The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1860-07-13

hs -, No Gle the srsaf ana oloodV hsp'o
eSar,, ola thsir saervfess."
r, our conscientious and devoted clergy
who. for following too closely the pre-
n and iniunctions OF their Divine Mas
.sP have been showered with torrents Of
. s NV demagogues and blackguards, these
49, word. OF a true patriot and sincere
sSr;s,;,n bear healing on their wings.
n Franklin, in 1870, but two weeks sub
..,a,, 90 the adoption OF the Constitution,
- ,hs name and behalf Of "The Pennsylva..
Nj, Society for Promoting the Abolition OF
S,arcrv "prepared memorial 10 the Con.
- ~ the United States, in which be used
the following language;
"from n persuasion that equal liberty was
originally the portion and Is still the outhrignt
~ an men. and influenced by the strong ties OF
humanity and the principles OF Their institute
tion. YOUR memOrislists conceive themselves
bound 20 use all justihable endeayors 10 loosen
the bonds Of slavery. and PIom3se syTn nd
these impressions, they earnestly entreat your
attention 20 the subject OF slavery; thst you
will be pleased to countenance the rest9rau9n
10 liberty of those unhappy men VINO alone IN
mi. land Of freedom are degraded into perpet-
nal bondage, and who. amid the general JOY oil
surrounding freedom, are grooming IN serNhe
subsection; that you will devise means TOT re-
moving this Inconsistency OF charaetg ffem
the American people; that you viii promote
mercy and justice"
(Judse fancy says every body believed
that slavery was justice)
towards this distressed race; and that you
will step to the very verge OF the power Vested
In you for discouraging every species of traine
In the persons Of our fellow-men."
II Is not little strange that DR.. Franklin
and his associates should have been 50 igno-
rant Of the Constitution, and what 1t was
made for, and Of the sentiment OF the times,
rs not to have known that il was intended
10 recognizes and perpctssts hs.aA. .iA.s-y'
and that, in point Of fact, il regarded slaves
as property, and incapable Of being made
citizens by any power in the country. In
stead of knowing the facts now asserted by
Judge fancy as the basis OF ludleiai u .s:-
ion, they even supposed ESQ fiienaIy, 10 .hei
view, was that Instrument 10 iioerty) 'na,
Congress might in some way "counsenance
the abolition Of slavery.
That Virginia was in no wise behind Penn.
sylyania in her desire for the abolition OF
slavery. in her sense Of its injustice, and in
her advocacy of the rights Of human nature,
Is of common knowledge, derived rom the
citations 50 often made from the writings of
Washington, jefferson, Madison, Patrick
Henry, Tucker, Wythe-indesd, Of all her
great names of the Revolutionary period. /
need rot quote them. But will read q
brief extract, not 80 well known, from an
address published in the Virginia Gazette in
1867:
Snow. as freedom Is unquestionably the
of all mankind, Africans as well as
Europeans, to keep the former in state OF
slavery Is constant violation OF that right,
and therefore Of justice"
And yet the opinion was universal that
Africans had no rights
But, sir, to remove all foundation for the
raised by Chief Justice fancy, and
10 prove aflirmatiyely and beyond doubt that
the trainers Of the Constitution could not
have been influenced by such opinions and
purposes as he had ascribed to them, refer
To an act OF tho Virginia Legislature in 1888
(lIeuins's Statutes, vol. ii. page 2,)-ior
a knowledge Of which am indebted TO the
able and very admirable grafton OF Mr..
George Sumner, delivered before the author
which repeals the law Of ITO, limiting cit
izenship to whites, and enacts-
"rhat all free persons, born within the terri
tory Of this Commonwealth, shall be deemed
eiti.sss OF this Commonwealth"
Had the Chief Justice never heard that in
his native State Of Maryland there were very
decided opinions in rasard to the wrongful
ness and inexpsdiency Ut slavery, Mt and he
fore the formation ofthe Constitution Can
he believe that the people of that State I'M
derstood that they had, 80 far as their own
vote was concerned, adopted fundamental
law for the Union, which stamped the Atri-
can with an incapacity to become citizen,
that locked upon him as u proper and right
full subject OF merchandise? Under what
hallucination was he suffering, that he could
assert that il was in Maryland, rs well Us in
the other States, an axiom in morals and pol
tiles, that the negro might be Justly reduced
10 slavery, when he must have known that.
the yery next year after the adoption Of the
Constitution, an abolition society was or
gsnizcd in that State, the result Of the dis
cussions, which for years had taken place in
her legislature. and Of such opinions as had
been expressed by Pinkncy. Martin. and 9TH
ers OF her influential and distinguished citi-
zens! Mr.. Pinkney had warned them "that
slavery would work decay Of the spirit Of
liberty in the free States" and that, "by
the eternal rsinciples OF natural justice,
no master in the State has right to hold
his slave in bondage single hour"
Luther Martin said, in 1887:
.Slavery Is inconsistent with the genius Of
Ia a TAM 40
those principles ON which II Is supported. as IL
lessons the sense Of the equal rights Of man.
kind. and habituates Us to tyranny and oppres-
sion."
But II would be an endless task to repro
duce even 1.-THE Of the evidence that might
DO relied upon to sustain the assertion that
Judge fancy has wholly misunderstood or
the opinions and sentiments
which were influential and controlling with
the members of the Constitutional Conven-
ton. Massachusetts, had already abolished
slavery the testimony Of her great men, the
Adams and others, was against the giant
iniquity. IL had no defenders in all New
England. Indeed, hazard nothing in say
ing that the opinion was general, and all |
but universal, from the st. Croix to the ST. |
Mary, against the postulatcs Of the Chief
Justice.
Inasmuch as some reliance has been placed
by the court upon what is assumed TO have
been the public opinion Of Europe upon this
question Of slavery, it will not DO out Of
place 10 give q few extracts from the writings
OF some OF her greatest minds.
Lord Mansfield, in l777, in an opinion
which declared the law Of England, said
'rhe state Of slavery Is Of such nature that
II Il incapable OF being introduced on any reas-
ons, moral or political. but only by positive |
Law. which preserves Its force long after the |
reasons, occasion, and time itself. whence Il was
created, are erased from the memory. II Is 80
odious, that nothing can support II but posi-
tive Law. Whatever Inconvenience therefore
may follow from the decision, cannot say
that this case (Somerset's) Is allowed or APP
proved by the Law Of England, and therefore
the black must be discharged"