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SPEECH SPEECH OF SENATOR TRUMBULL, OF ILLINOIS. ON THE POLITICS OF THE DAY: In Reply to that of Senator Douglas. Delivered at the of Illinois. JUNE 29, 1857. , Fellow-Citizebs: In responding to the call of come of the citizen of Springfield, to address yon upon the political questions of the day, it will bs my object to place be fore you, aa clearly aa I can, the points at issue between parties, an! toe views enter tained by each, so far aa tbey can be gath ered from their acts and avowals. Both the great political parties of the day, the Re publican and the self-s'yled Democratic, contain within their ranks some persons from all the political parties which have heretofore existed in the conntry. Tbia is consequence resulting from the disruption of parties in. 1854, occasioned by the change of policy which wsa then inaugurated in re gard to the power of Congress over the Ter ritories, and particularly in relation to Sla very therein. Prior to that time, the power of Congress to govern the Territories was unquestioned All the departments of the Government legislative, executive and judicial bad ac knowledged and acted upon it from the foundation of the Government, period of bore than sixty years. Every President, from and including Washington, had in tome form recognized the power af Con gress to establish Territorial governments, and acted upon the subject of Slavery Con gress, In all instances where the Territory was free when acquired, continuing it so; In some instances, providing for making free, territory which when acquired was witiin a slareholding jurisdiction; and in other instances Slavery was permitted to continue in Territories where it existed at the time of their acquisition. It ia not strange, therefore, that so important a de parture from the uniform aad well-settled practice under the Constitution, as a denial of the power of the Federal Government over Territories, and particularly in regard to Slavery, should have given rise to new parties. As the Democratic party was in power when this innovation was made, the party opposed to the change in construing the Constitution, ana in favor ol maintain ing it as it had always before been inter preted, took the name Republican, while the advocates of the new version adhered to the name Democrat, thinking, no doubt, that because the name once embraced a party distinguished for its devotion to equal rights and the Constitution, it c'ould be used toad vantage by those who were now about to decry the one and undermine and subvert the other. Prior to the last Presidential election, the Republican party had a convention which proclaimed its creed. It avowed itself in t avor of restoring the action of the Federal Government to the principles of Washing ton and Jefferson, from which the self-sly led Democracy had departed; declared that the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal Constitution, were essential to the preservation of our Repub lican institutions; that the Federal Consti tution, the rights of the States and the Union of the Stales should be preserved; that the Constitution conferred upon Con gress sovereign power over the Territories fr their government, and that, in the exer cise of that power, it n as both the right and the imperative duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories those twin relics of bar barism Polygamy and Slavery; and that they were opposed to ail legislation impair ing liberty ot conscience or equality ol rghts among citizens. These, in brief, are the principles avowed by the Republican party. Tbe principles of Jefferson, e ndorsed by them and li which they would bring back the Federal Government, as announced by himself, are: "Equal and exact ju6ticeNto all men, of whatever State or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with ail nations, entangling alli ances with none; the support of the State Governments in a'.l their rights, as the most competent administrators for our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor aa the sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of tbe right of election by the people, a mild and safe correction of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but force the vital principle and immediate parent of despo tism; a well-disciplined militia our best re liance in peace, and for the first movements in war till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military au thority; economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened; the honest pavmeut of our debts, acd sound preserva tion of tbe public laitb; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its -handmaid; the diffusion of information, and an arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of the person un der tbe protection of the habeas corpus, and and trial by juries impartially selected." Those were tbe principles forming the bright constellation which went before our Revolutionary ancestors, and guided their steps through an age of revolution and re formation, and to the attainment of which the wisdom of our sages and the blood of our heroes were devoted. They were" the creed of the Republican party in the days of Jefferson, they are the creed of the Re, publican party of to-day, and what friend ol Humanity, of Freedom, and of Constitu tional Liberty can or will gainsay or assail them! The enemies of republicanism, it la true, assail that portion of our creed which asserts the power of Congress to govern the "Territories and prohibit Slavery therein; but Jefferson, it will be remembered, was the author of this prohibition. lie it was Erst proposed excluding Slaveiy' from the North-Western Territory, and afterward, as President, approved tbe bill establishing the Teiritory of Illinois, which adopted tbe provision of the Ordinance of 1787, exclu ding Slavery. I have already staled that Congress, un der all administrations and with the con sent of all parties from the foundation of tbe Government down to Pierce, exercised the power of governing the Territories, and excluding Slavery Irom then. Acts of Con, gross new exist excluding Slavery from Minnesota and Oregon. Tbe Constitution teelares that "Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules end regulations respecting the Terrritory or other property belonging to the United States." This clause presupposes that there was or might be territory belonging to the United States and expressly confers upon Congress the right to make all needful rules and regulations respecting it. Congress, ': acting under the Csnstitution, must deter- mine what rules and regulations are needful , and best adapted far the government of a Territory so long as the Territorial condi lion continues. If Slavery is an evil, and " believed by Congress to be prejudicial to the beat interests of a Territory, it is its . - r i i n rv n vrx r n i i Ov n n rr pv n n r n rm I I I V I I II I a f J I I 1 1 I f X I II I I I 111 I I I I B m I I I I II I D THOBURN EDITOR & PROPRIETOR. 