The Union and eastern journal. [volume] (Biddeford [Me.]) 1854-1858, 1858-01-15

81 ana lnunlo. Iuo Istsots ~ " uoooto1
o say, u repugnant TO our theory Of gov
Il . too absurd for argument,
nd too Offensive for discussion.
The FIRST systematic sttampt to reduos the
new dogma 70 practice, through tho admin
stration Of the government and federal leg
Station, was made in the repeal Of the Ms
ouri restriction.
The object Of this repeal 10 now declared
~ one Of its supporters to have been "to
put the slavery question upon some common
yround where party could be rallied strong
enough TO administer the government justly
upon other than purely sectional idoas-to
remove the ban under which the domestic
of the South had been placed by
federal legislation "although not all
the South was entitled 10, u was great sd-
vance upon the old order Of things, because
it removed On unjust and odious discrimina-
ton against her domestic institutions from
the statute book, moral triumph which
was Of vast importance to the South and TO
the institution Of slavery ITSELF"
The object and import Of that measure,
thus declared, have, by subsequent events
become obvious to oil. It was the begin
ming of attempts 70 revolutionize the federal
legislation and policy Of the country upon
the subject Of slavery-to remove the inter.
diction under which slavery had been placed
by that legislation and by positive negation
OF power in Congrses, remove oil obstacles
to expansion, and open the way for the novel
idea recently set up, that "the compromises
of the constitution include the recognition
of slavery as an institution of the States, en-.
titled to protection, and guarantee Of prop
erty in slaves % On eminent trait Of nation.
atty.
"Squatter sovereignty" the prste1t for
repeal IL illustrated by civil war and disor.
der-the will of the people set ut defiance
by armed bands Of men alien to the terrific
ry-national strife, contest TO determine
whether liberty or slavery shall possess the
country once pledged to free labor, and fash.
ion the institutions which are about to spring
up there, in which slavery and the national
administration rule the hour against free
dom and free men-slavery established IN
Kansas, the people struggling and in arm.
to resist Ii, and ut last the fundamental
principles Of selfgovernment, popular SOW
ereignty itself, denied, and the national I'D.
ihinistration engaged In efforts to force upon
the State constitution against the known
will of the people.
A portion Of the Federal Judges, in har-
mony with the general design, utter the
dicta that "the constitution Of the United
states recognizes property in slaves, and
pledges the federal government to protect 1t,
and that Congress has no right 70 prohibit
the stakeholder from taking his slaves into
the territories.
The President OF the United States unof-
Gcially declares and assumes that slavery
exists In Kansas under the constitution
that this point has at last been settled by
the highest tribunal known TO our laws
and that 1t "is mysterious that 1t ever could
have been seriously doubted"
Thus, in quick and rapid succession rev.
olution is attempted in the legislative, judi
cial and executive departments Of the gov.
eminent. and would now DO complete and
thorough, but Tor the extra judicial and ex'
tra-oficial quality Of the acts. II remain,
for the people Of the free States to deter.
mine whether this important change in the
constitution and theory Of the government,
shall be consumated-whether by novel and
forced constructions, tho constitution shall
be made to guarantee property in slaves in
the States and territories, tho character OF
slavery changed from local to o pational
Institution, and thus brought in contact
with free labor and FREQ men.
No Patriot in the land Is without his re-
grets ut the sectional strife stirred up by the
aggresions, and no patriot but must feel
that great evils are struggling ;for perpetui-
ty in the nation, and that their inausrces,
unchecked. will determine the character OF
the coming ages Of the republic, and no
patriot but that must feel stern purpose
within him to resist them.
The nation had witnessed the expansion
of slavery in the South with comparative
c)mposure, rs II was maintained that the
impulse which peryaded the slave States for
new fields for slave labor would vent itself
in low ATTITUDES that slavery would recele
from the Northern slave States, and leave
the free States to quiet acknowledgment, in
the free States and territories, their own
system Of free labor relieved from the con-
tamination of slave labor. Not 30. With
each new accession they become more arro-
CANT and exacting-instead Of obedience to
the laws of climate, with which 1t was tho't
to move and, subject to which II was asser.
ted II must hold its empire on this continent
experience proves that the law Of its life is
violence-that It FORCES its letters with equal
facility in Kansas or the Carolinas-mocks
free labor Us illegitimate in republican gov
eminent and asserts itself the normal con-
dition of labor-pushes its aggressions over
broken compromises into territories pledged
to free labor, amid civil matchmaking,
not only the right Of expansion into oil the
but tho constitutional recogni.
ton and guarantee rs property in the M.
ton.
The free States can never yield to these
demands they are incompatible with the
element of their prosperity, free La.
Dor. They are repugnant to their settled
opinions and sentimental. The free States
hold to the right ofevery one Of its laborers
to his wages. Of every innocent man to his
person, and they will suffer no contamina-
ton from contact with slavery forced upon
tueIH Dy uistOCVcu NicWo VI tuo Coustitutiohs
They are not ut issue with the slave States,
because slavery is ono Of their institu atoms,
but because they seek TO make 1t an institu-
ton of the nation. When by offensive re-
peal, BY forced Interpretation, BY violence,
they attempt to force upon the free States
what they know to DO regarded Us an enor-
nous wrong and fatal to their industry, 1t
should excite no surprise that oil such ut.
tempts are met with stern and solemn remon-
STRANGE and determined resistance.
Slavery agitation RACES not from the North
but from the South. Tho repose Of the
country was not disturbed by attempts from
the North to subvert slavery In the slave
States or invade its rights. If there DO an
asonism of opinion between the free and
lave States, it has been produced by no move.
nent of the former. II has been drought
about by an obvious and conceded change OF