The Greensborough patriot [September 14, 1860]

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BY SHERWOOD & LONG. & jpamilg Netospaper-JBcbotetJ to literature, agriculture, Manufactures, (ttommercr, an* JttisceUaueous Keaoing. TERMS—12.00 IN ADVANCE.
VOL. XXII. aEEENSBOEOTOH, 3ST. O, SEPTEMBER 14, I860. NO. 1104.
I he LuensWorigU Patriot.
,. .. nWSWOOD. JAMES A. LOHQ.
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S P K E <p H
OF III I
HON. S. A. DOUGLAS,
At the Convention in Baleigb, Thursday
August -lOth, 18'JO.
-« Dr. Fox, on introducing Judge, Douglas,
:• i •
\; i . uf North Un i ■■•
11 ■ ■ 111it*
yrta—tl : nt "'
i
I have
nonor ol iti iducing to
of Democratic
icratic Na-
.
ded the people then, that the first serious
point of controversy which ever arose be-tween
the American colonies and the British
government, was upon the slavery question.
For more than seventy years previous to the
Declaration of Independence, the colony ot
Virginia asserted her right to control the
question of slavery through her coiomal Leg-islature.
During the early portion of that
period the Virginians passed lavs to encour-age
the introduction of slaves and to protect
slavery in the colony, but after a while they
found tlic number of slaves iucreasing in a
greater ratio than the white people and being
surrounded by large bands of hostile Indians
they became alarmed, lest the savage Afri-cans,
just introduced, should unite with the
savage Indians surrounding the settlements,
and exterminate the whites. In order to pre-vent
a calamity so fearful, the colony of Vir-ginia
parsed laws, adverse to the further in-troduction
of slaves into that colonly. The
British merchants then engaged in tho Afri-can
slave-trade appealed to the King to an-nul
the legislation of these few adventures in
the colony ot Virginia. They set forth that
they had a right as British subjects to move
from England and carry with them their slaves
as well as all their other property, and hold
thorn in tho colonies without reference to the
legislation of the Colonial Legislatures. The
King, in council, sustained that claim, annull-
' more, forPresident j « ical legislation of Virginia, and in-tes
i i America, the friend of I s'.ructeu .ts < lovernor not to allow any more
■ onstitution, aid the Union, I lav
l',, s'tep'hcnA. Douglas, ol Illinois. t Three jslu
dicers lor I louglas.)
Mr Douglas said: Mr. President, I am con-
.-<■...», s that you have, in the enthusiasm pro-duced
by the circumstances with which we are
surrounded to day done me more than justice
in yroouurr jp> resentation to this audience. 1 thank
you, Bir^sincerely for the kind terms in which
you have been pleased to speak of me. I«
is a matter of pride and pleasure to be pre-sented
to the people of the Old North State,
i.v a respresentative from Mecklinbarg.—
(CbeerS.) History will always preserve the
bets in North Carolina the first Declaration
of Independence was proclaimed to tho world
and that Mecklenburg has the honor ofbeing
the county where tho gloriousjdeed was done.
Carolinians have a right to bo proud of that
great event in her history, but while you
pride yourseves upon it, you oust remember
that the sacred obligation rests upon you and
your children to maintain inviolate the prin-ciples
which that Declaration was intended
to prepetuats. What was the grievance of
which North Carolina compltiined, when she
proclaimed to the world her separation from
:!«•• British crown ? What the Grievance of
which all the colonies complained,and what
Were the objects they intended to accomplish
by that Declaration ' Independence was not
their motive. They did not desire separation
from England. On the contaiy, tho first Con-tinental
Congress that asscmjbled, and each
successive one, until tho declaration was put
forth, adopted an address to the crown, and
to the people, and to the Parliament of Eng-land,
affirming their devotion Ito the British
people, tbeir devotion to the British Consti-tution
and their loyality to the Crown of
England. Tiny did not desire separation
from the Mother country. Tbey demanded
a redress ofgrievances under the British Con-ft.!
ui ion and while they remained a part of
the British empire. What were those griev-ances?
You will find them in the hill of
r: !.!- put forth by the first Continental Con-
:-:■ -- which assembled in I7&1. In that bill
■ • ;nts, iho colonies proclaimed to the
•• • .• remain a part of the
!'• . em| icknowledged the right
ut (-treat Britian in Parliament to make ali
i . u .' liectctl the general welfare ol the
i:. • •• without interfering with tli I
a. i i. : ■ ■ ■† ii ■†:'. ■†i ■ i ulon ies
i eki \. ■ i the right ol the British
t •• .i. • • ilate .. lairs, I ■ make war and
| ... commerce ana do those
".• •• • I' d I he eral welfare ol
t. .• • • . Britian ; but tfiey dcclan d in
i . '. ' • • I inies possessed
t • ■ • power, iflegislation in
I «• C'->l mial a urea over their domestic
p • .. riiai io point upon which they
• ciifieelifeif necessary—
I ■ It j ivctiinieni In each colony
• • ■ † - I their loe-il and domestic
■ rel ised to recognize
i; . ■ i ur fathers would stir-rc'idi
inod that they would
r - ind even carry force to the
)■ ■ ol a seperation IroirJ, and an entire
Independence of, tircat Britian. It is im-portant,
to bear this fact in mind, in or-der
to determine precisely tho principles
upon which our system ot government is
founded. The British Parliament denied the
right of the American colonies to regulate
their internal affairs, because they said tnat
thorn colonies posessed no other right than
those which the Prince of England had gran-ted
to them in their charters. Washington,
and Jefferson, and Hancock and the heroes of
tl at day. told the King that they did not get
their rights from the Crown and they denied
the power of the King or Parliament to take
those rights away. The colonist claimed that
the right oflocal self government was inher-ent
in the people,derived from the Huler ot the
Universe, the only power and jurisdiction of
Kings and Parliaments. Upon this point the
Revolution turned. This right of local self
government as being inherent in the people
was affirmed by the American Revolution.—
The Constitution under which we live was
made tor the purpose of confirming and per-petuating
theliberties achieved by the Amer-can
Revolution. The question now arises
whether we-will maintain at this day those
principles for which our fathers fought and
which were secured to us by the sacrifices of
the revolution.
