Nebraska advertiser., 1860-01-12
righl % prOperly IN lave. BE evil wouId


right TO property in slaves Che evil would
be intolerable."
The evil would be intolerable !" In
deed! When did Mr.. Burhanan made
this %discoveryl No doubt i IS since he
wrote his letter of acceplancs of the Pre-
sidential domination for, il we renen-
Der right, he then sail lhat he people
Of a Territory. axe those Of a Nefe,
should determine the slavery question for
themselves! ="
The last quotation we will make, reads
as follows: g9ilsl hslll
"Thus has the status of a Territory,
during the intermediate period from
its first settlement until il shall become a
State, been irreEocably fixed BY the final
decision of the Supreme Court.
This is cool, too! there's ice in it, .
LrrerOcably fired! Are the decisions Of
courts never reversedg In the language
Mr.. Buchanan himself used when speak
ing in the Senate of the United States on
a decision Of the Supreme Court, "eYen
these decisions, like all other human
things, are modified and changed BY the
experience of time and the lights of
knowledge" But far from "~irrevocably''
fixing the status of a Territory, the
Supreme Court did not ak" ], at all, for
the very simple and very plausible reason
that the question was not before that
bodyfor adjudication.
Such a p~erversion of facts, and such a
doctrine, coming from a Democratic Pre-.
sident, would be perfectly u~naceOuntable
without light thrown on the a~ntecedents
of Mr.. Buchanan, and the motives which
prompted him to utter sentiments 50 CON
trary to the popular sovereignty principle
to which be owes his election. The Gle
veland Plaindeater says:
"Mr. Buchanan has undertaken to de-
eide by his ipSe dirfa question which the
Supreme Court has not decided, and TO
dictate the Democratic party what it shall
do at the Charleston Convention in refer
ence TO the slavery question. Mr.. Bueh-
anan will find out that he is not yet king
of this country nor dictator to the Demo-
cratic party. His opinions in regard to
political matters are of very little account.
He is often and most grossly mistaken in
regard TO what constitutes Democracy,
and his reading of party platforms and
court decisions amazingly defective. He
commenced life a Federalist. All his
early impressions and associations were
Federal. He lived to middle age an I'M
compromising Federalist-so much so that
he declared IF lie thought he had one
drop of Democratic blood in his veins he
would open them and let it out He ne
yer had occasion to make the incision.-
He has been a Federal in disguise all his
life, playing possum with the Democratic
party, holding its offices and enjoying its
honors. In his extreme old age and sec
ond childhood, his early impressions re-
gain possession of his impulses, and plac-
ed in power, he acts out his real charac-
ter"
To the above we only add the following
remark, which we clip from the PhiIadel-
phia Press:
While, on the question Of slavery il
the Territories, the President endeavors
TO create the impression hat he is ANNA.
ted by an extreme and almost unprece-
dented degree Of regard for the inciden-
tai expressions of opinion made by the
Supreme Court of the United States, in
another part of the message he is free &c
announce, practically, his disregard fol
the opinions of that tribunal, for he reit-
crates his request for power from Con-
gress to seize and TO hold certain military
posts in Mexico, Notwithstanding the de-
cision for which he processes so much re-
gard p~ronounces the grant of such power
to be clearly unconstitutional"