Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1862-03-22


the height of satire and rdicule to describe
"McClellan and Banks and Dix and Hal
leck, and the like, armed to the teeth and
ready for the fray,with sword III one hand
and the Constitution in the other, prepar.
ed to administer death or the oath of allie.
glance, according to the stubbornness OF
docility of the subject" Sir if what is
thus ridiculed is indeed the policy of the
President, | will give all man can give
to further and support it.
refer to the speech OF the gentleman
from Kansas, because it is the frankest
and clearest exposition that have heard
here OF the doctrine of the party of which
he is distinguished leader l would say
that the doctrine of that party might be
summed up in four words: "Throw the
Constitution overheard" The gentleman
from kensas said explicitly, " the wish of
the masses of our people is to conquer the
seeded States to the authority of the
Union, and hold them as subject provn.
ces," He combats, as fallacy, the idea
that constitutional obligations rest on our
Government in its prosecution of the war.
He says, "this principle must be repuda.
ted, or it is obvious that we are tied hand
and foot"
Sir, the rise Of the Democratic party in
this country was the peoples protest against
the concentration of power in the Federal
Government. Now, let some party rise !;
call it the Democratic party-call it you
will, "the white mans party"-which
shall protest against thse schemes for black
armies and States held as subject provin.
ces.
Truly did Jefferson record the Ear ent.
age Of abolition at its rise, as a political
prescription. He said, in a letter to La.
fayette
"On the eclipse Of Federalism with us,
although not its extinction, its leaders got
up the Missouri question, under the false
front OF lessenlng the measure of slavery,
but with tac real view of producing a geo.
graphical division Of parties. which might
insure them the next President. The pco.
pie of the North went blindfolded into the
snare, followed their leaders for a while
with zeal truly moral and laudable, un,
til they became sensible that they were in
juring instead of aiding the real interests
OF the slaves, that they had been used
merely as tools for electloneering purpo-
scs."
Suok were the words of Jefferson, him
self opposed to slavery, but moro opposed
to the attempt to abolish it in Missouri,
through the ageLcy Of the Federal Cover
nment. Of that attempt he said:
"This momentous question, like O. fro
bell, IN the night, awakened and filed me
with terror J considered it, at once, as
the knell of the Union"
"Of one thing | am certain, that aC the
passage Of slavery from one State to an.
other would not make slave of single
human heiDg who would not be so without
it SO their diffusion over u larger surface
would make them Individually happier and
proportionaIly facilitate the accomplish
ment of their emancipation by dividing the
burden ON greater number of coadju-
tors"
Let me recall, too, that at that day &
Representative of my own Stats, Henry
of Pittsburg, afterwards a Judge
Of the Supreme Court of the United States
and one of the ablest, foresaw with pre-
science that rivallcd Jetferson's, the dire
evils that were to arise from a geographic
cal division of parties. In 1919 and 1920
on the floor of this House, Baldwin adyo
Gated, with all the vigor of his robust in.
.ellect, the immediate and unconditional
Of Missouri. Sir, voted the
other day against the bill prohibiting the
return of fpgitives by the military author
ties. That bill was carried through this
House under the whip and spur of ''the
previous question:" alter single speech in .
is favor from the gentleman from Ohio to
which nc man was allowG to utter a word !
n reply. He represented, without any
'hance for contradiction, that the military
'ficers were psurping the functions of our
'ivil judges and marshals, and were "run-
hing down and hunting down men, women,
Ind children, as alleged fugitives from
lavery.'
The simple fact, as l understand it, is
his that in localities where the civil
'owcr is extinct, and all its functions arc
exercised by the commanding general in
he performance Of his duty and his pledge
o protect all constitutional rights he
las protected rights to slave prop
rty' We, by our recent legislation,
laye inyiduously discriminated tboea !