Daily national Democrat., 1859-09-20
Letter from stephen A. Douglas.

of the last campaign in this State, Senator
Gwin made the following observations at
Grass Valley;
"Near the close Of The last session of Con
rress a debate was sprung upon the senate
/ upon the question of Territorial sovereignty
/ We had long expected such discussion Ce-
cause il was the duty of Mr. Douglas TO give
/ his reasons to the Senate and the country lOr
! the line of policy he had considered 1t ms du-
tr to odopt in the Senatorial canvass III IN
nois The doctrines he had avowed in his
Freeport speech had been condemned IN the
Senate bv Ills removal from the Chairmanshlp
of the Territorial Committee of that body,
and il was expected that he would defend
fine nosition.he had taken, and give ample
time 10 those who differed from him to give
the reasons that had influenced them in re-
moving him from that important position at
the head of the Territorial Committee, he had
filed for so many years in the Senate. But
for reasons satisfactory to himself, he did not
address the Senate until near the close OF the
session, when there was no time to give the
subject that full consideration it deserved
He had asserted in his Freeport speech that
Territorial Legislature could idDJulfy 10y nom
action or hostile legislation exclude slavery |
from such Territory Having always oppos'
ed this doctrine briefly announcedmy pre-
vious opinions, and declared that if such con-
struction had been given 10 the Kansas Ne
braska Act when it was under consideration
in Congress in 1854, | should have voted
against it,
To the attack on his political position,
Judge Douglas replies in lengthy letter, in
which he shows the utter falsity of the pro-
positions set forth by DR. Gwin. He denies
that it was his duty to give any reasons to
the Senate at all for what he had done in Il
linois lie ives under no obligations to the
Senate he was auswerable to his constituency |
alone, and they had endorsed him by re-
election to the United States Senate against
the combined forces Of the Black Republicans
and Federal Ofice-holderS, and their allies
and supporters in and out of the Senate"
He denies that he was removed from the
Craftsmanship of the Committee on Terrific
ries, because of the sentiments contained in
his Frceport speech; for he had avowed those
same sentiments long before his Freeport
speech, and had been elected to the Chair
manship of the Committee on Territories re
peatedy, by unanimous vote of the Demo-
cratic members of the Senate, DR.. win him
self voting for him. (The fact is that Doug
las was removed from that position, not for
his Freeport speech, but in order to crafty
the personal hostility Of the President) The
authorities which he brings to bear show
that not only were the sentiments of the Free
port speech his, years ago, but that they were
those of Mr.. Cobb and many other Lecomp-
ton Democrats now in good standing in the
Lecompton Party.
In regard to the Dred Scott Decision, DR..
Gwin remarked in this same Grass Valley
speech:-
ain March, 1851, the Supreme Court de-
cided this question in all its various relations,
in the case Of bred Scott. That decision de.
clares that neither Congress nor a Territorial
Legislature possesses the power either to es-
| tablish or exclude slavery from the Territory,
and that it was power which exclusively
belonged to the States; that the people of
Territory can exercise this power for the first
time when they form a Constitutions that
the right of the people Of any State to carry
their slaves into a common Territory of the
United States, and hold them there during its
| existence as such, was guaranteed by the Con
stituton of the United States that it was
right which could neither be subverted nor
evaded, either by non action, by direct or in
direct Congressional legislation. or bv any
law passed by Territorial legislature"
To which Judge Douglas replies and also
concludes his letter as follows
"Surely. Mr.. Gwin had never read the
opinion of the Court in the case of "Dred
Scott" except as it has been perverted for
partisan purposes by newspapers, when he
undertook to expound it to the good people
of California 1t so happens, that the Court
| did not decide any one Of the propositions so
boldly and emphatcally stated in the "Grass
! Valley speech! The Court did not declare,
that neither Congress nor a Territorial Leg
isature possessed the power either to estab-
lish or exclude slavery from a Territory, and
that it was a power which exclusively be
longed to the States" The Court did not de
clare, " that the people of Territory can ex-
ercise this power for the first time when they
come to form Constitution" The Court
did not declare, " that the right of the people
of any State to carry their slaves into a com.
mon Territory Of the United States, and hold
them there during its existence as such was
guaranteed by the Constitution of the United
States" The Court did NOT declare, " that it
was a right which could neither be subvert-
ed nor evaded, either by non action, by di
rect or indirect Congressional legislation, or
by any law passed 10y Territorial Legisla.
ture' Neither the decision nor the opinion
of the Court afhrms any one Of these PROPOSE.
tions either in express terms or by fair legal
intrenchment.
This gersioa of the Dred Scott Decision
had its origin in the unfortunate Lecompton
controversy, and is one of the many political
heresies to which it gave birth.
There are other portions Of Mr.. Gwin's
speech which are equally open to Just criti.
cism and unwarranted by the facts to which
they relate but refrain from commenting
upon them as prefer to confne myself to
those points upon which my political action,
in common with that of a large majority Of
the Democratic party. has been uniustly as
sailed before the people Of California.
In faithful compliance with the pledges,
creed and platform of the Democratic party,
| stand now as did in 1850, in 1854, and in
1856, by the great cardinal principle that,
under our political system every distinct 20
litical community loyal to the Constitution
and the Union, is entitled to all the rights
privileges and immunties of self government
in respect to their internal policy and domes
tic institutions, subject only to the Constitu-
tion Of the United States
Mr.. BRoDERcKs MENTAL CONDITION AFTER
THE FATAL SHoT.-The Alta says:
The mind of the wounded man was wan
dering after the iuiliction of the fatal shot,