The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 184?-1851, 1850-12-25

i IS no man in thRt region now bold enoug
I, 10 utter sentiment in favor Of gradual e
ii Emancipation. The effo4is oS the abolition
e ISIS have long, very loEg postponed the da
4: OF emancipation in these Suites. ThrOughou
e the grain growing slave States, powerful
IS causes were in operation, which mus, ,befur
: many years, have prodaced gradual enamel
h patton. These have been counteracted b,
g The violence and folly Of the aboliiohiss. :
They have done in6t6te mischief. The,
: have not only brought the Union into immi
= nent peril, but they have inf cled the great
: esl evils on the slave apd on tie free negro
d the aVowed objects Of taeir regard,
e Let me, then, call upon your powerful an,
d influential meeting, as they value the Uniol
OF these States, the greatest political bless
. ing ever conferred by bounilful Proyidenc,
i upon man; as they value the well being oI
! the slave and free negro; as they value ever
The cause OF regular and constitutional e.
? Emancipation, 10 exert all their energies t(
, pui down the long continued agitation in the
! North against slavery in the South. Is il
unreasonable that the South should make
) this demand? The agitation has reached
such height that the Gs0ulhern people feel
: ;heir personal security TO be involved. Ii
has filed the minds ofthe slaves with vague
notions of emancipation, and, in The LAM
I Iguage of Gen. jackson, threatens ''lo stmu-
late them 10 insurrection and produce all
The horr0ls of a servile war; Although any
such attempt on their part would be easily
and speedily suppressed, yet what horrors
might not in the mean time be perpe;raled
Many n mother now retires to rest at night
under dreadful apprehensions of what NAV
betall herself and her family before the NOR
nhg. Selt-preservalioa is the first instinct
OF nature; and, therefore, any state OF socie
| ty IN which the sword Of Damocles is all the
time suspended over the heads Of the peo-
lple, must, at last, become intoerable. To
Judge correctly Of our relative duties 10,
wards the people of the South, we ought to
place ourselves in their position, and do un-
totbem as we would they should do unto US
under similar circumstances. This is the
golden rule. II was under its benign nAds
,ence that our Consultation Of mutual com
promise and concession was framed, and Sy
the same spirit alone eaa it be maintained
DO The people of the North act in this CHRIS
tian spirit, while stigmatjzing their brethren
| OF the South with The harshest epithets and
lImpnt'ng 10 them high degree Of moral
gsast, because slayery,hss been entaied up.
on them by their torefatbers; anl this, too,
with a knowledge that The consequences of
these assaults must be to place in peril their
personal safety and that of all they hold
most dear on earth. repeat that this con
lStant agitation must be arrested by the firm
determination and resplIle action Of the vast
majority of the people Of the North, who IRE
known to dlsapproVe it, or the sacrifice of
our glorious Union may, aud probably will,
be at last the consequence.
2. shall proceed to present 10 you some
views upon the subject Of the much msrep
resented fugitive slave law. 1t is now ovi-I
dent from all the signs Of the Ii mes, that
this is destined to become the principal sub.
ject GI agitation at the next session of Con,
gress aud 10 take the place of the Wllmot
Proviso. Its Total repeal or its material mod
hcutlon will henceforward be the battle CRY
of the agtatofs of the North.
Aud what is The character Of this Law? 1t
was passed to carry into execution PLAN, clear,
and mandatory provision of the Constitution
requiring that fugitive slaves, who fly from
service in one State TO another, shall be de,
lvered up to !helr masters. This proviso is
so explicit that he who runs may read. No |
commentary can present it ia stronger
light than the plain words of the Constitution
1t is well kaown historical fact, that with.
out this provision, the Consultation itself
could never have existed.
How could this have been otherwise? Ia /
II possible Tor moment TO believe that the |
slave States would have formed a union with
the free States, if under it, their slaves by |
simply escaping ncross the boundary which
separates them would acquire all the rights
Of lreemen3 This would have been TO offer |
an irresistible temptation to all the slaves of
The south 10 pFeciptate themselves upon The |
north. The Federal Constitution, therefore.
in tho clearest and most emphatic
terms, the property in slaves, and protects
this property by prohibiting aGy Stale into
which slave might escape from dischatging
him from slavery, and by requiring that he |
shall be delivered up TO his master.
Bat, say the agialors, tho Fugitive Slave
Inv, framed for the very purpose of carry |
ing into effect an express provision of The !
Constitution, is Itself unconstitutional II
shall moi stop 10 argue such point at length.
deeming this to be wholly unnecessary. The |
law, in every one Of its essential provisions,
ls The very same law which was passed in
February, 1888, by Congress, many oil
whose members had come fresh from the
which framed the Federal Con-
and was approved by the Father
Of his Country, II this be so, il may he csk-
ed whence the necessity Of passing the pres
cot law? Why not resi- upon The acl Of II, |
932 This question Is easily answered.
The ael Of 1903 had entrusted is own exc
cuuon not only TO the Judges Of The Circnii
and District Courts Of the United States,
hui To all Stale magistrates. Of any county,
city, or town corporate, The decision Of t
the Supreme Court Of the United States, in
the case Of Prigg Us. the Commonwealth
ol PENNSYLVANIA, deprive these State magis-
Irales ofIhe power Of acting under the law.
What was the consequence Let us take
The Stale Of Pennsylvania for an example I
There we're but three lndjyiduaIs left ia The
whdle State who could indcally execute
the provisions of the act Of l793--the Cir.
cult Judge and the two District Judges, :
Two Of these judges reside in Philadelphia,
and one Of them AZ Pittsburgh, distance Of
more than three hundred miles apart. II is
manifest, therefore, that tho law in many,
indeed IN most cases, could not hive been
executed tor want oI officers near al hnnd.
II thus became absolutely necessary FOR Com