St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1859-06-30

ms CO., -MINNESIo|:|T:l I|::|':l |
ed by popular consent to its first signi6.
canoe? In the Aztec pictures Of human
anatomy, the bowels were represented as
occupying the whole body. Dissection
has proved them to be confined to small
portion of it. Let our naturalized citizens
in like manner dissect the two great par
ties or the day.; let them take nothing for
granted; let them understand their primer
pies, their motives and their effects. y a.
In the first place, then, for what reason
has the Republican party been called into
existence, and what purposes does it pro-
pose to serve. = 4 .
When the Constitution was framed,
part of the States were in favor of Slavery
and part were not. The Colonies had but
lately emerged from long war and were
heavily in debt. Their safety lay in un-
ion. The slave question, even then, was
troublesome one. Baldwin, Of Georgia, in
1870, in the first slavery debate ever held
in Congress, said, 1--WE cannot avoid the
recollection Of the pain and difficulty the
subject caused at the formation Of this
Constitution" Even then, the startling
paradox was apparent of a free Republic
sustaining the worst form of perpetual
bondage. The necessities Of common
safety urged the Colonies together. Sla.
very was accepted as local evil, and tol-
Grated in the hope that it would gradually
cease to exist. $3.50 -.:.~. -. e. -
Nothing can better evidence the re.
gard in which it was then held than the
fact that it was agreed that. after a certain
short period the slave trade should cease,
thus cutting off the supply with which the
institution was fed; obstructing the foun-
tain in the hope that the stream itself
would in course Of time disappear. Not
only was it thus sought to prevent an in
crease from abroad, but steps were taken
to restrain its extension at home. In the
year 1857 an ordinance was passed prohi-
biting slavery in the North Western Ter
ritories, including what are now the states
of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, &C., and consti-
tuting all the Territory then held by the
Government Besides this, the senti-
ments of the leading men Of the day were
against it. Wa hington expressed the
! hope that he would see the time when it
would not exist. He characterized it "a
most serious evil, both socially and politi-
cally; and said that he ''would rejoice in
any feasible scheme to rid the States OF
such burden" Jefferson said, fIt is
still in our power to direct the process of
emancipation and deportatiop peacebly,
and in such slow degree that the evil will
wear off insensibly, and their place be FL.
ed up with white labo1ers. If, on the
contrary, it is left to force itself out, hu.
man nature must shudder at the prospect
held out"
What, then, was the position of slavery
at that day? Simply local evil; trans
mitted from the past; apolokised for by
the South; tolerated by the North; an OBJ
struction to the Union; an incompatibility
with our institutions; recognized by al
great and good men as a gross evil, and
only accepted under the hope of its speed
y removal.
/ What is it now? A mass of logically
arranged rights, based upon corrupt mis-
constructions Of both history and religion
the dominant power of our government
overrunning not only our free Territories
from which its unholy growth was inter
dicted, but seeking to reopen the sluices
Of barbarism' revoke the great compromise
of our Union, and let in upon us all the
horrors of the slave trade Ia power toe
dark for compatibility with our institu
tions, and too grasping for the safety o.
freedom. ->''>-i sl,< IL
! What are we Of the North to do?-
Stand still, until this evil, tElike great
blot spreads and crawls all over our land!
Abandon the equality of manhood, the
love of liberty, and the noble rights Of la,
Dor to an Aristoeracy in which work is
dishonor and wealth rank; an Aristocracy
which can of its own force retain only the
forms Of Republicanism, and arrive at nc
future bnt the anarchy and the depravity
of the Spanish American States p 90
Or are We to resist the evil? Are we tc
place it where it stood at the time Of the
formation of our Government? Are we to
denounce sitas a prescribed curse, and hide:
GUS abomination; at war alike with man.
hood, religion and the principles of our
Govern :nent? An evil which is to be
hedged in with q wall OF fire; which is to
have no outlet, and no rights outside Of
the States in which tits permistedF An
evil now covered with the opprobrium Of
the civilized world, and against which the
whole moral force Of our country and our
age are arrayed? @zs3>'&@4 1sS 4
This IS the purpose Of the. Republican
party. 1t is an essential continuation of