Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1860-09-28

as to the meaning of this sentence, he has
removed the possibility Of it by an expires
sion he used in debate in the Senate on the
23rd of FEBRUARY. 1859;
sSlaves, according to the Dred Scott
decision, being property, stand on an equal
footing with all other kinds of property
and there is just as much obligation on the
part of the Territorial Legislature to PRO-
tect slaves, as every other species of prop
erty, as there is to protect horses, cattle
dry goods, and liquors"
And mark well, Judge Douglas never
foreets the liquors! Loud laughter and
applause. ] There is Douglas, as the can
didate for the Senatorship of Illinois, who
does not care what way the Supreme Court
may decide; and here is Douglas, the can
didate for the Presidency, who declares the
decision of the Supreme Court to be the
authoritative Interpretation of the consti-
tuition.
So it turns out that this popular sover-
eighty fastens slavery more irrevocably up
on the territories as such than it is fasten-
ed upon South Carolina herself The peo-
PIE O1 hCOubu OdI III bIClI sovereign ca
pacity, may abolish slavery whenever they
see fit. The people of Kansas, in their
territorial condition, cannot. The people
of South Carolina have the right to discour-
age slavery by unfriendly legislation; the
people of Kansas are bound to guard and
protect the slave owner in his rights, and
are restricted from passing laws violating
that obligation The federal government
has no power to interfere in South Carroll
ma, but as soon as Kansas dares to disre-
gard the restriction" Judge Douglas, if
he should become President of the United
States, would stand pledged to enforce that
restriction with promptness and fidelity"
And after having struck down the freedom
of the territories, this s'champon of free
dom" will sneak behind the judicial despot-
ism of the Supreme Court, and like the
murderer of Banquo, tell you tEat thou
aan'st not say did it ! (Crics of shame)
But say he did do it. (Applause, )
The character of his doctrine of popular
sovereignty was determined by the decis-
ion of the question whether or not slave
property, as such, could be introduced into
territory before slavery was established
there by positive act Of territorial legisla-
ton. If this question was decided in the
affirmative, the doctrine that slavery is
the creature of local law was totally aban-
doned If slavery could exist in a terri
tory without being established by local law,
then it existed there by law higher than
local law, and that could be no other than
the Constitution of the United States
In this case every sane man must see that
then slavery cannot be removed from
territory by mere act of the territorial
legislature, whether direct or indirect and
Mr., Douglas need not affect any surprise
at the doctrines his Southern opponents
uphold. They are the natural the legiti-
mate, the logical, offspring of his own po-
sition.
This, then is the ''great principle Of
popular sovereignty" Laughter. This
is. leaving the people perfectly free to
form and regulate their own domestic in
stltutions in their own way" I am war
rented in saying that, if ever a gigantic.
unscrupulous, shameless fraud was attemp-
ted upon free people it is this great prin-
ciple-if history ever furnished an exam
pie of unblushing, scandalous, revolving
hypocrisy, it is this ''true champion of
freedom - to fasten slavery irremovably
upon the territories, and calling it 'leav-
ing the people perfectly free to regulate
their own domestic institutions TO strip
the people of every right to regulate their
own affairs, and to call it popular sove-
reignty
But as to Judge Douglas, here I stand up
before the great jury of the sovereign peo-
pie and bring my bill of Indictment.
| arraign him for having changed lis po-
sition in regard to the Missouri restriction,
time and again, according to the interests
of slavery.
arraign him for having broken the
plighted faith Of the people by the repeal
of the compromise of 1920.
| arraign him for having upheld the
most atrocious violations of the ballot-boX;
for having trampled upon the most sacred
rights of the people of Kansas, so long as
the struggle between freedom ard slavery
was doubtful.
l arraign him for having committed a
fraud upon the people by forging ard adul
terating the principle of popular sovereign
ty, and making it the machinery Of slavery
propagandists.
l arraign him for having deserted the
cause Of free Kansas, when the people, hav-
ing complied with all reasonable conditions,
applied for admission into the Union
I arraign him for having repeatedly
made the attempt to disturb the system of
constitutional checks and balances, by
placing the war-making power in the hands
Of the President
I arraign him for having attempted, by
his conspiracy bill, a .hing more outrageous
than the sedition law of 1898, to put the
liberties of speech and press at the mercy
of political inquisition, and to make the
judicial persecution of opinions perma-
nent system of policy.
| arraign him lastly, for having attempt
ed to pass off upon the people the doctrine
of political philosophy, which is an insult
to the popular understanding. No. beg
your pardon. I do not arraign him for
that, for this is a free country, where every
body has right to make himself as ridicu-
lous as be pleases, subject only to the
constitution of the United States. =
loud laughter.) And yet, I arraign him
fer that also, for I protest that he has no