The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1860-06-20

but voluntary exles who have been al
lowed TO seek homes in wilderness not
discovered, purchased. or conquered by
them, but still! the property of the States.
and whom, in ;her yet unfinished term
of social infancy and political pupilage,
the great agent, the States, has kindly
undertaken TO protect giving them
judges, Governors, and sort of Legisla-
ture--all subject, however, to be with.
drawn at any moment-and the whole
sl stem supported from the Treasury of
the States. Ye, it is said that such Ter.
ritories are sovereignties, and such people
sovcreigns. and that such organization
can assume the high aud sovereign tune
tor Of defining aud declaring what is and
what is not property, and thereby forbid
large proportion of the citizens of the
States, who really own the lands, from
entering such Territories with their right
ful property.
1t is said here, by those who advocate
this extraordinary doctne, that adventu
rers going, for instance, to Pixies Peak,
Nevada, or Arizona, and organizing Tor
themselves provisional governments, with
out recognition from this -Governmen:,
would not be entitled TO The rights OF
sovercigns To this the Senator from
Mississippi (Mr. Davis) very pontediy
| and justly answered, that perhaps they
were the very peope who, from the ab-
soIute necessity Of the case, woald be jns.
u6ed in exercising for time. sovereign
| power And ! will add, it they could sus'
/ tain themselves in their organization
gaIust all attacks, they would become
permanently aud rightluIly so,eTeigD.-
But thai gangs OF adventures. intruding
INTO domain that belongs 10 Others.
squntiii.g on rs chusest lands, and when
increased la such nunIuers that they can
! not keep the peace among themselves,
pe;ition'ng teen To- the agent of lhe true
owners OF the soil, and receiving at The
owners charge aud cost, atnpc protection
should Immediately thereafter proceed TO
exercise the hieh and supreme sovereign
| right Of deciding What Is and what is not
property on that domain. and exercise il
ia way 10 exclude tie people Of nearly
hall the States nom their Territory, is
clearly absurd. 1t is u proposition not
merely anomalous in every feature, uot
only unknown to hisIo.y, but utterly op
pos.d To ruth, TO reason, to justice, 10
honor, aud Ia cou,mon honesty. 1t is
called "sqnatter sovereignty" The name
! describes 4. IL can never achieve q mole
respectable cognomin"lion.
havo Cud"sNor 10 show, rather by
statement than by argument, that our
| territorial ssriZations--called govern
ments bv courtesy, but which really are
ouly corporations, that may he dissolved
AT the " Ill "f The Fedora Government
cannot declare what is property in the
Territories, Hnd are not sovereign. IL is
said nevertheless, that they are sovereg On,
because oi n certain na,ur'J and Inherent
| night of any population organized under
any form Of government To regulate their
| own aiiaUs. NoLsIng could be more vague,
uncertain. meIaphys and shadowy,
than such n proposition "s this. Ii man
has any natural ur lnherent ris shts- which
| deny, regarding all the rights to which
being born SO helpless as man, may At
tain 10 be purely conventional and such
| as other men allow him-l should sup
pose that those rights beIoug TO him rs
a. individual, rather than as member (
| any social or political sgstem.
II seems to me clear that ee must be
born with Whatever is natural or inherent
to us. and that We can receive no accrs
sion Of rights uf that character from any
! social or political orgauiz ,ton but that,
OH the contrary, such rights, whatever
they may be- must be in no small degree
restrained and diminished ~ any organi
zation formed for tue good Of the whole.
Such, in fact, ia tie case. individual
riohts--no individual pretentions, pas
Il ms and desires, mistaken for tights
are just what governments are Instituted
10 control AID regulate. But If any such
natural or Inherent rights could possibly
exist, they are conceded when the settler
on the public domain, asking the protec
ton OF this government, agrees to be
governed by such al organic law as Con.
gress may offer him--which he does for
the substantial consideration Of protection
IL he, by himself, or in conjunction with
his fellow settlers. bad any such tights,
they are entirely surrendered when they
come under the Constitution and the laws
Of this Confederation.
Their immediate local governments.
having no other foundation than the
vague power Of Congress to make "need'
fuI rules and regulations" for such pop
ulatioD TO set itself up as a sovereign peo
pie (; and such corporation to demand
to exercise any sovereign power, especial
ly the great central sovereign power OF
declaring what is property. is, ! repeat il,
with due Difference, simply absurd, aud
would, think, be agreed to by no human
being OF ordinary Intelligence who was
not misltd bg- -iiis passions, prejudices, or
interests. Why,Ithe Federal Govern
ment itself save 10 one or two instances
here the power has been conferred on
II, canbot declare what is or what is not
property. That is power reserved by
the sovereign States, aud by them alone
can be exercised; aud It Is by this reser
~ ~ Al Eo.sf