East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1859-09-29

following reasons for pehevlng that Mr douglas N IN
error
The Supreme Court has decided that Territorial
/ Legislature has not the power which he claims for IT,
That alone ought TO be sufficient There can be no
law order security for any mans rights unless the
judicial authority of the country be upheld. Mr..
Douglas may do what he plcases with political Con-
ventions and party platforms but trust he will give
to the Supreme Court at least that decent respect
which none but the most ultra Republicans have yet
| withheld.
The right Of property Is sacred, and the first object
of all human government is to make IL secure. Life
is always unsafe where property is not fully protect
ed This is the experience of every people ON earth,
ancient and modern. To secure private property was
a principal object Of Magma Charta. Charles l. af-
terwards attempted to violate it, but tho people
upon him, dragged him TO the block and severed his
head from his body. AT a still later period another
monarch for kindred offence was driven out OF tho
country and died fugitive and an outcast Our own
Revolution provoked by that slight invasion upon
the right Of property which consisted in the exaction
Of trhing tax. There is no government in tho
world however absolute which would not be disgraecd
and endangered by wantonly sac iicng private prop
erty even to small extent For centuries past such
outrages have ceased TO be committed in times Of
| peace among civilized nations.
Slaves regarded as property in the Southern
States. The people of that section buy and SELL and
carry all their business, provide for their families,
and make their wills and divide their inhcritanccs
that assumption. IL is manifest TO all who know them
that doubts their minds about tho right
fulness of holding such property. They believe they
have direct warrant for It, not only in the examples
Of the best men that ever lived but in the precepts
of Divine revelation itself; and they thoroughly
satisfied that the relation of master and slave is the
only which can possibly exist there between the
white and the black race without running both. The
people of the North may differ from their fellowcit
zens of the South the whole subject but knowing,
as all do that these sentiments are sincerely aud
honestly entertained, cannot wonder that they
feel the most unspeakable Indignation when any at
H. t.-f. rf.,ht
sentiment results naturally and necessarily from their
education and habits of thinking. They cannot help
| it, any than an honest man in the North can
| avoid abhorring thief or house breaker.
The jurists Legislators and people of the Northern
States have always sacrcdy respected the rights of
property in slaves held by their citizens within
their own jurisdiction. Ii IL remarkable fact, very
well worth noticing, that Northern State
| passed any law TO take negro from his master. All
laws for the abolition of slavery have operated only
the unborn descendants OF the negro race, and the
vested rights Of masters have not been disturbed in
the North more than in the South.
In every nation under Heaven, civilized, sem-har-
barous, savage where slavery has existed in any
form at all analogous to ours, the rights Of the
ters TO the control of their slaves property haye
been respected and on no occasion has any Govern
ment struck at those rights, except il would strike
mt other property Even the British Parliament when
il emancipated the West India slaves, though IL
legisating for n people three thousand miles away
and not represented denied either the legal
the natural right of the slave Slaves were
admitted to be property, and the Government ac-
knowledged il by paying their masters one hundred
millions Of dollars for the privilege Of setting them
free.
Here, then, is specie of property which is Of tram
scendent Importance y the material interests Of the
South-whch the people nf that think il right
and mertorous in the eyes of God and good men to
hold-whch is sanctioned by the general sense of all
mankind among whom il has existed-which was le-
gal only short time ago in all the States of the Un
fl,At H.
| them-whch is guaranteed TO the owner as much as
any other property is guaranteed by the Constitution
and Mr. Douglas thinks that Territorial Legislature
Is competent to take II away We say No; the SUI
preme Legislative power Of n sovereign State alone
can deprive man Of his property.
This proposition Is so plain, so well established and
so universally acknowledged that any argument in
lis favor would bo waste of words. Mr.. Doug
las does not deny it, and IL did not require the thou
sandth part OF his sagacity to see that was undcn
able He claims for the Territorial governments tho
right of confscating private property the ground
that those governments ARE sorersign-hayo
controlable and independent power over all their In
ternal affairs. That is the point which he thinks s
to split tho Democracy and impale the nation. But
II is so entirely erroneous, that IL must vanish into
thin air as soon as IL comes to be examined.
| Territorial government is merely provisional and
temporary 1t i created by Congress for the neces-
snry preservation Of order and the purposes Of police
The powers conferred upon expressed in the
ganic act which is the charter Of its existence, and
which may be changed repealed at the pleasure Of
Congress. In most Of those acts the power has been
expressly reserved to Congress of revising the Terri
toria laws, and the powerto repeal them exists with
out such reservation. This asserted in the
Of Kansas by the most distinguished Senator'S in tho
Congress of 1856 The President appoints the Cover
nor Judges and all other officers whose appointment
il not otherwise provided for directly Indirectly
by Congress Even the expenses of the Territorial
government are paid out of the Federal Treasury
The truth is they have no attribute of sovereignty
about them. The essence Of sovereignty consists in
! having no superior. But Territorial government
has superior in the United States Government upon
whose pleasure il is dependent for its very existence
l lin whom it lives, and moves, and has its being
who has made and unmake II with brslth
| Where does thissovcregn authority TO deprive mon
Of their property 'front.' This transccndent
power which even dcspots cautions about using,
and which constitutional monarch never exercises
how does il get into Territorial Legislature ,
Surely 1t docs not drop from the clouds 1t will not be
concndcd that IL accompanies the settlers or exists in
the Territory before its organization. Indeed IL s
not 10 the people, but 10 the government of Terri
tory that Mr.. Douglas says il belongs. Then Con-
gress must give tho power at the same timc that II
gives the Territorial government. But nota word OF
the kind Is TO be found 10 any organic act that
| was framed II Is thus that Mr.. Douglass argument
| runs itself out into nethng.
But if Congress would pass statute expressly 10
give this sort OF power 10 the Territorial governmcntr
they stu would not have IL for the Federal Govern
mont itself does not possess any control mems
property in tho Territories. That such power docs
not exist in the Federal Government noeds no proofs
Mr. Douglas admits il fully and freely. Itis besides
established by the solemn decision of Congress- by the
| by the assent of the Executive and by the direct
ratification Of the people acting in their primary cap
acty al the polls In addition 10 all this, tho SUI
prcmc Court have deliberately adjudgcd il 10 he
unalterablc and undeniabe rule Of Constitutional
| law.
This acknowledgment that Congress has power
authority or jurisdiction the subject, literally
obliges Mr. Douglas to give up his doctrine else TO
maintain it by asserting that power which the Fed-
| oral Government does not possess may bo efren bg
Congress 10 lte Territorial government. The right
| 10 abolish African slavery in Territory sDot grant
ed Ivy the Constitution TO Congress; n is withheld
and therefore the same IL expressly prohibited
Yet Mr. Douglas declares that Congress may give II
to the Territories. Nays he goes further, and says
that the rant of the power in Congress Is tho very
reason why Il can dclsgatc it-thc general rule, In
his opinion, being that Congress capnot delegate tho
power II possesses but may delegate such, "and only
SUCH az Congress cannot exercise under the Constitu
tion p ny turning to pages $40 and 52l the reader
will see that this astounding proposition Is actually
made not in Jest or irony, but solcmnly. seriously
and no doubt In perfect good faith. On this prlnci
pie MS Congress cannot exercise the power 10 make
an er posi- facfo law or law impalring the obiiga-
tion Of contracts therefore may authorize such laws
10 be made blythe Town Councils Of Washington city,
or the Levy Court of the District IL Congress passes
nm act n hang man without trial u is void and the