Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1860-02-03
U1e Gree Nreaa
URLINGTON:
FRIDAY MORNING. FEBRUARY 1850.
DOUGLAS AND POPULAR SOVER-
EIGHTY.
A SPEECH BY CARL SCHURZ OF WIS.
IN HAMPDEN HALL, SPRINGFIELD, MASS,
JANUARY /, 1860.

are pressing upon the popular mind, it is a
/ common thing 70 see u variety OF theories
/ sprnging up, which purport to be unfaiIing
| remedies and effect a speedy cure Men,
I who look only at the surface of things, will,
/ like bad physicians pretend to remove the
disease itself by palliating Its most violent
symptoms. and will astonish the world by
/ their inventive ingenuity, no less than by
! their amusing assurance. But a close scru-
tiny will in most cases show that the rene
! dies offered are but new forms of old mis-
takes.
Of all the expelents which have been in
vented for the settlement OF the slavery Ques-
ton, Mr.. Douglass doctrine of popular SOW
ereignty is certainly the most remarkable,
not only by the apparent novelty Of the
thing, but by the pompous assurance with
which it was offered t. the nat on as a per
feet and radical cure. Formerly compro-
mises were made between the two conflicting
systems of labor by separating them by geo
graphical lines. These compromises did in
deed produce interval, of comparative r,-
pose, but the war commenced again with re
newed acrimony, as soon Us a new bore Of
! contention presented itself The system of
| compromises as a whole proved a failure
| Mr.. Douglass doctrine of popular sovereign
y lAbppoCA ~ tAiA- Nt4C bffO anita 'ilt7-lN Ca
| ements into immediate contact and TO let
| them struggle hand to hand for the suprem-
acy on the same ground. In this manner.
he predicted, the slavery question would
settle itself iu the smooth way of ordinary
business He seemed to be confident of sue
eess but hardly is his doctrine, in the
shape of law for the organization of terri
tories, put upon the statute-book. when the
struggle grows fercer than ever, and tile
! difficulties ripen into a crisis. This does not
disturb him. lie sends forth manifesto upon
manifesto, and even during the state cam-
| paign Of last fall, he mounts the ro>trum
| in Ohio, in order TO show what he can Do.
| and like a second Constantine ne points has
| finger at the great principle OF popular SOW
! ereignty, and says to bis followers In this
! sign YOU will conquer. But the ten. ancy
of events appeared unwilling to yield TO his
prophecy. There seemed 10 be no charm IN
| his command there was certainly no veto
ry in his sign He had hardly defined his
| doctrine more elaborately than ever before,
when his friends were routed everywhere.
d even his great party is ON the point 5i
falling to pieces. The failure is magnificent
ly complete.
There certainly was something in his the
ories that captivated the masses. do not
speak of those, who joined their political for
tunes to his, beclus they saw in him man.
who some day might be able to scatter ia
vors and plunder around him. But there
were a great many, who, seduced by the
| plausible sound of the word &" popular SOW
/ ereignty, meant TO have found there some
middle ground, on which the rights oi free
| labor ght be protectedand secured without
! exasperating those interested in slave labor
| They really did think, that two conflicting
! organizations OF society. which are lnc0mpat-
| ible by the nature of things. nj Lht be made
/ mpatible by legislative cnactments But
| this delusIOn vanished No sooner was the
/ theory put To practical test, when the con-
/ struction Of the Nebraska bill became no less
a matter OF fierce dispute. than the hecInstruc-
| ton of the constitution had been before. Is
/ this pro-slavery, or is 1t anti-saverv it was
asked. The South found ia It the right =
| plant slave labor in the territories unconii-
/ tionally. and the North found IN 1t the right
to drive slavery out Of them Each section
Of the country endeavored TO appropriate the
results Of the Nebraska bill 10 itself and the
same measure, whicl was to transfer the
struggle from the halls Of Congress into the
territories, transferred it from the territories
back into Congress, and there the northern
and the southern versions of the Nebraska
! bill fight each other with the same fury.
| with which the southern and northern YER
/ sions of the constitution have fought each
other before. What does the constitution
mean in regard to slavery That question
remains to be settled What does the Ne
braska bill mean? This question depends
upon the settlement of the former.
| OF all men, Mr.. Douglas ought to be the
first to know what the true intent and mean
ing of the Nebraska bill and the principle of
popular sovereignty is. He is said to be
statesman, and 1t must be presumed that
this measure rests upon positive idea.
In order to find out Mr.. Douglass own
definition of his own " great principle. - we
are obliged to pick up the most lucid of his
statements as we find them scattered about
in numerous speeches and manliestoes. At
ter multifarious cruisings upon the sea Of
platforms and arguments, Mr.. Douglas has
at last landed at the following point 4" A
slave, says he, in his famous Harper-maga-
| zine article, " a slave, within the meaning
of the constitution, is person held to ser
vice or labor in one state under the lars
thereof, NOT under the constitution Of the
United States, or under the laws thereof,
nor by virtue of any federal authority what
ever, but under the lars of the particular
state lchere such SerUice or labor may be
due" This is clear, and with his eyes
firmly fixed upon the people of the North,
he goes on : q If, as Mr.. Buchanan asserts,
slavery exists in the territories, by virtue
of the constitution of the United States,
then it becomes the imperative duty of
Congress 10 the performance of iohich erery
member IS bound By his conscience and his
oath, and from 1chich no consideration Of
policy or erpediencV can release him, TO
provide by law such adequate and complete
protection as Is essential to the enjoyment
of an important right secured by the consti-
tuition in one word, to enact a general
slave code for the territories" But Mr..
Douglas is not satisfied with this. In order
to strengthen his assumption, and to annihi-
late Mr.. Buchanan's construction of the Ne
braska bill still more, he proceeds " The
constitution being uniform everywhere
within the domnions of the United States,
being the supreme law of the land, any
thing in the constitutions or laws of any of
the States to the contrary Notwithstanding,
why does not slavery exist in Pennsylva-
MIA Just as well as in Kansas or in South
Carolina, by virtue of the same consttu-
ton, since Pennsylvania is subordinate to
the constitution iI the same manner and to
the same extent as South Carolina and
Kansas "
Just so. Mr.. Douglas having been so pos
tive, he cannot deny us the privilege Of
making a few logical deductions from his
own premises. We expect him to proceed
in the following manner :" Since slave
is held under the laws of a state, and not
under the constitution or the laws Of the
United States. SLAVERY erists only By Ulrtue
of local lar, - or, as the court of appeals of
Kentucky expressed it, . the right to hold a
slave exists only by positiUe lato Of a Blu1lic-
ipaI character and has no foundation ia the
: law of nature, or the unwritten and COM
mon law" If slavery cannot exist except
by virtue of local law of municipal char
acter, it follows as an irresistible conse-
ouence, thata stakeholder cannot hold a slave
| as nronartv in a Tertiary where there is no