The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1859-07-15

speech on that occasion. His brow knit
with rage, and his keen eye seemed 70
| spit fire when he hurled defiance at the
law, and pledged himself before the great
assembly, 10 stand by the right Of habeas
corpus as the palladium Of American LIB
orty, and that no POLITICAL NECES-
SITY should over whip him into the sup
port Of 30 infamous an enactment.
a.--.--s.--.--.-a.--
Judge Isnnuey--Then aud Now.
From the Mahoning Register.
When public man is found supporting
n set Of principles flatly contradictory 10
those which he had before recorded as his
own, the people TO whom he appeals for
support have a right TO demand an cxpla-
nat 81 o. his inconsistonc'. Sometimes
such an explanation can be honestly made.
An adranee In principle, IL il be really
such, 10 an honor 10 the brain and the heart
Of q statesmun; but an abandonment Of
the defense Of the rights Of men, and a
desertion Of the cause Of the poorest and
most oppressed, cannot be opologizcd for.
IL Is blacksliding from the doctrines ofthe
Revolution. II Is apostacy from true De-
mocracy and Republicansm.
Rufus p Ranney il the candidate Of
the Democratic party for the Governor
ship Of Ohio. Ho has accepted the nom
iuution upon the platform framed by the
party Convention, and is now before tho
people as the chosen champion and rep
resentutive Of the party and lis professed
principles. We charge Judge Ranny
with abandoning the cause ofthe laboring
man, and the doctrines Of a true Democ-
racy. We charge him with descrtng his
own matured convictions in favor of liber-
ty, and sitting the noblest sentiments he
ever felt, In order 10 carry favor with a
rotten party, and obtain position and pre-
ferment iromthem. To substantiate these
plain charges, we shall compare two or
three things in Judge Rannoy's published
letter Of SEPT Both, 1S4S, TO b. H. Hofi-
man, with the present Democratic State
platform.
The first resolution Of the Democratic
platform declares that any attempt by
Congress "to prohibit or abolish hS relG-
tton Of master and SiaUe in a territory,
would be adeparture from the original doc
trine Of our American InstitutIons.n That
resolution also declares that the people of
a territory have the right to"the undis-
turbed regulation Of their domestic affairs"
in the sense, Gas the whole tenor of the
resolutions plainly shows,) of having the
right TO establish slavery il they choose.
With these two positions of the party
creed In this State, compare Judge Ran
ney before party drill brought him TO Il
servile renuncintion Of his own sentiment
aud his own thn,,,yht- =. 'vso,,f co nvuuum
una slavery. In his letter above referred
TO, he says;
"l am in favor Of maintaining the free
dom Of the territories of New Mexico and
California In their whole extent, and Ut
TERLY orusEDfO aufh0ririRg slavery or
tRpOluRtdry serUitude Of any kind ioiihin
hsm, or 70 any compromise l0hioh shall
doom any part Of them 10 he curse Of hu-
iSaR tOaddQe.
K is cocecded that these territories are
now free, i'Ssv must remain 80 until
changed by positive ,sw Of the sovereign
power. No question Is bettls settled in this
country than that slavery exists Il! a ooun-
try by virtue Of the local law. it isoleGr
that Il can no more exist ina territory
without such law than a man can breathe
without air. Neither Congress nor a
Territorial Legislature, in my opinion
possess the power to establish Il. II can
only be done by the people pAen admit
ted as State under the general prinei-
pies of the Constitution. haze no doubt
Of ne po,cer Of Congress TO erect Ter
rtorial Government, and % provide for
The prokibtiioR Of slavery 'eiihia he Terri
tortcSi AND | An IN FAvoR or AND WOULD
SUPPORT SUCH PROHIBITION"
Her therrw2 lave a deibo ate dcclara a.
tion Of a we'll settled and carefully form-
cd opinion on the part Of Mr.. Ranney,
which Is openly aud emphetically in con-
tadiction 10 two OF the most prominent
points Of the lately framed Democratic
State platform. The Convention declar-
cd Congress could not prohibit slavery In
the Territories Judge Ranney declared
Congress could ann ought to doso. The
Convention declared that the Territorial
Legislature could establish slavery In a
territory; Judge R0nney declared that
"neither Congress nor Territorial Legls-
lature" could do so.
As we have said, these opinions Of the
Judge were not hastily adopted. He was
a candidate for Congress, and was Address
ed on the subject, and replied frankly
His acceptance Of the party nomination
for Governor is presumptive evidence that
he now Processes 10 believe in accordance
with the party platform. The people
have q right 20 know his reasons for tho
change, il he has any, and Il he remains
s,lenhthey have the right to concludc--they
cannot fail TO conclude that either his for
mer professions Of loving aud believing
in liberty were hypooritcal, or that he
has treacherously abandoned them as too
great clogs in his scramble for place and
power,
In that same letter Judge Rsnney de-
elared that tle dRtyof tas oandidafo is
10 take his positions honestly, and to main
tain hem openly" aud that he "would
scorn 10 receive vote obtained through
any misrepresentation" IL he retains
the belief In honesty which he then had,
he will be likely 70 feel the same "scorn"
Of getting votes BY misspprehension; and
we feel therefore that we have the right
TO demand Of hun, in the name Of a por-
tion of the people, that he fairly and open
ly declare his position, and his reasons for
now being the champion and chief repre-
sentative OF principles which he so utterly
secuted 50 short time since,