The Abolition party of the North some
years ago, attempted to violate this great
principle of self government in the territor-ies
of the United State, by the application of
the Wilmotproviso. They introduced into
Congress a law for the purpese of prohibiting
slavery everywhere in the territories of the
United States, whethertbe people wanted it
or not. The whole South, with a large por
tion oi the Northern Democracy, resisted the
Wilmot proviso as a violation ofthe right of
>•■ .. government,at the same time that it was
an usurpation ofpower by the federal govern.
nteht In the discussion which took place.
we . i ipposed the Wilmot proviso appealed
t •.: ■ ' itionary struggle as furnishing
: • 'rounds upon which we ought to resist the
t it xibrence with the domestic affair:
ct tuc peOple of the territories. Wo n.
a f> be passed in 'he colony adverse to the
e trade; but as late as 1772, only four
years beiore the Declaration of Independence
the Legislature of Virginia adopted a mem-orial
to his Majesty, telling him that unless
he granted to the colouly of Virginia, the
right to control this question according to the
interest of their own people, he would lose
his dominions in America. Thus wo find
that the controversy on the slavery question
in the territories began seventy years before
the revolutionary war, reached down to the
beginning of the war itself, and led into the
very contest which produced the final separ-ation.
Each of the other colonies passed
laws also regulating the question of slavery.
You did it in North Carolina. Some of your
laws protected it, some enceuraged it, and
others discouraged it, just as you believed or
rather your ancestors, that the interest of
this colony required at the time. So it was
with each of the New England colonies.—
Some protected it, some invited it, others ex-cluded
it altogather, and others regulated, it
with a tendency rather against its encourage-ment;
but the principle involved in that
whole contest was the exclusive right of the
people of each colony in the Colonial Legis-lature
to regulate all their domestic affairs I that holds office under this Government.
farmer, with a Virginia next to him, a New
Yorker, a South Carolinian, and representa-tives
from every State around him, tho whole
Union being represented on a prairie by the
farmers who ahve settled on it. In the course
oftim i- the young people of this society begin
to visit, and in a little while the North-Caro-linaboy
sees a Yankee girl he likes, and his
prejudices against her people begin to soften.
(Laughter.) In a few years the Carolinian
and the Connecticut peoplo arc united, the
Virginia and the Pennsylvania, the Yankee
and the slaveholder are united by ties of mar-riage,
and blood, and friendship, and social in-ter
course ; and when their children grow up,
the child of the child of the samo parents has
a grandfather in North Carolina, and another
in Vermont; and that child does not like to
hear either of those States abused. That child
has a reverence for tho graves of his grand-fa-ther
and grand-mothor in the good Old North
State, and ho has tne same, revences for thr
graves of his gjand-father and grand-mother
in the valleys of Vermont; and wo will never
consent that this Union shall be dissolved so
that he will be compelled to obtain a passport
and get i vised to enter a foreign land to visit
the graves of his ancestors.
You cannot sovere this Union unless you
cut tho heart striDgs that bind father to son,
daughter to mother and brother to sister in
all our new States and Territories. (Cheers.)
Besides the ties of blood and affection that
bind us to each of the States, we have com-mercial
intercoerse and pecuniary interests
that we are not willing to surrender. Do you
think that a citizen of Illinois will ever con-sent
to pay duties at the custom house when ho
ships hiscorn down the Mississippi to supply
the people below ? Never on earth!
We shall say to the Custom-house gate-keepers
of the Mississippi river that we fur-nish
the water that makes that great rivor,
and we will follow it throughout its whole
course to the Ocean, no matter who or what
may stand before us. (Cries of "that's good.")
So with the East—we are bound to tlie peo-ple
of the East by the same ties of blood and
kindred, and you can not sever this Union
without blasting every hope and p;ospect
that a Western man has on this earth. Then,
having so deep a stake in the Union, we are
determined to maintain it, and we know but
one modo by which Tt can be maintained; that
is to enforce rigidly and in good faith tvery
clause, every line, every syllable, of the Con-stitution
as our fathers made it and bequeath-ed
it to us. (Cheers.) We do not stay to en-quire
whether you in Raleigh or the Aboli-tionists
up in Maine like every provision of
that Constitution or not. It is enough for
mo that our fathers made it. Every man
to suit themselves, without the interference
of the British government. I presume that
no one present will controvert the correctness
of this historical proposition.
