Decatur Eagle, Volume 2, Number 47, Decatur, Adams County, 31 December 1858 — Page 2

THE E AGLE H. L. PHILLIPS,} > Editors* Proprietors. W. G. SPENCER,) DECATUR, INDIANA. FRIDAY MOBfIINS, DEC. 31, is;,-,. BLANKS! BLANKS!! BLANKS!! 1; Blank Deeds, Mortgages, Justice’s Blanks, of ail kinds; Constable’s Blanks, of all kinds; Blank Notes, <fcc., &c , of the best quality for Sale at this Office. ' Wood Wanted, Any amount of wood wanted at this of- j fiee on subscription; and those of our subscribers who have been promising us wood on their accounts, will, we hope, now bring it along. We have no inten- / lion of paying cash for wood during the winter, and then taking it on accounts in the summer when there is no demand for it. Now is the time, bring it along. Congress. Both branches of Congress adjourned . . . . . t r r i

on the 23J, inst., until the 4th of January. This is a big ‘bender’ for holidays; yet under the increased pay of members, they can afford it, as a suspension cf labor, involves no deduction of pay. But what benefit will a recess of ten days be to the country? Let the friends of the increase salary bill answer. ' " 1,1 " An Ambijious Compliment. The New York Tribune, one of the leading and most ultra Black Republican organs in the Union, thus compliments the President upon the tariff question as communicated in his last message. The question is, Has Greely changed?. We rejoice that the President records himself so frankly and heartily on the side of specific duties. True, lie urges no new arguments —we have presented the i same repeatedly—but it is new to hear them set forth by a Democratic President «nd we thank him therefor. In fact nearly all he says on the tariff question ecm- 1 mends itself to our hearty approval. The Publishing of Laws. The press generally in the State is adgitating the question of publishing the laws in one or more paper in each county throughout the State, as they are passed. This is a good ilea, one that deserves at'“ntion. The people now in manr cases ! r . ‘ ’ h';a he] 1 amenable to the law, before thev , can possibly iear.n what those laws are;lt

«nd the publication in a county piper is the most'effioient way of extending the desired information. The State should make provision for the publication of the laws; and. also, provide a reasonable compensation per thousand ems for the same. Obituary. The editor of the Democrat in hU issue of yesterday pays us his usual compliments, for which he has our sincere thanks although, while reading the able article we were reluctantly forced to the conclusion that he was laboring under a dangerous hallucination. We regret exceedingly to learn that in the midst of his affliction that he is about to leave, and bid adieu to the chair editorial, a place he has filled with eminent ability, having arrived at the zenith of perfection in the profession; that all his well e-.rned fame and glory should be hidden forever behind the Cloud ‘‘Yottno America.” But as all things earthly must vanish from mortal vission; so by the laws of fate the Democrat must pass away, and be re-baptized; then as we must part, here’s our jfjf hoping that as you pass in future through this transitory world, you may ever watch and pray—fear God, and stop lying! Wo! unto the wicked! Still Ahead. Israel Miesse’s New Harness shop, still continues to be the center of attraction for all who happen, to be on the look out for a good and substantial, article Harness. Israel certainly outrivals every other shop in the country in the way of getting up fancy harness. His work is made of the best of leather; and put up in a superior manner, both in point of durability, and beauty of style. Give him a cal! and we will guarantee that you w ill not go away from iiis shop dissatisfied, for he l.us h large assortment of wuik on hand. Peterson's Magazine.—The January number of this valuable magazines being the first number in the volume, is upon our table, and we have no hesitation of saying that it should be the companion of everc Lady. Now is the time to “ubscribe, bear in mini that we will furn'sh this Magazine and the Eagle for one year for $275 iu advance. .TiTTbe extra session of the Legislature adjonrne 1 «•;» tin- 25'.i inst., slier t* session of ikirlv siv lavs But li'tie Du am cm was dor.c.

