Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1858-09-21


Jersey, who views with laudible horror
so neiareous practice. He would add.
that domestic slavery is the most promi-
nent feature in the aristovraiic countenance
of the proposed Constitution. The vas
salage OF the poor has ever been the favo-
rite offspring of aristocracy.5 And what
is the proposed compensation TO the North.
erp States, for a sacrifice Of every principle
ltqf right ,of every i'm pulse Of humanity z
They are to bind themselves to march
their militia for the defense of the South
ern States, for their defense of those very
slaves of whom they complain. They
must supply vessels and seameR, in case
of foreign attack. The Legislature will
have indefinite power to tax them by ex-
cises, and duties on imports, both of which
will fall heavier on them than on the
Southern inhabitants for the bohea tea
used by Northern freeman. will pay more
tax than the whole consumption Of the
miserable slave, which consists of nothing
more than his physical subsistence and
the rags that cover his nakedness. -7
On the other side, the Southern States
are not to be restrained from importing
fresh supplies of wretched Africans, at
once, to increase the danger of attack, and
tie difficulty of defense ) nay, they are to
be encouraged to it, by an assurance OF
having their votes in the National Gov
ernment increased i'll proportion and are
at the same time, to have their exports and
their slaves exempt from all contributions
to the public service. Let it not be said
that direct taxation is to be proportioned to
represcn tation 1t is idle 10 suppose that
the General Government can stretch its
hand directly into the pockets of the peo-
pie scattered over 50 vast a country
They can only do it through the medium
ofexpor;s, imports and excises. For what,
them are all these sacrifices to be made :?
He would sooner submit himself to a
tax for paying for all the negroes in the
United States, than saddle posterity with
such Constitution Madison Papers
Elliot, vol. S. PIP. 1923.
We believe we have now given a. fair
|
of the most eminent Revolutionary States
men of Pennsylvania. In common with
their brethren of Virginia. they regarded
slavery as an "atrocious debasement of
human nature" as a gross violation of The
"rights of mankind" and as ''inconsist-
ent with the character of the American
people," They also agreed that it must
ultimately be abolished, or that it would
involve us in '.great and serious evils"
In their view of the matter, Congress
would control the new States ant' slavery
would never be admitted in them and
after the ''lapse of a few years" the rights
of man would be acknowledged through
out the Union, by the total extinction of
slavery.
Now, fellow-citizens, what a contrast is
presented between the objects and acts Of
these great men, and the character and
acts of James Buchanan, native of the
same State. They labored for the equal
liberty of all men he does not. They
wished the destruction Of t'servile Lond-
age p he labors for its perpetuat1on and
extension. They held that slavery should
never 60 into new Territories or States he
holds that it shall go in, but that 1t shall
never go out They were the devotees
of freedom, while he is the tool of the
slave power Fellow citizens, which shall
we follow
We next turn our attention to Maryland,
the State in which freedom of opinion WAS
a fundamental law from its earliest settle
ment. and which under it's Catholic
founder, Lord Baltimore, first gave a
practical illustration of Religious as well
as Civil liberty. in America. With pecu-
liar fitness, therefore, comes the testimony
of some of her lamented sons. against the
hideous and revolving crimes of Negro
Slavery. The first whom we shall call to
the stand is LUTHER MARTIN, for many
ears Attorney General of that State, and
one Of her ablest delegates in the Consti-
tutional Convention of 1897. From Mr..
Madison's Record of the Debates in that
body, we quote as follows ''Mr. Luther
Martin proposed to vary article z, section
| r. SO as 10 allo" pTO|SS0~S"SO VI Ie'A "h 'AiS
importation of slaVes. In the first place
AS i've slaves are to be counted as three
freemen, in the appointment of representa-
ryes, such clause would leave an en-
comagement to This traffic. In the second
place, SLAVES WEAKENED OUR
PART OF THE UNION, 1ohich tie other
parts Wsre bound to protect; the privileges
of importing them was therefore unsea