1 have resisted the Wilmot proviso from
the time of its first introduction into Congress
down to this day, upon tho grounds that it
violated the principle upon which our fathers
fought the Revolutionary war. (Cheers.) If
British subjects in the colonies before the Rev-olutionary
war, were entitled to the iherent
right of self government over their domestic
affairs, I cannot see wy the same should not
be guaranteed to the people of our territories
sworn to protect it. Our children are brought
up and educated under it, and they are early
impressed with the injunction that they shall
at all times yield a ready obedience to it. I
am in favor of executing in good faith every
clause and provision of the Constitution—
(loud cheers)—and of protecting every right
under it, (cheers) and then banging every
man who takes up arms against it. (Contin-ued
cheering.) Yes, my friends, I would
hung every man higher than Haman who
would attempt to resist by force the execu-tion
of any provision of the Constitution
which our lathers made and bequeathed to
since tho revolution. (Applause.) I have never j us. (Loud cheers and voies—"that is South-
' ern enough lor us,"—"Yes, sir, that it is.")
A gentleman behind me says that that senti-ment
is Southern enough for him and for you.
I do not go for tho Constitution because it is
Southern or Northern, not because it is Eas-tern
or because it is Western, but 1 go for it
because my allegiance to the Constitution,
my oath and ray duty, ray lovo for my chil-dren
and my hope ot salvation in the future,
makes it my sacred and boundon duty to vote
for it and maintain it. (Loud cheers and
hurrah for Douglas.) I claim no rights for
my State that 1 will not concede to you and
defend for you and for the whole South.—
jet claimed for tho people of the American
territories any other right, or higher right,
than our fathers maintained at the point of
the bayonet for the colonies prior to tho revo-lution.
(Applause.) If an American citizen
ol North Carolina, moving to a territory of
the United States, is not entitled to as many
rights of self government there as a British,
subject before the revolution, lot me ask what
did you gain by the sacrifices of that revolu-tion
! (Voices, "good" and applause.) Who
are the people of the territories that thay arc
not capable of self government ? You do not
doubt that you citizens of North Carolina aro
entirely competentto make laws for yourown i (Cheers.) I will accept no privileges for Illi-goverument.
You do not doubt but what the [ nois that I will not permit to North Carolina,
right ol sell government is an inherent right' and I claim no right in tho territories for my
m North Carolina. It it an inherent right in ' citizens or for my property that I will not
this State, let me ask you when you imigrate guarantee lor every other State in the Union,
to Kansas, at what point of time do you for-1 I believe in the absolute and unconditional
felt that right ? Do you loss all the sense, all
the intelligence, all tho virtue you had upon
> in. rating to a territory of the United,
States ! No man doubts your capability
lil you stay at home to decide for your-selves
hat kind of laws, you will have in
respect to negroes, as well as to white men.
Art you any less capable after you have left
your native land, and gone to a territory ?—
Is there anything in the character ot the men
who emigrate from their native valleys of the
North-West that renders them less fit for
si lfgovernmcnt than those who remain where
they were born 1 Those of us who, in early life
left the Old States, who penetrated into the
wilderness, secured our own houso, mado our
own larms, erected, school houses, aud
churches, mado our own fences and split-our
rails, (laughter,) think that we know what
kind ot laws and institutions will snit our in-terest
quito as well as you who never saw
that country. (Vioces—"Right," and ap-plause.)
We have quite as much interest >n
the laws under which we aro to live as you
have, who nover expect to go to that country
and therefore, Lave no concern about our
laws. These are the opinions of a North-
Western man who has spo t his wholo life
upon the frontier. You connot convince us
that we are not as good as our brothers who
remain in the Old States. I know there is
something in the human mind that leads every
one to suppose that his own birth place is the
very centre of civilization, and that mere is
nothing good beyond the range of his infant
vision. Wiien I was a child, I thought that
the mountains which surrounded the valley
in which 1 was born were the confiuess ofciv-ilzation
; my vision was limited by them, and
I fancied beyond the boundary there was no-thing
but border ruffians and outside barbar-ians.
When, hower, 1 crossed them and got
into the next valley, I found were just as good
people there as 1 had left behind me, and, so
with the next and every step I took, from the
east towards the setting sun, unloosened and
shook off unjust prejudice. Ignorance has
fixed around other people prejudices similar
to those I then had. We in tbe North-Wost
have much more respect for you than you
have lor us. We love you detter thau you do
us. He love this union better than you do, in
consequences which surroud us. You go into
one of our new settlements—in .Kansas,
Nebraska, Illinois, or any of any of them-and
there you will find that a North Carolinian
equality of all tho States of the Confederacy.
(Applause.) But I claim that I have the
right to go to tho territories and to carry my
property with me and hold it there, and to
nave it protected on the same terms that you
have in the slaveholding States. ("Good.")
