The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1858-04-08
NO. IG

with or without revo.utiou--vhat then :
Shall we strike down the grea. principle
Of State and popular sovereignty in the
miscalled compulsory admission of a State
under the apology that the people may
hereafter overthrow the usurpatiou, which
Congress would have forced upon them
Shall we drag Kansas from the camp and
prison-hou>o Of Lecomptou, as Slaiued
and coIlared convict into the Union, in
the hope that she will hereafter strike off
her shacklcs rise from her abiect degra-
dation. and from subject tecone SOW
ereign State at some future period 7 If
this can now be done; il frauds, aud for
geries, and usurPaton, can now be in
torscd and sanctioned; if a Miserable
and disgraced minority car be clothed
byCongress With the Psnoply Of State SOW
ereigutyi if the feion fox can be covered
with the Lions skin; if Kansas can be
dragged through the streets Of Washing
ton like captive in an imperial Roman
ovation, in the hope that the degraded
victim will hereafter put on the cap Of
freedman. and resume her iberty; if all
this can lie done By the President and
Congress, and approved by the people;
then what is the fate of Kansas to day
may become that Of New jersey or any
other State tomorrow. As we'll might
the empiric seek cur approval for the ad-
ministration of poison 70 his patient, on
the suggestion that sgch patient might
thereafter prescribe for himself some an
tidote or the burglar excuse the expul-
sion of the rightful owner from his man
sion, under the pretext that be might, per-
haps, hereafter resume bis lawful posses
sion, as ak that the pri' iple of self-goV-
ernment should now be subyerted in Kan
sas, in the belief that It's people at some
future period might, perhaps, be able to
redress the wrongs now done them, and
recover their long lost rights aud liber-
ties.
Establish now the precedent, By drag
ging Kansas into the Union against the
will Of her people, and under this fatal
example fear the whole fabric of popu-
lar liberty will tumble into ruins. Con-
gress and the President will have offered
the most tempting rewards, in all the fu-
ture, for the perpetration of fraud, per-
jury, and forgery, and for the overthrow
of the will of the people. Our moral re-
PROGRESSION and political deca1ence will
have commenced, and these glorious
States may soon become broken columns,
with their ruined fragments scattered o.
yer the opening graves of the liberties Of
our country and Of the world. May the
sovereign State of New jersey, and espe-
cisly the indouitable Democracy of the
ylorious old County of Sussex 10 this
hour Of peril, stand by the rights and lib
critics of the people, and teach eur politi-
cal Canutes and their councillors that they
must change their position, or the adyan-
cling surges Of popular Indignation will
roll over and ovcrw helrl them
Recurring with unalloyed delight to
the many pleasant Summers passed by
me amid the lefty hills and lovely val
lcys of old Sussex, New Jersey, sailing
upon her limpid lakes, aduiring her splen
did and romantic scenery, elevated sud
invigorated by her pure and elastic at
uoSPueFe, "dhueFldS alOHg tAt OauAs ana
rapids of the Delaware, which separated
her from my own native Pennsylvania,
have thought that here, amid your
mountain homes, Liberty might find her
last cutrenchment, and that some of your
plains and passes might become as dis
tinguished in defense of popolar sover-
eighty as the classic fields of Grecian or
Roman history, or the gIore recent strug-
giles Of the heroic Swiss. May you new
er have cause to encounter such fearful
sacrifices; but If the trial must come, may
youfully realize my highest antieipatation
of the courage and patriotism Of the peo-
pie of Susses, New Jersey.
Most respectfully, your feilow-eitizen.
Il. j. WALKER.