Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1860-05-10
For the Belmcn, Chronicle.
"EXCLUSION."

Thu chief objection urged against the Re.
publican doctrine of the right and duty of
Congress TO exclude Slavery from the terri
tories Ia, that fifteen States of the confed-
eracy are thus shut out from the public
domain to which each State has an equal
right, and where every citizen is entitled TO
an equal footing; yet nothing could be more
absurd or unfounded in fact ttan this very
objection. Nothing but the blindest bigotry,
the most willful ignorance, or the grossest
sectionalism, could father the thought. How
does excluding Slavery from the territories
exclude the "South!" Who are the 'Southl'
The census OF 1850 tells US the fifteen Slave
States which we ordinarily designate by
that title have a population of 6,ls4,477
whites. OF these only 347,525 are slave
holders, the rest being Observation-Disclosures
And yet the number of actual slave owners
is much less than 347 ,525, since out OF these
I5S 1854 are slave.hirers, who have no interest
in human flesh extending to that Of absolute
ownership. Hence the actual number of
slave owners in the South does not exceed
1888 ,55I. Now in tho mann Of all common
: sense and reason, again we PROFOUND the
question, who are the "South!" Is it that
contemplate little clique of ISs,55l slave
owners! Do these make up the sum and
substance Of fifteen of the sovereign States
oil this confederacy! Is il possible that
slave owning is such a virtue as to raise
les, 55t petty lordlings to the position OF
demi-gods, and that non.slaveholding is such
an annihilating curse as TO send 1886, 926
freemen to the litopian realms Of nonenlity
and forgetfulnessl Surely the viperous charm
Of the slave demon must be potent if it con
SO infa,uate human understanding.
We cannot dodge the conclusion, then,
that the 1895 ,926 inhabitants of the slave
States who do not own slaves, rather than
the psl'ry number Of 1873 ,55t who do, con-
stitute the "South." Now supposing the
ownership OF slaves would, under Republi.
4 can rule, amount to virtual exclu lion from
Q the territories, can II be asserted that the
"South" is in that case excluded, Not until
it con be proved that 1873, ISL is evergthino
= uhu VIA O.Uoo,OGO 10 mummy.
But after all is the slave owner excluded
from an equal footing in the territory where
slavery is prohibited there! Certainly not.
Can he not take his family there, allowing
D oil proper latitude to the word! Gun he not
h. take with him every species of property that
: tho Northener taxes! Has he not the same
right, the same privilege, the same opportu
pifu IN pputa m bnpesf Lola. ,Loso 49,, -.
inkabitant from a free State has! All these
questions must be answered afirmatively -
Then he is no more excluded than the free
, Suite emigrant, and goes there on the same
Fl footing.
r Yet even ignoring all these things, it III
becomes those to rsise the haze and cry OF
exclusion who preach Il doctrine the very
essence of which is exclusion, who uphold a
c system the very backbone Of which is exclu
! sion and the very existence of which pre-.
cludes all equality Of right. Freedom Of
speech Is a right than which an American
citizen has none dearer or more sacred.-
But Slavery will not stand this test-it will
E not bear free discussion. The hideous de.
/, formity of the black slave Idol must be KEEP,
in the dark. The monster can keen no COM
pany with white.robed, myrtle crowned Lib.
erty-it dare not show its horrid visace
where she displays her sunbiight brow, her
golden tresses and heaven illumined eye
'Twere too much placing a Hindoo idol be-
side Il Venus de Medici or nn..A polio Belvi-
dere. The matchless beauty of the one only
renders the other more disgusting. Hence
where slavery is free speech must be gagged,
and the fifteen States maintaining the "pe-
culiar institution" must ~virtuelly nullify that
part OF the Constitution guaranteeing. that
right. The inhabitants Of eighteen North
ern States cannot take their wealth, enter
prise or intelligence into the Is Southern
States. To 60 there they must sacrifice all
right to free speech; and would slavery be
more charitable or tolerant in the territories
than it is in the States! If il cannot bear
free discussions in the States, certainly it
cannot In the territories. Hence il slavery
goes there Northern freemen must stay away
or lay down their birlhright. They cannot
expound tho Bible there according to con.
science, unless they construe il for slavery.
Much less can they take HELPER" there, or
"Uncle Toms Cabin" or the New York
Tribune. And yet in the face Of all these
facts and figures, slave owners from fancied
interest, slave hirers from false pride, snd
non slaveholders from ignorance-it must
be-cry exclusion" when it is proposed to
raise Constitutions barriers to slavery in
the territories. And there are hundreds Of
Northern men to whom in this case neither
interest nor pride can furnish motives, and
for whom ignorance is no excuse, who are
ready to join the chorus and vociferste even
more loudly, "exclusion," "exclusion !" tex.
clu'ion;" GREATS Diana of the Ephe.ians."
o consistency! A. E. L.
ARRESTED FOR BIeAmY. IN. McGiffen,
Sheriff of Washington county, Penna,, was
at the Mcclure House on Saturday night,
having in charge one William Steele, whom
he knI aS.n.sAl l.. U.~-n- 49,