'HE E0 LOVES HOT HIS COUNTRY CAN LOVE NOTHING.' LTEBJIS $1,50 A YEAR IN ADVANCE NEW SERIES, .VOL. I, NO 31. ST. CLAIRSVILLE, OHIO, THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1857 L WHOLE NO 9SS. duty to exclude it. Republicans believe. and many Democrats, so callea. proiess 10 believe Slavery wrong, aud are prompt to declare that if in a Territory they weuw oppose its introduction. Tube corsistent they should be as ready when performing their constitutional duty ot presenting a form of government Tor a territory to pro vide against the introduction of an admitted evil anions those ho are to go there, as they would against its admission into their! own local community. A man who would euard his own locality against Slavery as a 6 t- : nPBt m snr.ietv. and who refuses when in r . his power to gura an imam cuuiiuuuuy committed temporarly :o his charge against the same pest, shows that he is governed wholly by selfish motives. This is prerise- ly the condition of all these sen-sty lea dem ocrats who, while advocating -the powers of Congress over the Territories and profess ing to abhor Slavery, will do nothing to prevent its expansion. The denial of the oower is of a very recent origin. It is not only expressly given, as has been shown, by the Constitution, but it has seen always acted upon and is sanctioned to the fullest extent by the former decisions of the fcu-j preme Court of the United States. In the case of the American insurance: Company against Carter (1 Pet. 542). that Court in discussing the power ot congress over the Territory of Florida, before it be came a State, said: "In the mean time Fiorina continues to be a Territory of the .United States, gov erned by that clause of the Constitution which empowers Congi ess to make all need ful rules and regulations respecting theter- itory or other property of tbe Lnited states. Perhaps the power of governing a Territory belonging to the United btates, which bas not by becoming a State acquired the means cf self-government, may result necessarily from the fact that it is not within the juris diction of any par'icular State, and is within the power and jurisdiction ol tbe United Slates. The right to govern may be tbe neviuble consequence of the right to ac quire territory, wnicnever may ue me source from which the power is derived the possession of it is unquestionable." ' In another part of their opinion in tbe same case, the Court say, "In legislating for them (the Territories) Cingress exer cises the combined powers of the -General nd State Governments." Ibis was the lam'uane of the Supreme Court of the Uni ted States when it was presided over by j Marshall, who wrote the opinion. It is full j nd conclusive as to the power of Congress over the Territories. That was the ques- on before the Court. They invest'gated t fully, laid down the general ru'e that Congress possesses the combined powers of tbe General and State Governments in leg islating tor Territories, and decided that in exercising that power Congress had author ity to establish Territorial Courts in Florida f a different character from those required y the Constitution to be established in the States Many other decisions of the Su preme Court, aud of different State Courts might be cited to the same effect, and if ny question under the Constitution couid be regarded as settled bcyoqd dispute in 1854, it was that ot the powei of Congress to legislate for and govern the Territories. It possessed this power to the same extent as a State in the establishment of courts; it must possess it also to the same extent in the exclusion of Slavery, unless there is something in the Constitution of the United States allowing its exercise in the one case nd denying it in the other; but no such clau.-e can be found. That instrument con- ains no provision establishing Slavery; if it did, Slavery would be universal through out the Republic, and there would be equally lack of power to prohibit it in a State as i a Territory. With a plain provision of the Constitution, the practice of the Gov ernment under it for more than 6;xty years, and the decisions of the judicial tribunals of the countrv all in its favor, It would seem hat the Republican creed asserting the power o uongress over me .territories, and to exclude Slavery therefrom, rested pon a foundation which could never be shaken, more especially as under this inter pretation of the Constitution, the United States had gone on peacefully settling Ter ritory after Territory, and adding State after State to the Republic, till tbe number had more than doubled; the population, wealth nd resources of the country increased many fold, and when it was in the full tide of prosperity, advancing with rapid strides in all the elements which contribute to the reatness ol a nation and add to the happi ness and renown of its people. But in 1854 a new policy was inaugurated, and since then a new interpretation bas been given to the Constitution, and these are the cause of all the woe which has since befallen the country, and now threatens with destruction the best and fairest system of government constructed by human hands. Tbe depart ure from the former policy of tbe Govern ment in 1854, consisted in tbe repeal of the Missouri Compromise, wheicby the Terri tories of Kansas and Nebraska were opened to Slavery, although in consideration of the admission of Missouri into the Union as a slave State, they bad, in 1820, been set apart for Freedom. The Northern pretense under which the Missouri Compromise was repealed is now abandoned. We no longer hear its repeal justified on tbe ground that it was necessary in order to establish the principle of Territorial self-government, or to enable the people of a Territory t regu late tbe subject of Slavery for themselves, through their Territorial Legislature. The advocates of the repeal now insist that the people while in a Territorial con dition, have no right to exclude Slavery, but that, in the formation of a State Con stitution, they will possess that right. The repeal, therefore, conferred no additional right upon the people of the Territory, for it it clear that the Missouri Compromise would not have prevented an exclusion of Slavery by the people in the formation of tbeir State Government. Hie only effect, therefore, of its repeal was to open Kansas and Nebraska while Territories to Slavery, and not to confer upon tbe people of those Territories any great principle of self-government or anything else except Slavery. Mr. iSuchanan telia us in his inaugral message that it U of but little practical im portance at what time the people of a Ter ritory are permitted to decide the question of Slavery for themselves whether wnile the territorial condition continues or not. And he aad tbe lesser lights of the self- styled Democracy, including Gov. Walker, of Kansas, still talk about the great princi ple of sell-government and popular sover eignty which allows a people when they come to form a State to regulate the sub ject of Slavery for themselves, as if that were a question between parties. No man : j of either party denies this right, certainly no one of the Republican party, though it may be a necessary consequence of a recent decision that the people of a State cannot exclude Slavery.