Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-05-06
Letter from the Hon. ). n Giddins..



OF the Oberlin prisoners now in jail at Cleveland
for violating the fugitive slave enactment.
That measure was passed under the influence
Of threats and intimidation. Disunion and
bloodshed were proclaimed as the alternative IN
case Of refusal Before such insolence Northern
members bowed in unmanly submission, sur
rendering their own individuality, the rights OF
their States, and the honor Of the nation. The
page of our political history that records the
passage Of that act will long be read with NOR
tilication and regret. It constitutes legisla'
tive incident in that war so long waged, and
carried on by the party now in power against
the colored men of our nation; war in which
men, women and children have been butchered
in cold blood for their love Of liberty war IN
which free persons are enslayed, and slaves are
murdered even upon the soil Of Ohio with per-
feet impunity: a war which subjects colored
people to a commerce, from the horrors Of which
they shrink, prelerring death by their own hands
rather than meet its tortures war in which
mothers are driven to the horrible choice Of slay-
ing their own children rather than permit them
to live and become subject to the degradation
that awaits them in life This war is sometimes
called "piraheai," but have yet to find the re-
cord of pirates who doomed their victims to
DEATH merely for their love Of liberty. 1t is
SANDER upon piracy, to compare this war with
tn in which they slay their victims for the
comparatively eHcusable purpose of Obtaining
money. In this war more than twenty thousand
human victims are annually sacrificed.
This slave enactment under which our friends
sre imprisoned, was passed in order to involve
the people of the free States in this guilt; for
the purpose Of making them accessories to such
crimes 1t was passed by LOooiOco Congress
Locofoco Marshal selects Locofoco Grand
Jury to find an indictment drawn by a Lc oiocO
Attorney, to be tried by Locoioco traverse jury,
packed for the very purpose of conviction, be-
fore Locofoco Judge, appointed by Locoioco
President, confirmed by LocoiocO Senate, for
the purpose of enforcing obedience to this law
In disregarding this Law, the prisoners did
right Their error consisted in sparing the
lives of the slave catchers. Those pirates should
have been delivered over to the colored men
should have been speedily executed. You are
aware that this is the doctrine which proclaim
ed in Congress | adhere TO it. Had the pris
oners executed the slave-catchers promptly, it
would have taughtthe administration lesson not
soon to be forgotten We should have been no
more troubled with that class Of miscreants.
They would have learned better than to show
themselves among an intelligent people who
know their rights and dare maintain them. But
in rescuing their fellow man from the fangs oi
these blood hounds, the prisoners did right.
Present and coming generations will bless them
for it, 1t was a high moral duty, the exercise
of a virtue which sheds halo Of glory around
the memories of our republican fathers. When
arrested for such an act they did well in relus-
Ting to give bail When brought into Court
'heJ lid right in refusing to give bail and in
lhy oplniO- hey cannot now recede from the man
y PoSlIloh whle. they have assumed. BY these
noble acts they have insc,;hed their names unon
most important page of our history. They
no longer act for themselves in this business,
dom. The eyes of the nation are upon them
They should bear in mind the character of the
people of this portion of our gallant State
They should remember the pilgrim fathers from
whom they have descended. Cleveland is now
the Boston of l775, and trust her sons will
meet the responsibilities thrown upon them
with becoming irmness.
AS to the future, l see no other course for
the prisoners than patiently to await events
Their counsel will apply to the Supreme Court
of our State for habeas corpus whenever SEN
tence shall be pronounced upon any of their
number
have great confidence in the Judges com.
posing that Court But should they prove un-
equal to the occasion, the case will then be fully
made up, and the appeal must then be taken to
that highest of earthly Tribunals, the source
of all political power. The people finding this
government to have become "destructiUe of the
Ines, The liberties and The happiness Of its citizens,
will ALTER OR ABOLISH IT and organise its
pO,oers in such form as 10 them shall seem most
likely to effect their SAFETY AND HAPPINESS"
This duty, SO solemnly enjoined upon US by
the founders of our government, in that immor
tai charter of American liberty to which for al
most a century we have been accustomed to
look for instruction and direction in regard to
our rights, WILL NOT BE NEGLECTED.
Yours for Liberty and the Constitution,
J. r. GIDDlNGS.