The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-03-14

lr now stands on the position that both Ter
e rial Governments and Congress are incom
e tent to legislate against slavery in the TIE
;. tories, while they are not only competent.
= are obliged, when it is necessary, to legis
3 Tor its protection there.
t In this new and extreme position the De
: ocratic party now masks itself behind the /
tery OF the Supreme Court as if it we're Q
sloiy true construction of the CONSTITUTE
mat the power of deciding practically fore
between freedom and slavery in portion
me Continent far exceeding all that is vet {
ganlzed, should be pronounced by Jougre
"nlch alone possesses any legislative authori
and should be assumed and exercised by
court which can only take cogniz ance of {
great question callaterally, in a privste aeti
between individuals, and which action [
Constitution will not suffer the Court to e
tertaln, if it involves twenty dollars of none
without the oVerruling Intervention of a il
OF twelve good and lawful men of the neigl
oorhood where the litigation arises. The il
dependent. ever-renewed, and ever--eeurrir
representative Parliament, Diet, Congress.
Legislature, Is the one chief, param lnnt, e;
sentiai, indispensable institution 10 a Rspubli
Even liberty, guaranteed by organic Ia v, y,
II IL ne held by other tenure than the guard
an care OF such representative popular as
semoiy, Is bat precariously maintained. Will
slavery, enforced by an irresponsible jldici,
tribunal is the eonpietest possible develop
ment OF despotism
Mr.. President, did ever the annals of an
Government show more rapid or complet
departure from the wisdom and virtue of il
founders? Did ever the Goveroment of
great empire, founded on the rights of huma
labor, slide away so fast and so far. and moo
Itself so tenaciously on the basis of capital
and that capital invested in laboring menS-
Dld ever free representative Legislature, in
vested with powers so great, and with tht
guardianship OF rights so important, of tru It,
SO sacred, of interests SO precious. and O
hopes at once so noble and so comprehensive
Surrender and renounce them all so unneces-
sarliy, so uDwisely. so fatally, and so inglori-
ouslyf 1t it be true as every instinct of our
nature and every precept of political expert
ence teaches US that
p" Ill fares the land, to fastening ills prey,
Where wealth :umulates and men decay" ia
then wherein Ireland, in Italy, in Poland.
or IN Hnngary-has any ruler prepared for a
generous and conf ling people disapp ontments
disasters, and calamities, eqIal to those which
he Government of the United States holds
aow suspended over so large portion of the
continent of North America2 .0-....
Citiz ans of the United States, in the spirit
,i the policy, subverted the free Republic Of
Nicaragua, and opened it to slavery and the
African slave trade and he'd it in that eondi-
ton. waiting annexation to the United Sta ca
until It's sovereignty was restored by a CON-
olnation OF sister Republics exposed to tb
same danger.and apprehensive of similar sub
version Osher citizens re-opened the f,,eiyn
slave trade in violation of our laws and treat.
les; and. after suspension of that shameful
traffic for ffty years. savage Africans have
been once more landed on our shore, and dis.
tributed, unreclaimed and with impunisy
among our plantations. .-.
For this policy, so far as the Government
has sanctioned it, the Democratic party avow. /
itself responsible. Everywhere complaint
against it is denounced, aud its Opponents
prescribed. When Kansas was writhing un-
der the wounds of incipielt. servile war. be-
cause of her resistance the De nocratic press
derldlngly said, let her bleed" Official in
tegrlty has been cause for rebuke aud D IN
lshment, when it resisted frauds designed to
pro note the extension of slavery Through
put the whole Republic. there is not one
known dissenter from that policy rem lining in
place, if within reach of the E zecutive arm.
Nor over the face of the whole world is there
20 be found one representative of our cou ntry
Who is not an apologist of the extension Of
slavery. F
1t is in America that these things have
happened. In the nineteenth century. the era
VI the worlds greatest progress. and while all
lations bat ourselves have besn either abriJp.
ng or altogether suppressing commerce in :
nen; at the very moment when the Russian :
err is emaneipated, and the G ,orgian captive !
he Nubian prisoner, and the Abyssinian saw r
ge, are lifted up to freedom by the succe ssor +
1t Mohammsd. The world, prepsssessed in .
ur behalf by our early devotion to the rights q
Il human nature, as no nation ever before en- f
aged its respect and sympathies asks ia J
1ender ana amaz ement. what all this dsmor- I
llzatlon msansf 1t has an excuse better than 4
ne world can imagine, better than We are I
generally conscious of ourselves, a virtuousI In
xcuse. We have loved not freedom so m 1ch a
ess, but the Unlor of our country so m 1ob a
lore. We have been male to believe. from 10
me to time, that in crisis, both of these q
reclous institutions could not be saved IN. h
ether, and therefors we have, from tima tn q
me, surrendered safeguards of freedem 10 E,
ropitiate the loyalty of capital, and sta1 it's a
ands from doing violence to the Union Tbs y
'ue state of the case. however. ought not l. a
mystery to ourselves. Prescience. in al
eed, IS not given to statesmen; but we are n
lthout excuse when we fail to apprehend the II
gic OF current events. Let parties. or tba os
-oVernment, chose or do what they NAV 81
le people OF the United States do not nrefsr 10
he wealth OF the few to the liberty of the 70
ANY, capital to labor, African slaves to white az
eemen, In the national Territories and in n,
ture States. That question has never been Ii
stlnctiy recognized or acted on By them m
he Republican party embodies the pop liar =
'otest and reaction against po lev which has ltr
zen fastened upon the nation by surprise. and +ig
nich Its reason ard conscience, concurrino ca
th the reason and conscience of mankind St
,ndemn. "'4''-> - -
The choice of the nation is now betveen th ti'
e Democratic party and the Republican 70
'rty. Its principles and policy are, there tb
re, Justly aud even necessarily examined. "
low OF only one policy which it has adopted ba
avo"ed, namely: the saving of the Terri te
ries Of the United States. if possible. by of
institutional means. from being homes for do
svery ana Polygamy. Who. that considers be
lere TINS nation exists, of what races it is ha
imposed, IN what age of the world it acts its ma
rt on the public stage, and what are its nre 70;
mlnant institutions, customs, habits. and cd
ntiments, doubts that the Republican nartv m
o o. and Will If unwaveringly faithful to that sh,
hey, and just and loyal in all beside, carry it.
into trIumphal success! To doubt is to be CIV
certain whether civilization can improve or or
T T ossy n,". n., save iilaokina. eig
case, that it will, in all courts and nIsces or
md 6y the freedom of speech and of the snl
ess, aud the constitutional rights of freemen ter
erywhere; that it will favor the sneedv i'm. Al,
OF the public domain by homestead Iv
!, a"u "' ouoourage INNING, manufacture, ant
- : ooihlnerce' with needful co1nec- by
between d.