Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1852-10-08

oiu, saw tne handwriting upon the wall, and
they knew that, with such a candidate they were
doomed 10 utter and remorSeess defeat before
the people. In both Conventions, however, the
spirit of slavery was strong and so badly brave,
as to carry the resolutions am about to read
The Democratic Convention resolved to-
"Abde by and adhere to a faithful execution
OF the acts known as the compromise measures,
settled by the last Congress-the act for reclai-
ming fugitive slaves from service or labor inclu-
ded"
And further, they
"ResoIred, That the Democratic party will ro-
sist all attempts at renewing, in Congress or out
of it, the agitation Of the slavery question, under
whatever shape or color the attempt may be
made"
| And the Wing Convention
ReSOlUed, That the series of acts Of the thirty
first Congress- commonly known as the compro-
mise or adjustment, (the act for the recovery of
tugtlves from labor included,) are received and
| acquiesced in by the Wings OF the United States,
as final settlement, in principle and substance,
OF the subjects TO which they relate" <
"And we deprecate all further agitation of the
questions thus settled, as dangerous to our peace
and will discountenance all efforts to continue or
renew such agitation, whenever, wherever, or
however made"
Now, what an outrage is this! Does not our
Constitution provide agans, " abridging the free.
dom of speech or of the press?" Why secure
this freedom in The organic law, if the tyranny of
social law can abolish it? OF what value is
that provision in the Constitution, which secures
the free exercise of religion, if social intolerance
and blgotry, acting in an unlegalized way, can
destroy 1t? Yet, here are two Conventions, ut
tery to any Of our constitutions, whether state or
national, invested with no powers, Legislative ju-
! fiInfn
and then scattered and sunk in individual obscu-
rty, yet lifting up their pigmy voices against the
mightiest impulses of the human heart, against
history and Providence, against the fiat and the
| Spirit of God himself; resolving that mankind
shall be dumb in regard to the greatest OF u nan
wrongs; aid resolving also, that law passed by
Republican Government, yet as barbarous and
tyranncal as was ever made by any despotism.
shall be consecrated in its wickedness and remain
eternal.
Two Baltimore Conventions, assuming to
quench the eternal spirit of liberty-that spirit
which was part of the inspiration of the proph-
cts of old, when they commanded the tyrants of
the earth to 'undo the heavy burdens and lie, the
oppressed 90 free;' that spirit which gave all lis
herolSm and splendCr to the classic land of Greece
and made It's memories immortal that spirit
which gave TO Rome its colossal proportions Of
pLySlCdi lIbGIleCludI grandeur; t1dt spirit
which, in the darkest night of the worlds histo-
ry, climbed Alpine heights and sheltered itself
! in the fastness of Alpine moutains, inaccessible
| to tyrants; which, at another time, found proec-
ton within the dykes Of Holland barring ont the
rage OF the ocean, and the more renorseess rage
OF despotic men that spirit which was given to
England, and to English history, all their unds-
! puted claims to renOwn, and to the gratitude Of
mankind, and which, when prosecuted and drv-
en- from England, crossed the Atlantic, spread it.
| self over this open continent, and having beea
nursed by more than two hundred years of srug-
gle and discipline, now bids defiance to the world
this God-liIe spirit of liberty, immortal, in
vulnerable and ndestrutable, two ephemeral Bal.
tmore Conventions undertake to ban Xerxes
claiming the Hellespont was wisdom personiti I'd
compared with them; aye, it would be too digni-
fed and honorable an Illustration to compare them
to two old male Mrs PartingtonS, hopping out
the Atlantic.
Why did no: these insane men propose to do
something which is at least conceivable Why
did they not propose to turn back the order of
physical events, rather than to violate the more
intangible and irresistible laws of moral prog
ress? Why d d they Lot crd yr the ak back into
the acron, or the bird back into its shell, or the
earth itself back into its first geological epoch,
rather than to order the enfranchiscd spirit of the
nineteenth century back into the gloom and bon
dage of the dark ages of the world Why did
they not lift up the wand of their arrogance and
audacty towards Arcturus and the Plcades, and
attempt to move round the consultations OF the
heavens as you would move round the hands on
the dial plate of clock Such halluCinaiions
would be at least within the limits Of human con-
ceptiOn, aud would, therefore, be free from folly
and atheism of attempting to stiile the voice of
| freedom discussing freedom.
Sir, to resolve that the slavery question shall
be discussed nevcrmore, is to resolve the memo
ries of all the heroes, and martyrs, and saints,
whose names make all the bright pages of hu-
man history, into eternal oblivion. IL is to re-
solve the history Of the American Revolution, and
OF all It's actors, into forgetluIncss. 1t is 10 re-
solve the noblcst faculties and aspirations o! the
human soul into non. existence. Under any fair
and legitimate construction Of such a resolve, it
embraces the whole meaning and force of that in
famousy celebrated decree Of the French Con
vention, that /" There is no God" | do not say
this by way Of rhetorical embellishments, or to
lmpart greater emphasis to period. say it be-
cause il is literally and strictly true; for the Just
and benevolent God who sits upon the throne Of
the Universe, must himself be senccd, before
the cry against the cruelty and injustice of sla
very can be quelled.
lsSl us SGe IOI llOlilCIit, Whit ID lt llIluC VI
the burden these Baltimore Conventions have Ia
ken upon themselves. BY forbidding US to speak
upon given subject, they compel us to examine
that subject and see if duty does not require us
to speak upon it. They leave US no option; and
| if the discussion shall prove unpalatabe they may
thank themselves for provoking it. Let me III
| qure, then, whether ii be not GcmonstrabIe that
| the relation of slavery between man and man
comprehends, perpetuates, muIuPIIes, and oggra-
Yates all forms Of crime which it is possible for
! human being to commit. Is the stealing, even
| OF a shilling, crime Slavery steals all TINT
man can call his own; and is not the whole
greater than part Is robbery, which is de-
| fined TO be the taking ofauy part of mans goods,
"lrom his person, or in his presence, against his
will, by violence, or putting him in fear, crime?
! Slavery answers the exact definition Of the law
books for it's by violence and by putting in bod
| lily fear that a master ravsh"s from his slave all
his earnings, and all his ability to earn from birth
| till death. And again, | say, is not the whole
greater than a part p Is the destruction OF
any mans house by fire crime How much
greater the crime of preventing millions OF men
| from having house they can call their own
! Is concubinage crime In this Union, all the
! adult portion of more than three milliCEs 81 peO-