The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1858-11-25

In witness whereof, have -hereunto subscribed
| my name and caused the Great Seal of
! LIS. the State to be affixed at the Capitol in
| Lansing, this twentieth day of October
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and ffty-eght
| ct.na By the Governor, f-sf 81
| i, q. KINSLEY S. BINGHAM. !.
JoHs McKISSEr, Secretary Of State.
A New Move.-The south not yet Salts.
| fed. ai1 -,
The position assumed by Senator
Douglas, during the late contest in
Illinois, while attempting to reconcile
his endorsement of the bred Scott de-
cision, with the doctrine of Popular
Sovereignty, when it became apparent
that both could not occupy the same
platform, has excited in the slave-hold-
ers new train of thought, and they
have come TO the conclusion that there
is flaw in the great conspiracy
against freedom. Douglas held that,
although the bred Scott decision vir-
tually opened the doors of the Terrific
ries to slavery, yet the right thus Sc
cured to the STAKEHOLDER was barren
one, from the fact, that slave property,
to be valuable, must have the protec-
ton of the local law, and that slave
holders were dependent upon the ter
ritorial legislature for such law, and
that if the Legislature was anti-slavery,
lit could refuse to pass such law.
When this doctrine was promulgated
by the anti-Lecompton portion of the
j Democracy, and heralded far and
wide by the advocates of popular SOW
reignty, it at once became evident to
the shareholders that there was a
screw loose somewhere. That the re-
peal of the compromise of 1920, the
specious doctrine Unpopular sovereignty,
the enactments of the Border Ruffian
Legislature, and finally the bred Scott
decision had not made it actually GER
tain that the free Territories could be
converted into slave States, or even
made safe slave territories. Here, then
was dilemma. What should be done?
In this emergency it became evident
that there was necessity for slave
!, code to protect slavery after it was
once introduced into the territories.
In the advocacy of such code, two
, classes of opinion found expression.
: One side, represented by the Washing
ton Union, concluded that it was the
duty of the Territorial legislature to
|, pass a slave code. But there are a
} great many duties which are never
enforced, and never can be, and hence
when this question assumed practical
Importance, it was very readily seen
i that ifa Territorial legislature refused
to pass such code, that would be an
end oft There could be no way of
compelling them. The Union was
hampered by its adhesion to popular
sovereignty, slim as that was. The
Government organ soon appreciated
its dilemma, and hence, few days
since published an article repudiating
the whole doctrine of popular sovereign
lty. 1t "utterly negatives the idea
that there is any original jurisdiction
or legislative authority in the territory"
and asserts "that all authority therein is
0lericatice, coming from aoithout, and
not in its inhabitants or tribunal
And says.
"Thus we have explored the source
of the dogma of squatter sovereignty
and tracing the progress of each terri
tory of this Union, we have seen that
dogma negatived in every act of its
history. We have seen that sovereignty
in the Territory cannot come from the
individual squatter. We have seen
that it does come from, and does re-
side in, during every hour of the exist
ence of the Territory, different an
tagonistic source; that is to say, from
and in Congress representing the Un-
ion at large, under the federal consti-
tuition.
i We regard with unspeakable con-
tempt all efforts to prove that the Ne
lbraska-Kansas act, or any other terri
torial act ever passed by Congress con-
[tains scintilG of this doctrine, or
gives wink or blink of countenance to
lit. 1t has seemed to us that to assert
that the dogma, is recognized in any
word of the act is as preposterous as to
!, assert that fire is ice, or black is white. /"
/ After putting forth these views re-
pudiating "squatter sovereignty" the
Union copied the article which we
give below, from the Richmond En-
quirer, and fully endorsed it. s-.-
On the other hand, the Richmond
Enquirer, early favored the enactment
by Congress of federal slave code for
the territories, and particularly found
the necessity for such a code in the
exposition by Senator Douglas above