The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-01-20
POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY.

publicans have deep-laid scheme for making
an Abolition President; that they now affect
great moderation, and that Anti-Slavery clam
or has been made to subside to an undertone,
and men who two years since were the loudest
clamorers, are now confirming themselves to an
effort to usurp the Democratic platform of pop
ular sovereignty-to throw the Democratic
party, if possible, into an apparent negatiOn of
this fundamental principle, and on this issue,
as well as on the old distinctions of national
parties, and on the issue of financial economy,
TO combine all the elements Of the opposition
! North and South"
This is an emphatic endorsement of "pOpu-
lar sovereignty" by the organ of Governor
Wise But, like Mr.. Douglas the Governor Of
Virginia takes the doctrine subject to the
bred Scott decision" Naked popular sover-
eighty is as unpopular in the South as the Viii
mot Proviso.
! 1t is only week or two since, that the En-
! q,irer spoke very different language. 1t said :;
! " Senator Douglass nomination depends
upon one contingency. If it shall be determin-
ed to give the nomination to the North which
/ has already received the three last Presidential
nominations from the party, and furnished the
two last Democratic Presidents, in such case
every one must decide, from present indica-
tions, that no competitor will be able to meas
ure strength with Stephen A. Douglas-unless,
indeed, he shall be induced by some of his sup
! porters, such as the Philadelphia Press, to
abandon the broad ground of the constitution
al right of property in the Territories to the
| protection of the General Government, for the
/ h. e,
| eighty
The Democratic party is in state of
dissolution, and it would be idle to expect con-
sistency and order in the midst of chaos.
The Louisville Journal, on the other hand.
which has been coquetting with the Republi-
cans, in behalf of Mr.. Crittenden, denounces
squatter sovereignty in unmeasured terms and
Republicans who wish to conciliate South
Americans should no longer preach squatter
sovereignty The Journal says:
l." 1t may very well suit the purpose of GER
tain antiI 4ecompton Democrats in the South
to affect Inconsistencies of Senator Douglass
most unjust, unconstitutional unstatesmanlike,
and illogical heresy respecting Slavery in the
Territories; for they of course cannot recog-
Mise 1t without condemning it; and if, as is not
improbable, the pressure of circumstances
should compel them to urge his nomination at
Charleston the weight of their own condemna-
ton would add sensbly to the burden of the
intrinsic vileness of the heresy, not only in
the Convention but elsewhere, if they should
prove triumphant in the Convention. We, how
ever, have no such scruples of policy Quite
the contrary. Beside, the plain interests of
truth and fair dealing coincide with our own in
| this matter, if not i'll all matters Mr.. Douglas
| has taken his position voluntarily, and defined
| it clearly, 1t is detestable; and his partisans
or quasi partisans, in the severer Southern lati-
tudes, will have to say this if they say any
/ thing. And they must say something. x
Senator Douglas has planted himself fearessy
in the devious and deceptive paths of squat
ter sovereignty and given you fair warning
| that he intends to walk in them. What is your
answer? Let us hear from you. No more
aflectation-no more lodging. Speak out
frankly, as becomes men and citizens of the
! South. Speak out, or rest under the damning
suspicion Of conniylng at heresy at once the
most immoral and the most fatal to Southern
rights and interests that ever disgraced our
politics.
! The Journal is one Of the most liberal and
influential of the South American papers, and
it will be seen from the above that those Re
/
party to which it belongs, by accepting the
popular sovereignty platform, have made
great bluuder.
But the fercest denunciations of the Louis
vile organ directed against the new phase
of popular sovereignty brought to light by Mr..
Morris, Douglas man in the House of Repre-
sentatives. We allude to his proposition to
] IL 4 4. ~
people. The Journal in another article says:
And manifestly the only or at least the
main check on its practical execution in all or
| nearly all the Territories, is the power of APP
! pointment yet reserved to itself by the Federal
Government. Let this power be renowned,
and, in conformity with Mr.. Douglass new YER
sion of squatter sovereignty, bare majority of
any Territorial Legislature, unobstructed by the
| Executive veto, can extinguish Slavery in a
! twinklng. Squatter sovereignty will then
spring up and flourish in the full luxuriance of
its original conception within the shadow of the
Constitution; the design of the Nebraska law
will be contaminated and the statesmanlike
and constitutional practice established by the
| founders Of the Government, and adhered to by
their successors until this era of miserable de-
vices, will be trampled under foot and discarded
Mr. Douglas and his Northern friends will
ly, triumph which mocks at honor and fair
dealing.
No wonder, therefore, that Mr.. Morris, of
Illinois, political and personal friend of Mr..
Douglas has availed himself of the earliest OPP
portunity to introduce into the House of Repre-
sentatives at Washington the bill whose title
we have quoted elsewhere in this article. That
bill, granting to the people of the Territories
the power Of electing their. Governors, Judges,
and all other Territorial officers is the compile
ment of the nondescript squatter sovereignty so
sturdily proclaimed by Mr. Douglas. 1t makes
it omplete. The two together would neeessa-
rly render squatter sovereignty rampant and
resistless They would infallibly enthrone squat
ter sovereignty as the standing policy of the
Government. No human agency could avert
it. Here at length we perceive tie rounded
programme of the Douglas Democracy Its
hideous outline stands clear before us The
Senator of Illinois has unquestionably resolved
to make a new and desperate struggle on the
diriiest issue which dishgures American poll
ties. Antasus has touched his kindred EARTH
and springs fresh to the encounter. How do
the Southern partsans of Mr.. Douglas fancy
the entertainment?
DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAUCUS.
The Associated Press furnished to the North
ern journals the following account of an mpor-
tant caucus of the friends of the Administration
| in the Senate. The account is confirmed by
| the Star and States and we presume there is
no reason to doubt its accuracy 1t will be
seen that Mr.. Douglas has been received back
into the Democratic family, and has planted
himself upon the extreme Southern plank of