Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1860-07-09
From the Cincinnati Gazette.
SoUATTER SOVEREIGNTY AND SLAVERY.

MIR. DOUGLAS OPINION OF HIS OWN DOGMA
Some of the speakers at the Douglas ratiGca
ton gathering, the other evening strenuously
argued that they were better free soil men
than the republicans-that the squatter sover
eighty policy Of Douglas is more effective
against slavery than even the Wilmot proviso
would be- We commend to all such takers,
and to those who hear them, the following,
from Mr.. Douglas own life, on this subject =
From Mr.. Douglas Speech in the Senate, May Is, 1860
But we are told that the necessary result of
this doctrine of n0u-ntervention, which gen
tlemen, by wGy Of throwing ridicule upon, call
squatter sovereignty, is to deprive the south of
all participation in what they call the common
territories of the United States That was the
ground on which the senator from Mississippi
(Mr Davis predicted his opposition to the
compromise measures of 1860.
He regarded a refusal to repeal the Mexican
law as equivalent to the Wilmot prOviso re.
fusa to reco gnize by an act OF congress the
right to carry slave there as equivalent to
the Wmot provso; a refusal to deny to a
territorial legislature the right to exclude slave
ny as equivalent to an exclusion. He believed
at that time that his doctrine did not amount
to denial of southern rights; and he told the
Now, let us see how far his predictions and
suppositions have been verified. | infer that
he told the people So for as he makes it a
charge in his bill of indictment against me,
that | am hostile to southern rights, because |
gave those votes.
Now, what has been the result2 My views
were incorporated into the compromise meas
ures of 1850, and his were rejected. Has the
south been excluded from all the territory ac-
hat ba h
from the house Of representatives now on your
table, repeating the slave code in New Mexico,
established by the people themselves 1t is
part of the history of the country, that under
this doctrine of non Intervention, this doctrine
that you delight to call squatter sovereignty,
the people of New Mexico have introduced and
protected slavery, in the whole of that
territory. Upon this doctrine, they have
converted a tract of free territory into
~slave territory, more than five times
the size of the state of New Yerk. I'M
der this doctrine, slavery has been extended
from the Rio Grande to the Gulf of California,
and from the line of the republic of Mexico,
not only up to 80 deg. 80 min., but up to SO
deg.,-giving you degree and half more
slave territory than you ever claimed. In
1S4S and 1849 and 1850, you only asked to
have the line of 80 deg. 30 min. The Nash
vile convention fixed that as its ultimatum.
L offered 1t IN the senate in August, lo4o, ana
it was adopted here, but rejected in the house
of representatives. You asked only up to 36
deg, 30 min, and non-ntervention has given
you slave territory up to SO degrees, degree
and halt more than you asked; and yet you
say this is sacrifice of southern rights
These are the fruits Of the principles which the
senator from Mississippi regards as hostile to
the rights of the south Where did YOU ever
get any other fruits that were more palatabe
to your taste or more refreshing to your
strength What other inch OF free territory
has been converted into slave territory on Tie
American continent, since the Revolution. ex
cept in New Mexico and Arizona, under the
principle of non-nterventon affirmed at
Charleston? Ii it be true that this prnc
pie of nou-interyention has conferred upon
you all that immense territory, has protected
slavery in that comparatively northern and
cold region where you did not expect it
to CO. cannot you trust the same prn-
cpe further south when you come to nc.
auire additional territory from Mexico, which
was surrounded on nearly every side by free
territory will not the same principle protect
you in TIE northern states OF Mexico when
they are acquired, since they are now sur.
rounded by slave territory; are several hun.
dred miles further south; have many degrees