Indiana State Guard, Volume 1, Number 5, Indianapolis, Marion County, 28 July 1860 — Page 1

li. Jtu.iCd

THE

VOL I THE OLD LINE GUARD. . IS PUHMSHED tux- 'vsr u e 13 Xj "sr , ""A T I N I A N A P O L, 1 S , - I N 1 I A N A . BY ELDEII & 1UIIKNESS. T 3U XX IVI S, Sl.OOt until after Ihc Presidential Election. In advance, in all cases. Advertisements inserted at the usual rates. SPEECH OF HON. DAN'L S. DICKINSON OF N EW. YORK. Delivered at a Breckinridge Ratification Meeting, at the Cooper Institute, Sew York, on Wednesday Evening, 18th inst. Mr. President and my Fellow-Citizens: Ever fleeting time has brought us upon another period prescribed by the Constitution for the election of Chief Magistrate of this great Confederacy a popular struggle known to no other people under heaven but ourselves, and exceeding iu interest and importance anything known in the history of governments anions men, civilized or savage. Upon preceding similar occasions generally, it has been the good fortune ot that great party to wmcn you and I bulong-of that party which ha3 swayed the destinies of the country and shaped its policy from the days of Jefferson to the present moment, to stand uni ted in principle anil purpose, ana movement, liKe a Roman cohort in the best period of the mistress of the world. With such purposes, such principles, such united energies, and such harmonious action, the Democratic party deserved and won the confidence and trratitude of the toiling masses it bore aloft on its banner the sacred word equality it plucked hoary headed privilege by the beard, and arraigned error and pretension before the creat tribunal of the people it was radical in the reformation of all abuses it was conservative in the preservation of all that experience had approved the Constitution was its pillar and its cloud, and progress was its watchword. Under its benign policy our borders extended trom the Atlantic to the Pacific we subdued aud fertilized new territories we civilized, educated, and absorbed their barbarous or semi-barbarous races, and nearly trebled the number of free Sovereign States. Overshadowin", monopolizing, unconstitutional Federal banks and protective tariffs, those devices of craft and fraud, have, after years of conflict with the Democracy, finally been driven from the field and exterminated, and the only great work left them in the present crisis is to vindicate the supremacy of the Constitution and equality of the States. Its present administration, by a wise and foreseeing foreign and domestic policy, was quietly advancing the great interest of the country, in spite of the efforts of foes without and foes within, and Democracy was in the zenith of its triumphs. If, to-day, that great conservative party of the people and the Constitution ; the country's safety and the patriot's hope is crippled and divided; if its power is weakened, its forces scattered, its energies weighed down,and there are forebodings that its proud banner may fall trailing in the dust, let it be remembered that it is not the fault of the party or its principles, or of its masses, that it is thus degraded, but that it is because, in an evil moment, its management fell into the hands of the selfish, corrupt, and venal, who have betrayed the trusts half gained by stealth, half confided to them, and because in attempting to use its power to advance personal ends only, they have destroyed its organization, divided it into sections, and brought them into conflict with each other, instead of concentrating all its force upon the enemies of the Constitution. Loud cheers. This organization, (the Republican party,) with many elements of personal cleverness, bodes evil to the best interests of true freedom and humanity it is founded in sectional disturbance its aliment is prejudice and passion its effort calculated to array state against state, section against section, man against man, brother against brother lo destroy all kindly relations and light up the fires of sectional discord and strife, lo end in battles of blood. Though its managers threw overboard its great founder and leader, Gov. Seward, because he had too plainly declared its principles, hoping thereby to conceal its dangerous tendencies, its true theories are belched by the Sumners and Cheevers, and are reduced to practice by its John Browns. It disturbs and embitters the social relations it severs the holy ties of religious brotherhood it breaks the bonds of a common political faith it blots out the great memories of the revolution it destroys commercial interests and the interchanges of trade it degrades us as a nation before the envious monarchies of earth, and deprives us of our inherent power to vindicate our rights. It sows broadcast the terrible seeds of domestic strife and passion, that the people may reap in due season a harvest of ashes and desolation. Applause. There never was a monent in the history of the Democratic party, or a time when the masses of the people looked to" the sitting of a national convention with more confidinc expectation than when it was about to assemble at Charleston in April hist. There was never a time when such confidence was more wickedly, wantonly and shamefully betrayed when reasoiable expectations were so madly blasted as in the result produced by its action. Its proceedings find no parallel in disgrace and degradation since the empire of the Old World was sold out at auction for money.

