Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1858-04-07

20
= our race never has been, and never can
= be, enslayed, 20 show US that our ances.
e tors, many generations ago, were the
most abject of slaves. That, however,
| is the truth; but | did not wish to parade
1t before the Senate, for l had suffi cicnt
pride TO endeavor to make the world be-
lieve that we were above these weak
nesses, and that our ancestors always
? had been. l have briefly alluded to
the fact hat his ancestors also we're
[ slaves; but they were very honorably
discharged.
/ In the course of the Senator argu-
: ment, his astuto and gifted mind entered
upon a subject that he could not gel along
with very well. He endeavored to show
t that there was a distinction between the
right Of a STAKEHOLDER 10 his slave and
the remedy he might have; and hence
he claimed that when a slave went into
a free country. the master did not lose
his right over him, but lost the remedy.
He said that in a free country where
there was no law for the protection of
the rights of the master, he did not lose
his right to The slave. but lost his reme-
dy--lost his power to control the slave.
He likened it 10 the case of a man who
had a patent right, or a poet who had a
property in the productions of his own
inspiration. l will read the Senator's
language to show how the most gifted
man, when he is not on his guard, Inay
admit away his own case. He said:
There lives now a man in England, who.
from time tn time, sings to the enchanted ear of
the civilized world strains of such mclo1y that
the charmed senses seem to abandon the grusser
regions OF earth, and to rise to purer and serener
regions above. God has created ihat man a pO-
ct. His inspiration is his; his songs are his by
right Divine; they are his property. so recognIz-
ed by human law; vet here in these United States
men steal Tenneysons works. and sell his pro-
perty for their profit; and this because, in spite
OF the violated conscience of the nation. We re-
fuse to give him protection for his property"
Again, following out the same idea, he
said:
"Does not every man see at on ce that the right
Of the inventor to his discovery, that the right of
the poet TO his inspiration. depends upon those
principles of eternal justice which God has i'm
planted In the heart of man, and that whenever
lie cdnhoI tA-TclSc lDedl, IL Is because man, latin |
less to the trust that he has has received from
God. denies them the protection to which they
are entitled?"
That is a very sound doctrine, in my
judgment-it is an appeal to that higher
law which has been so much traduced.
The poet has a divine right TO the inspi
ration of his genius and the products Of
his mind; the inventor of a machine has
a God given right to the use of his dis
covery. Does not The honorable Senator
see that if these rights are from God,
above human law, no constitution ami DO
law of man can take them away? And
how much more has a man a right 10
his own body and 10 his own soul, than
he can be said to have TO his own produc
tions. How could the gentleman fail to
see that if the poet and the inventor had
this divine right, the STAKEHOLDER could
not claim the right of ownership over an
other man? Would not that man have
the same God given right that he claims
Tor the poet aud the discoverer? Most
assurediy. he would. This admission
stulliGed his whole case. He admits,
then, that slavery would be impossible.
1t is not a matter of right. No sir; be
might As wei. admit at the outset that
is not a matter Of right. 1t is 4 ;
matter of force. tits a matter of fraud. -,
Ii is not a matter of right: and the mo- {
ment the slave gets beyond the power
TO enforce the mandate, he is as free as /
master. Has God Almighty put any |
upon him by which YOU can say
when lie gels into a foreign jurisdiction, {
which is the slave and which the master? |
The slave might as well claim a right 10 I
the master, as The master 10 the slave, a
the moment he passes beyond the juris S
h
Now, Mr.. President. with regard to /
the Kansas question, l shall treat i, very S
for l have detained the Senate 4
so long that it would not be pardonable Q
me to detain them much longer, nor 4
have l strength to continue the argument. f
| commended here, four years ag", that n
lie abrogation OF the Missouri restriction C
would be attended by the same train of
that has taken place. y
commended then that You were opening ii
his Territory TO strife and 10 contentious; b
hat you were putting it up TO a vendue. a
10 make it a theatre where the most sci b
FISH and outrageous passions would con- il
end for the mastery; that you were be. S
a state OF civil war. You claim e
ID that it was going to be all peace; that e
was done for the purpose of withdraw a
.ng this terrible controversy from The il
Halls Of Congress to your Territories - $
Do you gain anything By ii? Agitation \
in your Territories. Is it not sure n
find its way into these Halls? r
The Senator from Missouri, TMr. "
GREEN, the other day.'in the eloquent $
speech which he delivered here, pro L
that he who made an assertion n
the detIiment of a man that he could K
not prove stood forth as a calumniator.- h
indorse The doctrine-that is so; and | 4
here with the proof 10 show that b
The Territory of Kansas has been gov d
by a system of fraud, force. and D
oppression from the time the law was Il
even until now. l assert it with. |,
oul fear of contradiction, and | stand b
here charged as a calumniator unless l i.
prove it. "
1t does not come, however, well from o
The other side of the Senate 10 denv o
these things. 1t cores with very bad \
grace from them. The House Of Rep !,
resentatives sent into that Territory a u
of the most honorable men, O
not en- one side of politics. but on both. Il
there 10 investigate the charges that Il
were made against the first Legislature S
who, it was claimed. had usurped them
selves into their positions by force, by t.
by an invasion unparalleled in the a
Of the world-plain, palpable. d
premeditated, in open day II
The commission went there. Ihave its |,
port before me. l have read more I
than ninety Of the dispositions that were e
4. l.n nf mon yl,n ara moi impaocho1 i.