Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1860-05-01

There are some persons who entirely ms
understand what Mr. Douglas means by pop
uar sovereignty" He has generally spoken
with sufficient clearness on this topic, and
there ought to be no mistake anywhere But,
in the current criticisms and discussions on
the proceedings at Charleston, it comes out
that some take the meaning of his popular
sovereignty to be that the people OF a terri.
tory have in themselves sovereign right to
exclude or abolish slavery They are entire
ly mistaken. He teaches no such doctrine
On the contrary, he holds that slavery has a
right under the constitution to go into the ter
ritories and stay there, and that neither Con-
gress nor a territorial Legislature has right to
abolish it. He has declared this view of the
matter on many occasions. We will cite here
some passages from speech which he deliver
ed in the Senate, Feb. %, 1859, He spoke on
this point as follows =
81 do not put slavery on different footing
from other property. | recognise it as prop
erty under what is understood to be the deci-
sion of the Supreme Court agree that the
owner Of slaves has the same right to remove
to the territories, and carry his slave property
with him, as the owner of any other species OF
property, and to hold the same subject to such
local laws for taxation, &c, as the territorial
legislature may constitutionally pass and, if
any shall feel aggrieved by such local legisla-
ton, he may appeal TO the supreme court to
test the validity of such laws | recognise
slave property as being OH an equality with all
other property, and apply the same rules to 1t"
And again he says =
"Whateter power the territorial legislature
hos 90 artv favta in
my judgment, to the same extent, and in like
manner TO the slave property. The territorial
legislature has the same power to leglslate in
respect to slaves that it has in regard to any
other, prophrty to the same extent, and no
further"
And against the representation that holds
that territorial governments are sovereign,
and have an uncomfortable and independent
power over all their internal affairs" Mr..
Douglas speaks as follows
81 hold that no such thing as sovereign pow
er attaches to a territory while a territory.
hold that territory possesses whatever powe
it derives from the constitution under the or
ganic act, and no more. | hold that all thu
power territorial legislature possesses, is de
rived from the constitution and its amend
ments under the act of Congress and because
/ hold that, denied last year that the people
Vi Il territory, without tne consent OF congress
could assemble at Lecompton and create al
organic law for that people. l denied the va
hdity of your Leccmpton constitution, for tho
reason that constitutions can only be made by
sovereign power; and because the territory
was not sovereignty, that was not a eonsttu
ton, but petition"
There cannot be more palpable misuse @
words than is made in calling the views of Mr.
Douglas popular sovereignty" He reall.
means nothing of the kind. In his view, a ter
ritorial legislature has no more right to abolis
slavery than it has to abolish the right OF proI
erty in oxen or sheep. 1t may refuse to pre-
vide slave code, and it may tax slavery bu
in his view, the institution has already tn
right "under the constitution" to go into tn
territories and remain there. If, las he ant
his opponents agree in admitting to be posi-
ble,) slavery shall find the territorial law
"untriendly," he maintains that it must ap
peal for redress to the federal courts, while tho
southern extremists insist that it should have
the support of congressional slave code
This is the only difference between them in
regard TO the matter