Has \ot Declined. The news papers generally contradict the report, that Hon. Stephen A. Douglas . has written a letter declining to be con- : sidered a candidate for the next Presidency. The people will not have it so, and doubtless the ‘Little Giant’ will submit to the popular will. The Dubuque Express and Herald, one of the leading Democratic organs in the North-west, has the following sensible remarks in rej lation to the rumored declination of Judge Douglas: As an humble member of the great | North Western Democracy, we sincerely hope that Senator Douglas has come to no such conclusion as that indicated by the dispatch which was published by the, Herald several days since, and is referred to hy the editor of the Plain Dealer above. Senator Douglas should neither declare at this early day that he will not be a candidate forthe Presidency m 1860, nor! that he would be a candidate before the Charleston Convention. He should, in our judgment, leave the whole matter to time and the people—The masses of the D ,1. IT .'i'o in Mniri

! Democracy of the nation. Iie s is iq nowise responsible for the disorder existing in the ranks of the party, and should be driven neither to the right or left bv the machinations of office holders, seekers or politicians. And so far from the necessities |or harmony of the national Democratic party requiring his withdrawal from the field, the success of that party in 1860 in our opinion will depend upon his being j the candidate. With him as a candidate, the party can be successful, —without him we look upon its utter defeat, and the election of a sectional fanatical President a foregone conclusion. The St. Louis Republican declares that is no truth in the rumor that Judge Douglas, in a public letter, declines being a candidate for the Presidency. The edi- , tor of the Republican has just leturned : from a Southern tour with the Senator, and importance is attached to the discloj sure on that account. The Rochester Union is rampant on the subject and pitches into the rumor in this ! wise: ‘But suppose it should be ap- :j parent, suppose it should be perfectly ~ palpable, suppose it should appear as clear , as the sun at noonday, and suppose Mr. Douglas should himself be entirely con- 1 viaced, that his nomination would best i! promote ‘the peace of the party and tri- t umpli of our cause in I860;’ ‘then and in £ that case,’ is there not a bare possibility | that Mr. Douglas v, ou!d magnanlmotisiv i

sacrifice his predictions for Senatorial , iife and cease to ‘decline’ the proffer of Presidential honors and responsibilities? We put the question to our friend of the Plain Dealer, and we desire him (whois I evidently well posted) to teil us what Mr. Douglas would do in the contingency we have described. It is very important to j ‘the peace of the party’ that this matter ; be perfectly understood. The Plain Dealer in answer to the! above question, says: We cannot believe that if it should be ! clearly demonstrated the peace of the party and triumph of its principles required | the nomination of Judge Douglas in ’6O, he would not except such nomination, but ; * is not the man to demand said nomination or accent if tendered when such acceptance would jeopardize the success of our cause. He has on one occasion, at the last Cincinnati Convention, given an earnest of this desire for peace and triumph. His patriotism should not be ! questioned on that subject. A Novelty in Trade.— Cotton, which ; has heretofore sought the New York market exclusively byway of the Seuthern seaboard, catne this fall, to some extent across Ohio, and though New York State by the Central Railroad and Hudson riv)er to New York. The detension of Southern vessels at Quarantine, and changes in the relative cost of transpor- ! lotion, are assigned as reasons for this ! phenomenon. A still greater novelty is ! this transportation of cotton from the | I Southwest, via the Grand Trun Railroad, | to Portland, thence to be shipped to Bos- ; ton. A train laden with cotton bales passed through Canada to Portland week before last. A gentlemen of New Tork City, who ; it is said, ‘has m?de petticoats his study,’ has just obtained a patent of an entire new skirt of the expansive and coilapsive variety, that will infallibly torment all the men and enrapture all the women.— it is made ol white horse hair, in open work, and so pliable are the hairs, through 1 their saturation with some new material which, is also patented, that a full skirt of 49 hoops, with all the essentials, elacticitv, fullness and strength can be carried within a muff, occupying scarcely more space than h porlmonie, aud in an instant be adjusted to the person, expanding a robe to a diamaetei of six or seven feet giving the wearer the agreeable circumference of from 19 to 20 feet. Hurrah I for the new skirts! They will bear squeezing, and that certainly is a desideratum, : ’’Tis much safer for thee to reconcile anenemv than conquer him. Victory mav deprive him of the power for the present, but reconciliation disarms his will. f-jr These two lines just fills this column.

For the Chicago Tirqes. C i popular Sovereingty iu the 1 erritories. j ; Washington, Dec. 7, 1858. It is contended by the writers in the . Union, and by a certain class of politicians that the people of the territories, through . their territorial legislature or otherwise, have no constitutional power to pass laws deternaing what shall be claimed property and what shall not. That is, that they have no power to pass a law prohibiting the people of the territory from holding 1 property in a slave; but that any resident may take to the territory, and hold as property, as many negroes as he chooses, although a great majority ot the inhabitants of the terirtory, may be opposed to f tolerating the use among them of that kind of property. Tliose writers also contend that it is , j good democratic doctrine that the people , jof those territories cannot make laws to exclude slave property from the territory ( but that it is tbeir duty to pass sary laws to protect that species of pro- f

