The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1859-09-17
The Administrator Reply to
Douglas' Essay.

The Washington Constellation publishes
Attorney General Blacks reply to Douglas
article in Harper. The Administration re-
view of Douglas article was drawn up by
the Attorney General and revised by the
President both of whom expended all their
literary, legal, and historical acumen upon
it; but not being quite satisfied with their
joint production, they sent for Bennett OF
the New York Herald, to give 1t the benefit
of a squint, and of last revision. After
all this preparation, it was expected that
the Little Giant would be crushed by the
irresistible power of the famous manifesto,
shot forth with such tremendous intellectu-
al forces. But the explosion has passed,
and the Giant lives : = zV4S
II is said to be a weak and labored attempt
to refute, by threadbare arguments, Mr.. Bu-
chsnan's own declaration of doctrines, con-
tanned in his letter accepting the Cincinnati
nomination in 1856, in which he said that
1.-THE people of Territory, like those of
STATE. should decide for themselves whether
slavery should or should not exist in their
limits, is not only an unsound but "a treasona-
BILE doctrine. The idea of the reviewer is,
that the people of Territory, during the
existence Of the Territorial condition, have
no power whatever over the slavery ques-
ton, and that all the volumes that have
been written and spoken by Northern and
Southern Democrats in defence of their
right to form and regulate their domestic
institutions" is all an error and a sham.
The review comedies that when State
Constitution is framed in Territory, its
inhabitants may give expression to their
wishes in regard 10 the character of the in
stitutions which are to exist among them,
but not before, either directly or indirectly
and thus it proposes to overthrow the whole
theory upon which the Nebraska bill was
originally defended by its advocates in the
Northern States; for there is, perhaps, not
n man who has not heard and seen it an
nounced, from the stump and from the
Democratic press, hundreds and thousands
of times. that the whole aim of the Demo-
cratic party was to prevent Congress from
compelling the people Of Territory to main
tain slavery in their midst, or having it pro-
hibited by any power existing outside OF
their own boundaries, but to leave them
free TO decide by their own action the char
acter of their institutions. AL the reviews
in the world will not wash from popular
recollection the clear position of the Demo-
cratic party, after the Nebraska bill was
framed, and in the campaignof 1856. The
article is full Of pettifogging quibbles, I'M
worthy Of statesman who undertakes to
discuss greatconstitutional principle. Eve
ny one who reads it will be impressed with
the conviction that, il the Administration
could not make better defence of their po-
sltion than this has proved to be, they had
much better have remained silent. The
whole controversy turns upon the relations
Of the Territories TO the general Govern.
ment. Douglas contends that their political
condition is the same as States The cham
pions Of the Administration contend that
the Territories are the subjects aud creatures
of the Federal authority.