The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1861-12-24

FoF The UAte CIV.
Sowing TO the wind and II ping TN 9
WhiTI " ind.

Government, and they are equally neoes.
ssry to its strength and stability--one is
Just laws, the other is their enforcement.
A good Government has its firm basis,
not in laws but in righteousness and JUS
tice the etcSal principles of right
from which human laws derive all their
authority and sacredness. Being thus es
tablished, its laws are, of course, Just
applications of the principles of right to
the outward relations of human life they
recognize and protect the natural rights
of men; they harmonic with conscience
and their rigid enforcement answers to
the sentiment Of justice implanted in the
the human breast, and meets a felt want.
The Government commands the reverence
of Its subjects it is supported by the
moral forces OF the human heart and is
strong and stable because ii is lust
If, then, it is necessary to The strength
aud stability of Government that lust
laws should be rigidy enforced, what
shallwe say Of unjust laws and their en-
torcement Suppose the existence of
barbarous and inhuman laws-they are
nothing unless enforced--is a Govern
ment strengthened as the result of en-
forcing them or the contrary We ask
this question in order to call attention to
md expose the prevalent error that a
Government Is strong and safe as long as
Its laws, however unjust, are enforced
with promptness and rigor. Many have
said, "abde by the Constitution and COM
promises to the letter, and all will be well
enough" Many have had the rdicu-
ious hotieH that the great necessity of
peace for the nation is the utter des
tructioa of ..the underground railroad, y
on the one hand, and the merciless exc.
cution of the fugitive slave law, on the
other. The humane and liberty loving
spirit which has offered some resistance
to the enforcement of this law, they have
regarded as one chief source of our
troubles. In like manner, the crime OF
the Kansas Nebraska bill having been
committed, the further crime of ENFORCING
1t with unrelenting severity was regarded
asa necessity of Government. Assubmis
sion to the injustice, on the part of many
Was not willing and cheerful. it wa,
thought that 1t nnst be compelled, anc
the spirit of characterization crushed out
or there was an end of all government.
A false step having been taken, the Gov
eminent was shut up to the hard alterna
tive OF either backing down or of seekin
to recover its lost strength and stabilit
oy heartlessly pursuing its way to the bit
ter end though, in so doing, runnin
against the moral sentiments and the r,
monstrances of its best and worthless
subjects 80, many thought that tn
Dred Scott decision must be respecte
as authoritative and binding, howey,
wicked and inhuman, or there was an on
OF all justice in the land. Here, the,
We have one illustration and the refut
ton OF the error under consideration
The end Of the fugitive slave law W
peace and the Union. The end of II
kansas-Nebraska law was peace and Il
Union The end Of the bred Scott a
cision was peace and the Union. The
measures which, in the light of the ata
nal rieht, must, one and all, be pronoun
ed utterly unjust and wicked. were su
posed to be indispensable to the perm
nency OF the Government and Union
What has been the result? Noone nee
TO be reminded of the historical fact III
these grand peace measures were the {
casions OF immediate and dangerous aeit
tons, and that, instead of giving peace a,
union, they only helped to precipitate 4
fearful war now in progress. They ten
"a 10 enlhiiter rather than conciliate Il
two sections towards each other, giyil
no abiding satisfaction to the South, u,
aTons'ng the Indignation Of the North.
They involved the utter denial Of /
eternal principles of humanity and !,
tee. and they were, consequently, d.
'ructlse assaults upon the very foun(
lions OF Government, mighty sledge-ha
ners knocking evry thc corner s.oa,
and deadly thrusts at the nations hea
lss Government, under successive a
ninlstrations that adopted these pea
MEASURES and undertook to carry the