Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1855-09-22
Passmore Williamson.


The unanimous nomination of Passmore Will
hanson for Canal Commissioner by the Repub-
lican State Convention, will naturally excite
inquiry as to his character and antecedents.
We are informed by our well known fellow
citizen, Solomon w. Roberts, ESQ, civil engi-
neer, that he has been we'll acquainted with Mr..
Williamson for years. He is a nephew of
William Williamson, of West Chester, at one
time Speaker of the Senate of PENNSYLVANIA ::
and the eldest son of Thomas Williamson, one
OF the most eminent cOnyeyancers in Philadcl-
phia, and a man distinguished for his high
character and extensive knowledge of land
titles in Pennsylvania.
PasSmore Williamson is now about thirty
five years of age ; he has a wife and several
children ; and he has been brought up by his IA
Their, and has been in partnership with him as q
s%criyener and cOnyeyancer. Mr.. Roberts in
forms us that Mr.. Williamson is a man of ex-
cellent character, and of great intelligence, and
altogether a superior man to those whom the
people of Pennsylvania have been in the habit
Of electing to the Office of Canal Commission
er.
Sgch being the high character of Mr.. Will
hanson, and such his qualifications for the
Office named, there is no valid reason why he
should not receive the vote of every man in
the State who thinks him the victim of a
judicial wrong committed in behalf of the ar
rogant demands of the slave power.
The Republican Convention, in presenting
him for the only office at present within the
gift of the people of the State, did not stop to
inquire what were his political antecedants-
whether he vas a Wing, a Democrat, all
" American" or a Free Soiler. His political
views had nothing to do with his sclcction.-
The convention was a~ctuated solely by the
desire to give the voters of the Commonwealth
an opportunity to rebuke an unexampIed act
of tyranny and usurpatiOn perpetratcd in their
midst, and upon their fellow-citizen. This
thing of reducing free white men to slavery is
one that appeals with irresistible force to every
one who values his own rights. The enjoyment
of the rights guaranteed to the people by the
constitution can only be preserved by protect
ing intact to those of every individual citizen.
The moment We permit one man among us to
be stricken down and robbed of his franchises,
that moment we weaken our own defences and
open the way for their destruction.
PASSWORDS WILLIAMSON is a man thus stricken
down and the wrong done to him is a wrong
done to every man in Pennsylvania. To rise
up, therefore, in his behalf, is the dictate of
the instinct of self preservation. We would
be faithleSs to ourselves and our highest inter
estS as men, if we suffered his wrongs to 60 un-
redressed.
The South has set up a claim to the right
not only of carrying slaves through our free
territory, bat of holding them here as long as
it may prove convenient. Senator ToombS has
uttered the insulting boast that lie will yet call
the roll of his slaves upon Bunker Hill, and
hold them them there in defiance Of northern
constitutions and laws. In the case of Col.
Whceler's slaves, PasSmore Williamson set
himself to dispute this claim, and to convey to
those slaves the sound legal information that
by the laws of Pennsylvania they were free.-
For doing this he has been ruthllessly seized
and reduced to the condition of a slave. The
sacred writ Of labeas corpus was first abused
in being served upon him to require the
production of persons claimed as slaves, over
whom he had no control, and then it was
denied to him when it was the constitutional
right to claim it. Upon a false and frivolous
plea Of contempt he has been deprived of his
liberty, thrust into prison for an unlimited term,
and left without remedy or apparent hope of
relief. The purPoseo Of his illegal Imprisonment
is plain. 1t is to punish him for successfully
questioning the claim of Il southern man to
hold slaves upon our SOL. He is an example
selected by the slave power to teach US to resist
what it pleased to demand. Shall we be
frightened by the example? Or shall we rally
to the side of the victim, and by a timely
stand vindicate both his rights aud our own d?
The objection has been made to Mr.. VIII
hanson that he is the secretary of an Adolf
ton Society. Heis the secretary of a Society,
incorporated by the legislature of this State in
the days of the Revolution, for the amcliora-
ton of the condition of the colorcd men. OF
this Society BENJAMIN FRANKLIN and DR.. Rush
were active members and officers and Pass.
more Williamson. is but the successor Of those
worthy and venerable men in the Office which
they filed. Franklin and RuSh-signcrs Of
the Declaration of Inderendence-were worthy
foreerunners ; and it is no DISGRACE to him to
hold a place which they honored aud by which
they were hoHorcd in turn. Let those rail at
him who will, on that account. We hold it
no discredit to him to follow in their iilustrious
footsteps.
PAssxoRE WILLIAMSON is a native born
Pennsvlvanian-an AMERICAN, in the broadest
sense of that term. He is an honest, and
faithful, and wcll-qualiticd. Why, then, should
he not receive the united vote Of those who are
united in sympathizing with him in his wrongs ?
We can conceive Of no good reason. He is
remcdilcss, aud this is the only method left us
to give him a helping hand. If upon any silly
~pretence any portion Of the people should be
held back from voting for him, and so contribute
to his defeat, let the responsibility of the de-
feat rest upon those who have the power to pre-
vent it.-PiHs6Mrgh Gazette.