The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-12-19
...a-..-.- Fro,nthe Boston Lbsrator.
The Right OF the slave 10 be Free.
PORTLAND, Jay County, Ind,
NV. 10. 1850.


. PORTLAND, Jay County, Ind,
Nov. IS, 1850.
DEAR GARRISON Since | last wrote you,
from Richmond, have held Fugitive-slare-
law meetings in different towns in Wayne, Ran
dolph and Jay counties. The one IN Wlnches-
ter. the county town Of Randolph, was great
gathering. 1t was held on the afternoon OF
what the priests call the Lords day. The peo-
ple came in from ten and twelve miles around,
to worship God by pledging themselvs to resist,
at all hazards, the execution of said law in this
county. An Orth dar Quaker was President
and an OrihOdor Quaker was Secretary. -Four
resolutions were discussed, and adopted by
rising vote--several hundreds voting for them,
only Nh ee against them:
Resolred, That it is the right and duty Of the
slave to escape from slavery.
Res0lred, That it is our right and duty to in
cite and TO aid slaves to escape from slavery.
Resulted, That it is our right and duty to re-
sst the execution Of all laws and constitutions
that require slaves to obey or submit to their
masters, or forbid them to escape from slavery,
or as to incite and aid them to escape.
Resoired, That we hereby pledge ourselves
to resist the execution of the Fugitive slave law
recently passed by Congress, because it makes
escape from slavery, and melting and aiding
slaves to escape, crimes, to be punished by ines
md dungeons
Thus we wor-hipped our God, by melting all
slaves to resist the authority and TO escape from
the crueiies of their masters by pledgIng our
lives, fortune and honor to MD them in their et-
forts; and by declaration of our unceasing
hostility to all laws and constitutions that for
bid slaves to escape the tyrant's grasp, or us to
MD them. Such il the worship which, under
present circumstances, can alone be acceptable
to God from this nation. | wish some Sunday
might be set apart for The whole North unitedly
to worship God in this manner, by entering into
solemn league and covenant in defiance o.
all laws and constitutions, to incite and aid all
slaves to escape from slavery. The people of
the North owe it as sacred duty to themselves,
their posterity, and their God to enter at once
into such a solemn league and covenant
came to this place, the county town of Jay,
by previous appointment, to hold meeting in
the Courthouse, to rouse the people to n
stern and efficient opposition to the Fugitive law
| arrived, and found the court in session. The
Judge promptly adjourned the court, to give
place to the meeting; and judge, lawyers, con-
stables, clerks and sheriff staid to hear, and TO
help on the agitation. The above resolutions,
in substance, were adopted-but one voting
against, and nearly the entire assembly voting
healthful work. The same resolutions, sub
stantially, have been heartily and almost unan-
mously adopted in all my meetings.
BY the way, Jesse D. Bright, United States
Senator from this State, is now busy trying to
get a re-election--his term expiring next spring.
His own party, the Democratic, is disguised
with him, as having neither talent nor honesty
except to be q tool Of slave breeders d kid
nappers. lie himself Is an actual slave. breeder
and slave hunter. They say he has no chance
at all. Good! Let every man who voted for
the Fugitive bill be consigned to infnmy and
oblivion. Other candidates are in the field,
who, it is thought, will succeed against him.
The constitutional Convention now assem-
hed at indianapolis is playing desperate game
1t is made up of lawyers and political hacks,
seeking for place and office. They have voted
so to alter the constitution as to exclude ne
groes, muattoes, and Indiana from suffrage, to
prevent them from coming into the State, and
from bearing witness against white man Is
not this the land Of the free and the home of
the brare? But the constitution is to be sub
mittcd to the people, and whether adopted or
not, the discussion and voting on it will do much
to open wide their eyes to the nature and en-
cro;chments Of the slave power. In conjunc-
ton with the Fugitive bill, 1t will 60 far to
show them the alternative that is before them, i.
e. the enslavement of the laborers of the North,
or the disentbrnment of the lnborers of the
South. Slarry in The North or freedom an The
| SouM is The issue. Shareholders have decreed
slavery to the lnborers of the North, and have
conttderated with Northern capitalists and po-
litcal demagogues to carry their point. The Flu,
gitve slave law is one link in the chain they are
forging for the Northern mechanic and farmer
They think and think truly, that if this law cal,
be cnfo ced upon the North, the work Of making
slavery the corner stone Of their republican edi-
| flee is DONE The shareholders know that the
laborers of the North must be enslaved, or the
laborers Of the South must be made free. By
means of Webster and other Northern al les
they expect to gain their ends: and their hopes
will be realized, if the Northern laborers do not
take their stand in open, determined hostility to
this last act of tyranny under the cloak of re.
pubIicnnism Now is the day of salvation OF
pcrdilon to the laborers Of the North. Submi,
to this law, and you show yourselves fit only to
| be slaves.
There arc many fugitivcs in the log cabins OF
| Indiana. | meet some of them every day
| They are determined to meet the enemy here
Their motto is-LlBERTY or DEATH. They are
armed, and will answer the kidrap ,er's demand
| whether he comes as n marshal, de 'uty marshal
assistant, Judge, commissioner, claimant, or his
or her agent with rife ball through his heart
and then let the laws Of the State deal with then,
ns they may. TO die on the gallows for refusing
to be slaves, and for defending themselves, their
wives and children against kdnappers, is less
terrible to them than slavery I honor their re-
solution and their object, but | deprecate the
means by which they seek to carry out their
plans. But can blame them? cannot. This
nation, in its religion and government, has never
taught them any higher or more potent law of
life, but has ever infused into their hearts the
sentiment, that resistance to tyrants is obedience
to God; that he Is the true saint and hero who
strikes down the oppressor; and that he is the
mean, cowardly traitor to humanity who, with
ont resistance unto blood, submits to chains and
slavery
During the past season, a company Of kid
nappers from Kentucky invaded the town of
Newport, Wayne county, at midnight. Many
tugtives were there, living in comfort and peace.
These, with the Abolitionists, having heard of
their approach, were gathered together in the
centre of the village. The kidnappers rode up
to the,o orpoad with nistols horiu Enivac