Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1857-03-20
THE CHRONICLE.
FRIDAY. MARCH 20, 1857.
Strides of Desp0tism.

ioLh lG!IStdIIuLiS tiiJ iuIpLSlSlCHSN VI
its practice towards a few, it was
deemed impossible for the Union to
prevent that admitted wrong. But
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Mar
shall. and the other Fathers of the
Country and Founders of the Consti-
tuition did agree in the policy and the
power Of preventing the EXTENSION Of
tnat moral and political evil. Under
the operation Of that principle, thus
far. the North Western States. Iowa,
and the Pacific Coast have been pre-
served from the curse of Slavery.
OF late, this policy is reversed
the principles Of our fathers are scou-
ted. Slavery is advocated as a right
and as a blessing. The power Of
Congress to prohibit it is unqualifi
cdIy denied, and the rights of States
to protect themselves against it are
practically nullitied.
. No sooner was its choice seated in
the Presidential Chair, than Slavery
took another aggrcssivestep. Directly
in the teeth Of all its former decisions,
the slave-holding majority Of the Su-
premc Court not only declare all the
former acts of Congress against Slav-
cry to be illegal, bat in denying that
Dred Scott and his family became free
when voluntarily taken to free soil,
F they virtually decree that the Nom
Slavc-holding States can not prevent,
even within their own borders, the
holding Of human beings in the worst
Of bondage. Now, if Slavery may
pollute and blacken our soil one day,
it NAV two days, five days, ten days,
one hundred days, or thousand days
in a word, it aboliShes the sovereign
ty and equality of the States, by max
ing the local laws and institutions Of
the Slave States superior to those Of
4 the Free Statco
Drcd Scott and his family were by
the laws of the United States and by
the laws Of Illinois, FREE. But they
were NOT free by the laws Of Missou-
ri. and the slave-holding Court decree
that the slave-holding States laws
shall override the laws not only Of
Illinois but also Of Congress
Let us follow out the new principle
thus attempted to be imposed upon us
the second day Of the Administration
Of James Buchanan. If Slaves may
be HELD here, they may be WORKED
or HIRED OUT here, in degrading and
offensive and ruinous competition with
Free Labor and if HELD and HIRED
here there will be no difficulty in hav-
ing them BOUGHT and SOLD here!
In short, these slave-holding Judges
would reduce proud free Pennsylvania
down to the level of Nirginia-would
make the Free States hunting grounds
for men, and fill them with shambles
for the sale Of human hesh-and qua
rantee to Toombs his boasted threat
to ''call the roll Of his slaves on Bun
ker Hill ~
This movement threatens more
to the peace of the Union, than any
previous assault of Slavery. None
ofthese slave-holding Judges will live
in history for their learning or their
genius they will be remembered Gas
Scroggs and Jeffries are) as tools in
the hands of Tyranny. The Chief Of
them all-R. B. Taney-was put in
power not for his virtue or abilities,
but as a reward for his subserviency
in performing an arbitrary act which
a free-born law-abiding son of Penn
sylvania dared not do. He is also a
Roman Catholic and the harmony
which exists between religious and
political despotism, is illustrated in
IllS dS IL was Ill Tic ulIiOI VI SdtuOI-
icism and Slavocracy on Buchanan.
EJ- A singular freak the Supreme
Court has been committing; for, not sat-
isfsd with kicking bred Scott, his wife
and two daughters out Of their august and
serene presence, they proceed forthwith,
under the impulse Of the moment, to kick
out, knock down, and break things gen.
erally, in true stakeholder style. Scott
and family having been kicked out, there
,Cas no case before the Court. Upon the
point of the weight to be attached to the
extra judicial opinions of the Court, Judge
Mclean, in his dissenting opinion, thus
expresses himself:
ain this case, a majority Of the Court
have said that slave may be taken by
his master into a territory of the United
States, the same as horse or any other
kind of property. 1t is true this was SAID
by the Court, as also many other things,
,ohich are Of no authority. Nothing mat
has been said by them, which has not a d.
rect bearing on The jurisdiction Of the Court,