St. Paul weekly Minnesotian. (St. Paul) 1860-1861, 1860-11-09
ST. PAUL, FRIDAY MORNING NOVEMBER 8, 1860
SPEECH


SPEECH
49, Or
hon. EssNATHUS DONNELLY, In
GOV. OF MINNESOTA.
DELIVERED AT TIRE Raj. sPLITTERs' WIG
WAN, ST. CLOUD, ON MONDAY, OCT. 2srH
| 1860.
THE PRACTICAL RESULT OF sQuATTER SOW
: EREiGNTY AS APPLIED TO THE QUESTION
, OF SLAVERY.
FELLOW CITIZENS Permit me to thank
you for the opportunity afforded me tc
address you. 1t is, indeed, privilege tc
once more meet you after the lapse of more
than year. In that Interval, events have
not been wanting, either in our own State,
or IN the nation at large, to corroborate
much that was said to you by Republican
speakers in the last years canvass.
Politics are principles. Over the lesser
details--the eifervescences-the excreseen-
ces OF the surface-men differ The great
undercurrents Of humanity and God head,
are as far beyond the reach of contentious
as the centrifugal and sentripetal princi-
Piles Of nature, and upon them rest all pol
tics.
Truth is not violence. 1t does not take
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, it
seems cold and iieless, and shrouded in
leaden mists. To another, it stands with
the glory of the world upon its brow, the
gentleness of heaven in its eyes, it's hand
pointing the unaoubted 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: ii kept on moving until all
| Christendom was ready to cry aloud the
muttered 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 days,
and he says, "Pshaw !! what do | care
about it? The niger is only fit to be a
slave. I'd like TO own few myself"
And then he laughs uproariously. 70 an
othef you come and the thought of slavery
presents itself to his mind as one broad,
pressing. unmittngated 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
ferencus, they build up parties And why
should you and quarrel over it9 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
" Democrat" or Republican," None of
us were accompanied by an after birth of
pamphlets and speeches. Our great um-
pire was born with us-our Judgment
and it should be our proudest boast to
submit to it unhesitatngly all the ques-
tons Of our lives.
L have said to you that in the interval of
the last year events have not been wanting
to eorroborate our principles. The greatest |
Of these is dismemberment of the Demo
cratic party. When we last met, the cause
of Freedom and Humanity had bat 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 riddied and perforated with criticism and
rldicule. Its inception, its startling novel
ty-
A"Got when the soul didmuddled 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 it 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,
nevertheless, appears to me of the first
consequence. | refer to the practical aoork-
ings Of the doctrine of SYuatter Socereignty
as applied to the 7eTritories. 1t is my po-
sition hero 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 shall devote my re-
marks this evening.
My friends, this government of ours
takes its permanence and perpetuity from
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
concluded that a pure democracy, by which
| mean society consisting of a small
number of citizens who assemble and ad-
minister 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 inducement
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
III their lives as they have been violent
in their deaths. A republic, by which |
mean government in which the scheme of