Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-07-25
COMMUNICATIONS.
The territories.

The arbitrary ard illogical theory on which Mr.
DouG1As would base his settlement of the question of
slavery in the territories, having no precedent in
our government under the Constitution the minds of
thinking men naturally revert to the history of other
republics, and Of other governments of ali kinds The
action and the legislation of the territories is found
not only in theoretical but in substantive action
opposed to Mr.. DIS theory. So great is the differ
ence in theory tina; legislative action has been based
first upon the Constitution, and then upon the laws
Of Congress So great is the difference that the citi
zens Of one Of the first territories petitioned for Con
gressional action this very subject; men who
lived in the days of the ordinance of 'S7 men who
were fresh from the councils of MADISON JEFFERSON,
and ADAMS men whe were contemporary with
them and with the Constitutions; men who took their
lives in their hands when they sought the great Vest
men who, whether in their rude homes IN the ter
ritorial council were ever armed ready to meetthe
savage foe; men who knew from sad experience that
the federal power was inefficient for their protec-
ton;-surely if ever such doctrine as Mr.. DOUGLAS
was to obtain footing in mems minds, it there
and then But these men added to reverence for the
Constitution a reverence for the power Of the Fed
ederal Government, though it was Inefficient for
their protection, though it powerless for long
time to grant the first essential, to fulfill the first
great duty of government in protecting them, their
lives, and their property, from the savage and the
foreign foe These men have left record their pc
tton to Congress- 1t comes to US like the light of
distant star-fant at first, but increasing in bright
ness as we gaze on it. Its brightness is not wanted
by Mr.. SUMNER or Mr.. HALE, or by Mr. DOUGLAS. 1t
tells Mr.. SUMNER that these men believed the ordi-
nance of 'S7 to be unconstitutional it tells Mr..
HALE that they, the men from the North and the
South, wanted slaves to help them till the land and
it tells Mr.. DOUGLAS that they, the contemporaries,
and the sons of the men who signed the Deeara-
ton and shaped the Constituencies men, a
thousand miles from the seats of civilization
men of giant intellect and indomitable will,
alike fitted for the council and the battle field, fitted
to cope with the subtlety of the dpomatist meet
successfully the ambush of the willy savage-men
like ARTHUR ST. CLAIR and Gen. HARRISON, the one a
Federalist of the srictest sect the other rigid dis
ciple of JEFFERsoN-tel Mr.. DOUGLAS that they, the
settlers in those far distant lands made claim for
such rights as he claims for them. They tell him
that they acknowledge TIE power of Congress in the
very matter which he disavOws, and while they
bow in submission to the only laws that protect
them from anarchy, they yet assert their consttu-
tional right to hold the African in bondage. They
even while protesting show their reverence for both
the law and the Constitution, their intimate knowl-
edge of both, and their determination to abide by
them.
The opinions of these men, the actions of these
men, are history; they flash in living light along the
boodstained path of the settlement of empire in the
West and the light cheers the lovers of liberty and
law; but it must reach and burn and seattle the
men who, like SUMNER and WILSON, and CHASE, and
DOUGLAS, and SEWARD, would have liberty without
law, would elevate the crude Territory above the
sovereign States, above the Constitution, would
have liberty without government, would surround
fifteen sovereign States, with belt of fire. such
as the most ultra fanaticism and the widest red
republicansm would make, when fed by appeals to
the passions and prejudices on subject more excl
ting than ever animated aMARAT, RoBEsPERRE, or a
DASTON to shed the blood of France in torrents
subject which if not met ROp by the most direct.
the most earnest, tile most emphatic opposition, will
inevitably narrow its fiery circle until it comes in
contact with the magazine of revolution.