new bill, the Committee of Thirteen took the two bills reported by Mr. Douglas on the 25th of March, and converted them into one, by putting wafers between them,—they had been previously printed by the Senate,—-making slight amendments, as Mr. Clay stated when he made his report, and erasing the printed words "Mr. Douglas, from the Committee on Territories," and inserting "Mr. Clay, from the Select Committee appointed the 19th of April, 1850;" so that it read, "Mr. Clay, &c. &c. reported the following bill." This is an interesting historical fact.

The most important amendment proposed by the Committee of Thirteen to the bills as reported by Mr. Douglas is found in the 10th section, where after the words "that the Legislative power of the Territory shall extend to all rightful subjects of legislation consistent with the Constitution of the United States and the provisions of this Act, but no law shall be passed interfering with the primary disposal of the soil," they added these words, "nor in respect to African slavery;" the effect of which was to confer upon the Territorial Legislature power over all rightful subjects of legislation, excepting slavery; whereas Mr. Douglas's bill conferred the same power on the Territorial Legislature, without excepting slavery.

No sooner had this report been made by Mr. Clay than it was fiercely assailed by the ultraists North and South. Mr. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, moved to amend by adding a proviso that nothing contained in the bill should be construed to deprive the Territorial Legislature of the power to pass laws for the protection of slave-property in the Territories, and made several speeches in favor of that provision. Mr. Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, proposed an amendment in effect declaring that the bill should not be construed to authorize the Legislature to establish and maintain slavery in the Territories; whereupon Mr. Clay stated to the Senate that the amendment reported by the Committee of Thirteen, excepting slavery from the action of the Territorial Legislature, was incorporated in the bill by the committee in opposition to his vote and judgment. Mr. Douglas moved to strike out of the bill every thing in regard to slavery, so as to restore it to the form in which he had originally reported it, conferring on the Territorial Legislature power over all rightful subjects of legislation, without excepting slavery. This motion

was at first rejected, together with the amendment of Mr. Davis in favor of, and that of Mr. Chase against, protecting slavery. The discussion proceeded at great length upon the question whether the Territorial Legislature should have the same authority over the Slavery question as on all other matters affecting the internal policy of the Territory, when, on the 31st of July, Mr. Norris, of New Hampshire, renewed the motion of Mr. Douglas, which was carried by a vote of 33 to 19; thus establishing, as the fundamental principle of the Compromise measures of 1850, the doctrine that the Territorial Legislature was to have the same power over the question of Slavery that it possessed on all other matters of domestic policy.

No sooner had these measures been adopted by Congress than the Southern ultras appealed to the people of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and other Southern States, to resist the action of Congress, because they had conferred upon the Territorial Legislature the right to prohibit as well as to protect slavery as they pleased. On the other hand, the ultraists of the North appealed to the anti-slavery feeling of their section to resist and repeal the same measures, upon the ground that they conferred on the Territorial Legislature the right to introduce slavery into, as well as exclude it from, the Territories, as the people might choose.

When Congress adjourned, the friends of these measures repaired to their respective homes to defend and justify their action. When Mr. Douglas arrived in Chicago, he found the city in a state of rebellion against the recent Acts of Congress. The City Council, in their official capacity, had passed resolutions denouncing them as a violation of the Constitution and of the higher law of God, and those Senators and Representatives who had voted for them as Benedict Arnolds and Judas Iscariots. In order to make their resistance effectual, the City Council passed resolutions releasing the citizens, officers, and police of the city from all obligation to assist or participate in the execution of these laws, and declared that they (the laws) ought not to be respected by any intelligent community. On the next night, a mass meeting of the citizens was held for the purpose of approving and sanctioning the action of the Common Council and organizing violent and successful

resistance to the execution of the laws. A committee reported to this meeting a series of resolutions more revolutionary in their character, and going to a greater extent in resisting the authorities of the Federal Government, than those of the Common Council. Numerous speeches in support of the resolutions were received with boisterous and furious applause,-pledging their authors to resist even unto the dungeon and the grave. At length, Mr. Douglas, being the only member of the Illinois delegation then in the city, appeared upon the stand, and said that in consequence of the action of the Common Council, and the frenzied excitement which seemed to rage all around him, he desired to be heard before the assembled people of the city in vindication of each and all of the Compromise measures, and especially of the Fugitive-Slave Law. He said he would not address them that night, because the call for the meeting was not sufficiently broad to authorize a speech in defence of the measures, but he would avail himself of that opportunity to give notice that on the next night he would address the people of Chicago on those subjects. He invited men of all parties and shades of opinion to attend and participate in the proceedings, assuring them that he would answer every objection made, and every question which should be propounded, touching those measures, including the Fugitive-Slave Law. After further discussion and much confusion and opposition, the meeting was induced to adjourn.

