Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1856-07-23
Frontthe (Bapfissl CAustia1t Chronicle,
TIE PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST.

head line of this article. We are not about 10
minglo ssreligion aud politics. nor TO make
the Chronicle the medium of party strife. We
have higher and holier motives. We are ap-
| preaching crisis that demands the burial of
| past divisions, a contest wholly unlike any
which has preceded it in The annals of the
! country-a contest involving high moral is
sues, in which the Christian Sentinel of the
nation must be prc-eminent-a contest in
which men who have been the political anti
! podes of each other, must stand side 10y side
and battle for the right-a contest, in which is
to be decided for all future time the great
! question, whether the domain of slavery is to
be extended, and its blight entailcd upon terri
| tory where the slave foot has not made its I'M
| print, where the sound OF the save-driver's
lash has not polluted the free air Of heaven.
| We are very well aware that many good men
will, at first thought, be deferred from enter
| ing upon this strife as their hearts would
prompt them, and their judgments guide them,
from the fear Of being stigmatized. But we
must, if need be, bear the reproach which op-
probrious apPellations are designed to convey;
we must rise above the paltry considerations
of petty annoyances, and go forward '.through
evil as well as through good report.''
The issues involved in this controversy are
not, whether slavery shall be abolished in the
Southern States, or in the District OF Colum-
bia, whether the fugitive slave law shall be re-
pcaled, or whether the South shall continue to
be annoyed By the underground railroad ope-
rators. Let the States, now suffering under
the demoraliZing influences of slavery, work
out for themselves the great problem, how they
| shall rid themselves of the evil. 1t is not the
abolition of slavery that we are now to COM
bat, but the proie ction of virgin soil from the
| polluting effects of such system TO say to
! the line of slavery, thus far and no farther.
Here We should all agree, and work with one
mind and one heart. Let that be the one great
/ leading question, absorbing for the present all
minor considerations. 1t is not question OF
/ North or South, Union or disunion. All the
/ frantic rawlings, all the crazy deuunciationS of
newspaper hacks, all the cries of mad dog that
can be raised, are out of time and ont of place
| impertinent and irrelevant.
We unfurl TO the breeze the broad banner of
| equal rights, free territory, stability 10 the
Union, tranquility TO the nation, peace and
! goodwill to all men, North, South, East or
| West who arc law-abiding and union loving
citizens. We ask for citizens of the free
States no boon, no exclusive privileges, no
special enjoyments, no commercial advantages
in the acquisition of estates in the new terri
tories. We desire to spread over every citi-
zen the broad Rgis of constitutional right we
/ say 10 every man in the land, go up and pos
sess these new places; enjoy them as good
eitzens promise among yourselves good gov
! ernment, and wise and wholesome laws; cs-
tablish equality Of right, equality OF rerresen-
! tation, equality of rich and poor. What is to
hinderl The South say they are not permit
| ted TO go TO Kansas equal terms with the
North that earnest efforts arc being made to
send out from the free States, by the aid
of cmigrant societies and other meaus, and
! thus to obtain majority of leg. voters who
| would prohibit slavery. Well, slavery has no
| right to go there, and if the general govern
mcnt has no power to prohibit it, let it he done
by the power of combined public sentiment.
| We say to Southern men that we want them to
! go as Northern men will go, and enjoy all the
rights of citizenship, all the social privileges,
! all the legal benefits, everything that or
| thern man asks for or hopes for. Go up with
! your wives, your sons, your daughters take
! with you your horses, your cattle, your imple-
ments of trade and agriculture, your all that
| any other man can take. But we sag to them,
| that Northern men have no slaves they take
with them no such appendage, and they are
not willing that it shall be introduced as per-
/ petual annoyance among them. You demand
too much, you create an inequality 10y intro
ducing slave labor to The prejudice of the white
| laborer, and we cannot consent to it. We
want no men there who shall groan under bon
dage we do not want to be compelled to weep
daily at the sight of the fetters of the slave,
or to have our hearts saddened at the crack of
the merciess slavedriver's lash. Our human
! ity, our religion, our manhood, revoltS at such
degradation OF human beings.
Such are the events connected with the next
Presidential and Congressional elections. The
| Presidency is the most important to be deci-
dcd. hat man breathing the air OF freedom,
recognizing his manhood and lHs duty as a cit
! izcn, obcying his obligations as a Christian,
can hesitate as to his proper position in No
vember next. There win be found, then, thou
( sands and tens of thousands of good and true
/ antl-slavery men Tvho have had no sympathy
with the abolitionists in their reckless course,
/ who repudatc the utraism and infidelity of
Garrison and Phillips, and Abby Foster and
| Lucy Stone, but who will be found firm in the
purpose of opposing slavery.
| Let the motto be, ssno extension of slavery"
Inscribe it upon your banners, carve ii upon
your platforms, weave it into your speeches,
burn il into the hearts of all good citizens, and
go forth one and indirisible to accomplish
| your purpose. X.