Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1860-01-27

ter daughter aud anpause.l
There Is your Declaration Of Independence, diploma
tic dodge adopted merely for the purpose Of excusng the
ieoclious colonies In the eyes u civilized manhud-
There is your Declaration " Independence longer the
sacred code Of the rights Of but hypocrtca piece
Of special pleading. drawn up by batch of artful ~,
foggers Who, when speaking Of the rghts OF ms e,r.
but the privileges Of set Of arisocauc slav ,a ~,
STYLED Il 'the rights Of man In order r. guy
the eyes Of the world and 70 inveigle eus' ilio
rta r os h1a.,sd reyo, sstAeoe applause. y
and sages, but acc 90 ~ ~ ~, Nv 's WI he,
p,aS o,r...tai, - hing and meant another, who
IN. And M senurpnts as genuine and obtained
o,etcpces 10y AND assistance and sympathy on false
p.etsnees There is your great Amer, Revolution
eet the great champion Of universal principles. but
"A wooden nuimeg-(reuoved cheers) most impu-
fApplsuse)
1hat is the way Mr. Douglas wants you TO read and to
understand the proudet pages Of American history
That is the kind Of history with which he finds It's
sary prop his mouFrc doctrine Of popular sovereignty
That is what he calls vindcanf the character and the
motives and the conduct Of the sgnci Of the Declaration
Of Independence Thus he did not blush 10 Islander JET
ferson, Who When speaking Of his country, meant the
Motia ano when speaking Of his lcns' meant
manknd and Franklin, in whose clear head theory and
practice were the same, and who, having declared al
men 10 Dc created free and equal became che hst pres
idont Of the first great abolition society and ohm Nd.
ans the representative u that state, which aboshed
slavery within its limits with great stroke Of legisa-
tiun and Washington who declared il to be CHS fond
est wish 20 slavery abolished by law, and Affixed 10
the Declaration Of Independence the broad signature Of
bis heroic sword and Madison, who deemed II "absurd
TO admit the idea NJ property IN man and Of the fra
mcrs of the constitution, who took care not TO disgrace
that instrument with the word "slayery. and before
adopting finally hotted out from the exradtou clause
the word "setvtude," arOtoedy because II ggHifed the
condition Of Stare and substituted The word service
avowedy because sgnined fhc condition Of free man
Thus Mr. Douglas daros speak " a those true men,
who after having proclaimed their principles in the De
claraiiun cudcavorcd introduce them into practical
lie 10 almost every state 90 the way oradai enamel
patton That they have failed 10 OILS, Is 70 o. fault OF
theirs t shows NOT that they were less great and sim
If Had los. fI
OF go noble an ancestry. Applause
There is Nj Douglass version OF your history lie
despairs n converting you without alndcrng your faith
era His present doctrines cannot thrive unless planted
In raunny the past ~ yind.ctto the sicHcrs NJ
the Declaration Of Independence Indeed. they need
SAD ~ see the lustriHut committee Of five rise from
their graves, a. hcr head 1hoeas Jefferson. h- lips
cnrled with the smile of contempt and hear htm say
Nc Douglas "Sir you qua, abuse us AS much ae ,Ou
please but have the goodness 20 spare with vim
dicanous II our character and motives (Grcai laughter
and applause)
40 lose themselves in tue pursuit of selfish ends
TO become nsensibe 10 the grand aud sublime Mcasur-
ing every character and every event Boz history 10y the
low STANDARD Of their own indvidualtes apply ing to
erythug the rule ~ their motives incapable
Of praspug broad and gcner ideas, they vil beue
great Thing hoy csunot deny, and dag down every
struggle Of principles the sordd arena Of aspiring self
ishuess, N small competing interests Eighteen hum
drcd years ago. there were men who saw uothnu ~ I'M
cipient thrisiiany but mere wrauge between Jewish
theo gHns. rot up by carpenters boy, and carried
by few crazy hhean Three hundred yelrs ago there
the ION century nor The emancipation or the individual
conscienre, lut mere fuss kicked mp by German
monk. who wanted 10 set married Two hundred years
ago there who saw in lInmudc refusal to
pay the shp-moncy not bold ,ndicauon VI cuustitu-
ununl liberty. but the crazy antics ~ man who was
mean enough 20 quarrel about few sliurs. Aud now
there who boz the D.clarsuou Of Iudepcud.
