Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1862-04-17

I
tunate beings saying to the school teacher
aud the missionary. " come on with your books
and appliances aud help US evangelize and ele-
vate this race"
Such would be my plan and such course
strikes my judgment as philauthropic and 3D.
like. 1t not only awards justice to whom JUS
tice is due, but it promises the permanent
peace and salvation of the country.
The mode of removing this evil may be o
debatable subject but the absolute necessity
of the removal itself, is as fixed and certain as
fatality. We find ourselves today as a nation
dounderiDg in sea Of troubles, with the mon.
ster slavery, heavier than milestone, lashed
to our necks and the very waves that surge
and dash about Us are conjured up by the mad
dened struggles of our giant enemy. The great
question we have to meet is this shall we
break the chain-swim ourselves, but sink the
euemy-or hold the chain aud both 40 down
together For myself, l fall back upon ma
lures first great law, self-defence, and would
save the nation by destroying that which seeks
its life.
On the contrary, the position of Senators
who addressed US yesterday is this: Congress
should not abolish slavery in the District of
Columbia. They admit that Congress has the
power but they deny to it the justice right
and expediency. They have averred, in the
next place, that Instead of declaring the slaves
OF rebels free and taking initiatory steps for
the ultimate freedom OF the slaves Of oyasts,
the seeded States are to come back into the
Union as aforetime, with all their mmunties,
all their institutions, and associations, and that
slavery with its slave representation in Con
gress with the lash and bowie kuife With the
Democratic party as q necessary appendage,
like the tail of Behcmolh, shall be restored
to its former pride aud domination Here we
staud, facing each other. plead for the just,
legal, certain suppression of this Institution
they plead for its perpetuat0n I'D iafnitum -
Upon this basis l am willing to 20 to the
country-u9cn it, l am willing to meet them
here, elsewhere, or anywhere
What beautiful perpective must arise to
the Imagination of Senators as they throw
their glance along the track way of coming
ages, aud see this petted stjtution of theirs
(Which they desire to baptize into an earthly
immortality striking its roots deeper into The
heart Of the nation, lifting its boughs higher,
and spreading them wider aud still wider over
the land, withering, blasting, dsmuing every
green thing within the circle OF its shadow
1t may be poetical to thcm-it is not to me.
Looking upon it with sickening heart, | can
only excIaim with Englands liberty loving
poet Hail horrors y | trust a better fate
IS in store for Us. That Providence which
CLEANED all Europe for good seed with which
to plant the continent originally, and stood by
the fathers during o seven years struggle for
freedom, has done too much for this country
to allow ruthless tyrantS at last TO bury il alive
and riot upon its sepulchre. The country will
not be ruined until the people OF the free
States consent to its destruction When they
restore and perpetuate slavery, their consent is
given, the die cast, the deed done You have
then oDly to wait in melancholy mood for the
bitter harvest of retributiVe justice If that
harvest fail TO come, then are the laws of ma
turc reversed, and the divine government
failure
Allow me now, sir, to notice more specific
ally the positions taken and principles advo
Gated by the Senators from Berks and Clarion.
They both agree in having great sympathy for
loyal men in the South. How eIoQuenty they
dlIated upon the trials and devotion of such
men, whose heart of hearts, they affirm, is
with the Union and with US, notwithstanding
their dangers, prosecutions and sufferings and
those Senators appeahngly inquire if we can
have the hardihOod to crush down the rights
Of sach men. | answer No ! Those gentle
men shall not surpass me in doing homage to
patriotic loyalty in this day of struggle. But
IN reply, | ask them today aud here if they
are prepared TO respect and regard the rights
Of all Ioyalists in the South VIII they abide
10y their own affirmed principles? When they
Gld men by the thousand in Caroua-men
with brawny muscles, with marrow 10 their
bones, and prayers for the country's success
in their bearts-men ready to lay their oil
upon the altar Of that country, help fight its
battles and share its Victories-mea who dodge
pistol balls and swim rivers to get within our
army lines-when they meet with such, | wish
to know if they will recognize their loyalty
and guarantee their rights When the Burn
side expedition was winding its way through
the serpentine channel, among islands and
shoals, who guided the expedition A colored
man. When your forces reached Hilton Head,
who was t that came there with important
tidngsI Colored men When your army was
marching upon the savannahs of the west, who
followed that army and whispered in their ear
Of the schemes, plans and machinatoDS of The
rebels? Loyal coored men, Yet gentlemen
tell US, "you must restore the States to their
former position, with all their peculiar institu-
tious-that any thing short of this would be a
Of the Constitution" They avow that
We must respect the rights of loyalists, and in
the same breath propose to take millions of
Ioyalists, apply afresh the branding iron, and
hand them over to the re damnaton of slavery.
Their position is alike void of both humanity
aud logic, aud only suggests to Us that class of
men whose tender mercies are cruelty. Differ
ent should be my reward for southern loyalty.
would in the name of my country twine upon
its brow the fadeless wreath of freedom and
open up to it the untold joys of life, liberty
and the nnrsnit of hnnnlneSs . These SeRa. |