The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-05-23
speech of mr.. Xaaeey.

We invite the dispassenate and careful at
tention of our readers to the speech Of this
gentleman, delivered before the Democratic
National Convention at. Charleston. III
Speech had Asen denounced in oppositonquar-
tiers as the sebuRition ofan enraged "fre eater"
and It was these denunciations that frst
called sour attention to it. For ourselves NE
can see in it nothing that is Objectionable, nm
courteous, unkind, ~undignifed or revolutionary;
and is logic We have not seen answered, al.
though we have discovered some feeble and
failing attempts in that direction. e
Mr. YANcEY came forward in the Conven-
4ion as the champion of the 'aggrieyed States
of the Union, demanding only that same meas
mre of protection, under the Constitution, that
he would cheerfully concede to the assailing
section. We ask the candid and intelligent
people of Ashland county to read this Speech,
and then point to any position assumed IN 1T
which is hostile to the Constitution and to
justice-which conflicts with the golden rule,
edo unto others, as ye would that they should
do unto YOU" On the abstract question as to
whether slavery is right or wrong. we think
Democrats should be permitted to differ, with
ont cnmnrnmisinG THAR nasitinn In the party
particularly when all are united upon those
more important questions Of policy relating to
the affairs of our own State Government, and
which more Immediately concern US all. With
us in Ohio, the question of African slavery is
not, and never can be, a practical question
although Abolitionists and neutrality-suspicious.
have thrust it in our faces, and under the con-
fusion and smoke thus cheated have prosecuted
q system. of governmental plumber that has
bankrupted and dishoaered our State. Few
here would desire the Introduction Of Negro
servitude in Ohio, at present. but if the Afri-
can population would crowd upon JUS in such
masses as to threaten a numerical preponder-
ance, a majority, we doubt not, eff those who
are now Abelitionists and Republicans, would
be the loudest in their clamor for a reduction
of the negroes to serEitude, as a measure de
manded by the hest interests of both races.
Speaking for ourselves alone, and aside
from all party trammels, we do not hesitate to
express our eonzietiea-although ne one is re.
sponsible for our opinions-that African slave
ry is not only right In those States and the
Territories where it exists, bat that it IS a mat
ter of such absolute necessity that its abolition
would prove the ruin of both races. In ad.
uniting that slavery is r~epugnant te the law OF
COP and of Nature, and that it can only exist
by force of positive law, We have, as Mr.. yam.
CT says, yielded TOO MUCH.
Referring to the argument of Judge BELDEN
before the United States Court in the prosecu
ton of the Oberin and Wellington mob, Mr.
YANcEY says sIfyou fthe Northern Democra
1ey1 had taken the position that had been ia
.eken by one gallant son of the North, who pro
-"claimed under the Kisses Of thousands, tina
"slauery tcas right, that anti-slavery demon
"ff not dead, would long since have been il
"chains at your feet"
We fully believe this. The scene to which
Mr.. YANcEY refers, was one of the most re
markable, probably, that ever occurred in tn
criminal jurisprudence of our country. TIL
city of Cleveland, where the s'reyolutionists
were put upon their trial, was the citadel Q
abolitionism intensified, and revolt against tn
Constitution and Laws of the United States
The Hobbies of the Court room were packe
by a f~anatieal and abolition mob, determine
to overawe the Prosecutor, the Court and th
Jury. When Judge BELDEN, the Distric
Attorney, arose to address the Jury, he wa
saluted by the mob with a storm of hisse
Turning his back from the Court and Jur!
and his face to the infatuated mob, ne pr
claimed that the attitude they occupied vi
not only one of treason to the Constitution an
laws of their country, but that their warfal
upon African Slavery as it existed in til
country was on issue with Revelation and rea
ON. The effect of this bold and to them no
al position was overwhelming. It opened U
q new train of thought-no more Kisses WEI
heard-and many an 'irrepressible'' abolition
ist let the Court Room a wiser if not a bett'
man.
Hon. n. BsTas.