Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-07-04
Aitbmon0 Enquirer.
BY RITCEIl, DuNNAvANT, TYLER & WISE.
SATURDAY MORNING. JULY 2, 1850.
A squatter Sovereignty Newspaper in Virginia.

attrlDutlnS ~ lHI> ldlci SVualtcT sovereignty
views, Notwithstanding our repeated denial Of
the charge If it affords our contemporary
any pleasure to assign Us false position, in the
teeth Of our protest, it is welcome 10 do So
T OF one thing we are satisfied, and that is that
our position of adherence to the Cincinnati
platform of 1856 has the endorsement Of an
overwhelming majority Of the Democracy "f
the Union Lymrhjurg Hepnjttc"n.
I They who advocate Congressional lnteryen
ton must maintain that the Kansas. Nebraska
act of 1854, embodlcs 'SIua,tcr Sovereignty
( Nay more they must favor the rptnt OF the
, Kansas. Nebraska act itself. This is the real
issue, and there is no cvadng it. The Kansas
act establishes HOn-iaterrcntieR clearly and
explicitly. It was intended and understood To
do that thing at the time Of It's adoption. 1t
was to take the whole question about slavery
! in the territories out of Congress, where 1t was
4 source Of eternal agitation and annoyance
and conSign it to the people OF the territories
under the limitations Of the Constitution and
( the courts Of the country.
! Intervention is totally inconsistent with
I Non-Intervcntion. And if Congress establish
cs the former it destroys the latter In other
words, they who advocate Intervention must
also advocate repeal OF the Kansas-NebraSka
act which establishes Non Intervention. Who
is willing to make this issue: Let him sh"w
his head, and he is Il dead politician iii future
= Lynchbug RsppJlican Jun. %.
When the first Of these extract, appeared,
we thought it was due to the Republican, that
we should give that paper ample time 10 ex-
plain its position or TO change it,
Now, the Republican speaks ont explicit
Is, to the effect that the Kansas Nebraska til
does deny and contradict the doctrine Of the
power and duty Of Congress TO lesis!a,c, in
case OF need. for the protection Of persons and
property in the territories. The necessary con
sequence Of this Interpretation is that the Gin
cinnati platform, by endorsing the Nebraska
act, recognized the same policy Of absolute
npn.intcrvention.
Such is tho avowed position Of the "Rcpub
lican' and such is Senator Douglas position,
withou, a shadow Of difference Senator
Douglas goes to the same extent with the Re
publican. and not hairs breadth further
This IS what is universally described aS
"squattcr sovereignty" and the description is
just. For ii sqnattcrs may enact what laws
they please, subject to the control Of no other
legislative body, and subject only to the resi-
SION Of the Supreme Court. and only then for
the purpose Of testing their consiitutlonality
under the federal compact then the squattc:s
in territory exercise the same power of lcgis-
lativc sovereignty as do the people Of Virginia.
According to the doctrine of the Republican,
the Congress of the United States is prccludcd
from repeating the laws passed by the local
legislature of Kansas, and the Supreme Court
can annul such laws only when they are found
to conflict with the Constitution Of the United
States. Now. this is the full extent Of invio-
liability which VIC can claim for laws enacted
by the General Assembly Of Virginia.
Thus, the Republican has assumed a
"squat,cr sovereignty position, beyond all
doubt or question. And if the Kansas Me-
braska bill is fairly subject to this intcrpreta
tion, then We do not hesitate TO say that
this Objectionable feature Of the act ought to
he repealed or annulcd as an unconstitutional
law, and, as Senator Mason says the sooner
the better.
/ But our cotcmporary must remember that
our entire body Of Senators and Represents
,iyes from Virginia, and the large majority Of
the Senators and Representatives who voted
for the passage of this bill, utterly deny this
'.souatter sovereignty" Interpretation.
Moreover, if our cotclnporary will read the
act itself. he will find that the non-intcrvcntion
which it lays down is simply non-intervention
10 introduce or to exclude slaves in 4 Terrific
ry, and that it proposes to leave the people
thereof perfectly free to form and regulate
t their domestic institutions only when the pco-
plc shall assemble TO form their Sin'e t""s'i-
tuition.
3 The Kansas. Nebraska bill itself forms and
regulates for them their domestic institutions
in the most minute particulars--even TO the
mariner of appointment Of justices of the
peace and militia officcrs-d"ring tie cont'aH-
once OF tie territorial condition. And the
same act cmbodies on its face two laws for the
protection of slave property and slave persons,
one of these two law discriminating in favor
Of slave property.
Thus the true interpretation both Of the
Kansas Nebraska act and Of the Cincinnati
platform, is this: Non.intcrrention by Congress,
to introduce or to exclude slaves, in territory;
/ or to interfere with the maintenance or prohi.
bition Of slavery by State Constitution, TO be
formed by the people, and to be in force nme-
dltely after the admission Of new State no
/ Intervention in any case 10 dr'troy existing
rights Of persons and property Intervention,
in case of need, and during the territorial stH-
tvs, TO protect all such existing rights Of per.
sons and property.
! We arc not surprised that the Republican
should have glidcd unconsciously into the doc
trine Of "squattcr sovereignty. 1t evidently
has very high respect for the opinions OF the
"Examincr and compromise and "squattcr
sovereignty" are 50 near akin, that it is by no
means unnatural that the "Rcpublican' should
be unable to distinguish between the two.
Nor do the Examiners" views seem to be
entirely clear as TO the distinction. After har
ing expressly rcpudiated the Interpretation ap-
piled to the Kansas Nebraska act in the above
extract from the "Republcan, the "Exami-
ncr' describes the Republican is tried
ard trusted Democratic Journal" Indeed, the
Examiner" will soon discover that The large
majority of its compromise adherents are
actuatcd by some leaning towards "Squaticr
sovereignty
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS ELECTED.
We give below list Of the members of Con-
grcss elected at the last election, with their Dis
tricts and Pos:-0fiices. Those marked with n