- The whole controversy is about Slavery in "the Territories of the United States, and not in the Slates of the Union, and what mockery it is for men to harp about the great principle of popular sovereignty being guaranteed to the people of a Territory, when they deny them the the rieht to act for themselves so long as the Territory lasts, even if it be thirty year3, .t :.t. i:i.: Ti. D. as was the case with Michigan. Tbe Re publican party differ with Mr. Buchanan ss to the importance of keeping S'avery out of the Territories. The poet tells us that, "as the twig is bent the tree is inclined" a wiser than he has 3aTj, "train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." We believe if Slavery is tolerated in a Territory it will most likely be continued into the State. When the -people of a slaveholding Terri tory form a State Government, what is to be done with the slaves among them? It would be unjust to deprive their owners of them without compensation, which it may be inconvenient tor the people to provide; free negroes are objectionable; it is always difficult to change existing institutions. All these considerations combined will be very apt to make Slave States out of Slave Territories. . How many of the self-styled Democratic party in the North would have sanctioned the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, had it been candidly avowed at the time that the consequence would be what we now see! Many good men deolored the repeal, who subsequently acquiesced in the meas ure, under the belief that the people of the Territory had the power, and would exercise it, tc keep Slarery out; and had they then been told that the author!! of tha, repeal would eventually deny them that right, and insist upon tbe doctrine that Slavery could be taken into a Territory in spite of tbe wishes of its inhabitants to the contrary, they would never have sanctioned the deed. I call upon all such to come out from this Pro-Slavery party now they see whither it is leading them.. But the extension of Slavery into Kansas, bad as it is, is not the worst of the conse quences which have followed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. That measure has led to others which are subversive of the Constitution, of the principle of self- government and the rights of the people, and which must speedily lead to the cies traction of the Government, uuless the peo ple, seeing the darger, shall rouse in their strength before it is too late and rescue the Government from the hands of those who are now using it, not merely to spread Ne gro Slavery, but to trample under foot the dearest rights of Free White Men. With many of the professed principles of the self-styled Democracy, as enunciated in their platform, I concur. They consist cniefly of a declaration of those g?neral principles which distinguish the Domocrcy in the days when the name Democrat meant something different from an advocate of the expansion of Slavery. But their professions and their acts are quite different things. They professed in repealing thej Missouri Compromise, to confer upon the people ot Kansas, while in a Territorial condition.the right to regulate thrir own domestic affairs through a Territorial Legislature to be cho sen by themselves; practically they havejde nid them the right to electa legislature at all, and now orenly repudiate the idea that a Territorial Legislature has any right to regulate the domestic affairs of the Territo ry by excluding Slavery. Professing to love and revere the Constitution, they Ihave trampled under fott it most sacred previs ions; professing to be observers of law and the order party, they have repeatedly viola ted all law, and inagurated a reign of anar chy and tyranny in one portion of the coun try; professing devotion to the Union, by their, acts they have put to hazard its exist ence, and many of their most distinguished leaders have threatened dissolution, if a ma joritj of the people, in the constitutional mode, should elect the President of their choice; professing to place their trust in the intelligence.patriotism and discrimminating justice of the American people, they have not only hung out false colors by which to conceal their own actions and deceive the people, but they malign and misrepresent tbeir political opponents, and appeal to the bad passions and p-ejudices of tne ignorant, ihat they may enlist tbem in their service; professing not to cherish the interests of one portion of the country above another, they have built rrp a sectional interest which now controls all the patronage and power of this great Government; professing to af ford an equality of rights to every citizen of every section ofthe Union, and to protect his person and property from domestic vio lence, they have refused, when in power, to afford that protection, and have actually aided and abetted, through their officers, in assaults upon both; professing to practice economy in our public affairs, the Adminis tration of Franklin Pierce expended more money than was ever before expended dur ing the same period by any Administration, even in lime ot war; prolrssing to regard as cardinal principles of their faith the lib eral principles embodied by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, they assail that instrument, attempt to explain away its plain words, and hoot at those who quote them, falsely attributing to them a detire for the amalgamation of the white and black races, and to place them upon terms of so cial and political equnlity. This, my friends, is no fancy sketch. Jt is all a sad reality. Every one of the charges upon which 1 have arraigned the self-styled Democracy here to-night, is susceptable of demonstration Do you ask when it violat ed the Constitution! I point you to Kansas ruled over by the self-styled Democracy, through a Legislature forced upon its in. habitants in violation ofthe professed prin ciple of self-government and of law, pass. ing and enforcing laws abridging the free. dom of speech and of the press, Jby making it a Penitentiary oliense to speak or publish anything denying the right to hold slaves in that Territory. Witness the disarming of the peopU of Kansas, when assembled in sell-defense against invaders, and their dis persion by Federal troops when peaceably assembled for a redress of grievances, iu direct violation of those clauses of the Con stitution which declare that the right of the people to keep and beir arms shall not be infringed, nor their right peaceably o as semble for a redress of grievances be abridged. teed I remind jou how many