The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-04-04

|
ment, for which Congress, as the trustee of the
common and joint property, holds and exerci-
ses its trusteeship. The colonies relied upon
] the charters received from the Crown, as the
guarantees of their freedom from oppressive
interference by the mother country and also
upon revolution-the power to make good
their claim to liberty by the bloody arbitra-
ment of the sword. Our organized Terrific
| ries are mere subordinate communities outside
| the limits of the States held in pupilage and
training, until prepared to take rank and posi-
tton with SISTER confederare SOY ere gnIles.
| If an organized Territory possess inherent
rights of selfgovernment, and can, duri:-g its
pupiage, fix and determine absolutely its So
cial institutions, decide what shall and what
shall not be property, and by unfriendly legis-
lation exclude slavery, it is superior, in some
| respects, to a State organization; and it is
gross tyranny not to pass the bill introduced
by the gentleman from Illinois, Mr.. MoRRIs,]
providing for the election Of all officers by the
| inhabitants of Territory. We should forth
with abdcate our I'LL held power, and carry out
| to its logical consequence this doctrine of
| squatter sovereignty. Our laws appointing
| governors and judges, our defrayment of the
expenses of the government. and our claim of
| authority to repeal the organtic art, and trans
fer the inhabitants to different Jurisdiction,
ire unauthorized a-:d indefensible assumptions
If control and superiority.
If territorial legislature be sovereign; if
| t can exercise legislative supremacy while it
.loes not violate the Federal Constitutions,
ven if its authority to that extent be unlimi-
ted, then, to use a solecism, it is more more
sovereign than State government, and the
difficulty presented in the of Utah is re-
needless for obviously it is contrary to this
neoteric theory of popular sovereignty to re-
peal the act organizing the Territory, so long
a.. + tho
iution of the United States. In addition to
the Federal Constitution, Statas are restrained
hy fundamental laws of their own imposing
Judicial, executive, and Legislative powers are
accurately mapped out and their limits strictly
lefned but, under this modern political dis
covery, majority in Territory is absolute,
save, as hindered by the prohibition of the Fed
eral compact, the government may become des-
potic or anarchical, and outrages may be com
mitted revolving to public decency, shocking
to the moral sense, and subversive to personal
an j proprietary rights. A political theory in
volving such consequences is an instructive
lesson against departing from established con-
stitutional landmarks! s.H so ss.aei
Every Southern State has repudiated this
doctrine Of squatter sovereignty and pronounced
it a wrong, destructive of their rights and
equality. Last sumner it was announced and
heralded by telegraph, that distinguished
candidate for the presidency would not accept
from the Charleston Convention a nomination
/ if rendered to him, if that Conventions sh ould
declare that slavery existed, by virtue of the
| Constitution, in the Territories beyond the
power of the inhabitants to exclude it
| Whether conditions SO deiantly prescribed will
be accepted, remaius to be seen. Certainly
the nomination of such q man would be an en-
dorscment of his doctrines, and a construction
of the platform, according to his views, to be
carried into the practical administration of the
Government; would be dshonoriug to the
South demoralizing to the party succumbing
to a me-ace. and practicle negatlon OF the
right of Soul hern citizens to emigrate to the
common territory with that form Of labor to
which they have been accustomed. 1t the
| Southern States have been sincere in their de-
clarations of hostility to squatter sovereignty,
or the claim set up of the power of the terri
torial legislature to exclude slavery, they will
insist upon a clear, distinct, and unequivocal
Reputation of the heresy. 1t should be done
in unambiguous terms, not susceptible CT
double construction. We want no Villafranca
treaties to be discussed in tedious Zurich con-
ferences; but manly and honest assertion of
principles. However others may act, Alabama
has spoken. For twelve years nearly every po-
litical convention of all parties, held in the
State, has condemned this doctrine of popu-
lar sovereignty, as applied t. Territories. Be
tween its advocates and her, there is gulf
fixed, which the mechanical genius and lnven-
tive faculties of a presidential convention can
not bridge over. ...
The true principle is, that, if master can
90 into the Territories or upon territory, his
slave can accompany him /; and neither Con-
gress nor territorial legislature can divest him
of the title to his property. just as soon as
territory is acquired slave property Is legal and
constitutional, and no power can invalidate un-
til a sovereignty interposes. The Constitution,
),roprio vigore and instnnter, extends over the
acquisition; and, in the language of Chief
Justice Taney. in the Dred Scott case, "the
right of property in slave IS distinctly ana
expressly affirmed in the Constitution The
condition of negro is not changed by his en-
trance into Territory. There is no law. con-
stitutional, International, or local, which will
make him slave a freeman, If he was a
slave at the tin of entering, he remains SUCH;
| if free his status is not changed. Slavery or
freedom adheres to him on the territory be-
longing to the United States There can be
no law in Territory excluding slavery. as
there is no power having jurisdiction compe-
tent to emancipate or altar the condit on OF TIE
negro IF negro was a slave in State, his
servitude continues In a Territory ~
Slavery is not anywhere, as asserted IN the
| Harper Magazine article, "the creature OF To-
| cal leTlSlatIOn. or the cIcdtuTe VI hiCdi W. Lhu-
nicipal law That it must be established and
supported solely by positive municipal law, is
a gross error sustained chiefly by judicial dietq.
which we're irrevelant to a decision ON the par
ticular facts of the cases decided. No law,
believe is found on our statute books anthori-.
zing the introduction of slavery; and if posi-
tive precept is essential t. the valid existence
of slavery. the tenure by which our slaves are
held is, illegal and uncertain. citizen of
southern State, or, slaveho.ding country like
Brazil or Cuba, can carry with impunity. his
slave into any country where, "by the laws
thereof" slavery is not prohibited. The pass
age of master with his sla: e through the ter
ritory of non-slaveholding State does not
change the condition of the slave. unless there
is legislative enactment to that effect; and
the law of nations protects the master in tran
stir, enforces the law Of the domicil. if that
! protection does not controyene public policy
and the ess, ntial interests of the community.