The Union and eastern journal. [volume] (Biddeford [Me.]) 1854-1858, 1856-07-11

and the gentlemen elected took their places
on the platform.
Loud and prolonged cheering greeted the
President rs he took his place. Mr.. Morse
returned his thanks to the Convention for
the honor conferred upon him, and for the
space of half On hour addressed the Con.
vention with his accustomed ability.
He said, in substance Accept, gentle
men of the Convention, my warmest thanks
for this mark Of your confidence. A little
while ago II was announced to me that I
should be selected to preside here, and that
l must make speech. But what human
language is strong enough to beat responsive
to the warmth of the Republican hearts hc.c
to-day. What occasion has brought us to-
gcther, 1t must be marked period when
men, chained to their party by hooks of
steel, sever those chains like smoking fax,
and stand ready to do battle for the right :?
Something has done it.
It is not our State Legislature that has
done it. It is not the declaration that o
judge, in the proper discharge of his duty,
has dared to disagree with tho executive, and
for that has been declared removed from Of.
fee - not that, monstrous Us the doctrine
is. (Cheers.) There is something stronger
than this, though this doctrine, centuries
ago, caused the British people to rise up
against it. 1t Is nothing in the national
government, in the ordinary sense Of cur
rency, trade or what else - not the enor-
nous expenditure of seventy or eighty mil
lions in carrying on the government. 1t is
not because Col. Steptoe, out among the
Mormons, has not been able to take the
government Of Utah out Of the hands Of
Brigham Young, that Young sets our gov
eminent at defiance, and Steptoe escapes to
California with his dozen of married wives.
II is not that We have Indian wars in our
territories, and almost civil war in Califor-
MIA - not oil this but it is question nearer
home that has brought you here. 1t is the
question whether the government founded
by our fathers shall be pcrpetuated. 1t is a
question Of this deep, vast nature that is
now agitatiag the public mind. Not wheth-
er Slavery shall remain in the Southern
States, but whether you and shall bcslavcs
(Chcers.) Whether we shall have any free
dom of speech, or whether, for exercising
that right dear to freedom everywhere, we
shall be knocked down with bludgcons.-
(Applausc.)
Many years ago when Gov. Everett was
named as foreign minister, he was resisted
for days, because that at some time in his
life, in the ardor of his youth, he had said
something in favor of freedom. The South
said he was not a ft representative for them.
This government, for years, has been in
the hands of 275,OO0 individuals who own
slaves, just as much as though they alone
administered it.
1t was well established doctrine that the
United States Government controlled the
territories. We are as much responsible for
the government of the territories us for the
government Of our separate States. II is
new ground this opposition to the Wilmot
proviso -to the Jefferson proviso. The
democratic party had made the discovery
that tho government has no constitutional
right to exclude Slavery from territory
What is the consequence? II lets Slavery
in. II has gone into Kansas, and not only
SO, they intend to extend 1t further, perhaps
to the Canada lines, and if they carry out
their schemes in the Lemon case declaring
against it, and repeating the doctrine long
established by courts, even in Southern
States, that slave holder voluntarily taking
his Slaves into free territory, by that act
emancipates thcm-if this doctrine is car
ricd out, l ask if Slavery is not already cs-
tablished on every inch of soil in the United
States.
Under the democratic laws, Slavery has
gone into Kansas. Citizens OF Missouri
have gone into that territory and have elect
ed Legislature, throwing four-ffths Of the
votes, just as If men from New Hampshire
or New York should come into Maine and
wrcst the ballot-boxes from our officers, and
foist upon us a Legislature foreign to our
wishes and to our soil.
In Kansas those odious laws were sustain
ed by the democratic party, as long as there
was any hope of supporting them, but now
even Clayton and Bell and that class see such
an uprising of the people, that they arc
ready to declare these laws unconstitutional
= inconsistent with a Republican form of
Government. But they waited a long year
before they did anything Of the kind.
Gen. Cas- rose the other day in his place
and said in Washington territory there was
disturbance, that there had been suspen-
sion of the writ of habeas corpus-but near
er home, in the very centre Of the country,
civil war has been raging year, but no
man out of the Republican party has called
attention Of the Senate of House Of Repre-
sentatiyes to the fact.
They tell us now in 1856, that the gov
ernment Of the United States is not for the
spread of freedom. We tell them that the
government should lay the foundation Of
freedom in tho territories and not tho foun-
dation of Slavery. We want to teach them
that territorial governments and great States
will be rising up, having freedom and not
Slavery for their foundations. (Cheers).
Let me say in closing that there is a most
excellent feeling throughout the State, that
the people have a personal individual inter
est in this coming election.
He who shall hereafter undertake to write