Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1862-01-10
slavery ana the Constitution

II is perhaps useless to vast argument on the
subject Of the emancipation scheme, which has
received temporary quietus, pending the gen.
eral excitement on the surrender of Mason and
Slidell. But in various directions we note the
gathering Of forces for the renewal of the effort,
and BY private Information from Washington
we learn that the President has no relief from
the long calls and the boring pertinacity of some
of the chief leaders in the mad plan.
That 1t is madness and nothing less would
appear to be evident to any impartial mind,
and yet there are some men who are to be con-
sidered sane and sound who allow their reason
to be misguided and their judgment pervert-
ed by the strong outcry against slavery as the
cause and support of the rebellion.
Slavery Ia not the cause of the revolt The
absurdity of the idea has been repeatedly shown.
There is no better way OF showing the weak
ness of the idea than by recalling the various
other causes which have been stat ed by the same
persons who are now loudly protesting that this
is the great and only cause. They certainly
ought to have known, before the rebellion be-
gan, that slavery was an active agent, tending
! to produce rebellion, II such were the case. Is
was in existence from Canada to the Gull when
the Constitution was originally adopted. 1t
was incorporated in the very funds mental law of
the laId, to be sustained by the armies and the
Navy so long as there was one man who own
ed slave and demanded the protection of his
country. 1t was intended, and il was provided,
that il o slave escaped from New York into
Connecticut or Massachusetts and the people of
Massachusetts refused to return him to bondage,
the udiciary of that State, or of the United
States, should initiate measures to return him :;
aud in the event of the sovereign people OF
those States, or either Of them, opposing the
operation of the law, it was intended that The
President of the United States should, with
the militia or with the standing army, bring
the insurrectiohary State to reason and duty
Let gentlemen reflect q moment on this
There is no line of that sacred instrument, the
Constitution of the United States, which was
not intended to be sustained, if necessary, with
the whole force of the nation. That force was
pledged. IL was pledged no more and no less
to one line than to another. 1t was pledged to
prevent Massachusetts from imposing q tariff
on New York goods, to prevent New York from
depressing citizens of Connecticut, to prevent
New Jersey from coming money, to prevent
Connecticut from harboriDg fugitive slaves from
New York. One duty was and is to day as 90
cred as the other, and Massachusetts, has no
more right to demand that South Carolina shall
remain in the Union, one OF the bonded States,
than South Carolina has to demand that Mas
rance the slave that escapes from her soil to
Boston. Will any one deny this2
Where, then, is the argument that slavery is
the cause of the rebellion? A cause is that
which produces the effect, and from which the
effect flows. The cause of gunpowder explo.
sion is not the explosive quality in the powder.
rnat might exist forever, and yet the black
dust remain harmless. The cause of the ex-
plosion is the touch of the match; more re
mote, or perhaps, more immediate and re-
sponsible cause, is the man who touches it.
Did the founders Of the Constitution, then,
insert in the bond Of union an element that
would cause, by its presence, breach Of the
bond2 They inserted power to coin money. II
Congress should coin lead and call an ounce
dollar, aud revolution should ensue, would
any one say that coinage was the cause OF the
rebellion7 II any portion of the population
should forcibly oppose the execution of any of
the powers conferred on Congress by the Consti.
tuition, shall the principle be adopted that the
founders OF the Republic caused the revolt by
inserting such powers in the instrument
Certainly it is plain enough that slavery per
Sc Is not q cause Ot rebellion. It is very plain
that If all the States had remained slave States,
no one would think OF charging slavery with a
rebellion in half Of them. And 80 long as slav-
cry remained a general institution, the idea
that it was cause OF rebellion would have
seemed absurd.
Nor did any one think of it as cause of the
present rebellion until the emancipationists
seized on the idea of usiDg the war to extermi-
nate 1t. Then the false charge was fixed on it
Previous to that, We were told that the true
cause was an ancient conspiracy, greed Of
power, the desire to restore aristocratic institu-
tons, the TACT that the Southern politicians
| f0un6 thnmanlVpa in a mi iiu IF tha
Gus States.
These and other reasons were assigned by the
very persons who now say that slavery is the
responsible cause, and must be removed! This
afterthought has become grand idea, and is
pressed on the nation with all the force and in
genuity which can be brought to bear. So loud
and active are the upholders of toe idea, that
men are actually in danger of forgetting the
simple truth, clear ss daylight, that if slavery
is the gunpoWder which has exploded and shat.
tered the country, the cause of the explosion is
the man or men who kindled the explosive ele-
ment' Slavery might exist peacefully a thous-
aud years in America, protected by the consti
tuition which was devised to protect it, had not
anti-slavery men made it the cause of quarrel.
Accord to these gentlemen, all sincerity, all pos.
sible desire to do good, all the philanthropy and
high moral sentiment which can be desired, the
| ~ueh 'SnA"iuS Vho nouaob tnhb IL blHVeFy mas IN
any manner contributed to the present rebellion,
it is not because the founders of the Republic
made Constitution to support It, but because
these philanthropic men opposed the institution
and designed Its overthrow. The utmost that
they can claim for themselves would be, that II
they are the angels who disturbed the waters
their disturbance, instead OF producing healing
has produced damning effects.
i What follows from this argument Precisely
this, that the opposition to slavery having beer
! the moving cause Of the nations disaster, tha
) opposition, continued at the present time viii
but increase Its effects and perpetuate tn,
, trouble.
Let US look calmly at the effects which ar,
anticipated. Suppose that q proclamation o
freedom were made, and were as effectual as i
promised, even to the suppression Of the rebel
lion by the terror it would create, or otherwise
All the slave States would Instantly assume the
control of slavery within their borders, and
treating the proclamation as unconatitutional
would restore the system in all respects as i
: now exists. That atrestoration would be claimed
I as legal. Men Of the North who think the pre