Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-06-15


ii. Because Ohio cannot be in a Union
with the South without being subjected TO a
heavy pecuniary tax every year in support of
slavery.
10. Because the Union is only a means
and not an end and if the people Of Ohio
think some other form Of government would
better secure the end that ough, to be attain
ed, they have the right TO institute il.
When this petition was presented, several
efforts were made to dispose of it in such a
way as virtually to deny the RICH, of the pc
t%itioners TO have their request heard and res
p~ectfully considered. The Ohio State Jour-
nal" represents you as saying on tina. occa-
sion, that you wished it to be received and
referred TO a select committee. There were
reasons-you declared - which might be
shown, why the petition could not, and OUGHT
NOT TO be granted and that the better way
to dispose Of il was to state those reasons
Your counsel prevailed, and the petition, by
a vote of 81 10 %, was referred 10 a commit
tee Of one-yourselL.
The petitioners, as well as others who hel6
similar views, looked anxiously for a report
at your hands. In asking for a dissolution
Of the Union, they cherished no sinister de-
signs all they desired was, that tho truth
should be made manifest in relation 10 our
connection with slavery. If they were in en-
ror, they wished TO know it; if their petition
" could not, and OUGHT NOT 10 be granted"
they wished TO know why and wherefore
They were not Ignorant of your views in re-
lation 10 slavery, but were acquainted with
the fact that you owed your position as o
Representative 10 your avowed opposition to
slavery extension. 1t was, therefore, natural
that they should be curious to know why a
refusal 10 uphold a Union which established
slavery in Louisiana and Florida, is not as
proper as a refusal to uphold a measure which
%contemplates its establishment in New Mex
leo and California and why they, who at
tempt its introduction into these Territories,
are more worthy Of condemnation than they
who pledge themselves by means of the Con-
s%titution and the Union 10 uphold it in those
States. The petitioners, while disclaiming
infalliability for themselves, were not willing
to accord it to others; and they thought il
possible that when you came to carefully
weigh the reasons they had assigned for the
request made, you might discover tina, allho'
they were mistaken in elepcn points, they
were right in one in which case truth and
Justice would demand that you shonld re-
tr,ot mn accnrtian that o. Tho nathan cnyII
not, and OUGHT NOT TO be granted and to
report that il could and OUGHT to be-. You
will not, therefore, wonder that they anxious
ly waited day after day to hear from you up
on the subject. More than three months pass
ed away, questions Of minor importance were
presented, discussed, and settled but no re-
cord appeared of the l port Of the Committee
on the Disunion petition. We then called
your attention to this fact through the col
umns of the " Bugle," sending you a paper
containing our remarks. We continued 10
consult the Columbus papers until the ad-
journment Of the Legislature, hoping to see a
notice of your report. The dissolution Of
that body, and the absence Of all ~allusion TO
inc DloullOu Itti'iOu II IL Oiuilh W NV
I" State Journal" lead us TO infer tina, it, with
its twelve unanswered reasons, is still in your
possession.
If we are not mistaken in this inference,
the petitioners, and those who sympaIhizG
with them, have just cause for complaint; and
until you give a satisfactory explanation Of
your conduct in this matter, you will occupy
no enviable position. Had the Legislature
laid the petition upon the table, and given
the petitioners leave TO withdraw it--as was
proposed-such action would have been just
ly considered a violation of the right Of petit
lion, which you yourself would have been
prompt 10 condemn. But they did not. They
decided by a considerable majorily that the
petitioners were entitled 10 a respectful hear
ing, and appointed you to consider their petit
ton, and repor. upon it. This, you have not
done-at least, you have not reported; how
much consideration you have given the petit
lion, we cannot say.
Whatever may be the occasion of this ne
Glect, its effect has been to crush the right of
, petition, to refuse that hearing 10 the petit
/, TONERS which a majority Of the House deci-
I ded they should have. The Assembly did
not trample this right under foot, but you
, have done SO in fact, though, we trust, not in
intention. We would rather attribute the
S MOI -porformance of the duty assigned you by
the Legislature, to conviction that some or
/. all of the reasons given by the petitioners as
\ the basis of their request, were unanswera'
BILE, than to suppose you ac,uated by an un'
S worthy motive. But whatever may be the
cause, we trust that now that il is too late tc