Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1848-08-30

census exhibited the fact that near millior
81 them were free, and as far on the advance
towards intelligence and civilization a
circumstances will admit Of And is i
!. unreasonable while they are thus progress
ing from the ignorance and barbarity of lhei
native condition, to the state of freedom an,
civilization to which they are ultimatel,
destined, that they should for a time b
fastened to that soil that clothes, comfort
and supports them, and gives them an i'm
petus to that destined state of intelligence an,
civilization?
There is in our State, and have no doub
in yours, class of men who voluntarily lef
their native country, and for time became
bondsmeaSin order that they might ultimate
ly enjoy the &dsantages of our free and equa
@iastitutions; and many of this class of mel
are now useful and worthy citizs..s. And
it is not unreasonable that the African
should undergo more protracted bondage
for being little more than beast when he
arrives here-a longer time is occupied in
his transmutation to that condition that ena-
bles him properly to estimate and appre-
ciate the advantages of civil liberty.
Africa, with&its Carthage, its Thebes, and
its Alexandria, once the seat of arts, science,
and learning, is now in the deep darkness of
ignorance and superstition, and with the
wanderings of my imagination. have often
contemplated the day when her sons shall
return to her, heavily laden with the fruits
of the knowledge gathered from those who
held them in bondage; and in the mighty
workings of that all wise Providence, whose
lifetime is eternity, shall roll back upon
their native land mighty food of intellect,
intelligence, and civilization.
And you should remember, too, that sla-
very is social more than a political evil,
and it is very improper to use, or to desire
to use, the democratic party for the eradica-
tion of every social evil that may exist The
doctrine of the Democratic National Con-
ventions of lS40, '4S, to which Mr.. Van
Buren subscribed in 1910, is that slavery is
a matter ente-ely under the control of the
States wherein it exists, and is a matter in
which the people Of the non-slaveholding
States have no right or business to inter-
{ fere.
In Pennsylvania slavery is forbidden by
an act of Assembly, and may exist again
whenever our Legislature see fit to repeal
that act; and suppose the same state of
things exists in the State of New York !; and
what folly it is to clamor for the passage
OF an idle proviso that slavery shall not ex-
ist in any Territory of the United States
south of a certain line of latitude, while any
State which may be admitted into the Union
out Of the same territory may establish
slavery by repeating or enacting an act Of
Assembly. For it is well established that
Cong 'ess has no power or control over the
fundamental laws of State, they being
entirely aid exclusively in the people who
compose the State.
You have both social and political evils
in the State of New York. There is for
instance, the great political evil of paper
money banking. call it a political evil,
because it is built up solely by the statute
laws of your State. By force and virtue of
these laws, cunning few are enabled to
manufacture rags and lampblack into mon
ey, for the. special use and benefit of those
who labor.
You have what is called the safety
Fund system of banking, of which your
great chief, MIR. Van Buren was the author
aad fou-der; one Of which was the Canal
Bank of Albany, which failed day or two
since, having some three hundred thousand
d,lla of its false promises in circulation.
A I'd then you have the "Free Banking"
system, which perhaps, is well named, for
by it the ban ers a-e enabled to plunder
more freely. | fad some of the projectors
and supporters Of this system figuring PROM
iaeltly in your late convention at Utica
TO this system belong the Atlas Bank, and
several Others that failed some months ago,
owing considerable more than they had
means to pay.
This is serious evil created and sustain
ed by the laws Of New York, from which
the people of the neighboring States often
suffer severely, for very large amount OF
the notes of the broken banks of your State
are to BE- found in the chests and Golfers of
our people. But you do not find the demo-
Gratis of our State calling democratic con-
ventions to abolish the paper money banks
of New York. Nor do you find any men,
Der of Congress from this or any other
State, silly enough to offer proviso to ter
ritorial government bill, @tbat neither banks
nor paper money shall ever exist in any ter
ritory of the United States"
And there is another which may be more
properly termed social than a political
evil. allude to the feudal tenures by
which the lands in some parts of your State
are held, which have given rise to those anti
rent disturbances for which New York has
become of late SO proyerbial. This Dies
not concern us in any other respect than that
it sets bad example to those among us
who do not want to pay rent: and it grieyes
us to see your sherifiis murdered, and YOUR
hard handed farmers spending their lives
in your penitentiaries.
Suppose we tack on proviso to an act
Of Congress, that there shall be none other
than fee simple titles to land in the terrific
ries of the United States, and call conven-
ton to abolish all rents for lands or tene.
ments in the State of New York. But
these are your peculiar institutions, with
which we have no business, except that we
may be excused for com planning little
when we happen to be plundered by one, O,
shocked by the atrocities consequent upor
the other.
The Democratic party, to which vo,
and profess to belong, is composed of mel
spread over the broad space Our whole
Union. 1t could not, if it would, and j