Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1860-04-24
THE SLAVE TRADE

conveyed the startling intelligence that
a hostile army had suddenly landed upon
our shores, at some defenseless point,
and, under cover of the last nights dark
ness, had ravaged dozen or two of our
New England towns, and, hurrying a
few hundreds of captives on board their
feet, had been off with the morning
breeze - none knew exactly whittier;
what ferment would this land be in
How government would, by this time, be
signalling by all possible telegraphs, to
all possible ships of waF,sto be off after
them; and how many merchant steamers
and even clippers, would weigh anchor
- their decks crowded with volunteers
to join in the hot chase! And as the
days wore away, and the next Sabbath
came without tidings from the deep, how
many pastoral long sealed in the pulpit
in regard to matters Of public veal, un-
der this new pressure of sudden feeling
would be opened in supplication for
God 's~benison upon those who pursue
for His Madison upon those who are pur-
sued And, as time should roll on, and
the future make report of the success of
that foray, and should inform US that
some Eastern nation had done the deed,
and, huddling its ravaged victims be-
tween the sitting decks of its swift ships,
had got them-such as survived the
shock, and the horrors of the passage
over to its own country, and
sold them there to it's own worst citi-
zens to be their slaves Of lust and gain;
with shrek of horror, what howl of
rage would follow the flash which should
tell the tale among the wires, from the
Atlantic to the furthest outposts, from
the St. Lawrence to the Southern Gulf!
What public meetings would be held;
what fiery columns would be printed;
how the government would take it up;
how quickly war would follow war
which almost the Peace Society would
make exceptional to it's appeals; and
with what eagerness of mind the public
would await the issue of an armament
that should go forth to ehastise the
wrong, and to bring back the re1ana Mt
of the stolen and outraged company
And yet when you come to sit down
and look the matter calmly in the face,
what is it that on our supposition has
been done?
A party = strong, cunning, cruel
enough to do such a deed-has stolen a
few men, women and children, from
American soil, transplanted them to a
strange shore, and sold them there to be,
for the rest of their days, and in alktheir
posterity, the chattels, the merchandise,
of those who buy them. That is all =
"Only this, and nothing more!" God
hath made of one blood all nations Of
men for to dwell on all the face of the
earth; and some Eastern men have stolen
some Western men, and sold them to
their countrymen, to be their bond
slaves forevermore That is all! What
is all the commotion for? Why is the
nation so disturbed Why is the gov
ernment in arms about it? Why-why,
because they have no right to steal us.
We have no right to be stolen. The
truth is self-evident:-All men are cre-
ated equal; they are endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights;
among these are life, liberty, and the pur-
suit of happiness; to secure these rights
governments are instituted among men
Our fellow citizens have been robbed of
their right to their own life and liberty;
it is the business of the government to
secure to them the return Of their stolen
rights; by a war that shall shake the
earth and redden the sea, if need be-
This would be good and sufficient logic
to insure the expenditure of the last dol
lar in our national treasury; the last drop
of blood in our national veins!
Consider now the most monstrous,
most mournful Indifference with which
this same nation is at this same moment
transactions identical, in their
character, with those of which
we have drawn an imaginary picture
We need only to transpose the
geographical adjectives to make the
language of our supposition exactly de-
scribe the language of the reality
"Some Western men have stolen some
Eastern men, and sold them to their own
countrymen, to be their bondslaves for
evermore!" From our own land-nay
from seaports. under our very eye, and,
for aught appearing to the contrary, by
the hands Of our own church members
ships have lately been sent forth, and
are now being sent forth, to the shores
of Africa, to steal men, women and
children, huddle them into their dark
and noisome holds, and hurry them over
into our Southern ports, to sell them into
hopeless bondage.
There is absolutely no difference in
principle between the two cases-the
Imaginary and the real. The Africans
are men as we'll as we; though less ia
vored in civilization as yet, they have
the same right to life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness that We have. 1t is
just as wrong-and since we are the
strongest, great deal meaner-for us
to steal them aud sell them, as it would
be for them to steal us and sell US!
And yet where is the outcry concern
ing dishonored right! Where is the
government interference? Where the
public meetings? Where the volunteers
to right the wrong? Where the public
prayers and sermons? Where the first
symptoms of a calm, strong, conscien-
tious public sentiment that aoiz set the
matter right, let whatever politicians be
damaged thereby? Where that deep,
noble feeling of execration of the pratt
cal denominations of the slave trade which
our fathers had, and uttered in such
manly strength CongregatiomaRst.
How the Thistle Saved Scotia.