Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1860-08-24
Ubn 11ee Nteas
URLINGTON:
FRIDAY MORNING. AUG. "a, 1860.
BUR GTON:

public speaking during commencement
time, and that public interest has not bee
Uery thoroughly aroused in Mr.. Marshall
course Of lectures, we were still surprise
and sorry that no larger audience was at
tracted by the closing lecture. I
was about as numerals, and mainly OF tn
same persons, as on the evenings before.
Mr.. Marshall, after a brief review of hi
previous lectures, took in hand the case O
Mr.. Douglas, and his dogma of "popula
sovereignty" He showed the folly of hi
justification that ''great principle" " by tn,
example of the colonies in the Revolu ton
which amounts to this, if to anythi ing,-tha
Congress has no right to tar the territories
since 1t was against the ex rcise of the righr
Of taxation that the colonies rebelled. lie
alluded to some of Mir. Douglas inconsisten.
cies,-his former proposal to run the line o
the Missouri Compromise to the Pac ifc, in
utter disregard of squatter sovereignty, and
his assertion in his Report upon the Topeka
Constitution that the settlers Of Kansas had
no sovereignty whatever. And he put
| again the often asked but never answered
question, how many inhabitants Of terri
tory It takes to give to them the right Of
settling whether their territory shall be slave
or free,-is it twenty, or twenty thousand, OF
how many?
He proceeded to the a ssertIon and defence
of Mr.. Clay's position, and his own, that
the sovereignty Of the Territories belongs to
the people of the United States, to be exer-
clsed through the Congress, Executive and
Judiciary of the United States. The legal
argum ont for this position he founded on the
decision of the ablest Supreme Court that
ever sat, delivered by Chief Justice Mar
shall-that when settled territory is ceded by
one power to another, it Is the s0uTagaty
alone that is ceded. and that the soyereig gnty
OF the territories ceded to the United States
vests in their Government Of the United
States 1t is the height Of absurdity, be
maintained, to hold that the sovereignty Of
territory gained by the blood and treasure
Of the nation, should not after all belong to
5000 .L.r.:.., g..
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O. s-lr,,rorn,,c,t IN. ,.,r.r,,,ar- of
rho r-ni,od STATES bovinr the ri,bt f, ever-
Gle mower over the territories, has always
done so. 1t has always, and the Kansas
Nebraska bill itsel forms no exception TO
the rule, retained the power Of appointing
Governors for the territories, has given to
them veto power over territorial legisla.
ton, and reserved to itself d veto power over
that legislation even when approved by the
Governors.
Mr. Marshall stigmatizej the Kansas-Ne-
braska bill as an act Of wanton aggression
upon the North-and said Its natural and
legitimate effect was to le2islate civil war
into Kansas. lie alluded to its other conse-
quences in stirring up Of bitterness and strii,
between the North and South, the creation
Of the Republican party and the disruption
OF the Democracy lie declared that the
'outh never wanted the repeal Of the Mis-
sourl COMPROMISE. They had made enough,
as Heaven knows, by that measure. They
didn want Kansas. The talk OF need OF
room Tor the expansion OF slavery was noon
shine. Texas alone, with an area as large
as the French empire, has room for three
million slaves, and moreover, Georgia and
Alabama want to open the slave trade, want
more nlgsers instead OF more room for what
they have. Why, then the South passed the
Kansas Nebraska bill, he did not seem to un-
derstand, unless 1t was that they were fooled
INTO 1t by Mr. Douglas
lie made merry over the present position
oi the Democratic party, the two wings dia-
metrlcaliy opposed and both wrong lie
depicted Mr' Breckenridge facing about
from support OF the Kansas Nebraska bill,
and now inconsistently straddling the Dred
Scott decision. Alluding to Mr.. Douglas
constant harpins on one string, he quoted
wttily Mr.. Burkc's remark that if you al
low a man to tell you the same story over
and over for a gear, that man will be your
master. and he thought the little giapt must
be working on that principle.
The sneaker passed to a consideration of
the position of the Republican party. OIL
course he had to object to it that it is a
sectional party. Its platform, in general he
lie took exceptions, however. TO
the Sth plank, which declares that 4" the
normal condition Of all the Territories is that
of freedom and denies the authority of
Congress, or of the Territorial lepisIatnro or
of any individual. to give LEGAL existence 70
Slavery in anv of the Territories In tbis
the power Of Congress over the Territorias
and consequently he could not subscribe to it.