In the mean time the excitement continued to increase, and the next night, October 23, a tremendous concourse of people assembled, before whom Mr. Douglas delivered a speech, some impression of the power and effect of which may be formed from the fact that the meeting resolved unanimously to carry into effect the provisions of the laws of Congress, (the Fugitive-Slave Law included,) adopted resolutions repudiating the action of the Common Council, and then adjourned with nine cheers,-three for Douglas, three for the Constitution, and three for our glorious Union. On the next night the Common Council of the city assembled, and repealed their nullifying resolutions, by a vote of 12 to 1.

In this great Chicago speech, Douglas, holding himself responsible to his constituents for the Compromise measures, avowed

having prepared three of them with his own hand, and having voted for all.

"If," said he, "there is any thing wrong in them, hold me accountable; if there is any thing of merit, give the credit to those who passed them. These measures are predicated on the great fundamental principle that every people ought to possess the right of forming and regulating their own internal and domestic institutions in their own way. It was supposed that those of our fellow-citizens who emigrated to the shores of the Pacific and to our other Territories were as capable of self-government as their neighbors and kindred whom they left behind them; and there was no reason for believing that they had lost any of their intelligence or patriotism by the wayside while crossing the Isthmus or the plains. It was also believed that after their arrival in the country, when they had become familiar with its topography, climate, productions, and resources, and had connected their destiny with it, they were fully as competent to judge for themselves what kind of laws and institutions were best adapted to their condition and interests, as we were, who never saw the country and knew very little about it. To question their competency to do this, was to deny their capacity for self-government. If they have the requisite intelligence and honesty to be intrusted with the enactment of laws for the government of white men, I know of no reason why they should not be deemed competent to legislate for the negro. If they are sufficiently enlightened to make laws for the protection of life, liberty, and property, of morals and education,-to determine the relation of husband and wife, of parent and child,—I am not aware that it requires any higher degree of civilization to regulate the affairs of master and servant. These things are all confided by the Constitution to each State to decide for itself; and I know of no reason why the same principle should not be extended to the Territories. My votes and acts have been in accordance with these views in all cases, except the instances in which I voted under your instructions. Those were your votes, and not mine."

At least half a million copies of this speech were circulated throughout the country. I have never yet seen or heard of any friend of the Compromise measures of 1850 who did not warmly applaud the speech, and express their gratitude to its author. The appeal to the people by the advocates of those measures met a hearty response from all the friends of the Union, North and South, as is attested by the fact that, in 1852, the ultraists of the Democratic party, who had opposed those measures and appealed to the people to resist, were forced by public opinion to assent to them and agree that the principles on which they rested should

P

be incorporated in the platform of the party; and still further by the fact that the ultraists in the old Whig party, who had opposed the measures, were in like manner condemned by the people, and compelled to acquiesce in a resolution in the Baltimore Convention adopting these measures, in substance and principle, as a rule of action for the future.

Both parties having thus adopted the measures, it was hoped that the slavery agitation would cease, and that henceforward the people of each Territory and State would be allowed to decide the Slavery question for themselves.

In accordance with this principle, Mr. Douglas introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in 1854, declaring, as its fundamental principle, that "it was the true intent and meaning of the Act not to legislate slavery into any State or Territory, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." His speech in the Senate in support of the bill and against its adversaries was regarded as "the greatest speech of his life.” The "Union," then the organ of the Pierce Administration, in an article on the close of the debate,-written by John W. Forney,said:

"He took his opponents up one by one, answering every objection with a skill and an effect before which they could make no head. Even those who had observed and appreciated the intellect of the Senator from Illinois on other occasions were surprised at his exhibition of logic and genius on Saturday morning. We have vainly endeavored to recall the numerous striking points of a speech so useful in its facts and in its figures and so inspiring in its vigorous and surpassing eloquence. One of his retorts upon the Abolitionists will be long remembered. Alluding to the poor special plea that the Missouri Compromise was a compact, he said it was no compact. He defended the North against the allegation, which, if true, would deeply dishonor her. If it were a compact, she had violated it, nullified it, trampled it in the dust; and to say that was to insult and to degrade her, especially if now she could be seduced into demanding others to respect what she had never regarded herself. Turning to Mr. Seward, he said, what did the State of New York, in treating of this so-called, and falsely so-called, compact, which now, by her Whig Legislature, (another result of Democratic divisions,) she appeals to us to guard and to save? For years—yes, for more than thirty years-she has sent men here to disregard it. It was no compact: for