The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1860-03-15
lac, CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN THURSDAY, MARCH 15 1860

delighted surprise, that it was so far
from confirming the law of freedom of
1920 that, on the other hand, it exactly
provided for the abrogation of that
venerated statue; nay, that the com
promise itself actually killed the spirit
OF the Missouri law, and devolved on
Congress the duty of removing the life
less letter from the national code. The
deed was done. The new enactment
not only repealed the Missouri prohibi-
ton OF Slavery, but it pronounced the
people of Kansas and Nebraska per-
fectlY free to establish Freedom or
Slavery, and pledged Congress to adj
init them in due time as States, either
of Capital or of Labor, into the Union.
The Whig representatives of the Cap
ital States, in an hour of strange be-
wilderment, concurred and the Wig
party instantly went down, never to
rise again. Democrats seeded and
stood aloof; the country was contonnd-
ed +; and, amid the perplexities of the
hour, a Republican party was seen
gathering itself together. with much
earnestness, but with little show of or
ganization, to rescue, II it were not too
late, the cause of Freedom and Labor,
so unexpectedly and grievously imper-
illed in the Territories of the United
States. gi ~ fif aiii.
| will not linger over the sequel.
The popular sovereignty of Kansas
proved to be the State sovereignty of
Missouri, not only in the persons of the
rulers, but even in the letter of an ar
bitrary and cruel code The perfect
freedom proved to be hateful and in
tolerable bondage From 1855 to 1860,
I Kansas, sustained and encouraged only
by the Republican party, has been engag
ed in successive and devery-varying strug
giles, which have taxed all her virtue, wis
dom. moderation, energies, and re-
sources, and often even her physical
strength aud martial courage, to save
herself from being betrayed into the
Union as Slave State. Nebraska,
n though choosing freedom, is, through
the direct exercise of the Executive
power, overriding her own will, held as
a Slave Territory; and New Mexico
has relapsed voluntarily into the prac-
tice of Slavery, from which she had
redeemed herself while she vet re-
mained a part of the Mexican Repnb-
lie. Meantime, the Democratic party,
advancing~from the ground of Popular
4 Sovereignty as far as that ground is
from the Ordinance of 1887, now stands
on the position that both Territorial
Governments and Congress are incom-
petent to legislate against Slavery in
the Territories, while they are not only
competent, bnt are Obliged, when it is
necessary, to legislate for its protection
there. iH s3t M
I'm this new and extreme position the
Democratic party now masks itself be-
hind the battery of the Supreme Court,
as if it were possibly altruc colstruc-
ton of the Constitution, that the pow
er of deciding practically forever be-
, tween Freedom and Slavery i'm a por-
ton of the continent far exceeding all
that is vet organized should be re-
, nOunced by Congress, which alone pos
sesses any Legislative authority, and
should be assumed and exercised bv n
court which can only take cognizancc
of the great question collateralIv, in a
private action between individuals, and
which action the Constitution will not
suffer the cOnrt To entertain, if it in
, wolves twenty dollars of money, with
ort the overruling intervention of !,
jury Of twelve good and lawful meI, of
the neighborhood where the litigation
arises. TIE independent, everire-
newed, and ever-rpcurring representa-
tive Parliament, Diet, Congress, or
Legislature, isthe one chief paramount,
essential, and indispensable institution
i'm a Republic. Even liberty, guaran-
teed by organic law, yet if it he held
by other tenure than the guardian care
of such a representative popular assem-
/, bly,, is but precariouslv maintained,
while Slavery, enforced by an irreSpon-
sible judicial tribunal. is the completest
: possible developement of despotism.
Mr.. President, did ever the annals OF
any Government show more rapid OF
|, more complete departure from the wis.
dom and virtue of its founders? Did
ever the Government of great empire
founded on the rights of human labor
slide away so fast and so far, and moor
itself so tenaciously on the basis ot
! capital, and that capital invested in la.
boring men? Did ever free repre-
sentative Legislature, invested with
powers so great, and with the guardi
anship of rights SD important, of trust,
so sacred, of interests so precious, and
of hopes ut once so noble and so com
prehensive, surrender and renounct
: their all So unnecessarily, so unwiscly
so fatally, and so inglorionsly? If i,
$ be true, as every instinct of our nature
e and every precept of political expert
r cnce teaches us, that
r "Ill fares the land. to fastening ills prey,
!. Where wealth accumuates and men decay"
: then where in Ireland, in Italy, in PO
| land, or in Hungary, has any ruler pre-
e pared for n generous and confidins
e people disappointments, disasters, and
!, calamities equal to those which the
e Government of the Uuited States hold.
: now suspended over SO large a portion
4 of the continent of North America?
$ Citizens of the United States, in the
e spirit of this policy, snbverted the free
y Republic of Nicaragua, and opened II
i to Slavery and the African slave-trade,
Il and held it in that condition waiting
Il annexation tn the United States, until
r. its sovereignty was restored by com