St. Paul weekly Minnesotian. (St. Paul) 1860-1861, 1860-11-09
SPEE1JII
hon. EssNATIUS BONNELLF, LIZ.
GOV. OF MINNESOTA.

4 hon. E6NATIUS BONNELLE, III
GOV. OF MINNESOTA.
DELIVERED Ar mt RAD spLITTERs, WIG
1 | WAN, ST. CLOUD, ON MONDAY. OCT, ssrH
1860.
THE PRACTICAL RESULT OF sQuATTER SOW.
], EREiGNTY AS APPIIED 10 THE QUESTION
J, OF SLAVERY.
as Fellow CITIZENS - Permit me to thank
you for the opportunity afforded me to
address you. 1t is, indeed, privilege to
once more meet you after the lapse of more
than year. In that Interval, events have
not been wanting, either in our own State,
or in the nation at large, to corroborate
much that was said to you by Republican
speakers in the last years canvass.
/ Politics are principles. Over the lesser
details--the etferyeseences-the excrescen-
ces of the surface men differ. The great
! undereurrents of humanity and God head,
are Is far beyond the reach of contentious
as the centrifugal and sensripetal princi-
pies of nature, and upon, them rest all pol
tics. sss-:...
Truth is not violence. 1t does not take
its votary by the throat 1t never got into
any man that way. 1t is figure, stand
ing upon the pedestal of the world-a lesser
God-the shadow of the one certain God.
Men walk past and look up it. To one, it
seems cold and iiieless, and shrouded in
leaden mists. To another, it stands with
the glory of the world upon its brow, the
gentleness of heaven in its eyes, its hand
pointing the unaoubted way of life.
Truth will live, though we all die. Gal.
lileo muttered, as he signed his recantation
of his doctrine of the earth's motion, "But
it does move" Pen and ink, prisons and
| chains, bread and water could not stop il:
the monks had no lever could pry it from
its orbit: it kept on moving until all
Chrlstendom 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
slave. I'd like to own few myselfp'
And then he laughs uproariously. To an
other you come and the thought Of slavery
presents itself to bis mind as one broad,
pressing, unmittIgateo 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 |
ct 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
x"Got when the soul didmuddled notions try,
And born shapeless mass, like anarchy
It's 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 acoyik-
ings Of the doctrine of Squatter 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 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 a 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 Fsderaha, 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 a pure democracy, by which
| mean a 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 a majority of the
whole, a communication and concert result
from the form Of the government itself, and
there is nothing to check the inducement
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
III their lives as they have been violent
in their deaths. A republic, by which /
mean a government in which the scheme of
representation takes place. opens different
prospect. The extent of the difference is
to refine and enlarge the public views 6y
posing them Through The medium of
chosen body ofcitisens, sehose aoisdom mag
best discern the true interests Of their cou,ar
try, and ,ohoss patriotism aciB be least Ike.
~ to sacrifice 1t to temporary or partial
considerations"
This distinction thus clearly laid down
by Mr.. Madison, was supposed by the
founders fsf 3 the. reoyerpnent III mr. of tha