The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1855-11-21

The Locofoco party under the lead OF
Douglas and Pierce have sought TO National
ise Slavery, and bring the entire influence
and power of the general government and of
the Democratic party to the support and ex
tension of the peculiar institution. They
have denounced the Ordinance Of ~ and
the Missouri Compromise restricting Slavery
as unconstitutional and anti-democratic, aud
they denounce all who do not agree with
them, rs sectionallsts and traitors to the
Union. And many nervous Wings, alarmed
by their denunciations and deceived by their
hypocritical cant. seem ready to embrace the
idea that all opposition results from n sec
tional spirit and want of love 10 the Union.
Now, while We are utterly opposed to the
views of these self-styled National politi-
clans, and are ready to oppose them ON all
hands and and TO the utmost, we claim TO
have as potent reasons TO love our country
as the best of them, and will not admit that
we are any less patriotic than they. And
further than that, We are willing and ready
TO test the nationality of our sentiments by
INC outHofitS VI thc apicst stdttsmeH Oh our
country from the days of the Resolution
down to our own times.
In all the range of our past history there
is probably no name which stands forth 50
prominently as the embodiment Of Ma
tionslity, as that of Daniel Webster, the
great expounder of the Constitution and the
llustrious defender of the Union. And by
his authority we claim to be able TO sustain
every principle which we profess and advo-
cate, AMI every idea enunciated by the Re-
publican party. We hold no opinions on this
subject which have not been clearly and de-
Gberately avowed and defended by Daniel
Webster in his public speeches. And we
ask democrats, who now make hypocritical
appeals TO the agthnrit-~ o. Webster, and
Wings who believe in the nationality of his
sentiments, to read the following extracts
from his speeches, and then point out sim
gle principle which we advocate that Web
ster did not proclaim, if they can.
In his celebrated Niblo Garden speech in
1887, Webster advocated the right Of the
free States TO refuse to admit new States
with slave-hoding Constitutions into the
Union in these most emphatic terms
"Slavery, us it exists in the States, Is be-
yond the reach Of Congress. 1t is a concern
OF the States themselves they have never
submitted it TO Congress, and Congress has
no rightful power over it. | shall concur,
therefore, III no act, no measure, no menace,
no indication OF purpose, which shall inter-
fele, or threaten TO interfere. with the excu-
siye authority of the several States over the
subject of Slavery as il exists within their
respective limits. All this appears to me to
be matter of plain and imperative duty. But
when we come TO speak Of admitting new
States, the subject assumes an entirely diff
terent aspect. Our rights and our duties are
then both different. The free States, and all
the States, are thru at liberty TO ACCEPT or
REJECT. When II is proposed TO bring new
members into this political partnership, the
old members have right TO say on rh al
terms such ne,c parties are 10 come in, and
ichas they are to bring along with them
Again, in his speech in the Senate in
March, leis, he said
" IL State proposes TO come into the
Union, and 10 come in as Slave State, then
there ~ an augmentation Of the inequality In
the representation Of the people; an me-
QUALITY already existing, with which do not
quarrel, and which | will never attempt to oil
ter, bnt will preserve as long as | have a
vote to give, or any voice III this government.
because II is part of the original compact.
Lei II stand. But then there is another con-
sheraton OF vastly more general Importance
than even that more general because it af-
iects ali the States, free and slavehoiding
4 hnf ~ 60 4 ~
ritorles thus thinly populated come into the
Union, they necessarily and inevitably break
up the relation er1sting beiueen the tro
branches q The government and destroy lis
od4dnce They break up the intended rela-
i'on oetWeen the Senate and House of Rep
ie'ehtatlSes- IL You bring iii any new States,
any he" State that comes in must have two
Sc ilors. She my come in with fifty or : XIV
'noisahu people, or more. You may have from
aPAFteuiar State more Senators than Won
nave representatives. Can anv thing occur To
oishgnre and derange the form Of govern
nieht under which We live more senallv than
'h's Here would be a Senate, hearing no
proportion 10 the people, out of all relation
~ 'uHn' ny the addition Of new States from
sonie u ,hcm only one Representative per-
haps, and two Senators. whereas the larger
States may have ten, fifteen or even thirty
Representatives, and but two Senators. The
Senate, augmented by these new Senator's
coming from States where there are few neo.
pie, becomes an odious oligarchy. 1t holds
power without any adequate constituency
sslr, it is but " burrough- mongering upon a
large scale.''
Once more, in his great speech on the Com
promise bill, delivered in the Senate on the
9TH Of March, 1850, he says
SIR, whenever there is a substantive eooa
to be done, wherever there il foot of land
to be prevented from becoming slave terrific.