The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-12-05
Northern

monstrates that a large majority of the Northern
States have been guilty of Notification. In
Ohio we have, at present, no such law. There
was one in 1857 but the Democratic Legisla-
ture of 1858 repealed it. Yet the Governor
OF Ohio by his refusal to give up a man to the
authorities of Kentucky, a man who was in
dicted in their courts for the crime of stealing,
Is a deeper stab, a more fragrant outrage upon
the rights of the people of the South, than
even the Infamous Modification acts of the
other States.
There are in some of the Northern States,
laws furnishing with heavy fines and with i'm
:, P%risonment in the penitentiary, the obtaining
of money by false pretences. We believe
there is such a law in New York. In Ohio
We have q law furnishing this offence only with
afsmall fine and imprisonment for a few days
in our County Jail. Suppose a person indict-
ed for this crime in the State of New York
should escape into Ohio, and q requisition be
made upon our Governor for his body; could
not Mr.. Dennison with the same propriety re-
fuse to give him up en- the ground that the
laws of the State of Ohio did not make this
crime punishable by Imprisonment in the Peni-
Tertiary; that the people of the State of Ohio
thought New York was too severe on such
criminals? Is this carrying out that provision
of the Constitution requiring the rendition of
f~ugitives from justice, or labor? Ii this were
the established rule, that the governor of the
State upon whom the requisition is made has
but to reply that his State does not recognize
the crime, the ends of justice could be COM
pletely thwarted by every scoundrel that COM
mitted a crime running Immediately to some
State whose statute did not read precisely like
chat of the State from which he escaped
Upon this rule, horse thieves might all flock ia
to a little State, such as Delaware, for instance,
obtain the majority and repeal their laws
against that crime. Then every thief pursued
has but to ride his stolen horse to Delaware and
defy the laws of the other States
This case supposed, is not one whit stronger,
Is a fair comparison in every respect with the
case of the requisition by the Governor of
Kentucky upon the Governor of Ohio for tie
negro thief. f77 tHr .al-.
: 1t is fer these Multiplying acts, for these viola
4ions of the plain provisions of the Constitu-
ton that the people of the South complain and
threaten retaliation only by adopting similar
Governor Magofin of Kentucky, in a letter
written since the election of Lincoln, although
disappearing disunion and secession, refers to
this violation, by Governor Dennison, of his
. oath of office, as follows: .r-v. e.
q To the States which propose TO secede we
would say, Ia addition to what we have said,
ehould NOT dnSort na--W We ara a horAar
State; we have the brunt of the battle; we have
- more grievances than all of you; we have suf-
fered more wrongs, but we have had more for
bearanee.- Even now we have a practical
question. 1t is a wicked, wilful, wanton vio-
g lation of our rights, which lies at the founda-
tion of our Government, and involves the very
existence of slavery in Kentucky. 1t is no
. abstractionA-no Kansas question-no Terrific
rial queston-but an open direct violation of
our constitutional rights. We don't intend to
submit to it. i have demanded of Governor
Dennison, of Ohio, a fugitive nov under in
dictment for stealing our slaves. He has re-
fused to deliver him up. a-,5-
He and the Republican party of Ohio, and
Il believe of the whole Union, all concede that
d the Government could not have been formed
. but upon the idea that each State must be
permitted to regulate its domestic affairs to
suit itself, and that unless, that idea is fully
70 carried out between the States in their inter-
course, the Union is at an end. Yet he re-
o fuses to deliver up this fugitive now under
indictment in our courts for stealing our negro
property, upon the ground, among other rea-
sons, thai the laos of Ohio do not regard it as
q a felony to steal a slaVe. Our laws and Con-
stitution, and the Constitution of the United
2 States, do recognize slaves as property. They
are recognized as such by the Supreme Court
. of the United States. 1t has declared it to be
q felony to steals slave, and we will not sub
init to this violation of our constitutional rights.
It is a great practical question now pending
between Kentucky and Ohio, and it will test
the fact whether or not the Republicans in
tend to carry out their purposes. 1 told you
on the stump last summer, that / would sur
render no constitutional right Kentucky had.
This is one of them. If we would surrender
this one, it will encourage them to wrest from
us another and another, until, stripped of our
rights, our honor, our inheritance, and our
manhood, we will have neither the spirit, nor
the courage, nor the power to resist. E
, Il shall take this violated rightte the Courts
Z for the remedy. Failing there, / would take
it to Congress, and if they give the remedy,
Mr.. Lincoln will be called on to sign or veto
the bill. We will test the question where we
have rights whether or not we have remedies.
We viii test the question whether or not our
rights are to be respected under the laws and
the decisions of. the Supreme Court of the
United States. Failing there, I shall tell the
people of Kentucky, in the last resort: Here
Is your violated right. 1 have done all / can
do to obtain the remedy. You are a States
rights people, and now, falling back upon
your reserved rights, I will advise such action
Is [ am sure you will take. ~ yn-l
To South Carolina, and such other States,
who may wish to seeede from the Union, /
would say: The geography of this country
will not admit of a division; the mouth and
sources of the Mississippi river cannot be sepa-
rote6 without the horrors of civil war. We
cannot sustain you in this movement merely
ON account of the election of Lincoln. Do not
precipitate us, by premature action, into a
revolution or civil war, the consequences of
which will be most friehtful to all OF US, 1t
may yet be avoided. There is still hope, faint