The Democratic party for its steady devotion to the principles of the Constitution, the eatholicy of its creeds, for its grand radical analysis and its just and lofty conservatism, had won the confidence of the masses and wrung unwilling admiration from its hereditary opponents, and all men looked to it in this, the evil day of our country, for deliverence and safety. Its convention assembled at Charleston and organized for business. A holy man arrayed in the robes of his sacred office, with raised hands and fervent supplication, invokes the favor of the Beneficent Being who has vouchsafed to ns, as a people, so many ble ssings. The whisper of beauty is hushed in the galleries the aged bow their gray hail's in sympathetic and deep devotion leity is humbled in silence, and even lurking fraud is abashed and cowers for a hiding place. But the prayer is over, and a band of conspirators take possession of the assemblage, and, insteatl of a National Convention, a great huckstering bazaar is erected a political trades sale is opened management inaugurates her slimy and impulsive court, and the office of Chief Magistrate of this mighty republic is put up like the board of a public pauper, at the lowest bidder. Its proceedings bear evidence of deliberate and long cherished design, of a combination and conspiracy to tie up the minorities against them, and leave those free who were for them, and thus attain by fraud or force a particular result ,regardless of popular sentiment or of consequences which might follow. The ruling faction had snuffed np the scent of four millions of spoil, and for them the administration of Douglas was expected to rain milk and boney. snow powdered sugar, and hail Moffat's Vegetable Lite Pills. (Laughter.) Under nearly two weeks of this application of the forcing process the convention proved unequal to the emergency, and paused for health a portion of the delegations withdrew, and the residue adjourned to Baltimore for a period of some six weeks, for ventilation. The public had reason to hope, that separated from the influences which surrounded them, and no longer breathing the contagions thev engendered, bnt inhaling healthy moral atnuw- '......

OIL

CONSTITUTION," THE INDIANAPOLIS, phere, they might return and discharge the duty which thev had undertaken. But abstinence only edged their appetites, and their last state was worse than the first. (A voice' That's so.') The same drilled, packed, machine majority, met again, com posed of delegates liom ,a portion or. tue enmes, assumed to sit in judgment upon the rights of regular delegates from another portion to punish them for some nonconformity to the majority standard or other delinquency in short to deny to sovereign Democratic States the right to return to their seats at Baltimore, because they did not occupy thein for the whole period of their protracted sitting at Charleston a question belonging entirely to the constituency of these delegations alone, and with which the National Convention had no business whatsoever. And not only were these delegations expelled under such pretensions, but bogus delegations, made up to suit the convenience and necessity of the occasion, were put in their places. (Hisses and cheers.) A decision so abhorrent to every principle of common fairness so replete with outrage and usurpation divided, dismembered and broke up the Convention, as it should have done, and as every sensible mind saw it would do, and I commend with my whole heart the spirit, and approve the conduct of the President, General Cushing, who refused longer to preside over the tyrannous cabal and of the delegations who, uuder the same President, reorganized and placed in nomination Messrs. Breckinridge and Line. The remaining fraction, made up chiefly of delegates from Republican States, whose delegations were the authors of the great wrong, deprived of their head and without a Democratic body, proceeded to nominate Messrs. Douglas and Fitzpatrick, as we were informed, amidst tremendous enthusiasm Vermont and other New England States, and the whole Northwest- were pledged to Mr. Douglas (subject of course to a slight incumbrance, held by one Abraham Lincoln) with deafening applause. Some flatboatmen descending the Mississippi, in rather a jolly mood, passed a house on the shore where they were fiddling and dancing on the piazza the boat fell into an eddy and once in each half hour passed the house again, and the boatmen swore they were fiddling and dancing in every house for a hundred miles on the shore of the river while they had been revolving in an eddy and had seen but one. The Douglas strength is estimated in the same way. Waiving all question of the merits and demerits of Mr. Douglas, as a candidate, his pretensions were pressed upon the Convention sometimes under the pretense of a platform upon which he could stand with convenience sometimes in the admission and rejection of delegates by the process of machinery and management, and at other times in the direct presentation of his name, beyond all precedence, or bounds of courtesy, or reason in a manner and in a spirit, and with a feeling, which spoke defiance to nearly onehalf of the States of the Confederacy, when it was well known that they would not acquiesce in his nomination that thev would not support him if nomina ted, and that he could not be elected without their votes pressed too, in a tone and temper, and with a dogged