persons in that illlated Territory have bren deprived of lite, liberty and pruperty, within the last two years, ic direct violation of the Con stitution and of law, by the assent and con 'I j In or is of by a of to a ot by ed no an a as it. nivance of the late Administration! How long is jt since the Missouri River was closed against travelers from one-half of the States of this Union! The act admitting Mis-onri ii, to the Union, as eil as numerous other acts of Congress, declared that the Missouri River should remain a public highway, for ever free to all the citizens of the United States; yet this self-styled Democracy, be ing in power, professing to be the peculiar friends of law and order, aRd declaring in their political platform that every cif'zen of every section f the country has a right to demand anJ insist upon an equality of rights and privileges, and to be afforded by the Federal Government complete and ample protection in his person and property, suf- fered Jha.t great, national ijghwy to closed to the immigration to Kansas from tbe Free States nearly tbe whole of last season. Numbers of persons from our own Slate were last year deprived of tbeir liber ty and property upon that river, in direct violation of uumerous acts of Congress, nnd yet the Administration raised not a finger lor their protection, or to prevent the out rage. What an example is this of an equality of rights to citizers from sections ol the country, protection to person and property and of the administration of law by the self-styled Democracy! Had a negro slave escaped a id been found in Bos!on,the whole power of the Government, though the army and navy, would have been brought to bear, if necessary, to execute the law of Congress for his recapture; but hundreds of free while men could be imprisoned and ro bbed, in violation of law, on a public highway of the United States, and the Gov ernment refused to interfere. In the esti mation of the self-styled Democracy, the recapture of a siugle negro slave escaping from bondage is of more consequence than the protection of hundreds of white men. Shame on an Administration aud a party which can enforce laws to protect Slavery, but refuses to enforce those which protect freemen. The struggle now going on in Kansas is not whether it shall be a Free or a Slave State, though it is doubtless involved in the issue; but the great and nil important ques- I tiou is, whether the white -people of that ! T. . .lilt . eruiury snau nave an opportunity to as sert their rights an J be free, or whether they shah longer be forced to submit to the usurpation which has been established over them by aid of the Federal Government. Shall the people of Kansns be permitted to form their own Stale Constitution, or shall mey oe lorcea to submit to a Construiiou having its origin in fraud and violence and imposed upon them against their conset! this issue the great principle of self-gov-erumeut and tree iustiiutions is indeed in volved, and is vastly more important than whether negro slavery shall or Ehall not hereu'.ter exist in Kansas. The true question is, shall the white po pulation be permitted to asserc tlieir rights, shall they be enslaved by a- cunningly deiised system of fraud and violence, which. sought to be carried out under the forms law. It is known to you all that the Ter ritorial Legislature which first assembled in Kansas was elected by Missourians, and not the people of that Territory This Legislature, as w as r.utural, took steps to perpeludte its power, imposed test oaths as qualification for voting at future elections, and undertook to pass divers other unconsti tutional acts. The people nf the Territory have stoutly refused to recognize the validity its proceedings, and by a voluntary move ment of their own, got up an organ izatior , formed a State Constitution and asked for admission into the Union. This lias hither to been refused by Congress, though a bill that effect passed the House of Repre sentatives. In the mean time a second bogus Legislature assembled under the au thority of the first, and passed an act calling Convention to form a State Constitution,' prescribing a registry of voters, their quali fication, &.C., and retaining in their own hands the exclusive control of the election. Having originally usurped authority, nnd all them as well as all the Territorial officials throughout the Territory, holding their places against the wUhcs of a large majori ty of the people, it was hardly to be expect ed that men who had attained power bj such means, would provide a peaceable way for their own overthrow. They knew that through the registry of voters to be made their instruments, they held in their own bauds perfect control of the election. In perfect accordance with the fraud perpetrat- when Kansas was first invaded, to Com missioners to register . voters made just such lists as would insure a triumph to the Pro-Siavery or self-styled Democratic party; person whose name was not on the list being allowed under the law to vote. The lisis returned embrace only about half the coubties in the Territory, and upon those returned the names of Pro-Slavery men alone as a general . thing appear at all events (hey constitute a majority of the listed voters; The free men, constituting a large majority, and some sny fuur-fi ths of population, refused under such circum stances to have anything to do with the election. Indeed but few of them could have voted, had they desired to, as they were not generally registered. Wi;h a full knowledge that an election was to be held under the proclamation of acting Gov. Stanton in only about one-half the counties in the Territory, and that in those the Free-Slate men had not been gen erally registered, Gov. Walker had tho ag surar.ee on arriving in the Territory to is?ue address to the people, telling them (hat they were imited to participate freely and fairly in the election of Delegates to frame (Jouslilu:ion and State Government.' What effrontery to tell the people of Kan sas that an election to be held under such circumstances was free and fair, and that it would be their own lault if they did not vote. Tantalus, afflicted with a raging thirst, and invited to drink ofthe water in which he stood, which was made to recede often as he made the attempt, was not more completely deluded cr grievously for uiented than would have been the Free State men of Kansas, had they attempted to participate in the election to which Gov ernor Walker they were invited. Many persons wishing well to Kansas have thought the free Slate men ought to have participated in the recent election of delegates, but il the fuels be as reported, it would have been utterly for them to have attempted it, and they were wise in leaving the matter wholly in the hands of the self styled Democracy. If as is s inn-times, con tended.tliat party is as much opposed to the spread of Slavery as the Republicans, they will now have a lair opportunity of