Year: 1860

/


Constitution of the United States confers no
such power-although no State Legislature
has any such power, yet Territorial Lesis-
lature, in the remote extremities of the
country, can confscate your property!


A voice. "They can't do it.; they amt
going TO do it."l


There is but one mode, and one alone, TO
abolish slavery in the Territories. That
mode is pointed out in the Cincinnati plat
! form, which has been as much misrepre-
sented as anything l have ever known
That platform declares that majority OF the
actual residents in Territory, whenever
their number is sufficient TO eniite them 10
admission as State, possess the power 'to
form Constitution with or without domes-
tic slavery, to be admitted into the Union
upon terms of perfect equality with the
other Statesn IF there be squatter sover-
! eighty in this resolution | have never been
able to perceive it. If there be any refer
ence in it to Territorial Legislature it has
entirely escaped my notice. 1t presents the
clear principle that at The time the people
from their Constitution, they shall then de-
eide whether they will have slavery or not.
| And yet it has been stated over and over
again that, in accepting the nomination un-
! der that platform, endorsed the doctrine of
squatter sovereignty. suppose You have
all heard this repeated thousand times.
A voice. "We all knew it was lie !''1


Well, | am glad you did.


How beautifully this plain principle of
Constitutional law corresponds with the best
interests of the people! Underit, emigrants
from the North and the South, from the


East and the West, proceed 10 the Terrific


ries. They carry with them that properly


which they suppose will best promote their
material interests they live together in


peace and harmony. The question of sIa-


very will become a foregone conclusion


before they have inhabitants enough to
enter the Union as State. There will then


be no 'bleeding Kansas" in the Territories;
they will all live together in peace and har-


mony, promoting the prosperity of the Ter


ritory and their own prosperity, until the


time shall arrive when it becomes necessary


to frame Constitution. Then the whole


question will be decided to the general sat-


isfaction. But, upon the opposite principle,


what will yon find in the Territories Why,


there will be strife and contention all the


time. One Territorial Legislature may


establish slavery and another Territorial


Legislature may abolish it, and so The strug-


gle will be continued throughout the Terri.


torial existence. The people, instead OF


devoting their energies and industry to pro-


mote their own prosperity, will be in a


state of constant strife and turmoil, just as


there is no possible principle that can be SO


injurious to the best interests of Territory


as what has been called squatter soyer-


eighty.


Now let me place the subject before you
IN another point of view. The people oi


the Southern States can never abandon this


great principle of State equality in the


Union without seli-degradation. [''Neverl"]
Never without an acknowledgment that


they are inferior in this respect 20 their sis


ter States. Whilst it is vital to them to pre-
serve their equality, the Northern State:


surrender nothing by admitting this princi


pie. la doing this they only yield obedience


to the Constitution of their country as ex


pounded by the Supreme Court of the


United States. While tor the North it i:
comparatively a mere abstraction, with the
, South ii is a question of co-equal Stale SOW
ereignty in the Union.


If the DEGREES of the high tribunal estab
: lished by the Constitution for the very pur
: pose are 10 be set al naught and disregardeC
it will tend 10 render all property of every
! description insecure What, then, have tn,
S North to do Merely TO say that, as gooC
7 citizens, they will yield obedience 10 the
t decision of the Supreme Court, and admi
, the right of a Southern man to take his prop
r erty into the Territories, and hold it there
, just as Northern man may do; and it il
: TO me the most extraordinary thing in tht
a world that this country should now be dis
g tracted and divided, because certain person
: at the North will not agree that their breth
7 ern at the South shall have The same right
f in the Territories which they enjoy. Wha
9 would /, as a Pennsylvania, say or do
. supposing anybody was to contend that tht
| Legislature of any Territory could OUTLAW
iron and coal within the Territory Laugh
2 ter and cheers. The principle is precisely
: the same. The Supreme Court OF tn,
I United States have decided-what wa
known to us all to have been the existin!
: slale of affairs for fifty years-that slave
: are property. Admit that fact, and you ad
1 nit everything. Then that property in III,
/ Territories must be protected precisely il
3 the same manner with any other property
: Ii it be not SO protected in the Territories
c the holders of it are degraded before IN,