and obstinate persistence, which was well calculated, if it was not intended, to break up the Convention, or force it into obedience to the behests of a combination. Cheers. The authors of this outrage, whom we should hold accountable, and who are justly and directly ehargable with it, were the ruling majority of the New York delegation. They held the balance of power, and madly, and selfishly, and corruptly, used it for the disruption of the Democratic party iu endeavoring to force it up to a fixed point to subserve their infamous schemes. They were there charged with high responsibilities by a patriotic and confiding constituency in a crisis of unusual interest in the history of the party and the country they, in an evil moment, held in their leprous hands the" destinies of a noble party and of this great country they professed to be governed by honorable considerations, and to desire the unity, and harmony, and success of the Democracy. They proclaimed 'personally, and through their accredited organs, that in their view the Southern States were entitled to name a candidate, and declared that it would be their first policy to second such suggestions as were made in that quarter, and support such candidate as should be named by, or be most acceptable to the South; and with such professions and false pretences on their lips, they went to Charleston. But from the moment they entered the convention at Charleston, until it was finally broken up by their base conduct and worse faith at Baltimore conduct which secured them the designation of political gamblers on the floor of the convention tbeir every act was to oppose the wishes and resist each, any, and every candidate who would be acceptable to the Southern States; and their every effort, in season and out of season, by night and by day, was to force upon the Southern States a candidate whose creed they repudiated and condemned a candidate they had declared, iu the most solemn form, and with repeated asseverations, they could not and would not support; a candidate who was at open war with the Democratic Administration, who had but a single supporter in the Democratic Senate, and whose especial adherents had just aided the Republicans in the election of a Speaker and Clerk of the House of Representatives two of the most influential and commanding positions in the government. Those who ruled and dictated to, and wie'ded the vote of the New York delegation.through the fraudulent process of a unit vote a rule forced upon a large minority of this delegation to stifle their sentiments, while small minorities were released from it, in others, to suit the purposes of the conspirators, will hereafter be known by the name plainly branded upon their cuiltv foreheads at Charleston "political eaiflblcrs!" I who hang festering upon the lobbies of State and Federal legislation to purchase chartered privilege and immunity by corrupt appliances who thrive in its fetid atmosphere, and swell to obese proportions like vultures upon o3al ; office-seekers, who crawl and cringe around the footsteps of power, and by false nretenses nrocure themselves, or vile tools, places of ! official trust and emolument, that they may pack and ; control caucuses and conventions at the expense of ! the people they defraud and betray, while honest men 1 are engaged in their industrial avocations to earn their bread. Loud cheers, and a voice, " Go it." j Oh, how lias the once noble spirit of the Democracy I fled from such contaminating approaches ? Home, whose proud banner once waved triumphant over a conquered world, degenerated in the pursuit of sensual delights to a band of fiddlers and dancers, and the Democratic party of New York, founded in the spirit of Jefferson, aiid emulating, for many years, the noble efforts of a Jackson and a Tompkins, has, in the hands of "political gamblers," been degraded by practices which would dishonor the resorts of a Peter Funk in cast-off clothing ; cheating the sentiment of the people of the State and Nation ; cheating a great and confiding party, whose principles they put on as a disguise, for the' purpose of enabling them to cheat ; cheating the Convention which admitted them to seats.; cheating delegations who trusted them; cheating everybody and everything with which they came in contact, except Mr. Douglas, their nominee, and then lamenting, through their accredited organ, from day to day, that the Convention had not remained together, so that they might finally have cheated him ! They have overthrown the Democratic masses, but "woe to the riders that trampled them down." Political gamblers! vou have breathed your contagion throughout the Democrat' c citadel, and profaned and polluted its very walls. You hive defiled its holy places by your corrupting presence ; unclean beaets fold in the area of its temples, und filthy reptiles have inhabited the sanctuary of its Gods. Its towering eagle of liberty has fled for a brief season, and foul ravens croak for prey, and whet their bloody beaks and dirty talons upon its sacred altars. Political gamblers t yon have perpetrated your last cheatconsummated your last fraud upon the Democratic party, for you will never again be trusted. Henceforth you will be held and treated as political outlaws, and set at defiance. There is no fox so crafty but his hide finally goes to the hatter. You will hang upon ite skirts, to regain

h

A

UNION, AND THE EQUALITY OF THE STATES!

