Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-08-31
mr.. DOUGLAS as o Baekcr or Lincoln and
Nu the IJnion

90 the Union.
Mr.. Douglas has on excellent faculty Of
setting up principle and then kicking the,
bottom out of Il. His great principle Of
popular sovereignty, which came over in the
Mdgforer, has a proviso that ''the measure
Of sovereignty that the people may exercise,
shall be decided by the Supreme Court. No
Supreme Court came over in the Mdutgower,
so the imported article, in the original pack
age, must have been defective.
AT Norfolk he was very bold, and in re-
sponse to the question, declared that the
election Of Lincoln, without any overt act'
on his part, against the Constitution, would
not be any cause for Southern secession, and
he proposed to back Lincoln in treating the
secessionists as Gen. Jackson proposed to do
the nullifers. But in the same breath he
said that in his judgment, "the political
opinions of Mr.. Lincoln were hostile to the
Constitution and the safety of the Union !"
also, that "in the event of the success of the
Northern Abolitionists, the Union and our
glorious Constitution are put in peril aud
jeopardy.'fs q ac.rtU sI-flI- q
We suppose that the opinions Of Mr.. Lin
coin, which Mr.. Douglas thinks hostile to
the Constitution and Union, are those in re-
gard to the power Of Congress to exclude
slavery from the Territories. But Mr.. Doug
las says this isn question for the Supreme
Court. The President appoints the Judges,
and in case Of the election of Lincoln he
may, in the ordinary course of nature, have
On opportunity to appoint majority of the
Court. Then his opinions, which are hostile
to the Constitution and Union, will, by a
judicial decision, be made a part of the Con-
stitution. Still Mr.. Douglas would be COM
PEELED to sustain him, although he had sub
verted the Constitution, because he had COM
mitted "no overt act"
We hardly know what Mr.. Douglas meant
by telling the Virginians that he would
stake just as much pleasure in hanging Lin
coin, if he transcribed his constitutional
powers, as he felt pleasure in knowing that
they hanged John Brown" We do not know
how man can feel pleasure in knowing that
any man was hanged, or take pleasure in be-
ing hangman. 1t is very low, as well as
very brutal pleasure. But if the President
can appoint the Court, whose decisions make
the Constitution, how can he possibly trans
cend his constitutional powers? He has only
towill, and the Court will make it constitu-
tional. Yet, Mr.. Douglas promises to stand
by President in subverting the Constitu-
tion, and anticipates pleasure in hanging the
Southerners who may stand by the integrity
of that instrument.
If the Supreme Court has supreme power
over constitutional and political questions
and their decisions are the Constitution,
then the election of President, who ap-
points the judges, and whose opinions are
hostile to the Constitution and Union, is an
overt act against both; and instead of wait
ing till the Inauguration, and till the Con-
stitution and Union have both passed into
the power of an enemy to them, the South
should secede at once. 1t is, according to
Mr.. Douglass own theory of government, the
only way to defend the Constitution.
Mr.. Douglas can not expect that the South
will remain inactiveuntil the Union and the
Constitution and the appointment of the
Supreme Court have passed into the power
Of one who, he says, is hostile to the Con-
stitution and Union, merely because they
differed in regard to the policy of nomina-
ting him. Really, if Mr.. Lincoln is what
Mr.. Douglas represents him, his running foI
the Presidency, is an "overt act" and Mr.
Douglas is logically bound by his own dec.
lsration TO claim the pleasure of hanging
hin, uox HHF.t.H