Civilian & telegraph. [volume] (Cumberland, Md.) 1859-1875, 1860-01-19

great ability, and On the motion to adjourn
sine die he rose and expressed his sentiments
briefly or the national topics Of the day
We make some extracts from that speech
which will be re-r,ad with Interest ut this
juncture.
know something abuutthc history of tia.
Nebraska bill. know hy ordinary and pro-
bab'c testimony, although I may rot be able
to prove it judicialy, by whom, and FOL What
purpose, and when, that proposition was con-
cocted. We know that Mr.. Senator Doug
las, of Illinois, was for many years before that
time chairman Of the Committee on 'l'crritor-
les in the United States Senate And all who
have taken the trouble, as most of our from
tier lawyers do, to read and scan closely the
phraseology of the various acts of Congress
establishing the tcrritorics-all such men
know that there was change III that phra-
seology after his coming into the charge Of
that committee. Now a different form of
language was used in the establishment oi
Territories, from what had ever been used be-
fore; but that need not be gone into at this
time Certain it is, however, that down to
the introduction Of the Nebraska bill, rs it is
called, nobody in any part Of the United
States, anywhere or in any public meeting,
had asked for chaHgn Of the settled policy
established by both parties in 1862. That
being the case, what was done? \ bill was
reported in the Senate, with an elaborate re-
por, in explanation accompanying it, estab-
fishing the one territory of Ncbraska-only
one territory, without saying anything about
the so-colled Missouri Compromise. That
bill was set down for debate on certain par
ticular day in the Senate, and onc-half ofthc
Senators appeared in their places, expecting
to debate that bill. But then the chairman
Of the committee on Territories introduced
another bill with another report, riovding
for the establishment Of two Territories, and
assailing the principles of the Missouri Com
promise: This was done to the astonishmcnt
of every body.
Now, gentlemen, upon the face Of such
proposition as that, every ingenious man
who has been in the habit of looking into
crcumstantial evidence can look into
the seeds of time and see which will grow
and which will not-wll sec that there was
something hidden, and what was hidden has
leaked out. Subsequent events have shown
that Mr. Douglas was not the originator of
that bill, but that Mr. Atchison, Of Missouri,
was its originator. 1t was necessary, or somc-
thing Of the kind was necessary, for his re-
election, and he made speech on the wes-
tern frontier of Missouri, which found its way
into the newspapers, and revealed the whole
transaction lie told Mr.. Douglas, ''You are
a great man among us, and you can now, if
you will, secure the next Presidential cleo
ton; for you art strbng in the North and
just repeal this Compromise and purchase the
whole Southern vote, and you can be elected
This thing must be done, and if you do not
feel willing to do it, | will do itmysclf. You
must resign your Office as chairman of the
Committee or consent to this proposition. =
Mr.. Douglas asked twenty-four hours to de-
liberatc upon it. and at the end of that time
he consented to do so, and introduced the bill
in that form. That is the history of the mat
ter. 1t was dont as an clcctionccring scheme
for the Presidency, and nothing else. But
it was found not to work we'll and aroused a
perfect tornado at the North, and stirred up
everybody. am not for the North or the
South. utterly deny that geographical di-
vision which sepcratcs the country iuto North
and South. There Is not an acre OF land in
the whole Mississippi valley, from Louisiana
to Minnesota, that belongs to one section more
than to the other.
o
But does II not follow from tllistliat when
ever we acquire new territory We are bound
to give the inhabitants the same privileges
with ourselves? Take, for example, the case