Civilian & telegraph. [volume] (Cumberland, Md.) 1859-1875, 1859-05-19
MiGttllnntuug.

BsS" The famous lctter-writing politician,
, Henry A. Wise, has sent forth an epistlc of
enormous length. We don't suppose our
readers would be cruel enough to impose
upon us the necessity of reading it, and yet
everybody would like to know what Mr..
Wise has in his thirty column letter. To
crafty them we take the following synopsis
r from the New York Times:
We expressed some doubt the other day,
, concerning the position of Governor WISE on
the Of non-intcrvcnton. We are punished
,, for our presumption. He has written letter
, which fills thirty closely printed columns of
the Richmond Enquirer to explain it. The
Governor must be that estimablc character
which old JOHNSON so lovcd--a "good hater." "
No ordinary malice could have taken such 4
j fearful revenge. But we have read the letter
and "stil live We expect indeed a sort Of
immortality as the reward of our exploit; for
a constitution which will survive that test
may be relied on for anything, We expect
moreover, during the remaining term of our
natural lifetL De pointed out to an astonishrd
rather than an admring crowd, as the man
who has read that letter Probably after year
or two the tale will he deemed incredible and
the tradition will he exploded like the early
fables Of Roman History.
, We have no intention of inhicting this por
tentous epistle upon our readers. We may
! bn pafinpf and l,nor g,,fnr;nn rivc,, tn
} wrath or weariness as our profession requires
but we are not merciess nor cruel towards
those who depend on us for their daily news.
We can tell them in few words the grand
upshot OF Governor WIsE's fearful pronun-
ciamento. He docs not believe in non-ntcr-
vention. He scouts the doctrine.--roo and
branch lie holds that Congress is bound to
intervene in the affairs of both State and Ter
rtories In regard TO the latter particularly
lie considers them as being completly under
the control Of Congress ,--es having no right
no powers, no corporate existence even except
as they arc derived by express grant from
the Federal Government. The clause in the
Kansas-Nebraska bill which speaks OF cav
ing the people of the Territories perfectly
free TO form and regulate their domestic
institutions in their own way, is subjected BY
the Governor TO an analysis only equaed by
the experiments Of Professor DoREMUs TO de-
tect the presence Of arsenic in the human body
He Sits it, and twists it and tOrtures it with
an ingenuity which would have made the
fortune Of a Grand Inquistor in the Duke of
ALvA's time; and the result Of his process is
; that ii meHns very nearly the opposite Of
what il 0nys Th" Governor proves that it
must of necessity mean that the people of
the Territories have no right to form or reg
ulate anything whatever and That rs for
domestic institutions" they have not, and
cannot have, anything Of the kind 1t is only
sovereign States that are capable Of domestic
institutions" All the institutions which can
exist in q Territory are "FederM institutions
institutions of the Uuited States,a and therefore
subject to the control of the Federal Govern
ment. Nor do the people of the Territories
'form" or "rcguate" anything for themsclvc':
everything connected with Their government
is formed and regulated for them by Congress,
the boundaries of their Territory, the num-
bers of their Legislature, their modes Of cleo
ton, the action of their Court, &C., &c. They
can have nothing like sovereignty, in any
form, until they apply for admission as
State. At that moment popular sovereignty
begins to exist. Before that all sovereignty
over the Territories rests in Congress. And
in its admission Congress can impose no
conditions which will impair its State Sover-
eighty when admitted.
Governor WISE thus whistles down the
wind the doctrines of Popular Sovereignty
and Congressional Non-Intcrvention. lie re-
pudiates them utterly, The South made a
fatal mistake, in his opinion, when conceded
that the compromise measures Of 1850 cstab-
lished the principle of non-intervcntion by.
Congress with Slavery anywhere Those very
measures intervened against Slavery in sevc-
raj most important particulars; and recogniz-
ing such action as non-intervcntiou was to
':yield the whole Of protection, and to grant
the whole of prohibition of Slavery by Con-
gress." So Governor WISE throws the whole
theory overheard and falls back upon the doc
trine of Congressional Sovereignty. He cx-
plains at great length that his hostility to the
Lecompton Constitution was based solely upon
the fact that it had been framed by Conven-
1tionwhose members were elected by violence
and fraud, and that Congress had righ. TO
intervene to insure justice and fair play. He
did not thereby ip the least ndorse the princi-
pie Of Popular Sovereignty, and still less that
of ron-interventon.
All this pares the way for point which,
though but incidentally touchcd is still Of paIa-
mount importapce,-t position of Senator
/, DOUGLAS concering the power of the Terri
torial Legislature over Slavery. Mr. DOUGLAS
holds, it viii be remembered, in opposition to