Daily national Democrat., 1859-06-28
John Mitchel--the LecOmPtOn State Com
ventiOn-And LecOmptOnism Generally.

'Su INV PusllidulhouslJ cTaWHshlhS from
their former position. after years ma.
neuvcring," says he, "and after the result Of
some northern elections, it is at last admitted
that Mr.. Douglas is the Democratic party
the Little Giant doth bestrde the North Ike
a Colossus
In another place. he says:
| but every one must be aware that Senator
Douglas (or The Demscrdtic party, as we may cal
INN now,) has never maintained the right or pow
er OF Territorial legis laturc to abolish slavery
or by PoSitige eRactmeats to injure mans rght
Of property in slaves The Senator has provided
Tor that: he knows how to keep clear Of the Su.
preme Court. 1t is not by positive enactment
but by mastery inactivity he proposes TO proceed
For the very first duty ola Territorial Legislature
when created, is to frame code providing reme-
cles for various wrongs TO persons and to proper
ty:-now all you have to do, my free-soil friends
says Mr.. Douglas is to provide remedies for all
sorts Of wrongs save 0n6-to fix and define the
proper punishment for stealing everything except
"a nCgrO-tO appoint sheritiS and police officers
whose duty 1t will be to aid all inhabitants to re-
cover stolen property, but who will have no pow
er 20 aid in recapturng stolen or runaway slave
for want of an enactment to that intent-in short
| all YOU have TO do is to ignore the existence Of
| slavery, and slavery dies.
Now a southern settler losing all his slaves ac-
cording to this programme of the Judge, could
have no access to the Supreme Court at all. The
Supreme Court cannot issue a mdndQmuS to a
Territorial Legislature to enact this law or that
1 law: neither can it take original Jurisdiction in
the case Of such man and give him relief; there
is nobody he can bring his action against; no.
! body in particular has done him any injury his
slaves have walked of, that's al-they are living
in the next town if he goes there to look after
them he will be tarTed and feathered-if he touch
es them he will be convicted of an assault, for the
| courts know nothing of any law permitting
white man TO lay hands upon a black one-aDd
remedy there is none In short the learned Judge is
right-it the great majority of the people in ter
rltory think proper TO rob man of his slaves (or
! OF anything else) they can do so.
When Judge Douglas and his organs, then, re-
! fer us TO the Supreme Court, they are laughing
in our faces. And they may laugh who win"
He launches his thunders particularly at the
Northern Administration party, who, he
says. are suceumbng to Douglas, and urges
the Southern Democracy not to yield in like
manner, but manfully contend for slave
code. His views are supported by many
leading Southern journals AS for Mitchels
paper, the Citizen, it may very properly be
considered the organ of Senators Brown
Davis, Mason and those Southern Lecompton
leaders generally who openly advocate the
enactment of slave code by Congress for
the government of Territory. They have
told Senator Douglas that entertaining the
views which he has promulgated, he could
not, by any possibility, obtain the vote of
solitary Southern State for the Presidency,
were he candidate for that Office.
The backing down of the Northern Le-
comp;ontes on this question of intervention
and apparent surrender to Douglas is a base
cheat upon the people. 1t is a mere lodging
of responsibility which they are afraid to
shoulder. Emphatically is it SO in this State
knowing well that the public sentiment in
California is opposed to Intervention, and
| greatly in favor of Douglas, the Lecompton
State Convention almost turned itself wrong
side outward in order to convince the people
that it too was opposed to intervention. But
it took good care, nevertheless, to leave a
loophole out of which to crawl hereafter,
should it become necessary. There was no
distinct committal Of the Convention against
a slave code for the Territories Nothing of
the kind can be found in the resolutions The
fact is, the resolutions are worded in such a
way, that the Lecompton party may hereaf-
ter Sustain our noble President" in whatever
Infamous departure from Democratic princi
pie he may choose to inaugurate. Should he
undertake to put through another Kansas
fraud, and force into iinality a second edi-
tion of the Lecompton Constitution, (as he
would do in minute, had he a chance, J
why, they are ready to follow him as they
did beforo-for have they not indorsed his
entire Administration, in those resolutions
from the time that he assumed the reins of
government down to the present? The am
biguous non committal generalities of their
platform on vival questions afford no securi.
! ty for the future whatever Their organs
have already declared that should slave
code ever become necessary" as they phrase
it, they will be in favor of its enactment, and
there is nothing in their platform to hinder
such an enactment the very moment that a
Lecompton Congress should deem it "neces-
sary." That they would deem it necessary"
as soon as they had the power to enact it,
there can be no manner of doubt.
1t is amusing to observe how every propo.
sition or principle enunciated in their late
platform at Sacramento is qualified and
pinned down. 1t declares that eve (the lie.
compton party adhere irnmovaby to the
principles of non-ntervention by Congress
: with slavery in the States and Territories, as
declared in the Kansas Nebraska Bill" Well,
everybody knows how they interpret the
Kansas-N ebraska Bill. They claimed that
they were the best non interventionists in the
world, when they went for the admission OF
Kansas under the Leeompton Constitution
Their kind of non Intervention, under the
Kansas Nebraska Bill, is to place no obstruc.
tions in the way Of min critics when they
override the will of the majority, and to re-
cognize no right Of the majority to oppose
the expressed will of the minority Congress
had no right "to 60 behind the record, not
withstanding they kneU that the record was
false and fraudulent. This is the kind of non
Intervention that they believe in and this is
what they mean in the extract from the reso-
luton above quoted. They are great non
interyentionists according to the doctrine
laid down in the Kansas Nebraska Bill but
they don't take the trouble to explain what
that doctrine is, as they interpret il Nothing
| hp I i. ]