The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1858-08-21


9 ton Of judicial authority; and therefore |
! add something to the authority in favor Of
my own position. wish to show that | am
, sustained by authority. in addition to that
, heretofore presented. | do not expect to
, convince the Judge. 1t is part of the plan
Of the campaign, and he will cling to it with
a desperate grip. Even, turn it upon him
turn the sharp point against him, and gaif
, him throug gh-hc will still cling to it ill he
can invent some new dodge to take the place
, it.
In public speaking it is tedious reading
from documents; but must beg to indulge
the practice to limited extent. | shall
read from letter written by Mr.. Jefferson
i'll 1920. and now 10 be found in the sevent b
} volume Of his correspondence, at page III.
1t seems he had been presented by a gen.
tleman of the name of Jarvis with book.
or essay, or periodical, called the ''Repub-
ilcan,' and he was writing in acknowledge
: ment Of the present, and noting some Of its
contents. After expressing the hope that
the work will produce favorable effect up
on the minds of the young, he proceeds to
say:
"That it will have this tendency, may be
expected, and for that reason, feel an ur-
gcncy to note what deem an error in it,
strengthened by that of many others. You
seem in page 81 and l4S, to consider the
Judges as the ultimate arbters of all con-
-titutiona! qucstions-avery dangerous doc
trine indeed, and one which would place us
under TIE dcspotsm of an oligaichv. Our
Judges are as honest as other men, and not
more so. They have, with others, the same
passions tor party, Tor power, ard the priv
lloge of their corps. Their maxim is. ''bOni
ludicls est amplare .lurisdlctlonem:' and
their power is more dangerous as they are
In othce for life, and not responsible as 9TH
er functionarics are, to the elective control.
The Constitution has erected no such single
tribunal, knowing that to whatever hands
confided. with the corruptions of time and
party, its members would become dcspots.
1t has more wisely made all the departments
CO. equal and co-sovereign within them
scives.''
Thus we see the power claimed for the
Supreme Court, by Judge Douglas, Mr..
Jefferson holds, would reduce us to the dcs-
pOtism of an olgarchy.
Now, have said no more than this--in
fact. never quite so much as ths-at least
am sustained by Mr.. jefferson.
Let US 60 a little futther. You remember
we once had Il national bank. Some one
owed the bank debt; he was sued and
sought to avoid payment, on the ground
that the bank was unconstitutional. The
case went to the Supreme Court. and there
in, it was decided that the bank was con-
stitutional. The whole Democratic party re-
voIted against that decision. General Jack
son himself asserted that he, as President.
would not be bound to hold national
bank TO be constitutional. even though the
/ hat jnl - 70 hn l., F,ll
precisely with the view of Mr.. jefferson. and
acted upon it under his official oath, in ve-
toing charter for Il national bank. The
declaration that Congress does not possess
this constitutional power to charter bank
has gone into the democratic platforms. at
their national conventions. and was brought
forward and reatirmCd in their last Convcn-
ton 1T Cincinnati. They have c0ntcndod
for that declaration, in the very teeth OF the
Supreme Court. for more than Il Quarter Of
a century. In fact, they have reduced the
decision to an absolute nulIlty. That de-
cISlon, repeat, is repudiatcd in the Cincin-
natl platforms: and still, as if TO show that
"hronterv can 60 no farther. Judge Doug
ias vaunts in the very speeches in which he
drnouncrs me for opposing the Dred Scott
decision, that he stands on the Cincinnati
platform.
Now, wish to know what the Judge can
charge upon me, with respect to decisions
Of the Supreme Court which does not lie in
all Its length, breadth, and proportions at
his door. The plain truth is simply this :
Judge Douglas is for Supreme Court dccis-
IONS, when he likes them. and against them
when he does not like them. He is for the
Died Scott decision because it tends to
nauonalizc slavery-hccause it is part of
the original combination for that object
1t 50 happens, sIn2ularly enough, that
never stood opposed to any Of the Supreme
Court decisions till this. On the contrary,
have no recollection that he was ever partic-
uar'y in favor of one TIL this. lie never was
in favor Of any, nor Iorpo>cd to any, till the
present one, which helps to nationtlize slave
ry.
Free men of Snngamon-~frcc men of
lllnois--free men rywhere-- jutsc yc
between him and me, upon this issue.
He says this bred Scott case is very
small matter at most-that it has no rracti-
cal etFcct-that At best. or rather suppose,
at worst, it is but an abstraction. ! submit
chat the proposition that the thing which
determines whether d man is free or a slave.
* rather concrete than ob&frGd. think
Won would conclude that it was. if your
liberty d,pcndcd upon it, and so would
Judge Douglas if his liberty depended upon
1t. Bat suppose it was on the question: Of
spreading slavery over the new territories
that he considers it as being merely an ab-
stract matter, and one of no practical im-
portance. How has the planting of slavery
in new countries always been effected 1t
las no" been decided that slavery cannot
LC kept out of our new territories bv any
LEGAL means. lii what does sour new terri
tories now differ in this respect, from the
Old colonies when slavery WAS first planted
within them 1t was as AIr. Clay once
declared. and as history proves true, by
individual men in spite Of the wishes of the
people the mother government refusing to
prohibit it, and Withholding from the people
Of the colonies the authority to prohibit 1t
for themselves. Mr.. Clay says this was one
of the great and Just causes of complaint
against Great Britain by the colonies, and
the hest apology we can now make for hav-
ing the institution amongst us. In that
precise condition our Nebraska politicians
have at last'succecded in placing our own
new territories the government will not
prohibit slavery within them, nor allow the
people to prohibit it.
defy any man to find any difference be-
tween the policy which originally planted
slavery in these colonies and that policy
which now prevails in our own new Terrific
rics. If it does not 90 into them, it is be-
cause nc individual wishes it to 20. The
Judge INDUCED himself, doubtless, to-day,
with the question rs to what am gurng to
DO with or about the Drcd Scott iccision.-
Well, Judge, will YOU please tell me wha.
you did about the Bank decision? Will
you not graciouslv allow MS to do with the
! Dred Scott decision precisely as you did
with the Bank decision? You succeeded
in breaking down the moral effect of that
decision; did you find it necessary to afnend
the Constitution or to set up a court of
negroes to- do it?
There is one ether point. Judge Douglas
has very affectionate leaning towards the
Americans and old Wings. Last evening,
in 4 sort of weeping tone, he described TO
us ieath bed scene. lie had been called
to the side of Mr. Clay, in his last moments,
in ordor that the genius of 'popular sovc-
reignty might duly descend from the dying
man and settle unon him. the liyin- and