Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-05-21


"They held themselves bound to obey the
law and to defer to it whether it be right
or wrong "-DeWolf, LoveIaud aud Wads-
worth, by Judge Andrews before U. S. Dis
trict Court. Our obligation to obey the laws
of the land when ''righF' is not a controycrted
question, and to many minds the duty Of dis.
ubeying them when "lOrOng," is equally clear.
The only true standard for determining what
is right and what is wrong, is the law Of God
Gods law is recognized by the people and gov
ernment of this country as the basis Of our
moral distinctions, and obligation to obey a
civil enactment must result from its agreement
with the law of God, and find lis sanction in the
authority of that law In the nature of things
| this must be So OtherN Use, the terms hight
and wrong, holiness and sin, have no essential
| import; in all ages aud in all places slgniiying
the same uuchangng and Interchangeable ideas;
| they are merely conventional phrases, express
ing such meaning in,one age and locality, as the
public sentiment or the legislative body shall
ordain and in another age, or in another looali.
| ty, and in the same age, very different aye or
perhaps directly opposite meaning, according
| tu the prevalence of the so called virtues or
vices of the people or government. This doc
trine of asserting for human laws claims of
obedience superior to the claims of Gods
law, advocated by many we are panied to
say, who profess supreme alleg glance to Gods
! law is obvious and essential atheism 1t de-
thrones God, as the Supreme ruler aud moral
! Governor Of his creatures, and practically blots
/ him from the universe; itignOTes and TeEudiates
| the Bible, it COntOunds and annihilates all
moral distinctions, breaks up the foundations
] 1 .nNv-
| lence must result in archy and universal ruin.
The advocates of this doctrine tell US that the
law must be obeyCd when wrong. If we ave
bound to obey one wrong law, we are bound
to obey more than one; we must yield submis-
sion to every wrong law; and suppose every
law OF the land as clearly violates the law of
God does the fugitive slave law, obedience,
according TO this teaching, still becomes a
duty, perhaps a christian virtue Whatever a
majority of Congress, composed of about three
hundred men, not the most eminent for their
cultivated and acute perceptions Of moral dis
tinctions, agree upon as the standard of right
and duty, and frame into law, is to be the
supreme aud only rule of human conduct for
thirty millions of people, not because the en-,
actment is a transcript of the eternal principles
of truth and justice, and a reflection from the
law of God, but simply because the thing r6-
quired or eniDlned comes to us clothed with the
forms of legislation. This legislation is as
luctuatng as the biIlows of the ocean and as
changoable as the seasons. What to-day is
proclaimed as Il virtue and duty is to morrow
pronounced a crime, and is visited with pains
aud penalties.
This is the result to which we are legitmately
and necessarily led by those who hold, that we
must obey law when it is wrong, aud teach us
that the law and claims of God must give way
to civil enactments, while the latter arr con-
eded to be wrong, and have only this reason
to be respected, that they have passed through
the forms usually given to law
Without going into critical examination Of
many of the laws of the land for the purpose
of showing wherein they contravene Gods law,
and what good citizenship requires in relation
to them, it is sufficient for our present object
to take the fugitive slave enactment If 1850,
which most of those who claim obedience to it
as a duty, admit is a fragrant violation of the
| slower law"
! Since short articles are a necessity of a daily
paper we defer to another time what We have
| to say on this law. s.