Year: 1860

Ir s7sUveo arrer mey uugpr u, dnC


not before. IL ras necer intended to operate IL


the 7e,Titoriee directly, as those pho framed ana


those ~ho adopted IL Were not endowed sil


Poacer to so ezpound that instrument as 10 in.


ctude Territories as peH as States.


When the people Of a Territory form a Con-


stitution, organize a State, apply for admission


and the ne,c STATE IS admitted; the people MereoJ


then accept the Constitution Of the United State,


for themselves. Previous to that time they


really occupy the position of an Independent


community in which the po,cer of legislation Is


lodged ,cih the majority, unrestricted Jy a Con-


stitutiOR. Society exists and acts under such
circumstances alone through the agency of
majority. a government thus formed
would constitute what is termed an abso-
lutte majority democracy, but it would be
none the less government. In Oregon,
society was furnished with government
some ten years before Congress passed a law
to organize the Territory, and the laws en-
acted were recognized as supreme, and were
administered as efficiently and obeyed as
readily as if they had been passed under a
regular Territorial organization.


So steadily is the public mind of the ma
tion tending towards non-intervention and
popular sovereignty for the people of a Ter
ritory in all matters relating to their own
welfare, that but few years will pass be-
fore Congress will admit their sovereignty
and consent through a general law that the
inhabitants of Territory may organize
their own government and elect their own
officers, including Territorial Judges. When
that day arrives the sovereignty of the peo-
pie in the Territories, their right of self
ha IaI IN &c
Congress; the appointment of Territorial
Judges will be taken from the President,
and the government of the Union relieved
of the expense attending the administration
of Territorial affairs. By this policy the
question of slavery will be excluded forever
from Congress and transferred to the people
of each Territory for their final decision
Under this operation they will be left to
frame their domestic Institutions to suit
their own views and promote their interests.
The great benefits derived from the applca-
tion of the principle of popular sovereignty
will then be felt and acknowledged, and the
wisdom of non-intervsntion on the part of
Congress universally admitted and recog-
nized


If the Union editor can get out of the di-
lemma in which we have placed him by the
above quotations, he can dodge the light
nings Ajax defied. The English language
means nothing if the Endorsement of Sena-
tor Pugh by the Sacramento Union does
not declare the Territories and the people
thereof beyond the pale and restrictions of
the Constitution. 1t declares their sover-
eighty in language not to be misunderstood.
Then we hare stated the position of the
Unton correctly. The inference
is plain it is direct and logical, that if the
people of Territory need not accept the
Constitution of the United States, but may
assume to govern themselves, there is no
restriction to their sovereignty whatever.
In fact, the Union has laid the inference
bare in every conceivable form. 1t talks
about " domestic institutions" but if the
election of Governors, Judges, etc, and
making of laws is not political we know of
no distinction of terms. If the people of
Territory may justly go so far, why not
farther By the Douglas-Pugh- Union doct-
rine, in one breath the people are perfectly
free to form their own institutions in their
own way subject only to the restrictions of
the Constitution, and in the next breath the
Constitution has no restrictions whatever.