The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1860-07-21

btcathed Into this nation the breath ~ ia
James OTIS, In asserting the inalfenablc riehfs
men, that there might Be no mistake a. 10 IN,
no meant takes care 70 include black men !
ScM e white, and IN his pamphlet vindicstin
me Legialatase, he lays down a. one of the d,t
Ca wRscn ma argument proceeds. in . strai
OF 0eep vsined sarcam: Is A Government h,
no right TO make hobby horscs. asses ana sl.vc
o. the subject, nature having made efficient q
the two former for oil the lawful purnoeca q
man, from the most harmless peasant in the iel,
% the most refined politician In the cabinet nm
none ofthe last, which infallibly proves that the
are unnecessary" and I'm another pamphlet. Il
1893, ne says: The colonsts are men the col
onists are therefore freeborn, for, by the law q
nature, all men are freeborn, white OF black. NJ
good reason can be given fof enslayiug those q
any color"
James Otis was not only the tongue, but tn.
brain, OF the early Revolution. He did not wish
Independence Of England. He held that the
Engish Constitution was perfect, and for the
reason that, justly interpreted, it protected The
rights OF man. This was the view that Lord
Mansheid con6rused when he decided in l774
tnat there could be no slaves In England. ssThe
eHcct OF this decision upon the Colonies,n saws
Arnold, in his History Of Rhode Island "was In
confirm the views already expressed by many
writer's, to stimulate legislation against the sys.
tenn, and to hasten the emancipation Of slaves in
New England." James Otis knew perfectly what
he was saying John Adams, who heard him
then young man-said that he himself shud
dercd at the doctrine he taught. But il was only
difference OF method, not Of principle, between
tnem tor John Adams, in speaking Of the speech
1 9! gus. remarks: adore the idea of gradual
abolition, but who shall decide how fast or how
slowly these abolitions shall be made =" In
1916, Dr. Mathew, in his sermon upon the repeal
OF the Stamp Act, having defined slaves TO be
those, 1.-THE fruit Of whose labor and industry
may be lawfully taken from them without their
consent, and they justly punished if they refuse
70 surrender it on demand" adds, 'for what il
| there IN the world more wrctched than for those
born free, and who have right to continue 90,
| to be made slaves themselves and to think of
| leaving race Of alaves behind them. even
though it be to masters contessedly the most hu
name and generous in the world ?" And ali the
colonies cried "Amen." This primary truth Of
human rights, announced by James Otis, in the
New England forum, and by Mahew in the null
pit. was echoed from South Carolina by Christie,
pher Gadsden, noblest of Churchman's, who wrote |
in February, 1865" are avery weak province.
yet rich growing one, and of as much import. |
ance to Great Britain as any upon the continent:
and great part OF our weakness, though at the |
same time it is part Of our riches, consists in |
having such number Of slaves among us: and |
We hnd in our case according to the general per-
ceptible workings Of Providence, where the crime
most commonly, though slowly yet surely, draws
down similar punishment, that Slavery begets
Slavery. Jamaica and the West India Islands
demonstrate the observation which hope will
not be our case now, whatever might have been
the consequence had the fatal attempt been de.
iayed few years longer, when We had drank
deep OF the Circean draught, and the measures
OF our iniquities were filed up"
That was good South Carolina Revolutionary
doctrine, and that Of Virginia was like unto it.
