Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-12-20
THE ISSUE MADE IN CONGRESS.

The DemOCrdIS Ill congress "tS NoAHS sAS
country good service; not designedly, but
indirectly, and through inability to see them
selves as they are seen by others. They are
showing the whole country the real issue be-
tween themselves and the Republicans. In
stead of waiting for the Republicans to prove
that most of them are either disunionlsts or
abettors of disunion treason, they get up IN
their places and proclaim it with unstinted We
hemence Demented southern leaders OF the
party declare in the most reckless way, that
they will either rule the country or ruin it,
that they will destroy the Union whenever the
people venture to exclude their party from
power-and most of the northern Democrats
cheer them on This is what we have at
Washington instead of an organization of the
House.
And it is well. 1t is time for every man i'll
the country to understand the issue made by
these democrats; and we are glad to see them
fling away their old disguises and stand forth
where the whole country can see precisely
what they are and what they mean. If any
body has failed to comprehend the actual sig
nifcance of this slavery question, the present
discussions in Congress furnish him all neces-
sary enlightenment The democratic leaders
demand in behalf of slavery complete sup
preston of the Republican party, and, also, of
free discussion, throughout the free states and,
if we do not yield these points, they will
s'destroy the Union" No opposition to slav-
cry must be countenanced no word against
it must be spoken; anti-slavery sentiments
must be dealt with as treason; and the laws of
Virginia and South Carolina must be initiated
in all the free states. Comply with these
demands and leave the federal government i'll
the hands of the slave power, and the Union
may endure awhile. Refuse compliance, and
these traitors will hurry things to ruin. Such
is the issue presented An issue which will
crush the democratic party, and cause it to be
remembered, hereafter, with scorn, loathing,
and execration.
1t is a main purpose of the slave power to
suppress free discussion in all the Northern
States. We see it in the resolution introduced
in the House by Clark of Missouri. Accord
ing to that resolution, no man who endorses
,
Speaker, nor to be treated as one entitled to
the rights of citizenship. We see it in the
speeches of Southern Democrats, who insist
that such men must be branded as traitors and
outlaws, or ''the South will dissolve the
Union" And, along with these denuncia-
tons, comes the new doctrine, that slavery
must be protected by congressional enact
ments," in the territories and in all other
places where it may deem protection neces-
sary. Give the democratic party power in the
country, make it sure of a permanent major
ity, and it would not hesitate to give us con-
gressional enactments suppressing free discus
sion everywhere. The federal government
would be employed to enforce such laws and
make the press in Massachusetts as much
slave as it is in France or Austria.
1t is high time for men who believe in free
dom and mean honestly by their country, to
meet this issue squarely Such men will never
submit to these atrocious demands of slavery
and they will regard it as one of the highest
duties of every good citizen, to aid in wrestling
political power from the party which seeks to
enforce them. We deem it fortunate, that the
administration democrats have been led to
declare themselves so fully, and with such
reckless disregard of what is due to free insti-
buttons. They have contrived to make them
selves understood. And, it will not escape
notice that no democratic newspaper or poll
tician or Union Meeting, in the north or south,
has rebuked the treason On the contrary,
they justify it and do all in their power to
make it successful. No measure against per-
sonal liberty or free speech can be taken,
which such newspapers as the Boston Post
will not sustain. They are all like their party,
base enough for any service that will perpetu-
ate the rule of slavery, and thus bring them
place and profit. And these men dare to talk
as if they were animated by patriotism
They who treat enthusiasm for liberty as a
crime. and who would have the slave power
do in the free states what it undertook to do
in Kansas.
If the leaders of the democratic party think
they can destroy the Union, unless their de-
mands are complied with, let them try it.
They cannot begin too soon. What they ask
cannot be granted. We cannot prevent the
reign of terror which they establish in most of
the slave states We cannot at present pre-
vent that robbery of the mails which has been
authorized by the Postmaster General But
we can defend freedom in the free states, and
insist on having all our rights under the Con-
stitution. If these conspirators can destroy
the government because we will not allow it
to become the basest and blacklist of despot-
lens, it is certainly time for us all to put away
worthless things and begin anew.