Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1860-01-21
THE GOVERNORS MESSAGES.

Tse closing Message of Gov. Chase, and the IN.
augnral OF Gov. Dennison are greatly applsudsd
by the Republican press, as might of course be
expected. They are both tolerably lengthy doeu-
ments. and cover enough space, one would think,
to give their authors sufficient room to say soma
things which they have not said.
The Message of Gov. Chase has much about
State finances and taxation. but of The Representa-.
ton which ought certainly to accompany the tara.
ton, he is culpable silent. Althor gh thousands
of the citizens Of Ohio are excluded from tho bal!
lot box because Of their complexion, the retiring
Executive had no protest to enter against it snd no
condemnation of the other political and legal
wrongs which result from complexional distino.
lions. 1t is true he referred to the Democratic
Law Of the last session, in respect to The casting Of
ballots by colored persons, and the defining Of who
are prohibited by the Constitution from voting,
and afirms that this matter should be left to the
courts for adjudication ; but that was oil. This
com plexional distinction seems to US q matter in.
volviug not only the democratic character of the
people Of Ohio, but their very christianity VI,
from neither Gov. Chase nor Gov. Denrison comss
any protest against the policy which admits the
foreigner to the ballot box, but proscribes thoua.
ands of the native born citizens of Ohio. Such n
Republicanism, official and unofficial.
We have looked 10 vain through the Message Of
Gov. Chase for a record of the judicial outrage in
connection with the Oberlin case, but We fear thss
The prosecutions and the persecutiuhs to which The
Wellington rescuers were subjected, and ths
Cleveland meeting of ten thousand, upon whoss
agitated waves the Governor poured the oil Of his
wisdom, and there straigbtway fell a great calm,
are either altogether forgotten, or else adjudged
as of no political moment to the approaching
presidential contest Of 1860, and possibly Of NO
account on the eve of a State Senatorial election,
lie even exults in the fact. that the people Of Ohio
"have never resisted with illegal force even tho
execution of the Fugitive Slave Act by federal Off.
GERS acting under legal warrants"
Tell it not in Kentucky uame it not in tho
streets Of Frankfort lest the chivalry rejoice id
this official condemnation Of Bushnell, and Langs.
ton and their companions; who rescuedl from the
fangs of the hunters the prey they had seized.
No Republican message would be complete with.
out a glorifcation of the Union, and we have 1t 40.
cordingly as well in the message Of the fe.iFinS
governor, as 10 the message OF the governor elect
line upoh line, and precep. upon preceps, here
a little, and there q good deal.
Gov. Dennison has evidently a high arnrso;..
ton of the ordinance Of 1857, which unquss.iona.
bly, has in it much that is good. But beosu,s Of
this, we have no right to overlook in it that which
is bad. One of the props Of slavery is the Con-
stltutionai guarantee concerning the rendition Of
fugi.ives. which. by the difficulties it throws in the
path of the escaping chattel, deters many from
making the attempt; and by giving up the entire
north as hunting ground to the slave catchers and
binding the people of the free States BY solemn
obligation to suppress their humane, and benevol.
ent, and democratic promptings to stand by the
slave, and maintain his right to freedom, il cor.
rupts and curses the people who take il upon
them. Ohio was once free from the ~polluting tread
OF the kidnapper ; once saw the time when no
government official had any right to recaptureN fu-
gitive slaves upon her soil, or upon that of any
other portion of the great North West Territory.
The ordinance Of 1877 established that legal DOW.
er. That ordinance was the FIRST national docu.
ment which recognized such right; and tho people
of the North. submitting to it. the next move.
ment was to introduce it into the Constitution of
the United S'stes, extending the provision to the
entire Union. Think Of that, will you, when YOU
feel inclined to glorify the ordinance of 1887.
The Governor thinks it q cause for exultation
tuoh Jul lcRioidtlOn mas never De6n marred bY
prescription for religious opinions, nor any polit-
icai privilege denied because of the birth place Of
the CITIZEN
And there was the place in his Message shove
all others, to show how inconsistent and unjust i,
was. that while the elective franchise was grant
ed without regard to religious belief or place Of
birth, it should be withheld because Of the color
of the skin. 1t needed a greater man than VIM.
Dennison to do tbat-hsncs the word was unsps.
ken, the lesson unread, and the good which might
have been done forever lost
The Governor. speaking on behalf of the people
of Ohio, says,
They deny, that the Constitution guarantees to
the slaye-holding States. any other than their loI
cal rights, in connection with the institution Of
slavery, but such as it expressly declares frat,
That the foreign siave-trade should not be abolish
ed before 1908 Second. That any law or reguls.
ton which any State might establish in favor of
freedom, should not impair the legal remedy, SUD-
posed 1T the adoption of the constitution to exist
BY common law, for the recapture by loyal process.
in such State, of ~fugitives from labor, or service.
escaping from other States 4; and. Third. That
three hfths OF all slaves should Je counted in sst-
Ting the basis of representation in the several
States. Beyond these. the trainers of tho cons,i-
tuition intended TO make no peculiar concessions
to the slaveholding States. and these we're MADE,
because. they had a union of States to create, and
TO their ardent and generous minds the yolun-
tary removal of slavery by the action Of the states
themselves. without Federal interference, seemed
not only certain, but close at hand"
What small concessions to slavery the Consti.
tuition has made First. it agreed that this nation
should legalize piracy for twenty years. mere
~bagatelle in the estimation of VIM. Dennison.
The flag which had been carried triumphantly
fz- ---- A.
can people-was to be run up TO the mast head Of
the SLAYER, that all the world might be assured
that stealing negroes from Africa, was regarded
by this nation as a legal and honorable business.
The next triae he mentions, is the recapturs BY
Constitutional authority of escaping slaves in free
States q matter We are surprised he thought wor-