Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1859-02-05
R E P o R 7
COMMITTEE ON FEDERAL RELATIONS
ON suNpRY PETITIONS OF CITIZENS OF THE
COUNTIES OF ASHLAND AND CoLuMBIANA,

WIN" IN Wv hbbhl lOND,
ON sUNDRy PETITIONS OF CITIZENS OF THE
COUNTIES OF ASHLAND AND coLuNBIASA.
The standing committee on Federal Relations to
whom were referred the petitions of various resi-
dents Of Ashland and Culumbiana counties, asking
the Legislature 'to enact that no person, WIN has
been held as a slave, shall be delivered up by any
officer or court, State or Federal, within this Com
monwealth, to any one claiming him on the ground
that he owes Service or labor to such claimant by
the laws Of any one of the slave States Of this
Union"-would respectfully report:
That upon o reference to the constitution of the
United States, they find in the last paragraph of
section 2nd, in Article ". of that ever to be rever-
ed instrument Of compact, an express and unmis-
taxable provision directing that persons held to ser,
vice and labor in one State, under the laws thereof
and escaping into another, "ShoU DO delivered up
on claim of the party to whom such service or la
Dor may be DUE" They find, secondly, that it has
been regarded by the most eminent statesmen and
nblest j%urists of our land. as the bounden duty OF
the Congress of the United States, to enact all
laws which may be necessary to carry into effect
each and every provision Of the Constitution and
that, in the opinion of many, this duty extends
also to the Legislatures OF the different States, go
far as is necessary within their respective sover.
eighties. They fnd further, that Congress has
passed what is called the Fugitive Slave Law
TO give efficacy to the above constitutional provis-
ion, and that the Supreme Court of the United
States have, without q dissenting voice, decided
that law to be constitutional and proper.
Article VI. of the Constitution further declares
that all laws made in pursuance thereof, shall he
the supreme laws of any State to the contrary net.
withstanding. This taken in connection with the
opinion of our master j%urists, Chancellors Kent
and Story, that the decisions of the Supreme Court
upon the constitutional question must stand as a
part Of that instrument itself until they are revers-
cd, leads your IN to the conclusion that tho
rendition Of f~ugitives from labor" is as solemn
and certain an obligation as any imposed upon the
States by the sacred compact of their union.
Therefore, as the Senators and Representatives
In this Legislature assembled have each and all
taken a solemn oa.h to Import the constitution Of
she United States, such an enactment as some Of
the residents Of Ashland and ~Columbiana counties
demand can never be made without a palpable vio'
lation of that obligation.
Your committee then must deplore tho Offering
Of such petitions as indications of an unhealthy and
rebellious public sentiment, and in fu'
ture that all such petitions be laid upon the table
without comment. They would, however, as q re-
sponse to the present memorials, respectfully re-
commend the adoption of the following resolution :
Resolved by the General Assembly Of the State
Of Ohio; That while the right of petition upon oil
subjects not inconsistent with ~proPriety and public
morals lie sacred and inalienable, yet we, as the
Representatives of the loyal sentiment of the
paopla nf Ohio dac1nra ourselves forever OnnOae6
to every description OF sectional. and unconstitu'
tional legislation. and respectfully deprecate in
future all memorials praying for such e%nac;ments.
HUNTER BROOKE,
j. w. McFERRAN,
J. w. PAINE,
HENRY MORSE,
j. MILTON WILLIAMS.
From The tenor of this report it would appear
that not only your committee, but the Legislature
which endorsed it entertain an erroneous concep.
tion Of the relation you sustain to your constitu'
'ents. They sent you to Columbus as their serv.
ANTS and hired you to do their bidding. Instead
-of attending to your duty as such, you assume to
be their masters, and lecture them in reports like
this upon constitutions, and compacts, as if they
were not as competent to understand these subjects
as yourselves. You characterize the expression Of
shStt Vit 10 VA hHNui bhe 'SoN'
lious public sentiment" and presume to recon-
mend that their petitions b. laid upon the table
without further comment" in future. A precious
specimen this of Democracy and Republicanism is
lit not? Humble and servile slaves, yourselves
politically, to the oligarchy which rules the nation,
with no conception of a higher sense of self.respect
In others, than a just self'appreciation enables you
to possess, it is natural enough you should desire
to be, and therefore ape, the part of masters to-.
wards all who you suppose will submit to your
domination. If the people really are prepared to
endure it, they we'll deserve to be plunged into
tho deepest pit into which official insolence can
sink them.
Since you have assumed the office of expounders
of the constitution however. and to be judges of
what is healthy public sentiment, there are several
questions, both ethical and political on which the
people might probably be made acquainted with
soar opinion. You have we'll styled the Federal
Constitution a compact, although with explosives
prefxed which were quite misplaced. As q mat
TER either of policy or morality. is one party to q
compact bound to fulfil it's conditions when The
other openly and perseveringly refuses to do IT,
II can hardly have escaped your observation that
the first paragraph Of the very section and article
of the constitution from which you quote as an
amperadve requis;tion on Ohio to surrender fugi'
five slaves is continually, deliberately and defiant
iy violated by the people and the states at whose
demand you would fling away the sovereignty of
our State upon our own soil. That paragraph
reads thus, 1.-THE citizens of each state shall he
entitled to oil privileges and immunities of the
citizens Of the several states. What binding in
fuence to prevent wholesome legislation in Ohio,
resides INF compact though sworn to by a thousand
.oaths which the gerry parties demanding of us the
surrender Of fugitive slaves have entered into and
and yet in various particulars refuse to obey p
You know there is not any, and therefore your
pretenee that there is, by the intelligent caa only
Be esteemed as Hypocrisy. At this point other
important questions present. II you understand