Nebraska advertiser., 1860-03-22

- Of the PEOPLE, and yet he has the power by n'
ngle nesatise "a 6alieszs the vii of the Lsgisla-
ture and to acrush oKf' the right conceded to them
in the Organic Act, Of LegisIating in their own way,
on their own afairs.~But he has not the power,
and there exists none on earth, that shall paraliEe
one free tongue at least, from denOuncing that Veto
as anti Cincinnati, anti Platsmouth. and anti-demO-
~craticl' "f that be treason, make the most Of it"
fcheszs
BE has done here, what she Autociat Of al the
Russias dared bot do in an assembly Of his nOblest
He has put his foot upon the free expression. Of Opin,
ion and attempts to. stife the liberty Of speech
Let him seoul, but I shall speak on
He tells us that he, too believes in popular SOW
ereignty," that be believes in the right Of the peO-
pie to establish or prohibit slavery, and that he has
always been consistent & God save, the mark How
does he define his kind Of popular sovereignty
And how maintain that Wanted consistency ? Why.
it only mSaus, Is he understands, the right Of the
people Of a State, and that until q State organization
there are no people, in a political sense, in a Ter
ritoryl J. Are they then balloons or monk eys or Rha,
other species of animal creation ? Rssidi ng on the
east bank Of the Missouri; we were human beings
part of the people Of Iowa or Missouri, and had the
undOubted right to control our own affairs inour OWL
way, excepting only in such cases, where we have
voluntarily deprived ourselves of that inherent
right BY ceding it to Congress in the National com
pact. Do We then cease to be human beings snd
cease to possess the inherent rights Of humanity, o.
or form any part of a free people, the moment VIC
remove our residence to the ,eest bank Of the Big
muddy. II, because our form Of Territorial govern
ment is @prescribed by Congress, therefore we are to
have no rights of self-government, on subjects nee
essary to our happiness, and fhe power to annul
which has never been delegated to that body, how
can we recover that right, now lost, when We meet
in a Convention, to frame Constitution since the form
too, Of that Convention, and its very authority is
derived from an Act Of the Territorial Legislature,
passed by the imperial permission of a Federal ap-
pointed Executive, and it mus therefore, according
TO the logic now served us, be the mere ersatuvs Of
a creature? This position CT the Veto is too absurd
TO- require a~rgumentl sl a.agU -3
But l do proclaim it, however, and no man who
values his candor viii deny it, that, if the Legisla-
ton of 1850, if the Organic Act of 1884, if the
Platform of 1856, were not all inseeded to recognize
the right of tie p~eOple-under the Constitution Of
course-of the Territories while under q Territorial
form of government. in the same way, and to the
same extent, as the people Of a State, to establish,
prohibit, or regulate. slavery, as well as all other>Of
their domestic affairs in their own way, then, | cay
a monstrOus fraud has been perpetrated upon the
American people. J.,
In accepting his nomination, James Buchanan so
understood it.. For he declares, "This legislation Is
founded upon principles that are as ancisns as free,
government itself, and in accordance with them has
simply declared that the people of a territory, like
those Of a State, shall decide for themselves, wheth-
er slavery shall or shall not exist within their lin
its" Stephens, of Georgia, Badger of North Car
olina, Rutledge, of South Carolina, Jones, Of Ten
%nessee, Cobb, of Georgia. Breckenridge Of Kentucky
and all South as well as North, in the campaign Of
1856. without an exception, so far as l know, 50 IN
derstOod it. does As '4
Indeed, if this is not the true Interpretation, what
1 ask, has been gained by the agitation Of this ques
ton The Governor cannot say that anybody at
anytime ever doubted but what the people of the
States had this power already and that it has never
been denied to them. Does he think so poorly Of our
intelligence as to suppose he can make us believe
that this Union has been brought to the very brink
of disruption by the agitation of this pestiferous
negro question, merely to establish what has always
been established. and to affirm q principle which
since the foundation Of our government, has neper
been denied /!
The gentleman says Benton opposed at one time
the admission of California. This is not 90 ] as
sert boldly, for l do know of what / speak that
my glorious old Chieftain-"O Old Bullion" never
did, at any time, publicly or privately, oppose such
admission. On the contrary the initiatives OF the
California movement and of the application Of the
self-created "GOlden State, " were all done accord
ing to his sanction and advice. True, he upset the
Omnibus Bill, and split out the passengers, but it
was to save his favorite State from being made the
scape-goat Of less populous measures he wanted
every tub to stand on its own bottom and it 50
stood and California was admitted by the vote Of
everybody excepting a dozen nullifers.
That this "POwer.'o ~ OF Fright" belonged to States
nobody doubted. The question was {: Does it belong
also to Territories? As early as 1920 Gen. Harrison
commended that it did. The Democracy declared SO
in their legislation and platforms and the people
found q verdict in their favor, on that issueI Ii
this Territory there seems to me to have been hard
~ an honest chance for doubt. The Democracy,
at their first convention, held at Omaha, on the 9Th
Of January, 1853, re-afirmed it in the Platform
which Ihad the homer to draw up as their Chairman
on resolutions. At the first PlatGmouih Convention
in june 1858, they again re-endorsed it, and for the
third time, at the same place in August 1859. They
declared substantially that because the power of the
TerritOria1legisIature extends to all rightfI subject
Of legislation, therefore it is that they can ~legislate
on slavery, which of course must then be a rightful
subject Of legislation, and no power on Earth can
prevent them, @except, " It should have been added,
fths federal power exerted through. the Governor. .
(Cheers.) so ei4oAa aa
But the Territories belong to the people Of all the
States-"bought with the common blood and com
uon treasurer True, the land-the area, was SO
acquired. But are the people, who squat or re-
side on such Territory, acquired" with it, and do
they, too, in the same sense, belong to the States,
because they live upon what has been government
land, for which they have paid the government an
equivalent, do they belong te-the government? This
doctrine, enuneiated in the Veto, was the doctrine
Of the Tories of the Revolution. They commended
that the colonies we're bought with the common blood
and ~treasurs, and that therefore the Parliament of
Great Britain had q right to bind them in all cases
whatsoever. Against this monstrous assumptioD-