Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1861-03-01
MIR. PUGH'S sEaUEi. TO THE CRlr-
TENDEN AMENDMENT.-.Hoy IT,
l,ONE<S

states Senate, has been making speech
to portion of the people of the Queen
City. The ed of February, the birth
day of Washington, was the occasion
which called it forth. Of course, at
such time, general discussion of the
condition Of the country at large, with
some specific remedy which shall heal
all the evils of the times, is rather to be
expected than otherwise. Mr.. Push is
reported by the ,Eaqatrcr as follows:
M. Pa1h tten capfrinrd hor first, by
tie R5a- shtsshqlding Ntatcs of the North,
'oacl'sag'tAe Puciic coast, that equihbri-
nm for wiiicH the Constitution prortded
hetd been disarrnngcd to the injury of the
SoHth Shall wc, said lie, 'resfore them
Their Just rights IRE do, the Union
cs'n be preserved: if acc refuse, 1t is at an
end. I"
Since Mr.. Pugh has been SO emphati-
cally repudiated by the people of Ohio,
we don't suppose any one would Cor Il
moment question his undoubteJ right to
nlalign and misrepresent bis immediate
constituents, aud put thea in the wrong
by the most bare -fae~d perversions of
the Constitution, Involving Justification
of our whole Constitutional history
These things are to be anticipated from
the resentment of circumyented and dis
appointed demagogues. Hence the above
extract from Mr.. Pugh's late speech
ought not to cause any Ole the least de-
gree of surprise.
but we wish our readers carefully to
examine the paragraph above, as it dis
tinctly shadows forth the policy which
the disunionists Of the Slave States are
endeayorinG to force upon the people of
the North, with such political engineers
as may be made of politicians of the
caliher of George Z. Pugh, You will
first observe, that all the fault for the
prescntunfortunate state Of public affairs
IS distinctly charged upon the people Of
the non -slaveholding States: secondly,
that it consists in destroying the <'equi-
librium between the two sections, for
which. he says, the ''Constitution pro-
Sided." and thirdly, that unless this
equilibrium is restored-that is, unless
We make and bring into the Union
enough Slave States to make them equal
IN number Wdh the Free Statcs--Mr
Pugh, and those with whom he acts,
stand pledged to declare the ''UU1oS AT
AN END!' IF this incipient treason of
au Ohio Senator had not been most sig
nwly rebuked in advance, it would have
called loudly for popular condemnation
As it is, the mark is already set on his
forehead, that s.no one shall kill him. -
The foundation of the logic in the ex-
tract quoted, is in the assumption that
the Constitution provides for an equal
number Of Free and Slave States. As
every man who ever read that instru-
ment knows that it contains nothing
from which, by the loosest possible CON
struction. such doctrine can be even
inferred, we suppose Mr.. PuSh would
travel into the wide domain of Constitu-
tional history to sustain dogma SO ut
terly without warrant in the Constitution
itself But here we rather think he
would meet with but little, if any better
success. The history Of the Constitu-
#tion is entirely consistent with all its
provisions; and: so far from sustaining
Mr. Pugh's pro slavery theory, it estab-
fishes, beyond doubt, directly the oppo-
site; that instead of there being forever
an equal number Of Free and Slave
States, the time would come when there
would be none but Free States, in all our
glorious Uuion. We have room for but
a few facts, out of a large mass, bearing
directly upon this point:
1st. At the instance, and under the
lead of Jefferson, in 1884, the Continen-
tai Congress declared, by vote of Sic
teen to seren, that slavery should be for
ever prohibited in all the Territories then
belonging, and which should ever there
after belong to the United States. But
even this large majority vote failed to
make this law in '64, and it was not
until three years afterward that it was
unanimously enacted that slavery should
not go into any of the Territories then
belonging to the United States.
I'd. In the Convention which framed
the Constitution, it was freely declared,
and withom dispute, that slavery would
soon cease to exist in any part Of our
country.
ROGER SHERMAN, of Conn, said
That the abolition of slavery seemed
to be going on in the United States, and
that the good sense Of the several States
would probably by degrees, COMPLETE
y"-Elliotts Debates, vol. 5; 457.
LUTHER MARTIN, of Nd, said:-"It
Slavery vas Inconsistent with the prin-
ciples of the revolution, and 'dishonora-
ble to the American character. Ibid.
OLIVER ELLSWORTH, of Conn, said
Slavery, in time, aeiW not be speck IN
our country. Provision is already made
in Connecticut for abolishing it. And
the abolition has already taken place in
Massachusetts,. Ibid This was Aug
2lst and 22d, 1887.
3D.. The Constitution was adopted by