St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1861-02-21

counsel in favor of the destruction Of
the Government-the only one that
allows freedom of conscience to his
own people. Divide this country be-
tween the slave States and the free
States, and the great fear which at
once overwhclms the religious world
is that it will then break into many
fragments ; that petty despotlsms will
be set up; that freedom OF conscience
as well as freedom of speech and free
dom of the press, will be'trampled un-
der foot, as the latter are now tramp
led under foot in the slave States. And
with the fear of the loss of the right
to worship the Almighty under their
own vine and fig tree, where none
dare modest or make afraid arc you
! prepared to estimate the sacrifices
they will not make to defeat your
plans ? You ought to know--what |
know-that no earthly consideration
could turn them from their purpose.
Senators would do well to pause and
read again the history of the pcrsccu-
tons and of the lnquisition, if they
would properly understand what men
will endure for conscience sake. Gou
love your Government, because it
guarantees civil freedom the rclig-
iOus world, because it guarantees civil
freedom the religious world, because
it is Government under whose shad-
ow the prosecuted from every land
may secure safe retreat. BY your
mad schemes you put this mighty in
terest in jeopardy, and touch chord
that will vibratc in the heart of every
intelligent Christian throughout the
nation and the world. The man who
promotes the adoption of the policy
which You are proposing, assumes Il
fearful responsibility. The Senator
from Virginia described some of the
consequences eloqucntly, and painted
possible disaster with a master hand
| therefore cntreat him to stay his
steps before the awful plunge is made.
What, then, does the Republican
party propose? What do they de-
mand? They demand that you shall
obey the Constitution of the United
States, just as your fathers made it,
without the crossing of a I, or the dot
ting of an i. They demand that you
shall acqucsce in the compromises of
1850, which you extorted from that
part of the Republic in which they
live. As was well said by the honor.
able Senator fran Illinois, Mr.. Trum-
bull, on yesterday, the people of the
North, ! believe, as one man, will
say Restore the laws as they OK
listed in 1854, letter for letter, and
word for word, and then abide by the
compromise of 1850.
You may fcign fear that we will in
terfcre with your institutions in the
slave States. Time at last will de-
vclop the fact that all those fears are
groundlcss, and they are now based
on the false charges of our political
opponents. | have always thought it
but fair to take the principles of a
man or 4 party from the man or the
party and not from enemies. You re-
ccivc, as the principles of our party,
what its enemies say of it, and draw
conclusions from the ISLANDERS to which
you, on the stump, have lent counte
nance. If any man will read the
speeches and the letters of the Presi-
idcnt of the United States elect, he
can come to no other confusion than
that he will administer the Govern
mcnt, SO far as he has power, precise
ly on the policy originally proposed
: by Henry Clay, who participated SC
largely in securing the compromise
measures TO which ! have alluded
Why not consent to this? Why at
tempt the fearful experiment Of de-
stroying this Government, which has
stood the test Of time so well, under
the vain hope Of forming better
But if you must do something to raise
a smoke under which to retire from
your umenviablc position, admit the
Territories as States, and thus cue
the controversy forever. If this pr0po
sltion is acceptable TO the Republic
cans, surely it onght to be acceptable
to you.