Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1858-10-29
LETTER OF JOSHUA n. GHDDINGS TO
THOMAS CORwIN.
JEFFERsox, O., Oct. 13, 1858.

Der oil the AAANlth Congress, and restores
me to the privileges of private citizen
Among those privileges, none is more i'm
portant than chat Of respectfully and frank
y addressing our public servants on matters
pertaining to our political interests.
In recent speech, at Xenia, you are re-
ported as saying, 'that if we bought n
"Slavo Terrtorv--say Cuba--under such
"a treaty as that by which we obtained
Louisiana, we were bound to respect their
"rights Of property and admit tho Territory
"as Slave State if it wished to come in as
"such."
can give to this declaration no other
construction than an assurance that, IL the
Executive shall negotiate treaty for the
purchase Of Cuba, and obtain its ratifica-
ton by the Senate, you will feel bound to
respect the right Of property which the
Spanish masters hold in their SLAVES; and,
on account Of such right, you will vote for
the admission of Cuba as Slave State il
her people ask it.
Coming from one to whom the question
will probably be submitted, this declaration
is certainly important. The admission of
Cuba as Slave State must greatly affect
tho interests, the rights, and the honor of
our people. You will permit me to suggest
that this dictrine of property in human
flesh" has ever been repudiated by the peo-
pie Of Ohio, even while VIC wero Terrific
ry. In both our first and present Constitu-
tions it is most uncquivocally rejected. In
all our legislation, by the decision of all our
Courts, it has with perfect unanimity been
discarded. When it was first presented to
the Supreme Court of the United States for
decision, an eminent Jurist of Ohio Judge
McLean) boldly denied its existence under
the Federal Constitution; and exposed its
absurdity with such powers Of logic and of
eloqucnce, that no Slavcholding Judge was
then willing to meet or deny his doctrine
When in 1885 it was presented to the
House of Representatives in Congress, and
referred 10 the Committee en- Claims, nv
predecessor, the Hon. E. WhittIesey, anoth
or son of Ohio, met it ably; and in report
rejecting honor upon himself and tho State
which he represented, showed from official
records that the doctrine which you assert
had up TO that time ever been repudiated
by Congress. In accordance with these
prscodents, l have, during my services in
that body, opposed it as often as presented
for consideration; and, to this day, as often
as II has been agitated an Congress it has
been rejected
AT the formation of our Federal Consti-
tuition, Mr.. Madison declared il would be
wrong to admit in that instrument that
"naan can hold property IN naan,'-to which
every member of the convention yielded
tacit admission. But the people were not
satisfied with a silent negation of such doc
trine, and two years afterwards Congress
to amend the Constitution by de-
claring, "7Hat no person shall be deprived
"cf tye, liberty or property, withom due
'process Of laU;!" that i, without trial and
conviction before some tribunal having ju-
of the offense; and this proposition
was adopted by the States, and now forms
part of the Constitution. need mt say
that the Republicans of 1915 and those Of
$50 declared it to be a "self-evidem truth"
that all men Gncluding slaves as we'll as
their masters) are endowed by their Crea.
tor with tho inalienable right to liberty, and
that our Federal Government was founded
tor the express purpose of securing to every
human being within its exclusive iurisdic-
lion the enjoyment Of this right And
should Cuba be annexed to the United
States, and thereby brought under our ju-
risdiction, tho Republicans will be bound to
respect the right of every individual to en-
Jog his liberty under the laws ofh United
States, while they will be equally bound to
reject any claims of property which Cubans
may set up to tho souls and bodies of each
other. Er
To these doctrines of our Republican
Fathers, of the statesmen and jurists of
Ohio, to the letter and spirit of our State
md Federal Constitutions, to the platform
md policy of the Republican party, you
'eem to have placed yourself in the most un-
antagonism. say you seem to
nave placed yourself in this attitude. You
ire so reported, and if you have been misrep-
'esented in any respect, it is due to the peo-
pie of the State as well as to yourself that
FOUR true position be known; and | thus ad-
iress you over my own signature, in order
hat you may feel at perfect liberty to ex-
'lain the language you are reported to have
lsed, as well as to correct any error of facts |
n of argument into which may have fallen
n this letter. / know that you desire to be
understood, and approve my earnestness and
'lainness. / have long laborsd to restore
ur Government 10 the doctrines on which
was founded. My hopes of our country
re based upon that respect for the rights
4 every member Of the human family
'hich gives equal protection to each, and
which the Republican party are pledged to
maintain wherever the Federal Constitution
'olds exclusive jurisdiction-regardingSlav-
ry as they do an unmitigated despotism,
n outrage upon human nature, crime
which no sophistry can disguise, and no cir
umstances can justify.
You further assert that we will be bound
0 admit Cuba as a Slave State IL she de-
Tres it aftor annexation. To this believe
be Republicans are unanimously opposed.
he very object and design of annexation
J to extend and increase the despotism of
lavery; to give the foreign Catholics of
'uba, assisted by the Democratic party, the
over to elOct our President aud Vice Pres
lent, and control tho administration of our
'ederal Government for an indefinite
eriod in the future. To effect this object
10 present Administration is willing to