and t1c American Revolution, not the tc-orgauiza-
ton e. human society upon the basis Of Liberty and
Equality nut dodge OF some English colouists who
were unwilling 10 pas their taNcg. (Applause)
hei 'h- dignity o, ge3i glaraeieIi and ihg sloy Of
the pc pc (Checrs) 10 {, ip vain for demagoguism
raise Is short against the truth OF history. The
Declaration of lndepcnden'e stands there. No candid
ever read II without srcing and feeling that every
word of dictated hy deep and Thought and
that every sentence Of bears the Of philosophical
generality. II is the summing up nj the results NJ the
philosophical development of the age it Is the prac teal
emboduent Of the progressive idcns, which, very far
from bring confined 70 the narrow limits Of the English
colonies, pctyaded the very atmosphere Of al civilized
countries That code NJ human rights has grown the
very summit Of civilizations not ia the miry soil II
South Carolina cotton field II must have a dull mind
or diso'ae ed brain who misnnderstauds its principles
but he have the heart Of q riiiIin who knowingly
mistcpresents them. loud cheers)
Mr. Douglass ambition might have been satisfied with
this ignomnious exploit But the necessities Of the pop
Mar sovereignty doctrine do stop there. Aft hav
ing tried to explain away the fundamental pin pes IN
DERIVING this republic which hostile TO slavery and
It's extension, Mr. Douglas finds ii exceedingly nconven-
lent - encounter facts, which prove beyond doubt that
these principles from mere theoretical existence
practical realization. Popular sovereignty which is
at with the doctrines of the Declaration Of Indepen-
dCrcr demands the slaughter OF the ordinance OF lIhl
aud Mr. Douglas is up the task II does not stop at
tribes Aud here mnst return TO the Harpcr-maga-
zine manifesto He leads ua through century OF colo
NAL history Ia order show that the people Of the colo
MES claimed the right icgato the subject Of sa-
very And remarkably enough, all the instances quoted
show uniform tendency adverse TO the peculiar nsttu
ton Mr. Douglas then proceeds 10 discover the germs
Of his popular sovereignty doctrine in the first congress
ional legislation concerning the territories will not
undertake cdiicise that singular historical essay, al
though some oi is statements are such MS 70 make the
freshmen of colleges smile. The Statesman" Dou-
gas does not seem 10 be that the ability to read
history ought 10 preccde the attempt 10 write H. laugh
and chcers) lie leads us back 10 the congress Of
l7s4 Mr. Jefferson and bis colleagues have just eXecut
ed the deed Of cesiou Of the Northwestern Territory and
the Mr. Jefferson, chairman Of committee, then
submits ga plan for the temporary government Of the
territories coded or 10 be coded by the individual states
60 the United States Mr. Douglas proceeds to describe
how the territorial governments were to be organized,
what rights and powers were put into the hands Of the
people, and how they TO be eXercised and after
having demonstrated that the term ''new states meant
the same thing which is designated by "territOrie
he comes to the conclusion tina, the spirit per'adng that
plan in exact eonsonance with his doctrine Of "popu
lar sovereignty" Mr. Douglas Osientat0usy calls this
''the Jelersonan plan" 1T was" says he, "the first
plan Of government for the territories adopted Ia the
United Statc- II was drawn by the author Of The De
carann Of Independence, and revised and adopted D,
those who shaped the issue. which produced the Reou
ton, aud formed the foundations upon which Who'll,
system Of American government rests" But Mr. Doug
las skps rather nimby the significant fact that III,
same author OF the Declaration OF indcpendenre put
into that plan profiso cfciHaHg STARRY fw ne tern
tories Was that mere accident Mr. Jefferson show
ed thereby cOnelusivcly that IN his opinou the eNeu
sion Of slavery by Congressional legislation 10y
inconsistent with the spirit of popular sovereign
~ which Mr. Douglas discovers in the plan Of 1854 bu
this does disturb Mr. Douglas. THE hhh article
says he, "reAtng to the prohibition Of slavery. having
been rejected by Congress, became part Of tn,
Jefersonan plan Of government for the territories,
adopted April pa. 1884," Although with large numer
ioal majority in its favor l6 10 y, this article did Gdoed
fail % obtain constitutional majority, the vote uf Nov
Jersey not being counted Ia consequence Of there heng
but delegate from that state present had heeI
drawn up by Mr. Jefferson, introduced hy Nj Jefferson
and sustained by Mt Jefferson Nevertheless, NJ
Douglas persists in calling PLAN from Which tf peca
Aag Jegefsosgn feffnfe hld beeH struck ont. Ne set
tefsoniaH plan" This is the play Of Hamlet with tn
character VI Hamlet omitted OLhugher) "Ihis char
ter Of compact, proceeds Mr. Dongas "with IT, fuuda
mental conditions which unalterahle without IN
joint consent of the people Interested in them, well
Of the United States, then stood upon the statute bOo
unrepealcd and irrepealRble. when the lith day
May, 1887 the federal convention met at Philadelphia
Does Mr. Douglas not know that the 10th NJ March
1885 proposition was introduced IN Congress by Ruf.
King to exclude slavery from the states described Ia IN
resolve u April 23d, ISL and % make this pruvs pir
Of the compact established by that resolve Does he
know that this provsi restoring the JeHcrsonian
ture 70 the "Jehersonan plan " vas committed by thu
vote Of eight against four Does be know thN
the plan Of 1884 into practical operation, bu
expressly set aside by Congress in 1881 Does h
know that the ordinance Of 1857 the hsat egsla
tive every practically organizing territory OF III
United States, and that one Of us most prominent Tea
the proyiso excluding slavery from all the
rtones then Ia possession of the United States
Mr. Douglass historical Teoolleotons Of The ordinanc
Of 1887 seem TO be very indstiuot Irderd he deems
only worthy Of occasional, passing, almost contemI
tunus notice. lie speaks Of IL 1.-The ordinance Of tn
18th q July 1851, which parsed by the remnant
the Congress Of the confederation, sitting in New Yorl
a. M