Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1856-06-17

speak, portents hang on all the arches o
the horizon, threatening to darken the broad
land, which already yawns with the mutter
ings. Of civil war. The fury Of the propa'
gandists Of Slavery, and the calm determi.
nation Of their opponents, are now diffused
from the distant Territories over wide.
spread communities, and the whole couD.
| try, in all its extent halling hostile
divisions, and forshadowing q strife, which,
unless happily averted by the triumph o.
Freedom, will become war -fratricidal, par
lricidal war--with an accumulated wicked.
ness beyond the wickedness Of any war in
human annals; justly provoking the aYeng'
! ing Judgment Of Providence iand the aven-
ging pen of history, and constituting a strife,
in the language Of tie ancient writer, more
than foreign, more than social more than
civi;, but something compounded of all
these stfifes, and in itself more than war;
sed potius commune quoddan er omnibus, et
plus qyaas bellans. ls@, 5.
Such is the Crime which you are to Judge.
But the criminal also must be dragged into
day, that you may see and measure the
power by which all this wrongis sustained,
From no common source could it proceed.
In its perpetration, was needed spirit Of
vaulting ambition which would hesitate at
nothing; hardihood Of purpose which was
insensible to the Judgment Of mankind; a
madness for Slavery which should diregard
the Constitution, the laws, and all the great
examples of our history; also a conscious
ness Of power such as comes fiom the habit
of power; a combination Of energies found
only in hundred arms directed by hun.
dred eyes; control Of Public Opinion,
through venal pens and a prostituted press;
an ability to subsidize crowds In every vo7
cation of life-4the politician with his local
impottancs the lawyer with hist subtle
tongue, and even the authority Of the Judge
on the bench; and familiar use OF men in
places high and low, so that none, from the
President to the lowest border postmaster,
should decline to be its tool; all these things
and more were needed; and they were found
in the Slave Power Of our Republic. There,
sir, stands the criminal all unmasked be-
fore you -heartless, grasping, and tyranni-
cal with an audacity beyond that of Yer
res, a subtelty beyond that Of Machiavel, a
meanness beyond that of Bacon, and an
ability beyond that of Hastings. Justice to
Kansas can be secured only by the prostra-
ton Of this influence; for this is the Power
behind-greater than any President--which
succors and sustains the Crime. Nay, the
proceedings now aEraign deriye their lear-
lful consequence only from this connection.
| In now opening this great matter, I am
not insensible to the austere demands of the
occasion; but the dependence of the crime
against Kansas upon the Slave Power is SO
peculiar and important, that i trust to be
pardoned while impress it by illustration,
which to some may Sem trivial. 1t is re-
lated in Northern mythology, that the god
of Force, visiting an enchanted region, was
challenged by his royal entertainer to what
seemed humble feat of strength--merely,
sir, to lift cat from the ground. The god
smiled at the challenge, and, calmly placing
his hand under the belly Of the animal, with
superhuman strength, strove, while the back
of the feline monster arched far upwards,
even beyond reach, and one paw actually
I forsook the earth, until at last the disconi-
fitted divinity desisted; but he was little sur
prised at his defeat, when he learned that
this creature, which seemed to be a cat, and
nothing more, was not merely cat, but
that it belonged to and was part Of the
great Terrestrial Serpent, which, in its in
Vulnerable folds, encircled the whole globe
Even so the creature, whose paws are now
fastened upon Kansas, whatever it may
seem to be, constitutes in reality a part ol
the Slave Power, which, with loathsome
folds, is now coiled about the whole land.-
Thus do expose the extent of the present
contest, where we encounter not merely 10,
cal resistance, but also the unconquered sus-
tanning arm behind. But out Of the vast
ness Of the Crime attempted, with all its
woe and shame, derive well-founded as
surance of, a commensurate vastness of eff.
fort against it, by the aroused masses Of the
country, determined not only to vindicate
Right against Wrong, but to redeem the
Republic from the thraldom Of that Oligar.
chy, which prompts, directs, and concen.
trates the distant wrong. ~ ~ i.,,, &. (.
4 Such is the Crime, and such the criminal
which it is my duty in this debate to ex-
pose, and, by the blessing Of God, this du-
j ty shall be done completely to the end
\ But this will not be enough. The Apollo
/, gies, which, with strange hardihood, have
been offered for the Crime, must be tori
away, so that it shall stand forth, without /
single rag, or fg-leaf, to cover its vileness
And, finally, the True Remedy must b,
shown. The subject is complex in its rela
tons, as it is transcendent in Importance
and yet if ! am honored by your attention
) | hope to exhibit it clearly in all parts, Will,
J I conduct you to the inevitable conclusion
that Kansas must be admitted at once, will
i her present Constitution, as a State of thi
Union, and give new star to the blue fielt
Of our National Flag, And here / deriv,
satisfaction from the thought, that the caus
is so strong in itself as to bear even the in
| frmities Of its advocates; nor can it requir,
! anything beyond that simplicity Of treat
, ment and moderationof manner which ] de
: sire to cultivate. Its true character is such
J that, like Hercules, it will conquer just s.
: soon as tits recognized. aleg asj
Ny task will be divided under three dii
i ferent heads; first THE CRIMp AGAINST KAN
sAs, in its origin and extent; secondly, tn
) APOLOGIES FOR THE CRIME; and M;rdIv, th