' INDIANA, SATURDAY, JULY 28, 18()0.

power, and lie in ambush for revenge, but as an open onemy you are powerless, 'and only dangerous to those j who trust you. With parties, and especially cliques who betray trusts and abuse power, as with individu- j als, there is a day ot recKoning anu reinuuuun, ouu yours is at hand : ' " For time at last sots all tilings even, . And if we do but watch the hour, There never yet was human power Who could evade if unforgiven, The patient search and vigil long, Of him who treasures up a wrong." Immense applause. The defection of a wing of the Democratic party in 1847, under cover of advocating " free-soil " principles, defeated Gen. Cass in 1848, and prostrated the power of the Democratic party in the State and nation. While its sections were standing, or professing to stand, on principles or doctrines indirect antagonism to each other, there were those who advocated a coalition of sections, and a division of spoils, for the purpose of securing patronage and of " beating the Whio-s." Regarding it as most shamefully demoralizing, I resisted it with all the arguments I could summon, and all the arguments' I could command ; but the necessities of office-seeking patriotism were too strong for me, and under the ministration of some who had lwnivftd a taste of official favor, and were willing to barter principles for place, and the acquiescence of good-natured weakness, the foul scheme was consummated, individuals obtained place, and the moral foundations of the party were shaken. From that day to the present, elements before unknown and unheard of in the history of the party became rife, wielded by "political gamblers." Since then, oaucuses have been run by contract, conventions have been packed and the management of the party machinery has been assigned to its chief aud assistant engineers, with as much precision and regardto minutia as the running of railroad trains. . When a corps of hands were wanted to falsify domestic history at Washington, aud calumniate faithful Democrats and honest men, they were in motion with all the alacrity of police detectives who start to arrest and punish, not perpetrate fraud. In short, they usually keep stationed there a drill sergeant and a file of men to serve in emergencies. When an office was vacant, or a job of depleting the treasury was in the market, they snuffed up the spoil with that keen instinct given to all birds of evil omen, and demanded it as their lawful booty. They were political gamblers by trade, aud pursued their avocation with appropriate and i shameless desperation. j Administrations which have known or ought to have known their bleared and blackened history, which knew or should have known their occupation, and should have shunned them as they would a contact with the plague, though at first regarding this clique as "A monster of such frightful mien, That, to be hated, needs but to be seen," have usually realized the humiliating illustration of the poet, and Being once familiar with its face, First see, then pity , then embrace." Hereafter, when Democrats and others abroad fail to understand what they term the tangled web of New York politics, let them understand that nine-tenths of the " tan"led web " and embarrassment to the Democratic party has arisen abroad because this same clique of " political gamblers," who make politics a business, have been able to fasten their fangs upon the party organization at home, from being recognized and clothed with power, and place, and patronage, abroad, and that they have been recognized and rewarded abroad, for the alleged reason that they had power and position at home ! which power and position they gain by the very patronage placed in their hands by those having its dispensation. This enables them to' drive a profitable trade in political affairs, when true Democrats are prosecuting their ordinary pursuits and looking to popular sentiment to direct political affairs. This clique, and its accomplices and sympathizers, professed free-soil doctrines until they were universally repudiated and condemned by the Democratic party everywhere, and then, without the least incon venience, professed the aocirmes oi uie party with equal zeal, and probably about equal sincerity. Though I .opposed, their recognition as Democrat's by the party so long as they refused to stand upon the platform, yet they were bargained in, and I could do so no longer when they professed and acknowledged its whole creed, and swore allegiance again to its principles. Many of the old free-soil wing have proved to be among the most reliable and faithful members of the party. But I have looked upon all the movements of the political clique of whom I speak with distrust, and would gladly have seen them perform quarantine before landing. But they had sapped and mined the foundation of the Democratic edifice so long that they knew its weak points, and having perfected their machinery accordingly, they were enabled to influence its movements, and to rule or ruin in party affairs, generally doing the last when they failed to accomplish the first. Thus