Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1862-12-06

had qnaIm on the subject But n single
instance, If there were no more, sufIices to
establish the radical inquity of The slave.
holding sysiem--its, antagouism to the
supremacy Of concence and the promptings
of duly-its tendency to impose shackles on
the soul Of the master as injurious if not as
! palpnble as those wherewith it mauacles
the limbs of the slave.
So in regard to the hideous traffic 10
young women, who are sold--often at high
prices-with express reference to their
| youth, comlness, and adoption to crafty
the purchasers lecherous appetites. No
one denies that women are so sold-oflen
at tender age, and after an education cal.
cuatpd 10 enhance their attractions aud
their market value. II would be easy to
colIale from the files OF New D leans Jour
mails above thousand instances in which
girls Of olive, aud even fair, complications
have been sold at prices ranging from
5 800 TO 2,500 when it wSs notorious
that, for any service that the purchaser
should not blush to ackuow edge, not one
Of them wOnld have brought 81 ,000
What use in bIazouing, by means of il.
Illustrative instances or apecdotes these ab.
horrent scenes Not, surely, TO prove or
i1sinustP that the yirlue of every female
slave is treated as merchandise, to be dis.
posed OF 10 the highest bidder for her mas
ter's profit. That would be very wide of
the truth. But q slave.auction-and eS.
peciaIIy a sale by auction of comeIy and
fair skinned young women, who are uotori.
ouSly to be thenceforlh at the mercy of any
libertne who may see fit to bid highest
affords clear and striking exempicato1
OF the aniquity of the iatoS which cousigu fe.
male Innocence without shadow of pro.
tection-nay, with all possible protection
withdrawn, and the shield of the law pass.
ed over 10 the side OF the destroyer-to the
mercy of whoever snail choUse to pay for
its possession.
Aud for this purpose the thousa nd in-
stances which are notorious, and the tens
Of thousands which have passed. unnoted,
are scarcely better than single one. A
law that gave the lambs uDreservedy to
the wolf would be now se justified 10y proofs
that wolves did not eat half the lambs that
were thus made over to their unrestraiued
mastication.
So Of The cases wherein fathers have
been Known 10 consign their own slave chill
dren By sale to lives of ignorance, drudg-
cry, and debasemeul-perhaps OF lewdneSs
and uiamy. Are they cited to prove
Saveholders inhuman or beyond other men
depraved? Not at all. In thousands of
instances, shareholders have been known to
treat their illicit offspring with oil the ten
derness compatible with their ignoble birth
to- viva fIapa Al. ~
and freedom But Slavery did not require
norssuggest this-quite the contrary 1t
regarded those children as mere chaitels,
to be driven to unrequited labor as beasts
or sold in the market as produce. Slav.
cry is responsible for their debasement auC
| their privation of all natural human rights
whatever mitigations of their lot may be
prompted by paternal love or shame are
due to Influences distinct from and autago.
mist to ''the peculiar institution"
Again a master sells his slave-thai
slaves own time at a stipulated rate of ten
10 twenty dollars per month, saying, "Al
you can earn above this shall be your own
and when You shall have earned aud paid
over to me $1,000, you shall be free"
The slave, thus stimulated by prospect
of freedom, works night and day, schemes
and saves, and pays over to his master
dollar after dollar until the last cent is paid.
Is he now legally free D.? Not at all. The
master may turn upon him that hour or
next day aud say, 81 have sold you for
| 81 200 to a negro trader, who will take y you
forthwith,o New Orleans and dispose OF
you 10 the highest bdIer," and the slave
has no redress He may take his contract
and his receipts for every cent required by
it 10 the ableSt lawyer, the most upright
Judge, in the land, and he will be told that
they a:e not legally worth Il straw-Lhat u
slave eau make no valid contract-lhat he
and all he possesses were and are his mas
ter's, and paying over money to that mas
is only, in the laws eye, one hanu paying
10 the other And this unutterable vii.
lany will be the laws, not the Shareholders
He, in The great majority Of cases, doubt
less stands by his agreement and gives the
deed of manumISsion whenever il has beeu
earned according 10 his contract, knowing
well that SlaVeholding law would uphold
aud protect hun in doing otherwise. Aud
II he should become insUlVeUt when he had
eceived pine.tenIbS, or ninety mine huDd
/ cd hS, OF even all of the stipulated sum,
having executed no deed of manumissiou
The law OF every slavehoding Stale would
hold the Selfransomed slave still chatIeI,
the property Of The masters creditors, anu
| liable 10 he sold for their benefit.
The ReU!elc cuveat is therefore futile.
That sluves are burned al the stake
as detected or suspected in urgents does
not prove shareholders necessarily inhumau;
il does tend 10 prove Slavery harsh and
cruel system. So of the hunting of fugi.
tiges with boodhOunds, aud Of Thousand
other revolving incidents of the central
crime All savewomen ARE not subjected
TO the brutal passions of the master race F;
but all are exposed to be by the law OF
Slavery, and 50 left utterly without legal
protection. All slaves are not precluded
from learning to read but slave-laWs do
heirl best to keep them ignorant Of letters,
aud, in great majority of cases, with en.
tire success. IL Is not the comparative hu.
manlty, the virtue Of shareholders, but SLA
| VERY-IhaL is The cOllacIion of laws Ms.