Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1860-03-29
The Republican Party in Missouri

s...s..4
The Republican Party in Missouri.
The Hon. B. Gratz Brown, one of the
most distinguished Free Soilers Of Missouri,
late Editor of the Democrat newspaper ol
St. Louis, and Chairman Of the RepubIican o
State Committee, in calling the Republican
State Committee OF Mssosrf to order, On
Saturday, made the following speech:
GEsrLEmEs:-It devolves upon me 10 call
to order, this morning, the first Repub ican
Convention which has assembled in any
Slave State. In doing SO, permit me to say
that party which has inscribed upon its
banner heedom-Divine Freedom-thus
taking to itself organization, is vindicsted
in advance; for wide must be the departure
from The accredited mission of one Federal
Government, and great the peril to those
liberties which illuminate citizenship w hen
millions Of men sll over the land deem il
necessary to make the re.assertion Of that
Freedom the initial point of their.. ..combina.
ton. and the engrossing theme Of their
thought. Let Us then, in all honor. and with
a pure patriotism. approach that work.
You who come together from remote sec.
tions of this Commonwealth, have at least
one attribute that must make noticeable
your action here; whichis, that you dwell
in the very presence OF the ills you deprecate
and have it at heart 10 work out practical
and not merely theoreticsl II reform. Lmi-
tations upon settlement, migration labor,
that assumes national importance whensaf
fec,irg only remote territories, with you.
cripple the industries that constitute sup.
port. Questions. pestilent questions, that
have been vainly banished from the halls Of
Congress. NESTLE at your fresdes. In edu-
cation, in social life. in religious worship,
in the toll OF the field and the shop, you
have experience of that discrimination, l.,
against the yoeman and in favor of the surf.
which it is not widely endeavored TO estab-
lish as the denominating policy of the U.
States. You know that the conflict between
free tnd slave labor is an "irrepressible con-
fict," that no citizen ~iio has to compete
with the "cha,tel" at the plow, the loom, or
the uuvii, but feels its Eush, sods that they
only deny it and gloss the lie who are of or
belong to the slave system. have faith,
therefore. that when you come to deliberate
on matters Of national concernment, and 10
form On integral portion of that great p,r,y
which has assumed the task Of withdraw
ing the general government from its COM
initials and active agency in behalf of the
spread of slavery, you will he animated oy
a sympathy wide as the common country,
and yet controlled by q forbearance due to
the rightful separation Of Stale and Fedora
| Sovereignty.
In these times which have perplexed good
men with so many threats levelled at the
Union of the States, 1t we'll. furthermore
to reflect that it is the same sinister and I'M.
natural policy in behalf of the geographical
| Limitation of free men, and the indefinite
expansion of slave soil, which breathes the
spirit Of revolt. irrs inr one interest. ant
that an aggressive interest, that disunior
finds favor. 1t is with one party only-ant
that the party in power-that such IDEAS
have been encouraged for party purposes
Predicatet upon dovition to the slave system
both for States and Territories, such policy
as secession attaches to itself chiefly those
who are in that interest Or persuasion; and
while the large body of the people OF the
United States are hosti e to all such prof jects
yet it will devolve more Immediately upor
} the free laborng men of the Slave State
to encounter the heresy at home, strip it o
the importance that would attach to it wheI
coupled with State endorsement, and to un
mask in every township a treason that owe
it's federation solely to counning duplcit.
as to its own ends, combined with exagger
sted falsehoods as to The purposes Of others
1t is primarily the work Of the Republican
of the slave States to save this Union, b.
evidencing the falsehood Of those calumlne
y ed to excite sectional discord, and by firm
ness in indicating their own citizen right
as the essential of anv Democratic Govern
, meDt. These sentiments l know to be pre-
valent with you in this, the inception OF
State and national canvass, and trust you
practical association may compass. their fu
real cation. =.
They who affirm that the party, whic
you here to-day organize in Missouri, ha
only its vitality in the so-called "negro ques
ton" better know, or else blindly ignor
the more perilous aspects Of the suppressio
Of free principle, now going on In the RI
public. We have seen SO much ..legislatio
e affecting the slave race borne with indiffe
Q ence by the nation, that may be well doub
h ed whether any direct action on that behal
}. even to the revival of the slave trade, wou
q produce crisis in our history and polite
But when the conflict becomes palpab!e,
= in the occupation Of new fields OF labo
thereis touched that sensitive pulse whic
Ia warns to redress Still more when, the a
:. tendant issues provoked by militant sla'
ID Propaganda, involve the rights Of free cit
8. zenship id one half the free states, then dot
Is the peril arise Of o serious conflict invovir
" the integrity Of the nation. That FEEDER
Qoyel nment which cannot, or will not, pr
tect it's citizefs in the rights OF speech,
D. domicil, and Of the intercourse, IS effectua
+ ly in Charleston as in Vienns-its citize
OF one ancestry or nativity as fully as of
ID othsr--tbat government, ] cay, is imbeol