they became formidable, and thus did a great and generous party yield to their imperious demands from time to time, rather than to see their treacherous arms turned against the Democratic encampment, while its hosts were engaged in a great periodical battle with its own enemies. As the creat conflict of 1860 approached, it was obvious that New York must be the battle ground j over the Constitution, and bear a conspicuous part in j the mighty struggle, if, indeed, her potential act did j not decide it for good or for evil. In vievy of this, I j early determined to countenance no divisions in the I ranks, for any purpose, under any circumstance. I j knew that division, no matter how arising, would produce certain and inevitable defeat. I knew that this clique of politicians had abated not one jot or tittle of their rule or ruin policy. I knew it was loud in Its j professions of harmony, tor foreign consumption, and j to gull the masses, and I determined to take it at its ( word to discountenance all divisions ; to obtain as : fair a selection of delegates to the National Conven-1 tion as possible, and to make a last final experimental j effort for union for the suke of the Union ! Events at : Syracuse, whither I went to promote reconciliations and prevent disruptions, gave my voice a potential in- J fluencc. I exerted it to bring all elements into one j organization, which should represent the Empire State, ' and though the effort was censured by some, and re-j sisted by others, and criticised by mole-eyed vision, it ( was substantially successful. I appealed to the masses throughout the State in popular addresses, and the j Democracy responded by electing the most important ) portion of the ticket placed in nomination. But a single delegated representation was recognized atj Charleston, and if that delegation had discharged, ; nay, if it had not grossly violated its duly, the State of; New Y'ork, in this great contest, would have been the , surest State in the Union for the Democratic nomi-J necs. Cheers. ' When the Syracuse Convention of 1859 approach-! ed, I could have remained at home, and permitted a division, which I saw was almost certain the division would have come, New York would have been pros- J trate, and I aud my friends would have been charged with producing it, and good-natured credulity abroad would have believed the asservations of those whose ; vocation it is to verify such falsehood. I could have j joined othera. and have ministered to the just but j profitless revenge's of true and faithful men for a long catalogue of wrongs, but I preferred to look forward ' for the benefit of all, rather than look backward to gratfiy the just resentment of a few. I could have ! seconded others in some Quixotic expedition to attain results to minister to far-fetched individual hopes, but each of these would have left New York j powerless for good, and old line Democrats seemingly j responsible, and I determined to give those power to rule or ruin, and a determination suited to the occa- j siou, undisputed power to rule, after as.-ociating all the good influence I could command. They professed to desire harmony, unity and conciliation. I pro

posed to take them at their word, without saying how much, or how little faith I had in their professions. I saw they would have the power. I determined thev should have, so far as I could control it, the responsibility also. I knew that if they fairly and faithfully represented the State, they would merit and receive the commendation of all good Democrats, and that the party would be compensated in the results which would follow. I knew, if by treacherous schemes and gambling resorts, they betrayed their trust and repeated the cheats abroad which they practiced at home, they would expose to the world their own perfidious natures, and destroy themselves forever, and defeat their further power for mischief at home and abroad, and that the Democratic party in New York could afford unbounded compensation for a consummation so devoutly to be wished. In short, I saw they would have the power. I meant they should have the responsibility with it, and they had both. The power they might have exercised so as to have given life, and health, and joy, and unquestioned success to ithe Democratic party of the State and nation. But they chose to exercise, it in another direction, and now let them prepare for the responsibility which they cannot escape. They have, that they might advance the selfish purposes of a corrupt clique, with malice aforethought, wickedly and wantonly committed the crime let them stand up in the world's pillory and suffer the penalty due to falsehood, treachery, ingratitude and baseness. . When I threw my whole soul into an effort to unite the Democratic party of this State, I determined if it was finally unsuccessful, because of the bad conduct of this trading combination, that I would never again make an effort to unite the party with such material in it. That effort at union would have been crowned with complete success but for them, for the ranks of the party had closed up, and the masses hailed a deliverance from internal division and strife, as a proud day in their country's history. But, they have torn open again its wounds to subserve their own , . 