Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1861-07-05
WHY DoA,r YOU sTop rMEm.

WHY DOt'T YOU STOP THEM.
4 question of some nicely is likely TO
arise out of the present commotion. We
of The North have been in the habit u
catching a certain class of Fireinians
who had escaped from that State, and
sending them back to the tender perc;es ot
those from whom they fed Certain mep
there claimed the right to do az they
pleased with certain other men, aud Law
yers and preachers quoted the Constitu=
tion and the Bible as authority for their
so doing. We never could exactly find the
authority in those old documents, and are
ofthe opinion that they will be restudied
with some care to sec it there is author
ity to meet the new class Of cases that
are now arising.
Tom jenkins, for-instance, claims
that he has right TO sell, or work, or
fog, or starye hundred men and wo-
men. Some of them get an opportunity J
and run away from Tom. They arc pur-
sued and caughtin Ohio. Pom demands
that they shall be seized by Us and &C.
livered back to him, that lie may con,
tinue TO work, and starve, and fog and
sell them as long as they GTe. When
asked by what authority he claims the
right, he says that his father, or some
body else, worked, and logged and
starved, and sold their mothers, and that
gave IAN a right to do the same to them
ls Tom, or ''any other man, ever
claimed any other right, We never heard
of it. And we never could see very
clearly how 'bicking woman, gave u
right to cuff her SON But Judges and
Parsons saw that the right was clearly
given in the Constitution and the Bible
and they were given up.
But, Governor Lctcher now clai:as
that he has right to compel any able
bodied man in Virginia to take up arms
and fight against the Government Of the
United States. And that he has the
right to imprison, fog, shoot, or hang
every one who refuses to obey. When
asked by what authority he claims this
right, he says that he and his fellows
have trampled upon the Constitution OF
the U. Shave disrupted the Union
have set aside the laws, and have con
stituted themselves the rulers, and that
this gives them clear right to confs-
cate the property and sacrifice the lives
of all who do not submit We do not
see the logic of the argument. But it
is SO like twin brother to Toms, that
we don't see why the Judges and Preach
ers can't just as well find it in the Con
stitution and the Bible, as to find Tom 5
there.
Now, the question: is this: When those
persons in Virginia, who, like US, do not
see how the perjury and treason loi
Letcher & Co. gives them the right tc
seize the property and persons of honest
people, leave the State and seek persona
safety in Ohio, shall We seize them an(
send them back, to feel the tender mer
cies of their prosecutors? And if not
why not? We are puzzled. Why no
treat Letcher and Tom alike? We hope
the whole subject will be reexamined
And if the Constitution and the Bibl
requires US to catch fugitives, let US re
double our diligence AMI prove our
Democracy and Christianity by the yea
with which we hunt them down. Bu
Democracy and Religion wipe cut al
casts, and is no respector Of persons
Therefore let Us treat John Letcher anC
Tom jenkins as equally patriarchs, ant
all fugitives as alike guilty of an un
pardonable ofense in disobeying orders