Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1857-01-15

people. Returns or taXaDlcS, required 10 De
made by the different counties, have not all
been forwarded to this Department, as by law
directed. Circulars have been issued to the
officers charged with these duties urging their
speedy performance, and the returns will, as
soon as received, be transmitted to you.
The elective franchise is the highest and
most responsible privilege enjoyed by the Amer
lean citizen. Involving in its exercise the So
veregnty of the people, and constituting as it
does the substratum of our free institutions. it
cannot be too highly appreciated or carefully
guarded. The ballot-box, through which the
people speak their will, should be preserved
from violation at every hazard and sacrifice.
Upon its purity and integrity depend the exis-
tence Of our republican government, and the
rights and privileges of the citizen, Every le
gal voter, whatever may be his political affni-
ties or party predictions, is deeply interested
in this question. Any attempt to sully its pu-
rity, or impair its efficiency, whether by vio-
lence or fraud, should be sternly resisted and
severely punished. Illegal voting, whether
founded on forgery or perjury, or both on
false assessments or false and forged certii-
Gates of naturalization, is an evil that deserves
the severest condemnation. 1t prevents an
honest expression of the popular will, cOrrupts
the sources of legitimate power and influence,
and strikes fatal blow at the cherished rights
of freemen These evils are alleged to exist
in our large cities-the rural districts of the
State are comparatively free from such cor
rupting abuses. A remedy, co-extensve with
the evil, should be provided Every defence
should be thrown around the ballotbox, and
whilst the rights of legal voters should be Sc
cured and protected, fraud in every form should
be prevented and punished. Whether q ju
dicious registry law, or some other measure of
REFORM adequate to the necessities of the case
should be adopted, is referred to the wisdom
of the Legislature
AS appropriate to this subject, the reform
of the naturalization lawS-the prevention, by
the National Government, of the importation
of foreign criminals and paupcrs, and more
careful, rigid and personal examination, by our
courts, of all persons coming before them as
applicants for admission to the rights of cit-
zenshp, would, to some extent correct exist
ing abuses, and relieve the baIlot-box from the
pressure of corrupting and dangerous influences
To the policy and acts of the National Co
vernment, affecting, as they do, the rights and
interests of the Commonwealth, the people of
the State cannot bc Indifferent Pennsylva-
MIA, occupying high and conservative posi-
ton in the SiStcrhood Of States-devoted to
the Constitution and the Union, in their isteg-
rity and harmony, has been and will ever be,
as ready to recognize the rights of her sister
States as to defend her own. These sentiments
she has never abandoned-these principles she
has never violated Pledged to the maintai-
nance of the rights of the north, as we'll as
those of the south-sincerely desirous to pro-
mote the peace, harmony and welfare Of our
whole country-and disclaiming all intention
or desire to interfere with the Constitutional
rights of the States, or their domestic institu-
tions-the people of this Commonwealth view
ed with alarm and apprehension the repeal of
the Missouri Compromises compromise rem
dered sacred in public esteem by its association
and connection with the great cause of nation
al harmony and union-regarding it as pal
pable violation Of the plighted faith and ho-
nor of the nation, and as an unwarrantable at
tempt to extend the institution OF domestic sla-
very to territories then free. This reckless and
indefensible act of our National Congress, has
not only aroused sectional jealOusies and renew
ed the agitation of veXed and distracting ques-
tions, but, as a consequence it has filled Kan
sas with fraud, violence and strife-has STAIN
ed its soil with blood and by a system of ter
ritorial legislation, justly styled Infamous"
has made freedom of speech and of the press,
felony, aud periled the great principles of
liberty and equal rights. If the doctrine of
popular sovereignty is in good faith to be
applied to that Territory-if the people there
of are to be left perfectly free to form and
regulate their domestic institutions in their own
way, subject only to the Constitution of the
United States" then the obstruction of the
great National highways to the northern emf
grant-the employment of the National forces,
and the subverSion Of law and justice alike by
the officials in Kansas and Washington, to force
slavery upon an unwilling people, cannot be
too severely condemned.
Freedom is the great centre truth of Amer-
can Republicansm-th e eat law of Ameri-
can Nationality slavery is the exception. 1t
is local and sectional ; and its extension be-
yond the jurisdiction creating it, or to the free
territories of the Union, was never designed
or contemplated by the patriot founders of the
Republic In accordance with these sentiments,
Pennsylvania, true to the principles Of the act
of 1880, which abolished slavery within her
territorial limts-true to the great doctrines
of the Ordinance of 1857, which dedicated to
freedom the northwestern territory of the I'm
ion-true to National faith and National ho-
nor, asks and expects as due to her own cti-
zens who have, in good faith, settled in the
territory of Kansas, and as due to the industry
and energy of free people, that Kansas sho'd
be free.
In this connection, and as consequent upon
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, refer
euce to proposition made by some of the lead
ing southern journals and more recently sane
toned by high official authority in a sister
State to reopen the African slave trade will
not be deemed improper. That such traffic,
declared to be piracy, and execrated by the
civilized world-so crowded with horrors in
every stage of its pursuit-so revolving to eve-
ry sentiment of humanity-evcry impulse of