Diary of Edward Bates, Friday, June 24, 1859

[Cold, rainy weather.] Barton I suppose will not go today — nor Coalter, who rides his (B[arton]'s) saddle horse, while B.[arton] drives his new horses. Right of Search.⁹

Carlisle's [sic] Frederick the Great, Vol 2. 524 — Citing the Gentlemen's Magazine for 1739. p 103 — A notable instance in which popular influence is brought to bear upon the English Ministry and Parliament. The object was to force England into war with Spain — for maritime ‘outrages’ in the American seas. The Spaniards claimed the right of search and, in some instances enforced it with cruel insolence — as in the case of the English Capt. Jenkins, who was boarded by a Spanish garda costa off the coast of Florida, his vessel rum[m]aged and plundered, and himself grossly abused — whipped, half-hanged, and one ear cut off—. This led to the Spanish war and the overthrow of Walpole's long administration. The ministry was against the war mitigated the outrages as far as possible, and insisted on peace. But public opinion prevailed against the power of the crown, removed the minister and made the war.

[A clipping from a Missouri newspaper giving "By telegraph from Washington" Senator Douglas's letter of June 22 stating the conditions upon which he would be willing to have his name presented to the Democratic National Convention as a candidate for President. They were: Adherence to the principles of the Compromise Measures of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, and the Cincinnati Platform of 1856, "as expounded by Mr. Buchanan in his letter accepting the nomination." He will not accept the nomination, if the platform thrusts into the party creed new issues such as a revival of the African Slave Trade or the doctrine that the Constitution of the United States either establishes or prohibits slavery in the Territories of the United States.']

As long ago as Nov:, 58, in private letters to Mr. Welling¹⁰ of the Nat:[ional] Intel [ligencejr. and Mr. Kidgway of the Richmond Whig (besides in several newspaper articles previously) I assumed that Mr. D.[ouglas] was in position to dictate to his party; as the southern democrats needed him quite as much as he needed them. This letter is the dictation, and his party must obey him or dissolve itself.

Mr. D.[ouglas] however is no statesman. He is only a very cunning politician. He can never succeed before the whole people, without presenting some absorbing question to make them forget his anticedents [sic]. In order to keep in with present rulers and present popular whims, he has lent his name to extreme notions and fantastic propositions [.]           

1. He is the author of the "Wilmot proviso" in the joint resolution, for the admission of Texas. 1845[.] Also in the Oregon territorial bill.

2. He introduced a bill to create the State of California and thrust it into the Union.

3. To pander to Prest: Pierce'[s] silly scruples, he proposed to improve harbors by local tonnage duties[.]  

4. He holds that according to the Dred Scot[t] case, the Constitution carries slavery into the Territories. And yet he holds that slavery being there by force of the constitution, still, Congress, must not protect it there. But, notwithstanding its constitutional existance [sic] there, still, he holds that the Territorial Legislature can exclude it.

5. On Prest: Buchanan's demand of a grant of the war power — the right to use the army and navy to redress the wrongs of our people in Mexico and on the Isthmus — Mr. D.[ouglas] said in debate, that the Prest: ought not only to have the particular power now demanded from Congress, but every where and always.

Note. This last is referred to in the able speech of Senator Dixon¹¹ of Cont. on the 30.000.000 bill¹² — see Nat[ional] Intel:[ligencer] June 30. 1859.

6. Mr. D.[ouglas] being for a long time, chairman of the Com[mitt]ee. on Territories and as such having the drawing of the Organic acts, habitually introduced clauses importing that the Constitution was the law of the Territories — and that the Territories themselves are a part of the U. S. (see specially the Nebraska act §'s 6 and 14.)

Moreover, (see same §6) power is granted to the legislature over " all rightful subjects of legislation consistent with the Constitution of the U. S. and the provisions of this act?'' Other acts, it seems, may be overridden at pleasure.

The § 14. declares that the Constitution and laws of the U. S. not locally inapplicable shall have the same force in the Territory of N.[ebraska] as elsewhere within the U. S. Except, &c (the Mo. Compromise). But the proviso (Badger's¹³) declares that nothing herein contained shall be construed to revive or put in force any law or regulation [legislation] which may have existed prior to 20[6] Mar:[ch] 1820 either protecting[,] establishing, prohibiting or abolishing slavery.

Note.14 In Harper's Monthly Magazine for Sept. 1859, Mr. Douglas comes out in an elaborate article upon Slavery in the Territories¹⁵ which being reduced to its elements, is nothing more nor less than Mr. Cass' old notion of Squatter Sovereignty. Note again¹⁶ — The Nat[iona]l. Intelligencer¹⁷ has come out in a series of articles (editorial) not professing to answer Mr. D.[ouglas] but answering him effectually, both by argument and by historical references.

[A reprint from the London Photographic News of a paragraph announcing the "Extraordinary Discovery" that sounds can be photographed.']

When this is brought to pass, we shall realise the thought of the Poet—

" Where Truth in person doth appear,

Like words congeal'd in northern air[.] "

and this other thought —

"He out of words could extract matter,

And keep it in a glass, like water."

_______________

⁹ In red pencil.

¹⁰ Supra, June 20, 1859, note 3.

¹¹ James Dixon of Hartford, Connecticut: Whig congressman, 1845— 1849: Republican U. S. senator, 1857-1869; strong supporter of Lincoln in the War and of Johnson in Reconstruction. This speech against the acquisition of Cuba on the ground that it was a scheme to further slave interests was one of his best efforts.

¹² Supra, April 20, 1859, note 4.

¹³ George E. Badger of North Carolina: secretary of the Navy, 1841; Whig U. S. senator, 1846-1855; opponent of the War with Mexico, of the Wilmot Proviso, of "squatter sovereignty," and of secession: a pro-slavery nationalist who supported the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

¹⁴ Added later.

¹⁵ Stephen A. Douglas, "The Dividing Line between Federal and Local Authority. Popular Sovereignty in the Territories," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, XIX (September, 1859), 519-537.

¹⁶ Added still later.

¹⁷ Sept. 10, 13, 15, 17, and 20, 1859.

SOURCE: Howard K. Beale, Editor, Annual Report of The American Historical Association For The Year 1930, Vol. 4, The Diary Of Edward Bates, pp. 26-9