Gazette and sentinel., 1860-09-22

trOddce or exclude slavery, and lett the common
territories OF the Union open To common settle
mcnt. from all the States. He proceeded to say
that each new State was entitled To form it, Con-
stitutiOn. and enter the Union without dcscrimina-
ton by Congress On account Of her allowance Or
prohibition of slavery. Hence. if Kansas pre-
scented herself with slavery in her Constitution.
she must be admitted if without it, still she must
he admitted. Any other principle would be sub
vcrsiye Of the rights and equality Of the states.
The allegation that Mr..
breckenridge proclaimed the doctrine of Squatter
Sovereignty is simply untrue; he said nothing
upon which even a plausible charge OF that nature
could be BASED"
In the autumn of the same year | received
a slip from n Louisiana paper, containing the
remarks made by Gen. Miles, a distinguished
citizen of that State, who was at Tippecanoe
and heard my speech there, in which he de-
MED | had ever advocated the doctrine of the
power of a Territorial Legislature to exclude
slavery pending its territorial condition. In
the month of October, 1896, some time before
the Presidential election, | answered him by
letter. in which | said:
"Gou have reported me correctly, and |
thank YOU for IL, as you know my remarks
we're reported in a meager and imperfect style.
Hands off the whole subject by the Fed
erGl Government, except for one or two pro-
tective purposes mentioned in the Con,titu-
ton the equal rights of all sections in the
common territories, and the absolute power of
every new State to settle the question in it,
Constitution
These are my doctrines and those of our
platform and what is more, they are the
doctrines of the Constitution itself. Great
applause
Now, tellow-citizens, against the statement
Of that distinguished Senator, in which he un-
dertakes to prove allegations against myself
by himself, | thus oppose my own statement.
| oppose the proofs / read YOU from the speech
! made in 1854, pending the passage of the
Kansas bill in Congress. present TO You the
article to which nave alluded, published in
the Lexington paper before the election. l
present the testimony of Gen. Miles, on emf
nent citizen of Louisiana. l present my let
ter TO him antecedent to the Presidential cleo
ton. Lastly, | present the whole tenor Of
my declarations and opinions before and ever
since. / think | have proved as iully-tO as
reasonable II certainty US the question allows
within the limits of a speech, when l have
many other things to speak of, that this accu-
sation is untrue in fact.
L will add here that the position | assumed
was the position taken by all the Southern
friends of the Kansas ebraska bill, and by
a portion of the Northern friends of that
measure. These were our own private opin-
ions. These were the opinions we uttered.
We did not undertake to force them upon
other men because we had agreed to leave the
question " the Court, and the Court had not
decided it. Hence we said that the people
should be allowed to form or regulate their do
nestle Institutions in their own way, subject
only to the Constitution. Then we awaited
the Judgment of the Supreme Court of the
United States, as to what the Constitution
would say on the subject.
Having vindicated myself and the Const;tu-
, tional Democracy from the charge of having
abandoned the position they took in 1854 and
1886, | turn upon my accuser and undertake
to show that Mr.. Douglas himself abandoned
the agreement he solemnly made at the time
: the Kansas ebraska bill passed the Congress
of the United States. Great applause, and
voices, "That'S right" 'Good," and "That's
the talk.") l won't make nyself the witness
against him to do it ! will prove it by him.
self. (Renewed applause.)
Gentlemen, in the debate in the Senate Of
the United States on the ID of July, 1856,
upon the bill TO authorize the people of Kan
sas to form a Constitution and State Govern
ment- preparatory to admission into the Union
as a State, a discussion arose Us to what the
true meaning of the Kansas Nebraska bill
was, touching the power of the Territorial
p Legislature. For the purpose of ascertaining
the sentiments of the Senate, Mr.. Trumbull, a
! Republican Senator from the State of Illinois,
e offered the following amendment to the bill:
e "And be it further enacted that the provisions
in the act to organize the territories of Nebraska
and Kansas, which declares it to be the true intent
{ and meaning of said act, not to ~legislate slavery
into any territory or State, nor TO exclude it there
/ from, but to leave the people thereof perfectly
: free to form and regulate their domestic institu-
p tons in their own way, subject only to the Con
/. s%titntion of the United States, was intended to,
$ and does confer upon, or leave TO the people of
: Kansas full power, at any time, through its Ter
f ritorial Legislature, to exclude slavery from said
Territory or TO reorganize and regulate 1t
{ therein
> That was Trumbull's amendment. Against
: that amendment an overwhelming majority of the
4 Senate voted, including Gen. Cas- and Senator
I Douglas. Let me however, do Mr.. Douglas the
: Justice TO say that he voted againstit, not because
he did not believe the Territorial Legislature had
: the power to exclude slavery from the territory
o but because he did not believe it was consistent &c
; decide the question legislatively, which they had
o agreed to leave TO the Court.
Gen. Cas- said
i THE South consider that the Constitution
gives them the right of carrying their slaves any
$ where in the territories. If they are right, yO,
n can give no power to the Territorial Legislator,
4 to interfere with them" r1
e Remember that proposition, because after tn
L United States Supreme Court declared that tn
Constitution gives Us the right to carry our pro
t perty into the territories, Gen Cas- stood by tn
true logic of bis own position, and by the decision
Il of the highest tribunal in the country.
The major part of the North, said Gen. Cas-
believe that the Constitution secures no such RICH
h to the South. II repeat to the Hon. Senator iron
+ Illinois mir. TrumbulD there is nothing equivc
cal in the act. The different constructions of it RI
suit from no equivocation of it, but from the fac