1 , i , i. . . i .i . i.... selhsli schemes, anu now let division oe me umer ui the day until these faithless " political gamblers " arc ! driven without the pale of the Democratic party for-j ever. So totally abhorred as they are, we shall I sooner attain success without than with them, and we : have proved now, to the satisfaction of all, how vain the attempt for a party to repose upon such rotten foundations, and hereafter their power will not be j courted, nor their necessities rewarded by Democratic Administrations. No, I shall hereafter make no efforts j for union where they are to be recognizee, oui wr upon any faction under their treacherous rule, and nothing "but faction will follow their lead. " Twice have I sought clan-Alpine's glen In peace, but when I come again, I come with banner, brand and bow, As leader seeks his mortal foe." Loud cheers. Much has been said upon the subject of nan inter vention and squatter sovereignty, as it is termed, and: there has been much more said upon them than has . been understood by those who have said it. And it ; would be well for the political magpies wl o chatter so flippantly upon the subject, that they learn their les-; son before they prate it. The two principles which ; really have no relation to each other, and are entirely i different, have been strangely and unpardonably con-1 founded, but I will state the true definitions of each ; separately. Non-intervention means that there should i be no intervention to extend or prohibit slavery in the ! Territories, but that the people of the States and the j Territories should be left, while a Territory, to enjoy j just such rights as to carrying their slaves with them, ; when removing into the Territories, or exclusion j therefrom, as it should be held by the courts, belonged j to thein. Squatter sovereignty claims the sovereign right of the people of a Territory to exclude the in- j traduction of slavery from a Territory by hostile ter-; ritorial legislation, regardless of the construction given! to the Constitution by the decision of the Supreme Court. Before the Drcd Scott decision, this was an i open question ; since that decision it is so no longer. j The difference is plainly this : non-intervention by , Congress, and qualified popular sovereignty proposed ' such Territorial legislation as should be in deference ', to, subject to, and in harmony with the decisions of; the Supreme Court upon the great question. Squat-; ter sovereignty defies the authority of the Territorial! Legislature to exclude slavery from the Territory by law, absolutely regardless of the construction given to the Constitution by the Court Cheers. It has been often said, with truth, that I was the j first to introduce the principle of non-intervention and ( qualified Popular Sovereignty into Congress, for the government of the Territories. -When the doctrine has been regarded with disfavor, it has been assigned j to me, but when it has been greeted with popular applause, it has had numerous claimants. It has some-; times been said, but erroneously, that I was an advo-, cate, if not the author, of the" doctrine of Squatter ; Sovereignty. I was, and am, an advocate of non-in-1 tervention, with qualified Popular Sovereignty that , is, with the right of the people to legislate, in harmony j with the Constitution, for their domestic government. 1 I never was an advocate for, or a believer in, the doc-. trine of Squatter Sovereignty, and hold it to," be an out-and-out absurdity, for it makes the laws of a Territorial Legislature to override the Constitution of the , United States. r The resolution which I introduced in 184 7, propri- i sing non-intervention in the Territories, and suggestingDthe principle of Popular Sovereignty, in a qualified form, proposed, as shown by the speech which followed their introduction, that the Territorial legislature should keep in view such construction as should ; be riven to the Constitution by the Supreme Court, ; and legislate in harmony with, and in declared obedience to it. They were never brought to a yote, be- j cause practical measures, involving the precise question, came under consideration soon after their intro-; duction, and for no other reason. j Iu 1848, Mr. Calhoun, myself, and others, were upon the committee charged with a bill known as the ' Clayton Compromise. I proposed, and Mr. Calhoun ' assented, that the bill should be framed uh:i the prin-. ciple of non-intervention; and it was so framed, and ; so passed the Senate, but it was, near the close of the session, laid on the table in the House of Representatives. The only difference between Mr. Calhoun and myself u jon the subject then, or at any other time, ' was this : He proposed that the bill should recognize, in declaratory form, the right of the citizens of all the States to go to the common Territories with their property slave property included and there be pro tected, u it hout amrmmg or denying