The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1859-11-02


when the DeeOmpton constitution was opposed
But that is gone by. Mature refiectIon has left
ntoLuTUcy without defender. Nobody now in
sists that the right to make and anpul laws and
constitutions can be exercised in voluntary mass
meetings or at elections unauthorized by law.A
Mr. Douglas himself says: "lt can only be ex-
ercised where the inhabitants are Sufficient TO
consiitats gorapment, and capable of perform
ina lis r0,i0us ftnltions and aidieS--a fact 10
be ascertained and determined by Congress.-
/ The sovereignty, then, IS in The government If
/ it lie anywhere. But Mr.. Douglas now says it
is not there; and he is right. That beihgthe
case, where is il? s..-.z Co. r-atrea aa sras
! When Mr.. Douglas, in his speech at Woosc
ter was repudating and denying the doctrine
Of sovereignty in the Territories and resuming
his old position, that they are not SOVEREIGN
powers, it would have been we'll to ofall back
upon something little more ineligible than
his reports to the Senate, or his anti: Leconp-
! ton letter to Philadelphia. Here is the way he
describes sovereignty inhis report Of 1S56:Ha3
"lhe sovereignty of a Territory, yremains,ts,,
elegance, suspended in The United States, in t,,Qt
for the people until they shall be admitted into
the Union as a State n'a t'A +80N"# .i&t ssA
What do these words mean, and in what pos
sible way can they help us to a knowledge Of
the matter under consideration? .dbeyance is
good law French, and signifies the peculiar con-
dltiOn Of an estate after one tenant has died,
and before his successoris competent to take it.
But what application can it have even by anat
ogy, to a sovereignty which never existed. 1t
seems, too, that this sovereignty is suspended
in the United States, that is htng or dependent
from something in the United States, ,and not
juIlra5cat like every other sovereignty under
heaven. But the most marvellous part ofthe bu--
s,ness is that one government which is soyer-
eipn is represented as a trustee of the soyer,
eighty of another Government which is admit
ted not to be sovereign. This is the talk Ola
man who has too much learning These tech
nical terms Of the common law were invented
by English convevancers and real propertyzlaw-
yers, for the purpose of expressing the artificial
relations which men sometimes bear to lands,
tenements, and hereditam9nts; but they are
wholly inapplicable to such subject as the sow
ereignty ola State or nation We might as
well call Territorial soyereigntva contngehtre-
mainder an eXecutory devise or special fee tall
There is some confusion Of ideas on another
subject Mr.. Douglas and his disciples ascribe
TO certain democrats Ito the President among
otherS) the belief that the Constitution estab-
fishes slavery in the Territories and to sustain
this accusation they quote from a message IN
| which the ExlsTEECE of slavery in the Terri
tories I5l ai7t1te Of he Conat6n is asserted on
- the authority Of the Supreme Court Now we
: are in the wrong, if the expression that thing
erisfs by virtue Of the Constitution be equiya-
lent to saying that the Constitution has estab-
: HsEed it. There is not only substantial, but
wide and most Obvious difference, The Con-
s stution does not establish Christianity in the
Territories; but Christianity exists there byvirs
tue of the Constitution; because when Chris
e tan moves into Territory, he cannot, be pre-
vented from taking his religion along with him;
t nor can he afterwards be legally mclested for