Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1856-06-12
Address of Benz. G.. Wright.

:
and closed in rain.-BoSton Post.
Address of Benz. G. Wright.
, The 70 following address was delivered b
BENZ. G. WRIGHT, of Illinois, formerly {
this county, to Republican Association 1
Rural Plains, Rock Island county, Illinoi:
We find the speech in the Rock Island Ao
uertiser, and gladly give it an inseriion:
FELLOW CIrIzENs:-By becoming men
Der of this Republican Association you wi
not, from my remarks heretofore, expect IL
to support anv measure which is Contrary t
the political ''creed" of the Democratic par
ty, it is solely because that party has aband
oned its principles and gone over to the con
ISOLATION doctrines of the o Id Federal Part
that | now am forced, either to give up vot
ing at all, or to give my vote against tn
party which it has, heretofore, been m
highest ambition to sustain; but there is
point beyond which even partisan can no
go. That point in my estimation was re
ached by the compromise Measures" o
1850, and the repeal of the ss.'Missouri Com
promise" of 1854 is not much less obiec
tionable. 1t is true that fealty to party or
CARNATIONS should be expected from all it
members. But this fealty is only due willis
| the party adheres to its political creed
}, When it abandons the creed which boun;
its members to a party organization it ough
: to bn
unsound reasons for abandoning its time
! honored principles to foloH in its wake. i
may however, be claimed that the Demo
cratic Party is party of Progress" ant
that, consequently, all its members are
bound bindIy to follow It's leaders. No one
more ardently ad, scates the Democratic
doctrine of ...Human Progress" than the in,
dividual who nov addresses you; but it is
not "Progress' for the Democratic party
in the mijd ie OF the nineteenth century, to
'crdufsh" from the political stand point ol
the Virginia and X 'ntIcky Resolutions OF
1898 and 1899 to the support Of the Frgi-
tive Slave Law Of 1850.
Now if it be true, as in my humble opin
ion it most aSsuredly is that Congress has
no right to enact Tariff for the purpose of
protection, to improve our navigable rivers
to charter bank, AMI to do various other
things which tn Wings have affirmed and
the Democrats denied, it f;;i.!!3ws, as an ir-
! re utable position, that Congress had NJ
right to pass the Fugitive Slave Law Of 1880.
Let us now see what the Democratic Par
ty gained by enacting and sustaining that
unconstitutional and odious measure. By
this course the party proves that, WHEN the
sacred rights of humanity are at stake, in
the person of the slave, it will not only re-
pudiate its political princip pies, but according
to its universally acknowledged Text Book,
usurp the ''reserrsd right' of the sovereign
States, to settle the question of returning
to the claimant all ''persons held to labor or
service" Dy the laws Of the State from which
they escape For this surrender of principle
the Democratic Party receives in return the
support of three hundred thousand slaveholS-
ers interested, as they no doubt suppose. in
extending and perpeIuating human slavery
But does this return Offset the wear and tear
of conscience, not to mention the defeat
which must eventually, if God governs tine
universe, result from policy so suicidal! |
say eventually. for though the Democratic
Party was successful in the Presidential
canvass of 1852 and may be so in that of
1856, yet
Truth crushed to earth will rise again,
The eternal wears OF God are hers"
Now it is a we'll known fact that the De-
mocratic party has heretofore been so fear
full Of exercising undelegated power, that it
even denied the policy of tie Federal Gov
ernmcnt, in any case, exercising even doubt
fiA pOrcers,' but wisely recommended an ap-
plication to the sovereign States, if further
powers were deemed necessary to the sue
cessful operation of the Federal Government
than were delegated in the Constitution -
For this precau;iun every true Democrat
must vencrate the party, because the great
danger in our complex, yet simple, system
of Federal and State Governments, lies in
the tendency, capacity, and power of the
Federal Government to consolidate in its
GRASP. by means of its almost unlimited
patronage, all the reserved rights OF the
sovereign Sta,es. and consequently the lib
C ties of the people.
Fearfully Jealous of this dangerous ten
dency in the Federal system, Patrick Hen
ry and hosts of other revolutionary patriots
opposed the adoption of the Federal C"n-ti-
,u;ion,as will be seen by referring to the Del
epates in the several State Conventions con-
vened for adopting that instrument. That
these Jealous fears, even with the amend
ments adopted after the Constitution was
carried into effect, were not groundless Is
unques,ionubIy proven by the acnac'ment OF
the "a lien and Sedition Laws of 1898 un-
der the elder Adams. These acts alarmed
and reused the friends of State Rights aud
State Sovereignty. and called forth the just
" celebrated Virginia and Kentucky Reso-
Iutions of -99-the former written by
lanes Madison, and the latter bv the author
of the Declaration o! American lndepend-
ence. and the "Ordiance' prohibiting slave y
in The Northwestern Territory.
A political canvass, based upon these Res
olutions, brought Mr.. Jefferson into the Pre-
sidential chair, and from that day these
Resolutions have been the "TeXt-book' ot
the party until its leaders thought proper TO
pass the Fugtive Slave Law of 1850.
What these resolutions are is Important
at the present crisis. Permit me then to
ouote so much Of them As may be necessary
TO show, beyond ali cavi, the true theory OF
the Democratic party. The Virginia Reso-
I,,,ions of ,98 assert;-"That this Assem-
bly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare
that it views the powers of the Federal Gov
ernment as resulting from the compact tc
which the States are parties as limited BY
the plain sense and intention Of the instru