Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1852-09-24
VOL. XIII-NO. IA.


President of the United States, and will to the
best OF my ability, preserve, protect and defend
the Constitution of the United States"
! Over TIE President, on this high occasion, fioa-
ted the National Flag with its stripes of red and
its stars on field of blue. AS bis patriot eyes
rested upon the glowing ensign, what currents
must have rushed swiftly through his soul In
the early days of the revolution, in those darkest
hours about Boston, after the battle of Bunker
Hill and before the declaration of independence,
the thirteen stripes had been first unfured by him
as the emblem of union among the colonies for
! the sake of Freedom. BY him, at that time, thew
had been named the Union flag. Trial, struggle,
and war, were now ended, and the Union, which
they first beralded was unalterably established
To every beholder these memories must have
been full of pride and consolation. But looking
back upon the scene, there is one circumstance
which, more than all its other associations, fills
the soul-more even than the suggestions of
Union which | prize much. Al this moment
,rhen Washington took has first oath 10 support
the constitution of the United STATES, he Nation
al Ensign, nO,ohere toiihin the Rational Terriio-
ry, corered a single Stare. Then, indeed, was
slavery sectional and freedom national.
On the sea, an eXecratla piracy, the trade in
slaves, was STILL TO the national scandal, tolerated
under the national flag. In the States, as a Sec
tiona institution, beneath the shelter of local
laws, slavery unhappily found home. But in
the only territories at this time belonging to the
Nation, the broad region of the Northwest it had
already, by the ordinance of freedom, been made
impossible, even before the adoption Of the Con-
sttution. The District of Columbia, with its
fatal incumbrance, had not yet been acquired.
IThe Government thus organized was anti. sla-
very in character. Washington was slavehoL,
dor Int ho
to say that he was an abolironist also Ills op-
pinions do not admit of question. Only short
time before the formation CT the national Con-
stution, lie had declared, by letter, :" that it
was among his first wishes TO see some plan ad-
opted by which slavery may be abolished by law"
aud agun, in another letter, that, in support Of
any legislative measure for the abolition of sa-
very, his suffrage should not be wantng" and
again. in conversation with distinguished Euro
pean AboliuOnist, travelling propagandst of
Fr :edom, Brsset de Warville, recently welcom-
ed to Mount Vernon, he had openly ann )unced,
that to remote this object in Virginia. abe dcsir-
ed the formation of a SOCIETY, and he won
second it," BY this authentic testimony, he
takes his place with the carly patrons of aboli-
ton societies.
! BY the side of Washington, as standing be-
, meath the national flag he swore TO support the
| lives
and recorded words now rise in Judgment
There was John Adams, the Vice President
great vndicator and final negotator of our ma
tional dependence-whose soul, flaming with
freedom, broke forth in the early declaration that
"consenting to slavery is a sacregous breach
of trust" and whose immtigabe hostility to
this wrong has been made immortal to his de-
scendants. There also was n companion in
arms and attached friend, of incompatible gent
Gus, the yet youthful Hamilton. who, as a MEM
Der of the abolition society of New York had
only recently united in solemn petition for
those who, g though free by The larS Of God are
held in slavery by the latcs of Ike STATE" There
too was noble spirit, the ornament of his coun-
try, the exemplar of courage, truth, and virtue,
who like the sum- ever held an unerring course,
John Jay Filling The important post Of minis
ter Of foreign affairs under the confederation,
he found time to organize the abolition society
of New York, and 10 act as its president, until
by the nomination of Washington, he became
Chief Justice of the United States. In his sight
Slavery was an "iniquiy," "a sin of crimson
dye against which ministers of the gospel
should testify, and which the Government should
seek in every way to abolish. "Were | in the
Legislature" he wrote, would present u bill
for this purpose with great care, and | would
never cease moving it till it became law or
ceased TO be q member. Till America comes
into this measure, her prayers 10 heaven will be
impious."
But they were not alone. The convictions
and earnest aspirations of the country were with
them At the North these were broad and gen.
eral. At the South they found lervid uterance
from Shareholders. BY early and precocious ef-
forts for total emancipation" the author of the
Declaration of Independence placed himself
foremost among the abolionsts of the land -
In language now familiar to all, and which can
never die, he perpetually denounced Slavery
lie exposed its pernicious influences upon mas
ter as well as slave; declared that the love Of
Justice as well as the love of country pleaded
equally for the slave, and that the abolition of
domestic slavery was the greatest object of de-
sire" He believed that the sacred side was
gaining daily recruits" and confidently looked to
the young for the accomplishment Of this great
work In flful sympathy with Jefferson was
another honored son OF Virginia, the orator of
Liberty, Patrick Henry, who, while confessing
that he was a master Of slaves said " will
not. cannot Justify it. However cuIpablc my
conduct, will SO far pay my devolr to virtue,
as to own the excellence and recttude of her
precepts, and lament my want Of conformity to
them" At this very period, in the Legislature
of Maryland, on q bill for the relief of oppressed
slaves, young man, afterwards by his consum-
mate learning and forensic powers. the acknowl-
edged head of the American bar William Pick
ney, in q speech of earnest, truthful eloquenCe
| better far for his memory than Ids transcend
ent professional fame-branded slavery as most
iniquitous and most dishonorabIe "lounded in
disgraceful traffic : and he openly declared,
that, 'by the eternal principles of natural JUS
/ tice, no master in the State has a night to hold
/ his slave in bondage a single hour"
! Thus at this time spoke the NATION. The
! CHURCH also Joined It's voice. And here amidst
the diversities of religious faith, it is instructive
to observe the general accord. The Qnakers
! first bore their testimony. AT the adoption OF
the Constitution their whole body, under the ear
/ " teaching of George Fox. and by the crown.
/ inc eXartions of Benezet aud Woolman, Lad be-
come an Organized band Of AbJlrt oni,ts pene.
trated by the conviction that it was unlawful 10
| hold fellow-mani in bondage. The Methods ;,
numerous, earnest, and faithful, never ceased by
their preachers TO proclaim the same truth. Their
rules in 1888 denounced in formal language
''the buying or selling Of bodies and souls of men,
women, aud children, with an Intention to en-
slave them" The words of their great apes.
tie, John Wesley, were constantly repeated
On the eve Of the National Convention the burn
! ing tract was circulated in which he exposes