nis position, x proposed, as it was an unsettled question, and strictly belonged to the judiciary, to leave it to be decided ly the courts ; to which he readily asented, remarking that the South had such entire confidence in their position that they were willing to stand upon non-intervention, and await a judicial construction of the Constitution, and of their rights in the Territories. The position of Mr. Calhoun has since been hilly vinui-j cated and sustained by the Dred Scott decision. j The Compromise measures of 1850 were based upon the same non-intervention idea, and while they were ' under discussion in the Senate of the United States I, had the honor to state my position there, in a speech : upon the floor, as follows : " Now, sir, I wish to say, once for all, that it is not ' my intention, either directly or indirectly, to favor, by ' voice or vote, the extension of slavery or the restric-! tion of slavery in the Territories, by Congress, or any interference with the subject whatever. Nor am I iu-, fluenced in this conclusion by the local laws of the j Territory in question, either natural or artificial the : laws of man ; and, tor all the purposes of the present1 action, I will not inquire what they are in either respect; I will stand upon the true principles of non-in- j tervention, in the broadest possible sense, for non-in-; tervention's sake to uphold the fundamental principles of freedom, and for no other reason; aud will j leave the people of the Territories and of the States' to such rights and privileges as are theirs under the ! Constitution and laws of th United States, without ; addition to, or diminution from roch rights by the action of Congress."

NO 5 The Kansas and Nebraska bill, except in its disturbance of the Missouri line, contained no new principle whatever, but copied the same non-intervention principle which had been recognized by Congress, and awaited the judicial construction of the Constitution. - ' ' ' ' - " After the passage of these measures, came the Dred Scott decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, pronounced after unusual labor and deliberation, construiug the Constitution and the rights of citizens of States in tbe Territories, as Mr. Calhoun and other Southern statesmen had contended, and thus settling the question forever, for all thoso who propose to abide by the Constitution and laws. The substance of the decision was this:: . " The Territory thus acquired, is acquired by the people of the United States for their common and equal benefit, through their agent and trustee, the Federal Government. Congress cau exercise no power over the rights of persons or property of a citizen in the Territory, which is prohibited by the Constitution. The Government aud the citizens, whenever the Territory is opened to settlement, both enter it with their respective rights defined and limited by the Constitution. Congress has no right to prohibit the citizens of any particular State or States taking up their home there, while it permits cititzens of other States to do so. Nor has it a right to give privileges to one class of citizens which it refuses to another. The Territory is acquired for their equal and common benefit, and if open to any, it must be open to all, upon equal and the same terms. . . " Every citizen has a right to lake with him into the Territory any article of property which the Constitution of t he United Statin; recognizes as property. The Constitution of the United States recognizes slaves as property, and pledges the Federal Government to protect it, and Congress cannot exercise any more authority over property of that description than it may constitutionally exercise over property of any other kind. The act of Congress, therefore, prohibiting a citizen of the United States from taking with him slaves when he removes to the Territory in question lo reside, is nu exercise of authority over private property which is not warranted by the Constitution, and the removal of the plaintiff, by its owner, to that Territory, gave him no title to freedom." Now, if all acquiesced in that decision, like good citizens had yielded willing and cheerful assent aud obedience to its authentic construction of the fundamental law, the question of slavery in the Territories would have been at rent, and the Democratic party would have been on its way rejoicing. But, every kind of means was resorted to to evade it. Rampant Abolitionism, more manly than its accomplices in mischief, openly denounced it and defied as it is wont to do all legal obstacles to the consummation of its own distempered idea demagogueisin inflated itself fanaticism foamed, and trimming cowardice shrunk around it and insisted that the question was not decided, and all these combined together, sought to deny the citizens of the slave States the benefits of this decision, either in theory or practice. I repeat, the South were, satisfied with non-intervention, awaiting in good faith the decision of the. Courts bel'oeo this adjudication; since the decision, tbey would have been satisfied with non-intervention, and the