The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-06-16
A Good Time Coming.

Mass, on the floor OF the Senate, where 1t
was committed, and in the very faces of its
most jealous abettors and accomplces, as an
act of"brutal cowardice," and it is manifest to
the most timid that the empire of the bowie
knife, the pistol and the bludgeon. as "great
national institution has passed forever
away, and has in fact become the object Of
derision and contempt instead of dread and
terror; and since, also, the senseless and
stupid cry of Abolition has become so tedious
and stale that the more decent scorn to ut
ter it, some of our Democratic, friends he
roirally overcoming their innate horror OF
political preaching, are manfully undertaking
an exposition of the Scriptures, which is to
Justify US in buying and selling, and holding
as property, our fellow-men. This is indeed
quite an open field, and one not yet much
explored by the Democracy of the North
We would congratulate the readers of the
COURIER that they have been permitted to
see, at least, one Fowler abroad in search
of game in this quarter. Whether he will
supplant the fishermen that our Saviour sent
forth as teachers, remains to be seen.
We do not propose in this article, to call
in question his general position, leaving that
for others to do if they choose, but simply
to inquire Of him and his disciples whether
they intend to put IN practice the doctrines
that they preaca' ESQ, they have most
important work to do, and the entire mass
of our fellow-citizens can by no means re-
main disinterested spectators. ,-s ...
This inquiry is of more vital Importance
from the fact that this exposition Of the Scrip
lures comes from one who has been, and
may yet again be a legislator for the State of
Iowa., fit is our right to buy and sell men,
surely our laws ought to protect and not
prohibit the exercise Of this right. 4....
Our forefathers fed from Europe across
the Atlantic to an uncultivated wilderness,
simply because the laws, under which they
lived, denied them the exercise of rights
which they understood were vouchsafed to
them in the Bible. Now, one of our most
prominent and worthy citizens was once
heard to express The wish that he might pos
sess "a Niger because the help he WIS
compelled to hire was so unreliable. Chill
drel,, too, have sometimes numbered among
the aspirations to be realised in the days of
their maturity the control of "plenty of
niggers." Some, indeed, in our State may
be found who already have little colored
help actually in their possession, held by a
somewhat insecure tenure, because our piety
and our patriotism have not yet become suf-
ficiently scriptural and national to bring the
laws of our State to their aid Must any or
all Of these worthy citizens leave US before
they can enter into the complete and secure
enjoyment of all their rights? Will not the
fugitive slave bill, from the pure and patri-
otto nationality of its character, act "sua
sponte" in their behalf? Then, too, why
should the agents of the Colonization Socie-
ty, of which Henry Clay was for years the
honored President, though never President
of the United States, be compelled to travel
and labor in the free States persuading
Christians to give their money to send color
ed people to Africa when they are actually
improved, and the Scriptures, too. fulfilled,
by their being brought to this country and
placed under the Christian care md tuition
of the whites Why, indeed, should we
oppose the slave trade at all Why should
we send missionaries and money to Africa
to Christianise its people when we can do
the same work at home by bringing them
here, and at the same time have little help
in our secular matters Surely our north
ern clergy have been most sadly recreant to
their duty, and blind to their interests even
in worldly matters, not to have taught the
truth on this subject! Verify, they have
held their peace till the stones do cry out |!
The Democracy--or at least some of them
are rushing to the rescue. Preachers are
supplanted in their work by politicians -
What has become Of the three thousand p
Shall one chase thousand?
We put the question, then, again: Does
one new teacher and his adherents intend
to act in obedience to their faith? One of
our citizens, once urged to vote for a
certain candidate not of his own politics, his
prompt reply was 81 cote as I pray" Will
these men vote as they PREACH? Surely, if
our laws were to prohibit marriage, we should
carry the matter Immediately to the ballot
box and settle it there. If slavery, as well
as matrimony, is divine ordinance, or a
natural right or both, ought not Christians
and infdels to cooperate cheerfully and Wig
orously to secure the protection Of law to one
as well as the other?
Come on, then, brethren! Don't be back
ward! Apply your principles! Organise !!
Canvass the county and the State! Re-
publicans will not try to raise row in your
meetings, nor get up counter-meetings to
keep their friends away. We live in a free
State! You will not be driven to straits,
rs were the original apostles, and be COM
PEELED to fall back on the simple but sublime
principle: awe ought to obey God rather
than men," None will call you higher law
e., III, o;,1o, ,,o,, ,,o