showing The Republicans having failed to par ticipate in'the lection.the self-styled Demo crats have had it all their own way. They have the entire Convention and can show tSrjViUilBwlll be'eonducted than was that by prohibiting Slavery that they are oppo sed to its introduction; on the other hand, should they fail to insert such a provision.or insert one allowing SNvery. the evidence will be conclusive that their pretensions in this respect, as in many others, da not tally with their acts, and that as a party they are for Slaevry. It will then be apparent that if.Freedom is to be maintained anywhere, the country must rely upon Republicans to do it. Some suppose that if a Slavery Constitu tion is framed. in Kansas, it will hare to be submitted to the people for adoption, and that it will then be in their power to vote it down. Such people seem to suppose that the election upon the adoption of the Con for1 the election of delegates: but what reason have we for believing that such will be the case! The same party will have the fixing of tbe qualification of voters and the control ofthe wbolo working of the elec tion, and if tbey submit the Constitution when framed to a vote.it will most probably be uuder such circumstances as will be sure to keep the control in their own hands. So difficult is it to get rid o! a usurpation when once established, and w!in the usurpers have under their control the forms of law, that I can see no way of escape while the people submit to give expression to their sentiments only in the way which their usur pers point out. 1 hope the people in Kansas lies ir. them selves, and though I will not undertake to point out the mode by which they are to find relief from the despotism which has been established over them, but to which they have never, further than compelled by Fed eral power, submitted, I trust they will find some way of escape. Had the numbers and strength of their invaders not been so great as to render the strange utterly hopeless, they wou.'d have been justified in resisting at the outset by all the powers which God had given them the invasion by which the first election was carried. Then the forms of law, us well as justice and right were all on their side, and President Pierce would not nave hai' eve" ,be semblance of usurped legislation behind which to shelter himself ln St'nJin Uuked States troops to tramph upon their rights. Now, Mr. Buchanan makes use of the same bogus Legislature by which to tvrinnize over the majority of the people. Following in the footsteps of Pierce, he bas appointed to the most impor tant offices in the Territory many of the per sons who were instrumental in driving the settlers frooi the polls and foremost in the outrages which have desolated Kansas for the last three years, and now'he has the ef- r- J . Iroutery, through his recently appointed Uovenior, while confirming this usurped legi.ilaiion, known and pioven to be such.to invite the people under it as free and fair, to talk to them of the suund principle of sflf government, and of the importance of spcurjnnto every people a full and free ex-Pr-iio4 of their 'opinions at the ballot-box. What is this but adding insult to injury! To hat evils has the repeal of tbe Missouri Compromise not led! It opened Kansas to Slavery, under the plea that it was an infringement upon the ri"ht of self-gwrernment not to allow the people of the Territory to net upon the sub ject of Slavery , and introduce or exclude it, as they should thick proper. Next, fearing that the Free-Stale men, in the exercise of this right, might exclude the institution, it led to the tr tripling under foot ofthe prin ciple of self-government, and a complete subjugationvof the people of Kansas to a foreign despotism. Not satisfied even then, but fearing that the people might at somo time throw off this despotism, and, acting for themselves, expel Slavery, it has at last led to the total abandonment and repudia tion of the doctrine of popular sovereignty and self-sovernment. and to the establish ment of Slavery in all the Territories, with- out the ability on the part of either Cou- gress or the people of the Territories, or both combined, to exclude it. Beginning in the assertion of the greit principles of self-government and popular sovereignty, in allowing the people to settle the question of negro Slavery for themselves, it, has, in less than three years, ended in not on'y denying them this right, but in subjuga'ing the whites themselves to a foreign usurpa tion ;a,id we now hear those who were ever loudest in proclamation the sivereignt right of the people of a Territory to regulate their own domestic affairs, advocating the total repeal of the act organizirg onejof our Ter ritories, placing its inhabitants under the sole and exclusive jurisdiction ofthe United States, and subjecting them to trial for of fenses, not to a jnrJ..nf the vicinags, but to be transported to a foreign jurisdiction for trial as England once did the inhabitants of i her colonies in North America, and what is stranger than all, the advocate of this mea- sure still prates of his devotion to the great principle of popular sovereignty and self government! In the face of a plain consti tutional provision that every person acensud of a criminal offense 'shall enjoy tho right to a speedy and public trial by "an impartial jury "of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which districts shall have been previously ascer tained by law, the advocate of this measure in regard to one ofthe Territories h is tbe effrontery, while professing peculiar regard for the Constitution to recommend that the people of Utah be placed under the sole and exclusive ju isdiction of the United Slates, and its inhabitants taken hundreds of miles to Iowa for trial. For more than sixty years the country had gone on prosperously, and its Territories been peaceably settled. Con gress retaining its authority over them; but the principle of Territo-ial self-government and popular sovereignty inaugurated in 1354 could not stand the test of three years before its authors practically aband.in the sub stance, though still professing to hug the phantom. To show the working of this great princi ple of popular sovereignty, I beg leave to read an extract from a proclamation of the President and rulers of the Mormon Church which, after finding fault with the Re publican party for including their 6acrcd in stitution in the phrase of 'the twin relics of baibar'sm,' they declare that: 'The Democratic Convention inJCincin nati, which nominated James Buchanan for President, passed the following resolution: 'Resolved, That Congress has no power under the Constitution to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the sev eral stales, and that all Kuril States are the sule and p'oper judges of everything apper taining to their own uffuirs and prohibit")! by the Constitution.' 