Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1852-10-15

nouncng Hindoo suttees, because thew are on
the other side of the globe, and defending the
extension of slavery in our own land. That sin
has the baguiling defence of office and profits
not less than ours. But that sin DESTROYS only
the body; oars the soul The modern clergy
man OF the :" lower law school can select some
monster of the Old Testament-Darius. Nebu
chadnezzar, or JerobOam-and hold them up for
execratlon, while they suffer the greater moral
monsters OF their own parishes to escape with
IMMUNITY. They have no mercy for Jeroboam,
old bunker, though he was, because he " drove
Israel from following the Lor " more especially
as there was no chance for the Presidency nor
any tariff, nor sale of dry goods to the South
to tempt him. But they forgot that each and
all OF the worst sinners whose names blacken
the page of history, had their accompanying
temptations, and their casuistry for sel-defence,
Just as much as the offenders of our day. They
forget that when pOsterity looks backwards upon
great crimes, as they stand out in historic relief
they are seen in their foul nakedness and de-
tormIty, and without any Of The pallations or
pretexts by which their wickedness was softened
to the tempted eye of the perpetrator. They for
get that it will be as true ofthe crimes of our dav,
as OF ancient ones, when the evanescent circum-
stances OF the seduction have passed by-thal
then they, too, will stand out in the foreground
OF the historic canvass, in their full proportions
and in their native deformity, hideons, unmtiga-
ted and execrable, Had not Annanias and Sap
phra temptation every whit as strong to keep
back from the apostles part of the price of their
possessions, as though they had been offered
slnecure chaplancy in the navy for defending the
fugitive slave law
We have historic proof that Benedict Arnold
attempted to Justify his treason, on the ground
that he was seeking the best good of the colonies
Just as his followers in our times seek 10 justify
themselves by the far less plausible plea of sa-
wing the Union ! know it is said that if the
doctrine Of the Higher Law is admitted, all
laws will be set at naught, and civil government
be overthrown. All history refutes this; for, of
all the men who have ever lived, those who con-
tend for the higher law of God have universally
been the most faithful and obedient, when human
laws were concident with the divine. That iden-
ucaI principle IN our nature, which makes us true
to the will of God, makes US also true to all the
Just commands of men,
Another consequence Of most evil portent has
grown out of the late political enthusiasm for
slavery - mean a false Interpretation of the
law OF treason. Sir, you know, and we all know
that under the bloody reigns of British tyrants.
HeaS"n by construction was the great engine Of
political and personal Vengeance. Under the old
doctrine, OF constructive treason. if living Inns
forced TO preach, the doctrine Of abjcct subms-
sion to ungodIy laws; or the heads they belong
cd to were decapated and borne on soldiers
pixies through the streets OF cities, and hung up
10 tester and rot at all the city gates | could
occupy the day with the recital of instances.
where the purest lnuOcencins, and the nobest
virtues fell a sacrifice to forced and arbitrary
construction of the law of treason. Having late
y looked through those English cases, SOW
declare that they were not one whit a greater
outrage upon the English law. than was Judre
Kane charge to the grand jury in the Christia-
ma cases. Both had in view tie same object, to
pat d9"n agia'joa fer freedom, and Lord jeff
rry eNPosItons were as plausible as Judge
Names.
Aud under this prolific head of the collateral
consequences Of slavery, ! say again and finally,
where else, since the light of the Christian era
first daWued uion the world, has it ever been
known that the |, ading men of a Young Rppub-
lie esPouscd the side of slavery 1t is unnatu-
raj as parncide. Look at the Republics of Swift
zerand, or at the States General of Holland
Look at France at the period of the great reyolu-
ton, when in her maddened throes for liberty.
after fifteen centuries of oppression, one Of her
hrSt acts was the recognition of the natural and
universal freedom of man. Look at the Soutb
American Republics composed as thew mainly
were, of Catholics, who for aces had been Injured
to bodily and mental thralGom, and AMONGST
whom slavery Was an existing institution. as it
was here when our Declaration Of Independence
was promulgated, Yet by noble actof moral he
rosm, they cast the incubus away. Yes | re.
peat, ours is the first Republic since Christ died
for men, whose leaders have dsowncd and de-
serted the principles of their government, and
become the willing champions OF the most re-
morseless of dcspotiSms.
SIR, may as we'll remark here as any where.
IN order to make any honest mjsconstruCtion of
my views impossible, that when speak of the
all-comprehendlng wickedness of slavery, when
say That Is IN relation to the wrongs and crimes
OF men, what the Primum NoJGe was in the am
cent systems ct astronomy, an aI-cncircnr and
a!l-upholding cOncavc, within which every wronC
and every crime has its natural home, when
affirm II of the system or institution of slavery.
And to this wish to add, what all history proves.
that good men may be implicated in a bad svs-
tem-as in the English hierarchy, which | re-
gard as vicious system of church government:
and yet how many super-eminentlv great. and
good and plous men il has produced: or as in
the Catholic religion, which | believe TO be an
untrue form of Christianity. and vet in no reli-
gion have there been brighter examples of pur
ty and benefcence In battling to c; crcome tn e
moral wrongs and errors into which man has
oeeh porn, the moral sentiments, Ike the intel
lect, grow heroic as they become victorious. and
III their noble strivings they reach a Subfimitv
of virtue proportional to the depths of vice from
which they sprang. But this does not prevent
bad systems from producing their natural fruits
on the mass of men.
And now, having shown what mighty wronr
slavery is, in and of itself; having shown what
collateral debasement, cruelty, and practical a,he-
ism 1t generates and ditiuses, let me ask. if the
political Free Soil party do not go to the utter
most verge that patriot, moraliSt, or Christian
can 60, when it consents to let slavery remain
where it is ?! There is an endeavor to make an
false issue for the country, and for the tr!bu-
nal or history on this subject Free Sofiers are
charged with interfering with Slavery within the
jurisdiction OF the States where it is. We wouId
not allow it TO double its present domain: we
would not see il blast with nameless and hmm. .
merable woes two-thrds of our territorial area
on the Pacific coast as it already has two.thirds
on the Atlantic This is all we have done = /
And, to the argument that, with only about three
slaves 10 q square mile over all your territory,
YOU, gentlemen Of the Slave States. must have .
more space, because YOU are becoming sutfoca-
ted by SO close Crowding, we cannot admit that (
argument, because il devotes the whole world /