Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1851-01-06
The Other side.

AHC -aOtuCl DtUt.
y We have readily given place in o.r. CO.
h |umns to the proceedings of all meetings hel
e in opposition to the Fugitive Law, and I
n much other matter on that side of the ques
tion. We therefore the more readily com
q ply with the request Of several Of our read
!, ers to publish the following extract| of
j sermon delivered by DIR. Spring, in New
5 York, on Thanksgiving day, which are cop
> led ffon the New York Express: ls l.I
The doctrines and opinions laid dowr
were: r-ll -.;f tsa.ss- g, s,.s,----.as.. -..
? l "That we were in deep, and interesting
crisis in the history OF our country. Tbs
the people, friendly to the Jaw AID ordel
must array themselves on the side of The
Union which was in danger,-,bar the
framers of the constitution were among the
best men that the world ever saw, and they
accomp plished as much as human wisdom,
could achieve to ecaeiliate a variety of in
terests of men and States,--that the various
4 parts OF the general government are so con-
siituted as to operate as checks on each
other, while they give 10 the several States
the. power Of ena citing their own laws, and
CT protecting and legislating for their domes
tic interests" E, s.r7s-g d, +. r57,.- sr.s
The following extract is put to the high
er law teachers. = 'sisrt ''i.t si e sssei SIS
*The time has come when the friends Of
law and order must unite in support of the
Cons:i,ution.-The men who now admins
ter the government have been called to the
high Offices which they occupy by the voice
Of the people, and in every department
which they occupy they are men on whom
the majority Of the people united, and to
whom they pledged their support. Never
since the erentful time when our independ-
cnce Of our mother country was proclsinl-
ed, has there been such an occasion al the
present for the exercise of sound wisdom
and discretion. OF the Fugitive Slave Law,
it does not become me perhaps, to speak.
Men learned in the law ale appointed to
interpret its provisions, and decide its con.
stitutiorality. With The little light pos
tsess, am not prepared to itppugn it. OF
one thing, however,, am convinced, that
on one hand the constitution secures the
rights of the slave states, and on the other
THE preservation OF our Union and the bene-
4 tit OF Introducing new States free from the
evil Of domestic slavery. rte men who
framed the law have done the best they
could for the master and the slave, and fdr
the world as our fathers did for them. ysgl
+ Far different views from these are enter
,ftained, know, upon this subject. Some
/! Of the public newspapers and pamphlets
inform US that this law.is to be resisted "a
at arnris, and what is wor.e, ,-this is preach-
ed by ministers Of the gospel From not a
few pnlpits in the land, aud in this city, we
are told that the executors of the law are to
/ be treated as assassins, and that ii the fuRi-
tive commits murder in resisting it, he wo'd
die martyr If consigned to the galIows.
We can scarce believe our eyes or our ears
when we see and hear these things exist.
In what land do we live! By what sort OF
men are we surrounded! What spirit is
it which offers these buld counsels1 There
is no mistake in its meaaing-it il resist
ance to the laws of the land even to blood
| do confess that when read these things,
feel as Moses did when be fell on his face
before Ged ask my self is this the reli-
gion of the Bible, the teaching of the Apos-
tles-thc example Of the Son of Gud--the
christianity of the North? And shall our
Southern brethren read this and say,is this
the Justice which we are to look for from
Northern christians! Is it any wonder, lha |.
they advocate dissolution of the Union?
/ While fear for the country, look to God
for wisdom to direct us in this Crisis We
say to the South we are the friends of the
civilized law and desire not TO interfere with
their domestic institutions. Whatever rea-
sons we had for the abolition Of slavery a.
mong ourselves, we have n~this x TO say to
their domestic concerns. We don't mean
to disturb them. To the free colored men
we open our doors and our charities, but
we don't want the fugitive slave OF the
South; and it is not the least benefit of the
law that they are so rapidly disappearing
from among us. -
That men should differ on the subject Of
slavery is what might be expected, but that
men should he found to violate the law and
separate those whom God has joined toseth-
er by common laws and common interests,
by intermarriages and institutions sealed as
they have been by the blood Of our fathers,
cannot be accounted for except by the most
bswitching infatuation, Brethren, we must
avoid outrage. We must set a. guard O.
yer our passions and our prejudlces; we
must learn how TO discuss this great ques-
ton of slavery. five are resolved to have
no friendship with shareholders to show
them no quarters in Congress or out Of Con-
gress-if we have made up our minds TO
disregard the law and the solemn provis-
ions contained in the constitution of our com
mon country, then we are undermining the
liberty we profess to support. Mark one
thing, that the Constitution recognizes the
relation of master and slave os plainly Is
language can do it; and we are solemnlys
bound by that compact, as long as we are
a part of the Union. We ourselves have
no alternative but to abide by the constitu-
tion or secede from the Union. 1t is not
for the South to secede; they abide by the
constitution. Is the North prepared to Sc