Year: 1859

Under our complex system Of government


is the first duty Of American statesmen to mar
distinctly the dividing line between Fedora


and Local Authority. To do this with accura
cy involves an inquiry, not only into the pow


ers and duties of the Federal Government un
; derthe Constitution, but also into the rights
privileges and immunities Of the people Of thu


Territories ,aswell as ofthe States composing thu


Union. The relative powers and functions ofthC


Federal and State governments have become we


understood and clearly defined by their practi-


cal operation and harmonious action for a long


series of years; while the disputed question


involving the right of the people of the Terri


torres to govern themselves in respect to their


local affairs and internal polity-remains fruit
| ful source Of partisan strife and sectional con-


troversy. The political organization which


was formed in 1854, and has assumed the name


Of Republican Party is based on the theory


that African slavery, as it exists in this coun-


try, is an evil of such magnitude-soc moral


and politicians to justify and require the ex-


crtion Of the entire power and influence Of the


Federal Government TO the full extent that the


Constitution, according to their Interpretation
will permit for its ultimate extinction. In the


platform Of principles adopted at Philadelphia


by the Republican National Convention in 1856,
| it is affirmed:


"That the Constitution confers upon Con-
gress sovereign power over the Territories OF
the United States for their government, and in


the exercise of this power it is both the right
and duty of Congress to prohibit in the Terri
toIies those twin relics Of barbarism, polygamy
and slavery"


According to the theory Of the Republican
party there is an irrepressibe conflict between
freedom and slavery, free labor and slave labor,
free states and slave states, which is irreconci-
liable, and must continue to rage with increas-
ing fury until the one shall become universal by
the annihation of the other. In the language
Of the most eminent and authoritative expoun-
der of their political faith:


at is an irrepressibe conflict between oppo-
sing and enduring forces; and it means that the
United States must and will sooner or later,
become either entirely slaveholding nation or
entirely free labor nation. Either the cotton
and rice fields of South Carolina; and the sugar
plantations of Louisiana, will ultimately be till.
ed by free labor, and Charleston and New Or
leans become marts for legitimate merchandise
alone, or else the rye fields and wheat fields OF
Massachusetts and New York must again be
surrendered by their farmers to slave culture
and to the production OF slaves, and Boston
and New FORK become once more markets for
trade in the bodies and souls of men,"


In the Illinois canvass of 1858 the same pro-
position was advocated ami defended by The dis
tinsuished Republican standard bearer in these
words:


"In my opinion it the slavery agitation will
not cease until crisis shall have been reached
and passed. "A house divided against itself
cannot stand ! believe this government can
not endure permanently halffree and hall slave.
| do not expect the house to fall but | do eX
pect it will cease to be divided. 1t will be-
come all one thing or all another. Either the
opponents Of slavery will arrest the further
spread of it, and place it where the public
mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the
course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates
will push forward till it shall become alike law
full in all the States--od as we'll as new, North
as well as South"


Thus it will be seen, that under the auspices
of political party, which claims sovereignty in
Congress over the subject of slavery, there can
be no peace on the slavery question-no truce
in the sectional striG--no fraternity between
the North and South, SO long as this Union re-
mains as our fathers made it--divIded into free
and slave states, with the right on the part of
each to retain slavery so long as it chooses and
to abolish it whenever it pleases.


On the other hand, it would be uncandid to
deny that, while the Democratic party is unit
in its irreconcilable opposition to the doctrines
and principles Of the Republican party, there
are radical differences of opinion in respect to
the powers and duties of Congress, and the
rights and immunities Of the people the Ter
ritorics under tho Federal Constitution which
seriously disturb its harmony and threaten its
integrity These differences of opinion arise
from the different interpretations placed on the
Constitution by persons who belong to one o
the following classes:


Frst.--Those that believe that the Constitu-
ton of the United States neither establishes nor
prohibits slavery in the States or Territories be-
yond the lower Of the people legally to control
it, but "leavcs the people thereof perfectly free
to form and regulate their domestic institutions
IL their own way, subject only to the Constitu-
ton of the United States"


Second.--Those who believe that the Consti-
luton establishes slaTery in the Territories, and
from Congress and the Territorial
Legislature the power to control it, and who
insist that, in the event the Territorial L.egisla-
ture fails to enact requisite laws for its protec
ton, it becomes the imperitive duty of Con.
gross to interposc its authority and furnish such
protection.
Third.--Those who, while pro Tossing to be-
lieye that the Constitution establishes slavery in
the Territories beyond the power of Congress
Or the Territorial Legislature to control 1t, at
the same time protest against the duty OF Con-
gress to interfere for its protection; but insist
that it is the duty of the Judiciary to protect
and maintain slavery in the Territories with
out any law on the subject.


BY q careful examination of the second and
third propositions it will be seen that the advo-
Gates of each agree on the theoretical question,
that the Constitution establishes slavery in the
Territories, and compels them to have it waeth-
OF they want it or not; and differ on the prac.
teal point, whether right secured by the Con.
stitution shall be protected by an act Of Con.
gress when all other remedies fail. The rsa-
son assigned for not protecting by law a right