Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1856-06-20
Call for q State Convention.
10 ti.E PIE CT MAINE.

whom vii b. committed the care and direc-
tt3n o! civil affairs in the State and Nation.
! ire people will ever sacredly prize the
]. s.'tand power of selecting their own rulers.
" LeheVer th J cease to value thi, privilege.
cir liberties are without safeguards, and
the government under which they live can
not he distant from certain ruin To the
| Fri ntism and heroic spirit Of our ancestors.
and to the favor of a benignant Providence,
ar We indebted for the best system of GOV
'rnnent IN the world Only by blindness
and degeneracy that would be shameful in
'e extreme, c,ln W. be Indifferent to the
Preservation of the inestilnable boon which
h Is o''n con initt'l t, our charge. To guard
our Liberties and Laws from abuse and peril.
Is duty no less imperative than to strike
d ,wn the scepter of kings, and to drive the
Invader from our shores.
At no reriod since lis establishment has
this government been in such imminent peril
~ at the pr sent timr. 4 direct attack on
the form Of government. is not more danger
oas to its pcrpetuty, than a; gross p,ryersion
and abuse Of its powers, to purposes alto-cth-
"f foreign to its spirit and original design.
Far safer could it bear the violence of a pow
erful external foe, than to withstand the
workings of an enemy which insidiously finds
It's way into all the places Of honor, power
and trast, and bends the Constitution and
LAWS to ends fatal to the peace Of the repub-
he. and utterly subyersiye Of those rights and
interests for which the revolutionary fathers
50 freely offered their blood and treasure.
Nothing is clearer from its history and its
form. than that our government was estai-
lished to ''secnrp the blessings of Liberty"
and was designed to be democratic govern
ment, its grand chart and Interpretation to
be found in the Declaration Of Independence.
The power which is to-day the controlling
onein American politics, exerts itself 10 make
this, In effect, an aristocratic repuhlic,-thus
- narrowing its base, and perverting its Spir-
it, as TO ren1 -r it practically as offensive to
fraemen as monarchy itself It is vain to de-
ny that the Slave Power is, of itself, pure
and unmitigated despotism. Its aggression s
have somultipi,d, within TIE last few years,
that the coolest and IN IS: cons ,rvatve minds
are now deeply alarmed for the safety of the
Union. Oar forhsarance aud compromises
witt it have only paved ths way for new ag-
l,ressions and m re imrerious mands The
repeal Of the Missouri Compromise was Il
stride Of dcspotic power that has poured Il
tide of evils on our country which no Ian
gnage can adequately describe. and no human
mind fully comprehend. T, break down tnat
wall of Frr'-lom, which guarded the imm.,ls
territories Of the Northwest from the ar.et
Of evils, was "A crime of far greater masni-
tad. than that which brought Charles the
First /, the block. "r that which caused our
fathers To take up arms against the king and
I-lrlia,n mt Of England The outrages which
ave occurred i'll Kansas since the passage of
the Yrbrt,ka hill. indicate for what purpose
that breach of faith was committed To in
wade the territory Of a free people, Ia sack
and barn their tow.is, to commit rob5cries
aud nurdrrs. 10 destroy free speech and
rse rr 50, can only u the d. is Of despotism
II this work Of evil and violence. has been ex-
ortsd the force Of the Nttionai Administra-
ton. To the approval Of tbs violence and
wrong has been committed the Convention
which at Cincinnati nominated James Bu-
chanan to the Presidency of the United
Stltes, and the full force of the dominant par
" in this STATE. To the end orscment of this
rand, outrage and crime. has been given the
influence of the present State administration.
Not content with endorsing the rereal of
the Missouri Compromise, and the violence
and injustice perpetrated in Kansas not con-
tent with the adoption Of measures prejudi-
cial to good order and to the moral and ma
terial interests of the State, the administra-
ton of Samuel Wells has made war on the
Supreme Court, that venerable citadel of JUS
tice and Law around which cluster 80 many
associations and interests, cherished as sacred
against the violence OF yapial hands that
would beat it DOWN for factious and party
purposes. In wantonly and illegally remov-
ing an honest and capable judge for an honest
opinion, the late Legislature and the present
Executive Of the Stat, inflicted an irreparable
blow on our judicial system, AMI caused mis-
eaiefs who's, consequences will be of lasting
duration. We have that confidence in the
cool Judgment and moral sense Of a majority
OF our fellow-citizens, which leads us to be-
lieve that they will visit the authors of this
high outrage with their unmistakable disap-
probation.
To take efficient action against these State
and Nationaa abuses and wrongs, the citizens
of Maine, without distinction of PARTY, and,
regardless OF former differences of opinion
who are opposed to the repeal Of the Missouri
Compromise, to the anarchic,.l and dangerous
doctrines of the Cincinnati platform, to the
extension of slavery in the territories of the
United States, in favor of freedom in Kansas,
Of the preservation of the Union, and of re
storing the government to the principles and