'This is the principle ofthe Democratic party, which tiey have extended to Terri tories as well as States, nnd the doctrines of sovereignty apply to us in the desert as well to the settlers in Kansas or Nebraska. I i 1 of by no in ' in it. a the it a be -I on not as The Democratic party is the instrument, in God's hand,by which is to be effected our recognition as a sovereign State with the domestic institutions of Slavery and Polyp amy, as established by the patriarchs and renewed to the Saiir.s of latter days,througa God's chosen rulers and prophets.' How unkind, after the Mormons have taken shelter in the bosom of the self-styled Democracy, and embraced its 'great princi- pie of popular sovereignty and self-govern- tuent,- ana tins sen same democracy, in speaking of .hem. should declare itself not satisfied with any half-way measures, and say .t is 'the duty of Congress to apply the knife, and cut out this loathsome, disgusting ulcer. Hut u the self-stvled Democracv.br their false professions, Dave misled the Mor mons, it is same satisfaction to know that they are now subscribing to the Republican creed, by rei-ognizing the power of Congress over the Territories. According to that creed.there was never any difficulty in deal ing with tbe Mormons. Republicans have believed the authority of Congress over the Mormons in Utah for the purpose of repres sing crime and licentiousness as complete as is that of the State of Illinois over its in habitaiits,and think Congress just as culpa ble in tolerating poligamy in Utah a3 the Legislature of Illinois Would be in tolera ting it in this State. Mr. Morrill of Ver mont, at the last session of -Congress, sug gested several modes of dealing with the Mormons: 1. We may disapprove' of all 1 lie laws of the Territory that we please, auj thereby annul them, and fur such reasons as we iniy appear proper. '2. We may circumscribe the boundaries of the Territory, and give the inhabitants much narrower limits. '3. If the second proposition be adopted, we may then abandon them.and leave them to fight out their own independence and ea! vulion, spiritn illy a:i'i t emporally, in their own good time. '4. We inny cut up the Territory, and annex It to the various adjoiuingTerrituries. 5. We may organ ze a Territorial Gov ernment on the old plan of a Council, coii sisthig mf a Governor and Judges not Mor mons, and with a military force sufficient to maintain it.' Either ofthe plans might be adopled.and would be infinitely preferable to a total re peal of they organic act and plaain:; thf whole population outside of any jurisJiclion where they could be constitutionally ttie3 for cjiminal offense; and now that the self- styled Democracy h is repudiated as no lin ger useful, th'; humbugs of Territorial sov- erei-jnty and self-sovcrnmenr, it is to be ,.-.,. . ... hopej that the next Congress will adopt some constitutional and appropriate legisla tion to suppress and punish crimes commit ted in Utah. The most dangerous an J alarming conse quence, because the most general in its bearinw ,.m.-1i-I rultcil fioro , hrr rrrpml of the Missouri Compromise, remainsyet to noticed. I allude to the decision of lhe Dred bcott esse Before commenting up.n the cae itself, I wish to call your attention to the character of th Court, as at present or ganized. It is composed of nine Judges. Five of these Judges are from the slave -hi'hlipg States, containing less than one bird ofthe white population ofthe Union, while the Free Slates, with more than two thirds of its white population.have four Jud ges. Judge M'Lean's circuit alone, embra cing the Slates of Ohi o, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, contains at this time very nearly as many while population as all the circuits of thefiive Si uthern Ju Iges together; and this is the Court thus cons' ituteJ.wliich made the decision in the Dred Scott case; and the most objctionible parts of that de cision are concurred in by the Southern Judges only. Judges M'Lran and Curtis dissent into. Judge Nelson of New-York places his decision upon grounds not invol ving the power of Congress over the Terri tories,and Judge Grier of Pennsylvania cou curs with Judge Nelson and differs substan tially from the sectional in ijority. It has become a question how far this de cision is binding upon tbe country and ought to be followed as authority by olln r Courts. Strictly spenking.it is decisive only the case then before the Court, and it is entirely competent for the same Court or any other Court to decide differently in another case orecisely similar. This, how ever, would he regarded as overruling the principle s.-ttled by the first decision, mJ seldom, though it does Sometimes happen; but all that is saij in a case not ral'ed for the decision rendered in obiUr dic-um,of authority whatever as a Lreccdeiit.eilhar the Court rendering it, or in any other Court. Juilge Taney ,who announced the de cision of ths majority in the Dred Sec tt case. (states distinctly, in the conclusion of his opinion, what the point decided v. as. He says: 'Upon the whole, therefore, it is the judg ment of this Court that it appears by the record before us that the plaintiff in error is not a citizen of Missouri, in the sense in which that word is u ed in the Constitution; and that the Circuit Court of the United States, for that reason, had no juris liction the case, and could give no judgment in Thus you see tin! only point decided by nmjontv wrs that (he plaintiff was not citizen of Missouri, and or that reason alone they dismiss the case for want of juris jdiction. All that is said by Judge Taney, therefore .and his sectional association.nbout unconstitutionality of the Missouri Con prouiise.the right to hold slaves in the Ter ritories, and the freedom or slavery nf Dred Scott, was clearly extrajudicial, and is eu titled to no respect whatever as a decision ofthe United States Court, because it was said in a case not involving those questions, according to the decision made. Kvery per son knows that a d urt, after deciding that has no jurisdiction to rscder judgment in case, has tin business logo on and pass upon its merits. Judge M'Lean.-iIluding to this part ol the Court's opinion, says: 'Nothing that has been said by them which not a direct bearing on the jurisdiction ofthe Court agaiust nhch they decided.can considered as authority. 