Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1857-02-05

made merchandise. These are my senti-
ments, honestly entertained and frankly
have no apology to make to
the member from Mississippi, or the Demo-
cratic party, TO mankind, or to my Creator,
for these honest convictions of my inmost
convictions of my inmost soul. l regret
to see Republicans stand here and apollo
piize for their dislike of an institution hated
Of God and detested by all good men. It
was for the maintenance of these senti-
ments that our fathers met the hosts of
Britain upon unnumbered battle-fields.
They shed their blood to uphold these doc
trine; and shall their descendants apologize
for entertain them?
This equality of right amoung all men
to life and liberty is the rock on which the
Republican church is erected, and neither
the gates of hell nor the Democracy shall
prevail against it. rl
l know that the Democratic party deny
this equality of rights. If they do not
believe in the divine right of Kings, they
certainly believe in the divine right of slave
holders. Even the President in his mes
sage, claiming to represent the people of
the United States generally, and the Dem
ocracy in particular, speaks of men enslaved
as property; degrades man, with his intel
lectual Immortality, to the same rank IN
the scale of beings as cattle and swine. 1t
is rank infidelhy-in -infdelity to God and
manking.
/ now pass to the next point of our Re-
publican platform. The second resolution
further reads as follows: --., ..e.-..-..
THAT as our Republican fathers, when they
Lad abolished Slavery in all our Territories, or
dained that mo person shall be deprived of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law.
it becomes our duty to maintain this provision
of the Constitution against all attempts to vlo-
late it. for the purpose of establishing Slavery
in apy Territory of the United States, by posi-
tive legislation prohibiting its existence or ex-
tension therein. -s r--
Here we reach the important and practi-
cal issue which presses upon us at this time.
desire to call attention to this issue upon
maintaining the Constitution of the coun-
try The Republicans insist that this Or
dained will of those who framed the Con-
that "No person shallbe deprived
of life, liberty, or property, acithoat due
process of law," shall be maintained; that
wherever our Federal power extends, there
the Constitution shall be upheld. The
Democrats take issue with US. They in
sist that in Kansas and other Territories
of the United States, men may be enslav-
ed, robbed of their earnings, deprived of
their liberty, without process Of law; and
if they resist the commission of those
crimes, they may be murdered, deprived of
life at the will of the pretended owner, with
out process of law. l am not now dis
cussing collateral matters; call attention
10 fundamental truths. Shall this consti-
tutional decree, which is in perfect harmo-
ny with the conscience of every honest and
intelligent man, in harmony with the rights
of mankind, in harmony with the laws of
nature and of natures God, be maintained |?
1t is an important question. Have the
American people the virtue, the firmness
of purpose, the intelligence, and the patri-
otism, to maintain this constitutional pro-
vision? 4- Fa=
By the Kansas-N Nebraska BILL we extend
ed over those Territories the criminal code
of the United States, and declared the Con-
stitution to be in force there; but the De-
mocratic party, while swearing to sustain
the Constitution n its generals and in all
its details, turn round, and say We have no
right to exclude the crime Of Slavery.
That greatest of all crimes, of all trans
gressions, must be permitted. If a man
rob another of his money, he is confined in
prison for years; but if he rob him of the
earnings of his life, of his liberty, his intel
ligence, his wife, his children, his manhood,
the offender is to be projected, and the
Constitution is not to be enforced. They
deny that this Territorial Government was
constituted to secure men the enjoyment of
life, liberty, and happiness; that the objects
and designs of human government are
spurned, and the laws of God and nature
are set at defiance. @
Against those who endeavor to defeat
the intentions of our fathers, the Republi-
cans (the friends of Liberty have waged
an unceasing, determined warfare. Our
association is of recent date. 1t differs
from all other parties formed since the
adoption of the Constitution, in this: it is
based upon the rock of eternal, unchang-
ing Truth, "Li6erty and equal justice to
all men," Our cause is upheld and sus-
tanned by the patriot the philosopher,
the philanthropist, the Christian. We
hold the commandment of Him who
spake as never man spake, when he declar-
ed "Ihou shall lore thy neighbor as thy
self" it is binding upon politicians as up
on ministers of the gospel or members of
churches. And he who consents that one
man may enslave another, can have no
claim to be called q follower of him who
commanded that "Whatsoevcr We would
that men should do TO you, do ye even SO
unto them" Men, who deny these doc
trines must be regarded as outlaws from
the commonwealth of Christianity. With
these doctrines and principles as the basis
of our Republican organization, we have
increased in numbers, and in moral and
political power, with arapidity unknown in
the political history of nations. Republi-
cans now occupy the Executive depart
ments of fourteen sovereign States, compris-
ing more than two-thirds of the free popu-
lation of the Union, and a far greater por-
ton of the wealth, of the moral and phys
ical power of the nation. In this Hall, a
large plurality of the members are with us.
-Four hundred newspapers and periodicals
are now constantly laying truth before the
people. Ministers who preach the gospel
of "Peace. on earth, good wiW towards