Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1861-03-06

e free States
d 1t is said. Mr. Speaker. that the anti
Y slavery sentiment of the country is sucl
d that southern institutions, meaning o
It course, the right to hold slaves. are inse
n cure. The anti-slavery sentiment of tht
e free States is not stronger now than it wai
c in 1856. when James Buchanan was elect
: ed President Well. it is said that the E.
0 lection of Lincoln and Hamlin is cause
for dissolution of the Union. The peo.
T pie of the free States, and few of the peo.
+ pie of the slave States. saw fit, under the
} platform adopted at Chicago, to vote fol
e the election of Lincoln and Hamlin, as they
+ had q right to do under the Constitution
: of the United States 1t is not alleged
{ that any law has been violated in that re-
spect- The fact of the election of Lincoln
and Hamlin to the highest Offices in the
gift of the American people, by the free
men of the North. cannot be regarded as a
just cause for dissolution of the Union.
If 1t were, then if Breckenridge and Lane
had been elected on thair platform. which
was as obnoxious to the North as the Chi
cago platform was to the South. then the
North would have been justified in seeding
from this Union. Every one must see the
absurdity of that.
Mr.. Speaker, there are complaints on
both sides; and l am sorry to be obliged,
as matter of defense, to assert that, in
my judgment, the North has to-day more
cause to complain of the slave States than
the slave States have to complain of the
free States.
We all know that our citizens, who are
secured or ought to be secured, under the
broad provisions of the Constitution of the
] United States, against unreasonable search
es and seizures when travelling in the
southern States, have been mobbed, rob
! bed, tarred and feathered, whipped and
/ burned, and have had all sorts of indigni-
ties heaped upon them. 1 do not bring
this charge against southern States as
States. Not at all. l bring it only
against citizens of those States. The gov
ernments are Dot responsible for it But
1t Is no cause for dissolution of the Un-
ion. 1t can be corrected in the Union
But l do not believe that the citizens of
southern States have been so badly treated
IN the free States as the citizens of free
States have been in southern States.
The fugitive slave law was passed in
1850; it was obnoxious to the people of the
free States; it was opposed to all their
anglo Saxon notions of risprudence; and
some free States thought it necessary, to
guard their free citizens against the sum-
mary process ofthat law, to pass personal
liberty bills. The fugitive slave law is
justly obnoxious to the sentiment of the
people Of the free States: but that is no
cause for dissolution of the Union. A
large, or at least, respectable minority
of the people of the free States, do n t be-
lieve there is any constitutional authority
to pass such law, while they acknowl-
edge the right Of the STAKEHOLDER to recover
his property under the provisions OF the
Constitution of the United States. But
they believe that the duty deyolves on
State Legislatures, to provide remedy by
which the right of the STAKEHOLDER could be
asserted in accordance with the forms of
law in the free States But so long as
the Supreme Court of the United States
continue to declare that law constitutional,
so long, | have no doubt, it viii be enforc-
ed faithfully in the North, however hard
and oppressive the people of the free States
may regard it. The people of the free
States aIe law-abiding people. I
For there, before almighty law,
High birth. high place, with pious awe,
In reverend homage benG.
There mans free spirit unconstrained,
Exaults in mans best right maintained
Rights, which by ancient valor gained,
From age to age descend"
/ have statement of some of the outra-
ges recently perpetrated in southern States
against northern citizens and L do not in
troduce it for the purpose of stirring up any
bad blood or any bad feeling. | admit
that excesses are committed on both sides
of the line. With the permissin of the
House, l will read this extract from the
Mercer county APennsylvania) Dispatch:
"We have been made acquainted with
the facts Of recent outrages, committed at
the South on citizens of the North, two of
them long residents of Mercer county, which
show the despotism of slavery and the
wrongs perpetrated at its bidding. In
November last, Michael Donchue and
James Griffin, of Fairview township, went
to Pittsburgh, intending to work their
way down the river on coal boat, and
work during the winter at some place in
the southern States. These boats having
all gone, they took passage on a steamboat,
and, in u short time, reached Memphis.
Tennessee, and, in company with one or ,
two others, started back into the country
to procure employment They had gone
but short distance, when they were inter-
cepted by what purported to be commit
tee of vigilance, the captain of which ask
ed Don0hue where he was from. He re- !
piled from Virginia. The other said be
was not, but was damned Methodist l.!
PREACHER sect for which Donohue and
his companion have very little sympathy.
he protested that this was not SO: that he
was no abOlitionist, and had never voted
anything but the Democratic ticket; all of '
which is true But it availed him not;
and he was told that be had his choice, !
either to be fogged or tarred and cOttoned.
He preferred the latter. when he was strip
ped and the tar and cotton applied to him. {
The same choice was given to Griffin, who
preferred the fogging. He was stripped G
to the shirt, and a large wagon whip put l
into the hands of negro to carry out the |
sentence cf thirty lashes, bat, after t
he received twenty. he was let off While {
the punishment was inflicted, three of the n
mob stood around him with drawn pistols, s
to shoot him if he made any resistance. t
Another of the company with the two
former, was told that he had either to be j
hung or tarred and cottoned He. of course, a
chose the latter, and they were applied C
Another was told that he had his choice,
either to be nung or branded on the check; Il
and, choosing the latter, the outrage was k