第 4 节
作者:九十八度      更新:2021-10-16 18:40      字数:9322
  to…day that the people of a Territory have no right to exclude
  slavery from a Territory; that if any one man chooses to take
  slaves into a Territory; all the rest of the people have no right
  to keep them out。  This being so; and this decision being made
  one of the points that the Judge approved; and one in the
  approval of which he says he means to keep me down;put me down
  I should not say; for I have never been up;he says he is in
  favor of it; and sticks to it; and expects to win his battle on
  that decision; which says that there is no such thing as squatter
  sovereignty; but that any one man may take slaves into a
  Territory; and all the other men in the Territory may be opposed
  to it; and yet by reason of the Constitution they cannot prohibit
  it。  When that is so; how much is left of this vast matter of
  squatter sovereignty; I should like to know?
  When we get back; we get to the point of the right of the people
  to make a constitution。  Kansas was settled; for example; in
  1854。  It was a Territory yet; without having formed a
  constitution; in a very regular way; for three years。  All this
  time negro slavery could be taken in by any few individuals; and
  by that decision of the Supreme Court; which the Judge approves;
  all the rest of the people cannot keep it out; but when they come
  to make a constitution; they may say they will not have slavery。
  But it is there; they are obliged to tolerate it some way; and
  all experience shows it will be so; for they will not take the
  negro slaves and absolutely deprive the owners of them。  All
  experience shows this to be so。  All that space of time that runs
  from the beginning of the settlement of the Territory until there
  is sufficiency of people to make a State constitution;all that
  portion of time popular sovereignty is given up。  The seal is
  absolutely put down upon it by the court decision; and Judge
  Douglas puts his own upon the top of that; yet he is appealing to
  the people to give him vast credit for his devotion to popular
  sovereignty。
  Again; when we get to the question of the right of the people to
  form a State constitution as they please; to form it with slavery
  or without slavery; if that is anything new; I confess I don't
  know it。  Has there ever been a time when anybody said that any
  other than the people of a Territory itself should form a
  constitution?  What is now in it that Judge Douglas should have
  fought several years of his life; and pledge himself to fight all
  the remaining years of his life for?  Can Judge Douglas find
  anybody on earth that said that anybody else should form a
  constitution for a people?  'A voice; 〃Yes。〃' Well; I should like
  you to name him; I should like to know who he was。  'Same voice;
  〃John Calhoun。〃'
  No; sir; I never heard of even John Calhoun saying such a thing。
  He insisted on the same principle as Judge Douglas; but his mode
  of applying it; in fact; was wrong。  It is enough for my purpose
  to ask this crowd whenever a Republican said anything against it。
  They never said anything against it; but they have constantly
  spoken for it; and whoever will undertake to examine the
  platform; and the speeches of responsible men of the party; and
  of irresponsible men; too; if you please; will be unable to find
  one word from anybody in the Republican ranks opposed to that
  popular sovereignty which Judge Douglas thinks that he has
  invented。  I suppose that Judge Douglas will claim; in a little
  while; that he is the inventor of the idea that the people should
  govern themselves; that nobody ever thought of such a thing until
  he brought it forward。  We do not remember that in that old
  Declaration of Independence it is said that:
  〃We hold these truths to be self…evident; that all men are
  created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with
  certain inalienable rights; that among these are life; liberty;
  and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights;
  governments are instituted among men; deriving their just powers
  from the consent of the governed。〃
  There is the origin of popular sovereignty。  Who; then; shall
  come in at this day and claim that he invented it?
  The Lecompton Constitution connects itself with this question;
  for it is in this matter of the Lecompton Constitution that our
  friend Judge Douglas claims such vast credit。  I agree that in
  opposing the Lecompton Constitution; so far as I can perceive; he
  was right。  I do not deny that at all; and; gentlemen; you will
  readily see why I could not deny it; even if I wanted to。  But I
  do not wish to; for all the Republicans in the nation opposed it;
  and they would have opposed it just as much without Judge
  Douglas's aid as with it。  They had all taken ground against it
  long before he did。  Why; the reason that he urges against that
  constitution I urged against him a year before。  I have the
  printed speech in my hand。  The argument that he makes; why that
  constitution should not be adopted; that the people were not
  fairly represented nor allowed to vote; I pointed out in a speech
  a year ago; which I hold in my hand now; that no fair chance was
  to be given to the people。  '〃Read it; Read it。〃' I shall not
  waste your time by trying to read it。  '〃Read it; Read it。〃'
  Gentlemen; reading from speeches is a very tedious business;
  particularly for an old man that has to put on spectacles; and
  more so if the man be so tall that he has to bend over to the
  light。
  A little more; now; as to this matter of popular sovereignty and
  the Lecompton Constitution。  The Lecompton Constitution; as the
  Judge tells us; was defeated。  The defeat of it was a good thing
  or it was not。  He thinks the defeat of it was a good thing; and
  so do I; and we agree in that。  Who defeated it?
  'A voice: Judge Douglas。'
  Yes; he furnished himself; and if you suppose he controlled the
  other Democrats that went with him; he furnished three votes;
  while the Republicans furnished twenty。
  That is what he did to defeat it。  In the House of
  Representatives he and his friends furnished some twenty votes;
  and the Republicans furnished ninety odd。  Now; who was it that
  did the work?
  'A voice: Douglas。'
  Why; yes; Douglas did it!  To be sure he did。
  Let us; however; put that proposition another way。  The
  Republicans could not have done it without Judge Douglas。  Could
  he have done it without them?  Which could have come the nearest
  to doing it without the other?
  'A voice: Who killed the bill?'
  'Another voice: Douglas。'
  Ground was taken against it by the Republicans long before
  Douglas did it。  The proportion of opposition to that measure is
  about five to one。
  'A voice: Why don't they come out on it?'
  You don't know what you are talking about; my friend。  I am quite
  willing to answer any gentleman in the crowd who asks an
  intelligent question。
  Now; who in all this country has ever found any of our friends of
  Judge Douglas's way of thinking; and who have acted upon this
  main question; that has ever thought of uttering a word in behalf
  of Judge Trumbull?
  'A voice: We have。'
  I defy you to show a printed resolution passed in a Democratic
  meetingI take it upon myself to defy any man to show a printed
  resolution of a Democratic meeting; large or smallin favor of
  Judge Trumbull; or any of the five to one Republicans who beat
  that bill。  Everything must be for the Democrats!  They did
  everything; and the five to the one that really did the thing
  they snub over; and they do not seem to remember that they have
  an existence upon the face of the earth。
  Gentlemen; I fear that I shall become tedious。  I leave this
  branch of the subject to take hold of another。  I take up that
  part of Judge Douglas's speech in which he respectfully attended
  to me。
  Judge Douglas made two points upon my recent speech at
  Springfield。  He says they are to be the issues of this campaign。
  The first one of these points he bases upon the language in a
  speech which I delivered at Springfield; which I believe I can
  quote correctly from memory。  I said there that 〃we are now far
  into the fifth year since a policy was instituted for the avowed
  object; and with the confident promise; of putting an end to
  slavery agitation; under the operation of that policy; that
  agitation has not only not ceased; but has constantly augmented。〃
  〃I believe it will not cease until a crisis shall have been
  reached and passed。  'A house divided against itself cannot
  stand。' I believe this government cannot endure permanently half
  slave and half free。〃 〃I do not expect the Union to be
  dissolved;〃I am quoting from my speech; 〃I do not expect the
  house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided。  It
  will become all one thing or all the other。  Either the opponents
  of slavery will arrest the spread of it and place it where the
  public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the cours