Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1859-10-21

no person shallebe deprived OF his property
except by due process of law and that
private property shall not be taken for pub
lie use without just compensation. It is
universally agreed that this applies only to
the exercise Of the. power by the Govern
ment Of the United States. We are also
protected against the State governments by
similar provision in the State constitutions.
Legislative robbery is therefore crime
which cannot be committed either BY Con-
gress or by any State Legislature, unless it
be done in fat rebellion to the fundamental
law Of the land"
The close Of the same paragraph shows
why it was important that no attempt should
be made to exercise snch power by Terri
tory:
is it not every way better to wait until
the new Inhabitants know themselves and
one another; until the policy of the Terrific
ry IS settled by some experience; and, above
all, until the powers Of a sovereign State
are regularly conferred upon them and prop
erly limited. SO as to prevent the gross a.
buses which always accompany unrestricted
power in human hands p .
Mr. Douglas certainly read those passa-
ges. for he borrowed phrase from them,
and put it into his own speech. He ought
to have understood them IF he both read
and understood them. why did he allege
that this pamphlet favored the dangerous
heresy referred to? Let the charity which
''thinketh no evip' find the best excuse for
him it can.
That the government Of sovereign State
unrestricted aud unchecked by any consti-
tutional prohibition. would have power to
contiscate private property, even without
compensation to the owner. is proposition
which will scarcely be denied by any one
who has mastered the primer Of political sci
ence. Sovereignty, which is the supreme
authority of an independent State or gov
eminent, is in its nature irresponsible and
absolute. It cannot be otherwise, since it
has no superior by whom it can be called to
account Mere moral distractions or theo-
retic principles Of natural justice do not limit
the legal authority Of sovereign No
government ought to violate justice: but
any supreme government, whose hands are
entirely free, can violate it with impunity
For these reasons it is that the Saxon race
have been laboring, planning, and fighting,
during seven hundred years. for Great Char
tiers, Bills Of Rights. Constitutions to limit
the sovereignty Of all the governments they
have lived under. Our ancestors in the old
country, as well as in America, have wasted
their money and blood in vain to establish
constitutional governments, if it be true
that government without q constitution is
not capable Of doing injustice. They knew
better than that They understood very
well that sovereign government, no mat
ter by whom its power is welded, may 10
what wrong it pleases, and IBID its will a.
vouch the deed"
Now, what is the constitutional prohibi-
tiou which can anywhere be found to re-
strain Popular Sovereignty in the Terri
tories" Git there be such thing there) from
confscating any citizens property? There
is none. A Territory has no constitution
Of its own; and nobody would be absurd e.
nough to say, that it is governed BY the
constitution of another State Will it be
said that the provision in the Fedora Con-
stitution, which forbids the taking of private
property without compensation, can be used
so as to restrain territorial sovereignty
Certainly not The Supreme Court have
decided, Gin Barron os The City of Balti-
more, Peters, 243) that the clause refer
red to applies exclusively to the exercise OF
the power by the Federal Government. The
lule was so laid down by Chief Justice Mar
shall. 1t was concurred in by the whole
Court; and its correctness has ne,er been
denied or doubted by any judge, lawyer, or
statesman from the time of the decision to
this day. If, therefore, there be sover-
eighty in the Territories, il is sovereignty
unlimited by any constitutional iuterdict ~
This implies power in the Territories in
6nitely greater than that Of any ether gov
eminent in all North Anterior.
The simple and easy solution of all this
difficulty is furnished by the Supreme Court,
and adopted by the Democratic party as the
true principle governing the subject It is
this: That the Territories are not sover-
eigptles, but their governments are public
corporations, established by Congress to
manage the local affairs Of the inhabitants,
Ike the government Of city established
by a State legislature Indeed, there is,
probably, no city 10 the United States, whose
powers are not larger than those of Fed
eral Territory. The people Of city elect
their own mayor, and, directly or indirectly
appoint all their municipal officers. But
the President appoints the Chief Executive
of Territory, as well as the judges He
may send them there from anv part of the
Union. anu in point of fact they are gener-
ally strangers to the inhabitants when frs,
chosen. They are in no way responsible to
the Territory Or its people, but to the Fed
eral government alone. and they may be
removed whenever the President thinks
proper. The territorial legislature is some
times (and only sometimes) elected by the
people; but why? Because Congress has
been pleased to permit it BY the organic act.
The power that gives this privilege could
withhold it too 1t is always coupled vitL
restrictions and regulations which could
never be imposed on sovereignty by any
authority except its own. The organic &C,
generally prescribes the qualifications Of
voters, and divides the territory into dis
tricts; and the action Of the legislative body
itself is controlled by the veto power Of a
Governor appointed by the President and
removable at his pleasure. It is too clear
for possible controversy, that a Territory is
not sovereign power, but subordinate
dependency. It cannot deprive man OF
his property without due process of law. or