Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1859-09-23

TO take this position from the fact that they rarely
get any compensation for such advertising, and
when they do are forced to halfpay or nothing
WADDELLS & CO., Prop'rs Of Spectator.
. NICHE CO., Propriesers Of Findicatcr.
Sept. 9, 1854. 49,. sss. n !
Review Of Judge Douglas Article IN
Harpor's Magazine by Judge Black.
We deeply regret that our limited space
forbids us to lay the whole Of this poWerfa
and conclusive document before our read
.ers. The conservative Democracy of the
Union owe an incalculabie debt Of graft.
tude to the distinguished Judge for bis
mastery defence Of the true Democratic
theory, and his crushing and overwhelming
assault upon the squatser sovereignty here
sy and its ndherents. n F9s .
The following extracts which, alone, VIC
consider conclusive refutation Of Mr. Doug
las dogma, and a triumphant yinlication Of
the conservative, property protection theo-
ry, we cannot refrain from publishing, even
at the cost of excluding much Of our cdito-
rial matter IKE .ts p fsl
..The jurists, legislators. and people Of the
Northern States have always sacredly re-
spected the right Of property ia slaves held
by their own jurisdiction. 1t is remarka-
BILE fact, very well worth noticing, that no
Northern State ever passed any law to take
a negro from his master All laws for the
abolition Of slavery have operated only on
the unborn descendants Of the negro race,
and the vested rights of masters have NOT
been disturbed in the North more than ID
the South. ~ '-.
In every nation under Heaven, civilized,
semibarbarous, or savage, where slavery
has existed in any form at all analogous to
ours, the rights Of the masters to the control
of their slaves as property have been respec-
ted; and on no occasion has any government
struck at those rights, except as it would
strike at other property. Even the British
Parliament, when it emancipated the Yves,
India slaves, Though it was legislating for q
people three thousand miles away and not
represented, never denied either the legal
or the natural right of the slave-owner.
Slaves were admitted to be property, and
the Government acknowledged it by paying
their, masters one hundred millions Of dol
lars for the privilege Of setting them free.
Here, ther, Is species Of property
which is Of transcendent Importance to tht
material interests of the South-which th
people of that region think it right and me
ritorious in the eyes Of God and good mel
to hold-which is sanctioned by the gene
ral sense Of all mankind among whom It hal
existed-which was legal only short TIM
ago in all the States of the Union, and was
then treated as sacred by every one Of then
which is guaranteed to the owners as much
as any other property is guaranteed by the
Constitution; and Mr.. Douglas thinks that
Territorial Legislature is competent TO taxi
itaway. We say, No; the supreme legis
latiye power of a sovereign State alone car
deprive man of his property. ,r
This proposition is oplain, so we'll estab
lished, and so universally acknowledged
that any argument in its favor would be &
mere waste of words. Mr.. Douglas does
not deny it, and it did not require the thou.
sandth part of his sagacity to see that it wa.
undeniable. He claims for the Territorial
Governments the right Of confscating pri.
vate property on the ground that those goo.
ernments ARE sooercign-haye an uncontrol
liable and independent power over all their
internal affairs. That is the point which he
thinks is to split the Democracy and impale
the nation 2; But it is so entirely erroneous,
that it must vanish into thin air as soon al
il comes to be examined. .f 81 4s.s
3 Territorial Government is merely provi-
sionah and temporary. It is created by
Congress for the necessary preservation OF
order and the purposes ofpolice. The pow.
ers conferred upon it are expressed in ths
organic act, which is the charter of its exis.
tence, and which may be changed or reYea.
led at the pleasure ofCongress In most o.
those acts the power has been expressly re-
served to Congress of revising the Terrific.
rial laws, and the power to repeal them ex.
lists without such reservation. This was
asserted in the case Of Kansas by tie most
distinguished Senators in the Congress Of
1856. The President appoints the Cover
nor, judges, and all other officers whose ap-
pointment is not otherwise provided for, di-
rectly or 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 sover-
eighty about them The essence of sove-
reignty consists in having no superior
But Territorial Government has supe.
rior in the United States Government. upon
whose pleasure it is dependent for its very
existence-in whom it lives, and moves,
and has it's being-who has made and can
unmakc it with q breath. ag.
Where doesthisssovereign authority to de-
prive' Rsen of there property come FROM?
This transeendent power, which even des-
pots are cautious about using, and which a
constitutional monarch never exercises -how
does it get into Territorial Legislature p
Surely it does not drop from the clouds : it
will not be contended that it accompanies
the settlers, or exists in the Territory be-
fore its organization. Indeed it is not to
the people, but to the government Of a Ter
ritory, that Mr.. Douglas says it belongs.-
Then Congress must give the power at the
same tirae that it gives the Territorial Gov
eminent. But not word of the kind is to
be found in any organic act that ever was
framed. It is thus that Mr.. Douglass ar
gument runs itself out into nothing.
But if Congress aoould pass statute ex-
pressly to, give this sort of power to the Ter
ritoriala governments, they still would rot
have it for the Federal Government itself
does moi, nosseas auy control over mem nrnn