St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1860-05-17

III Tune, II not checked, to the revival
OF the foreign slave trade, the Judi.
clal repeal Of the act prohibiting the
domestic slave trade in this District,
and to the recognized right of slave
owner to carry his human chattcls to
New York or Boston, and there hold
them under the protection of the Fed
cral Government.
| conclude, then, Mr.. Chairman, in
regard to this X kansas-Ncbraska act,
upon which the Democratic party
plants itself as cmbodying the funda-
mental article of its creed, that it has
fraud and pcrversion stamped upon
cvary part Of it !; and that it has been
the fruitful source Of all the political
ills which have afflicted the country
since it became law, and which now
disturb the tranquility Of the public
mind and threaten the stability of the
Government.
Sir, this utter disregard by the Dem
ocratlc party Of all pledges and com
promises, its sanction of the gross
wrongs and outragcs perpetratcd up
on the inhabitants of distant Terri.
tory seeking to throw off the usurpa-
tlons of Missouri mobs, bogus Lcgis-
laturcs, and slave State constitutions,
has been the great procuring cause OF
the existing evils which the President
so tcelingly dcplorcs. He need not
have gone beyond his own party to
find the origin of the evil. The
wrongs which old John Brown suf.
fered and endured in Kansas, in com.
mon with those he loved, maddened
him, and he sought retaliation. 1t is
charged that the North were in com.
plicity with him in his raid upon Har.
pcr's Ferry. A word will dsprovc
that. The old man ranged the land,
through its length and breadth, for
two long years, for succor and re-
crults, and, at the end of that time,
could muster only seventeen white
men and five negroes to attempt his
enterprise. While Virginia and the
whole South were terribly agitated at
the occurrence, the North, Of all par
ties, deploring and Disappearing the
act, remained unmovcd, except with
contempt for those who attributed to
her trcasonablc designs against the
peace and tranquility of the South.
Unjust aspersions have been cast
upon the action Of the executives of
some of the States, who have been ap
piled to for the arrest of such as have
escaped the vigilance of Virginia.
| can only say, in relation to the
State which | have the honor in part
to represent on this floor, that, upon
a compliance with the simplest forms
required by law, her executive will
always respond with readiness to the
acquisitions Of any State of this Union
for the surrender of fugitivcs from
justice. But as the law requires that
II rcquiSition shall be accompanied
with the copy of an Indictment or an
affidavit taken before q magistrate,
charging that crime has been com.
mittcd within the limits of the State
from which the rcquisition comes,
this necessary showing will be insist
cd upon. If it is sometimes admissi
ble to dispense with the ordinary
forms of law in rccaptnring q fleeing
ncgro-such forms will at least be in.
sisted upon in Iowa in regard to white
mcn-ncither the usagcs of Virginia
nor Of any other State are regarded
as common law in the country where
live
The gentleman from Louisiana, who
preceded me upon the floor, from the
few remarks which heard, seems tc
think that the Republican party arc
pledged, as a party, to resist the al
mission Of any more slave States into
the Union.
Mr.. Chairman, for my own part dc
not so regard the position of the Re
publican party. do not know that
any one controverts the right of q
State to form and regulate her do
mestic institutions she necessarily
exercises that light when she frames
a constitution. She undoubtedly has
the same right then, which she has a,
any subsequent period of her history
to determine the character of her in
stitutions. Massachusetts may, to
day, 10y change of her constitution.
legalize the holding of slaves within
her limits and it would be no par
of the business of the General Gov
crnment to interfere with her.
What | object to, sir, is this doc
trlne OF the Democratic party, tha'
slavery may so into Territories, ant
that there is no earthly power to kecl
it out. IT, under the operation of sucl
u policy as that, the sentiment of ;
Territory should become depraved t.
such an extent as to lead to the adop
tion of slave constitution, under tn,
auspices of the Federal Government
| would treat that constitution as Lie
compton has been trcated-consig
it to the mcrited condemnation of al
mankind. No power under hcavc
could ever induce me to aid in an,
manner in entailing the wrong on con
ing generations l maintain the doc
trinc which Mr.. Clay maintained i
1880, that slavery does not exist b.
law in any Territory which was fire
at the time we acquired it and cor
tend that it ought to be kept free
then when its people come to form
their constitution they will be no mor'
likely to lcgalize slavery than Massa
chusetts is likely to lcgalizc it to,da.
within her boracrs
Now, sir, what is all this controvcl
sy about 1t is simple issue be
tween the two great parties of tn
country, for the extension of SLAYER
upon the one hand and its rcstrictio
on the other and | cannot better cor
cludc than by repeating the languag
of Mr.. Clay, used in 1850, in the d,
bate on the compromise measures
But if, unhappily, We should be il
volved in war, in civil war, betwec
the two parties of this Confcderac,
in which the effort upon the one sid
| should be to restrain the introductio