Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1857-03-26
The bred Scott Case

The Commenced -Adgertser Is waking
up to the tremendous and far-reaching con-
sequences of the Supreme Courts decision
in the Dred Scott case. The following
statement is frank and lucid: c1.d: .H
"Now there is no eoncealing the fact
that under this decision The rights which
the Free States have all along believed
themselves TO possess, are denied and can
no longer be re oghized. They have Sup
posed that it was their prerogative to pro-
hibit Human Slavery within their terrific
ries; that they could declare and carry
out declaration, that slave brought vol
unfairly BY his owner, within their bor-
ders should thereby be freed from bondage,
especially then they met the requirements
of the Constitution by surrendering flgi-
tive slaves, and the. requirements of good
brotherhood by publicly announcing that
any STAKEHOLDER bringing his slave or slaves
into their territory would do it at his own
risk. They believed they had just as much
constitutional right to say, You shall not
bring your slaves into our State as they
had to say 'We will return your slaves if
they escape into our State.' Accordir e to
the decision now made, all this has been
wrong. New-York has no such power
The Federal Constitution requires that not
only that she shall return the fugitive slave
who seeks refuge in her territory, but that
ifa slave holder brings into any of her
cities or towns whole retinue of slaves
she shall protect him in his ownership of
so many horses or oxen. E - e.i-l1
''Unless we have mistaken the tenor and
extent of the decision, and we do not think
we have, any of the following consequences
may result from it. A. B., from Louisi-
ana, may bring his family to New-York
City, with as many slaves to wait upon
them as he chooses. He may stay with
them month, year, or five years, so long
as he is always about to return: or he may
himself pass to and fro, retaining his resi-
dence in Louisiana. g c.. D. May also come
from South Carolina, under similar circum-
stances and with similar retinue, and the
number of slaves settled in the city, and to
be protected and otherwise treated as prop
erty, may be indefinitely increased, Then
A. B., may sell part of his slaves to G.
D; or D. and himself disagreeing
about the price, he may advertise that he
has such slaves for ,ale to any gentleman
from either of the Slave States, and where
they may be seen; for the right Of proper
ty involves these rights. And if under
the decision it may still be within the Con-
stitutional power of the State to prohibit
her own citizens from buying and selling
slaves (which may be doubted so far as
any practical assertion of such power is
concerned), yet under that decision slave
holders in trdnsitu might thus convert
this Empire City into slavemart."
The Commercial may rect assured
that the people of the Free States will find
some way TO protest against this mon
strous usurpation, and to make that pro-
test efectual. 1t is bad enough that we
are made slave-eatchers against our will
we will not consent in like manner to be
made shareholders The conscience and
the self respect of the Free States will vim
dicate themselves in spite of the recent
decision and dozen like it.