The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1855-10-27

,ension of the habeas corpus; an absolute
prohibition OF the trial by jury; an effective
'epeal OF vital rules OF procedure and evidence
md the substitution of commissioners in
place OF courts of justice, in derogation of
the Constitution. You all remember how
aboriOusly and ostentatiously this comprom-
sc was associated with the me-honored
forms and solemnities of the Missouri Com
promise; how it was declared not the result
of mere ordinary legislation, but a contract
with mutual equivalents by the privileged
with the unprivilegetl classes, irrepealablc
and even unamendable without perfidy, and
even treason against the Constitution and the
Union. You all remember how, notwith-
your protests and mine, it was ur-
gently, violently, DANGEROUSLY ratified and
confirmed, as full, fair and final and perpet-
ual adjustment by the two great political
conventions of the country, representing the
whole people of the United States, and at
Baltimore in 1852, land how the heroic and
generous Scott was rejected to bring into tie
Presidency one who might more safely be
trusted to defend and preserve and establish
it forever.
Nevertheless, scarcely one year had elapsed
before tn privileged class, using some of our
own representatives as their instruments.
broke up not only this compromise of 1850.
but the compromise of 1920 and the ordi
nance of 1887, and obtained the declaration
of Congress that all these settlements, so far
as they were adverse to tie privileged class.
were unconstitutional usurpations of lepisla-
tive power.
dO not stop to stigmatizc or even charac-
terize these aggressions. OF what use would
it be to charge perfidy when tie losses we de-
plOre have resulted from our own imbecilitv
and cowardice! l do not dwell SO often and
so justly upon the atrocious usurpaton of
the government of Kansas by the slavehold-
ers OF Missouri, nor even on the barbarCus
and tyrannical code which they have estab-
lishcd to stife Freedom in that Territory.
nor even yet On the fraudulent and nefarious
connivance of the President with the usurp-
ers. Nor will draw into this picture, al
ready too darkly shady, the personal humil-
iations which daily come home to yourselves
in the conduct of your own affairs You are.
commanded by an unconstitutional law of
Congress to seize and deliver up to the mem
bers of that privileged class their
fugitive slaves, under pain of imprison-
ment and forfeiture of your estates
You may not interpose between the armed
stakeholder and the wounded slave, to pre-
vent his being murdered, without coming I'M
der arrest for treason, nor may you cover his
naked and lacerated limbs except by stealth:
You have fought twenty years and with But
partial success for the constitutional tight to
lay your remonstrances on tie table of Con
gress. You may not tell the freed slave who
reaches your borders that he is free. without
being seized by a Federal court and condemn
ed; without bail or n,ainpriZe, and without
limitation of sentence. Your representative
in either house of Congress must speak with
bated breath and humblcd countenance liz
the presence Of tie representatives of tie
privileged class, lest justice be denied to your
old soldiers when they claim their pensions,
or to your labOrers when they claim the per-
formance of the their contracts with the Gov
The President Of the United States
is reduced to the position Of Il deputy of tie
privileged class, omptying the treasury are;
battalions and ships Of war to dra
coon yoli into tie execution Of the Fugitive
Slave Law on tic enc hand, while he removes
governors and judges at their command WHO
attempt to maintain lawful and constitutions
a. resistance against them in the territory Of
Kans.s. The Vice-Prcsidcnt of the United
States ana the Speaker Of the House Of Rep
rcsentatives are safe men whom the priviIeg-
cd class can trust in .ycrv case. The care of
tie judiciary of the territories and even Of
tie foreign relations is intrusteG i'll either
house to assured supporters of that Glass;
Protection is denied to your wool while it is
freely given to the Shareholders sugar Mil
lions Of acres of the public domain are freely
given to Alabama for railroads and even as
gratuities, while not dollar can be obtained
tore,novc the rocks of Hell-Gate and tie
stnd5 of the overslaugh, or the bars in Lake
st. Clair or in the mouths of your Lake har-
bors. Canada, lying all along your northern
borders must not even be looked upon lest
YOU may lust after it, while millions upon
millions are lavished y, war and diplc-
macy to annex aid spfead slavery over Lou
isana, Florida, Texas, Mexico, Cuba and
Central America. Your liberty of speech;
where is it ? You may not, without severe
rebuke, speak of despotism in foreign lands,
lest the slave overhear you on the plantations,
OF the privileged class, or the foreign despot
visit them, in retaliation, for your unavailing
sympathy. The national flag, the emblem
OF universal liberty, covers cargoes of slaves
not only in your own view, but faunts def
ance over them in foreign ports. Judges of
the United States courts, safe under the pro-
lection of the President and the Senate.
charge grand juries, in advance of any ques-
ton, that obnoxious and unequal federal laws
are constitutional and obligatory; they give;
counsel to legislative bodies how to frame
laws which they will sustain, instead of wait
ing to review those laws when enacted They
even convert tie writ of freedom to an en-
CINE of slavery, and they pervert the power
of furnishing irregularities committed in bcir
presence into the machinery of tyranny as
odious as that cc the star-chamber. The
priv LEGGED class in Virgiri;. i.nnrison yout
seamen in their ports in retaliation for the
of your executive authorities:
and you are already in a doubtful struggle for
the right to exclude the traffic in slaves from
your own borders.
will only ask, in concluding this humil-
iating rehearsal, whether there is not in this
country privileged class; whether it does
not stand OH an enduring foundation; wheth-
er it is not growing stronger and stronger,
while the dnprivileged class grows weaker
and weaker; whether it's further growth and
extent would not be not merely detrimental
but dangerous; and whether there is any
hope to arrest that growth and extension
hereafter if The attempt shall not be made
now?
The change that has become at last go
necessary is as easy to be made as it is neces-
sary. The whole number of shareholders is
only three hundred and fifty thousand-onc-
hlnArcth mart of tho entire pOpl,lat inn nf the