Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1856-01-19
MONDAY, JAN. IA, 1856.
rHK PRHsIDENf's MESSAGE. ;


we encounter it. We think we have seen
very creditable specimens Of the article in Min.
nesota. We have furthermore seen the "Only"
Wise hold the rod over his Northern servi.ors
to remind them of their vassalage and rebuke
them for presumins to talk Of Slavery and to
act courteously and decently without his per.
mission. We have read the Rev. Mr.. Breck-
enridge'slessons torefractory Northern states
men. We have Witnessed with admiration the
princely, patronizig style in which Southern
members of Congress use their lackeys as long
as is convenient, and then incondnently cast
them aside as they would old boots. We have
exemplify the doctrine Of Squatter Sovereign
ty in Kansas for unqualified, unapproach-
able, magnificent, Refreshing impudence, we
shall forever despair of meeting anything to
match that which ventilates through three NOR
tai columns Of Frank Pierce's last annual mes
sage. t.r.....i.. -a 1904.
On acceding to the Presidential chair, Mr..
Pierce found the country at peace and compar-
atively exempt from Slavery agitation; and af-
ter promising to maintain this state of things,
among his first acts laid ruthless hands upon a
time-honored compact which preserved our Ter
ritories sacred to Freedom; and now, after
having Frustrated his official patronage to JUS
tify the actin the face Of the scenes of wrong
and outrage against liberty-loving citizens
growing out of that iniquitous deed-after his
connivance at the acts of the Missouri marau-
ders-his treatment of the intrepid Reeder and
his sacrifice Of every man suspected of prefer
ring Liberty to Slavery, he has the efrontery
to arraign the people of the North for refusing
their assent to his infamous proceedings.
If robber attack you on the highway and
you essay defence and your assailant there
upon upbraids You as sectional and fanatical
disturber of The peace:-or if an undertaken in
fastening down the cofin-lid, is resisted by the
supposed corpse, and thereupon lectures the in
termeddling fanatic for presuming to be alive
against the peace and deliberate conviction
Of death-abiding citizens. a parallel is afforded
of the policy now attempted to be forced upon
the free people of the North. Their extraor-
dinary growth and prosperity is source Of an
noyance to the chivalry, and there must be a
periodical division of power in order to check
their pace to the retrograde march Of Slavery.
They can do nothing right They have COM
mitted the objectionable sin of prefer-ing Free
dom to Slavery and no expiatory measures will
avail them. The President has no words of
admonition or reproof for the South. They can
throttle free speech-they can go on with the
seizure and sale of Northern citizens they can
use Federal Judges for ensaving Bond and
Free-they can convert every inch Of our
country into hunting grounds for their slaves.
They are exempt from human frailt;es. They
are eminently national, patriotic, unassuming
and wise. Shareholders are the only exem-
plars Of MISUNDERSTANDING and slave
catching the essential duties Of ,freemen.
Throughout the fore part Of his Message the
President maintains digniied tone and we
might almost imagine man to be back Of the
words, but it soon becomes apparent that his
self-possession is the result of his conscious
ability to outbid all competitors for Southern
support and reach lower depth of abjectness
than any heretofore attained. In fawning up
on his masters the President fairly crawls in
the dust, and there is an acerbisy and favor in
his anger with the North that he imagines must
tell for him amazingly in the South. A wise
man might profit by the sad experience Of
Webster and learn that the spirit Of Slavery is
as ungrateful as it is Unsuitable and unscrupu-
lous.
The President takes "Squatter Sovereignty
under his especial protection. He labors to
identify national interests with the free scope Of
Slavery. Slavery being national, concessions
must always come from on-slaveholders.-
Their prejudices in favor Of the righ. Of every
man to his wages blind them TO the national
duty of slave-catching, and they must be
"crushed out =" accordingly. 1t was wrong for
the North to resist the Compromise of 1920
wrong for them to resist the Compromises Of
lS50-then wrong for them to resist the dis
turbapce Of those Compromises, and finally
most wrong for them to avail themselves Of the
advantages Of '.Squatter Sovereignty by a
peaceful and legitimate settlement of the Ter.
ritories. 1t must be perfectly clear that in a
free government the most henious offence is a
genuine love Of freedom! The sole duty Of
the North is an unquestioning submission to
the inscrutable DEGREES Of the Slave Power.
The President insists on the absolute equali.
ty Of the States, but has nothing to say in favor
Of the equality Of the people His policy prac-
tically gives to nev Naue STATE, holding foe
sirths Of its people in Nauevy, political posOer
four times as great as a Free State With the
same number Of free men! Thus in our Dem
ocratic Republic is offered a bonus for the most
arrant despotism. Thus, moreover, is afforded
at once an illustration of this beautiful scheme
Of Popular Sovereignty and the estimate put
by its authors upon the Selative claims Of ty-
rants and lovers of liberty!
Now we have innocently believed that pro-
| lection to the lives and Liberties Of the Uhole
people was among the legitimate objects Of a
free government; and inasmuch as "every man
is entitled to as much liberty as does not con-
flict with the rights Of another" any new State,
II r l. =