1 perty as well as any other property owned , by the people. Those politicians do not tell us what remedy the slaveholder in the territory would have if the territoria. legislature should refuse to pass the law to prolCOt that kind of property, without which protection that species of property would be totally valueless. If the territorial legislature should pass a law excluding that species of property fnm the territories, and that law was unconstitutional because the territorial legislature have no power to pass such a law, then the slave- ! holder would have a remedy in the courts of the country. But if the territorial Jegj islature should refuse to act at all upon the subject, it becomes the duty of those holding this doctrine to tell us how the slave owner in the territory could enforce the passage of such an act, or what would be the remedy. But there is another very difficult question arising in this discussion. Those gentlemen contend that the Supreme Court of the United States, in the Dred Scott case, substantially decided that the teriitorial government and the territorial legislatures are creatures of the general government brought into existence by an act of Congress, and that those governments derive off their power from Con-

grtss and they can do nothing not authorized by the Congress of the United | States, and that those people have no original power of self-government. ; It is the admittted democratic doctrine, and so decided by the Supreme Court of United States in the Dred Scott case, ! j that the Congress of the Unilied States | has no constitutional power to legi'latate ; property out of the territories, or pass alaw prohibiting any person in the United States from taking to, aud holding in the territories, anything recognized as property in any one of the States in this Union, and upon that principle it was that said court decided that the act of 1820, prohibiting any person situated north of the thirty-sixth degree and thirty minutes of north latitude, in the territory belonging to the United States, from holding slave property, was null and void. It is this same principle enunciated j 1 iby Senator Davis in his late speech at Jackson, Mississippi, when he said ‘the federal government has no power to declare what is properly anywhere. If this principle enuncinted by Mr. Davis be correct, it follows that the federal government has no power to declare what is or is not property anywhere, This principle rests upon another great principle of constitutional interpretation, that is, that ! the general government must find in the \ constitution authority for every aet of legislation; and as the act of determining ; what is and what is not property is not granted to the general government bv the constitution of the United States, that that right is of course reserved to the States and the people, and Congress has no power or jurisdiction over it, or to pass a law about it. In the opinion of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case, it is laid down as a principle that Congress has no power to legislate over person and property of a citizen either iu the States or territories, , and the court puts the rights of the citizens in each locality upon the same footing, and as Congress has no such power, it cannot grant or give that power to the . legislatures of the territories. ( See pamphlet copy of that opinion, pages 55, 54 and 57.) Those authorities fully settle the question that the federal government, acting i through its Congress or otherwise, cannot legislate about or determine upon what is property ov what is not; or determine Mhc rights to property, or the rights of

the citizens in the territories any more than in the Slates, because that government has no jurisdiction over the subject. Those authorities further settle the principle, that as Congress itself has no such powers, it cannot create a government in the territories and confer such power upon the legislature thereof, or in anv way whatever can Cougress legislate upon or authorize any other power anywhere in the world to create any binding laws upon the subject. Thus we have that sacred and important rights belong to the people of the territories over which Congress has no power of legislation either to protect or destroy. We see, too, that no such power can be derived by the people of the territories from the federal government; and if there is no other source of power under our government to which those people of the territories can resort to protect those sacred rights, then, indeed, is the condition of the people of the territories most lamentable. Congress cannot

I o pass laws for them for the want of power over the subject matter. They cannot by tbeir own legislature pass such laws, because tbe creation of their government cannot give the power of legislation, and 1 , there is no other source upon which they can derive the power. Tims, all the territorial laws regulating the rights to property, the rights of husband and wife, parent and child, master and servant, the law of evidence and the law of descent, and all other laws upon which depend the lives and happiness of those people, are null and void. In those territories, h. wanarchy must forever exist while they remain territories for the want of a law-ma-king power. This is the inevitable result of the doctrine now recently attempted to be enforced, to-wit: that the people of the territories have no power to make laws to govern themselves, except such j power as is conferred upon them by the j general government, which, by the deci- , sion of the Supreme Couit of the United States, can confer no power at all. Has the advocates of this doctiine, that the ; people of the territories cannot make their own laws upon the subject of property and all other rightfnl and necessary subjects of legislation, ever reflected as to what must be its consequences? Are they willing that the territories shall be j

