Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1860-04-14
Feio| Citizens Of MadisOn County,

FeeOU IHt1eHs V Modtf0H COhHtgs
Learning from reliable source that the
Revolutionary Committee Of Madison are
about to meet in Richmond on next Mon
day, to take into consideration who are
again to be prescribed and having under
stood that l only escaped their denounce-
ment last Tuesday by a small majority, and
that ] am again to be considered on Moh-
day, l avail myself of this means Of max
ing my protest and defense. | would great
ly prefer always to meet thy accusers face
to face, and there make my defense; but as
friends have insisted Oh my avoiding any
pretense for a conflict, yield to their wiSh'
es, and make this written appeal
In the first place, /, as a free citizen Of a
constitutional Commonwealth, most soletf1!
ly protest against any power on earth, but
the legal and regularly constituted authori'
ties of my country, to decide in any man
ner upon my ''life, liberty or property" l
regard, all impartial men will regard, him
as the worst enemy of true liberty, who ac-
qulesces in any usurpation on the part Of
any man, or set of men, of the sovereign
power of the State. If every man in Ma
olson was to consent to the usurpation, it
would be none the less an overthrow Of the
Constitutions; which eau be annulled, set
aside, changed or disobeyed with impunity,
only by the legal representatives of the
people in convention assembled. But &C.
cording to the known facts, but about
fourth part of the county signed the papers
DrOtpcfino anoincf bo rlnntr;Vae nd aofinp
OF the Radical Aboitionists"- John
&. Fee and others. And it is very well
known that very large number of those
signing that paper were and are utterly op-
posed to any other than legal proceedings
against those unhappy men, women and
children. So that the Committee have not
even the show of authority, three fourtbs
of the county having absolutely refused,
amid threats of intimidation on the part of
the movers to sanction their illegal action.
But waving all these considerations, l do
not fear to plead to you, on the merits of
my cause.
If it was crime to resist the will and
action of this Revolutionary movement, l
have not done even that, except by the
high moral power of an earnest protest /;
refusing to join by force of arms in com.
mon defense with the exiles. My reasons
for this are these | regarded the radical
doctrine, that "there is no law for Slavery"
as revolutionary. To deny the potency of
the Constitution and the laws, is to set up
an independent government in opposition
to the existing government and laws, the
two distinct policies and jurisdictions of
which must inevitably, at last, come iato
physical conflict. And whilst l am oppos-
ed to Slavery, on all possible grounds, my
love and respect for my Constitution and
my country override all other political con.
sideratonS. My theory is, that Slavery is
creature of law, and the subject of sup
port, modification, increase or destruction,
as any other policy; and to be reached in
the same way only; by moral suason, by
speech, by the press. by the laws, and by
the Constitution That so long as il con-
Stitutes property, by laws, that the laws
mnSt be respected and enforced in good
faith. That the majority have the right to
rule; because we know of no other or bet
ter way of promoting the ends of govern
ment, the safety and happiness of the whole
of the governed. That if the Shareholders
thus rule we will acquiesce-and if we thus
rule they must also acqniesce. And there
fore the Republicans in Kentucky have
been opposed to, and have steadily denounc-
cd, any illegal interference with slaves, from
at home or abroad-they have given no
countenance to the escape Of Slaves, to in
subordnation, or to servle inSurrection.-
Hence, on the 4th of July, 1856, at the
Slate Lick Springs, in this county, when
the Rev. John G. Fee avowed from the
stump the radical Abolition doctrine. | de.
nonnced it from the stump. He was cor
responding Secretary of the Central Repub.
lican Club; at our first meeting in Rich
mond. be was displaced, and Republican
elected in his stead. When he was mob
bed iu severUl places-when his co-laborer.
the Rev. Jas. S. Davis, asked my aid in
defending Mr.. Fee, l addressed a letter.
dated October s, 1857, declining to identi
fly myself in any way with Mr.. Fees doc
trine or action. These letters were first
published in the Washington Republic. in
the face of the world: and were republish
ed in the Louisville Journal and other K en-.
tucky papers. Again. when the movement
was made against the Bereans, l took the
same neutral ground in letters addressed
to the Richmond Messenger and to the
Cincinnati papers, one copy OF which was
published in the Cincinnati Commercial.
dated White Hall, KY, December 2Sth.
1859, but which, l know not by what
means, failed to reach Judge Field until the
Monday following, and the exiles being
gone, l went into the Messenger Office and
took it away, as the occasion for its publ.
cation had passed
Again, heard that j. G.. Hanson one
of the exiles, had returned. went. on
Friday last, to the house of Alexander Nc.
Williams, where we talked the matter over:
and we coincided in opinion, as we always
had done-that our friends should separate
their fortunes altogether from Hanson and
his party.
On Saturday, with John II. Rawlings, | !
went to Berea, and there used all my infiu. |
ence to persuade my Republican friends not
to identify themselves at all in any manner
with Hanson, but to ask him to sell bis
mill, and remove from the State, as his pre-.
sence would be continual source of dis
content, and might possibly involve the Re-