But upon what terms, 1 ask, can I carry my
property into tho territories ? I carry it
there subject to the local law. If I am a dea.
ler in cattle, in horses, in sheep, in stock of
of any kind, 1 carry my property subject to
the law. If I am a dealer in dry goods, 1 go
to tho territories subject to the local law. If
I find the local tax heavier on peddlers than
on the regular merchants, I must either pay
tho tax or quit peddling. ("Good, that's
right.") If I am a dealer in groceries and li-quors,
i must carry my liquors there subject
to the local law, and I had better enquire
what that local law is before I start, and if,
on enquiry, I ascertain that the Maine liquor
law is in force there, I think I had better car-ry
my liquor somewhere else, and seek a bet-ter
market for it. (Good.) The Northern
man goes into the territories with his proper-ty
subject to the local laws of the territories
as the people may have made those laws
through their local legislatures. Are you
not willing to go on the same terms? (Cries
of "yes, we were always willing— we never
askod more.") Do you claim more than is
granted to us? ("No.no.") You may go
there also and carry your slaves with you
subject to the local laws in the same wav that
1 can carry my goods. Equality ot rights \,
the principle, and obedience to the local law
is the only condition upon which any man
can go into the territories of tbe United
States with safety. 1 know that there is a
class of politicians who are in the habit of tell-ing
you that Congress will not grant you pro-tection
for your slave property in the terri-tories,
aud Congress will not. When did
simple right of every people to make their
own laws, and establish their own constitu-tions
according to their own interests, with-out
interference from any person outside
their own borders—that is all it is. Is not
that a sound principle ? Why there are two
classes of politicians who tell you that it is
very unsound. Who ara they? First, the
Northern Abolitionist and Black Republican
think it very unsond. Tbey assert that it is
the duty of Congress to prohibit slavery wher
ever the people want it. That is the doc-trine
of the Abolitionists. Tbey are in favor
of Congress prohibiting it wherever it is ne-cessary,
and they say that wherever it is not
necessary tbe people do not want it, and that
there the peoplo will exclude it themselves.
Hence it is only necessary to say they are
for Congress to prohibit and exclude slavery
wherever the people do want it. There is
another class of politicians who are in favor
of Congress interfering in favor of slavery
wherever necessary. They aro not lor inter-vention,
however, except when necessary —
When do they hold intervention necessary?
Why it is clear that it is unnecessary to inter-fore
to protect slavery where tho people are
in favor of if, for in that case, they will pass
laws to protect it themselves. For instance,
New Mexico was in favor of slavery, and
hence tho people, two years ago, passed a law
in their local legislature establishing a very
efficient slavo code, protecting slavery in tho
territory. Honco, it is not necessary in the
estimation of Southern Secessionists, to pro-tect
it there, for the people wanting it will
have it, and will protect it themselves. It is
only necessary, they say, for Congress to in-terfere
and protect slavery wherever the peo-ple
do not want it, and therefore will not
protect it themselves. Thus you find that in
this country there are two parties in favor of
federal intervention. The Black Republi-cans
of the North and the Secessionists and
Disunionistu of tho South agree in respect to
the power and duty of Congress to control
the slavery question in the territories. They
agree that Congress ma}- control it and that
the people of territory ought not to be per-mitted
to do so. Agreeing that far, they
differ on this point, as to what way Congress
ought to control it. While the Northern fa-natics
say that Congress must control the
question as against the South, the Southern
Secessionists say it must be controlled as
against the North. Each party appeals to
the passions, the prejudices, the ambition of
bis own section, against the peace and har-mony
of the whole eountry. Now. suppose
you acquiesced in tbe demand of this South-ern
Secessionist party and allov I ihctn to
rally the whole people of till tin Southern
States under a Southern intervention
and suppose wo Democrats ol the Nor h
should be craven-spirited enough to yield to
the demand of a dominant majority in our
own section, and join in the cry of Northern
intervention against slavery, and then rally
every Northern man under that banner.—
Then you have two sections of this Union sep-arated,
with a broad line between them, eve-ry
Southern man on one side, and every
Northern man on the other, both abusing
each other. Now, what is your Union worth
after that is accomplished ? Remember that
tho Union cannot survive the affections of
tho people, upon whom it rests. Whenever
you have alienated the Northern and South-ern
men, whenevoryou have separated them
so far that they cannot belong to the same
political party and the same church, and can-not
commune in tho House of God at the
same communion table, your Union is very
nearly dissolved. This sectionolism has
reached this point. It has reached the House
of God, and separated tho members of the
same church. That good old church within
which I was born and Teared, tho old church
in which my father and mother, my grand-father
and my grandmother, and my ances
ters for many generations were in the habit
of communing, separated into a church North
and South, and when we travel from one side
of the lino to tho other, we aro not permitted
to go to the communion table. And what
has produced this estrangement ? It is the
agitation of tho slavery question in the halls
of Congress. What good has been accom-plished
for any body by the agitation ? what
beuefit has been conferred on the white man '!
what benefit has been conferred on the black
man by this agitation ? it has alienated
friend irom friend ; you have rallied section
against section by it; you have spread mis-chief,
and dissension, and heart-burnings,
without any redeeming or corresponding ad-vantage.
