The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-08-23
VOL. TX.
From the Cincinnati Gazette, August g.
GREAT REPUBLICAN MASS MEETING
AT CIRCLEvILLE, OHIO.
speeches by S. P. Chase, General wOrthipgtor


A mass meeting of the citizens of Pickawo, >.
county, opposed to the repeal of the Misson;;
Compromise, was held at Circleville ON SAT-
day last. Though the call had been issued orIr
the day previous, there was a large attendant
from various parts of the county. The corr,
house, though very large, was crowded.
Inc meeting assembled at l o'clock p. NJ
ana was organized by the appointment of Cal
hhaS Florence as President Nelson Franklir
ana Dr. Bal-rd as Vice Presidents, and William
Bremigan as Secretary.
The object Of the meeting having baoo -,
ly stated, Hon. S. P. Chase was ;5trodncoJ ,'e'
the audience by John c. Groom. ESQ and ~ "
warmly welcomed. ~ '''N ""'
HON. S. p CHASES SPEECH
Mr.. Chase, after happy alusion to the kind
manner in which bis appearance WAS welcor,aI
said that in the South, where there were wonJo-
ful Developments of nature, and freaks. SOM
times, besides natural ones, there wa, ono.
negro baby born with strange bumps ON its baod
and with cloven feet and other monstrosit;es,
so, perhaps, they had expected to see som,
such wonder to-day, for he had been called
woolly-head, an Abolitionist, and evervtb;r'
that was monstrous and repulsive. They conii
now look at him and see if his personal an
pearace gave any countenance to any of tba5o
SANDERS
He stood before them the Representative &c
platform of principles formed by CONVEX
ton as talr, as honest, as open, and candid 40
any that ever assembled in Ohio, and that Con
vention had full opportunity to know his bis,o.
ry and his principles. But these were no,
ISLANDERS against him so much as against their
cause. He stood there that day precisely whore
Jefferson, and Madison, and Washington, stool
in the days that tried mems souls, and before
1t had become a reproach in America to be q
lover of Freedom
In regard to the Constitution of the United
States, IN no respect, either by word or act
would he trench upon any of its provisions
In regard to this great Union, of which Ohm
was so distinguished member, he had awar,
felt, that if there was any one thing great and
magnificent above others, and which promiseI
glorious results, it was the continuance of thg,
Union. lie felt, as he had said in the Senate
that we were in the habit of looking at it ASA
the blue arch of the heavens-as something
that never could decay or fall. He believed No
parricidal hand would ever be found in Ohio
raised for its destruction. He desired that i
should continue forever the guardian of our
domestic repose, and that it should, with the
powers delegated by the Constitution, remain
to accomplish the great purposes for which it
was formed-should endure for the perpeuity
and advancement of human liberty.
These were his general principles, but they
desired at this time something more particular.
He would give it.
The Convention by which he was nominated
had declared its opposition to the extension of
Slavery. 1t desired to prevent the admission
OF more slave States, and thus arrest the in.
crease of the Slave Power. On this question.
this was all he had to say. The territory out.
side the limits of the present slave States was
all he proposed to interfere with.
Within State limits, every State has the order
ing of its domestic institutions as it might see
fit We had no control over the people of Ken.
lucky in this respect. If they chose to have
Slavery, and we thought it wrong, we had
right to think so and to say so, but no more
right to interfere with it than with their laws
for the establishment Of State banks, or any
other State laws.
The platform on which he stood was this
That Slavery was local in its character, and
dependent on the municipal law of the countrT
where it was established" This was the Ian.
guage of Judge Mclean. He was no admirer
OF the institution-he had never known but few
who were. He held, that outside the State limits
there was no power to establish Slavery. That
its establishment there was wrong, especially
in territory free by our laws and by the laws
of the country from which it was obtained
He then read, from book printed in l79S,
extracts from the speeches of Mr.. Pinkney
the lawyer, orator, senator, and ambassador, OF
his day-delivered in the Legislature of Mary
land. One of these extracts, enumerating
the evils of Slavery, and the inconsistency Of
it in Maryland. closes with the SEN
tence: Sin the name of God, should we not
attempt to wipe away this stigma?"
He read from Mr.. Pinkney's speeches, be.
cause he gave voice to the sentiments of the |
great men of his time-of Henry, of Jefferson
of Washington. Another of these extracts was
g Wherefore should we confne censure to our
ancestors? They scattered the seed Of Slavery:
we promote its growth-we enlarge, inyigorate, |
and confirm it." Jefferson had said there was
nothing so "dear to his heart as universal
These were the sentiments q |
the people at that. time-the filling period
Now see the fruit that has been brought forth
be then alluded to Mr.. Jefiersons plan fc
Slavery from all the Territories. Mr.
Jefferson had been thought to be man G
some sense, although on this great subject the
Democracy of our day differed with him yet
he believed it possible that posterity might after
all pronounce Mr.. Jefferson as great man as
Franklin Pierce or Stephen A. Douglas.
The plan of Mr.. Jefferson had majority Of F.
two to one of the States represented, and three
to one of the delegates present, but failed be-
cause it could not comply with the constitu-
honal provision, which required all the States
TO be represented. If an absent member from
New Jersey had been present on that day, the
subject Of Slavery would have been settled
forever.
Three years after, when Convention met TO
frame a Constitution, the slave States demanded
some security that the question of SLAYER
within their own limits should be left to them
selves. They demanded this guaranty, because
hey felt that without it Congress would pass
general act for the abolition of Slavery, and
hat Virginia might not be ready for emanciPa-
ion as soon as Maryland, and South Carolina
not as soon as Virginia. Therefore, it was leit
or each State to provide for emancipation
when the fit period might come; and under this
became entitled to twenty-o Representative
n Congress precisely the number to which
Ohio was entitled
Under the compacts they obtained another
hing. These provided not only for the recogIn'
ion of the records of other States, and for the
.rrest of fugitives from justice, but also that
ugitives from labor.
He did not believe the Fugitive Slave Lava
proper executioner of that act. He believed
With Mr.. Webster, that it conferred CERTAIN
lights and devolved certain duties on the States
,ut gave no authority to Congress to leglslate
IN that subject Mr.. w. had yielded agaIns'
lis own convictions to the decision of the Sn'
IRENE Court, but he believed he (Webster) was
light. Still, as it was there, let it stand.
In 1887, Slavery was prohibited in the Morn
vest Territory, which is now Ohio, Indians
illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan.
This was designed to render permanent the
.scendency of the free States, and to guard
.painst Slavery propagandism. But afterwards,
q :, ,bo Slaya Power came To feel its strenC 9th,