The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1859-09-28
Slave Property in the Territories.

We have received under the frank of the
Hon. Jacob Thompson, a pamphlet copy of a
review of Senator Douglas essay in favor of
Sqaatter Sovereignty published in the Sep
tember number of Hapers Magazine. As the
question is one Of such general and paramount
interest, we were anxious to copy the Review
IN full into the columns of the Mississippian,
but have been prevented from doing so, for
the present at least, by the pressure of other
matter upon our hands, requiring immediate
attention. The Review has been generally at
tributed to Attorney General Black but if
the latest representation is to be credited it is
from the pen of Hon. Robert j. Walker. At
all events, it is a strong document and is a
thorough demolisher of the sophistry of the
Magazine writer.
For the present We must content ourselves
with the following statement ofits'positions:
l. A right of property, private relation
condition or status, lawfully existing in one
State or country, is not changed by the mere
removal of the parties to another country. un-
less the law of that other country be in direct
conflict with it.
| II. The condition of the black race in this
country, as to freedom or servitude, is deter
mined by the local regulation OF the domicile.
The Federal authority recognizes the fact as
it exists, and the right that springs from it,
and neither frees the slaves nor enslayes the
free man. Outside of State authority, it re-
| quires both to remain in stdtu quo until the
status already impressed upon them by the
law of their previous domicile shall be changed
by some competent local authority.
III. The people of State, through their
Legislature and the people of a Territory, in
! the Constitution which they may frame pre-
paratory to their admission as State, can
regulate and control the condition of the sub
iect black lace within their respective Juils-
dictions, so as to make them bond or free.
". The people ola Territory, through their
Territorial legislation, have no power or juris-
diction over the subject.
The reasons offered to support this eonclu-
sions are these
l. The right of property is sacred. and the
first object Of all human government is to make
it secure. No government has legitimate au-
thority, from its very nature, to invade or de-
stroy it Slaves are property in the same
sense, to the same extent, for the same pur-
poses and On the same grounds as anything
else which is property. The Government of
the United States is restrained in its power
over property by the constitutional declara-
tions that 4no person shall be deprived of his
property except by due process of law" and
that private property shall not be taken for
public use without just compensation" We
are also protected against the State Govern
ments by similar provisions in the State Con
stitutions. Legislative robbery is, therefore,
a crime which cannot be committed, unless it
be done in flat rebellion to the fundamental
law of the land.'' Hence it is clear that the
Territorial Governments have no such power.
?. The people of a. Territory have no legis-
latiye power, except what they derived FROM
Congress, under the Constitution, in the crea-
ton of Territorial governments. But, Con-
gress having no power to prohibit slavery in
the Territories, can confer none. Hence. the
people of the Territory cannot have it,
The following reply to the claim of soyer-
eighty set up for the territories by Douglas,is
complete
A territorial government is merely proyis-
ional and temporary. 1t is created BY Con-
gress for the necessary preservation of order
and the purposes of police. The powers con-
ferred upon it are expressed in the organic act
which is the charter of its existence and which
may be changed or repealed at the pleasure of
Congress In most of those acts the power
has been expressly reserved to Congress of
revising the territorial laws, and the power to !
repeal them exists without such reservation. |
This was asserted in the case of Kansas by the |
most distinguished Senators in the Congress
of 1856. The President appoints the Govern
or, 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 sovereignty about |
them. The essence Of sovereignty consists in |
having no superior. But a territorial govern |
ment has a superior in the United States Gov |
eminent, upon whose pleasure it is dependent |
for its very existence-in whom it lives, and |
moves, and has its being-who has made and |
can unmake it with breath
Where does this sovereign authority to de-
prive men of their property come from ? This |
transcendent power, which even despots are
cautious about using, and which constitu-
tional monarch never eXercises-how does it |
get into Territorial Legislature ? Surely it |
does not drop from the clouds: it will not be |
that it accompanies the settlers, or
exists in the Territory before its organization.
Indeed it is not to the people, but to the
government of Territory, that Mr.. Douglas
says it belongs. Then Congress must give
the power at the same time that it gives the
Territorial Government. But not word of |
the kind IS to be found in any organic act that
ever was framed. 1t is thus that Mr.. Doug
AS argumentruns itself cut into nothing.
But if Congress seold pass statute ex-
pressly to give this sort of power to the Ter
itorial Governments, they still would not have
t for the Federal Government itself does not
possess ony control over mems property in the
Territories. That such power does not exist
IN the Federal Government needs no proof
Mr. Douglas admits it fully and freely. 1t is
besides, established by the solemn decision of
Congress, by the assent of the Executive, and
by the direct ratification of the people acting
IN heir primary capacity at the polls. In adj
dltlon to all this, the Supreme Court have de-
iberately adjudged it to be an unalterable and
rule OF constitutional law.
And this omnipotent sovereignty is to be
welded by few men suddenly drawn to-
gether trem all parts Of America and Europe
uaacquainted with one another, and ignorant
of their relative rights. But if Mr.. Douglas
is right, those governments have all the Also
lutte power of the Russian Autocrat. They
may take every kind of property in mere ca
price, or for any purpose of lucre or malice.
without process of law, and without providing |
for compensation. The legislature Of Kansas, |
sitting at Lecompton or Lawrence, may order |
the miners to give up every ounce of gold that |
has been dug up at Pixies Peak If the au-
thorities of Utah should license band ofma- |
rauders to despoil the emigrants crossing the |
Territory, their sovereign right to do so can |
not be questioned. A new Territory may be |
organized, which Southern men think should |
be devoted to the culture of cotton, while the |
people Of the North are equally certain that |
grazing alone is the proper business to be car
RED on there. If one party by accident, by
force, or by fraud has majority in the legisla-
ture, the negroes are taken from the planters
and il the other set gains political victory, it
is followed by statute to plumber the graziers
Of their cattle. Such things cannot be done by |
the Federal Government, nor by the govern
ments of the States; but, if Mr.. Douglas is not
they can be done by territorial gov
We have not space for further quotations.
We close these extracts with the following
pretty hard hit in reference to the course
which has been pursued by Senator Douglas:
The days are past and gone when Mr.. Doug
las led the fiery assaults of the opposition in
the Lecompton controversy Then it was his
object to prove that's Territorial Legislatures
Tar from being omnipotent, was powerless even
to authorize an election of Delegates to consid-
er about their own affairs. 1t was asserted
thata Convention chosen under territorial
law could make and ordain no Constitution
which would be legally binding.
Then Territorial Government was to be
despised and spit upon, even when it invited
the people to come forward and vote ON
question of the most vital importance to their
own interests But nou- oil th;rnss have. ho,