What is the remedy for this state
of things ? I answer, the remedy is to ban-ish
tho slavery question from the halls of
Congress ; remand it to the people of the ter-ritories
and of the States. Let tho people
make just such laws as they choose, so that
they do not violate the Constitution of tho
country. If they should pass a law in viola-tion
ot the Constitution, the Supremo Court is
tho only tribunal on earth that can ascertain
and decide that fact. (Applause.) If you
go to a territory, and when you get there you
do not like tbeir laws, and you think that a
particular statute is unconstitutional, all vou
have to do is, to make out a case under the
law as to have the question tried in tbe ter-ritorial
courts, appeal to the Supreme Court
of tho United States, and there get your case
decided, and if the court decide that the law
is unconstitutional, there is an end of it—it
cannot bo enforced. On the contrary, if it
be Clodded that the statute complained of is
constitutional, it must stand till the peoplo of
the territories get tired of it, and uavi
enough to change it. If the peopli n
territories make oad laws, let them suri
der them till thoy get wise enough to make
good ones, il they make good laws, let
enjoy all the avvantages ot tbeir good law
Let us act upon this principle, and there can '
be peace between the North and the South.
I affirm to you that the Democratic party is
pledged by its honor, its organization, its plat-form
and its principles, to this doctrine of
non-intervention by Congress with slavery in
the territories. (Applause.) What man will
America, except among tbe Black Republi-cans
of the North. I appeal to you, my fel-low-
citizens ot North Carolina, without dis-tinction
of party, to tell mo whether every
Democratic speaker in tho Stato did not tell
you that your rights, your honor, your equal-ity
in the Union, depended upon maintaining
the doctrine of non-intervention by Congress
with the question of slavery, as affirmed in
the Democratic platform ? Now they tell
you that this doctrine, which they taught you
to believe, and making you believe, to carry
the State by a large majority for Buchanan,
they now tell you that this doctrine, taught
and preached lour yours ago, is little better
than Black Republicanism. I stand to-day,
where I stood when these Secessionists eulo-gised
mo as the best friend the South ever
had. "(That's so.") I defy them to show
where I have changed a hair's breadth, and
wh'jn I have heretofore defied them face to
face to show it, the only answer they could
make was, that I was too consistent and
would not change. (Laughter and applause.)
No, I would not change merely because pres-idents
and caucuses, hacked by extensive pa-tronage,
said that I must. (Applause and
cries of "good."—"that's right.") It is as
much my right aud duty to think and judge
myself as it is for the President to do it for
himself. (Right.) I do not recognise the
right of tho executive department to interfere
with the action or speech of any member of
the Senate or member of the Mouse of Rep-resentatives.
(Applause.) So long as the
President chooses to confine himself to the
performance of his duties in obedience to tho
Constitution, I will sustain him to the utmost
in his right to a free and independent action.
But whenever the Executive is permitted to
say to a Senator or a Representative of a sov-ereign
State, abandon your convictions, be-tray
your constituents, do as I say, or 1 will
remove yoc from office, and behead every
friend you Lave in office throughout the coun
tr}-; whenever it is permitted to do that with
impunity, 'hen the Republic is but a sham
and a mockesry. (Applause.) There is no
freedom, there can be no liberty, when the
representative of the people is not responsi-ble
to his constituents instead of to executive
power. (A voice—"It is despotism.") Yes,
the worst of all despotisms is when the Exe-cutive
can say to a man, violate your con-science,
bo tray your constituents, and follow
me, or I will remove from office every f.iend
you have got. and defeat you at home through
executive patronage. I speak with sorno
feeling on the subject. (Applause.) I have
had some experience. I have been under the
necessity in my lifetime of lighting Abolition
is'.s and Black Republicans, aided and sup-ported
by ■ Democratic administration with
power and patronage. For three
yei every federal office-holder in Illinois
has been required to oppose the Democratic
aud support the Black Republican ticket, as
pie to do just as they pleased both sides of
36° 30'. I assert that if tho people of a Ter-ritory
want slavery they have a right to it,
if they do not want it, no power on earth
should force it on them. I go further and say
that whether tbe people will want it or not,
depends solely upon the climate, the soil, the
productions and the self-interest of the peo-ple
where it exists. In a hot climate where
tho white man cannot work in tho open sun,
where Rice, tho Cotton plant and tho Sugar
cano flourish there, you must have negro
slaves to work them or you must abandon
the country to the crocodile. In a cold cli-mate
where you have almost perpetual snow
and where the nrgro could not produce by
his labor halt as much as would feed and
clothe him and furnish him wood to bake his
hoecake at night, you cannot force slavery to
exist, because it will not pay for itself. Slav-ery,
therefore, does not depend upon the law.
It is governed by climate, soil and productions
by political economy, and you might as well
attempt to pass laws by Congress compelling
Cotton to grow on the summit of the H >cky
mountains, or rice to llouriib on tho granite
hills of Now Hampshire. (Laughter ami ap
of tho Carolina?. They knew thai th" regu-lations
noccssary in a ininning district like
California would In- unsuued to the wheat
and corn fields of lllinoi-. Hence tbey pr<»-
vided that each State should retain us own
sovereignty, with a Logmlature of itsowo, in
order that each might have just such laws as
it chose. This right, therofore, of each State
to have laws different from every other one,
lies at the very foundation of our system of
government. Uniformity, regardleus of tho
wants & conditions of tbo people, is the worst
dispolism you can inflict upon any peo, le
Well, the Abolitionists of tho North and
the Secessionists of the South, admit that th,.
doctrine of tho right of each Stato to regu-late
and decide for itself, is a good doctrine iu
the States, but will not do in the Territories.
