Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-02-01
10 ps..ssas o shs sou.h.

Ihe resolution was nnally agreed tQ--yeas
ss, nays %.
The Demands Of ths South.
The South has demanded Of the North that
1t fulfill its Obligation to the Constitution, BY
delivering up tho hapless fugitives from bond
age. The North in almost every instance,
has accedsd to this degrading demand. Out
Of SONS hundfeds Of cases where fugitives
have been taken, not over ten cases of rescne
have occurred, since the passage Of the Fngi-
tive Slave Law, in 1850. So much for the
ialse charges Of Democratic and Southern
demsgogass, that the North does not enforce
that Infamous snseiment The North has
repeatedly given the ''pound Of flesh, be-
cause il was inserted in the bond by the Shy
lock Compromises Of 1850 Like shylOck,
the South is demanding the ful6Ilmeat Of
mat contract The North win give The ''Pound
Of flesh, and should not give one grain more,
Like Poftia, II the Merchant Of Venice, when
she invited ths Jew 70 cut his pound af flesh
from the bosom Of Gratiano, The. North should
say to the nan-hunter:
"Tarry littIe,-there is something else.-
This bond doth give thee here no jot Of blood
lhe words expressly are, pound Of flesh;
Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound Of flesh:
But, IN the eating Of g. II thou dost shed
One drcp o. ChriStian blood thy lands and goods
Are, By tie laws of Neniee, eonasoate
Unto the State Of Venice"
Just 50 with the pro-slavery hound BE can
take his fugitivs--his pound Of fesh-because
it is in the bond-but not one jOt more. #
he should not prove his claim to the fugitive,
then be must and ought to suffer punishment
for attempting to kidnap 5 free PersOa.
The so-called personal liberty laws, over
which the South and its northern sympathi-
sers are making 50 much ado, provide simply
for the protection Of free persons from being
kidnapped under the fugitive law, and in
some instances forbid the use Of the jails for
conRning alleged fngitives. lThsselaws do
not prohibit the giving Of the 'pOund of flesh
but they simply say, in the language of Por-
tia, when she addressed ShylOck in reply to
bis demand for his ''pound Of flesh:
Therefore, prepare thee to cut of the flesh.
Shed thoH no blood; nor cut thou less normOre,
Bat just . pound Of flesh If thou tak'st more
Or less than just pound,-be Il but 50 much
Aa makes il light or heavy in the substance,
Or the division Of the twentieth part
OF one poor ssrnple nay, If the scsle do tnrn
But In the estimation Of a hair
Thou diest, and ali thy goods are ooniiseaieN
These personal liberty laws are perfectly
constitutional In proof Of this, no South
srnsr has dared as yet, to test their constitu-
tiouality before the Supreme Court. The
South knows very well that the Supreme
Court-bad as that Court is-Will not and
cannot forbid a sovereign State from protect
ing ths liberty Of its citizens.
This cry against the personal liberty laws
is all gotten up to give the Southern traitors a
bare excuse for lesving the Union. North
ern Democratic dough-faces, and weakened
Republicans are ready to turnu the whites
Of their eyes in holy horror at laws designed
to protect frsemeh from The iaags Of man
thieves, and forthwith they begin to hyoF
eoneession, IL which they agree that these
laws shall be repealed. (They should re
member, however, that other parties musr
be consulted before this can be done This
too, in The face Of the fact that Northern citi.
sens are hung, and tarred and feathereiin the
South, merely because they voted for Lin
coln,or on suspicion Of being 9AbOlitiOnists;'
that Northern school mistress was stripped
naked and then tarred and feathered by
brutal and hellish mob in Mississippi; that
Government forts, araenals and hospitals, are
being seized daily by Southern rebels thai
our glorious flag has been fred upon by
the troops Of South Carolina; that an army
Of 2oeO traitors is at this moment beseiging
Fort Pieksns, and another armys.is treating
Fort Sumter in the same way
Reallg, it is high time that these models Of
Christian meekness-these sanctifed dough-
faces, should be transported to heaEen-the
earth is not good enough for such as they
They have q spirit Of submission which Job
himself might envy.
The fugitive slave law win not be resisted
the giving Of the poundsof flesh viii be
submitted to. But the South should be made
to guarantee the protection of the lives Of
Northern citizens; the invlOlability Of the
mail; and, in short, she must be compelled
I've use that word in its broadest sense) to
obey the federal laws, and to fulfill her part
Of the constitutional obligations. Her trail
tOrOus leaders must be tried and hung for
treason, as promptly as the 0berlin Rescuez
Wsfs P1niahed--as promptly as John Brown
was hung. V1
It's a pooz- rule that does not work both
ways. a. The South are 50 anxious to de-
grade the North, by pressing the enforcement
Of the fugitive law, 50 the North should de-
mand4he en.oicement of the law Furnishing
with death, persons guilty Of treason, Uu-
less the laws are eolorced to the let
ter, sons6 Of Mason and Dizon's Line, the
fugitive slave Law EiH become nullity.
saLE Or A-RAHRpA3. By telegraph it wiz
be seen that the splinghsld, Mt Yezrpn
and Pittsburgh Road was sold yesterday.