'&- ■ | uMihnm i.»ana wiiuoiume advantages of an organized government'? Then it contended that the people of the territories may legislate and make i laws upon all rightful and constitutional . subjects of legislation, and upon all rights and remedies to property, except upon the subject of slave property, aud the territorial legislature can make no law about that except to protect it. Every right minded man will inquire at once, what is there sacred in slave property any more than there is in any other property. It, is but property and the rights thereto, and the remedies to protect it f gainst invasion by wrong doers, and stands upon the same footing as the rights to houses and lands and moveable property. Will it be contended that the owner of a slave holds that property from a higher source, or by a more sacred right (ban he holds his habitation that shelters himself and family from the storms. Such an idea is I barely absurd. But. suppose these gentleman admit that the people of the territories have a right equal to the people of the States to legislate and make laws about every other species of property except slave property. The question immediately arises, Where do they get this admitted power? They have no inherent right, it is contended, as citizens of the United States, to pass laws upon any of those questions; because they are a State, but arc in a state of pupilaje, exclusively under the government of Congress, and it is decided that Congress can neither make the law for them, or authorize them to make law for themselves. Then, where do they get the power to make law touching any kind of property? Can any one of the advocates of this new doctrine answer this inquiry? There is another dilemma the advocates of this new doctrine get into. They contend that it is the duty of the territorial legislature to pass laws to protect slave property as fully as other property. But if it is true as contended for by them, that the territorial legislature has no power over this property and no power to legislate against it, where do they derive the authority to pass raws to protect the owner jin the enjoyment thereof ? Perhaps some of those gentleman can answer this inquiry . Before I closo this article, I desire to call the public attention t, a great fuuda-

mental error into which all the advocates of this new doctrine have fallen. That is that the people of the territories have no original right to pass laws regulating pro- j perty, and personal rights and all other things necessary to their happiness and well being to as full an extent as the people of the States. There certainly is not a a word in the constitution that prohits those people from legislating upon the subject of slave property as fully and as j completely as upon any other personal right. The question then arises have the territories the power to make laws a*, all; if they have, where do they get this power. This right in the people of the territo- 1 rie» to make their own laws is not derived from any act of Congress, or from any power of the general government. It is and inherent right in every man and in all men that they never surrender to any —it is the right of self preservation. Its source is found in a much higher and much more sacred and pure a fountain of power than Congress. When those peo-

i ; o r—pie go into a territory they throw off all allegiance to all governments except the constitution of the United States and the laws of Congress cannot make laws regulating their personal rights, and as there is no other law regulating for them the rights of persons and property, it follows, as a matter of course, that the people themselves are the only law-making power upon those subjects. But those gentlemen say, oh, that is i squatter-sovereignty, and we will never submit to that. That attempt to give a nick-name to this sacred right of the peo- 1 pie of the territories with a view of deg- i ratling that right and bringing it into con-J ; tempt and ridicule, is unworthy of notioe. > It is only another name for the right of self-government upon which all our Arnerican institutions of government are based and those are very unworthy persons who ! will seek to bring tliose sacred rights into disrepute, whether exercised bv the people of the States or territories. It is very clear if thos£ people have not the original and inherent right to make their own laws, and thus govern themselves, then they must be without law, for no other power can make a binding law for tiiem. In conclusion, I will refer to another error into which the advocates of this

' uew uvemne nave fallen touching what was decided by the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case upon the right of legisla-1 tion by the people of the tarri'ories. It is contended that the court decided those people have no power to pass any , law except the power they derived from the general government. If those gentlemen will reaJ that decision they will find that the court decided no such lliinw. O I In the first place, there, was no ques- • tion before the court as to what powers \ of legislation the people of the territories could or could Dot exercise or where it was derived from; and if the court had decided that territorial legislature could I or could not pass any given law upon the I subject of slave property or anv other personal rights, that decision would have been mere obiter dictum and would have been entitled to no more weight than the unofficial opinions of any other number lof eminent men. It would not have been i binding upon the country as law. But they decided no such thing, and by reference to the opinion in that case, at the pages above quoted, the reader will find the only paragraph in the whole opinion where that subject is treated of at all. The court, in this paragraph, says that Congress has no power to legislate upon the personal right of the citizens either iu the States or territories, and proceeds to say that ‘if Congress itself cannot do this —if it is beyond the power conferred upon the general government —it will be admitted, we presume, that it could not authorize, a territorial government to exercise them. It could confer no power on any local government establish- | ad by its authority to violate the provisions of the Constitution.' 1 hat is all the court says about it. It nowhere says that the territorial legislature can exercise no other legislative power except such as is derived from the general government. It only says that Congress could not confer power on the people of the teriitory that Congress itself had not, and that it could not authorize the territorial legislature to violate the constitution. Those propositions no sane man would dispute. But the territorial legislature, in exercising those legislative powers, do not look to Congress for authority, The legislature look to the people for their authority; and the; people get that authority from the same ' source oi power as do the people of the several S r *tes :

