis him
.rIf But to the speech. He said:
e. have been represented as having advocated
.,auatter sovereignty in speech made at
Bangor, in the State of Maine. A paragraph
mas been published, purporting to be an extract
from that speech, and vituperative criticism and
forced construction have exhausted themselves
upon il, with deductions which are considered
authorized, because they are not denied in the
paragraph published.
In this case as in that of the charge in rela-
ton to nv position in 1852, there is no record
gih which to answer. never made a speech
q, Bangor; and fair mind would have sought
for the speech, to see how far the general con-
text explained the paragraph, before indulging
IN hostile criticism.
Senator Douglas, in a speech at Alton,
adopting the paragraph published, and evidently
drawing his opinion from the unfair construction
shich had been put upon it, claims to quote from
d speech made by me at Bangor, to sustain the
position taken BY him at Freeport. He says:
on will find in a.recent speech, delivered
ly that able and eloquent statesman, Hon. JEFF
iersOn Davis, at Bangor, Maine, that he took
the same view Of this subject that did in, my
Freeport speech. He there said: q q
40" If the inhabitants of any Territory should
refuse to enact such laws and police regulations
a. would give security to their property and his,
il would be rendered more or less valueless in
proportion to the difficulty of holding it without
such protection. In the case of property in the
hDor Of a man, orwhat is usually called slave
property the insee urity would be SO great that
the owner could non ordinarily retain it. There.
fore, though the right would remain, the remedy
bemg withheld, it would follow that the owner
quld be practically debarred, by the crcum-
Stances of the case, from taking slave property
my Territory where the sense of the inhabit-
ant was opposed to its introduction. So much
Tor The oft-repeated fallacy of forcing Slavery
upon any community.
" II is fair to suppose, if the Senator had
lnown where to find the speech from which this
extract was taken, that he would have examined
before proceeding to make such use of it.
And can but believe, if he had taken the para
graph, free from the distortion which it had un-
arrsone from others, that he must have seen it
bor. no Similitude to his position at Freeport,
sai could give no countenance to the doctrine
be then announced. He there said:
The next question Mr.. Lincoln propounded
70 lie is Can the people of Territory exclude
SaHery from their limits by any fair means be-
iIt It comes into the Union as State ?" |
answer emphatically, as Mr.. Lincoln has heard
ne answer hundred times, on every stump in
Illinois. that, in my opinion, the people of a Ter
ricTy can, by lawful means, exclude Slavery be-
brr ii comes in as a State. Cheers. Mr.. Lin
c1n knew that | had given that answer over and
oyfr again He heard me argue the Nebraska
tI on that principle all over the State, in 1854,
ana 90, and SO, and he has now no excuse to
IT'eud TO have any doubt upon that subject.
whatever the Supreme Court may hereafter de!
on no OH Of hath
slavery NAV 60 in under the Constitution or
iol the people of a Territory have the lawful
means to admit or exclude ii as they please, for
iae reason that Slavery cannot exist day or an
L0uT anywhere unless supported by local police
Tegulatons furnishing remedies and means of
thiorclng the right of holding slaves. Those
'1cai and police regulations can only be furnish
60 10y the local Legislature. If the people of
'!T Territory are opposed to Slavery, they will
sect members to the Legislature who will adopt
4.rirendly legislation to it. If they are for It.
ufy Will adopt the legislative measures friendly
10 Slavery, Hence, no matter what NAV be the
1ecslon OF the Supreme Court on that abstract
Question still the right of the people TO make it
save Territory or a free Territory is perfect
ana complete under the Nebraska bill. hope
NJ; Lincoln will deem my answer satisfactory
On his point
- Inns Is the distinct assertion of the power
o. ierritorial Legislation to admit or exclude Sla
very; OF the first in the race of migration who
.each Territory, the common property of the
people Of the United States, to enact laws for the
H.'uS'oh OF other JOINT owners Of the Territory
.o may IN the exercise of their equal right to
,b ,el The common property, choose to take with
S mem property recognised by the Constitution,
IL T.. no' acceptable to the first emigrants to the
t ignfriory That Senator had too often and too
discussed with me the question of squatter
reielgniy, to be justified in thus misstating
a. plnion' The difference between us is as wide
~ n'a' OF one who should assert the right to
,r m rom him who admitted the power. II is
rsoT;s ~ | stated it at that time, all property
Of NJ protection from the society in the midst
cans neh IT is held This necessity does not
aiEr s a night to destroy, but rather creates an