The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1849-11-03

in blood, entered into high and hol.
; covenant, perpetuating liberty to their pos
terity by and through written Constitu
tion--the first ever given to mankind
moulded to the will of the whole people
This sacred covenant, by which mans
g rights are protected, against the combina,
tons of kings and priestcraf. will remain,
trust in God, inviolate, until the trumpet
summons to final judgment. We should
all revere our Constitution as the grand
edifice of our freedom, and contide in it as
the world of mankind confdes in the sa-
cred covenant entered into by the MosT
HIGH with his servant Noah, in which he
set his bOac in the cloud, to remain as
token of covenant between Him and the
earth, that all flesh should not again be
cut off by the waters of flood. Cypress
ed man, throughout every land and cline,
looks to the American Constitution as a
token of everlasting freedom to all the op-
pressed Of earth.
| believe, in a political point of view,
that all our trouble and Indebtedness, both
State and National, is the fatal error of
legislating out of the plain and Legitimate
meaning of the phraseology of the Consti-
tuition, State and Federal. Does any one
of you believe that your representatives,
dependant upon you for their power and
station, had legal right to engulph you
in debt of twenty millions Of dollars,
virtually mortgaging the whole real estate
of Ohio, and changing you from the proud
position Of freeholders to renters9 In
other words, your taxes, to pay the inter-
est of the debt OF Ohio, is, in truth, mod
crate rent. In my humble opinion, this
policy is an outrage upon the rights of
the whole. people. Having seemingly ac-
quiesced, by remaining quiet, you are now
bound, by all principles ofjustice and law,
human and divine, to pay those debts
But they were contracted by your SER
wants, without your consent and without
any equitable distribution of the so-called
public improvements throughout the State.
The eastern portion of Ohio, whose citi-
zens had contributed the largest amount
of taxes, we've left without any considera-
BILE aid to place them upon an equality
with the centre and western portion of our
great State. A large portion of the sur
plus money has been spent for improve
ments, in certain localities, to raise the
price of wild lands, which were, in many
instances held by companies and heavy
capitalists out of Ohio. We have all been
Iuibbling about party questions and minor
'bjects, until equal rights have been tram
led under foot with impunity, of which
apital never fails to take advantage by
pen OF secret manGvering. And the his
Dry of the world proves that labor is its
atural prey, its only food, which it must
eize and consume or die. Labor is the
adge of manhood Without it there is,
lere can be no wealth, no progress, no
reatness.
Permit me to say that my heart and all
S hopes and sympathies are blended with
lie fortunes ofthe toilng millions. Should
be so fortunate as to render any aid to
lace laborers in better position, in other
ords, to have them WELD their full share
influence in all and every respect, po-
tical, social, mental and moral, | will
len have obtained the darling object of
~ heart. Brought up among the labor
lg people, an orphan, with no fathers
and to guide me, have, on ten thousand
ccasons, witnessed their unbiased hon
'ty and generosity. In the proud and
lsullied nobility of their nature they VOW
ernal hostility to every kind of tyranny
at oppresses the mind of man. Men of
e plough-share and pruning-knife, whose
ne and reflections are not spent in in
guing and plotting TO make living out
the profits of some soulless corporation, at
who look to their focks sporting in Ian
dness through the verdant fields, to nu
ir ripened harvests and their filled gran iSl
es for nurture, and for protection to the wv
shine and the shower, the storm and Pm
calm as all equally commissioned to
IS them; these are the men love to -
Tor in protecting their rights. My fee -
voice shall be heard and my humble