Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1859-04-23


ed ourseFf as selEconstituted committee
from Ashtabuia, to tender them the sympathies
aud encouragement Of our citizens, we found
that the indicted were in too happy state Of
mind to need any waste Of effort in the way Of
encouragement. Fortified with conscious rec
titude, and the dignity Of their position, COM
paratively unrestrained in their conduct and
freedom, their temporal wants and comforts sup
piled by a humane and generous hearted jaior,
aud hosts of friends they had no room left for
dependency, or special sympathy. The scru-
pulous 6deity and honesty with which they
have met every obligation and requirement of
law, has put their position so strongly 10 contrast
with that Of their prosecutors, that, capiives as
they are, they have little desire to change their
position for that which is marked by want Of
manliuess, common fairness-by chicanery, po.
political rancoE and downright oppression
In the FIRST place, what mockery Of justice, is
It, to put man on trial, in case where hi:
liberty is at stake, where every soul on the part
of the prosecution, from judge to jury, are po.
httSatf PettiNoh OpPOuNuAoH uuu WuCIt tuC Jul J
is selected with particular reference to their po-
litcal biases, and what is worse in this case,
where one Of that jury is dependant for his
daily bread upon his suppleness and obsequious-
ness to his master, the prosecutor; aud where a
second member OF that jury, has distinguished
himself by schooling his own son in peril
dy, to accomplish the arrest Of the fugitive
where too, the court is led by the indulgence
of its political predictions, to make nearly
every act of its ruling an invasion of the CON-
mon usage and practice of courts to step so far
from the line Of right and propriety, as to he
compelled to cross, and thwart its own decisions
aud purposes, as is seen in the attempts te force
trial by a jury that had prejudged and decided
the questions at issue; where the injustice Of the
proceedings were so bald and apparent, that The
effort to falsify the record was at first denied
and the attempt made to sustain the irregulari-
ty. What an outrage upon the rights of an
American citizen, to put him to trial before a
civil tribunal thus constituted ? Political ran.
cor, however, nor the prostitution of law, nor
tuS NiO'dbiOu VI polbiCdl uhtuIul IlkutS, Cdu
avert the inevitable result A fne, or imprison-
ment, to be sure, may be imposed upon the
prisoners; but what becomes Of public respect
for the tribunals of the land and their decisions?
With what consideration will the people look
upon the medium, through which our political
civil rights and imunities are to be vindcated
The moral effect is frittered away, aud the pris-
Oner in his integrity, looks down upon the pros
titution Of the palladium of his rights The
Oberlin prisoners, at this moment occupy po.
sition Of moral dignity--of moral grandeur-in
comparison with the court before which they
are being tried, that challenges admiration.
The unrghteous and inhuman provisions OF the
fugitive slave law, and more especially this ad-
ministration of it, has suffered heavier blow
10 this instance, than any that has hitherto been
dealt out to it. 1t is working its own overthrow
more certainly and effectually by these efforts,
on the part of its friends to give it special ef-
feet, than its enemies could have brought a.
bout by any means in their power. The whole
thing is reaping richer harvest of contempt
and infamy from the overweanng extravaganza
corruption imbeciity of these friends. than all
Oberliu combined could possibly bring upon it.
The conviction Of BUSHNELL has infused a
new interest into the proceedings, and the court
room on Monday was filed to it's utmost ex
tent. The impaneling Of the jury for the trial
of LANGsToN, was going on with no little diff
6culty, but with a lamentable exhibition of
Some of the same regard for right, which had
become a prominent feature of tie proceed
ings. Cne of the gentlemen, q citizen of
Cleveland, was undergoing the qualifying exam
ination, and to the interrogatory-" have you
formed or expressed an opinion" &C., decided
negative answer was given. In conversa-
ton with gentleman of unquestonably in
tegrity, not a half an hour before, conversa-
ton was repeated to us that took place in the
morning between that gentleman and the juror,
in which the merits of the case were freely dis
cussed and the question of the guilt of the in
dicted, settled summarily and earnestly. The
eargerness of the gentleman to discharge the
Office of juror, betrayed bis weakness, and
set his unlitness in SO bold light, that the
Judge was constrained to advise him to retire
The character of the court for ability is very
well exemplifed in its character for indecisiou
and vascilation.
We we're respectively introduced to the pris-
oners the jailor, and spent most pleasant half
hour, realizing that the progress of events was
most auspicious, and rejoicing that these gen.
tlemen who are thus entrusted with the care of
the leathsome carcase of the fugitive
slave Law, we're so well qualified by intelligence
discretion aud energy, to commit it to the gray
el, aud to bury it so deep. as to put it beyond
further offence to the nostrils of common deccn-
cy.
The Hon. J. r. GDDINGs, called upon the
prisoners on his way to Columbus, and it being
about dinner time, accepted an invitation TO
dine with them.
TIE COURSE Of the Government TO give force
to the fugitive slave law by harrassiDg and
worrying those who see ht to refuse obedience
to its provisions, is suggesting new programme
of operations, and which cOmmends itself to