Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1860-07-27
Tracks OF tho Retreat.


We give below few extracts from diff
fereut speeches, showing the different steps
marking Douglas abandonment Of Popu-
lar Sovereignty. In 1858, in speech at
Galesburg, Illinois, he enunciated that doc
trne as follows:
"Tas great Fundamental principle Of our 0OvrHmsnt
g. that the people Of each State and Territory shall Dc
nature and character Of their institutions"
This is explicit. The absolute sovereign
ty of the people Of the territories and their
right 10 decide this question of slavery for
themselves is asserted, without reservation.
OF course the fair and only inference is
that the Constitution recognizes that SOW
ereignty and right-else why should it be
asserted so positively?
But the Southern people had doubts as
to the safety Of leaving the settlement of
this question to the people Of the Terrific
ries, and their fears must be quieted. Ac-
cordingly, they were soothed with the fol-
lowing concession in his speech at New Or
leans in December, 1858:
! "Slauss regarded property and placed an
equal footing with all other property Hence the owner
Of slaves, the the holder Of other species Of
property, has right to remove 10 any Territory aud
~ his property Nth him"
Two years elapse, and the country is on
the eve of another Presidential contest
Mr.. Douglas is anxious to secure the nomi-
nation of the Democratic party, which has
always been controlled by its Southern
wing. Thatcontrolliug power must bepro-
pitiated. In his speech in the Senate last
February, Mr.. Douglas makes declaration
in strange contradiction to that uttered by
him two years before, at Galesburg. The
people are no longer "perfectly free to de-
eide for themselves" in this matter of sla
very. He abandons that Fundamental
Iprinciple," and declares that the people
have no power except that which is giver
them by the organic act of Congress. He
says:
al do not hold that squatter sovereignty superior
the Constitution. hold that such thing
ei1R pooer attaches TO Territory Territory. ho
that Territory possesses whatever power derives fron
the Constitution under the organic act, and more
A few weeks later, to show the Soutl
f how popular sovereignty had operated t
the advantage of slavery, he declared il
his speech in the Senate-on the 10th o
May last:
"Under this doctrine of non-ntervention the people
New Mexico have converted tract Of FREE rERRIroR
INTO SLAVE TERRITORY than fee times the size of N
State Of Nsw York"
Let the reader contrast those two last ex
tracts with the first one, from his Galesbur,
speech, and tho extent Of his departur
from the doctrine Of popular sovereignty
: as originally laid down by himself, become
, apparent. He started out with the prime
!. pie that the people of the territories ha
p sovereign control over the subject of slavery
: and the advocates of his doctrine through
out the free States boastingy proclaime,
. that its effect would be to make the Terri
/ tories free. And now, the author of thi
doctrine no longer asserts it to be funds
5 mental principle (which must be independ
ent Of Congress) but mere contingenc
dependent upon the will of that body; an
q he holds the reverse of what his friends in tn
: North have held, that its operation in Ne,
y Mexico, has made slave territory of trac
!. of free territory five times as large as tn
!. State Of New York.
q Add to this the declaration of HerschC
+ V. johnson at Rome, Georgia, and the po
v trait of the representatives of popular so,
ereignty, as painted by themselves is con
= plete:
Property of all kinds sGUe nell as any other stan,
upon the constitutional basis, and subject to q
principles Of recognition and PROTECTION in d
: LEGISLATIVE, JUDICIAL AND EXECUTIVE, d
s pGrtmeHts Of the General Government.
J. 0. s. Journal.