Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1859-08-24
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|, WsAs&iliaplsa New York Ti~ss the follow
iag extxaeb from letter from the Hon. F. W.
re3Sn q South Carolna, TO- Gsnrgs n. Sanders,
ve3hx N1k 8ir. Pickcna h At present American
Minister to Russia. Our. readers will M doubt be
impressd = nc have been, with tho clear. sound,
asli seaseisssiewx which Mr. Pickens takes Of the
questions be discusses
You dsc 8 gloomy vicw Of sfsirs among our
6iends. You sneak of the South not being liberal
eaouxh. know not what you re(er to, but my
swn opinion is, that At this junctIc in our affairs
thinG ought NOT to DO pushed to an extreme either
North Of South. The extreme and revolutionary
ground taken by large party North. has nccessa-
sily drissn the South portion If it to take cx-
sreme ground in defence Mr.. Seward declared that
Free and Slave States could not exist in one Union
either the Slave States must become free or the
Free States must become slave, DC Now oil know
that the Free States never can becomeS States,
and Of conrsc such declaration l,y an authorized
leader Of the great popular party North. IL nothing
,sore on less than declaration Of determination or
,satiasatieA; and is direct war upon the Federal
Union Yet the majority at the North seem to s'iS-
tain him. think It an error and am glad that hut
few persons South assume that there must be Con
Eressional legislation in advance to protect Slavery
by hxiu the new Territories. 1t Is by no means
desnand Of Che South. For legislation involves dis
csetop and delibcr,tion and that gives jurisdiction
/. s. Congress over the whole matter. And yet If
popular sovereignty, in a people Of TerT,tor,',
gives Territorial legislature the right to declare,
before they are State in what property shall con-
sist and in what It shall not consist then popular
sovereignty gives them more power than Congress
itae has for it is the Constitution alone that cali
declare that To declare this. is the highest exer
else Of sovereign power, and can cmsnate alone from
Tho original law Of society," made IS a compact BY
people or peoples in convention assembled. There
Is no such thing as popular sovereignty" except
- expressed through forms Of law, unless in cases
: Of revolution; then it becomes great national
.syixhA inherent in man. popular sovereignty" in
hsbitual ordinary legislation, assuming jurisdiction
over property is mob law. territorial legislature
has no popular sovereignty" in any sense. There
b such thing even as the sovereignty Of the peo
pie Of the United States; but there is such thing
as the sovereignty of the people IF the Smte,-as
ascertained and expressed through the States
There is no sovereignty in the Government Of the
United States for it is the creature of the Constit
ton, which is compact between real severe gns.
Whatproves this is that there is no power tn alter
add to that compact except through threefourths
of the States themselves in separate Conventions
assembled-and these States can even abolish the
Government and make new Government entirely
There is sovereign power and this is the sovereign
ty Of the United States. There is no power in the
Government of the United States to create even
freehold and the grant of land in the new States or
Territories, only vests freehold by the Cove n
ment as the agent and trustee of the conjoned
ereignty Of the States by special compact giving
the Government power Ito make all needful rules
and regulations as to the public territory" &c.
The people o. Territory arc in chrysalis state,
andthc very term TERRITORY" shows it. for it is
not State. A State ls not population alone : but
it is boundary, land, water, location eminent do.
main, organic and fixed fundamental and in
dependent right All this is in the idea of State.
Population legislatng against property before the
ycomu.inity have made com9act and organic law
to give them the attributes of State is solecis
THAT popular sovereignty which looks TO the people
IS the original source of all powera great. inhe-
rent and nalienablc right to be exercised in the las,
resort on great occasions. to vindcate the liberties
and the power Of people when there has been Cd
preston or to create and make new government
is great right and lies as the basis Of American
Independence But popular sovereignty to he excr
csed in habiual and daily legislation by the people
assembled. is full Of confusion and mpraeiicab,e
All mere legislative assemblies are deriv.tive. and
in no point Of view have they any popular sovcr.
eighty. There is no pcwsrs in Congress to create
State-that is an ema4stion Of sovereignty and be
longs to the people in Convcntion-andi in that con
vention, making State, they can give no power.
and forms of State. The only power Congress
has. is in these words, New States may lie admit
ted by the Congress into the Union.' which pre-
supposes the State created, and under the powe,
given from the States in the compact of the Union
which allows Congress to make all "neeaful rule
and regulations respecting the Territory, &c, &c
They can confer the right on the people within Ger
tain boundaries their Territories to assemble IN
der certain, regulations, to form State and If
has Republican form" and does not violste th
"needfnl rules and regulations which Congress ha
prescribed beforehand in the 'Territory," then the
'ere bound to admit It, and have no right tolook
Aors the record making the State This is all tn
power they have, and there is nothing short Of q,
organic lav Of any State that can say in what pro
perty shall eonsist in what it shall not cDnsis,
Popular Sovereignty" or "Squatter Sovereignty.
for any such purpose is revolutionary and assume
rights in state Of nature and leads dircctlyto con
fusion and conflict And So ton. does any jurisdit
ton in Congress to dee in adrance in what DR.
Pesty shall consist or not consist amongst peopl
-Ms4esritory previous to their becoming Stat,
Thisbelones to the Federal Constitution and to
expounded by the Federal judiciary in "all case
IN law and equity arising under the Constitution,
and in the very terms Of the compact itself
must be a case" arising between 'merm an
feum and on an issue presented in Court An
other doctrine confers upon legislation what belona
to the Constitution alone and will lead to confusion
ard dangerous assumption Of legislative discr
ton and power: Hence the wisdom Of Clayton
amendment to the bill for the organization or acou
<son Of the territories frou Mexico, which LEFT tha
.1sseiss power to the jurisdiction Of the FEEDER,
Cewt andhvhich NJ. Calhoun himself acqdiesce,
M Fedsial Constitution propriora s;gora cove,
I'll Federal Territories, and alone defines in VIII
properly shall or shall not consist; and any q
tempt BY mere population alone to assume iuri
diction while Territory is usurpation and rsvol,
ten and involves solecism in constitutional Inv
What proves that the Constitution propriora rigo,
covers all United Suites Territory of every kind
that clause which defines treason and how + al,
be proved, and limits the punishment even. Noa
OF Congress can change or enlarge it. or carry o,
the Constitution more specifically on that most r
pestant Of all questions, than the instrument do
itself The Constitution Is itself the Law. and e