Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1856-01-10

Union. You all remember how, hotw;h.
standing your protests and mine, 1t was
urgently, violently, clamorously ratified and
coRfrmed, as a full, fair, final, and per-
lpelual adjustment, by the two great Political
conventions o. the country, re,resenting
the whole people Of the United States, as.
sembied at Baltimore in 1857 and how
the heroic and generous Scott was rejected
to bring into the Presidency one whe might
more safely be trusted TO defend and pre-
serve aud establish it foteyer.
! Nevertheless, scarcely one year had
elapsed, before the privileged class, using
come oil our representatives, ~ thei
insirUr" ents, broke up not only this Com
promise Of 1850, but even the Compromise
Of 1920 and the Ordinances of 1887, and
obtained the declaration of Congress, that
all these settlements, 30 far as they we're
adverse 20 the privileged class, were un-
constitutional usupn,ions Of legislsties--
power.
| do not stop to s!isnslize or even TO
/ characterize these sggressions. OF what
use would it be to charge perfdy- when
! the losses we deplore have resulted from
| our own imbeciIiiy ard eowerCice! co
]
| do, upon the a;rocious usurpation OF the
government o: Kansas by the slavehoders
! OF Missouri, nor even on the barsarous and
/ tyrannical code which they have establish
ed 10 stde FreedvR in that Territory, nor
even yet Oh the fraudulent aud nefarious
connignnce of the President with the us.
urpers. Nor will draw into tbis picture.
already too dsrkIy shaded, tho persopai
hnmiliatiuns which daily come home to
yourselves in the condact Of your own az.
fairs. You are commended 5y an uncon-
siiiutioRai law Of Congress 10 seize and de-
liver up 10 the members Of that privileged
class their fugitive slaves, under paia of
imprisonment and forfeiture vi your estates.
lou may not interpOse between the armed
shareholder and the wounded slave, to pre-
vent his being murdered, without com.ag
under arrest for treason, nor may y oa cove
his naked and lacersted limbs except by =
stealth. You hsse fought twenty years,ana
with but partial success, fer the coRsiau-
tional right to lay y,ur remons;ranc'ss on
the table of Congress. You may rLt tell
the freed slave who reaches your ,horders
tiat he is free, without being ,seizstd by
Fedaral Court, and condemned, witkoui =
trial or even an accusation, to an mpfisefs<.
ment without bail or nsinprize, and with
out Limitation of sentence. Your repre-
senteti2es in either House CT Congress must
speak with ha,ed breath aad humble coun-
tenance in presence of the representa-
OF the privileged class, lest justice be de-
med 10 ycut cid soldiers when they claim
their pensions, or 10 your iasoreys whep
they claim the performance of their contracts
with the Government. The President of
the United States is reduced 10 the posi-.
tion of deputy of the privileged class,
emplyi.g the treasury and msrshaiing
battaions aud ships of war to tragoon yeu
into the execution of the Fug,ive Slave
Law on the one hand, while he removes
Governors and Judges, at their 4eenlmand,
who attempt to maintain iawfuis and con-
stitutional resistance against them in tho
Territory OF Kansas. The Vice President
o; the United States and the Speaker of
the House of Representatives, are safe men
whom the privileged clsss san trust in every
case. The care of the judiciary of the
Territories; and even of lhe foreign reis-
tiuns, is intru5tsd in either House to az
sured supporters Of that class. Protection
is denied to your wool, while it is freely
given to the shareholders sugar. Millions
of acres OF the public domain are freely
given to Alabama, for railroads, and even
as gratuities, while not dollar can be OBJ
tanned to remove the rocks of He'll Gate
and the sands OF the Oyerslaugh, or the
( bars in Lake ST. Clair or in the mouths of
your Lake harbors. Canada lying all along
/ YOUR northern borders, must not even be
/ coked upon, lest you may lust after it,while
millions upon millions are ayished in wsr
and diplomacy to annex and spread Slavery
over Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Mexico,
Cuba, and Central America. Your liberty
of Speech where is it! Nou may not, with
out severe rebuke, speak of cespotsm in
/ foreign lands, lest the slave overhear you
on the plantations of the privileged class
| or the foreign despot visit them, in rctalia
ton for your unavaiiing sympathy. The
national Gag, the emblem OF universal lio-
I erty, covers cargoes OF slaves not only
Tgar- own view, OLt tlaunts defiance owe
them in foreign ports. Judges of the Unit
ed States Courts, safe under the protection
OF the President and the Senate, charg,
juries, in advance o any question, that oh.
n1xicus aud Unequal Federal laws are con-
sttutonal and obligatory; they give counsel
10 legislative tadIes how to frame laws
which they will sustain, instead of waiting
| to review those laws when enacted. They
evea convert the writ OF Freedom TO an
engine of Slavery, and they pervert the
power of furnishing Irregularities committed
| in their presence into the machinery of a
tyranny as oiiousiss that of the Star Cham
ser. The privileged class in Virginia i'm
prison your seamen in their ports, IN retail
| iation for the independence of your exc,
cutive authorities; and you ara already in d
doubtful struggle for the Eight to exclude
the traffic in slaves rom your own borders.
will only asa, in concluding lbs hu-
initiating reh earsal, whether there is not in tbs
favored country privileged class; whether
/ il dies not EIand on an enturin. founda-
| t.on; whether it i. not growing stronger g.
stronger, while the unprivi!sgcd class grows
weaker and weaker; whether its further
growth and extent would not be, not merely
detrimental, bu, dangerous; and wheths
there ia any hope to arrest that growth 4
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