Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-05-11
CITY & NEWS ITEMS.
-
MORNING, MAY II, 1850
rReported fsr tho Leader
UNITED STATES COURT.
lni OflhO Wellington Slave Rescue Case

CLEVELAND, May 10th, 1859,
Court convened at o'clock. Judge BLISS
commenced the closing argument for the Gov
eminent
Whether the ofiense charged upon the de-
lendant, Charles Langston, was one against
the moral ideas or simply against the civil
statute, it was immateGial in the consideration
Of this case, and if he was guilty of this Of
fence, he as truly merited punishment as if it
wasl wrong in ITSELF for this laxity in res
pect TO the laws Of the land will lead to peril.
ing IT not subvertng the privileges and rights
which the laws grant TO every citizen. In cas-
es like this, where the crime is not prompted
by feeling of momentary revenge, an offence is
as truly committed as if such was the case.
1t was known by the defendant and his as.
sociates that this negro was satisfied with his
relations with his master, for it was so said by
the boy himself ltwas not then feeling of
sympathy for John, that prompted Langston
and his associates to rescue him from the hands
Of the party which was taking him back to the
South. No, his purpose, fixed and determined,
was to violate and set at defiance one of the
laws of the land-a law which they were deter
mined should never bo executed and their end
aud aim was to show that that law could bo
successfully opposed by force This spirit which
would tear down and aunihilate the Govern
ment of these United States and which would
PROSTATE the civil fabric of this country, was
the spirit which actuated the defendant and
his associates on that day The students who
attend that Oberlin College are taught sediton
and treason in connection with science and
literature, and they graduate from that institu.
tion to go forth and preach opposition and troa.
son The right Of portion Of our inhabitants
to hold property in slaves may be an unpea
SAINT one to contemplate, and we may regret
that such an institution exists but it is not our
SIN and the people of Ohio are not guilty of its
commission, and so long as it is recognized as
an institution of one portion of the country by
the laws OF the country, so long must we res
pcct the right OF those who hold property in
slaves The right of the residents of Ken.
tucky can be no more broken down by such
men as Charles Langston than can the institu-
tiou IN the Island ufCuba, aud why then should
they take up arms and follow the man who
seeks upon our soil to exercise his own pro.
prletary right to secure his own property
The reasons of the. adoption of the original
resolution for the rel dition of fugitive slaves,
was shown and dilated upon by the Counsel,
and the history of the peculiar institution
briefly passed over
In 1902 the people of Ohio deliberated upon
taking upon tht mselves the Constitution with
all its provisions and clauses including this one
which distinctly provides that fugitive slaves
shall be rendered up to their owners, and hav.
ing deiberated upon it, app led for admission
into the Union, and were admitted, thereby
binding themselves to support and abide by all
the provisions of that Constitution How then
can they stand up to-day and repudate and
impugn this same Constitution
Passing them to the evidence the Counsel
considered the testimony brought to bear
against Langston. for rescuing the slave John
The prosecution had no possible malice against
the defendant and assuredly did not desire to
have him wrongluy convicted, but if it was
conclusively proved that he was guilty of the
crime for which he was indicted, then the
agents of the Government asked for punish
ment as a warning to those who wilfully vic
late the laws of the land.
Judge BLISS then discussed the nature eff the
crowd which assembled at Wellington, setting
forth that Jennings, Mitchell and Lowe had
gone to Obern for this slave-had obtained
possession of him by some little faeSse-had
taken him to Wellngton--that the Obetlin peo
pie pursued them, determined to have him
whether he had been taken with or without au
thority, and whetherh he was or was not a slave
He then went on to show by the testimony that
it was generally known in that crowd at Wei
lingtoh that the boy was a slave, but that they
" did not care for the law" that they "made
their own laws"
If Langston was in that crowd that was de
termined " to have him any how" without do.
ing some act or making some pro.estation
against the evident design of the rest, then he
was guilty and it has been shown that he was
circulating 10 that crowd and actively engaged
He expressed himself at one time, satisfied with
the papers which Lowe and Jennings held
With ii scheme of the warrant which Meach,
am Leld, and which John Watson had caused to
be made out for the arrest of the keepers Of the
slave, Langston was so connected by his advice
to Meacham to serve it, as to make him one of
the rescuing party for the statute prohibits tax
ing away slave from the officers Of the law.
Recess taken until o'clock