Daily national Democrat., 1860-08-31
How they Abandon their Ground.

ing Douglas tor the same views whlch lhey |
themselves entertained and avowed in times
past Their hypocracy is apparent IN the
present fervor with which they exclaim that
Douglass doctrines are dangerous and wrong
and that they cannot, in justice to the equali
ty of the States, O support him. 1t is plain
that their opposition is personal, and not one
of principle, as they contend. If any body
but Douglas had been nominated, the plat
form adopted at Charleston and Baltimore
would have suited them well enough. But
they were determined that they would break
up the party, risk its being broken up, rather
than see the will of the majority carried out
in the nomination of Douglas.
To prove our assertion that these men en-
tertained the same views which they now
pretend so much horror at, We bring forward
lhe record and hope our readers will pay
particular attention to the extracts.
On the 2Sd of March 1854, in the House of
Representatives, Mr.. Breckenridge, discuss
ing the Kansas Nebraska bill, said:
at will be observed that the right Of the
people to regulate in their owa uay all their
domesti Institutions is left whoiiy untouched
except whatever is done must be done in ac-
cordance with the Constitution, the supreme
law for us all App. Congressional Globe,
vol. %, p. A.
Afterwards in a speech in 1856, in Lexing
ton, Ky, while running for the Vice Presi-
dency, he said:
"The whole power of the Democratic or
ganization is pledged to the following propo-
sitions: that Congress shall not iateruene up
on that subject in the States, in the Terri
tories, or in the District of Columbia that
Tie people of each Territory shall determine
the question for themselves, without discrimi-
nation on account Of the allowance or pro-
hibition of slavery"
Here is an avowal of the perfect, straight
out doctrine of Non-lnterventon in its broad
est acceptation Douglas himself has never
enunciated it in more emphatic terms.
Joe Lane, in speech at Concord, New
Hampshire, in 1885, said
"There is nothing in the law, gentlemen
but what every enlightened American heart
should approve. The idea incorporated in
the Kansas Nebraska bill is the true Ameri-
can principle for the bill does not establish
or protect slavery, but learcs the PEOPLE OF
THE TERRITORIES free to regulate their oIon
local affairs IN their own aody. Is there any
man who can object to that idea? Is there
any American citizen who can object 10 that
principles"
But Joe Lane now has a holy horror of
popular sovereignty! The rights of the
South are in jeopardy from it, and it is the
essence of freesoilism to advocate the princi-
pie Sincere politicians-are they not?
As Senator Benjamin is expected to make
speeches in this State, during the present
canvass, in opposition to popular or squatter
sovereignty, let us see how sincere and how
consistent he is lie said in speech in the
Senate, during the pendancy of the Kansas
Nebraska bill.
We find that this principle of the indepen-
dent and selt-goUernpnent of the people in the
distant Territories of the Confederacy har-
monize all these conflicting opinions, and en-
able us TO Danish from the halls of Congress
another fertile source of distcontent and ex-
citement-L App. Cong. Globe, 1st Session,
33d Congress, vol 29, p. 76S.
all spoke. John B. Weller said, during that
same discussion
Establish as a settled policy the doctrine of
Non INTERVENTION by the Federal Govern
ment-why Is it you cannot leave this ques-
tion (of slavery where all other questions
are left TO THE FREE AND VOLUNTARY DECISION
OF THE PEOPLE WHO MAY EMIGRATE TO THE
TERRITORIES.
Again on March 2nd 1854 Senator Weller
said:
When it is asserted that we who are as
sembled here. with the Federal Government
in our hand, are better judges of what sort of
institutions shall exist in the TERRITORIES than
the PEOPLE, l must be allowed to say | DO
NOT REGARD THAT as DEMOCRATIC DOC
IRINE. Our Government is based upon
the capacity of man to govern himself, and if
we have discovered that this is a mistake, we
may as well disband at once.
AS for Milton s. Latham, he 80 emphati-
cally declared himself for Non-Intervention.
as recently as June 1859, and subsequently,,
that nobody ever dreamed that lie would
tnd it possible to oppose it In accepting
the nomination for Governor in 1859, he
said
- am il favor Of Popular Soyereignty, as
lad dorm in the compromise measure of S54
am an fapor Of Non Intervention. / stand
by the Cincinnati Platform"
He is in favor of Non-Intervention, and he
does stand by" (as Joe Lane has it) the Gin
cinnati Platform, with a vengeance.
To use an old but expressive phrase, COM
ment is needless.
The National Democratic Convention ceased
upon It's adjournment from Charleston to Balt-
more"
This is what G win said in his speech the
other night in Stockton He intends to con,
vey the idea (for he can mean nothing else)
that the Convention at Charleston was bro.
Ken up entirely upon its adjournment, and
that the Baltimore Convention was no Con.
vention at all. He must have a very low
opinion of the intelligence of the people, if
he thinks he can gull them with any such
stuff. 1t is al assertion which the merest
pettitogger would not be expected to make,
let alone United States Senator. The Sc
ceders are remarkably fertile in new theories
and sophistical arguments, but this of DR.
Gwin beats them all. Perhaps he thinks
that conventions cannot adjourn to a stated
time. If he does, he is the first man who
ever did, and we would like to know where
he got the idea. His assertion is ridiculous
and contemplate, and shows, more than any
thing else, to what straits the seceders are
driven, and the miserable subterfuges they
avail themselves of to bolster up their cause.