The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1859-06-22
Senator PuIh-CongressIonaI In
t~erferenee.

senator HuEh-CongFe6siOnal In
reference.
The following letter, like its author, Is able
to speak for itself It appeared originally In
the last Hamilton 7tiesrsPh:
C~IscISxA-I, June 4, 1859.
nsGR SIR; Your letter Of the S0th ult caus-
Cd me considerable establishment. ] did not
suppose It possible for any man, friend or Zoe, to
entertain the least doubt in regard to my views
Of Territorial organization. But since you have
been So kind as to MORN me that some doubt
dose exist, and in the minds Of enr political
friends, ! will make one more effort to defne
those views la clear and distinct language;
granting you full permission to publish what l
shall write il you are thus disposed.
agree TO So much Of the second resolution A.
dopted By the Democratic Convention OF Butler
County, on the 2lst ult, as afirms that the
people of an organized Territory have the
same power to exclude or establish the relation
Of slavery as the people ola Stale have; but this
pow Of exclusion, as well in the case Of States
as of Territories, is subject 10 tto limitations
expressed in the Federal Constitution:
/. That persons held to service or labor in
other States or Territories, "under the laws
thereof" can not, by mere fight, secure to
luCillsGlhGS aiN ahNeAhobe ""N" N"s "- -N
in the place whence they fed.
9. That u right to the service or labor of a
slave, once recognized by the laws ola S ate or
q Territory, can not be Invested or otherwise
impaired without compensation. The act OF
exclusion, therefore, must be prospective.
1t is my opinion, furthermore, that Congress
has no constitutional authority - interfere with
the laws Of the States, or Of the Territories, on
the subject Of slavery, except in the particulars
| have specified. Nevertheless, it remains for
the Judiciary, in all cases, to decide how far an
act Of legislation, by r State or a Territory, con-
traveRes the Constitution Of the United States;
that results, inevitably, from the nature OF our
government. If the Judiciary should be OF my
opinion, whenever a case shall arise in regard
to the power ola Territorial Legislature over
the subject of slavery, l should expect those OF
different opinions 10 scquissce; and so, if the
J Judiciary should decide for them, | would ac-
auieSce in that decision, until reversed, without
any reference to my individual opinion or senti-
ments. The man who declares that he will OBJ
serve only such avs or decisions as please him,
and not those which he disapproyes, thereby re-
nounces all obedience and loyalty as a citizen,
II | had been consulted in regard to the reso-
luton which you specify, | should have made
no other criticism than that ITS last sentence is
open to some degree OF misapprehcnsion. We
may we'll enough act with those, in our oWn
Stale and elsewhere, who believe that the peo-
PIE ola Territory can only decide upon the
question Of slavery when about to form a State
government; but upon the express condition
that they viii! attempt no interference. through
Congress, while the Territorial organization ex-
lists. That is the real point ofcontroversy; and
that was determined by the Cincinnati platform,
a. we'll as by the Kansas Nebraska bill. Give
us the doctrine Of Non Intervention as there
D, reclaimed, and Popular Sovereignty becomes,
a, once, an established aud indiSputable fact
This, substantially. is what said in the Sen
ate on the 23d of February last; and II there be
any thing which does not perfectly accord with
this, in the platform Of our State Convention,
| am altogether mn conscious OF the difference,
and altogether certain that no difference was in
tended.
have not made the question ola "Congres,
sional Slave code" prominent, thus far, in any
of my speeches, because we are all, in Ohio,
upon the same side of that question. ! have
once debated it again, il necessary, with gentle
men of different opinions, but when | see the
leaders ofthe Republican party $50 called) at
work here, to. day, In our own midst. to pull
down the very pillars of the Constitution, and
precipitste Us into the abyss of Disunion and
anarchy, I prefer dealing with them, face to
face, rather than attacking their allies in Louis,
lana, or Mississippi, or South Carolina.
am, sir, very respectfully,
Your ob't servant, G. E. PUGH.
N. Fl. MAGINNIs, Esq Hamilton, Ohio.