Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1857-08-20

served when the Union was formed. W
are free to reduce the fugitive slave law t.
| its proper dimensions. We are free to win
dicate the dignity of our Courts, by com
pelling obedience to their process, even b,
so mighty parsonage as Deputy Mar
shall Of the United States. We are fire.
to substitute for the unwise and dongerou
habeas corpus act introduced by Rev. Mr.
Monroe, such laws alike vigorous and fre,
from doubtful constitutionality, as shal
make it writ of liberty, even in tn,
hands of the humblest citizen, ordered t.
serve it. We are free, moreover, to insis
that no foot of territory invaded by slave
ry, under the detestable doctrines nf The
Dred Scott decision, shall ever be added
to the Union, by the votes of men fairly
representing the State of Ohio.
What we are thus free to do, every prin
ciple held sacred by States like our own, re
quires US to begin, and shall embolden u:
to eonsummate, "though the heavens fall
The sense in which the North made al
the extra constitutional compromises, ha:
been rudely stripped of all practical rec
ognition and Vitality. Dear as the Union
must be to every true American heart, il
ought not to be dearer than public faith
than the rights of States. than the con.
servation of the constitution in the sense
in which it was accepted, when ratified by
the States. There will be no lasting peace
till there come an end of wrong, deception
and encroachment. We are not in debt
to the South. The South should have
better remembered its obligations to US,
than to have forced npon us the odious
pretended Judgment in the case of Dred
| Scott. We deserve to be slaves, meaner
than the slaves of the South, if we sub
init to the imposition.
What infatuation possessed the organ
lied force eff the Democratic party, when
it decided to Adopt the decision referred
to, it would be difficult to divine. Does
that party give up all respect for popular
| opinion in Ohio?
1t is the fixed, true, unalterable faith
of the great body of our people, that the
extension of slavery into territories now
free, would be great and irreparable evil.
1t is the like fixed, true and unalterable
faith of the great body of our people,
that there is remedy, entirely constitu
tional, against that extension, in the action
of Congress or in that of the TERRITORIAL
Legislature, when clothed with such power
as Congress may delegate, and such as be-
long to the very essence of popular gov
ornment. In this respect the body of all
parties, the Democratic as well as the Re
publican, the American as well as the
other parties, is in harmony with the body
of the people, so far as real sentiment is
concerned. But the seeming necessity of
keeping the politicians of the North and
the South together on the subject of slave
~, has induced the leaders and organs of
the Democratic party, as now constituted,
to indorse pretended decision, that no
action of the Congress, no action of the
Territorial Legislature, can prevent the. in
PRODUCTION of slavery into territories now
free, since, as now pretended by the mere
dictum of divided court the STAKEHOLDER
has constitutionally guaranteed property
in his slave, above the reach of territorial
and congressional legislation alike. This
endorsement will be construed by the
South, with severe and literal strictness,
Just as have stated in terms and its affect
Has not the organized force of the Demo
cratic party Of Ohio, then, trampled on
the true faith of our people? Will the
body of the Democratic party countenance
such an outrage? cannot but think, that
resistance to the new doctrine in the first
duty ofevery citizen, and that no notion
of the general propriety of adhering to
party, in the confidence that it will correct
its own errors through its own inherent
virtues, can Justify any man who truly un-
derstands the new additions to the doc
trines of the Democratic party, in acting
with that party, while it asserts what will
be found, when honestly scrutinized, so re-
pugnant to the faith of our fathers, to the
interests of humanity, and the pride of con-
stitutional governments.
Again: 1t is the like fixed, true, and
unalterable faith Of the people, that Fed
eral Constitution, made by States, and
ratified by States, with provision for amend.
ment only by States, cannot be altered
by the mere dicta of Judges in a time of
unparalleled confusion and excitement
But the Democratic party, although insult
ed and trampled on by some of the same
judges, when it asserted the sovereign tax
ing power of the State of Ohio, now has
tens to ratify the addition, by mere judicial
dictma, of new and odious term to the
Federal Constitution, whereby man and
horse are declared property by a title
equally extensive as to national territory.
In its acceptance of such novelty in le-
gal doctrine, and in its submission to such
perversion of the Constitution, the Or
ganized force of the Democratic party mis-
represents those who have hitherto voted
with it.
The dearest rights of the citizen demand
that a party, which, to secure political as
tendency, can be thus false to itself and
false to the people, should learn the igno-
minious lesson involved in ignominious de-
feat. | fervently hope the lesson will be
learned at the coming election.
r. B. WARDEN.
Columbus, Aug. s, 1857.
"John," said a clergyman to one of his
flock fyOu should becoma q tntot,Ior -yop