Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1862-05-16

/ Will myriad forms OF use and beauty.
Welcome, then, to the sunshine, if it
does trouble US with weeds. And so
with the principle of this decision.
The Constitution says that ''no per-
son shall be deprived Of life, LIBERTY
OR property, lrithout due process Of lac, :"
This was copied from the English law,
which had received definite construc-
ton, by long course of judicial deci-
sions. due process Of law" meant,
: indictment and trial iu open court, with
all its processes, for the compulsory at
tendance Of witnesses and the safe
guards of jury, 80, Yet, oae.sixth
part Of the population OF this country
have been enslaved in as direct and abb
solute violation Of this constitutional
provision as if the Legislature Of Ohio,
should, by joint resolution, vote every
Democrat in the State a slave. When
and where were the slaves made such
by due process of law?' Where is
the law that made enslavement the
punishment of crime? When and where
were the slaves indicted for such a
crime, and "by due process of law
-uoo ',lnos usdo u! Ami 40 ps!I9
victcd and sentenced according to
law, to the condition of slavery? No
where! The whole system is simply
and purely the otfspring'of brute force
"a violation Of the Constitution as we'll
as of all natural rights. And because
it is so, it has so bcsotted and brutal
lied the minds of its supporters, tsat
they have raised in open treason be-
cause they cannot make virtual slaves
Of the people of the Free States.
Apply the principle of Mr.. Pugh's
argument, and Judge Swayne's decision,
and the whole attrocious system falls at
once. Aud so it will fall, inevitably, if
| it should survive the present struggle.
There is not slave in America to-day,
that was not kidnapped, or that is held
by any better title than kidnapper can
give. We know it is common to say
shat they we're born slaves. Born slaresS
How is that? How can any one be
born slave? You kidnap woman,
or buy her from the thief who did, and by
brute :orce compel her to work for you
for nothing. Others join you in the
same diabolical business, and you con-
spire together to aid and assist each
other in keeping your victims. You
place this conspiracy in the form of
laws, in which you pledge yourselves to
aid each other, even to the murder of
your victims, if they should attempt to
escape. This is the slave-code wherever
slavery exists. And what right does it
give you to your victims? You first
steal them, and then, by force, hold them
and that is the whole of it.
But, aftera while, this woman whom
you stole has child. Did your stealing
the mother give you right to steal the
child? If not, then, you have no right
to it. If You, and your fellow -kidnap
pers, let the child alone, it will not he a
slave. But: whenever you touch it for
the purpose of using it as slave, you
kidnap it, just as much as if you went
to Africa or into any neighbor house
and took child By force for the same pur-
pose. Is that child "deprivel' of its
liberty by due process of law? But
when the Constitution is enforced, as,
thank God, this decision is demonstra-
tion that it will be, such process Of
having people born slaves, will meet its
! righteous retribution.
Again We hail this decision as the
settlement Of principle that will work
to the regeneration Of our now slavery
cursed country.