Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1856-07-24

Niles, W. r. King, and host of other equal
ly illustrious leaders of the Democracy, were
then in the Senate Chamber, and espoused heI
cause. No threats or efforts were then made
to subdue liberty
Kansas, having violated no law, lays her
petition for a redress of grievances at youl
feet. For doing this, some of her citizens are
exiled from their homes, and others pine in
chains, charged by the Government of theiI
country with treason--treason in peacably
forming State Constitution under the right
guaranteed by the paramount law of the land
in order to ask of Congress admission into the
Union-treason for doing precisely what the
people of Arkansas and Michigan did almost
quarter of century ago, and which was en-
dorsed by Congress and the then President
of the Republic But times have changed,
and men with them.
The Democracy in the days of jackson stood
upon the principles of the fathers of the Re
public in reference to the Territories, and JUS
tilted the right of the people peac eably to as
Semble at all times, and petition for redress
! of grievances.
The gentleman from Georgia, Mr.. STE-
PHENs, in his remarks on Saturday appealed
to the higher law to sustain Slavery. With
OuG W dullIOIlly Ol
that point, for it belongs to the theoogan
as one of his controverted questions, | wish
here only to say, that if Slavery and its exis-
tence rest on the Old Testament for their sup
port, then the same authority will support
white Slavery as well as black, and the ANAL
gamation of master and slave. In the Sla-
very of the patriarchs there was intermarriage
between the master and slave-the sons and
daughters of the one with the sons and daugh-
ters of the other. 1t is not questioned that
the slaves of that day were white. If that
was the case, then the gentlemans argument
proves too much, and there is rule of the To-
gicians, that an argument is as faulty that
proves too much, as one that proves too little.
If the Bible argument be good, whites can be
seized and carried into bondage, and masters
and slaves may amalgamate. But | will pass
by for the present the defence Of Slavery, as
authorized by the practice Of the patriarchs
for how far their example should be followed,
or can be, consistently with the new dspensa-
ton that declares that whatsoever ye would
that men should do to you, do We even so to
them," will come up properly on bill now
pending in reference to another patriarchal in
stitution existing in one Of the Territories.
The gentleman seemed TO think that the
spirit Of Jefferson would feel indignant that he
should be quoted as authority by Republicans.
Sir, if the spirits the departed hover over the
scenes of earth, and watch with solicitude its
affairs, with what anguish must that spirit
contemplate the wrongs in Kansas, who ex-
claimed, when on earth
'Wth what execra1ion should the statesman be load
ed, who permitting one half the citizens thus to trampe
the rights othe other transforms those into despots and
those fhQ of
and the amor pdtTiG OF the 0ther."
If the spirits of the sainted dead hover over
their country watching its destiny with any
thing of their earthly solicitude for it's welfare
what anguish must wiring the heart of his no
BILE co-patriot who, in the Senate Chamber,
in 1919, declared that
Nothing can more gladden. the heart than the con.
temptation of portion of territory consecrated to Free
dom whose soil should be mosened by the tear of
the slave degraded by the step If the oppresor or the
oppressed
Can the spirits of snch men be wounded by
the appeal of the living to their authority TO
vindicate the rights of the freemen of their ma
tive land, and save from degradation the very
territory that once so gladdened the patriotic
heart
Tyranny and wrong rule with brute force
one of the Territories of the Union and VIC
lence regns In the capitol of the Republic
In the one, mob law silences with the revolver
the voice of justice. pleading for the inaliena-
BILE rights of man in the other, the sacred
guarantees of the Constitution are violated,
and reason and free speech are supplanted by
the bludgeon and, in the Council Chamber
of the nation, men stand up to vindicate and
Justify both Well may the patriot tremble
fNr bo fptu nf hiS when hn looks
upon this picture, and then upon that
Can the spirits of the departed, unless they
partake more of earth than when surrounded
by their clay tenements, look down upon these
scenes without anguish and bitter sorrow2
Mr.. Speaker, why should the application of
Kansas for admission be delayed, when it seems
to be conceded on all sides that it is proper to
admit her without requiring the ratio Of popu-
lation necessary for a Representative in a
State2 That idea seems to have been entire
ly abandoned. Then why delay this applica-
tion, when every man must be satisfied in his
own Judgment, that it would restore peace to
Kansas to give her Government of her own
formation with officers and courts of her own
selection? Immediate action is necessary, in
order to put an end to the strife in the Terri
tory which, the President informs us, threat
ems the peace not only of Kansas, but of the
Union. The representatives of Freedom and
of Slavery struggling for supp emacy, rally to
the plains of Kansas with the implements of
war and violence. Is the bitterness engen-
gendered in these conflicts to be alayed, and
the dangers of bloodShed to be ayerted, by
Congress authorizing the people of the Terri
tory, at some future day, to do what they al
ready have the right to do, without any snch
authority? An act of Congress authorizing
them to form State Constitution, cOnferS no
right that they do not already possess, and is
no redress ofpresent grievances, or relief against
unjust and oppressive laws How can gentle
men who claim to be the special advocates of