1 slia'l not re gard il as such.' And Judge Curtis says: do not hold any opinion of this Court, or other Court, binding, when expressed a question not legitimately before it.' But the i-piniun expressed by the section al majority of the Supreme Court, ahkough of judicial authority .are vastly important indicating the principles of the self styled Democratic parly which now has con trol ol lhe Government This opinion was doubtless wrung from them, thus extrajudi cially by tbii' party, to bolster up its waning fortunes, and they encorso it in full. I pro pose, therefore, to examine some of its doc trines. Judge Taney thus states the ques tiuu before tho Court: -slavery l b- ol ! i ! e-ery to in as the the question is simply this: Can a negro wnose anrestors were imported into this country ,tnd sold as slaves.becume a member ol the political community founded and brought into existence by the Constitution ofthe United States St as such become enti- tied to alt the rights and privileges and im ...mine xuardiueeu 0y mat instrument to me cu:zen one ot which r "hta i h privilege of sueing in a Court orthe United Stales in the cases specified in the Consti tution.' Again, in speaking of this class of pers- una, Luc iuiei justice says: They are not iucluded, and were not in iiiiiucu iu uu inciuueu, unuer me word 'citi zens in the constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges wuicu mm instrument provides for and se cures to citizens of the United States. They had for more than a century before (the Declaration of Independence was formed) been regarded as bcinjrs of an in ferior order.and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or po litical rciations;anaso lar inferior that thev had no rights which the while man was bound to respect. He theu quotes from the hws of various Stales to show tiiat negroes have been treat ed as an inferior race, and intermarriages between them and whites prohibited. Re ferring to that clause of the Declaralijn of Independence which declares that all meu re "created equal; that iney are eudowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among those are lile, liberty aud the pursuit of happiness," Judge Tanev says: "It is too clear for dispute that these words did not include the iuslaved African race," for i!" they did, "the conduct of the distinguished meu who framed the Declara tion lucepeudeuce would have b.-ea utterly and flagrantly inconsistent (villi the prin ciples they asseried." 1 shall enter iulo no argument with Judge Tuney, or any one else, as to the degrada tion of the negro race, their amalgamation with the whites, by allo.ving inierinarria-es between the races; nor as to placing ue ...I .1 r - .i jroco, wueuier uonu or iree, socially gor po- liticai.y, on a level with the white race, know of no parly in the country advocating such repusive notions. Tuey are certainly no part o: the itapual.caa creed, which seeks to preserve tiie tree while labor and wn.e men irom cuuiuniiuaou with nero by keeping it out of the free ter tontories. Ail the indiguuliou, therefore which the lesser lights of the sell-styled De mocracy, calchiug up the ideas of Jud 'e Taoey, are stirring up in the country about striking the word ulitte oal of the Constitu tion, allowing negroes to vote, making them eiigible to the legislature, to the bench, to tue guveroship, lo Congress, to the presi deucy, to all oilier places ol honor, profit or trust, aud allowing them to marry white wo men ou un cualliy filth white men, Qjay go lor naught, so tar as- 1 am coucerued. am not to be drawn irom tue real is.sue be fore the country, or into the defense of ob noX.ous uieaauil'S, because somebody thinks proper, lor lhe purpose of misleading the puoliu niiud, or lor any other purpose, to as sail what neither pariy is for; aud I can only account for the declamation which we near inrougu tne country against puttiug uegroes ou an equality with white peop:e, LBurrying and associating with them, &i upon lhe same principle vn which an ancient poet ouce forgave the n.sjil of a iauy. The vene runs soiutliiiug l.ke this: A laJy once loid me, and iu her own Iicuse, S.ie Old Uo-: can tor nie ihrce skis ol u I,. use. lo.-ave indeurcrcalure t,M wuai shj baa aiJ, or lauics Kill laik. oi wh.il r-iu in uieir had. ' I woula not accuse lhe seh-stvlej Demo cracy with fuvonnga mixture ol wbi'ewilh Aliicau blood, bet th -y are as much lor it as the Republican pany, and practically we know the fact that in the section of the Union wnere that piny is supreme, the blatk race is fast bleaching. To that part ot Judge 1 aney's argument which asulls the Declaration ot Indepen dence, und seeks to explain away its plain auj obvious lueuuiug, 1 have this to say: Without going in i u the history of the negro lace at t ie lime of the Declaration of In-depeniieiu-e.auu showing, as ii cau be shown that Judge Tauey has grossly misunder stood or misrep esented the facts of history, the declaration that "all men are createJ equal" is, to my u-ind, a self-evideut truth; nor is llierj anything iu declaration incou sisleut with the acliou of our Revolution ary Fathers when properly understood. Tuey did nut meau that all men were creat ed of the same size', weight, color, mental or physical capacity; but they did mean to repudiate the idea of a super. oray of birib, by wlnci: the divine rigiu oi kings and. of a hereditary aristocracy was upheld in the old w or id, and which is uow sought by the sell-sly led Democracy to Le transplanted into the new; and they meant to assert that in a natural tati all uieu weie equally! eniiiieu to lic, to oe tree, and to pursue happiuess. Living in a state of nature, uiicjiiiu ctcd with other individuals, ail men must necessarily Le eijual, lor Ihe.e wu d no superior to make a law other than He who is the author of our being. Tctsv were great natural truths wh.ch the framers of lhe Declaration of Independence wished impress upuu 'the minds, ot the people when they were bursting asunder tue bauds tyranny the ties which bound them to the iu itlur country, and resolving society ito us oriental elemeuls with a View to the lonnalioii ol a lie a system ot government. They knew that every .'orui of government was an ei croichui Mit upon the natural rigi.l, of man, aud that on entering society mail gate up u part of his absolute rghts, in consideration of receiving and be ing rote. t ;d iu 'he advantages of mutual, harmonious and Irieiik'ly intercourse, with oat which liberty, and even li'e itself, are but dreary things. A i well niiglu t be said that the distin guished men whe framed the Declaration ol Iedependence wer flagrantly incous.steni with the principles they asserted" when they established any form of government whti tever, for all interfere with lhe natural liberty ol mau to do whatever he uleses,as sy they were i cons stent in dec arihj that "all men are created equil," bectiiise the government they established they not make them so. This declaration is equally true in regard to H e creation ot man il : to his finl exit, fur h brought noih- inginto lhe woria anu ran take lothirg awaj as true to-day as when uttered SI years ng, ir when cieat-on dawned and the morning stais lire; sang lneili- r. Keeping lhe great truth of msn's equality beloie them as the polar star never to be iost sight of in the o, matin of a new gov ernment, our Revolutionary ancestors train ed a Constitution interfering little with of in in of to the as all and lo she she this ble no verv by her her In but by into and the to most she she uufl has which ing, her things no her in ieet The If being in admit aud noble when the that sun