Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1860-07-10

Well, now, any state, Ia voice" GO II, old
man, any set OF principles which will deprive
you of the perfect control OF your own property ID
wrong. This right over your own property
conceive to be the very essence Of republican
government Deprive you OF this and you be-
come slave; Tor the man who has power over
your property to confscate it, has power over
your means Of subsistence And vet ID is con-
tended that although the Constitution of the
United states confers no such power, yet few
men called the territorial Legislature, In their re-
moe extremity Of the counry, can confscate
your property and send you away deprived of H.
l'Can't do it'll There is but one mode, and one
alone by which the citizen can be deprived Of
his slave property in the territories That mode
Is pointed out In the Cincinnati platform, which
mas been, as you know, greatly misrepresented
That platform declares that when a sufficient
number OF residents are located in territory in
order to form State and come into the Union
ana when the people frame constitution, then
they may decide for themselves the question
whether they will have slavery or not. There is
no territorial legislature mentioned in the CinciI-
matt platform. There is no squatter sovereignty
there Ii presents the clear principle that at
tne time Inc people form their constitution, they
shall then decide whether they will have slavery
or not. And yet 1t has been stated over and over
again that In accepting the nomination under that
platform, endorsed the doctrine Of squatter SOW
ereignty. | suppose you have heard IL all over
newspapers
A voice.-We knew they lied
Inc Presldent.-I am glad you knew it
Laughter Now, how well this plain principle
OF constitutional law corresponds with the best
Interests OF the people. Under it emigrants from
the North and the South, from the East and the
West, receive their benefits. They carry with
tnem that property which they suppose will best
promote their material interests they live together
In peace and harmony. The question Of slavery
Will become foregone conclusion before they
have population sufficient to ask for admission
into the Union. There will be no "bleedinp Kan
ITerritOYiPs. mo haze all
live together in peace and harmony, promoting
peace in the Territory and their own prosperity
until the time arrives when II becomes necessary
TO form State Constitution. Then the whole
question will be decided to the satisfaction of
every one.
But upon the other principle what do you ind
In tne Territories! why, that they are fighting
all the time. One territorial legislature NAV es,
tablish slavery and another territorial Legislature
may abolish 1t, and so the struggle wilt be pro-
longedi and in spite Of their continuous industry
will be in state of constant turmoil lust as we
have witnessed in Kansas Therefore there is
nothlng-no power posi- ble-that could be so in
furious ohe peace and prosperity as this doctrine
Wnlch mas been denominated "squatter sover-
eighty" Laughter
Now let me place 1t before you in another point
OF view am very much gratfied that YOU
have listened TO plain speech from an old man
with so much attention. T''Go onIn and applause I
The Southern states can never give up their
principle Of equality in the Union; T.never
never' and apIlausel because If they did they
would be self-degraded In the eyes of the world
They would stand before their couhtrymen as in
fer1or to the people Of their sister States They
never can surrender it. But how is IL with the
Northern people! 1t is with them comparati vely
mere abstraction. With the South 1t is of inf
mite Importance that they should preserve their
equal sovereignty in the Union. What has the
South to do? Merely to say that as good and
honest citizens they will yield obedience TO the
Supreme Court, and thus admit the right Of a
m m N ia ksh int
tories just as Northern man may do And il is
to HE d most extraordinary thing that this conn
try should now be di t-aced and divided because
certain persons of the North will not agree that
their Efethren in the South shall have the same
rights In all the Territories which they of the
North enjoy. What could as a PENNSYLVANIA
say or dc, II some one were TO contend that the
Territorial Legislature of any Territory should
exclude my cattle from that Territory1 The
principle is exactly the same, and the Supreme
Court Of the United States deoided-what was
known to MS all to be the existing state of affairs
Tor 80 years-that slaves are property Admit that
fact and you admit everything. Then that pro-
perty in the Territories must be protected in pre-
cisely the same manner any other property
would be- IL it be not protected in the Terri
tories in the same manner, the owners are de-
graded before the world. Applause
But we have " nOE-intervention. Non-inter-
ventiOn, II is said is the true policy That is the
" let lone" policy-let things go their own way
What is this non intervention Perfectly right
We all admit that the Congress of the United
States has no authority whatever to establish to
impair or to abolish the right of master to slaves
In the Territories, or the right of owner Of any
other property. All very well. But that is one
sided non-intervention. Garry the Intervention
out the Constitution does to the territorial leg
islature, and admit that they have no right, no
power, no authority, to abolish, or establish or
impair slavery within their limits. But that would
ait do.
That is all at present that anybody need want
- hands OFF, by Congress, = hands off, by the
territorial Legislature. [Applausel Suffer the
Constitution and the laws to be executed by the
Federal Judiciary in the Territory without inter
ference from Congress, and without interference
from the territorial legislature That is all that is
necessary at present No one has asked for more
But if non-intervention did not extend to the ter
ritOrial legislature, what would be the conse-
quence! 1t is just the plaster of the Win OF
proviso to the Buffalo platform; of Congress to
the territorial legislature. Congress cannot enact
Buffalo platform under the Wifmot proviso.
having no constitutional power to do it; but IL
en- be done ehectually, more readily, in the Ter
ritories, by Congress. Now in whaqposition has
this placed the South! IL either Interference bv
Congress or the territorial Legislature were con-
stitutiOnal, (Which, OF course, do not admit to
be the case, then the plan adopted is far worse
for the South than the congressional plan; because
If there were attempt to interfere with these
rights in Congress they would be resisted by able
men. The House of Representatives, the Senate,
perchdnce the President, may resist; but all this
affair in the Territories is done by the first Ieois
latures, consisting of twenty, forty or fifty men,
and they can conveniently in half an hour DESTROY
all the property that southern men may have In
the Territories if ''Squatter sovereignty is 10 be
the law of the land. Applause. The first settlers
who come to every Territory will not be
shareholders They will rush from the North;
they will get possession Of the first legislatures
and then this sacred right Of property, which all
governments were established to protect falls at
once to the ground under the will of a majority
of the first men who may be elected to a terrific
rial legislature.
Shall we, friends and fellow-citizens for the
sake of squatter- soveregnty, break up this great
democratic party? Ono, never!") Shall we,
for the sake of atter-sovereignty, divide the
democratic party, North and South, into two di-
visions? is ii not the merest pretext in the
world? Shall we separate the democratic party
North and South, and thus discover one OF the
strongest ties that binds this Union together,
I.sNever, never""J | hope not. The great, pow
erful, and pious Methodist Church has been d.
vided in that way, and that division shook the
Union at the time. Shall the democratic party
follow In the wake of that division, for the sake
of establishing free-soilism during short period
between their settlement and their admission as
States into the Union, [''No, no! ''l ask again,
shall we divide the democratic party, North and
South! That is the Question-nothing more,
nothing less. Shall this great party which has
governed the country in peace, and in war.
which has raised Ii from q 1 humb e beginning o
be one of the most prosperous In tue world, he
okan IN "a ke 0f fraa