They admit that in the States you have an
inherent right to govern j'ourselves, but you
lose it when yor. go to the territories. Why
not allows Territory to do it as well as s
Stale. Why, they tell you that a Territory
is not a sovereign power, und therofore rau-not
do it; that Done out sovereign power*
have a right to «X< the privileges of seli-govenunenL
Our farhers of the revolution
plause,) as slavery to exist where it cannot did not thinks* dutionary straggle
in defence oi the right of dependent
• olonies, dependent territories, dnpnn'dstllj
possibly exi.-t. (Applause.) ! toll you that
wherever climate renders slavery necc
there it will go, and furthermore, tin; p il ■
of a territory will be the first to introduce it
and pass all Laws for iis protection, but when-ever
the climate renders it unprofitable and
no money can he made out it' it, there yon
cannot force il to go, I care not how many you
have, or how many armies to enforce those
laws. Hence I said in my Freepori sp eel,
that no matter bow the Court might d< i ids
the abstract act, that practically slavery will
not go where tho peoplo do not warn it, for
it would not be praticable. That is what I
said, ami that is all I said, and thai has been
tortured into a declaration liiat 1 would noi
obey the decisions of the Supreme Court i I
the United Stales. I iik- to bi charilab!
but I believe that he, let hirn be w.ioliemay,
who has represented me as saying I would
not obey the Dred Scott decision, or any
other decision of the Supreme Court, did
know that ho was perverting and misrepre
Benting my whole idea. (Cries of "good"
and applause.)
I have made more speeches than any living
man in the defence of the Dred Scott decision
astoronouneed by the Court, and I am as ready
as any man toenfoico the decrees of the Court
and to put the halter aroun i the neck ol all
men who wish to rev u-tiiuted au
thoriti i le land. [Groal applause. A
voice, "Hura for Douglas *) i Jo not desire
to be misunderstood on luese questions. I
am being hunted down by a bodj ol men who
four years ago endorsed mo, every man ot
them knowing that 1 held the same opinions
then that 1 iio now. There is not a living man
with intelligence enough to venture away
a condition to holding his office, and even yet lrom homo alone who does not know that 1
in tho Northern States, and from one end of1
the land to the other, every office-holder is
removed, unless he works against the regu-1
lar organization ot the party. You aro told
now that there is danger of Sir. Lincoln being
elected President, and that his election would
have held these sentiments foi years. (Cries
of "good," laughter and applause.") 1 have
come down here now to meet you lace to face
and to utter these opinions just as 1 expressed
them in the Northern Stales; and ill order
to prevent them lrom misrepresenting me any
be such a calamity that it would become your j more, 1 have invited a friend of minet) take
duty to dissolve the Union rather than sub-mit
to his domination. What hope ot an
election has Mr. Lincoln ? None on earth,
except through the assistance rendered by
the Seceders at Baltimore. (Cheers and cries
of "good.") After I was nominated there ac-cording
to the usages cf the party, by two-thirds
of all the votes cast, there being pres-ent
two-thirds of the .electoral college not ob-jecting,
these men bolted and got up a new
convention. Now let me ask you, is there a
down every word and syllable as it falls from
my lips and without any revision or my see-ing
it, to hand it over to your papers here, if
they will publish it, in order that the people
North and South may sec whether I do not
explain my doctrines in the South precisely
as 1 have explained them in tho North.
A Voice. We have no organ here but one.
.Mr. Duuylas. It is stated that ray friends
have no organ here, but one.
I do not care how often I may make
man in America who doubts that I would speeches in the Senate correcting the misrep-have
beaten Lincoln, if the Breckinridgc men resentations, they aro never published h
had acquiesced in my nomination? (Ap-plause.)
Nobody doubts that Lincoln could
never have carried but two States in the Un-ion,
Vermont and Massachusetts, but for that
Occasion. What was their object in bolting?
Was it not to beat me ? (Voices, "yes.") If
it was did they not know that the only way
to do it was to divide the D
ere.
Why ? Certain gentlemen have made charges
to the contrary, and it would convict them
if it acquitted me. I hold no opinions on
these public questions that I wish io conceal
any.vhere, for I hold that so long as we live
uodi :• a constitution w Inch is common to all
the States of the Union, any political creed
e tne Democratic party is radically wrong which cannot be avowed
in the Northern States and allow Lincoln to i alike id all the States oi this Union.
carry each one of those States by a minority j Why cannot you of the South and the
vote ? The secession took place for the pur-' North, live in peace together nnder this con-pese
ot defeating me and by
the party electing Lincoln.
the division in
There was not a
man ot liiem engaged in the scheme wiio did
not expect that bis act was to elect Lincoln.
