Year: 1859

To the Editors Of the National, San Francisco Cali.


tornia.


l am Indebted to the kindness ofsome un'
known friend for copy of the National oil
the 10th July, containing a speech of the
Hon. William NJ. Gwin, at Grass Valley
with black lines drawn around certain pas
sages, for the purpose, presume, of direct.
ing my attention especially to them. Inas-
much as your paper is the medium through
which the assault on the political position
which | have maintained in the Senate, and
before the people of Illinois, was conveyed
to the public, justice requires that you should
publish such reply as my friends in Califor-
MIA have right, under the circumstances,
to expect. Hence 1 address this letter to
you.


After the defeat Of the Lecompton Con-
stitution in Congress, and the rejection by
English bill," all who felt deeper inter-
est in the peace and repose of the country
than in the advancement of particular in
dividuals, entertained the hope that the strife
had ended, and instead of new and odious
tests OF political fidelity to distract and d.
vide, we should witness mutual desires and
mutual exertions to present united Democ-
racy. If this just expectation has been dis
appointed, and the Democratic party, bur.
dened with new tests and demoralized by
selfish rivalries and dissensions, have been
defeated in States where they should and
otherwise might have been successful, the
responsibility must rest upon those who pro-
duced the unfortunate results. l shall not
follow the example Of these disturbers of
Democratic harmony by reviving past issues
and indulging in examinations and recrimi-
nations nor shall l stop to defend my &C
tiOn on the LecOmptOn question from their
assaults. am entirely content to rest my
vindcation on the verdict which the people
of Illinois have already recorded, and trust to
that enlightened public opinion of the whole
country which will, sooner or later, declare
with emphasis and power that no constitu-
tion or institution should ever be forced up
on reluctant people, whether State or Ter
ritory.


Passing from his review of the Lecompton
issue, Mr.. Gwin said in his speech'at Grass
Valley:


"Near the close of the last session of Con.
gress, debate was sprung upon the Senate up
On the question of Territorial sovereignty. We
had long expected such discussion, because
it was the duty of Mr.. Douglas to give his rea.
sons to the Senate and to the country for the
line of policy he had considered it his duty to
adopt in the Senatorial canvass in Illinois. The
doctrines he had avOwed in his Freeport speech
had been condemned in the Senate by his reno
val from the Craftsmanship of the Territorial
Committee of that body. and it was expected
that he would defend the position he had taken
and give ample time to those who differed from
him to give the reasons that had influenced
them in removing him from that important pO.
sition at the head of the TerritOr al Committee
he had filled for so many years in the Senate.
But for reasons satisfactory to himself, he did
not address the,Senate until near the close of
the session, when there was no time to give the
subject that full consideration it deserved. He
had asserted in his FreepOrt speech that Ter
ritorial Legislature could lawfully by non. action
or hostile legislation exclude Slavery from such
Territory. Having always opposed this doc
trne, briefly announced my previous opinions,
and declared that if such construction had been
given to the Kansas-Nebraska act when it was
nnder consideration in Congress in 1854,
should have voted against it,"


Why Was it the duty OF Mr.. Douglas
to give his reasons to the Senate, and to the
country for the line of policy be had con-
sdered it his duty to adopt in the Senatorial
canvass in Illinois ?" l had already given
my reasons" at Freeport, and at more
than hundred places during the canvass
and had been triumphantly sustained by the
voice of the people and the vote of the Leg
islature, against the combined forces of the
Black Republicans and Federal Office
holders, and their allies and supporters in
and out of the Senate. Why, l repeat, was
it my duty to give my reasons to the Senate
The Senate is not my constituency. l an
not responsible to the Senate, nor did any
Senator venture to demand reasons for the
line of policy which have felt it my duty
to pursue at home, in State canvass


But, if it uere my duty, as MIR. Gwin
states, to give my '' reasons to the Senate u
for the course which pursued in the can,
vass, it necessarily follows, that it was the
duty of the Senate to hear them before they
proceeded, as he alleges, TO condemn me by
my removal, during my absence, from the
Craftsmanship of Territories, which l have
held for eleven years, and to which l was
reelected after my speech against the Lee
compton Constitution.


The country Is now informed, far the frsl
time, that was removed from the post VI
Chairman of the Committee on Territories
because of the sentiments contained in my
Freeport speech" To use the language
of Mr.. Gwin, THE DOCTRINES HE Hal
AvowED IN HIS FREEPoRr SPEECH HAD BEEN
coND EMNED IN THE SENATE, by his remova
from the Chairmanship of the Territorial
Committee of that body. The country viii
bear in mind this testimony, that was not
removed because of any personal unkindnes'
or ho stility; nor in consequence OF my
course on the Lecompton question, or ii