The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1868-09-03
THURSDAY, sEPTEn1BE a@1aaa
territories where Il had notnrev;or

and they had right t. take The
anywhere under the flag Of the Uni
! not within he limits OF aStAte who
i laws prohibited that relation. II
e Republicans maintained that the o
{. ernment had the right to prohit
q slavery in the territories. Here W
q difference on vital point. Ho
' did the Republicans attempt to cor
9 promise it2 They proposed to q
. game all the unorganized tsrritori,
j into two States. All south of sc i
! gress 30 minutes into one State n,
i all north of that line into anothe
!. State; and admit them into the Unio
o on the came footing with the othe
i States, leaving the people Of thea
. States 70 settle the question Of sls
) very in their own way. The Repul
llcans had recognized the fight !
! the people Of the States to do this
and they proposed to compromise I'll
matter in this way. These State
would have been large, it is true, bu
there would have been the same pro
vision for division into smaller State
as in the case Of Texas. Now if thi
had been done there would have bee,
no more territories; they would hay,
been organized into States. Nov
i why did they not settle it in thi,
| way 7 This would have not required
the sacrifice Of any principle on either
side. The Republicans might have
said "the people have elected us or
the principle Of keeping slavery ou,
OF the territories, and You cannot ex.
pect us to go back and desert the
principles upon which We have been
/ elected ]" but they proposed to settle
this whole question, so far as the ma.
tionai government WAS. concerned, by
organizing these territories into
States and admitting them into the
Union. Why did they not agree to it?
On the other hand they professed
great fear, that the institution would
beinteffered with in the states where
it existed BY the passage of unfriend-
" laws BY the neighboring states,
and by the Federal Congress. Con-.
gress proposed tn amend the Consti.
tntion,by an article providing that
slavery should never thereafter be
Interfered with by Congress, nor by
the people ofany state where slavery
did not exist,in any manner whatever.
unless agreed to BY every slave state.
and that this should be irrcvocable
forever. Could honorable tneft have
done more? You perceive, then, that
the Republicans did make an earnest
effortto settle by compromise what
they said was the cause of their dis.
satisfaction. You may say. had
your candidate been eIected-your
candidate which was it, Breck-
enridge, or Douglas2--you had
hf7tssr hatssss saJssaey say peiiff if yon- .wo can
you not comprom,ss ti Haissi u MhS v1s,S,e.s dig
na,.. oa met as Democrats, to make vonr ar.
ocrats differeud sshA Snnthern Dem
Northern democrats that you Worv
unable to agree. The one party emf
grated. to Baltimore, and nominated
Douglas. the other stayed at Charles
ton, and nominated Breckenridge.--
How could on have settledit BY com.
promise. at all when you could not
settle it whan there was not Repui-
lican tossed in as an apple Of discord
am,ng you, aud you were unable TO
agree among yoni lives, and you had
divided your own party, and ran a
doubled headed ticket, one in the
south. and one in the North? II
seemed to him in the light of the
experience of eight years, that no
honest Democrat could say that they
could have settled these difficulties.
Then as these difficulties could not
be settled in that way, and they had
made the attempt to dissolve the
Union; what was to be done2 Now
he reminded them of a little "onpleas-
antness.n Their leaders, South and
North, had said that, under the cir
cumstances they had be ter let the
.'erring sisters" depart in peace
They would not have war. They
would let them 60 out ana form theil
Confederacy. And now they have
the impudcncc to say they wouldhavt
compromised it [great cheering.
Well this was in strict harmony with
their principles as party. True tt
those principles they could not lift ,
| finger to compel these people tc
submit to the laws. Mr.. Buchanan
said in his last message to Congress
that several states had seceeded from
the Union, and that after careful
examination of the Constitution, b.
failed 10 find any power in the Ma.
tional Government to compel then
Ito lay down their arms. and he refer
ed Congress to an argument on tha
subject, addressed. to himsel
by his Attorney General
Jeremiah Black, Of Pennsylvania, tn
, author ol several of his veto messages
Tney held that very State was so,
ereignty IN itself, and that every citize
, owes primary allegiai ee 10 the Stat
!. and 10 the Federal Government throug
/, the State. and that just so long AS the Stal
by its organization Is connected with th
: general government, SO long this aileg
chooses to sever its connection with Il
!, general government, that moment the ol
ligation OF the citizen to the general 60
= ern inent ceases. II be misrepresente
the Democratic cree,i on that subject
: would ask any Democrat To say SO; or
indicate it by nolaing up his hand. \
j one responding. Ii said; Then i repr
: sent the principles Of your party truly
this respect. tA3
Q He asked en- whether il were better
t continue these. men in power who he
!. fonnd the means 10 put down the rebe
= ion. nj putting those men in who cou
4 ind no plwer in the Constitution to .
9 erc State. He wished these facts to
4 torne mind clearly and continuous
i.y every voter, because this Was the pra
= tcu qu.sLian in this election.
. But from helrinciples Of the Deinocr;
. &c party thus canceced, flow certain ct
:. ollaries. as matnenaticians would say
= | Ii there liz no power III the national go
IS ernment TO coerce the people of a Sta
/. then the war was wrong. illegal and U
,Dn siitutlonal, rnd you remember the
:, Democrats said ii WAS wrong, and II til
h would speak out the honest convict,
II 81 their hearts to-day, they would say
!, wss wrong. Illegal and unconstitutiGn
y and IL it wa wrong, illegal and uncons
Ie tuiional. then it MAS great crime agail
Il our southern brethren, and being erin
weare the criminals, and They who mad
manly defense. are the loyalists and p
IL dots! Does not the conclusion follow fr,
l. the premises2 tcries OF "That's SO" a
!; cheers.e
And they said that everything that v
J. done TO put down the rebellion was wrt
1t | lt was wrong for Mr.. Lincoln to ctll ,
IL the militia 10 suppress the rebellion. ]
~ draft was wrong. But why? The Com
\. tuition says that Congress shall have