Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1857-05-14
29oItttcal.
Judge Wil1cot's Acceptance.
TowANpA, A priI %, 1857.

communication informing me of my NOM
lnation as a candidate for the office of
Governor, by Convention Of the Free
men of Pennsylvania, opposed to the lead
ing measures of the late and present Ma
tional Administrations, which assembled
at the State Capitol on the 25th uIlimo,
together with copy of the declaration of
principles promulgated by that Conven-
/ ton.
| accept the position TO which am cal
led by the unsolicited suffrage of the body
whose organ you are; profoundly grateful
| for so distinguished mark of the conf
dence of my fellow citizens, yet painfully
sensible of my inability properly to meet
its responsible obligations.
The approaching election is one of no
ordinary interest. Important questions of
State policy, affecting the public welfare
and prosperity, are not alone involved in
the issues presented. As one of the lar
gest and most powerful of the sovereign
States of our confederate Republic, tne
honor and interests Of Pennsylvania are
deeply concerned III the principles thai
animate her National Government. She
cannot, with safety 10 her independence
and the liberties Of her people, be indifler-
ent TO the mGmentous questions of Nation
al import in progress OF settlement-ques-
/ tions touching the constitutional powers
! of the Federal Government, and vitality
affecting the dignity and rights of free
labor. Nor can she, without dishonor,
withhold her protest against the wrongs
/ inflicted upon her sons in distant Terri
tory, under The license of Federal author.
! i'y.
The dearest rights Of freemen, secured
by plain, constitutional guarantees, are
/ ruthlessly violated ON the soil of our ma
tional domain. American citizens are
made the victims OF tyranny unknown
! in The despotsms of the old world. The
annals of civilized and Christian nations
furnish no examples of cruelty and out
rage on the part of government towards
It's people, such as has been endured by
the people of Kansas, unless they be found
in The prosecutions of the Huguenots, un-
der Louis the Fourteenth, of France, and
Of the Protestants of the Netherlands, by
the Duke of Alva. under Philip Second,
King of Spain. Indeed, the barbarties 10
which the people of Kansas have been
exposed, were of a character so inhuman
as TO provoke incredulity in the minds of
a large portion of our citizens. Thou
sands have been deceived into the belief
that, for partisan purposes, fctons were
substituted for facts; although no events in
American history are better authenticated
! than are the murders, robberies, arsons,
/ and lawless rapacity Inflicted upon the
! free settlers of Kansas. These outrages
had for their object the subjugation Of that
| Territory to the curse of slavery.
We speak of quiet being restored to
| Kansas, because armed bands of lawless
men do not 10 day infest her highways
and plunder her people-because her towns
are not sacked and the cabins of her set
/ tiers in flames. This peace is deceptive
and insecure. 1t will be broken the mo-
ment that the people of Kansas make a
vigorous effort to recover those rights of
which they have been fraudulenlly and
violently deprived. The purpose of her
enslavement is lnexorably pushed forward.
4 system of ingeniously devised fraud,
kindred to that employed in the usurpa-
ton under which she now groans, is being
carried out for the consummalien of this
great wrong. To this end also the power
Of the Federal Government is basely pros
tituted. We are given acOrdS of fairness,
but persistence in support of the wrong.
Every appointee of the President in Kan
sas is an active co worker in the scheme
for her enslavement.
Principals of eternal truth and Justice,
which lie at the foundation of Christian
civilization. and upon which repose the
rights of humanity, are defantly assailed
by the power that controls in our National
Government. These truths, declara,ory
of the natural and inalienable rights of
man, contained in the Great Charter of
our liberties, are condemned by our high
est judicial authority as unmeaning and
false. The sanctuary of our Courts of
Justice is closed against all entire race of
men, The poor and downtrodden are not
allowed to petition for redress of their
wrongs, in those tribunals of human Gov
ernment that should most nearly represent
the beneficent attributes of the Creator
and final Judge of all men.
In view of these incontestible facts-of
the wrongs perpetrated against the rights
of American citizenship, and the dangers
to which our liberties are 'exposed-lhus
presented in its true aspect--the contest
before us assumes dignity rarely given
to human affairs, and imposes duties upon
our citizens as high and solemn as ever
appealed to the hearts and consciences of
men. The question is before us-f from its
demands there is no escape. Decide we
must either for the right or for the wrong.
Sooner or later the verdict of this great