St. Paul weekly Minnesotian. (St. Paul) 1860-1861, 1860-11-09

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III the SauneSS OF his nearr, "G0o Oh gOoC
ness, what is man that he has so much
inconsistency in his conduct" In forum
our confederation we had probably tt
good an opinion of human nature. A pul
democracy had almost driven him to I'll
verge of absolution.
| The people, rising to the necessity Of Ii
occasion, as the American people hay
ever done, came together and establishe
our present government, pure repu6li
They placed in the hands of Congress tn
exclusive control of all those question
which under the old confederacy had give
rise to turbulence and discomfort, the RICH
to levy taxes, to borrow money, to regu
late commerce, to declare war, etc. Prom
ment among these questions. and the mos
prolific OF all in turmoil and popular anger
was the question Of the territories.
Said Alexander Hamilton:
Territorial disputes have at all time
been found one of the most fruitful cause
OF hostility among nations. Perhaps tn
grea test proportion of the wars that hav,
desolated the earth have sprung from thi
origiH.H s.ftrss ~ 8, yssssssse: -
at has been the prudent policy Of Congress
continues Mr.. Hamilton, to appease thi!
controversy by prevailing upon the State.
to make cessions to the United States, fol
the benefit of the whole. Ibis is SO fal
accomplished as to atfo d, under the con-
tinuation of the Union, a decided pr ospec
Of an amicable termination of the dis
pute."
One, thon, my friends, of the distractine
questions which compelled the foundation
OF this Government, was that of terrific
rial rights, then question of States, now
question of sections. And to meet and
settle that question the Congress was con,
stituted. To it was given the power, in
language broad enough, it was supposed,
to meet all contingencies, to pass all needfuI
rules and regulations for the government
of Territories. 1t accepted the trust in a
long and unbroken chain of legislative acts,
reaching from the e.afiirmance of the
Ordinance of 1887, almost to the present
time, declared its right to speak as to the
question of Slavery in the Territories.
In our own day and generation, my
friends, the solution Of the Slavery aues-
ton was to be reached That solution was
speedily drawing on. True, a great power
dies hard. But the agitations Of popular
assemblies are usually more terrible in their
sound than fatal in their effect. A few
years more, and the creeping food of pub
lie sentiment would have mounted over
everything, and few splits Of agitated
foam alone have marked where the great
fabric OF Wrong lay buried
At this moment, when the weak backs
became weakest. and the cowardly were
seeking, in every direction, some outlet of
escape; when frightened wrong brawled
loudest, and even impetuous virtue hesita-
ted at her own advance, Mr. Douglas sprung
upon the nation an unheard of doctrine,
as plausible as it was novel, and which
came like salvation 20 tine weak, and like
a respite to the desperate.
1t was in effect, this to decide by a
Democratic tribunal that which he feared,
or was unable to decide by O Republican
one. This Government had been built up
to great apex with an especial view to
this question. Mr.. Douglas proposed to
fling it down at the feet, and amid the pas
sions of the multitude; to reverse the course
of development; to acknowledge the inabil-s
lty of the selected representatives, with
wisdom, learning, and all the restraints of
law around them to do that, which, not all
their constituents, but remote portion of
them are called upon to do without wis
dom, restraint or law.
1T was therefore substitution Of De-
mocracy for republic--a substitution of
hx Hyct Ia brio Of hov
adjusted elimination of civiliza--
ton.
1t has no authority, for it is without au-
thority. 1t has no antiquity, for it is with
put history. 1t springs from, it lives in, it
represents Douglas. 1t is home made
God, the work of his own hands. The
he has heaped upon it issue
rom its parent womb,
Egyptian gardeners thus are said to,
Have sown the leeks they after prayed to-"
And to what, my friends, does this
question, SO surprisingly hurled down from
he arena Of republican debate to the
stormy field Of popular strife refer9 Is it
| weak, temporary, or an unimportant
ssue? Does it touch subjects little calcu.
ated to arouse the multitude Does it lie
ar away from the human heart?
No! For thirty years it has in one form
IT another agitated the nation. 1t was
,ast out by Mr.. Douglas because of the
yery shocks it had inflicted on the body
,olitic 1t was flung forth as fearful,
tyrranous evil with which |
lie believed Congress incapable Of coping.
t was driven into the territories as the |
levil was driven into the hogs, sit had |
orn, distracted, maddened its former pos
lessor.
Pity it is, my friends, that barbarian |
wrong needs rough treatment. Pity it is
hat through years, if w. would leave the |
world better than we found it, we must |
tand up and strike blow on blow ON the |
lard front of error. 1t would be smooth |
sailing if We but acquiosced IN the career
# evil. We must often attain a happy |
'eace at the expense of an unhappy strug-
lie. This government was made for Lib |
'rty, and Liberty was there, wrestling for |
vears, for life in that Congress; wrestling
or life against foe as potent and as dan
,erous as any she encountered on Ameri-
an soil. Can it be complained of if her |
talwart figure rose up uncalled in her own |
,ouse? The illimitabls principle which |
exceeds all law, and lies at the base of all !
nature, was there, claiming her own.
She had ta'en the giant world by the throat, |
Md thrown him, and made him swear to |
maintain
Ter name and fame at peril of his life,''
To what did the question so to be re-
moved refer9 To the Territories to those |
ertile futures those States yet to be !
hose seats of population, Of power, of |
wealth hereafter. In that way lay aggran- |
lisement and dominion No party could |
rope for permanence against the hostility |
If those rising generations Of states.
Says Alexander Hamilton, arguing the |
necessity for national Congress, and the |
vide field of our Western Territory, we
perceive an ample theatre for hostile pre-
ensionS WITHOUT ANY UMPIRE OR COMMON |
JUDGE, (if there be no Congress TO INTER
'osE BETWEEN THE CoNTENDING PARTIES. |
To reason from the past to the future We
ave good reason to apprehend that the
soord aoouN sometimes be appealed to as
he 0rbiter Of their differences"
And yet, my friends, the whole sum
otal and result Of this doctrine of Mr. |
Douglas is to remove that UMPIRE" that
common Judge" who can alone enforce
,eace, and leave the contending parties"
IN the breast of nature, in the great will
lerness, with no law but the law of the
strongest, no God but him who fights with
The heaviest artillery; while the federal
government, which the wise and good
erected to appease sectional strife and ter
minete armed territorial conflicts, waits