acknowledgment, and practical execution of it according to its fair and equitable spirit. The South did not object to Douglas because of his principles of non-intervention nor because of his tloctriaes of qualified popular sovereignty in the Territories, as is so often and pompously alleged ; but their opposition to him arises, to say nothing of his unfortunate controversy with the Administration, from his advocacy of what they regard as a most rank and mischievous error, the squatter sovereignty heresy ; contending, as he does, as we have already seen, that notwithstanding the decision of the Supreme Court, in the Dred Scott case, holding that all citizens with their property are to be admitted there on equal terms, slave property included, j Territorial Legislature may, by its enacted law, exclude slave property from the Territory thus virtually investing a Territorial Legislature with power to annul this provision of the Constitution as construed by the highest tribunal known to the law. These are the articles of creed proposed by Mr. Douglas, to which the South object. In the celebrated campaign debate with Mr. Lincoln, previous to the Dred Scott decision, in answer to certain questions proposed by Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Douglas answered as follows: " The next question propounded to me by Mr. Lincoln is, can the people of a Territory, in any lawful way, against the wishes of the United States, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formation of a State Constitution ? I answer emphatically, as Mr. Lincoln has heard me answer a hundred times from every stump in Illinois, that, in my opinion, the people of a "Territory can, by lawful means, exclude slavery from their midst prior to the formation of a State Constitution. Mr. Lincoln knew that I had answered that question over and over again. He heard me argue the Nebraska bill on that principle all over the State, in 1854, in 1855, and in 185G, acd he has no excuse for pretending to be in doubt as to my position on that question." After the Drcd Scott decision had been pronounced and published, Mr. Douglas states his position thus: "It matters not what way the Supreme Court may hereafter decide as to the abstract question whether slavery may or may not go into a Territory under the Constitution, the people have the lawful means to introduce it or exclude it as they please, for that slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere unless it is supported by local police regulations. Those police regulations can only be established by the' local Legislature;" and if the people are opposed to slavery, they will elect representatives to that body who will, by unfriendly legislation, effectually prevent the introduction of it into their midst. If, on the contrary, they are for it, their legislation will favor its extension. Hence, no matter what the decision of the Supreme Court may be on that abstract question, still the right of the people to make a slave Territory of a free Territory is perfect and complete under the Nebraska bill. 1 hope Mr. Lincoln deems my answer satisfactory on that point." If it be true that the Territorial Legislature can, by an act, exclude the . citizen of a Southern State, with his f-lave property, from all enjoyment of and participation in, the common territorial property of all the States, as is asserted by Mr. Douglas, the Constitution and the decisions of the Supreme Court, and the rights of persons and property there, are the playthings of a Territorial LegitJature, to be put up and down to be given or taken away at pleasure. For these doctrines the Southern States refuse to accept Mr. Douglas as a candidate, and who, had he been with and of them, would have done otherwise. But whether the Southern Slates were reasonable or capricious in their refusal to accept and support Mr. Douglas, they had taken their stand deliberately, after mature consideration their avowal was before tbe country, and was well understood: and, unless he had some pre-emptive right lo the nomination, which is not conceded, they Lad a right to set him aside as a mere matter of choice, without any reason whatever. These States held one hundred and twenty electoral votes, sure for the Democracy-, with an acceptable candidate, while every other State, except those on the Pacific, were counted against us, or doubtful, and yet managers of the minority or doubtful States, by artifice and combinations, sought, through the strangely protracted sessions of the Conventions held at Charleston aud Baltimore, to force this one candidate upon the Southern States, and in this persistent and insane effort first dismembered and then adjourned the Convention at Charleston, and finally divided aud broke it up at Baltimore. It was of all others an occasion when all mere individual preferences should have been forgotten and surrendered for the public good ; but it was Douglas or nothing, and hence the result The Convention broken up the arty divided and all for a candidate who cannot get a single electoral vote. , . ,., The Democratic party, under such a rate, is t.i