Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1859-12-02

outbreak. NO aoOltlOn arguments or denun-
Citations, however earnestly, loudly or harshly
proclaimed, would have produced that result.
1t was the legitimate consequence of the con-
tinual and constanuy-increasing aggressions
of the Slave Power The Slave States, in
their desperate efforts to sustain bad and
dangerous institution, have encroached more
and more upon the liberties of the Free States.
Our inherent I've of law and order, and our
superstitious attachment to the Union, you
have mistaken for cowardice; and rarely have
you let slip any opportunity to add insult 70
aggression.
The manifested oppositionto Slavery began
with the lectures and pamphlets of = few dis
interested men and women, who based their
movements upon purely moral and religious
grounds; but their expostulatons were met
with a storm of rage, with tar and feathers,
brlckbats, demolished houses, and other
applications of Lynch law. When the dust
of the conflict began to subside little, their
numbers were found to be greatly increased
by the efforts to exterminate them. They
had become an influence in tho State too
important to be overlooked by shrewd calcuc
lators., Political economists began to look at
the subject from lower point of view They
used their abilities to demonstrate that Slavery
was a wasteful system, and that the Free
States were taxed, to an enormous extent, to
sustain an institution which, at heart, two
thirds of them abhorred. The forty millions
or more of dollars expended in hunting
Fugitive Slaves in Florida, Under the name Of
the Seminole War, were adduced as one item
in proof, to which many more were added.
At last, politicians were compelled to take
some action on the subject 1t soon became
known to all the people that the Slave States
had always managed to hold in their hands
the political power of the Union, and that,
while they constituted only one-third of
the white population of these States, they
held more than two-thirds Of all the lucrative
and once honorable offices; an indignity to
which none but a subjugated people had ever
before submitted. The knowledge also became
generally diffused that, while the Southern
States o,cned their Democracy at home, and
voted for them, they also systematically
Jribea the nominally Democratic party at the
North, with the offices adroitly kept at their
disposal.
Through these, and ether instrumentalities,
the sentiments of the original Garrisonian
Abolitlonists became very widely extended ,In
forms more or less diluted But by far the
most efficient co-laborers we have ever had
have been the Slave States themselves. By
denying us the sacred Right of Petition, they
reused the free spirit of the North, as it never
could have been reused by the loud trumpet
of Garrison, or the soul-animating bugle of
Phillips. They bought our great slave,
Daniel, and, according to their established
usage, paid him no wages for his labor. By
his cooperation, they forced the Fugitive
Slave Law upon us, in violation of all our
humane instincts and all our principles of
Justice And what did they procure for the
Aboltionists by that despotic process?
A deeper and wider detestation of Slavery
throughout the Free States, and the publica-
ton Of Uncle Toms Cabin, an eloquent out
burst of moral indignation, whose echoes
Weakened the world to look upon their shame.
i BY fillibustering and fraud, they dismem-
soil of Texas, they tried to introduce it as a
Slave State into the Union Failing to effect
their purpose by constitutional means, they
accomplished it by most open and palpable
violation Of the Constitution, and by obtaining
the votes of Senator'S on false pretcnses.
Soon afterward, a Southern, Slave Admin
} straton ceded to the powerful monarchy OF
Great Britain several hundred thousands Of
square miles, that must have been made into
Free States, to which that same Administers
ton had declared that the United States had
ian unquestonable right" and then they
, turned upon the weak Republic Of Mexico,
and, in order to make more Slave States,
wrested from her twice as many hundred
thousands of square miles, to which we had
J not shadow of right.
Notwithstanding all these extra efforts,
they saw symptoms that the political power
, so long held with a firm grasp was in dan.
, ger OF slipping from their hands, by reason
| Of the extension of Abolition sentiments and
: the greater prosperity OF Free States. EN-
, boldened by continual success in aggression,
they made use of the pretense of "Squatter
f Sovereignty" to break the leaguein which
:. they had formerly cajolel The servile repre-
: sentatives of Or blinded people, by which
D all the territory of the United States south
t of "36 . 800 was guaranteed to slavery
, and all north of it to Freedom. Thus Kan
r sas became the battle ground of the antag'
= onistic elements of our government. -
Rutfians hired by the Slave Power Were
e sent thther temporarily, to do the vot-
ing and drive from the polls the Legal
, voters, WHO were often murdered In the
process, Names copied from the directories
OF cities in other States were returned ~
r thousands rs legal voters in Kansas, in order
to establish Constitution abhorred by hc1
r people. his was their exemplitication OF
f Squatter Sovereignty. a Msssachu ,etts
f Senator, distinguished for candor, court 'sy,
r and stainless tegrty, Vas half murdered
, BY shareholders, merely for having the
,naniness to state these facts to the assem-
, bled Congress of the nation. Peaceful EN-
, igrants from the North, who went to kans a.
: for no ether purpose than To till thu soil,
er ct mills, and establish manufactures,
schools and churches, were robbed, outraged
and murdered. For many mouths WAL
more ferociou. than the warfare Of wild
, Indians was carried on against q people al
, most unresisting, because they relied upon
tie Central Government for aid. And ali
T this while, the power of the United States,
" eld-d by the Slave Oiigarchy, was on the
side of the iggressors. They literally tied
the stones ana let loose the mad Gogs. This
was the state of things when the hero OF
Ossawatomie and his brave soDs went to
the rescue. 1t was lie VIII, first turned the
, tile of Border Rufiian triumph, BY showing
} them that blows were to be taken rs well
as given. 49,
You may believe it or not, Gov. Wise, but
it is certainly the truth that, because the
shareholders SO reckess,y sowed the wind
in Kansas, they reaped the whirlwind at
Harper's Fer'y.
The people OF the North had very strong
attachment to the Union but, by your
desperate measures you lave weakened it
beyond all power Of restoration. They are
not your enemies, as you suppose, but, they
cannot consent to be your tools for any jig
noble task you may propose. You must
not judge of us by the crawling sinuositi 9
of all Everett; or by our magnificent hound,
whom you trained to hunt your poor Grip.
pies, and then sent him sneakiDg into q
} corner to die-not with shame for the base
purpose to which his strength had been APP
nliol hut ,rifl, uayniinn hannnsa ron ,r;th