The Kansas herald of freedom. [volume] (Wakarusa, Kan. Territory) 1854-1860, 1858-12-25
Senator pousl.s a, Memphis.

Douglas speech at Memphis, Will be read
with interest 1t is his explanation to
Southern Audience of his Freeport speech,
which has excited good deal of discus
sion and difference of opinion all ever the
country.
, One word more. Several gentlemen
have called on me, and asked me what
meant or thought by this doctrine of pop |
ular sovereignty, as enunciated in my
Freeport speech in Illinois. mean that
| stand by the Constitution as our fathers
made it; by the constituted authorities
as they exist BY the decisions of the Su-
preme Court as they are pronounced.-l
[Applausesl By the decision in the bred
Scott case, it will be found by reading
Chief Justice Taney's decision, that slaves
are decided to be property, on an equal
footing with other property, and that con-
sequently the owners of that species of
property have the same right to take it
into Territory as the owner Of any other
property. Cries of good, and immense
applause The Illinois Democracy ac-
cept that decision as the authoritative ex-
position of the Constitution, and on that
point 1 concur. lCries of "Good,"
"Good"] Now, the question arises, what
is the condition of that property after it
gets into the Territory? You, in the
slaveholding, and we, in the Free States,
whatever our occupation may be, have an
interest in knowing what our legal rights
are when we get there.
believe l said in Freeport that when
you get into the Territory, with your
property on an equal footing with all other
property, it is all subject to the local law
for its protection without reference to the
different character Of it. If you go there
with your horses and mules, whether it
shall be taxed or exempt is question for
the Territorial Legislature. If you go
there with your dry goods, whether you
shall sell without license or be compelled
to get license, is question for the local
Legislature. If you so there with your
liquor, the manner of your selling 1t is
question to be determined by the local
laws. You may say you do not think ii
just for them to discourage one species Of
business for the benefit of another, but
how are you going to help it? l do moi
wish to mislead you by these views. II
you are wise you won't be misled, but
think for yourselves. If your slave prop
erty is not subject to the local law for its
protection, what protection have you go'
for it Suppose the local Legislature dc
not make any slave law at all; suppose
they do not pass any law furnishing {
remedy for the violation of your rights
can you hold your slaves day? Non
actionis exclusion. The omission to fur
nish law protecting property, amounts t
practical exclusion. Is there any lawyer
any well informed man who will contro
vert that proposition ? We suppose tn
local Legislature refuses to make law t.
protect your property, how are you goinI
to compel them to do il? Perhaps the!
will make it and perhaps they will not
l will tell you when they will and whel
they will not. Whenever Territory ha
climate, soil and production making i
the interest of the inhabitants to encourag
slave property, they will pass slave cod
; and give it encouragement.
Whenever the climate, soil and produc
ton precludes the possibility of SLAYER,
being profitable, they willno permit it,
You come right back to the principle O
dollars and cents. / do not care wher
the emigration in the Southern countr
/, comes from; if old Joshua R. Gliding
should raise colony in Ohio, and settl
down in Louisiana, he would be tn
strongest advocate of slavery in the South
! he would find, when he got there, his opin
t ions would be very much modified; b
7 would find on those sugar plantations tina
it was not question between the whit
, man and the negro, but between the negr
and the crocodile.
He would say that between the negr
S and the crocodile, he took the side of tn
t negro. But, between the negro and tn
white man, he would 90 for the whit
: man. The Almighty has drawn the lin
{ on this Continent, on the one side G
: which the soil must be cultivated by slav
/ labor, on the ether by white labor. Tha
g line did not run on thirty-six degrees an
{ thirty minutes, for thirty-six degrees an
S thirty minutes runs over mountains an
e through valleys. But this line meander
t in the sugar fields and plantations of th
: South-(the remainder Of this sentenc
s was lost by the confusion around the Re
n porter.) And the people living in the
i different localities and in the Territories
S must determine for themselves whethe
y their middle bed" is best adapted to sla
r very or free labor.
n Hence, under the Constitution there
); no power to prevent a Southern man &C
q ing there with his slaves, any more than
J. Northern man.
:, His property, when 1t gets there, is sui
J, ject to local law for protection. Their
g will be found in that local Legislator
t power of deciding if they do not want j
i and of encouraging it if they do want i
: 1t is folly for you to entertain visionar
- dreams that you canfx slavery where tn
n people do not want it; and it is equal fol
4 " for the Northern fanatic to think ths
II he can abolish by law where the peopl
It do want it. The people of each localit
e are :he best judges; they will act for the
}, own interests. They wont care whethe
y they are penetrating New England Q
g South Carolina, they will look to the
= own homes and fresides, and the Interest
i of their children and grandchildren, q
+ their own good and the good of posterit
y may require, regardless Of the controvel
n sizes North or South. 1t is no use to dii
o guise the fact-if the people Of a Territor
: want slavery, they will have it; if the
Il don't want il, you can't force it on then
b I am content with the result.
9 " The very neat and commodiot
e church hnilding will lla ready for nccnn,