There could be no other expectation, no oth-er
motive, no other hope, and I have never
seen a man yet who would risk his reputa-by
denying that Li
stitution, as our fathers made it?
reason is that I hen - i ittempt to ■
uniformity, through action ol the Federal
Government in the local and domestic insti-tutions
of lii- States. Mr. Abraham Lincoln,
now the Black Republican candidate for the
Psesident, when some two years agoa candi-tion
by Lincoln would l.ave date for tiic United Slates Senate against, me.
been beaten but tor this division and that the i commenced hi.-| ipening s.ieech with this pi op-danger
ot his election grows out of it. Then ' osition. 1 will try to give Ins precise Ian,
how do they justify their course ? Why they i guage, or as near as lean from recollection,
say it is better to have Lincoln elected than ; and 1 believel have quoted the passage a
Douglas. Why? Why, they do not like thousand times lie said,'-that a house divi-
Douglas. They do not like his platform.— del against itself cannot stand, this govern
Why do they not like the platform ? Because ' mint divided into free and slave Stales can-
I stand now on the very platform on which
they stood four years ago. And what confi-dence
can you have in the integrity, in the
truthfulness, in the honor of a .nan who will
abuse the Charleston platform now, alter he
supported it four years ago? Were they cheat-ing
you then ! Wero '.hey deceiving you at
that time to get your votes ? If they were,
how much confidence should you place in
them now ? (Cheers.) If they wero honest
then, it does not become them to abuse those
of us who do not change quite as rapidly as
they have done. (Great applause.) I stand
now where I then stood. I stand where I
Stood when I brought forward the bill to re
the Missouri restriction and organize the
I Kansas and Nebraska. They
aud do not pretend that 1 have ohang-
But they have started a story I learn.
down here that I went home and
d the Nebraska bill in a different
Congress ever pass a law to protect any par-ticular
class of property in the territories?— j be bold enough to deny the fact that"every
Congress never yet passed a criminal code for | Democrat in America up to the present year,
an organized territory on the American con- j was pledged to tho doctrine of non-interven-
tinent. Murder is a crime in the territories, | tion ? Read tho platform of tho party that
nominated Cass iu 184S, Pierce in 1852, and
Buchanan in 1856. Thore you find tho doc-not
under any act of Congress, but by the
territorial law. And so with every crime
against the person or property of a citizen, I trine of non-intervention by Congress with
no matter where. You are told that this is ■ slavery- in the territories of the United States
Squatter Sovereignty. Just such Squatter i Is this not so ? What then has produced this
Sovereignty as was established in North Car- j sudden change? Non-intervention was a
orllna by the men who put forth tho Declar- I good doctrine four years ago-intorvention
w,., unu imu a xonn Carolinian ation of Independence, and drove the agents is necessary now. Four years ago there was
settled down by the side ot a Cnonecticut of George 111 from the continent. It is the no intervention with the slavery question fn
not permanently endure, that either Slavery
must oe extended to all the States or it must
be plan d in the course ol ultimate extinction
in all the Statos, they must become all tree
or all slavo."
Now, that was his proposition. I replied
to that speech the moment 1 got home. I
took bold issue with Mm, and made the can-vass
ol" Illinois, on that proposition and oi e
other. Tho other was, be assailed the Su
reme Court decision, in th.- L)r d Scott case,
ire luo two is
battle. Mr
Sewaiilinadelii.se. ebl I ..—ter speech
four months afterward iu .Inch he pat forth
the doo«rine ol the irreprcssibl conflict, bor-rowing
it from Lincoln, n*l ..s the aathoi
and ci.unc rator of thai pri cinle, that "the
1 nion cannot exist, divided into free and
slave Slates, but must become all free, or all
The Blu-k Republican party is based
i
and 1 defended it. 'fI
sues, upon which v. fi
stave
I had South, and said that it on the theory of making them all freeSta
the Secesson party ia based on ihe thi >rv
that tho Territories and consequently tl..
States must all bo slave, whether the people
want them so or not. I hold to the doctrine
that uniformity in the domestic inatitutions
of the different States is neither possible or
desirable. Slavery may bo good in one place
was the beet abolition bill ever got up to pro-hibit
slavery everywhere. I have tried to
find out where I ever mado such a speech,
but ihose who made tho charge do not name
the place. I now say that no honest man
will ever make such a charge: (Cheers.) It
is an invention of the enemy, and has been
circulated by the mean author who knew it
to be false or had no reasan for believing it
to be true. (Applause.) 1 will tell you what
explanation I havo mado in every Northern
State of my motives for passing tbe the Ne-braska
bill and repealing the Missouri Com-promise.
I have sustained that act by tho
argument that if slavery was right South, it
was right North, if it was right to leave tho
people to do as thoy pleased South ot tho
Missouri Compromise line, it was right North
of tho line. My object was to allow the peo-and
bad in another. It may be necessary ii
one State,and unnecessary in another Anil
bo with every Other domestic institution.—
Our fathers knew whin they made this gov- i
eminent that in ■ country as broad as this, I
with such a variety of soil, of climate, and of '
productions, there must necessarily be a cor-responding
variety ot interests requiring sep-arate
and different laws in each locality.
