Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian., 1859-06-18

ne supply Wlth winch me nsutuuOn Nos
led; obstzucting the fountain in re hope |
that the stream itsslf would in courss oftine Z
Not only il thus sought to /
prevent an increase from abroad, but steps
were taken to restrain its extension at home.
In the year 1887 an ordinance was passed
prohibiting slavery IN the North Western Ter 1
ritories, including what are now the States of
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, &C., and constituting
oil the Territory then held by the Govern
ment Besides this, the sentiments Of the
leading men of the day were against it
Washington expressed the hope that he would
see the time when it would not exist. He
characterized it as most serious evil, both
socially and politically" and said that he |
(" would rejoice in any feasible scheme to rid
the States of such burden" JEFFERSON
said, eft is still in our power to direct the
process of emancipation and deportation
peaceably, and in such slow degree that the
evil win wear off insensibly, and their place
be filed up with white laborers. II, on the
contrary, it is left to force itself out, human
nature must shudder at the prospect held
up" - .-,.--.,. .'... =. ..r..,s -r.r
What, then, was the position of slavery at
that daye Simply a local evil; transmitted
from the past; apologized for by the South;
tolerated by the North; an obstruction to the
Union; an incompatibility with our institu-
tions; recognized by all great and good men
as gross evil, and only accepted under the
hope Of its speedy removal.
What is it now? A mass Of logically ar
ranged rights, based upon corrupt miscon-
structions of both history and religion-the
dominant power Of our Government, over
running not only our free Territories. from
which its unholy growth was interdicted, 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 "a power too dark for compatibility
with our institutions, and too grasping for the
safety of freedoml .-
What are we of the North to do? Stand
still, until this evil, "like great blot
spreads and crawls over all our land? Aban-
don the equality of manhood, the love of lib
erty, and the noble rights oflabor to an Aris-
tocracy 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 no future but the anarchy and
the depravity of the Spanish American
States?
Or are we to resist the evil? Are we to
place it where it stood at the time of the form,
alton of our Government? Are we to de,
nounce it as a prescribed curse, and hide
GUS abomination at war alike with manhood
religion and the principles of our Government
An evil which is to be hedged in with wal
of fire which is to have no outlet, and M
rights outside of the States in which it is per
mitted? An evil now covered with the oppre
brium of the civilized world, and agains
which the whole moral force of our country
and our age are arrayed?
This is the purpose Of the Republican par
ty. 1t is an essential continuation of ever.
movement of the past which has tended to
wards an intelligent liberty. Tt wages tn
, war which light has ever waged against dark
. ness, learning against ignorance, Civilization
.' against barbarism, freedom against slavery
1t is an adjunct Of the strong side of tha
great dualism of Good and Evil which bisect
> the world. What is the Democratic pa
ty? We claim that it has become the pal
der and willing instrument of the encroacl
- ments of the South. That in pursuit
= the support which the united forces OF II
u South are able to give, it has abandoned tt
9 defence of the North. That it is looked
y with confidence only by the South, and tn
y the stronghold of its strength is there. Al
we not, therefore, justified in claiming tn
~ the Democratic party and the Pro-slavery pa
- ty are identicals
" But, let US examine the claims Of the D
8 mocracy upon their own showing; let us SCI
~ to do them every justice.
:. The Democratic party claims to be t
u friend of neither the pro-slavery nor the an
.. slavery issues; to be totally Indifferent to
:" questions OF morality involved in the contes
10 -, and solicitio4s only Of seeing the South ha
~ " fair play. 1t is not the South, but the bott
holder of the South; not the principal, b
=" y the second; it's duty is to see the laws of
: ring fairly administered, and it his nothi
r whatever to do with the causes or the mer
- :. of the fight.
~ Can such party exist9 The whole cou
" try has settled itself into two Great Sen
- ments the sentiment for slavery, the sen
- ment againstit, In 1890 the Penn. Anti-Sla,
u I ry Society, Benjamin Franklin, President, a
~ dressed Congress in the following manner
do "From persuasion that equal liberty W
originally the portion, and is still, the bir
Gu right of all men; and influenced by the sHo
me ties of humanity, and the principles of tn
he institutions, your memorialists conceive the
in. selves bound to use all justifable endeavt
- to loosen the bands of slavery, and promote
general enjoyment OF the blessings of freedo
no Under these impressions, they earnestly 1
,se treat your serious attention to the subject
,er slavery that you will be pleased to coun
mo nance the restoration of liberty to those I
happy men, who alone, in this land of fir
lot dom, are degraded into perpetual bonda
en and who, amidst the general joy Of surrour
- ing freemen, are grOaning in servile subjectio
INC that you will devise means for removing t
:. Inconsistency from the character of the Am
lean people; that you will promote mercy a
ay justice towards this distressed race, and Il
,n- you will step to the very verge of the pow
tee vested in you for disc9uraging every spec
,,o of traffic in the persons of our fellow men, y
From that time to this the opposition to I
to encroachments of slavery has been stead
ed progressing. The growth OF the Sentimt
eat was, however, at first slow. In 1886 4
for Franklin Peirce, member of the House fir
20; Neu Hamnshire said MHe was unuill