Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1856-05-29
8tlmollt Chronicle,
8. R. COWEN, --- EDITOR.
:'Eterndl hostility to every form oftyr-
amy over the mind of Man,
Thursday Morning, May %, 1856
The ] ssue.


following proposition:
Democrats are in favor of the principle Of Po-
pular Sovereignty embodied N the Kansas Ne.
braska Rill-the right of the sovereign reople OF
| each State and Territory to establish and regulate
their institutions. subject only to the paramount
authority of the Constitution"
democrats are in favor Of the principle O.:
Popular Sovereignty" This may be true,
but of one thing we are very certain-that
is, they are bitterly hostile to carrying that
principle into practice. The facts sustain
US in this assertion. Persons from the
States 90 to Kansas expecting to have an
equal voice in controlling all the domestic
affairs OF the Territory; electing officers, &C..
&c. Instead of this they find Governor
sent them from distant State, Secretary
placed in power by hands not their own land
Judges installed above them by individuals
who never set foot in the Territory. True
thev have had in Kansas something called
BY courtesy, an election, at which the ac-
tual settlers were driven by violence from
the polls, and the armed residents of Mis-
souri, took possession of the ballot boxes ,and
did as they pleased generally. This is
called. in bitter irony, 'squat'er sovereignty
Again, having served short probation as
"a Territory, the people Of Kansas form
State Constitution, republican in form, and
ask to be admitted into the Union. Their
petition is houted at in the Senate Chamber
and they are stigmatized as traitors. Their
leaders are arrested on charge of treason.
and are to be put on trial for their lives
All this, 100, for assuming the power, which
the Democracy say they have, of regulating
their own domestic affairs in their own way
In reference to the chances of Kansas be-
coming Free or Slave State, the Gazette
says:
Even the more candid of the Republi-
cans now admit that Kansas will be a free
state''
About three weeks since the Gazette said
about the same thing. Is it possib that
the editor is so ignorant of Kansas affairs
as to make that assertion! Can he be ig-
norant Of the fact that his political friends
in Kansas have enacted laws in the Terri
tory establishing slavery there, and establish
ing it with high and bloody hand. If he
is we will endeavor to enlighten him.
The twelfth section of the act entitled
"An act to punish offences against slave
property" declares that:
IF any free person. by spaakingor by wiring
assert nrm1intain that DersnnS have no, the right
TO hold slaves in this Territory shall introduce
into This Territory, print. publish. wr'e circulate,
or cause irtr oduced into this Territory. written,
printed. published. or circulated in this Territory,
any book paper. mngnzine. pamphlet, or circular
any denial of the right of persons to
hold slaves in this Territory. such person shall be
deem-d guilty of felony. and ,be punished by IN
prisonment at hard labor for Of not less than
two years"
The 18th section of the same act is as fol-
lows:
mo person who is conscientoasly op posed to
holding slaves. or who does not admit the right to
hold slaves in this Territory; shall sit Juror on
the trial OF anv prosecrt tions for any violation Ct
any OF the sections OF this act "
BY these enactments it will be seen that
slavery exists in Kansas the same way it
exists in Virginia, by law. 1t can exist in
no other Day. If under the beautiful work.
ing of that fascinating buble "squatter SOW
slavery is instit tied in the Terri
.ory, what safeguard is there to prevent its
being instituted in the State. If the actual
Will Of the people is dis-egarde1 and violat-
ID without calling on the Federal authori tie
o interfere, what assurance have we that
he same state of things will not prevail
when Kansas is made State,
"The Republicans are afraid of the 2eo-
,le," quoth the Gazette. On the contrary,
he inference is that the Democracy are not
frad of the people, but Ike their brethren
n Missouri, they do just as they please, :
egardless Of law or precedent. The
thank God, are the people; 2
hey have the interests of the people in a
lew, and are laboring constantly for their
Elevation.
But we come to the main subject of the
id2ette- Examiner article: "The Issue"
nd we shall dismiss it in very few words.
The issue according to the Gazette, is the
octrine 0: ''Squatter Sovereignty" Now :,
he Richmond Enquirer is equally as good "
Democratic authority as the st. Clairsville b
faeeite or the Washington Examiner, and I
equally as prominent before the country.
n the Enquirer of April 9th, there appear :,
an article from which we take the fol-
owing article. We leave il to these "har-
lonious" members of the same family to II
ettle it. We do think however, they :, :,
hould know what they are fighting about q,
efure they commence the war. But read dc
he following article carefully: br
"Among the fair but false and fatal theo-
es of the day, none attracts so much homage -,
5 the "Squatter Sovereignty" curtezan,- -,
here are none so radiant with meretricious ~ ~
larms, none 50 ready with deceitiul prom ~, w.
e, and none so sure to cover their victim At
it'll shame and reproach. The sovereignty
the people is a noble principle, and shou Id 80
,mmand universal homage. "Squatter ~
overeignty" is an imposture, a counterfeit ,h
py, an ugly idol wrought by mans hands oh -
I'd should be kicked off the pedestal where w w
sits in mock majesty and courts the ado ~
ton of fools and demagogues. y"
ave cannot conceive how any doubt can
ise as to full, perfect, unlimited, and SOW SC
eign power Of the Federal Government of ~,
e Territory of Kansas as the agent or wv
cstee of the existing States. BY the pur- ,;o
I and thn cuhsopuant Wv