Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-04-10
The Nnrrn QueAtion.

The Negro Question.
IL may be regarded as inevitable, that II
tho people of Territory desire slavery they
a stAi have it. This has been the case hith-
erto and will continue to be, There is not
9 the remotest prospect that any political
party will affect the result in the least This
is not popular sovereignty. It Is simply
... club law, the first law that was ever enforced
r..- among men; the right Of the strong over the
-slf weah, the higher law of nations, although
nations affect to dscountenance il among
O. HP individuals = S l.N tviH
Popular sovereignty, meaning the right of
the,maority to decide whether they will
hold slaves, is the absurdest of contradic
ti6ns. Fit is principle, it is ultimately
nothing but the rightof the majority to en-
slave the minority Certainly, great prn-
ciplc7 does not depend on color. And il
popular sovereignty is the right of the ma
jority to deprive the minority of their rights
theprinciple is not exhausted nor impaired
by it's exercise On thecontrnry, it is more
tablished BY frequent uses Thus, in the opera
ton Of this popular sovereignty portion of
the people arc deprived of their political
I'll r rights by the majority; perhaps ensaved; they
n are put outside Of any control in the govern
ment But the principle still remains; the
majority again becomes divided, and another
AL, minority is voted out of any control in the
government. So successive majortics viii
.,r- exercise the right to vote the minorites out
until further exercise of it may depend on
( test of individusl science and muscle, and the
great principle of popular sovereignty will
have fairly and logically eliminated in a sim
gle despot. Nobody can say that this may
not all be brought about without violating
this great principle in the least .
Where weak nations opposed to strong
ones, with wealth or soil to tempt their
..a. rice, it may be safely assumed that the weak
will be overrun and conquered. That would
be what all history establishes; but to set that
up as the great principle, that major nations
.jG should do as they pleased with minor ones,
would shock the moral sense of the world.
SO the strong will ensave the weak as they
always have done, bat to attempt to make
that into great principle of popular
ereignty, destroys all principle on which hui
man rights are founded. In our national
q. .|I4 conduct toward weaker nations we are not
very squeamsh Whatever we DESIRE we
- are quite apt to take; and if any principle is
required to justify slavery, the right of the
strong is better founded onprecedcnts and on
universal recognition than any other law:
and is the only principle ON which slavery
Z can, stand. taf &
~ But slavery thrives best without any
principle at all. All attempts to fit it to
. Democratcprincples have terminated ridicu-
lously Popular Sovereignty stops on the
center when it comes to prohibitions and the
g-sr more progressive doctrine of a natural right
of property in man, which is supreme over
Constitution or legislation, is not an am
phibious principle; it dies on water, when it
comes in contact with our laws against the
slave trade, which declare this natural and
supreme right of property hanging matter.
Slavery never indebted either to Drin-
ciple or to law for its establishment and the
farther it is kept from contact with either
the better II will be for its health. Slavery
will continue to be the solecaptal of political
parties; but neither Congressional protection,
-r- nor the great aud indefnabe principle OF
q popular Sovereignty, nor Republican princi-
pies, howeversuccessfult that party may be, will
establish or exclude slavery, from
single Territory. An infamous slave code
legisated by border irruption utterly
failed to establish it in Kansas: also the
question was settled without the least aid
os from the prohibitory provision IN the State
90. Constitution. Republican doctrine recognizes
slavery as sacred where it exists. Its force
will be expended in excluding it from Terri
tories where it is not, and where there is no
possibility that it can go; and, it is doubtful
il the conservative spirit which has struck
n Into that party will permit it to raise the
question: where action could only stir up
~ agitation. Slavery now actually exists in
some OF the Territories. But in the States II
does not depend ata on constitutional recog-
,ri nition. And if Territories apply for admission
without mentioning slavery in their Con-
o. stitutions is Republicanism going behind
them to raise the question: Especially when
. conceding that as as admitted they
would be sovereign over the whole question
A great party is waiving all minor consider
ations tounte on the slavery question: and
as far as, action car, 60 that will have to
waige too. Another great party has waived
all other questions to split on that of slavery,
and II now admits that its whole existence
depends on the preservation of dogma on
slavery, which no party convention dare
plainly define. All minor questions are
waived ON both sides, and the question which
is not waived is myth Yet it is not only
pF the life and soul Of our politics, bnt even
our national god, Terminus is an African, and
he is now holding the door Of the natona
,'1 boundaries shut in the face Of sovereign
7i'' State, because she will not acknowledge hi
, sway. .-r1 fil .'aAlaa ,rt ir.g
oqe Figuring Over Douglas
Our Democratic friends at this juncture ar
figuring immensely; nay may say