The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1859-08-12
An Eloquent Vindication of the Higher
Law.


The following eloquent vindication of tho
Higher Law wo find in the argument of A.
G. Riddle, Esq, in defence of tho Oborlin
Rescuor, Bushnell. 1t docs honor to Mr..
Riddle, and will be read with pleasure and
pride By his numerous friends and ad.
mirors
And now, as to tho mattor referred to.
the so called dogma of tho Higher Law, i
am frank to sny. gentemon--and | never
had sentiment was not ready to avaw--
am perfectly frank to dec!nrc, that an. a
uotdry Of that Higher Lau Aud hero,
in the face Of this tribunal, boldly proclaim.
that he who has no higher regard for the
right than that which ia enforced by the
penal code of the country which is so unfor.
tunate as to number him with its citizeus,--
whose moral sense does not rise above the
coerced observance of the criminal statutes.
is neither good citizen nor an honest
man.
Right, and its everlasting opposite,
Hrong. existed anterior to tho feeble on
actmonts of men, and will survive their final
repeal-and must ever remain Right and
Wrong, because they arc such, unchanged
and unqualified by your acts of Congress-
VIII any mortal say that there can be no
right, no wrong, outside of tho U. s.
Statutes at Largo Daro any man arise
hero, and say in tho face of this sun, that
the gossamcr threads of human enactments
can break through or bind down tho ever.
lasting pillars of justice, as set up by the
Almighty himself?
1t is conceded that tho will Of ono man
cannot accomplish this. If one cannot, ten
cannot, nor ten thousand nor can they
confer power on any man, or set of mon,
who can do il.
You may erase. expunge, exile and outlaw
this thing. Right, from your Statutes. and
denoGnce it MS wrong, and still il is Right.
Traduce it till it seems leprous-ar-aign
condemn and execute it as felon, and it is
still Right, Imperial Right who will lord it
right royalty over tho cOnsciences of men
and punish thor non. observance. And tho
wrong which you onthrono in the place of
hanished Right, is still wrong No matter
though it rogn till prescription sanctify it's
usurpatioD, it is wrong. Jurors may DO
sworn by its authority, and learned courts
so adjudicato as to uphold it's supremacy,
and 1t is still everlasting Wrong, and not
Right.
Suppose, in given instance. tho old right
has been repealed by one of your statutes,
and tho wrong enacted what, then. ia to bo
the conduct of the subject? Can there re-
main doubt as to tho real course of his
action "But he breaks tho law of The
land J. oxclaima a pious patriot with
horror, "and all for such flaw IS con.
science !" A word about this thing of
breaking tho ''law of the land" How do
you obey the law? Why, either by doing
the thing it cnjoins, or submitting to tho
penalty it imposes. Both arc equally obe-
dionce. Every citizen has this choice held
out to him by every penal statute, and you
cannot proclaim man bad citizen when
no acts conscientiously on his choice, nor
say ho disoboys your law when ho submits
TO its requirements. Suppose such man
is wrong in his choice, ho challenges respect
and admiration, and ia not amenablo to the
contumely Of those who jbo aud jeer him.
But, If he is right,-if the path of con-
science, in the onward progress of tho race,
is ultimately recognized as tho way of truth
and holiness, then, gentlemen, the dungeon
to which you would send him, becomes
luminous sanctuary, and the grave to which
you would consign him, star-crownod
shriue, to which tho feet of all coming gon-
eratlons will journey, to gather wisdom and
inspiration And hence tho legal rule,
while dealing with an alleged offender, who,
in the observance of one of those old, great
rights, has broken tho contraycnng man
enactmeEt-the statute, ms against him,
shall receive tho narrowest possible con-
struction to exclude him from its penalty.
Take the case before you as it would have
existed in the absence of your statutes. and
state it the most strongly for the Govern.
mont. This boy John, so poor that he had
no father to give him a name, and so abasod
that he could never be called man, and in
mature years could only graduate an uncle
was held to service to John G.. Bacon, in
Kentucky. Held how by what contract
under what obligations, and for what benefit
conferred on him ? Because he was slave.
is replied. Because he was that thing which
oil tho laws of God declare cannot exist
How came he slave? What great crime
had he committed, the adjudged penalty of
which was this doom The malignant ge-
MUS of his race doomed him at birth--he
was born slave He belonged not to the
God who made him, tho father who begot
him, or the mother who bore him but TO