Burlington tri-weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1852-1855, 1854-12-14

auspices now as 1t any other Tins. do pot
believe it TO be sound policy to establish q
literary institution that shall come into rival.
~ with the various denominationa colleges
now struggling into existence. These insti-
tutions should be encouraged and not depres-
sed. They can, and will, educate the young
men who wish to enter the profession of law,
physic and divinity. But the state has
greater want than Of lawyers and doctors.
She wants educated farmers and mechanics,
engineers, architects, chemists, mettalurgists
and biologists. She needs men engaged in
quered their professions, and who are able to
impart their knowledge to others. She wants
farmers who shall be familiar with the prin-
ciples Of chemistry as applied to agriculture;
architects and mechrnics who will adorn her
with edifcee worthy Of so fair land; and en-
gineefs and biologists who will develop her
resources, and thus augment the wealth and
happiness of her citizens. This want can on
" be supplied by the establishment of a school
Of applied sciences. | have no hesitation,
therefore, in recommending that the Uniyer-
sity fund be appropriated to establishing .
practical scientific or POLYTECHNIC school.
The Stnte and County Agricultural Socie-
ties are doing much to improve agriculture
and the industrial arts, and deserve encour-
agement from the government.
The General Assembly cannot be too urg-
emily called on to take Immediate steps TO
establish State Charitable Institutions. Ac-
cording to the most reliable information there
are now over one hundred pauper insane per-
sons in the State. One half of these are con-
fined in the common jails, and are thus rlac-
ed beyond even reasonable expectation of
| recovery. The other moiety are roaming at
LARGE terror to their friends and neigh
bors, and by exposure to exciting causes rem
dering their disease hopelessly incurable.-
Every dictate Of humanity-every principle
of sound public policy-demands that the
State should make immediate provision for
the care and treatment of this unfortunate
class Of our fellow citizens.
There can be no question OF desire on
the part of the people of the State that their
constitution should be amended. 1t is need
less at this time to allude to the arguments
that may be urged in favor of q change in
that instrument. The amendments can only
be mad by Constitutional Convection
| The only question now presented is,-Shall
the people have the privilege Of determining
| for themselves at the ballot box whether
they want revision and amendment at al?
Not single valid argument can be urged
against this proposition. A submission of
revision to the people can be attended with
no expense, for, according to the Constitution
it must be done at general election. If
the decision, is therefore against revision,
the State will sustain no injury. If in favor
of it, tie genuine doctrine Of popular sover-
eighty will be INDICATED.
There is a strong public sentiment in ia
vor of a radical change of the present laws
regulating the manufacture and sale of intox-
icating liquors. Every friead of humanity
earnestly desires that something may be done
to dry up the streams of bitterness that this
traffic now pours over the land. have NJ
doubt that prohibitory law may be en- cted
that will avoid all Constitutional objections
and meet the approval Of a vast Majority Of
the people of the State. E
The public mind has been, and is now,
greatly excited on the subject of slavery ir
the territories of the United States. At ths
last session of Congress that solemn compact
known as tn Missouri compromise, which
had existed more than thirty years without
any attempt to disturb it,-which was passed
ut the instance of the Southland which the
people of the country have been taught b.
the great expounders of the Constitution to re.
gard as inviolable as the most sacred provis.
ions of that instrument itself,-was repealed
By that Compromise, all that portion Of the
original territory Of Louisiana that lay north
of the parallel Of SO deg. 30 min. was foreve,
dedicated to freedom. By its repeal it is at
tempted to subject that vast domain to the
whitening influences of African slavery.
This only Compromise that favored free.
dom, was ruthlessly violated by the very men
who were most clamorous for the maintain
ence of every Compromise that favored sla-
very. TWAS done in defiance of the remon-
strances of the people, and by palpable vi
olation Of parliamentary rules. The motive
with which it was done is apparent. Whilst its
few supporters in the North attempt to JUS
tify the act and shield the perpetrators from
reproacb, by appealing to the doctrine Of
popular, sovere,gnty, its principal supper
trine, and openly ayow that they will never
submit to it. The primary motive was to
1 extend the area Of slave territory, and thus
give political supremacy to the slave-hold-
ing States, by virtue Of representation Of
slave property. H
The federal government was established ssto
secure the blessings Of liberty" and not to
perpetuate and extend human bondage. Its
founders intended to coD6pe slavery to its
then existing limits. It was with this settled
conviction Of the policy of the government,
and with the universal opinion, moreover,
that new territory could not be acquired by
purchase, that the several States consented
to that provision of the Constitution which
allows three ffths Of the slave population OF
the country to be enumerated, as the basis Of
representation in the electoral colleges, and
in the House Of Representatives. But with
out any change Of the Constitution, the whole
policy of the government seems to be chang.