Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1861-01-04

4 1er the Journal.l
Fn,nND MAIaH :--Whoover has studied
Ae elitidFet - country for the last six d
ve1b mues Be oonvinced that the pro-slave- I
, p1kty (fAlsely called Democratic) is de- I
ernined " GORGE To Republicans party q
INTO making such concessions as will 7
AMOUNT to- political suicide. This is at {
'empted by panic, by threats and in every
conceivable way by which they hope to ope-
rate upon the minds of the Weakened"
among the Republicans, and the last that is
cracked over our heads 10 secession. 1--WE
will destroy the Union if you do not aban-
don your organization" Their demand
amounts to nothing less than that. Now,
the fact that a sectional party threatens to
dissolve this glorious National Union, unless
we will consent that their sectional institu-
ton slavery shall become nationalized, is
sufficient evidence that thoir demands should
not be complied with. TIA sectional party, |
when they are defeated in Presidential
election, can dictate terms to the majority,
then our government is no longer Demo
cratic one, and men who will, under such
circumstances, make such demands rs the
pro-slavery party now make, are the very
men who it would not be safe to trust
Of what do they complaint Has our
National Legislature passed any laws of
which they complain ? Not one That
party has been in power, in all departments
Of government, for number of years, and no
law could have been passed in opposition to
their wishes. The branch Of that party
who are in the free States, complain Of the
"Personol Liberty Laws in some OF the
States; but this is because they wish some
thing to croak about and know of nothing
else. We know the South care but little
about these laws. Senators Mason and lver-
son have both so stated But if the laws are
unconstitutional they should be repealed
Immediately. 1t is no excuse for the North
to keep unconstitutional laws because the
South does. I believe the latter have more
Of such laws than the former, but let US
repeal ours, if we have any. But, as before
stated, this is not the complaint. It is be-
cause zoe do not like slavsry. We are will
ing to tolerate it in tho States whore it ex
lists by local laws, because we consider it one
Of the compromises of our Constitution, but
we do not think it best for society to have
it extended over our Territories, and our
excellent Constitution does not take it there.
We do not lovs slavery, but we have no war
with it where it exists. In the language of
Henry Clay, "If they would repress all ten
denotes towards liberty aud ultimate eman-
Icipatiou they must do more than put down
the benevolent efforts ofsociety. They must
20 back to the war of our liberty and inde-
pendsnce and ,nuzzle the cannon which
thunder its annual joyous return. They must
blow out the moral lights around MS, and
extinguish the greatest torch of all which
America presents to benighted world,
pointing the way to their rights, liberties
and their happiness. And when they have
achieved all these purposes their work will
yet be incomplete. They must penetrate
the human soul, and cradle tie the right Of
reason and the lovc of liberty. Then, and
not till then, when universal darkness and
despair prevail, can you perpetuate slavery
and repress all humane and benevolent eff
forts among freemen, in behalf Of the un-
happy portion of our race doomed to perpet-
ual bondage Thus spoke one who was a
stakeholder all his life. Can they expect
less of as?
The base lies which the Democratic ora
tors and editors told before the election, in
representing the Republican party as abo-
litionists, are producing their results, and
the increased police that is necessary to
watch their chattels must by this time have
convinced the shareholders that their allies
did them no good by such base falsehoods'
So far as their threats of dissolution are
concerned, it is just what must please every
abolitionist for no speedier way of blotting
out the institution of slavery could be de-
vised than the dissolution of this government
With cur present Constitution we cannot
interfere with slavery in the States. De-
stroy that Constitution, and you never could
get another tolerating human bondage ex-
cept for crime. The Republican party must
save this Union, if it be saved, and they
must do it by strictly adhering to their prin-
ciples. Those principles are conservative. -
They are just such Us the fathers of the
Republic maintained. We ought never to
lower our flag. No, notone inch. Conces.
sions now will but provoke new demands.
They will not be satisfied with any thing
less than universal slavery in the United
States And if they can drive us into con-
cessions now by threats Of dissolving the
Union, they can do it again when they
want more concessions. Let us be firm
Do nothing rashly, but maintain our rights
and the cause of freedom
When cur Democratic friends talk of "going
South to fight for South Carolina" let us
remind them that there were more tories in
South Carolina. during the revolutionary war,
than in any other State Of the Union. 1t has
long been troublesome sister. The disunion
threats are nothing new. They undertook
the same play when Jackson was President,
but the leaders began to smell hemp, and
concluded to remain in the Union. Now,
they have President whom they can use.
Who supposes that, if Jackson was now
President, he would be inundated from
sending reinforcements to Fort Moultrie
Who believes there lives a man in South
Carolina who would have dared intimate to
him that, eff he did send recruits there, it
would be the means of immediate war, for
oo,th Carol;no xronld taka tho Eork rn,tho,t |