Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-05-24


and communicated to twenty individuals be-
fore some one ofthem, TO save the life Of ia
vorite master or mistress, would divulgeit, This
is the rule; and the slave revolution in Hayti
was not an exception to it. but a case occur
ring under peculiar circumstances. The gun
powder plot Of British history, though not
connected with slaves, was more in point In
this case only about twenty were admitted TO
the secret and yet one of them, In his anxiety
to save friend, betrayed the plot to that
friend, and by consequence, averted the ca
lamity, Occasional poisOnings from the
kitchen, and open or stealthy assassinations
in the field, and local revolts extending to
score or so, will continue TO occur as the
natural results Of slavery but no general
insurreetion of slaves, as think, can happen
in this country for a long time. Whoever
much fears, or much hopes, for such an event,
will be alike disappointed.
Views Of Thomas Jefferson.
In the language Of Mr.. Jefferson, uttered
many years ago, at is still in our power 10
direct the process Of emancipation and de-
portation, peaceably, and in such slow de-
grees, as that evil will wear of insensibly
and their places be, PGTi passu, filled up by
free white laborers. loud applause.) II,
on the contrary it is left TO force itself on,
human nature must shudder at the prospect
held up" Mr.. Jefferson did not mean to say,
nor do ], that the power of emancipation is
in the Federal Government He spoke of
| Virginia and, as TO the power of emancipa-
ton, l speak of the slavehOlding States only.
| The Federal Government however, as we in
( sist has the power Of restraining the extern
/ sion of the institutiOn-the power to insure
that slave insnrrection shall never occur on |
any American soil which is now free from
slavery. (Applause.) John Browns effort was
| peculiar 1t was not slave insurrection II
was an attempt by white men to get up n re-
volt among slaves, in which the slaves refused
TO participate In fact, il was so absurd that
the slaves, with all their Ignorance, saw
plainly enough it could not succeed. That
affair, in its philosophy, corresponds with the |
many attempts, related in history, at the as
sassination of kings and emperors An en-
thusiast broods over the oppression OF peo-
pie till he ancies himself commissioned by |
Heaven to liberate them He ventures the |
attempt, which ends in little else than his |
own execution. Orsini's attempt on Louis |
Napoleon, and John Browns attempt at Har- |
per's Ferry were in their philosophy, precisely |
the same. The eagerness TO cast blame on |
old England in the one case, and on New |
England in the other, does not disprove the |
sameness of the two things. (ApplaUse.) |
And how much would it avail you, if you |
could, by the use of John Brown, Helpers |
book, and the like, break up the Republican |
organization? Human action can be modi- /
fed to some extent, but human nature cannot /
be changed.
The National judgment and Feeling.
There is q Judgment and a feeling against
slavery in this nation, which cast at least a
million and half of votes. You cannot de-
stroy that Judgment and feeling-that senti-
ment-by breaking up the political organiza-
ton which rallies around it. You can
scarcely scatter and disperse an army which
has been formed into order in the face Of your
heaviest FIRE, but if you could, how much
would you gain by forcing the sentiment
which created it out Of the peaceful channel
Of the ballot box, into some other channel
What would that other channel probably be
Would the number of John Browns be lessan-
cd or enlarged by the operation But you
will break up the Union, rather than submit
to a denial of your constitutional rights
That has somewhat reckless sound; but it
would be palliated, if not fully justified, were
we proposing by the mere force Of numbers,
to deprive you of some right, plainly written
down in the constitution. But we are pro-
posing no such thing. When you make these
declarations, you have a specific and well I'M
derStood allusion to an assumed constitutional
right of yours, to take slaves into the federal
territories, and to hold them there as property.
silence of the Constitution rs 20 the Right Of
taking Slaves into the Territories.
But no such right is specifically written in
the Constitution. That instrument is literally
silent about any such right We, on the
contrary, deny that such a right has any ex-
istence in the Constitution, even by implica-
ton. (Applause.) Your purpose, then,
plainly stated, is, that you will destroy the
Government, unless you be allowed to con-
strue and enforce the Constitution as you
please, on all points in dispute between you
and us You will ruin or rule in all events.
This plainly stated, is your language to us.
Perhaps you will say the Supreme Court has
decided the disputed constitutional ques-
ton in your favor. Not quite so. But way-
ing the lawyers distinction between dictum
and decision, the Court have decided the
question for you in a sort of way. The
Court have substantially said it is your con-
stitutional right to take slaves into the Fed
eral Territories, and to hold them there as
property. When ! say the decision was
made in a sort of way, mean it was made
in a divided Court by bare majority of the
Judges, and they not quite agreeing with
one another in the reasons for making it; that
it is 50 made as that its aVowed support
ers disagree with one another about its mean
ing; and that it was mainly based upon
mistaken statement of the fact-the statement
-, Ff,a baf na rionf of ~ /
a slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in
the Constitution
slaves Considered as Persons and not as
Property.
An inspection of the Constitution will show
that the right of property in a slave is not
distinctly and expressly affirmed in it. ZAP
plause.) Bear in mind, the judges do not
pledge their Judicial opinion that such right is
impliedly affirmed in the Constitution; but
they pledge their veracity that it is distinctly
and expressly affirmed there" distinctly y
that is, not mingled with anything else-ex-
pressly, that is in words meaning just that
without the aidof any inference, and suscep-
tible of do other meaning. If they had only
pledged their judicial opinion that such right
is affirmed in the instrument by implication,
it would be open to Others to show that neith-
er the word " slave nor slavery is to be
found in the Constitution, nor the word
property" even, in any connection with
language alluding to the things slave or sla-
very applause, and that wherever in that in
strument the slave is alluded TO, he is called
"persOn;" and wherever his masters legal
right in relation to him is alluded to, it is
spoken Of as service or labor due" as a
" debt payable in service and labor. Also,
it would be open TO show, by cotemporaneous
history, that this mode of alluding to slaves
and slavery, instead Of speaking Of them, was
employed on purpose to exclude from the
Constitution the idea that there could be prop
erty in man.
The sapreme Court 70 Reconsider their
Decision.