The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-07-28

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| Sir, desire now to ask you, and to ask the
people of this country, if the charge of profiga-
| cy is not made out against our present rulers ?
| L desire to ask if it Is not apparent that this
Government might be administered as cheaply
now, in proportion TO its population, as it was
during General Jackson's Administers ton p
desire to ask if $50, O00, 900 of the publ e money
is not squandered annually TO prop W falling
| dynasty? l desire to ask, if every had Of a
family throughout the length and breadth of
this Union, does not have to contribdte from
fifteen TO tsoenty dollars annually, towards the
money thus squandered? And desire to ask
the people how long they mean to submit to
such rule? How long they mean to give their
votes for such rulers?
Sir, will now turn from the consi ieration
of the prohigacy of our present rulers to the
charge OF corruption made against thep. And
here, again, that may nete out exact Justice
TO them, will contrast their sentiments, opin-
ions, and acts, with the sentiments, opinions, and
acts, of the early fathers Of the Republic. This
need not do, to make good the charge of cor
ruptlon; for the fact that prohigacy is proved,
to the fullest extent, is sufficient evidence Of
corruption. Profigacy, in the administration
ofpublic affairs, as corruption. But will pro
coed to contrast the opinions and acts3of the
old with the present rulers.
| Washington, the father of his country, and
the first President, regarded Slavery as an evil,
and expressed hope that at looUtd soon be
abolished IN tie States"
Buchanan, the present President, during the
last session Of Congress, used the whole power
and patronage of his official position 70 give
| Slavery the pre-eminence over Freedo !. By
his favorite Lecompton bill, Kansas was urged
to step into the Union ioith Slavery .butdenied
admission without Slavery thus discriminating
in favor of Slavery, and against Freedom.
The Declaration of Independence eDunciates
| the precious truths that :" all men are created
equal, and end0aoed lciM certain IMAGINABLE
rights, among rohich are life, liberty, or the
pursuit Of happiness The majority 81 the
Judges Of the Supreme Court Of the Omitted
States have recently decided that negroes haze
no rights that Sohite men are bound TO respect ~
thus denying all rights to a whole class u men.
In 1887, the old Confederation passed an
ordinance excluding Slavery forever from the
Northwestern Territories, because Gifts bLghting
influence upon the energies of our new coun-
try In 1858, the Democratic party in Con-
gress, backed by the Executive head of the ma
tom labored six long months in the ingrzious
attempt to plant and perpetuate the cursed sys
tenn on the virgin soil of Kansas
The Supreme Court of the United States, in
the case of Prigg rs. the State of Pennsylreaia,
decided that
"The state of Slavery is deemed to be a
mere municipal regulation, funded upon, and
limited BY, local law
Chief Justice Marshall, in delivering the opin-
ion Of the Supreme Court, in 1910, in the case
of Sere as. Pilot, said
" The power of governing and legislatiEg for
Territory is the inevitable consequence of
the right to acquire and hold territory. Gould
this position be contested The Constit Ition
declares that Congress shall have pow-F to
dispose of and make all needful rule and
regulations respecting the territory or .aher
property belonging to the United States. Ac-
cordingly, we find Congress possessing and
exercising the absolute and undisputed poser
of governing and legislating for the Terriysry
of Orleans"
In 1928, the same court held, in the case Of
Canter rs. the American Insurance Company,
that
1.-The right to govern may be the inev6 ,le
consequence of the right to acquire terri14y.
Whichever may be the source whence shis
power may be derived, the possession of + is
unquestioned."
The same court, having lost it's conscience
and forgotten its former decisions, or BECOME
the tool of Slavery propagandists, has revetfed
its former decisions, and now holds that
slavery exists in all of the Territories o. ne
Union under the Federal Constitution, I'D
that Congress has no right to legislate it 4 =
In lo47, President Buchanan wrote a J. er
10 the Democracy of Berks county, Penn IL
vania, asserting the power of Congress over he
Territories. / read from it
After Louisiana was acquired from Fra re,
and when the State Of Missouri was abou to
be admitted into the Union, the MisseJri
question arose. and, in its progress threa IN.
| .,al 10. e ~ -
settled by the men of the last generation , "a
spirit of mutual concession. Under the ~
souri, Compromise, Slavery was forever 20
khited north of 360 30/. Congress, in ae
admission Of Texas adopted that rule; &,
in my opinion, the harmony Ct the States, G III
even the security of the Union ITSELF requE es
that the line Of the Missouri Compron se
should be extended to any new territory VIII
we may acquire from Mexico. Such has br u
my individual opinion, openly and freely {,
pressed, ever since the commencement of =
present unfortunate agitation and, of =
places in the world, ! prefer to put them :
record before the incorruptible Democracy. =
old Berks. | therefore beg leave to offer VI
the following sentiment: The Missouri Co.'S
promise-its adoption, in 1870, saved uk
Union from threatened CONFUSION its extsa
sion, IN 1913, to any new territory which We
may acquire, I'll. secure the like happy r.
SUITS
In this letter, Buchanan before he BEGAN
merged in the Cincinnati platform, and whs
he spoke % a man, from the promptings OF.
living soul, iteTaiei and reiterated the pow
and the necessity ofCopgFess' excluding Slaves
from the Territories north of the cQmpfomis
line. Now, speaking from the belly of the Gin
cinnati platform, lac asserts that =
Slavery exists in Kansas as fully as il
Georgia or South Carolina; Slavery exists.
in Kansas under the Constitution of the Uni.
ted States. This point has at last been finally
decided by the highest tribunal known to ouI
laws. How II la4td ever have been seriously
doubted is a mystery"
What Buchanan saw, as clear a. sArlIgbt
when he was a man, is now a perfect mystery
Human rights, things obviously necessary %
the peace Of the non truths which nobodSr
ever doubted before, wSea viewed through the
dark lens of the Cincinnati platform, are wholly
obscuEed from his vision, or seen only to oe per-
verified,
In 1920, Congress passed an act declaring
the African slave trade piracy aiiK ed the death
penalty for It's violation; and all sections of the
country admitted it to be eminenty just aud
proper. This session OF Congress, .torty-tlco
members of the House voted against reso-
luton, indicating that they were in favor Of
the revival of the trade.
In 1920, Congress, by the passage of the,
| Missouri Compromise act, inhibited Slavers
north CT SG9 go, thereby proclaiming to the
country and to The -0Eld; that, in their Opinion
Slavery was an evil.
/ In 1854, Congress repealed that most u.eI.lo
rio1E get, and thereby contradicted its formef
opinion.
Judge Summers, u Virginia, said, in speech
| in 1882:
a slave population produces the msst per