taint pass tne we natural rights of man, as in their judo- ment was consistent with the then condit ion of the people, their local governments, and the peace and good order of society. Negro slaves were then here and held con trary to natural right by virtue of iocal law; tbey did not thins it best to interfere with. Slavery as an existing institution, but left it to be perpetuated or got rid of as best it might by the States that toierated it giving to Congress, as we insist, complete power to prevent its introduction into Territories. It is argued, however, that to recognize the right of a free negro to sue in the Unit rd Stages Courts wonld necessarily recog n'ze him as entitled to all tbe prlvelegts and political rights of white citizens, but such consequences by no means follow. As well rnujjtitbe said that if you dety him one of thoughts of a cilizea yeu den him all and reduce him to the level of tbe brute, to be trampled upon or slain with impunity. Ont of these courses of reasoning is jutt sound as the other, and so Judge Taney seems to concede by his argament, for he speaks of negroes havinf "no rights which the white man was bound to respect." I de ny the correctness of this reasoning. The ree negro may and does have some rights without possessing alL acd to allow him to sue as a citizen in tbe United States Court would nojmore confer unon him the rights of voting and holding office, than it does up on a female or a minor, both of whom are duaitted to possess this right , though nei ther ha? the privelege of voting or holding mca. What, I would ask. is the coneitioo of a fc eigner during trie first five of [CONCLUDED ON SECOND PAGE.] [For the Chronicle] Female Excellence. BY IDA DE FORREST. There is no theme amid life's variagaleJ bjects more attractive to tbe contemplation the refined and truly educated man, than, tbe perfections of womanhood. Of tomto her diversified conditions and relation.. ise men have spoken, poets song, sages philosophised, and divines discoursed. She fleets upon society the brilliant light of e most exalted virtues, socializes man enhances .bis amiability and happiness smoothes the rough and bn)ecomin? perities of h;s o ature, elevates him ia the scale cf existence, and at once maks in a noble being. This she does by tbe amiable qualities of her heart and mind when adorned with the captivating emblishments f an accomplished education, and with an extensive acquaintance not with the litera ture of the day, but the rieh and luxuriant thoughts of the Bible. For when she fails attend to those two great departments her influence is lost acd she becomes a blank society and is regarded as an inferior being. When her heart is softened by the deep influences of permanent pietty, her mind regulated with high toned sentiments Christianity, and well stored with an in exhaustible fund of sound biblical literature, such communicates an influence that But only will be co-extensive with hsrexistance but will continue to widen long after her exit another world, though her tongue lies silent in the icy fetters of death, yet she speaks. She bas left a moral influence upon age in which sho lived which like the limpid stream deepens and widens as it r ceds from the ftuntain bead. The true excellence of female character doubtless will be readily admited, by no means consists in a lordly dictatorial spirit, the traits which may appear iu tho compound elements of female character, none certainly can appear more displeasing; unbecoming than this. It is never found in the composition of fc refined and intelligent lady, it is found alone among th t er classes where lhe emMlishments of female dignity have never appeared, and where the tender beamings of her lex have never penetrated. Woman may advise or suggest, but Then dictates she is moving out of her appro priate sphere and forgets the bight position should occupy. There is something in so foreign to her nature, so incompati with her true character we have accus tomed ourselves to think that as soon as women assumes the office of dictitrix she begins to exhibit a forwardness that is by means suited to her nature and certainly destructive to her influeuce. Wunvin was not made to be repulsive but her amability to attract. Here is the glory and noble triumph of 6ex. She embalms herself in the af fection of all by her winning manners and courteous and refined bearing in society. this she is peculiarly successful in her influence upon ber partner. If she gain tbe asceudency over him it is not done by as suming in authoraiive or dictatorial tone by the aggressive power of kindness. K'udness becomes the tremendous artillery which she storms his hert ami brings it subjection to her unpretending authori ty and is swayed with all imaginable ease grace. Woman should be cautious here about use of her power, standing upon a point elevated and so conspicuous sbe has m superlative opportunity of evincing to the world the true virtues of her sex. We aie proud to make the assertion that woman his ever been upon the sice of virture, has supported her causa through the firey opposition. Religion bas been ber theme in all ages; was the first to proclaim a risen Saviour, was the last to forsake him. In every condition, she bas been the unwavering and nching iriend f the dispised cause of Christianity. Along the mournful paths of sorrow, woe and grief, she has travelled with patience and fortitude unknown to man. She borne on through life the misfortune alone are peculiar to her sex. Again behold her clad in a garb of meorn bending over the remains of some dear departed friend, and taking a last fond look, heart is filled with anguish to deep for language to express, but with humble sub mission aud fortitude she bears it all sub mit ing to the will of him who doeth all well, keeping in view that blissful eternity, where p-irted friends meet to part more. Tie bible is foil of ber deeds, and its an ering lines record ber holy purposes and heaven inspired sentiments. The New Testament is not foregetful of character and calling, but presents ,her all tho loveliness of humility and devo tion. One moment siitingat the Saviour's wioing them with the hairs of her head. next publishing with astcnishmsntand the all pleasing story of s risen Redeemer. we are sometimes made sad cvar para dise lost by Eve we are made to rejoice with uuuterable joy over the thought of Heaven opened by the Son of Mary. But when we thus con'emplate woman her Christian and heathen "condition, we while we review ths past that Greece Rome presented to the world so in peciuicns of female dignity, but compared with Ruth's and Mary's of bible they pass away like a fair flower, in the mornings blooms, but ere trie with all its golden beams shed the last ray on these fair forms, they fade aad . yes, they have passed away like morning stars befurw the luminous ap proach of day. "Christian women. then mar say 'all nations may call Ser bless MARTINSFERRY, July 1857.