The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-06-13

il. the court say they presume it will be adj
rnitted that Congress cannot authorize a ter
ritorial government to exercise the powers
which il is prohibited from exercising Again:
And il the Constitution recognizes the
right Of property OF the matter in a slave, and
makes no distinction between that description
of property and other property owned by
citizen no tribunal, acting under the authori-
ty of the United States'-
And surely the Territoritorial Legislatures,
when organized, are acting under our authori-
ty-
no tribunal acting under the authority of the
United States whether il be legislative, execu-
tive or judicial, has right to draw such dis
tinctlon, or deny to it the benefit of the proyi-
SONS and guarantees which have provided for
the protection Of private property against the
encroachments of the Government
Now, Mr.. President in that connection, let
Inc thank the honorable Senator from Missis-
sippi for bringing the Senator from Illinois to
the point the other day. We have got him at
last where we can understand him. Again
and again the distinguishes Senator from Mis-
sissippi called upon the Senator from Illinois
to define what he meant by squatter sover-
eighty. He was asked when and how it is
| that the people Of Territory acquired the
right of self government | have here his an
swer. Well might the Senator from Missis-
sippi say that the more this subject was ex-
amined and discussed, the further We got
apart. What was the answer Of the Senator
| from Illinois ? 1t was this. Shall call it
absurd :? No, sir; Senatorial courtesy will
not permit it but | state it in his own Ian
guage almost. | will read his words pres
emily. When the people Of this country first
20 into the wilderness and find there no gov
eminent whatever, and then exercise that in.
herent right Of sei-defense, v hich drives men,
under the laws that God has impanted in
/ them, to associate together in self defense,
aud organize some system OF law for their own
| protection !; then, when it would seem 10 the
! common sense Of universal mankind that no
| one could say they were wrong in doing that
! then it is that the Senator from Illinois says
he repudiates and opposes their power. That
is the squatter sovereignty that he objects to.
But when the sovereign has come in when
the trustee of all the States has taken posses,
sion of the common fund when it has Or
ganized a government that suits it in the ex-
ercise of the discretion and when it has COM
mitted the administration of the affairs of the
Territory, with certain limitations under the
Constitution of the United States, to Ter
ritorial Legislature-then when the sovereign
is present. then the people become invested,
by some magical process. with an inherent
popular sovereignty that rises superior to the
author of their being. That is the position Of
the Senator from Illinois.
In answer to the Senator from Mississippi
! he said:
| Regarding SQuatter Sovereignty as nick
name invented by the Senator and those with
whom he acts, which | have never recog-
nized, must leave him to define the mean
ing Of his own term. Ihave denounced Squat
ter Soyeignty where you find it setting up
| Government in violation of law as you 10 now
at Pixies Peak. | denounced it this year.
| Where you find an unauthorized Legislature,
in violation of law, setting up Government
without the sanction of Congress or the Con-
| stitution-that is Squatter Sovereignty which
| oppose. There is the case in Dakato, where
| you have left whole people, without any law
or territorial organization, with no mode of
appeal from the squatter Courts to the Uni
ted States Courts to correct their decisions
That is Squatter Sovereignty in violation of
the Constitution and laws of the United States
There is similar government set up over
part Of the State of California and part of the
Territory of Utah, called Nevada. 1t has had
delegate here claiming that he represented
! it. | have denounced that as unlawful. If
that is what the Senator referred to, am
against it. All say is, that the people of a
Territory, when they have been organized I'M
| der the Constitution and laws, have legislative
power over all rightful subjects of Legislation
consistent with the Constitution of the Uni
| ted States"
! Now, the Supreme Court of the United
States says that no tribunal, legislative ex-
ecutiye or judicial, acting under the authority
of the United States, can interfere with the
right of Sothern citizen to his property in
the Territories. The honorable Senator from
| Illinois says they cannot do it until they are
organized under the authority of the United
| States Which is right ? He says the peo-
pie ola Territory do not get the power until
| they are organized under the authority of the
! General Government. The Supreme Court
of the United States says, no earthly tribunal
organized under the authority of the United
States can exercise that power.
Now, Mr.. President, cannot go any further
into the discussion of this case, because in my
view of the Interior purposes, it is unnecessa-
ry. No sooner had that decision been made,
than it was attacked all over the land. 1t
was attacked by the Republican party. The
honorable Senator from New Hampshire (Mr.
Hale) was not satisfied with attacking the
principles Of the decision. The Chef Justice,
in order to come at that point to which he was
directing his attention, declared that he could
only reach that point by thrusting into con-
sideration the history of the African race on
this continent, and looking back, in a'historical
point of view, to the date of the Constitution
and he proceeded to give that history. He
stated that at that date certain principles were
prevalent in the country, and amongst them,
that these unfortunate people were considered
by many as having no rights which white
man was bound to respect The honorable
Senator from New Hampshire repeated here
the other day, that the Court had decided that.
in defiance, l suppose, of one thousand correc-
tons of the statement that had been made all
over the United States.
Again: The honorable Senator from New
York, ON. Seward who is not now in his
seat, and whose claims upon the gratitude and
confidence of his party were so ruthlessly set
aside at Chicago, undertook to get rid of the
decision by denouncing the court and Sena-
tors around me will remember how again and
again he stood up here in the Senate and in
simulated, in the face Of the country, that there
had been bargain between the Chief Justice
and the President of the United States. He
saw what the decision was he did not at
tempt to evade or avoid it. He tried to get
rid Of its moral power by blackening the char
acter Gifts author. What says the honorable
Senator from Illinois He does not do that.
He now says that his was that he would
abide by the decision Of the court when it
came up from local court in a Territory. He
is not satisfied with the decision although CIV
en- by the tribunal to which we all agreed to
h.
in the bred Scott case he agreed to refer it
when a case should arise in Territory.
Here is his language:
:" Bear in mind that the report introducing
the bill was that these questions touching the
right of property in slaves were referred to
the local courts, to the territorial courts with
a right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the
United States. When that case shall arise,
and the court shall pronounce its Judgment it
will be binding on me, on you, sir, and on eve
ry good citizen"
Mr.. President, / am not satisfied with that
promise l am not satisfied with it because
the honorable Senator from Illinois, upon sew
eral memorable occasions since the year 1857,
had said, out Of the presence Of the Senate
that, ifthe decision was made, it would not
bind the people of the Territory; that the |
case could not be so decided as to bind the |
Territory that nothing that the Supreme |
Court could do by decision could bind the |
Territory but, by the Kansas Nebraska bill, |
he had fixed the South SO that the people of |
the Territory, in defiance Of the decisions of I
the court, could exclude slavery from the Ter
ritory.
Here, Mr.. President, let me come back to
an explanation of that fact which spoke of /
before, and to which / asked the attention
of the Senate and the country. There stands
the explanation of the sudden change that has
been wrought in the relation of the Senator /
from Illinois with the rest Of the Democratic I
party. 1t was when, in the year 1858, the
year following this decision, pressed by can
vass at home, eager to return to the Senate
he Joined in canyassing the State of Illinois
with the gentleman who is now the candidate
Of the Black Republican party for the Presi-
dency.
Pressed in different portions of the State
with this very argument that he had agreed
to leave the question to the court, that the