The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1859-07-27
q Yirginians of the past ace. a. Doughfaces;

for Freedom and Slavery, has intrenched itself
on the benches of our Courts. and is there Z
maintained with tenacity that cannot be cas-
lily shaken. The decision of Judge Swan and
his associates in the recent case against Bush
nell and Langston. is an eminent instance in
point Your readers who have perused the
opinion of Judge Swan with carefulness.@
have failed to find single intimaton
that he regarded the claims of Freedom
superior to those of Slavery. or that the qres-
ton of the right, as against the wrong, was -
10 ent ter into the consideration at all. Tom,
Dick and Harry, had in a past age. or in past
ages, decided so and so; aud. therefore, these
men are lawfully held. right or wrong, and
there is no remedy for them-except in reuo-
luton, as Judge Peck broadly maintained.
collaborating the hint of Judge Swan to the
same effect. If Judge Swan had said, 10 ex-
plict terms, that he believed the former decis.
ions right, and therefore he felt bonnd 10 re.
itera.e them. he would have, in a measure.
shut the mouth OF cavil, and entitled himself
to the same respect conceded to those politi-
clans who believe human Slavery right and
those divines who believe it enjoined in the
Scriptures. But instead thereof he intimates
the reverse; ;that.if it were an original question,
be ;hould approach it with far different feel.
ings, and might decide with sole reference to
the right of the case under immediate consid.
Grafton. But. preceGents had settled the
question, right or wrong. and it was not to be
expected that a State Court should be so pre-
sumptnous as to reverse it. Who does not ad-
mire and honor. in contrast with this servile
i position of Judge Swan. the manly and SEN
sibIe assertion of Judge Brinkerhoff that no
question is ever settled until it is deter mined
right-that precedents, often repeated and
? long submitted to, are not sancti6ed by repe.
titon or long endurance. unless the decision
was right in the first place nay, that every
wrong, is an additional outrage. demanding a
prompt and bold reversal. -,, .a,e- III
j By the way, in this connection. is it not
proper to inquire how long the American
people are to be governed by the precedents
lof past and barberons ages, instead of the
principles of righteousness and Justice as IN
lderstood by the lights of the present age p
Are we to progress in every thing, and make
lrapid strides of advancement iu all directions
Except in the administration of justice the
most vital point of all--while in that matter,
we are to be controlled by the dugmas of the
,larls ages when men were burned at the stake
for uttering their own views of God and his
revelation, or for doubling the divine right of
kings to the blind homage of their subjects
I And yet this is, substantially, the position of
those who exat the precedents of past ages
over the enlightened sentiments and belief of
that in which we live 1t is said, in excuse,
that the profession of the law breeds conser-
/ vatism, and that those who devote themselves
to the law, naturally come to worship its time
honored usages and precedents. If that be
so. is it not time for the American people to
arouse and emsncipate themselves from the
dominion of what is technically called the
common ldi1, and place themselves npon the
foundation of the constitution and laws of our
+ own age and country
The incidents connected with the Rescue
trials SO called, which you have from time to
time fully reported to your readers must pro-
: duce an effect upon the public mind, and
, render more odious the Fugitive law, and all
other means of reconciling and suhsidizing
northern feeling to the great sin and wrong
' of the South. The result, upon the whole, has
, been glorious-as gratifying to the friends of
+ Freedom, as humiiating to the abettors of
: oppression. There can be no doubt that the
Court. including the Judge Marshal and Dis
trict Attorney, are as glad to get the matter
off their hands, as their victims are to get out
JIN limbo 1t was so evidently, in its inception
t and its prosecution, an effort to humble the
: friends of Freedom in general, and to crush
out the freedom-loving spirit of Oherln in par
ticular, that the result is gratifying on the
} one hand, as it must be mortifying on the 9TH
2 er. take it we shall see no more extraneous
] attempts to execute the Fugitive law, at pres
. emf; but wo 10 the slave catcher who sets his
{ foot on Oberlin soil in the future The lesson
: has been learlfsd that the penalty for self de-
fence. and even ,he taking of life, if need be
5 in such defense, is to be determined by the
State, and not the Federal Courts. Another
! valuable lesson has been taught; and that is.
that the Slave catchers from the South do not
relish the nhysic they are so fond of administer
, ing to their patients. A few drses of the same
medicine to the conspirators more imm adiately
connected with the Court, administered under
the auspices of Judge Carpenter. and Lo-
!, rain jury, could not fail of beneficial Effects
J On one account the summary discha arge of the
prisoners at Cleveland, is to be regretted; and
that is the developm ent of foul conspiracy
8 on the part of the Judge, the Marshal and his
e Obern deputy, which would certainly have
e been revealed whenever the trials of Prof
e Peck and Ralph Plumb had been reached
, It is very likely that an inkling of such a re-
j result, had something to do in facilitating the
q compromise which afforded relief to the
: Court and the conspirators. not less gratifying,
D evidently, than to the prisoners.
But have run on about these matters un.
d til the limits of my letter are nearly exhaust
n ed, without touching upon several things in my
d mind, which must therefore be deferred until
T future opportunity. The campaign in Ohio
h for 1859, will soon commence, under circum
stances Indicating warm contest. and glori
GUS triumph for the party that stands opposed
= to the subjugation of the country to the Pow.
It er of Slavery. 'Of the candidates in nomina-
I'll f;oY a,d tho ,,.;no;ylao fhev ranreennt shall