Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1850-11-15


UWe heard the other evening, gentleman
endeavoring in public speech, to enforce it az
the duty of all good citizens to obey the behests
of the fugitive slave law because il is the law as
enacted by Congress, and if you refuse to
obey one law you may another, and thereby you
destroy the government and the union, and cut
off the great blessings which through the gov
eminent we are destined eventually to attain.
An individual may not be responsible, as an
individual, for the existence of bad law, and
hence it may not become duty for him as an
individual to resist that law; but when that law
calls upon him personally to violate his own con-
science, we hold that he has natural right to
refuse obedience to it, and elect to suffer its pc
nalties, and we hold too, that so far from viola
ting his duty as citizen by SO doing in no other
way could he perform that Duty for the purity OF
the state depends on the purity of the individual
and the state can have no conscience if the indi-
vidual will on any consideration sacrifice his.
We say the right of individual conscience is the
highest natural right which no government can
properly interfere with, for the reason that as il
involves his eternal welfare, it is peculiarly his
own property. Can Congress compel us to bow
down and worship imagesa can it compel us to
deny the living God and erect in his stead idols
ofwood and stone? 1t may pass laws and com.
mand these things ard attach penalties to the
INCONSISTENCIES of them, but tits our right to suf
fer the penalties Of such laws and preserve oul
consciences pure in the sight of God IF we de-
stroy the individual conscience we destroy the
very element of all government and all progress
for we thereby sever the link which connects
humanity with that higher power upon which
alone governments rest
But we We're told that our Union is TO accom-
plish great results, and it is only by obeying al
the behests of the powers that be- that that unior
can be preserved. Let us bear in mind that the
Union is but an aggregate of states, and the state.
aggregates of individuals. Now no one viii
contend that our union can accomplish great o.
beneficial results, unless the individuals wht
| compose it are virtuous. The speaker himsel
admitted that the law in question was violation
OF humanity, and protested TO regret as much as
any one that necessity should exist for its
| enactment. Now how can we reasonably hope
for go results from the Union, if the indivdu
ais of it are required to sacrifice their virtue a
the dictation of the government. The Unior
will be great and good just as its citizens are
great and good, and if its citizens enter with alac
rity into the support of wicked laws, can good
from such source be reasonably expected q
And if we tamely submit to this law and obey it.
behests, simply because it is the law, are we mo-
debauching our own virtuous natures, and pre-.
pairing the way for still higher crimes, instead Of
as the speaker intimated, preparing ourselves tc
develope great virtues.
We say that the individual who obeys this
law rather than suffer its penalty, knowing its
requirements to be inhuman, is a traitor to bis
God, and therefore traitor and enemy to gooc
government and righteous Union.