Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1856-05-01
'sEterndl hostility to everysform oftyr.
amy over the mind of Man,
Thursday Morning, May l, 1856
Gen. Pierce's Record.

Gen. Pierce's Record.
1t is often interesting to ransack old doc
uments: and revive old memories; it carries
one back and surrounds them with the men
and things of olden time. There is another
effect this overhauling of old documents has:
it shows that to public men it is oftentimes
exceedingly inconvenient to be consistent.
Consistency, however, appears to be total
stranger to certain men of a certain party
we could name, as the following documents
will show. To illustrate we take, for exam
pie, no less parsonage than President Pierce
and see if his political path has been straight
or devious. Just at present the doctrine of
ssquatter sovereignty is the polar star of
Democracy, and the utter reputation of
the good old Jeffersonian idea that Congress
has power to govern the territories, the cor
ner stone of democratic orthodoxy; suppose
we commence back few years and TRACK
Mr.. Pierce to his present position.
He was, as is we'll known to all, men,
Der of the Democratic Party of New Hamp-
shire, in fact, he was the Democratic party.
The N. H. State convention in 1917 adopt
ed the following resolution:
Resolved, That we declare it our solemn
conviction, as the Democratic party have
heretofore done, that neither slavery nor in
voluntary serviiude should hereafter exist in
any territory which may be acquired by OF
annexed to the United States; and that we
approve of the votes of our delegation in
Congress in favor of the Wilmot proviso.
JOHN P. HALE was then a Senator, and
is now. Hale maintains his ground on the
Wilmot Proviso, the Granite State Democ-
/ racy don't. They have progressed"
Again, in ls4s the New Hampshire Leg
islature, then largely Democratic, passed the
following resolution by very large MAORI
ty:-
Resolved by the Senate and House O
Representatives in General court convened
That we are in favor of the passage of Law
by congress forever prohibiting slavery il
New Mexico and California, and in all othel
territories now acquired, or hereafter 10 be
acquired by the United States, in which
slavery does not exist at the time of such &C
quisilion.
In ls49 the same body passed the follow
ing resolutions:
Resolved, &C., That, opposed to every
fora of oppression, the people of New Hamp
shire have ever viewed with deep regret tht
existence of slavery in this Union; that while
they have steadfastIy supported all sections
in their constitutional rights, they have no
only lamented its existence as a great so
cial evil, but regarded it as fraught will
danger to the peace and welfare of the ma
ton.
Resolved, That while we respect tht
rights Of the slaveholding as well as the fret
portions of this Union-while we will no
consent that wrong be done to any membe
of the glorious confederacy to which We
belong, we are firmly and unalterably oppo
sed to the extension of slavery over any por
ton of American soil now free.
Resolved that in our opinion Congress
has the constitutional power to abolish tn
slave trade, and slavery in the District o
Columbia, and that our Senators be instruct
ed and our Representatives requested t.
take al constitutional measures to accom-
plish this object.
/ During this time, be it remembered, Gen
Pierce was with the New Hampshire dem
ocracy, ard endorsed their acts. He wa
then standing upon the same platform tina
the Republican party now stands on: "N
more slave states''
About the date of these last resolutions
new element of political action was ushere
into being from the brain of Gen. Cass.-
We alude to the Observation-Disclosures ide
of 'squatter sovereignty The New Hamp
shire democracy had their own opinion G
this doctrine then, as the record proves.
The N. H. Patriot (Gen. Pierce's organ,
of July 26th 1919, contained the followin
article:-
"The Democracy of the North never di
endorse the doctrine, of squatter sovereign
iyl and they never will. The democracy G
this State are unanimous in the opinion s,
far as we know, that Congress has an
should exercise the power, and exclude sla
very from California and New Mexico"
By the above extracts it will be seen tha
Pierce's friends now deny what they the
affirmed, and affirm what they then denied
They treat the Wimot Proviso as secon
only in atrocity to an attempt to dissolve tn
Union, while they hug the 'squatter sove
reignty' doctrine to their hearts in very love
adopting it into their political household
and making it chief over all.
i Gonmon Soboo1 Popoyt