Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1847-01-16
From the Democrat,

most intelligent citizens, we applied to Judge
J. ID. LELAND. for a copy Of the sentence
pronounced by him, upon George Il. Lana.
on, for entcng a slave 10 run away, for
publication; which, through the polite atten.
ton OF the Judge, we are enabled herewith
to present.
Independent of its high merits as COM
position the just and forcble sentiments ex.
pressed, must command the admiration OF
all who read il as it did that Of large con.
course Of citizens assembled in the court
house, at Fayette, on its delivery.
| Prisoner at the Bar-After fair and i'm.
partial trial, by an intelligent and honest ju
ry, you have been found guilty of aiding and
abetting the negro named in the indictment
in an attempt 10 escape from this state, for
the purpose Of depriving James Hughes, his
master, Of his services. If there was any
reason to suppose that you we're influenced
by conscientious, though mistaken views,
although still legally guilty, we could yet
pity your deluslon, and pay you that tribute
Of compassion, which every good heart
must accord 10 misfortune, unaccompanied
with great moral turpitude; for we do not
punish the conscientious aboltionist because
we believe him 10 be bad man, and acting
under the influence Of motives which he
knows to be criminal, but we punish him
nevertheless, for our own security, when
guilty OF an invasion OF tie right of prop.
erty, recognized as property by the laws Of
this state, and secured to us by the consti.
tuition Of the United States; and however
honest his motives may be, he can not be
permitted to 60 at large, setting our laws
and constitution at defiance, deprivng US
of our property and disseminating doctrines
calculated to impair its security, and here
after perhaps to deluge the land in blood
And, surely, in this we d. not encroach on
the right of conscience, or Of thought
Think as you please, It is only when you
attempt to reduce your mischievous doc.
trnes into practice, that you subject your.
selves to the pains and penalties of the law;
and in this, there is no hardship, for the Sc.
verist casust that ever lived, would not
hold you liable for our sins, or condemn
you to the deep damnation which you de.
nounce against US, merely for yielding a
passive obedience to the laws and lnstitu
tons, under which you may happen for the
time to live. Whenever slavery shall be
felt as a great moral or social evil, that evil
will probably correct itself or may, at any
rate, be corrected by lawful and constitu-
,iona means. But as for the time and the
mode, we claim the reasonable prveledge Of
being permitted to think for ourselves. Be-
sides this, violation of the laws under
which you live, is a positive wrong; and
no moralist has ever yet commended, or even
admitted that by the moral law, we may
lawfully do evil, that good may come Of it.
Every good Christian believes that himself
and those entertaining his own particular
views in matters of religious faith, constitute
the authodox church, and that as two soce-
ties, or two individuals holding opposite opin
ions, can not both be right, that consequent
ly, all who do not agree with him, are eth
: er schismatcs or infidels, and should he furth
er believe, as many good & pious men did be,
leve in the dark ages, that the honor and
glory Of God, and the prosperity Of the
true church, required that such person.
should be exterminated, although we may
pity his deusion, as much as we abhor hi;
doctrine, We can not permit him to shield
himself from the consequences Of iniraction!
: of the law, committed under the influence
Of that deIusion, although we may do justice
to the purity of the motives by which hi
has been actuated.
g But we are informed by learned and pi
Gus men, deeply imbued with scTiptural lore
that slavery, although frequently spoken OF
is no where denounced in the scriptures
n although the divine law was first pronlulga
Il ted to the people in land where this insti
tuition did in fact exist. But why, at an,
rate, shall we be so bitterly denounced 70
an institution not of our own choice, bu
t entailed on us by the inscrutable DEGREES Q
: Providence; and from which the ancestor
: of those who now so virulently attack US
S have drawn, as perhaps their descenden,
e are still drawing, the chief benefit and &C
). vantage. Is it not enough that you shoul
!, be permitted to shoot your poisoned arroS
u at US from abroad, that the laws and const
tuition Of the United States, should be prac
= tically annulled by Legislative enactment:
or set aside by the arbitrary will Of an is
:! norant and degraded mob; but must you a
u so be permitted to bring your abominabl
doctrine into the very bosom OF our stat
= to deprive us OF our property now, and in
directly hereafter, to bring upon US survll
+! war, with its long train OF horrors, or pc
III haps actual invasion by our own runawa
n a, slaves. Look on these things and then sa
- whether all your sympathies are to be e,
= pended on race both hysically, and il
tellectually inferior to the white man, az
ct whether you wish to degrade him, to tn,
VI condition from which you so ardently d
sire to elevate the slave. These remarl
- are not however particularly addressed
you, or intended for your benefit or adva
-, tags, as there is no reason to believe tn
for for you belong 10 that more respectable b
IL II. a.. 4 l..