Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1861-03-09

Now, these are wrongs for which RENE
dies ought to be provided and, fearing
that the respectable and patriotic commit
tee OF thirty.thrce might omit this matter,
and inasmuch as we supposed that we were
to have final settlement of all existing
accounts, l submitted resolution calling
attention to these facts bat no remedy
has been proposed.
Mr.. MAYNARD. / desire to state to the
gentleman from Ohio that the laws Of Ten.
nessee provide for the punishment Of such
oifenses.
Mr. HUTcHrNs. I was about TO remark
that brought this up at this time that
might hereafter call on the chairman Of the
committee of thirty-three to prove that this
matter has not been adjusted, so that il
shall not be barred by what might be called
res ddjadicata.
Mr.. MAYNARD l simply wish to state
that, by the laws of Tennessee, if that ont.
rage had been perpetrated as stated in the
paper, those men could not only he made to
answer in DANCES, but could also be impris.
oned for years in the penitentisry.
Mr. HuTcHINs have no doubt of that
fact. Aud all those outrsges on what you
call southern rights are also punished by
the laws of the free States. am glad to
say that do not regard this as any Just
cause for dissolution Of the Union. | in.
troduce the matter to show that if charges
are to lie made, they can be made, they can
be made on the one side as well as on the
other.
Inow PROPOSE Mr.. Speakes, to consider
very briefly the remedies proposed for the diff
ficnltieS under which we are laboring. | come
in the frst place, to the report of the com.
mittee of thirty three. have great res
pect, sir, for the respcctabiIity and patriot
ism of the members Of that illustrious COM
mite. l voted against its formation, be-
cause did not believe that anything that
occurred, or was likely to occur, requiring
the ihterposition of such committee.
That committee has a report. To some of
the propositions reported, there is no very
great objection. There is, however,
clause Of the report TO which have some
objection. After referring TO the change
against the free State, of the President, in
his annual message, without contradicting
1t, the chairman OF the committee uses the
following language:
press having tendency promote domestic insursetion
of the States and circulation with that intent
judgment OF the committee highly criminal and should be
treated by the laws Of the several States The right of free
discussion while it regarded absolutely necessary the
great excitement into occasional The
corrective of this evil the
the committee do not doubt that the desired corrective will
be promptly applied in all when the evil thal have
samed while the just and rational freedom
ofspeech and OF the pess will be carefully preserved"
Mr.. Speaker, am well aware that that
is the carefully prepared language of the dis
tinguished and eloquent chairman of that
committee ; but, in my judgment, it con
t0ins principles more fatal to the liberty of
the press than the famous sedition law of
1898 The gentleman undertook, in his
speech, to break the force of that passage,
and soften down its meaning, by stating
that, if such circulation were intended to
promote domestic insurrection, it ought to
be punished in the free States, relying upon
the criminal intent to work a conviction
The chairman of that committee is o good
lawyer and no one knows better than he
that the maxim of criminal law is, that
man is presumed to intend what is the natural
aud necessary result of the act which he
commits. How easy, therefore, it would be
to indict the n. Y. Tribune, the n. Y.
Evening Post, the N. Y. Independent, or
any other out-spoken anti.slavery paper, for
a publication that slavery is wrong, that
Slaveholding is crime and on the trial, to
claim that such publication tends to make
slaves discontented; and therefore, tends to
produce iusurrection. The papers to which
| have referred are already regarded insur-
rectionary in slsveholding states; for the rea.
son, as it is claimed that they are calculated
to produce insurrection; aud if these papers
were in slavehOldng States, they would be
suppressed under the rule laid down by the
chairman of the committee.
The gentleman, in his speech, referred to
the efforts of Lord Erskine to take from
the courts and give to the jury the right
! to Judge of the criminal intent of a publi-
cation, and that, through his efforts, the
law of England and of this country now is
that the jury, and not the court, is to pass
upon the intent of the publication. 1t oc-
Cured to me as singular, that the gentle
men should refer to Lord Erskine as an au
thorty to restrict the liberty of the press
when it is well known that one Of the great
efforts of his life was the defense of the lib.
erty of the press 10 the celebrated case oI
the Dean Of st. Asaph for the publication
of tract illustrating the general principles
of government, written by Sir William
Jones.
Mr.. CAMPBELL will say to the gentle.
man from Ohio that, having been a member
of the committe of thirty-three, | understand
the proposition laid down by the chairman
Of the committee has reference TO the publ
cation aud circulation of documents intend
ed to stir up insurreetioh in the slave States
Does the gentleman approve the converse v
the doctrine
Mr.. HUTcINs. Who is to be the Judge o
what is insurrectionary That is a uic'
question depending upon circumstances.
Sir james Macintosh, in his great ora
tion in defense of Jean Peltier, which Erskin
pronounced to be "a splendid monument o
genius, learning and eloqueuce," said
'hOss who slowly built up the fabric Of laws never
tempted anything sbFurd TO define any precise
the obscure and shifting boundaries which divide libel fro
history or discussion"
Mr.. CAMPBELL. reply that newspape
is supposed to be Published for public info
nation. There should be a power somt
where to judge of the criminality of article
published.
Mr. HUrcHISs. What fear is that afte
Al y