Weekly hawk-eye and telegraph. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1855-1857, 1856-02-27

Il cannot be expected in Republic, where
everT opinion Is tolerated, that all the views OF
any one citizen will be approved by majority OF
The people, II each one should require the sa-
corporation OF all his individual opinions in |
political platform there wolild be necessity for
as many platforms as Individual voters. And as /
a consequence there could be no decisive cleo I
lions, 10 officers and in the end, no government.
The very genius of Republican form OF gov
ernrnent, requires a Surrender Of minor indi- |
| ritiual opinions one after another, until ma
iorty Of the people can agree in the support OF
| those which remain.
| No one knows better than ven do, that have
| decided convictions of the policy which sup
pose correct administration of the government
requires; which l have never hesitated to ex-
| press that / supported Mr., Clay for The p-esi-
| dency in 1874. Gen. Taylor in ls4s and Gen
Scott in 1882. And see no reason, to-day, for
| a change Of opinion on questions OF national
| policy.
| There is no good reason for sending our raw
! material TO Europe to be manufactured. we
| have In Iowa, along the channels OF the Des
| Mones the Skunk, the iowa, the Cedar, the
| Wapsepinicons, the Maquoketas and the Tur-
key rivers, and of the small rivers of the Nilsson
ri slope, and at the two rapids on the Mississippi
! river near Keokuk and Davenport, enough wa
Ter power to drive all the spindlcs ana looms, and
other machinery of New England and Old Eng
| and combined. And il these were deficient, we
| 1ave exhaustiess coa!-6elds and water Ill album
lance, out of which to manufacture steam
enough 10 drive all the machinery of the world
These streams, too, irrigate about thirty-two
millions of acres of as fertile lands "a can be
found on the face of the earth; where the labor
of the husbandman receives its richest re-
| ward. ..-,. .... .-s. ...
With these natural advantages | am at loss
to perceive the wisdom of transporting our raw
material across half continent to the sea-coas,
thence across the Atlantic to be manufactured,
forwarding in the same manner, bread and meat
10 support the operatives, and then import the
same meteriaI, IN its changed form, back again,
along the same long and perllous line, TO Iowa
Tor consumption leaving the profits growing
out of the increased value of these commodi-
ties over the value of the material in the
old world, to support their decaying systems OF
DespotiSm. We would certainly avoid the
enormous expense of this transportation both
ways by erecting shops and factories on our
own soil, where the bread and meat are pro-
.uced that feeds the workmcn and the raw ma
| erial which we seek to convert into more vaua-
| Die commodities. .......
Nor do now see any reason for an Harestrict-
I'd exercise OF the ''veto power, which, in con-
lcclion with the bestowal of more than fifty
housand lucrative Offices, a self-willed President
nay so use as to cflectually control the Legisa-
ion of Congress.
You know, too, my Dear Sir, that was never
ranked with Sectional agitatorS," as they are
sometimes STYLED by their enemies--never voted
with them, never counseled with them--nor
consulted by them, and that while regarded the
enslavenlent of men, women and children as an
outrage on justice and humanity. | have been
compelled to admit the great practical difficulty
of liberating, suddenly, three millions Of slaves
in such manner as not to result in injury to the
slaves themselves, and great danger to the lives
and property of their former masters. Nor have
, I been able to see how this could be effected
irithim the limits and Jurisdiction of indipidWal
: States by any action of the General Government.
And in these views believe my opinions ac-
corded with those of the people of the United
States.
e But the character of this question has sadly
$ changed Men now claim that Slavery is moral
5 ty right. That its exclusion from the North
u West Territory, embraced at present within the
: limits of five large and powerful States, by the
s ordinance of 1881, and its exclusion from the
Il immense public domain covered by the State o.
n Iowa, the territories of Minnesota, Kansas Ne
d praSka, Oregon and Washington, by various act:
II Of Congress, was unconstitutional and roid.-
c Shareholders have the constitutional right to car
e ry with them their property i'll the bodies anI
= spirits Of their fellow into all the territories
:, belonging to the government Of the CniteC
d States, any lar Of Congress to the contrary not
l, ,cithStandiag! And all who differ with them i!
