The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1860-06-28

to office? If Congress can determine
the one, it surely has the power to ar
rest the desolating march of the other.
The abandonment of the doctrine SO
dearly cherished by Jefferson, ,and which
had secured freedom in the great States
of the Northwest, brought defeat to
Gen. Cass and the Democratic party
in lS48, but it installed the slave power
in complete control. The Northern
section had been caught in the web
and they could not relieve themselves
from the thraldom. AT first they un.
dortook to quiet the conscience of the
people, by the assertion that slavery
was the creature of local and positive
law, and that it could not obtain foot.
hold in the Territories until it was there
lawfully established and Gen. Cass.
in speech in his own State, said:
"Slavery is the creature of local law,
and can claim neither protection, exis.
tence nor recognition in the Constitu.
ton. Slavery does not and cannot ex
ist in Kansas while it remains Terri
tory. The Constitution neither pro-
tects nor recognizes slavery in the Ter
ritories."
Hon. Henry Clay offered the follow.
ing resolution in the Senate, on the 29th
of January, 1850:
90 ResolUed, That slavery does not exist by law
and is not introduced into the Territory acquired
by the United States from the Republic of Mexico
it is inexpedient for Congress to provide by law
either for its introduction into its exclusion from
Il mart of said ~ &c
In commencing the proposition to the
Senate, Mr.. Clay said:
"The resolution, sir, proposes, in the
first instance, declaration of two
truths-one of law, and the other Of
fact. The truth of law which it de
clares is that there does not exist. a,
this time, slavery in any portion of the
territory acquired by the United States
from Mexico. When l say, sir, it is q
truth, l speak my own solemn and de
| liberate conviction"
Hon. Green G. Bronson, distin
guished lawyer and jurist of New York
in letter to Hon. John Cochrane, in
1849, than distinguished Free Soilel
of New York, said:
! "Slavery cannot exist where there is
no positive law to uphold it. 1t is no,
necessary that it should be forbidden
it is enough that it is not specially au
thoriZed. If the owner of slaves re-
moves with, or sends them into, any
country, State, or territory, where
slavery does not exist by law, they vii
from that moment become freemen
and will have as good right to com
mand the master as he will have tc
command them. State laws have nc
extra authority; and law of VirgiLia
which makes man slave there, can
not make him slave in New York
nor beyond the Rocky Mountains"
Hon. Edward Bates, a distinguished
lawyer of Missouri, recently declared
he did "not believe that the Constitu
ton, by its proper vigor carries slavery
into the territories that may be acquired
by the United States. He believe.
that freedom is the rule and slavery the
exception. He does not believe thai
slavery can exist in any territory ac
quired by the United States, except by
positive law of Congress-"
The Detroit Free Press, which is the
organ of the Administration, and of the
party, in Michigan, said:
"Slavery cannot GO to Kansas OF
Nebraska, for the all-sufficient reason
that there is no law there permitting it
1t is perfectly well established lega
proposition, that slavery is the creature
of local law, and that it can nowhere
exist except by the force of law.''
Democratic authority could be mul
tiplied od intfnituna to prove the truth
of this position, but the above must
suffice. This short lived doctrine has
already been displaced J; and the ac
cepted theory now is, that slavery ex
lists in the territories by virtue Of Tho
Constitution.
But, Mr.. President, the fatal ster
has been taken in the surrender of /;
high principle. Henceforward the
Northern Democracy were reduced to
a state Of vassalage. When the fugi
tive slave law was passed, they avowef
their readiness to do the "dirty work.
imposed by their Southern masters. /
they evinced the slightest disposition
to rebel, a threat to dissolve the Unior
at once reduced them to submission
At last, when their subjection wa,
deemed complete, the abrogation o
that sacred and time-honored Missour
Compromise was demanded.
| If a prophet had appeared to the
honorable Senator from Illinois in 1s45
when, at Springfield, the capital of thi
adopted State, he offered the following
beautiful apostrophe to the Missouri
Compromise, he might have said, will
Hazael of old "But what! is thy ser
want dog, that he should do this grea
thing p sa r. o,.fp ~ ~
] "The Missouri compromise has beer
in practical operation for about quar-
ter of century, and received the sane
! ton and appreciation of men of al
parties in every section of the Union
1t has allayed all sectional jealousie
and irritations growing out of the vexet
question, and harlnonized and tranquil
lied the whole country. 1t had an or
igin akin to the Constitution; conceived
] in the same spirit of affection, and cal
, culated to remove forever the only dan
ger which seems to threaten to seve
the Union. All the evidences of pub
i lie opinion seemed to indicate that thi