The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1860-03-29

herself fro.a haing betrayed into the Union
a. Slave State Nebraska. though choos
ing frcedosa, is, through the direct exer-
'rr4c Ct The Executive power, overriding
her orn viii, teld as Slave Territory !;
and New Mexico has relapsed dvoluntarily
into The practice of Slavery, from which
zs;1e=lad redecmed herself while she vet
remained part Of the Mexican Repub-
stie. Mestucime the pemOcrgLic 9arty, ad-
s4asing trqn the ground Of Popular Sow
s,srslsptl = fsr as bat ground is from the
Ordinancc uf 1887, now stands en- the po-
s tion that both Territorial Governments
aui Congress are incompetent to legis-
lite against Slavery in the Territories,
Will they are not only competent, but
are Obliged, when it is necessary, to leg
.aistI:c fcr It's protection there.
81 I'm this new aud extreme position the
DtiEocraric party now ulasks itself bohinF
the Battery OF the Supreme Court, as lit
were pe4,ihly trpe CONSTRUCTION of the
'Eonslitutit1. that the power of deciding
practically forever between Freedom and
Siavery in q portion Of the contineat far
exceeding ali that is yet organized, should
be reaounccd BIZ Congress, which alone
possesses arg legislative authority, and
shouid be assumed and exercised by
court which can only take cognzancc Of
The great question colIaterally, in a pri
,atc action between individuals, and wni4h
action tic Constitution will not suffer the
clurt to entertain, if it involves twenty
ti0ljals of money, without the ovcrruling
Intervention Of a jury of twelve good and
lawful men Of the noighborhood where
ihc litigation arises. The independent,
ever renewed, and ever recurring repre-
sentative Parliament, Diet, Congress, or
Legislature, is the one chief, paramount,
essential, indispensable Institution in a
Republic. Even liberty, guaranteed by
orgaLie !av. Tet If it De held By other
tenure than tile guardian care of such a
representative popular assembly, is but
prccariously maintained, while Slavery,
euE,yced by an irresponsible judicial tri-
bunal, is the oomplciest possible develop
meat Of despotism.
Mr. President, did ever the annals Of
any Government show more rapid CT
more complete departure from the wis
dJtn and virtues Of its founders Did
ever the Government of great empire,
founded GU the rights Of human labor,
slide away so fast and so far, and moor
itself so tenaciou>lg On the basis Of cap
ital, AMI that capital invested in laboring
men? Did ever a free representative
Legislature, Invested with powers so great,
and with the guardianship of rights 50
important, Of trusts so sacred, Of interests
so precious, and Of hopes at once SO noble
and 50 comprehensive, surrender and re-
bounce them all so unnecessarily, so un.
wisely, so fatally and so inglorously? If
il be true, as every instinct of our nature,
and every preospt Q! political experience
tcaeez US that
q III fares the iaai to fastening Ills prey.
Where wealth accumulates. ana men decay
then where in Ireland, in Italy, in Po-
land, or in Hungary, has any ruler pre-
pared for generous and confding people,
disappoiutments, disasters, and caiamitcs
equal to those which tue government Of
tne United States holds now suspended
oyer 80 large portion Of the continent
of North America? Citizens Of the
Onitei States, in the spirit of this poll
cy, subverted the free Republic Of Nclr-
7a,.ua, and opened it to Slavery aud the
African. slave trade, ana held it in that
condition waiting annexation to the United
States, until lis sovereignty was restored
. By 4 combination of sister Republics ex-
pGsed to the same danger, and apprehen-
ajye Of similar sgLYerson. Other cit
Gems re opened the foreign slavc-trade in
violation Of our laws altd treaties and,
after a suspension of that shameful traffic
for fifty years, savage Africans have been
once mere landed on our shores and dis
tributcd, unreclaimed and with impunity
among our plantations. For this policy,
so far aS the Government has sanctioned
it, the Democratic party avows Itself re
sponsibls. Everywhere complaint against
it is denounced, and It's opponents pro
scribed.
When Kansas was w,ithing under the
wounds Of ircipieut, servio war; because
Of her resistance. the Democratic press
deridlngly said, ''let her bleed" Official
integrity has hoen cause for rehuke and
punishment, when it resisted frauds de-
signed to promote the extension of Slave
~. Throughout the whole Republic
taere is not one known dissenter from thar
policy remaining i'll place, if withia reach
OF the Executive arm Nor oyer the face
OF the whole world is there to be found
S,na rnrracontotiya Of our oouptrv w bo -
not an apoogi=t of the extension of Slave
RI. 1t is in America that these things
have happened. In the nineteenth cen