Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Randolph County, Ind.) 1855-1862, 1860-08-16

Judges do not pledge their judicial
.pinion that such right is impliedly
affirmed in the Constitution; but they
pledge their veracity that it Is distinct
ly and expressly affirmed there-'dis.
tinctly'-that is. not mingled with
anything elsc-explessly, that is, in
words meaning just that. without tie
aid Of any inference, and susceptible of
no 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 9th
ers to show that neither the word
slave nor slavery is to be found in
the Constitution, nor the word prop
erty' even, in any connection with Ian
guage alluding 10 the things slave or
slavery 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 debt payable in
service and labor. Also IL would be
open to show. by cotemporaneous his
tory. 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 property in man.
To show all this is easy and certain.
When this obvious mistake of the
Judges shall be brought to their notice
IS it not reasonable to expect that they
will withdraw the mistaken statement
and reconsider the conclusion based
upon it? And then it is to be remem
bered that our fathers who framed the
government under which we live =
the men who made the Constitution
decided this same constitutional ques
ton in our favor long ago-decided it
without division among themselves
when making the decision; without di
vision among themselves about the
the meaning of it after it was made;
and So far as any evidcnc is left, with
out basing upon any mistaken state
ment of facts. Under all these cir
cumstances do You really feel your
selves justified to break up this gov
erpment, unless such court decision
of yours shall be submitted to as a
conclusive and final rule OF action?
But you will not abide the election
of a Republican President In that
supposed event you say you will de-
stroy the Union, and then, you say,
the crime of having destroyed it will
he upon us! That is cool. a highway
man holds a pistol to myear, and NUT
ters through his teeth, Stand and de-
liver. or | shall kill you, and then you
will be a murderer To be sure what
the robber demanded of me-my mon
ey-was my own-and l had clear
right to keep it; but it was no more
my own than my vote is my own
and the threat of death to me, to ex-
tort my money, and the threat of de
struction to the Union, to extort my
vote. can scarcely be distinguished in
principle.
y few words now to Republicans.
1t is exceedingly desirable that all
parts of this great c, nfederacy shall be
at peace and harmony, one with an
other, Let us Republicans do our
part to have it so. Even though much
provoked, let US do nothing through
passion and i'll temper. Even though
the Southern people will not so much
as listen to us, let MS calmly consider
their demands and yield to them. il
upon deliberate view of our duty,
we possibly can. Judging by all the y
say and do, and by the subject and
nature of their controversy with us
let us determine If we can, what vii
satisfy them. Will they be satisfied
if the Territories lie unconditionally
surrendered to them? We know the,
will not. In all their present com.
plants against us the Territories al,
scarcely mentioned. Invasions anc
Instructions are the rage now. vii
it satisfy them if. in the future. W,
have nothing to do with invasions an,
Instructions? We know it will not
We so know because we know we ncv
or had any thing to do with invasion
and Instructions; and yet this tota
abstaining does not exempt us from
the charge and the denunciation.
The question rccurs, what vii
satisfy them? Simply this:-W'
must not only let them alone, but w
must, somehow. convince them tina
we do let them alone. This, we know
by experience, is no task. We hav
been trying to convince them, from
the verybeginning of our organization
but with no success. In all our plat
forms and speeches we have constant,
protested our purpose to let them alone
but this has had no tendency to cor
vince them. Alike unavailing to con
vince them is the fact that they hav
never detected man OF US i'm any at
tempt 20 disturb them. These nat
ural, and apparently adequate mean
all failing. what will convince them
, This, and this only:-cease TO call sla
very wrong. and JOIN them in calm
it right.-And this must be don
, thoroughly-done in acts as well as j
! words. Silence will not be tolerate
we must place ourselves avowedl
with them. Douglass new seditio
: law must be enacted and enforced
: suppressing all declarations that sla
very is wrong. whether made in pol
ties. in presses. in pulpits. or in pr
| vatc. We must arrest and retur
, their fugitive slaves with greedy pleas
: ure; we must pull down our Free Stat
t Constitution; the whole atm ospher
e must be disinfeeted from all faint ,
i,rfna ,t,1n o.. . .1a,.o.,. iof,.. al -. a..