Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1860-11-01
A last Word.


A Last Word. o',o
A word now just on the svs Of the cleo
tion we venture.to give to oil voters who
may chance to number among our readers.
Greater questions were never decided by
an election than those now pending. .s
Your votes are fraught with the weight
Of future consequences. The destiny Of
your children and your children's children
down to the rsmotss, lgsnsra'ion depends.
hs~ sazch You scarce can calculate upon
that event. A question txst will. ~ rightly
decided clo,he Us with all the sdvantsgss Of
d nations progress and prosperity il sub
tnitted 10 you. The great future Of oil the
Ststes to be formed out Of our yet unoceupisd
Territory 10 depending upon. your votes on
nett Tuesday. This question narrows itself
down to this. Shall all our Territory be
Slave or shall ,hst BE Frssi Yes. thsrs 10
mofs Important question than this svsn,
for It Is one 6poh which this first Dc psnds
It 10 the spsined construction wished 70 be
put upon the Constitution. making 1t rseog.
niEs property III the sIavs % upon the
same basis a. oil other properly. The pssi.
tion Is grossly absurd and Il only needs F.,
close inspection to prove Il. II true then
ara the territories slave ID conse qusnce,
end vice versa. Ith 10 true, slavery 10 then
sanctioned BY the supreme liw Of the land,
snd only prohibited in the Free States. such
as Ohio, by ar set Of tyranny For there
is no right guaranteed to Us by tbs supreme
or common law Of the nation which state
law can take from Us except by tyranny -
This 10 not the province o. law. -.
This whole question turns upon lie single
point Of the Constitutional recognition Of
property In slave. Not whether they are
property merely, but whether they are
property in the same sense as other prop.
erty. The Constitution recognizes them
as Persons owiag service or labor" This
is the only recognition given in that whole
document. Now what does this prove
First II proves that they are not properly
BY this clause, for how can property "owe''
service or labor. A horse can not pro,ctty
'bs said to owe his master "service or labor, -
and secondly that it is not the Constitution n
ofths nstion that creates this obligation
but Of the States. Again, this clsuss just
as much recoenixs property In an apprsn-
tice or bound child a. Il does the Slave, for
they too "ows service or labor" But we
would not so much object to this construc.
tion Of the Constitution, II our Southern
friends would only put Il into pra.tics at
homs. Hot on the contrary We find that
they 90 sdiscriminate between slaves and
ether pr4pssty ss to make them q basis of
Cengrsssional Rspressntatio and deny Us
ofthe North an equal representation upon
our property--piss for instance. Thus You
see the dishonesty Of this unreasonable
demand. Al this Is to be decided then, and
you Feed not persuade yourselves into the
belief that It 10 triHing for Il is al impor.
tsnt. It's not the simple abstract quss.
tion Of Slavery, hut II 10 that with sll tho
accompanying evils Of the systsm. II Is
whether the freedom Of thought, the free.
dom Of the Press. the freedom Of the ballot.
box. yes and more, the freedom OF religion,
shall be preserved ssd bequssthsd unim.
paired to posteriy, Or whether the withsr-
ing and blighting effects OF A frIcan Slavery
shall bs extended over the whole. Let this
matter have last invsstieat Il on. Look Into
oil its consequences carefully. and prsysr
fully. and then cast your vote rsslisinE the
great responsibility to postsrity, 70 your
countVy, End 10 your counttys God. to
whom you must give an account for Oh
yonr sc's. ''N'' n'3'@" ''i.he
The immortal -iynths of Republics ism
M worth eontsndiHs for. not only q poll
tlcians, but a. Christians, We Aavs great
eonh isnee 10 this triumph st The dpproseh-
ing slection. bscsuse truth can not be
'rsmpsd under foot, but what Il win rise
again. '" 'a' ~. F"
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