An address in the Virginia Gazette in 1861, saws:
Now, as Freedom is the birthright of all man.
kind, Africans as well as Europeans. to keep the
former in state Of slavery is constant viola
ticn Of that right, and therefore of Justice" /:
was the shining honor of the great colony Of vir-
ginia, where slavery was FIRST planted, that its
Legislature had constantly denounced it. The
Virginia Assembly Of 1872 declared 1.-THE interest
OF the COLONY manfestly requires the total expul-
sion Of them" 1.-THE system greatly retards the
settlement of the colonies with more useful in
and may in time have the most de-
structive influence" In l774, George Washing
ton presided at meeting Of his county of Fair
fax, which denounced the trade, not only as i'm
polite but inhuman and in the same year Thomas
Jefferson, in his address to the Assembly, says
1.-The abolition of domestic slavery
is the greatest object Of desire in these colonies
where it was unhappily introduced in their infant
state But previous to the enfra Achisement of
the slaves We have it is necessary to exclude all
further importations from Africa" Peyton Ran
dolph presented these words to the Assembly,
and they resolved to import no more slaves from
any quarter. So when in November, 1875, |
Lord Dunmore, the last colonial Governor, en-.
deavored to raise the slaves by the promise Of
freedom, Virginia proudly reminded the world
that it had repeatedly tried to stop the horrid
traffic in slaves and had been frustrated by the
English merchants and the Royal veto, and adj
ded truly that " the present masters of negroes
in Virginia pitied their condition, wished in gen.
eral to make it easy and comfortable, and would
willingly not only prevent any more negroes from
losing their freedom, but restore it to such as
had already unhappily lost it." In like manner.
also, the first Continental Congress in l774, |
agreed neither to import nor to buy any
slave imported after the first of December. The
popular Convention of Penn prepared the way :
for law to prohibit the importation. Rhode
Island, the Town of Providence, had already OK
pressed wish to stop the trade, and to enamel
pate on the ground that it is unbecoming the Z
character of fieemen to enslave the said ne
yroes ]" the negroes born in the colony. The Da- j
rien Committee of the Colony of Georgia, in +
January, 1775, ITO show the world that we are
not influenced by any contracted or interested G
motives, but general philanthropy for all man. n
kind, Of whatever climate, language, complex '
ion, We hereby declare our disapprobation and /
adherence of the unnatural practice Of slavery
IN America" And they resolved to use their !
utmost endeavors to obtain the manumission Of {
the slaves in the country. Many of the most l
honored Georgia names signed to that decla- /
ton. In April, 1876, three months before the I
great event which brings us here to-day, the Con.
Einental Congress absolutely forbade the slave T
trade; mot" says Bancroft. "from political rea-
sons merely, but from conviction Of its UPRIGHT
~ - L. a. i
tlen the prevailing opinion that the total prohi
btion Of the slave trade would atno very distant
day be followed by universal emancipation"
say, the Fathers did not shirk the question.
rhe honest frientls of slavery to-day do deny
t. The late Preston S. Brooks Of South Caro-
ina confessed 1t. Mr.. Alex. H. Stevens OF Geor-
yia, of the most sagacious of our public men,
'aid year ago, The leading public men Of the
South. in our early history, were almost all
was against it. Nearly all OF them were against
t. This freely admit when the authority of
heir names is cited" And Mr.. Edward Ever (.
ett in his discourse upon Daniel Webster, says:
In common with all, or nearly all, the states
men of the last generation, he believed that free
labor would ultimately prevail throughout the q
continent La
PRENTICE ON THE DEMoCRAcY.-A New Or
leans delegate announced in the Baltimore con- |
vention that Louisiana would be saved. We
guess her Soue will be damned. ,
The Democratic ire-eaters have got Herscnel !
V. johnson as their candidate for the vice-pre-
sidency. We guess Herschel's chances are SO :
small he will have to take his big teles cope to !
discover them. Ii
For great many years the Democracy have
been agitating the slavery question, and now, by
way Of reciprocity Of compliment it agitates
them drcadfply. I,
The Democratic convention adjourned toward
the North from the torrid city Of Charleston to
get cool. But, The further North 1t went, the
hotter it got, till at last tremendous explosion
blew its two halves thousand miles a part.
The South Carolina Gazette Gays that ''the
fools are no all dead yet" II they were, South I
Carolina wouldn't have tenth part population I
enough TO fairly enttle her to representative ip
Congress-,
~. no,rla ala Immediate oroan saya that the |