Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1855-09-14
The Right and Wrong of this
Contest,

and wrong. But in the contest now wag-
ing in this State this moral element over
shadows every other The great question
before us is whether We shall range this
State in the solid column tha: opposes the
further advance of Slavery, or whether we
shall cast the mighty weight on the side Of
those who would add TO the victims, and to
the area Of human bondage. Other ques-
tions there are of local nature, such as re-
form in taxation, but the slavery question
is foremost in the mind of every man whose
vision is broad enough to scan the whole
field Of battle. The South tells US distinct
| ly that they demand no less than that Slave
ry be made national. They may not yet
insist that slavery shall be sanctioned by
the laws Of the free States, but they claim
the right to bring their slaves here, to hold
them here, 10 make our soil hunting
ground for their fugitives, and to enact here
all those outrages on the rights of men, for
which slavery is the name. The Demo
cratic party, in open mockery of its name,
assents to the demands of the South, and
is now using the whole force of its organi-
cation to bring the North to sustain them
Democratic editors and stumpers may deny
that this is the attitude OF the party, but
the lie is most emphatically and conclusive
| ly given to their denial, by the course of
the South The slave drivers make no
mistakes in choosing the party that will sus-
tain them in their demands, and they are
universally agreed that democracy, as now
understood, is the natural ally Of the South. |
This then is the State of the case. Onj
one side stand the Republicans demanding
that human bondage in these United States
with all its outrages and evils, shall forever
be confined to its present limits. On the
other side stand the slave owners of the |
South, and the Democracy of the North, |
claiming the right to carry slavery into re-
gions now free; TO hunt fugitives through
the free States; 10 make every national and
sectional interest yield to the interests of
gain by unrewarded toll, and of traffic in
human flesh.
Iu this contest we say, therefore, there
is moral element which overshadows any
other. We are called to settle question,
not SO much of physical or financial pros
perity, as of right and wrong. Shall this
nation, claiming to be the freest on earth,
add new regions to the expanse of slavery.
Shal! it increase the victims of bondage,
who toll without pay, who possess all the
natural rights and affections of human be-
ings, without protection in the exercise of
of any Of them? Or shall the people of
these States rise in their might, sustained
by their own moral sense and of that of
the world, and say to the accursed system
of human oppression, that it shall never ad-
vance another step under the flag of this
Republic?
1t is this moral element in this contest
that gives it its dignity, and will make the
issue of it SO potent for good or evil. If
the people of these United States sanction
the effort TO extend the area of human
bondage that result will carry corruption
and death to the very heart of the nation
When some foul disease assaults the hu-
man frame, all the energies of the system
rise up to oppose it; but when the crisis
has come, and the overmastering power of
of the disease has prevailed, the whole body
lies PROSTATE and swift decay seizes on ev-
cry function. So it will be with the body
polite. The infamous attempt to spread
the curse Of slavery over new regions is the
crisis of the disease. II there is not virtue
enough in the nation to resist this demand
of hell and its minions, we shall quickly see
the foul contagion affect the whole people
If so great crime can pass unreproved, if
it can even obtain the sanction of the ma
jority, the public conscience will from that
hour begin to die; and we shall add anoth-
er proof to the many which history can al
ready furnish, that great national wrongs,
whether BY the judgment of God. or by
their own inherent venom, bring swift iudg-
ment upon people.
Let no man think be can escape the tre-
mendous responsibilities of this contest
To do nothing now, is to look calmly on
while Freedom herself is manacled and
consigned to hopeless bondage. Let no
man who means 10 be governed by his con-
science and the laws of right, attempt to
shield himself under the name of Democ-
racy. Democracy is now by command of
its leaders the friend and ally of slavery
He who now sustains it fixes on his own
soul the crime of aiding to extend system
of oppression that laughs at natural afec-
ton, which scouts at female chastity, and
values the immortal in man only as it can
better direct the the8s and sinews of the
unpaid son of toll.