The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-03-21
RAvENNA, ,oHIo:---WEDNEsDAY MARCH el, 1860.

pEaVeu Dy Sacn cncircumStnaceS. And with whG
n execr alton should the statesman be Loaded
e who, permitting one half the citizens thus t
;. tstrampe on the rights of the other, iransforr
those into desoots and these into enemies; de
stroys the morals of the one part, and tb
a amor pGtrig of the other For if a slave ca
have country in this world it must be an
other IN preference to that 10 which he is Dor
: to live and labor for another; in which h
: must lock mp the faculties of his nature. cor.
tribute, as far as depends on his individual en-
t deavors, to the eyarislIment of The hnma
; race, or entail his own miserable condition OIL
tie endless generations proceeding from him
With the morals of the <people their industr
! also is destroyed for IN q warm climate M
man will labor for himself who can make an
other labor for him. This is so true that O
the proprietors of slaves very small proper
ton. indeed, are ever seen to labor. And cal
the liberties of a nation be thought secure
when we have removed their only firm ba-i
+ Ia conviction in the minds of the people tina
} these liberties are of the gift Of God tina
they are not to be violated hut with his wrath
Indeed, tremble for my country when | re-
i fect that God is just; that his justice CANNOT
4 sleep forever; that considering numbers nature
and natural means only. a revolution of the
wheel OF fortune, an exchange of situation, i
among possible events that it may become
PROBABLE by supernatural interference. The
Almighty has no attribute which can take
EsIdes with us in such a contest Bnt it is i'm
po 'sIble to be temperate, and to pursue This
subject through The various considerations o
polcy, of morals OF history, natural and civil
We must be contenteJ to hope they will force
their %ay into every ones mind. think a
change already percepiible, since the origin oil
the present Revolution, The spirit of the
master is abating; that of the slave rising from
the dust; his condition modifying; the way
| hope, preparing, under the auspices of Heav
en-, for total emancipation; and that this is
disPosed,,in the order of events, TO be with the
consent OF the masters, rather than by their
extirpation.'
What Republican hsa ever usei language
more emphatic than this in condemnation oil
slaVeryf Colonel Mason, of Virginia. in the
convention which framed our Constitution
expressed the opinions of the trainers of that
irs rument when he said:
Slavery discourages arts and manufactures
The poor despise labor when performed by
slaves. They prevent the immigration OF
whites who really enrich and strengthen q
country. They produce the most pernieious
effects on manners. Every master of slaves
is born petty tyrant. They bring the judg-
ment OF Heaven on country
i In the Congress of 1889, when the kindred
subject of the slave trade was under CONSIDER
alton, Mr. Parker, of Virginia, said
He was sorry the constitution prevent
ed Congress from prohibiting the importation
altogether 1t was contrary to revolutionary
principles, and ough t not to be permitted
| 10 soid f1rfbar nm kh;, -, h;aot.
He hoped Congress would do all in its
power to restore to human nature its inherent
privileges; to wipe of, if possible, the stigma
under which America labored; to do away the
inconsistency in our principles justly charged
upon US, and to do by our actions the pure
hene6cence of the doctrine held out to the
world in our Declaration of Independence
Mr.. Mason on the same occasion, said:
By expressing national disapprobation OF
that trade, it is to be hoped we may destroy
it, and save ourselves from reproach and our
posterity from the imbecility ever attendant
on country filed with slaves
At tbs next session, Mr.. Scott, alIuding to
the same subject, said
/ am sorry the trainers of the Constitution
| did not go further. and enable US to interdct
| the slave trade altogether, for look upon it
to be one of the most abominabe things on
earth, and if there were neither God nor Dew
| il, should oppose it on principles of human
ity and the law of nature; for my part, can
not conceive how any person can be said to
acquire property in another
! The Republicans of to-day are denounced
as traitors for adhereing to the doctrines of the
fathers. According to the new-light Democ
racy. it is rank treason to adopt the opinions
of Washington. Jefferson, Madison and Henry.
But the other day, in the other end of this
Capitol, heard a distinguished Senator from
Virginia Mr.. Mason] admit that the South
In few years past, had changed its views up
on this subject.and because we will not change
with our southern brothers. because we cling
with reverential love to the teachings of the
fathers, we are stigmatised by the changelings
as traitors to the Constitution
~ Let me say to the Representatives of the
South, the North has ever been true to the
Constitution. No people so great and now
ertul ever before submitted to such wrongs
as the free States have endured from the slave
States of the Union. For years, in most of
the slaveholding States, the most sacred pro-
visions of the Constitution have been wantor
ly and persistently violated. Where is the
liberty of speech and of the press in the slave
holding States Can Northern man go
through your slave States and print and speak
his opinions? Not if he believes iu the Dec
laration of Independence He NAV crawl
thro Ugh, by sitting his convictions and belying
his manhood; but he cannot walk through
erect, with the love of liberty in his heart and
its utterance on his lips. Can the preachers
of the gospel discuss the moral bearings of
slavery and teach deliverance to the captive :?
Not at all. Only few days since, a distin-
guished gentleman announced here, that if
Beecher came South, they would hang him.
And the gentleman from South Carolina TMr.
Ashmore] informed the House, that 10 his
State they had arrested man for selling Help
er's book among free blacks and non-slave-
holders; that he was now in Jail; and with
emphasis, he declared. they would hang him.
Mr.. Ashmore. Will the gentleman allow
me word2
Mr.. Edgerton. Certainly. as
Mr.. Ashmore. ! asserted, I think-T do
not remember the precise language used
but asserted, that he was distributing books
among the free negroes and non-slaveholders
for the purpose of exciting an antagonism be
tween the non-slaveholders; and that it was
the non-slaveholders upon whom he had at
tempted to practice this insidious scheme, that
first informed the better-I will not say bet
ter-but the more prominent men of the DIS
trict of the fact, which led to his arrest and
incarceration in Jail for violation of the law
of the State, am glad however, of the op
portunity of correcting the statement to this
effect. The letters communicating these facts
to me were not altogether concurrent Some
stated one thing, and some another; bnt after
time, and after made the remarks that
did here, on the occasion referred to by the
gentlemen, ascertained the true facts of the
| case This person had fnrnished nor q fran