Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1860-07-28

were ignorant Of this act Of. the Legislature of
PennsylyanaH Again. ,... .....t ... ....t
Previous to the Revolution, all the great
minds Of Virginia including Washington, Madi-
son, Jefferson and their compsers, constantly
protested against the institution Of Slavery,
and loudly complained of the injustice Of the
Crown in permitting the great uquity TO be
fastened upon the Colonies. In an address to
the people Of the Commonwealth of Virginia
published in the Virginia Gazette as early as
1867, the following emphatic language occurs !:
Now as freedom is unquestionably the
birthright of all mankind, Africans as 1osH
as Europeans, to keep the former in = state
of slavery is constant violation of that
right and therefore of justice ..., ..,r
Will il be contended that Justice Taney and
bis associates, we're ignorant Of this state Of
feeling and Of public opinion in the Old Do
minion, anterior to the Revolution Aud il
not, did he and they, proclaim the TRUTH or for
base political purposes, fabricate and pub
lsh o falsehood when they GVowsd that the
African race, had no rights which he ,chite man
1ods bound to respect" aud that "tGis opinion
toas at that time fired and uniUersaL I" xxx.
Again, previous to the adoption OF the Con-
stitution, Massachusetts had abolished slavery |
And as early as 1883, the Legislature Of Vir-
giuia repealed the act of that Colony passed
10 1879, which limited citizenship to the rrliis
race. See Henniags Statutes, uoI IL, page
1872 That act of the Old Dominion, passed
six years before the adoption Of the Constitu-
tion of the United States expressly enacts
that ...e Sod. ....I.. ...
q An FREE persons born WitAin tie Tsrrito-
4ieS of this Commonwealth. shall 10 deemed
sitissns Of thts Commonwealth. ra 3D.
Were Mr.. Justice TAney Aud HE associates
ignorant Of this action by MASSACHUSETTS and
Virginia Were they ignorant that as early
as 1885 the Legislature of the State Of New
York passed bill for the abolishment Of Slav-
cry, to which the venerable Chancellor Livings-
ton, the ablest jurist of his day, excepted, not
because he was in favor Of Slavery but
Because the last clause of the bill en-.
acts that no negro mulatto, or mustee shall
have legal vote in any case wbatsoeve
aohich impiicatirely excludes persons of his
description from all share IN Tie Legislature,
and those Offices in which vote may be
necessary, as well as from the important
privilege Of electing those by whom they
are to be governed the bill having, in
other instances, placed The children that shall
be born of slares IN the rank of citizens,
agreeable beth to the spirit and letter of tie
Consultation, they are, as such, entitled to all
the privileges Of citizens; nor can Mey be de-
prired of these essential rights aoith0ut shock
ing those principles Of equal Liberty phich ev-
ery page IN that Constitution labOrs 10 en-,
forcs." ''
We ask the candid and intelligent reader
to put to himself the question: whether it is pos
sible that Justice Taney and his associate Dem
oeratic Judges, were ignorant of the official ac-
tion herein detailed, by the four great States OF
the ConIederacy, viz, New York, Virginia
Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, anterior to the
adoption of the Constitution of the United
States and if they were thus ignorant, is it
not manifest, that any mere opinion decision it
| Nho bONJ buho pun iOleh " h'Su "hO NhC" bS'
the history of the subject upon which they were
commenting, is utterly worthless and without
any moral influence ? While on the contrary,
if they we're not thus ignorant does it not fol-
low. that such opinion was vile and disgrace.
full .falsehood, deliberately fabricated to benefit
the Slave power, and intended to extend Slav.
cry into the Free Territories of the Union by
virtue of the Constitution itself? thus render
ing National an institution which has ever been
considered local. and which the trainers of the
Constitution, and especially Mr. Madison and
other Southern Statesmen, held 10 such abso
lutte horror, that they would not permit the word
"sLape' to mar or disgrace Constitution which
was designed to secure and perpetuate freedom
to all who lived within the pale Of its authority
We have been led to these reflections by the
perusual of a recent speech of the Hon. Israe
the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case. W.
need not inform the reader that Mr.. Washburn
who has Just been nominated for Governor by
the Republicans of Maine, is one of the ablest
as nC 10 OuS VI ILC hluSSb AlSluoilOohS w eh
present Congress /; and in behalf Of the Repub
licau party, we thauh him for his very able an
effective contribution to the pending contest
His speech has been published as Campaig
document by the Republican UOngressiOna
Committee at one dollar per hundred and th
material of which it is composed, may be u
lerred from the extracts we have made from il
'The Democratic party, controlled as !
is in all its movements and aspirations, b.
en- inexorable obligarehy which acts as on
man in defence of common interest, ha
become, as we have seen, the exponent o
ideas aud opinions in direct conflict will
those of the revolutionary fathers, and 0
the apostles and champions of liberty ant
human rights in all lands and in every age
o. "The issues which hisparty presents ma.
be concsely and truly stated in these words
The fathers ware vrOng; RspubLieaniSm .
a sham Democracy IS a falsehOOd. ...
"Sir, there is not single political trut
affecting the rights Of man, asserted by tn
great men Of the revolutionary epoch, whicI
; this party does not deny not an opinion i
regard to fundamental principles which j
I does not scoif at The fathers held chattG
) Slavery, merchandising Of men, to be wrong
the Democratic party says It is right. III
former regarded il as an evil the latte