Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-02-08
OF OHIO,
Ia tA' Hss' qf Rqprs,sasuiiv.,, Janueyy
lTA, 1861.
(Cn6ausd)

I
Wiilfll falsi6eTJo is, Of all men, the most
despicable; and the utterer of this base slander
Of bis own State and neighbOrs has ct last
found the depth Of infamy. There cannot
30 one fact adduced upon which to rest SO
monstrous a charge. There is no evidence OF
this alleged hatred on the part Of the North.
| No southern man or woman visiting the
/ NORTH, either for business or pleasure, were
even beaten with stripes, tarred and feath-
cred, imprisoned, or murdered BY any COW
ardly mobs or Lynch-law courts no matter
what their opinions might be on any subject,
however obnoxious, or however extensively
they mi hit have proclaimed them. wish
rs much could be said, and as truthfully, Of
every southern State.
Sir say TO southern Shareholders, and !
say it with pride, that more lsw-ablding
peaceful, constituti nal, and UniOn-loyinp
people cannot be found in any party Of the
country, THAI the great Republican party
Indeed they are pre- eminently distinguished,
wherever known, for the conscientious dis
charge Of every duty, public and private, fol
heir sobriety and Christian character, for
their love ofpeace, for their unselhsh philan-
hropy and love of the human race, which is
circumscribed by no narrow limits, but en-
braces in its co, mopolitan iberality the peo-
pie Of every nation and Of every religious
creed.
II this be true, am asked why we permit
uch slsnderers as the author of the extract Just
read to utter their falsehoods throughout the
North I answer, because we are rot fear
ful of falsshOod, where free speech and free
press are left to combat it before an nintelligent
people. Wherever such ISLANDERS are uttered
in the North they are harmless They ought
70 be and would be harmless with you in the
South, If you tolerated free speech and free
press. The utterer Of this slander, is like the
desperate gambler, who, having lost chsrac-
t-r, position, everything that manly mau
could desire, is playing he last caro- upon
the political board, with a recklessness be-
6tting his desperate condition, hoping against
hope to be promoted by the dying political
organization now il charge Of the Govern
uent to a position once digni6sd and
made honorable by Jay, q Story and
a Marshall How infamous and wicked an
Administration must be where promotion TO
/ high and honorable positions are more readily
secured BY such bsseness than by an honor
able, manly, upright bearing.
John Randolph, OF Virginia, once said,
when rebuking those whom he justly called
dsughfsces, that be did not envy the head
or heart of that man who could rise here and
defend slavery on principle" IWould, sir
that we lad Randolph, q Jefferson, and
Mcdowell to speak here to-day fer the south
and to the South
Mr.. Chairman. it is a mistake, and our
southern brethren are deceived in supposing
hat opposition to slavery in the tree States i
he result OF political preaching or political
parties. 1t Is a still greater mistake to sup
pose that this opposition has become so for
midable as II has because Of political dema-
gogues seeking Office. This sentiment of op-
position to slavery has existed from the day
Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, and
ever will exist, not only with their children,
but with the great body of the Christian
world It has grown in spite of political
preaching, in spite Of demagogues, and in
spite Of doughfaces, Of whom the North has,
IN sorry to say, quite as many to-day, as
when Randolph gave them name 30 charac-
teristic of their depravity.
In Canada, on our northern border, in
England and France, and indeed throughout
al Europe the hostility to slavery is far
greater and more unanimous than in any OF
the free States Of the American Union. And
those who are its most uncomprOmising op-
ponent in the countries named cannot and
never expected to obtain Office OF political
promotion be .suse Of their opposition 10 the
-ystem. They are not and never have been.
influenced by any such sOrdid considerations
Neither are the great body Of theoitizens Of
be free States, who are, and always have
been opposed to slavery, governed in their
opposition by any such cOnsidera' ions. It
is feeling Of human nature which cannot be
overcome, a "prejudiee," if you will, which
cannot be conquered at the bidding Of any
man or party.
Tree fourths Of the civilized and Christian
world look upon the trade Of man stealing
and man selling as piratical commerce, to
be prohibited and abolished wherever Gov
ernments have the power. And if there
never had been any United States Senators
and Representatives in Congress made cleo
tive BY the people in the free States, and
there were no Offices to be filled there by ap.
pointment Of the President Of the United
States, the hostility TO this execrable COM
merce in the free States wonld have been
/ ivefold greater than it is. And without the
aid which The North has given to the slavery
interest it would be powerless to-day For
/ the truth is, the national Government IN the
hands Of slave holders, as It has been three
/ fourtbs Of the time since its organization, has
deoauched and corrupted the public mind Of
l the North, and in the name OF Democracy has
been able to keep possession Of the Govern
ment while extending, strengthening, and
nationalizing slavery.
/ NJ Thafrr~ran 1f,,rfr ,r.o = A.
/ eat and most Godlike aspirations of the
/ human heart il is a sentiment which cannot
/ be eradicated by eomaromises or party plat
forms. No, nor by Church creeds either
Il is a feeling implanted in the breast OF
I every intelligent human soul BY the hand Of
the Creator, and bars and bolts and prisons
cannot eradicate it. Is is the morning and
evening prayer Of every slave; and the late
Governor Mcdowell, Of Virginia, never ut
rered more sublime truth than when be
said:
You may place the slave where on please,
you may dry up to your uttermost the foun-
tains of his feelings the springs Of bis thought;
you may close upon bis mind every avenue
to knowledge, and cloud it over with ar
tiicial night; you may yoke him to labor as
an OK which liveth only 70 work, and worketll
only to live; you may put him under any
process which, without destroying his value
as slave, will debase and crush him as
rational being; you may do all this, AND THE
IDEA THAT LIZ WAS BORN FRTE Will SURVIVE IT
ALL. Il IS allied to his hope Of immortality ;
it is tho eternal part Of bis nature, which op.
preston caunot reach. It isa torch lit up
in his soul BY the land Of Deity, and never
meautto be eXdnguished By the hand Of man. o
Ar. Chairman, the peopleof the North hold
these sentiments to-day, as they ever have
and aG trust they ever will. What wonder
then, that when called upon to extend by
their vote this institution, 90 obnoxious to
them and the moral sense Of the civilized
world, that they should Be found as bocy.
in opposition to it1 The only wonder, cir.
is, that there is any division in the Free
States on the subject. On this question .
large majority OF the citizens Of all parties
ia lbe Free States, stand to-day Whera Wash
I frsa - I 4 .f.as