Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1862-03-18

broken tettera and liberated b0ndmen, treason |
oVerthroWn, And country redeemed, regen- |
GRATED, and forever reuniled, and cries, no,
this ahal not BE-; fifteen States will combine |
against you. Slavery Is the civilizer; you |
shall neither denounce It as an 'infernal |
atrocity, nor overthrow II 70 save the Union.
I repeat the word which 80 moved the gem
tlemAn from his pFoPriety, that Chattel slavery
is an ''infernsl atrooity." / thank God that
l learned n lisp IL at my mothers knee. It
is logical sequence, sir, disguise 1t as you
may, from that golden rule which was among
the frat utterances Of all of us, "whstsOeyer
We would that men should do unto you, do
We even 90 unto them" And yet men are
dragged away from the land OF their nativity
under pretense Of civiliEing them, subjected
10 the horrors OF the middle passage, reduced
to the condition of chattels in q strange land,
where Il is msde q crime by statute to teach
them the grand stirring words o John Mil
ton, "Give me the liberty TO know, TO argue,
aud TO utter freely, according to conscience,
above all liberties" words worthy TO be
spoken by him who walked in his singing
robes immortal, without tasting death words
ct TO be told and interpreted to every man,
that be has q conscience, right to know bis
duty, and a right to do it. Milton, for teach
ing this and like lessons to men centuries
ago, has besn enrolled among the immortals.
Milton, for teaching it to-day in that vast
rebel district of confederate conspiratoTsi
would be doomed to the dungeon or the
scafEold by the code Of this 'fnternat atroc-
ity."
Mr.. Wadsworth-Do you say that is the
case in Kentucky
Mr.. Bingham say 1t is the case in cot
tondom, in the Dahomey of America. am
not speaking of Kentucky; l am speaking of
the slavery and slave code Of the cotton
States, which the gentleman says we must
keep in the Union with their slavery, or
/ Kentucky will not stay. When she throws
of her allegiance to the Union and joins this
rebel carnival of blood, I viii speak Of her
as she deserves to be spoken of. trust in
God that day will not come, when Kentucky,
rather than see the Constitution and Union
saved by the liberation of the slaves ofre5els,
will seek to destroy the Union to save slaV-
cry. Why, sir, the very fact that the gentle
man has intimRted such result ss possible
/ to flow from such 6 measure Of justice ought
TO teach the gentleman himself that a system
which could drive q Commonwealth to such
an act Of Wickedness is an 'infernal atroc-
/ ity." Kentucky to leave the Union or to
band with traitors against the Union if we
proclaim that system abolished in the eleven
rebel States which declares It a crime pun
ishable by Indictment and imprisonment to
teach living being the alphabet of his ma
tive tongue; TO teach him to know that be is
amsn, and not beast; to teach him 10 know
that his soul is bis own, and that he has a
right to enjoy the fruits of his own toll; to
teach him to know that there is even God
or hereafter -
Mr.. Wadsworth-Some white folks do NOT
seem to know that.
Mr.. Bingham-Perhaps 90 but does tha
gentlemen apply the remark to me2
Mr.. Wadsworth- do not apply it to you.
Mr.. BinRham-I am glad to know it, sir.
Yes, sir; you must expect fifteen slave States
to wage war upon the Union, if you inter-
fere with the rebels right to his slave, OF
with the rebels code that it shall be held
and punished q crime to whisper to his slave
there is God that takes notice even OF
the sparrow's fall, and hears the young ra.
ven when it cries for food, and sometimes
condescends 70 clothe with superhuman
power the good right arm of an outraged
man when he strikes for the liberty of him
self, his wife, and children. To-day, sir,
these rebels In arms, who have forfeited all
rights, save the right TO a gsllows, doom
four millions of men to chains and slavery
subject them TO sale in market like
theox; say to the father: " Your little child
that prattles its Hsplng words upon your
knee, is only our chattle, and will be sold
| -. - - ara
mother of your children shall be sold to an
other. The victims of this internal strocity
are the native-born children of this land
and yet are held by these rebels to wage
war upon you Their rights in their slaves
must not be touched, or you violate the
Constitution. stand by my words, and
denounce the system an internal strocity.
Your Constitution is no respector Of per.
sons; it forges no fetters for the guiltless; i
sanctions no unjust tyranny over the mind
or body of man. And yet, sir, by that Con-
stitution my friend who stands near me, in
the pride of his manhood, may be summon
ed to the battlefield that his country may
not die, that its free Constitution may live
the child Of bis house, the hope and pride o.
his life, may be required TO follow with IN,
equal steps, his fathers martial tread to the
same field Of honorable death; the house and
home which be leaves behind him shelter
and refuge for his wife and children, may bC
required to be given up in the hour Of the
nations peri; and Jet my friend is to be
Knocked with the ribsld Jest that the strociouE
institution Of slavery is more sacred than bis
life and the life of his son and the home Of
his wife and children. Such argument, come
whence it may, is simply Vulgarity-blss-
phemy against the divine beauty of life
The slave pen and the barracoon more sacred
than the free home and the hearthstone.-
Judge them, sir, by their traits. From the
households Of the free, from the hesrthstone
OF the free, that nursery Of all that is great
or beautiful, or good in human character,
come the mighty bOdy-guard of mankind,
the worlds elect, who have made the scat
told and the cross glorious, and have wrought
out and brought in, not without suffering
and martyrdom, that brilliant civilization in
which we liVs-the boast of our country and
the boast of the Christian world; while from
the slave pen and the barracoon of the slave
eF, has come that fell influence, the internal
sorcery, which has driven one half of this
Republic mad, and converted the people
thereof into armed traitors sgainst Govern
ernment that mas done them no wrong, but
has hitherto crowned their lives with bless
ings and benefits, the only return for which
is q treason with no parallel save that first
treason, the revolt Of the fallen angels against
the God who made them. Sir, there is not
even colorado excuse for these traitors
and their treason. There had been in no in
stance an injury or hurt threatened or done
to them or theirs BY the Government Of the
United States.
Now, sir, it Is the duty and right OF Inis
Government TO use whatever force is necesBa-
~ to crush out this treason and to crush out
everything that stands in the way of our
arms, TO use whatever just means viii tend
to strenRthen the GoEernment and WhateY-