"The spirit of sectional hate, which is now inculcated by the votaries of a corrupt and stultified Abolitionism, by bigots, zealots, fanatics and demagogues; in desecrated pulpits, in ribald songs, in incendiary presses and strife stirring orators, has already promoted a feeling of irritation which should fill the patriotic mind with apprehension and alarm. No feud is so bitter as that which exists between brethren—no persecution so relentless as that which pursues an estranged friend—no war so ruthless as one of domestic strife; and yet this evil genius, disguised with the garb of superior sanctity—the blear-eyed miscreant disunion—is walking up and down the earth like Satan loosed from his bondage of a thousand years, endeavoring to array one section of the Union against the other upon a question which was wisely disposed of by those who laid the broad and deep foundations of our government.
"With one hand it essays to tear out from the Constitution the pages upon which are written its holiest guaranties, and with the other, it seeks to erase from our nation's flag fifteen of the stars which help to compose the pride and hope and joy of every American. It would, in pursuit of its miserable and accursed abstractions, array man against man, brother against brother, and State against State, until it covered our fair land with anarchy and blood, and filled it with mourning and lamentation; until every field should be a field of battle, every hill-side drenched in blood, every plain a Golgotha, every valley a valley of dry bones; until fire should blast every field, consume every dwelling, destroy every temple, and leave every town black with ashes and desolation; until this fiendish spirit, compounding all the elements of fury and horror, would sweep over this fair and fertile portion of God's heritage, like the infuriated Hyder Ali on the Carnatic, leaving it one everlasting monument of barbarous vengeance."
In anticipation of the acquisition of territory from Mexico, on account of the Mexican war, the famous Wilmot proviso passed the House of Representatives at the heel of the session in 1846. As an antidote for the proviso, Mr. Dickinson introduced the following resolves into the Senate, Dec. 14, 1847:
"Resolved, That true policy requires the Government of the United States to strengthen its political and commercial relations upon this continent by the annexation of such contiguous territory as may conduce to that end, and can be justly obtained; and that neither in such acquisition nor in the territorial organization thereof, can any conditions be constitutionally imposed, or institutions be provided for or established, inconsistent with the right of the people thereof, to form a free, sovereign State, with the powers and privileges of the original members of the confederacy.
"Resolved, That, in organizing a territorial government for territory belonging to the United States, the principles of self-government upon which our federative system rests will be best promoted, the true spirit and meaning of the Constitution be observed, and the Confederacy strengthened, by leaving all questions concerning the domestic policy therein to the legislatures chosen by the people thereof."
In a speech of power, delivered in the Senate Jan. 15, 1848, he tried to demonstrate the correctness of the principle of these resolves. From this, the first speech made during the slavery controversy in favor of congressional non-intervention with slavery in the territories, we make the following extracts:
"The Republican theory teaches that sovereignty resides with the people of a State, and not with its political organization; and the Declaration of Independence recognizes the right of the people to alter or abolish and reconstruct their government. If sovereignty resides with the people and not with the organization, it rests as well with the people of a territory, in all that concerns their internal condition, as with the people of an organized State. And if it is the right of the people, by virtue of their innate sovereignty, to 'alter or abolish,' and reconstruct their government, it is the right of the inhabitants of territories, by virtue of the same attribute, in all that appertains to their domestic concerns, to fashion one suited to their condition. And it, in this respect, a form of government is proposed to them by the Federal Government, and adopted or acquiesced in by them, they may afterward alter or abolish it at pleasure. Although the government of a territory has not the same sovereign power as the government of a State in its political relations, the people of a territory have, in all that appertains to their internal condition, the same sovereign rights as the people of a State....
"That system of government, whether temporary or permanent, whether applied to States, provinces, or territories, is radically wrong, and has within itself all the elements of monarchical oppression, which permits the representatives of one community to legislate for the domestic regulation of another to which they are not responsible, which practically allows New York and Massachusetts, and other Atlantic States, to give local laws to the people of Oregon, Minnesota and Nebraska, to whom and whose interests, wishes and condition, they are strangers."
The following extracts from a campaign speech in 1856, of Mr. Dickinson, will give the reader some idea of his wit and power before an out-door audience. He is speaking of the Pennsylvania election:
"In Pennsylvania every ill-omened bird in the nation had gathered and croaked. Every device that those bent on evil could conceive had been resorted to. Money had been spent with a lavish hand. All this had been done in order to induce the people of that State to favor the doctrines of the so-called Republican party. How well had she stood the test in the last great fight! There, fanaticism had been rebuked, hypocrisy had been unmasked, and villainy discomfited. The Democratic candidates had been placed in the field, and that being the home of Mr. Buchanan, the Republicans had strained every nerve to defeat him there. But how gallantly had old Pennsylvania come up to the work—how glorious the result! How had they tried and judged that party—that political mermaid—half-colored woman and half-scaly fish! The result reminded him of a conference between Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Jones, calling on Mrs. Smith, said, 'Why, haven't you finished your washing yet?' To which Mrs. Smith replied, 'Oh! no, dear, we have a very great washing; it takes us a whole week to do our washing, and I don't think we can get it done in a week!' 'But, said Mrs. Jones, 'you haven't a great many clothes-lines, and they are not very long, and you don't seem to hang out any more clothes than other people! 'Oh, no,' replied Mrs. Smith; 'but then you know what we hang out is a very small portion of what we wash.' So it was with the Republicans of Pennsylvania. What they hung out on election day was in miserable proportion to the amount of washing they had done. Proceeding, he said that the Democrats had hung out their banners—their principles were those of the Constitution, and their candidates were upon them. The Republicans, on the contrary, had but few principles, and scarcely any candidates. The Democratic candidates represented the principles of the Democratic party. And now of the general issue between the parties.