St. Paul weekly Minnesotian. (St. Paul) 1860-1861, 1860-11-09
ST. PAUL, FRIDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 1850.
SPEECH

SPEECEI
HON. IGNATaUs DONNELLY, L.
GOV. OF MINNESOTA.
DELIVERED AT TIRE RAIL sPLITTERs' WI
WAN, ST. CLOUD, ON MONDAY, OCT. 9sr
1860.
: THE PRACTICAL RESULT OF sQUATTER SOY
EREiGNTY AS APPLIED TO THE QuEsTIc
y OF SLAVERY.
FELLOW CITIZENS Permit me to than
you for the opportunity afforded me /
address you. 1t is, indeed. privilege {
once more meet you after the lapse of MOI
than a year. In that Interval, events hay
not been wanting, either in our own State
or In the nation at large, to corroborat
much that was said to you by Republica
speakers in the last years canvass.
| Politics are principles. Over the Jesse
details--the etfervescences-th the excrescen
ces of the surface-men differ. The grea
undercurrents of humanity and God head
are rs far beyond the reach of contention
I as the sentTifogai and. sentripetal princi
pies of nature, and upon them rest all pol
tics.
Truth is not violence. 1t does not TAX
its votary by the throat. Itnever got int
any man that way. 1t is figure, stand
ing upon the pedestal of the worlds lessee
God-the shadow of the one certain God
Men walk past and look up it. To one, i
seems cold and lileless, and shrouded il
leaden mists. To another, it stands with
the glory of the world upon its brow, tn,
| gentleness of heaven in its eyes, it's hant
| pointing the unaoubted way of life.
Truth will live, though we all die. Gal
lileo muttered, as he signed his recantatior
of his doctrine of the earth's motion, 'But
it does move" Pen and ink, prisons and
chains, bread and water could not stop it.
the monks had no lever could pry il from
its orbit: it kept on moving until all
Christendom was ready to cry aloud the
muttered words of Gallileo, "But it does
| move"
"The minds of men," said Washing.
ton, ''are as various as their faces, and one
can no more blame them for their ideas
than their features"
You come to one man, now a DAYS,
and he says, "Pshaw what do care
about it? The niger is only fit to be a
slave. I'd like to own a few myselfv'
And then he laughs uproariously. 10 an
othef you come and the thought of slavery
presents itself to bis mind as one broad,
pressing, unmittgated iniquity; his nature
revolts at it; his very gorge rises at it.
He sees the quondam father, the polluted
mother, the dishOnored child-bodies with
out liberty, minds without light, souls
without God! And so men array them
selves: Where the creator has made DIFF
ferences, they build up parties. And why
should you and quarrel over it Neither
you nor did it.
Then let US approach the political ques-
tons of the day in calm, impartial spirit.
None of us came into the world stamped
" Democrat or Republican" None of
us were accompanied by an after birth of
pamphlets and speeches. Our great UNI
pire was born with us-our Judgment
and it should be our proudest boast to
submit to it unhesitatingly all the ques-
tons of our lives.
have said to you that in the interval of
the last year events have not been wanting
to Confederate our principles. The greatest
of these Is disnemberment of the Demo
cratic party. When we last met, the cause
of Freedom and Humanity had but one
advocate in this nation-the Republican
party. To-day we are assisted by the
great body of the Northern Democracy !;
who in their very refusal to acquiesce in
the demands of slavery, unwittingly recog.
nize the power and justice Of the principles
we maintain.
But, my friends, this accession to our
ranks is hesitating, doubling, unwilling and
full of half way measures and compromises.
1t denies the existence of the tide upon
which it is carried forward, and would
shift the landmarks along the shore to hide
its own advance.
Springing from this state of things-for
platforms are but revelations of the condi-
ton of the public mind and hearts, the
doctrine of which Mr.. Douglas is the great
founder and exponent-the doctrine of
squatter sovereignty.
This doctrine has been for some years
exposed to the scrutiny of the most intelli-
gent people in the world, and has been fair.
ly riddled and perforated with criticism and
ridicule. Its inception, its startling novel
ty-
G"Got when the soul did muddled notions try,
And born shapeless mass, like anarchy"
'ts incongruities, its deceits, its impossible.
tiles, with itself, its shutting and fraudulent
history, have all been time again laid before
you, by your public speakers, in your
newspapers, in your private conversations,
until il has become
"a thrice told tale,
Told in the dull ear of drowsy man."
/ should weary your patience did attempt
to go over the well worn path.
There is, however, one aspect of this
singular and novel doctrine which has
been but little touched upon, but which,
nevertheless, appears to me of the first
consequence. l refer to the practical acork-
ings of the doctrine of Sguatter Sovereignty
as applied to the Territories. 1t is my po-
sition here tonight that the results of
Squatter Sovereignty are anarchy, war,
bloodshed in the Territory, and eventually
civil war in the nation at large. To that
branch of the subject l shall devote my re-
marks this evening.
My friends, this government of ours
takes its permanence and perpetuity from
a distinction which may at first sight ap-
pear narrow one, the distinction between
the two words Democracy" and "Repub-
lic." In common parlance, we speak Of
the two as synonymous. Mr.. Madison, in
the Fsderalist, advocating the adoption of
our present Constitution, very clearly ex-
pressed the distinction which exists be-
tween them. He says: at may be
concluded that pure democracy, by which
mean society consisting of small
number of citizens who assemble and ad-
minister the government IN person, can
admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction.
A common passion or interest will in al
most every case be felt by majority of the
whole, communication and concert result
from the form of the government ITSELF and
there is nothing to check the inducernent
to sacrifice the weaker party. Hence it is
that such demOcracies have been spectacles
of turbulence and contention; have ever
been found incompatible with personal Sc
curity, and have in general been as short
i'll their lives as they have been violent
in their deaths. a republic, by which |
mean government in which the scheme of
Teprsse1tati01 takes place opens a different