Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1860-01-14

'iioh and its consumption. From the great liV
ng fountains OF her boundless resources, lh,
nation Is enriched and sustained, and upon then
its prosperity and power must always chiefly De
pend. Never denying TO any section OF th,
country its legitimate weight in the administra
tiOn OF the Government, the West will be reso
lutte in the assertion Of her rights Conscious
OF her great political power, which will insta
her in the control Of the Government after th,
coming national census, she will demand The in
auguration Of that broad, generous naiiona
policy for guarding aud promoting the enter
prise and industry of the country which, whilC
comforting its inesiimsble benefits upon the peo
pie of all the other States will secure TO the
agricultural and commercial interests that devel
opment and those unobstructed and untaxed
ontlets to the markets of the world which their
necessities imperatvely require, their value will
abundantly compensate and The dignity of the
West demands shall be no longer postponed.
Briefly, but in an especial manner, do re-
gard it as my duty, to urge you to invite the
immediate attention Of Congress to the impor-
tance of its granting prompt and liberal aid for
improving and securing the practical freedom Of
the navigation at the Falls of the Ohio river.
The necessity of some more extended and
complete work than the Louisville and Port
land Canal, as now constructed, to cheaper and
facilitate the conveyance of property around
the Falls, is recognized by every person familiar
with the navigation and trade of the Ohio Riv.
er. Owing to the insutfciency of the construc-
| ton of that work, and the contracted size
of its locks, il is estimated that more than one
half Of all the tonnage of the Ohio and Missis-
sippi rivers is prevented from passing through
the canal. The practical effect is to destroy the
unity of the Ohio River as great channel of
commerce, by dividing it at the Falls, and so
making the portion above q tributary to the
portion below them. The consequent Injustice
and heavy pecuDiary loss to every branch of in
dustry above the Falls are too obvious to need
argument Nor does any other interest, or any
other section of the country derive any benefit
from these results. The serious delay from the
obstruction to the transportation of the millions
of property that annually pass through the ca
nal, with the excessive tolls imposed upon it,
intlict most griyous aud unreasonable tax up.
on the industry and enterprise everywhere, that
contribute, 10 any way, in making up the con-
merce OF the Ohio and Mississippi rivers
The subject, therefore, ia not of mere local
but OF the highest national import.
The canal being virtually owned by the U.
States, although nominally the property of
private corporation, prevents any improvement
legislation powerless for relief
cannot but express the hope, that this i'm.
portant subject may receive the early and favor
able attention of the Legislatures of the several
States bordering upon the Ohio River, and of
the other States interested in lis navigation, and
that they will unite with the Legislature of this
State. in urging prompt and liberal appropria-
tions by Congress for the construction of such
Improvements around the Fall as will be best
adapted to the present and future wants of
Western Commerce
Firmly loyal to the Union of tie States-re-
verencng 1t as the precious legacy from the
Fathers Of the epublic-acknowled their
obligations as sacred to maintain its integrity,
and secure TO the people of every section of
the Confederacy the blessings it was intended
to coGfer: to defend the Constitution, which is
its bond and to faithfully observe all of its lim.
tatians and authorities, the people of Ohio ac-
cord to the citizens of the other States all the
political and social rights which they claim for
themselves, and as they would promptly and
resolntely resist any attempt by force, unlawful
or otherwise to disturb the enjoy
ment of their social rights or imperil their So
ciai securities, so do they deprecate aud unre-
servedly condemn any movement or purpose to
invade the rights or to leopard the peace of the
cllllehS Ol any otner OCate.
But the Union is threatened, and the
Constitution is assailed in the very citadel
of its life--the right of the majority of the
people Of the United States to control the
Government being denied and efforts are
not wanting to defeat the great purpose of
the Government, to extend and perpetuate
the rights of freedom, by degrading the
Union and the Constitution into the in
'truments for the propagation of human
slavery.
On the subject of slavery, the people of
his State occupy no equivocal position
they reject the modern dogma that slavery
S essential to Republics, that such system
must fail without it, and that slavery must
De extended and perpetuated, to extend
md perpetnate our form of government,
Dut in opposition to it, they have deliber-
ltely declared that, in their Judgment,
slavery is pernicious wrong, and that pat
'iotlsm and humanity unite in demanding
heir resistance to its extension into any
'ree territory now or that may be owned by
.he United States. They deny the bind
ng authority Of the dctnm of the Supreme
Court of the United States asserting a
right Of property in one man over another,
as fundamental principle, and making the
Federal Constitution the instrument OF rem
lering it universal, as not limited to the
reach of the local power which created the
relation of master and slave but, on the
contrary, they declare that the idea there
could be property in men was expressly ex-
cluded from the Constitution, which con-
tains no such word as slave or slavery in
any of its provisions, and which in every
clause construed, or that can be construed, |
as referring to slavery, regards it as the
creature of State legislation, and depeud-
ent wholly upon State legislation for its ex-
lstence and continuance. They deny that |
the Constitution guarantees to the slave
holding States any other than their local
rights, in connection with the institution of
slavery, but such as it expressly declares
First, That the foreign slave trade should |
not be abolished before 1903 Second |
That any law or regulation which any state |
might establish in favor Of freedom should |
not impair the legal remedy, supposed at
The time OF the adoption of the Constitu.
lion to exist by common law, for the recap
lion, by legal process, in such State, of fu-
gitiVes from labor or service escaping from