Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-05-23

The Constitution stands upon the ordnance
TO which it is secondary in the order Of time.
The ordinance first enunciated "the iundamen-
tai principles Of civil and religious liberty |
which form the basis whereon these republics, |
their laws and constitutions are erected ~
Congress the creature Of the Constitution and !
its Executive agent did, at its first session pass
an act being the 9th Of the session, approved
by Geo Washington, August 7. 1889, recitng
and re e-aiiirming in the preamble the ever bind
ing, unaterable force Of the provisions Of the
ordinance in the words following
"An act TO provide for the government Of
the territory Northwest Of the river Ohio"
Whereas, in order that the ordinance Of
the United States in Congress assembled, for
the government Of the territory north west Of
the river Ohio mag continue TO have full effect,
It is requisite that certain provisions should be
made so as to adapt the sme TO the present
Constitution OF the United States"
Mark the phraseology respecting the ordi
nance Congress The United States in Congress
assembled ~" may continue to have full eject
4 IS requisite that certain provisions should be
ma e 50 as to ajaptthe same TO the present Con.
sttutiou of the United States" The ordinance
was one of the great monuments erected in the
pathway of liberty, Of which the Declaration
of Independence was the first.
The Constitution Art VI. reads "All debts
contracted and engagements entered into, before
the adoption OF this Constitution shall be as
valid against the United States under this Con-
stitulion, as under the confederation" If the
phrase engagements " is limited strictly to
pecunary or financial matters, we then still con-
| lend that II a money value could be reinstated
by the Constitution, much more could the enact.
me Is of the ordinance be TeStfimed as we
have recited by the first Congress of the Con-
| stitt,fi,u in ha nf IuInpanUnuap the 1dth
much more "for extending the fundamental
principles Of civil and religious liberty which
/ form the basis wheTeon these republics, their
| laws, and Constitutions are erected to fix aud
establish those principles as the basis of all
laws, constitutions and govemm,n nts, which
forever hereafter shall be formed in the said
territory SO also did the Constitution re.
irospecliDely, as to all treaties then existing, to
be the supreme law of the land.
1t is further to be noted that in the clause in
the constitution providing for amendments
the whole instrument could be amended except
in three points only. Oue was"and that no
state without its consent, shall be deprived Of
Of its equal suffrage in the Senate"-the other
two were directly on the side Of slavery, indeed
the first one as slave States are multiplied be-
comes eventually so. One of the two instances
was that no amendments previous to 1903 to at-
| feet the permission of the African slave trade
| the other was TO bar any amendment that
would in "direct ta1es'cal for more sla yes than
3-5Jus The constitution could be amended in
action of two thirds of both houses, or two
thirds OF the State Legislatures calling cOLyen-
tions of the people, and if three fourths Of the
States seould ratify then the amendments were
a part ofthe constitution. But in the three
cases uamedamendment was barred. II is a re-
markabe fact dis closed in the constitution itself
aud there 1t stands the everlasting insignia Of
the slave power. the whole constitution subject
to amendment except in these particulars
Now we affirm that by the ordinance, slave
ry, neither resident or fugitive can be tolerated
II the ordnance States except by consent Of eDery
ami all The people therein.
But witness in six years from the ordinance
the first steathy footsteps Of the intruder up
on our well guarded and solemnly covenanted
inheritance. In the first fugitive slave law of
Feb 1903 it is enacted "That when a person
held to labor in any Of the United States or in
either Of the territories on the north west Or
south Of the river Ohio under tho laws thereof,
shall escape into any other of the said states or
territory. This takes for granted that slave.
ry was established Ivy law in the Northwest
territory. This was nine years before Ohio was
erect into a State The fugitive slave clause
OF the constitution whatever may be its force if
any, in the other free States never had any, aud
never can have any binding force upon the or.
dinauce States And when the mist and fog
which some floating stray iceberg has brought
aud which has been gathering thick and heavy
as night comes to be cleared away, when the
thick sunerstratnm of constitutional lpoisatiye
and inditial enactments and decisions shall no
r1bbisb ali cleared avsv the solid everI,stin,,
granite rock which ia beneath will he revealed
Thn Maane Charta orour isht Il ryiIl ha tho
uncoyering of the Greek Slave revealing the
perfect statuary which had been eoshroudel in
the most tattered and filthy hnbliments The
ordnance States were goodly sheepioId for
securing the flock by the hirh ramparts erected
against the wolf, but subsequent slave laws aud
Judicial and extra judicial decisions have been
a high bridge built over the ramparts of easy
grade whereby wolves could walk lesurey H. to
the fold and suck the life blood of as manv of
the flock as they wished and then walk quietly
away.
The Fugitive Slave laws in the ordinance
States have been with their innumerabe staff
of legal decisions, holding Hgh Court from
time to time in various localities, ike some trav-
elling circus or marauding brigands, or saint.
ed pirates, the greatest hum6uggers of the
world Theatricals they are, for whom not
Shakespeare even could arrange the play. The
peopIe--the dear people have been the while
drinking in the alcoholic poison-eating tainted
provisions till the senses become senseiess, and
! the whole body polite a putrid M SIS of cor
ruption. They are even paying their own
forged paper,and circulating counterfeit money,
| c.rI, ,,,,,,,,,, &C., t;,,,,,I a,sai
more than half dead, without strength to utter
their solemnly vested and ancient covenant CIV
en- ana inherited ngGts-else would they have
h. r., ,,iai, ''H'