Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1857-09-17
From the st. Louis Democrat.
The Presidents Letter.

u genJlemeu OF NeW EHSiduu, WuO Az
lressed him in behalf of the cause of free
1om in Kansas, will be found in another
column. We have delayed its publica-
ton until now, hoping almost against
hope, that the official copy would turn out
somewhat different from the telegraphic
report; but that has been received and we
ma ourselves disappointed. 1t is neither
more nor less than solemn act of submis-
sion 10 the nullifiers at the South. In
stead OF being addressed to Mr.. Silliman
it should have been addressed to Mr. Ke;tt
for it bears evidence in every line of bay.
ing been intended for the latter rather than
the former. The President is said 10 Io-
Dor under an obliquity of vision. If this
be so, we can well picture that in penning
it, the clear and straight eye was leyelled
at New Haven; the cooked and sinister
optic was cast upon Charleston. With
nothing about it characteristic of state
paper, unless it be diplomatic combina-
tion of plausibility and hypocrisy, it has
yet the grave and deplorable aspect of a
document which reflects the cowardice and
not the courage of the country. 1t shuns
the facts which it processes to elucidate;
it lodges behind conventional forms to
palliate and uphold gross enormities; it is
oblivious to all the natural rights of men
and citizens, but yet can see the divinity
of slavery clearly apparent in every sylla-
BILE of the constitution, and whilst it might
exude with propriety form the merest
tapeworm in some circumlocution Office, it
is not fit to be put forth as the voice of the
First Magistrate of this nation. If it were
simply compromise in advance with the
secession wing of the democracy in the
coming Congress, we might treat it with
leniency and contempt; but it amounts to
n surrender to them of the fact, the right,
the doctrine, the government, and what is
more important still, the destiny and Gber-
ties of all the territories of the Union, and
such a branch of confidence should not be
passed over in silence. 1t was urged by
Mr.. Buchanan's friends as reason why
he should be nominated by the Cincinnati
convention, that he was compelled TO
cheat somebody, and as matters stood,
there was none he could cheat save the
disunionists-his enemies" He has more
than fulfilled expectation. He has cheat
ed both his enemies and his friends. He
began by deceiving the radicals in his ap-
pointments; he has ended by deceiving
the liberals in his administration. Even
Brigham Young has been treated to a
touch of duplicity in passing, for he will
find all his preparations to resist the
United States, and maintain his polyga-
nous kingdom in defiance of federal au-
thorities, to be labor thrown away, as the
expedition to Utah has been Abandoned
The army will be quartered for another
year upon Kansas.
Apart from the fact, that the document
before us endorses and sustains all the ac-
ton of the Pierce administration, it is
chiefly noticeable, from the following dec
laration. We quote the words. "SlaYery
existed at that period, and still exists in
Kansas under the constitution of the United
States. This point has at last been deci-
ded by the highest tribunal known to our
laws. How il could ever have been seri-
ously doubted is mystery" This is the
extreme ultra Calhoun doctrine in its lar
gest signifcation. 1t is the 'perambulato-
ry constitution" of which Col. Benton
spoke so severely and contemptuously in
his speech upon the repeal of the compro-
mise. 1t were needless now to discuss it
anew; for it has been the theme of dis
cussion until it is worn threadbare. 1t is
simply an annunciation, in general words,
of the principle that under the federal COM
pact slavery goes of course to the terrific
ties, but freedom cannot 90 there under
any circumstances. The address to Mr.
Buchanan was based upon the notorious
fact of legislative power in Kansas having
been assumed by invaders from Missouri,
and the still further fact, that the people
there were still held subjects to those en-
actments. They demand selfgovernment
and the right to choose their own rulers
and form their own laws. To all this, the
President puts up the poor plea that slave
ry has been established there, no matter
how; but omits to add that he is maintain
ing it there, in despite the popular will, by
DISTINGUISHING citizens, prescribing bona
fde residents, manufacturing a spurious
registry and sustaining in all with the army
of the United States, as posse comitat1s.
How strange are the vacillations of men.
When Mr.. Buchanan was nominated for
the presidency, an address from him was
shown about the convention in circular
form, containing the following significant
passage relating 10 Kansas affairs. -
"What man in the United States, who
values his character, will rise among his
fellow citizens and seriously urge the re-
peal of law declaring that the majority
shall govern? None, not one. l repeat,
we have reached the finality of the ques-
ton. We have arrived at the elementary
principle of freedom, that the majority
shall govern-a principle essential to hb-
erty, andas unchangeable as liberty ITSELF"
How does bis action now comport with
his declaration then; and yet it was that
position alone which placed him in antag-
onism with Mr.. Pierce, and secured him
the nomination at the hands of the De-
Of the Northern States. But
why pursue a matter so selfevident. The
future of all this we cannot forsee, but its
most natural consequence would be to in
stall Mr.. Keitt, of South Carolina, as the
leader of the administration forces in the
next Congress, and perhaps to elevate him
TO the speakership.
For our own part, We have more than
ever reason to congratulate ourselves upon
The independent position assumed by the