St. Paul weekly Minnesotian. (St. Paul) 1860-1861, 1860-11-09
SPEECH
ZION. EGNATIUS DONNRLLY, LII.
GOV. OF NIENNESOTA.

i
GOV. OF MINNESOTA.
Il DELIVERED AT TIE RAIL spLITTERs' WIZ
4 WAN, ST. CLOUD. ON MONDAY, OCT, 2srI
1860
THE PRACTICAL RESULT OF sQUATTER SOW
EREiGNTY AS APPLIED TO THE QuESTIo
OF SLAVERY.
I FELLOW CITIZENS Permit me to than
you for the opportunity afforded me t
address you. 1t is, indeed. privilege t
once more meet you after the lapse of NOR
than year. In that Interval, events hav
not been wanting, either in our own State
or in the nation at large, to corroborat
much that was said to you by Republican
speakers in the last years canvass.
Politics are principles. Over the Jesse,
/ details--the effervescences-the excrescen
ces Of the surface--men differ. The erea
undercurrents of humanity and God head
are rs far beyond the reach of contentious
as the centrifugal aud ssnsripe,al princi
pies of nature, and upon them rest all pol
| tics.
I
its votary by the throat. Itneyer 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, il
seems cold and liieless, and shrouded in
lcaden 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 undoubted 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 it.:
the monks had no lever could pry it from
its orbit: it kept on moving until all
Christendom was ready to cry aloud the
mutterod 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. 70 an
othef you come and the thought of slavery
presents itself to bis mind as one broad,
pressing, unmittgated 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
ferenccs, 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
I" Democrat" or Republican" None of
us We're 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 corrOhorate our principles. The greatest
Of these Is disn,emb erment 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 |
ty-
"Got when the soul did muddled notions try, |
And born shapeless mass, like anarchy"
ts incongruities, its deeeits, its impossible. |
tiles, with ;tself,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,
appears to me of the first |
l refer to the practical scork-
ings of the doctrine of Sguatter 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 l 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 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 Fsderalist, advocating the adoption of
our present Constitution, very clearly ex-
pressed the distinction which exists be-
tween them. He says: at may be |
that pure democracy, by which |
mean a society consisting of small
number of citizens who assemble and ad-
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 majority of the
whole, communication and concert result
from the form of the government itself, and
there is nothing to check the inducenent
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
i'll their lives as they have been violent
in their deaths. a republic, by which |
mean 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 By
posing them through the medium Of
chosen body ofcitisens, whoss aois1om may
best discern the true interests Of their counr-
try, and sohose patriotism soiU be least Ike.
ly to sacrifice At to temporary or partial
considerations"
This distinction thus clearly laid down
by Mr.. Madison, was supposed by the