J. opinion, are denounced by administration paper
VI and administration conventions all over thu
I, country, the victims Of the ride&t taaaiicisn'
d Dr as the authors of the riiest treason. Evcl
u he President of the United States as if he hat
II orgotten that he is the Chief Magistrate Of thu
}, NATION, and not the mere leader of a party. il
l. IN official communication to the American Sen
e ,'e and House OF Representatives, styles all o
T. us fellow countrymen who oppose the extension
}! slavery to free territory, Seventies Of The Lo.,
.tt,tion," and those who advocate it 'M
$ friends Of the Unjon."
e All great questions of National Policy wacI
: hitherto have divided the American people, seen
= have been ignored by this Administration, AM
l. ii The power OF the government appears 10 hi
Il Untcntraieh to sustain the doctrine OF "SJWG'
=, r. !SopereigatY;" which simply means that ton
i 'e'2, the law making power under the Constitl
{ Ion OF the United States, shall be robbed 0
., he right TO make laws Tor her ferris cries
n hat this right to lcg>laie all questions affect
n ing not ONLY the right of person and of proper
:" of all her citizens in the territories, bu! als'
= ,lecting the marketable raiue of her 2,~btic do
2, min, shall be surrendered 10 persons owe
/ those legislative acts Congress shall no
h 'NcrciSc even a supervisory control.
Il Had England France or Spain denied the full
: md complete and conc'asipe sovereignty of tn,
II United States in any OF her own territories b,
= my national act, this government would have re
~. rarded it as ',just cause for war" But thu
u riends of the present Administration make tn,
> road denial with impunity. It's northern
= friends locate this sovereignty with tho Cover
- nor, Council and House OF Representatives o
= zach territory, who are all the stipendarcs o
" he General Government, and derive all thci
:, powers from Congress-; and hence could no
- possibly derive power which Congress never pos
i ;csscd. Is Southern friends locate coinpet,
= sovereignty over the territories nowhere, an,
! 'o;h classes seem resolved to cnt Off dspassion
81 Ne argument by asSaiing all who agree on th
subject with Jefferson and the Fathers OF the Re
i, 'ahc, as 'enemies Of the Constitution and of tn
- Ouioa'
- And now allow me to conclude this hasty let
h ter, by saving that | woald not willingly permit
* he President of the United States, by an unrc
n strained exercise of the veto power to oycrShad
Il dow Congress- would ! 20 legslate tC
@ compel nearly thirty millions of American free
IT. men, to carry Oh the mechanic arts and the man.
J., aactories, necessary to suppl, their wants, three
: thousand miles from home beyond an intervc
!. ming ocean: | would not thus keep abroad the
d more intelligent, useful, and yirtuoas portion Of
V the population OF Europe, who are virtually i'll
r our employ, while we receive hundreds of thou
n sands of those SO much less desirable; nor
n would willingly dethrone CongreSs-'that SUI
II prcme power in the United States, which may
command what is right and prohibit what is
II wrong, in any part Of her territories. would
!. not deprive the only law making power known
p 10 the constitution of the power to make ali
=. neediul rules and regulations for the territories.
- would not by any act OF mine, expose free ter
. ritory to the whitening, biighting influence OF
4 slavery.
d But am not one Of those who must hare al
e of these, and kindred measures No
a sir, / am prepared to surrender, for the time
II being, after another Of cherished measures,
,, if need be, until but shut remain on which a
1t majority of the people can agree. This course
If ! seems to ME to be dictated by wisdom and II
e sound discretion Should the friends Of the adj
Il minis;ration triumph, ,ce shall loose al. If, by
=, forbearanee and mutual concession Sc
If the establishment of but great matt aa
riHeiple,-never denied previous 10 the passage
l. of the kansas-N Act, the complete, fuii
s and erc!aessse sovereignty of the United States
}, throughout az her oga territories" until they
i shall have been received into the Union as Soy