; The Constitution of the Uautdij, and the laws of the United States only check upon their powers of terra * al legislation, and the Supreme Court made no decision to the contrary R / defy any gentleman, however learned ! show to the contrary. A Hard Case. We witnessed the other day a 8 which, God grant, our eyes may see again. A yonng man was senteneJ to the Penitentiary for one of thos c • dental crimes which often arises in if' heat of passion, for instance, when u j 6 severe provocation a man loses bis-." per and strikes a harder blow in self.]” j fence perhaps than he was aware of \ a manslaughter, according to thH,'- 0 I made the crime. He appeared perfect willing to suffer the penalty which ib law imposed, and which was "the Penitea* tiary for a term of years, but it j s sn t pened that he was not the only one L suffer from such penalty. He ),?/ young wife and he was ‘all the world to her.’ They had too a young child, a j at ling little boy three years old. W/, en il# came to bid them a final farewell t.

with other criminals wc-re about to'sten j aboard of the cars in charge ot officers » I their way to Columbus, it was enouwh t® reud the heart-strings of the strongest mind to witness the struggle of force and affection between the parties. He kissed Lis wife with apparently little emotion, evidently using all his fortitude for that occasion, but when his little boy waj brought to him with arms extended (or his wonted embrace, he found his fathers' ; feet fastened together with irons and his , hands manacled behind him ft, that he could neither help himself or take to his arras his only child. This brought the water to his eyes which up to this time ! had been welling up in his heart and the i tears rolled down his hardy checks in a perfect flood' One such scene haunts us ‘ for a life-time. ‘When will the sons ot men learn to do as they ought?’—C’/cwland Plain Dealer. 1,1 1,1 The Havana coi respondent of the N Y. Herald says, Dec. 6th. I have just had the pleasure of akv moments and pleasant words with the ! Liule Giant, arrived this morning from New Orleans, and his better half—a pas, port the world through—as proved even with our most fastidious’, but- evei coin, eous officials, under the lea ! of the gal Imt cabellero, Colonel Ortenbach, wb" escorted the distinguished individuals on shore in the State barge. Thev have la ken quarters at the temporary residence of Consul General Holm, at the Cero, ;nd will remain there a week, not having been able Insecure in the Hotel Cuhano.

Mr. Douglas will be received with kindness and hospitality by General Conciis landlady, ami I have no doubt will lie gratified with his visit to Cuba. Tiie President’s Message and medicine, received this morning by the Black War- ! rior, from New Orleans—not very pals--1 table—considered too stringent for over | nerves. The Mexican pokey finds no ; Spanish approval. Mr. Crittenden nnd the Presidency. The New York Commercial Advertiser a leading opposition paper, opposes the ; the pre ten Hobs of Mr. Crittenden’ to the Presidency. It says: Several reasons might be assigned for this opinion. One must suffice lor the | present. Sir. Crittenden is too old for i the Executive office at lhi> day. Unabated but mature physical vigor is scarcely less necessary for the efficient occupancy of that office, with its present extensive range of duties and responsibilities, than a ripened judgement and an active intellect. There must be music in the arm that holds the helm of the ship of the state in these stormy times, as well m clear vision and professional skill in him who directs the vessel’s course. lh« Presidency of the Union is no resting place for age in these days of commotion and conflict and the struggles that ever accompany rapid and vigorous progress. Eight Children at a Birth. — Egypt AGAINST ALL CREATION.— A OOUt fi't) months since the wife of Jacob Aboti, living ten miles west of Golconda, in Pope county presented with eight pledges o affection at one birth! Four of these chi. dren survived until some six weeks since, when two of them sickened and died — The remaining two are still living ® ni * and thriving finely. The whole eig ! were small specimens of humanity wn tn ushured into this world, as might hats been expected. This statement is finally true; it is vouched for by numbers o* respectable witness’ whosaw the ,our "' ing children. Egypt is a prolific country —a little to [sic] much to, sometimes. ----- Utah Mail. ST. LOUIS, December 18. The Utah mail of November 20th has arrived, but brings no news. The snow on the mountains was three feet deep, from Big Mountain to Platte Bridge, averages eighteen inches depth. The party was overtaken by a terrible snow storm between Ash Hollow and South Platte. They were two days and nights traveling eighteen miles, during which time they were without food or fire. A number of trains were at Echo Canon unable to get through. The streams the whole route were crossed on ice. One white man and three Indians were murdered and robbed by two white men on Big Blue.