The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1860-08-09
From the Toledo Blade.
Douglas and his Record..-The Track
of q DemagOgue.
He wires and wires out,
And leaves the reader still in doubt
Whether the snake that made the track
Was going South or coming back.

VIC piOpOSC DilcuJ " tEdce his LOfLuOuS
course, and from his own record to
show the utter heartlessness of all his
professions of principle in that connec-
ton. Ofall the demagogues that have
gained national reputation, we think
we shall show him to be the most un-
scrupulous and bare faced. We pro.
pose to take four distinct views of him
list, as Congressional Intervention
ist against Slavery in the Territories
I'd, as Non-Interventionist or advo-
cate of Squatter Sovereignty; Sd, as
defender of the "Irrepressible Con-
flict;' and 4th as Congressional In
terventionist for Slavery in the Terri
tories.
lst, DOUGLAS AS INTERvENTIoNIsT
AGAINST SLAVERY.
In 1S45, December 29th, while a
joint resolution was pending, presented
by Mr.. Brown, of Tennessee, for the
admission of Texas into the Union,
Mr.. Douglas offered the following
amendment
"And in such State or States as may
be formed out of said Territories, north
OF said Missouri Compromise line,
slavery or involuntary servitude lex
cept for crime) shall be prohibited. p
u s. Statutes at large.-1S39 lS45, %.
79S.
He here not only seeks to employ
Congressional Intervention against
Slavery in the Territories, but by his
amendment would prohibit States from
having Slavery even if their people
aoished 1t.
Again, on the 10th of August, 1s4s,
the bill for establishing the Territorial
Government of Oregon being before
the Senate, Mr.. Douglas offered an
amendment prohibiting Slavery within
the proposed Territory, which was
adopted, receiving, as he elsewhere
tells us, the votes of all the Southern
Senators.
In ls4s. on the 23d of October, the
Springfield, Qll.) Journal says, Mr.
Douglas made speech in that city, in
which he gave utterance to the follow
ing:
"The Missouri Compromise had an
origin akin to that of the Constitution of
the United States, conceived in the
spirit of fraternal affection, and calcula-
ted to renaoce forecer the danger achich
seemed to threaten, at some distant dag,
to sever the social bonds Of union. All
evidence of public opinion of that the
day seemed to indicate that the Com
promise had been cduonized IN the
minds Of the american people as a sa-
cred thing, which no RUTHLESS
HAND ould ever be reckless enough
to disturb"
Bear in mind, that the ."sacred
thing'' which was thus "canonized in
the hearts of the American people,"
was Congressional prohibition of
Slavery in the Territories
In 1850, this "sacred measure of
Congressional Intervention against
Slavery, was attacked by John G. Cal
houn in the United States Senate, when
Mr.. Douglas came promptly to its de-
fence, as follows:
"The next in the series of aggres-
sions, complained of by the Senator
from South Carolina, is the MISSOURI
Compromise. The Missouri Compro-
mise is an act of Northern injustice,
designed to deprive the South of her
due share of the territories Why,
sir, it was only this very day that the
Senator from Mississippi despaired of
any peaceable adjustment of existing
difficulties, because the Missouri Com
promise line could not be extended to
the Pacific. That measure was origin
ally adopted in the bill for the admis-
sion of Missouri, by union of North
ern and Southern votes. The South
has always professed to be willing to
abide by it, and even to continue it..
as fair and honorable adjustment of
a vexed and difficult question. In
lS45 it was adopted in the resolutions
for the annexation of Texas, by South
ern as well as Northern votes, without
the slightest complaint that it was un-
fair to any section of the country. In
1916 it received the support of every
Southern member of the House of Rep
resentatives-Whig and Democrat
without an exception, as an alternate
measure of the Wilmot Proviso. And !
again in 1S4s, as an amendment to the |
Oregon Bill, on my motion, itreceived |
the vote, if / recollect right-and I |
think cant possibly be mistaken-of
every Southern Senator, Wing and |
Democrat, even including the Senator
from South Carolina himself, (Mr. CAL |
noun.) And yet zoe are ,soso told that
has IS only second to the ordinance Of
1857 IN the series Of aggression on the
South. "-Congressional Globe, Appen-
iix, vol. 22, part 2, page $40. +
That sounds like good Republican
Ioctrine-without particle of 'sdis-
,nion" in it. Mr.. Douglas does not
cave the matter thus, however, but
eturns to the defense of Congression-
il Intervention in the following clear i
tyle.
"But you say that we propose to
,rohibit by law your emigrating to the
rerritoris with your property. WEI'
PROPOSE NO SUCH THING. We recog.
'ize your right in common with our
wn, to emigrate to the Territories
nth your property, and there hold and s
njoy it in the subordination to the
avs you may find in some respects
,ffs,ranf fr<,,,, ~n~ o-n nc the laws Of