They knew that the laws which would "suit
tho granite hills of New Hampshire would bo
unsuitod to the rico and tobacco plantations
provinces, to exercise tbia right ol self-eminent
M well as sovereign Suites. None
but the Tories of the revolution ever comer-tied
before that the right ot sell-govoriimeiii
was to Oe restricted to sovereign Stales.-—
Qeorgetho Third and Lord North, his Mm-isier,
and his Tory friends on this continent,
all denied the right ol the people el these
colonies to regulate their own affairs. Tbei
all said that tho people of the colonies had no
rights except those the King granted them in
tbeir character. Tho same old doctrine. Our
lathers ot the Revolution told the Tories thai
they di lot get their rights from the King,
!>ui i y got them from l«od Almighty.
lice, "a better source.") And the people or
the Territories will be likely to tell you th.\
they do not get their rights from Con-;re*s,
they get them from a purier source. (Laugh-ter
and applause.) From what I have said
you will see that unless lam right in main-taining
this principle of selt-governmeuit foi
the people of the territories, ..ur fathers of the
revolution must have been w oi.g in that
«t niggle. Therei« no ue irgumcnt u <■■! v
the Bcceasioi i t- ngainl aqua I r novelt'lgo
ty,"a- they leriu t, that they have not co
pied from the tories el the revolution in al-most
its identical language. (Voice, "good,"
upplaus**.) But of course these gentle-men
are very sincere in denouncing this doc-trine
of r jn-interfenc by Congress. I wish
they had been frank enough to dentmnce it
before tuey hud joined me in helping Io sus-tain
it. Tiioy knew when they adopted the
Cincinnati plaifora that toil ws ••
Read that plailorm. it dec i
words, non interfiraos byCon
very in ihe States and 'IV
i—tor,every friend 1 had fron 'h
»\ esi offered to take the < , , mi
word t .-r word, as it read. Th * J
not take it. Tbey aaid il was not goo : D -
mocracy. How oasM lha ■ form to '•"
uiloptcd in IKiO, if it was uot sound ? You
know that it was adopted at the suggestion
of the Ala-bama Legislature, on four proposi-tionsdrawn
by Mr. Yancey, and wheii'introdu-ced
into the Cincinnati Convention, received
tho votes of delegates from every State in tho .
Unien, free and slave. The South proposed
it, aud we of the North said it is fair and just,
and we will take it. It was a loptcd by a
unanimous vote, and four years after, you are
told that a man is a trailer to tho South who
stands by the pledgo wo all made at Cinci-nnati.
There is something strange about
this. 1 cannot change as rapidly as that —
(Applause.) If the Democratic party will
stand now where they did then, there would
bo no trouble. In order to get out of the
scrape, these men havo turned round and
charged me with having said I would not
stand by thj Dred Boott decision. 1 tell hen
now that en r make* that, charge
hereafter will km bait falsifying the
truth. Th«n, whal is tbecauseof ihe*trooMe
in the Den. ici rtj ' it is an attsMB
to introduce a new article of faith into the
Democratic creed, in direct violation of tin
former creed cf tho party. Itis an attempt
t ingain introduce this slavery question i •
tho balls nt Congress, and have Congrats de-cide
it So long as that question remains in
Congre.-s. there never will be peace; and if
we expect to live together, we must agree to
banish this whole subject lrom Congrats, re-mand
it to the people interested HI it, andb I
the Supremo Court explain the Constitution
in reference to snob caseasitarisos; then we
will have peace.
A gentleman here said : There is in tho
inintisof a largo portion ol the conservatiro
people ol the Southern States an apprehei-sion
that iho purpose ot a certain class ol ex-treme
poliMcians ot tbe South, is to provoke
a division of tho Democratic party upon tins
question of the plailorm for the purpose of*
electing Lincoln and thereby, without tut
overt act on his part, effect a disolution tl
the Union. I desire to atk Judge Doupla
respectful,, to give to the audience all i
evidence bebas in reference to thw parpu*
oi these parties, and as we have heard that h
was called out ul Norfolk, by Un Elector ■
the Sec.deis ticket, to giv« his opinion* I
his course at a Senator in the event of silt'.
dissolution, wo desire In a lo repeat it heie.
as we intend to ask Mr lire e kin ridge wbai
his course would be also, being a Senator ol
the United States after the I'.i '.it March, I860.
Mr. Douglas, i pen the point presented i i
the first suggestion : 1 have no evidence in
respect to the designs and purposes ol tho
Seceders. which I am in libertt to IIS", ex-cept
that .'■ bicb is known to the wiol rnrl
1 know thai Lincoin bat DO ■ \,
ow ol ho| . • i be ,, , ;
Kinndge men succeed in d .
orasio party, and en by el.
a mii.on y vote
that 1 .si.on..,.. . .,
that I rcckiuridg
ing, on tneotii i. , :.
should decline IIMI 1U, ,
would b elected. i'»h>, u.en
the track, unless it is iu'al Lincoln
elected. Then tbo tirst lime 1 placed my
foot on Virginia soil during this canvass, I
am asked by tbo head man on tho Electoral
ticket—the man who leads the tit ket—whs
er, in the event of Lincoln being elected, the
Southern Slates would be jus-tied in diasolv-ing
tho Union ; and whether 1 would go for
enforcing tho law in tho event of the Southern
,.■..- . ■
uiuy he