The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1862-03-20
Bancroft on the bred Scott De-
CisiOta and The Slave Trade.


bancroft or the bred Scott De-
cisiOn and the Slave Trade.
Democrats who supported the "Dred Scott
! decision aud are now so fond Of Mr.. Lin.
coin WHO has put the thing nader his feet
who opposed his doctrine because he was
an abolitionist and now endorse his plan fol
the "abolishmentp of slavery. who are per
petually insinua.ing that Abolition and no,
Slavery is the cause Of the war, will do well
to listen to Mr.. George Bancroft, one of their
most distinguished orators, the great Ameri
can historian, and member of Mr.. Folks
Cabinet "a SIT III
In his grafton before the Common Copn
Gil and citizens of New York, on Washing.
toms Birth day, he says:
"If the opinions of Washington on slave.
ry and the slave trade had been steadily re-.
spected, the country would, have escaped all
the calamity Of the present civil war. The
famous Fairfax meeting ut which Washington
presided, on the 18th. Of July, 1t74, led
public opinion in declaring thai il Was '.hs
most earnest wish. Of. Amasica to see an entire
stop forever put to The wicked, cruel and un-
natural trade in slaves The traffic was
then. condrtnned % an immortality and q
crime. The sentiment was thoroughly Amer.
1 ican> AMI became the tradition-the living
Aith Of the people.
''The centuries clasp han.ls and repeat it
one to another Yesterday the sentiment
Of Jefferson, that the slave-tradc is pratt
cal warfare upon mankind, was reaffirmed
by carrying into effect the sentence ola high
tribunal ofjnstice and to save the lives and
protect the happiness of thousands, slave
trader was executed as pirate and an enemy
OF the human race"
= = =
eThe present Chief Justice has on one
memorable appeal accompanied bis decision
with an iinpassioned defamation, wherein
with profound immortality which no one has
as.yet fully laid bare, treating the people Of
the United States as shrew to be tanned
| by an open scorn of the facts ofhistory, with
dreary industry collecting, evidences OF
cases where justice May have snmbered or
weakness,been oppressed, compensating for
want of evidence by confidence Of assertion,
with a partially that would have disgraced
an advocate neglecting humane decisions OF
Colonial Courts and the enduring memorials
Of colonial statute books, in his party zeal to
prove that the Fathers of our Country held
the negro to have mo rights which the white
man was bound to respect he has not only
denied the rights of man and the liberties OF
mankind, but has not left foothold for the
liberty Of the white man to rest upon. That
| ill-starred disquisition of fancy, who. trust,
did not intend to hang out the flag of Disun.
ion, is the fountain-head of this rebellion ;
that offense to the conscious memory of the
millions convulsed our country with the ex-
element which swept over those of us who
vainly hoped to preserve strong and suffi-
cient though narrow isthmus that might
stand between the conflicting floods. No
nation can adopt that Judgment as its rule
and live the Judgment has in it no element
OF political vitality. will not say it is an
invocation of the, dead past there never was
q past that accepted such opinions. If we
want the opinions received IN the daysw
our Coh> ttution was framed, we will not
take them second hand from our Chief jus.
tice.; we will let the men of that day speak
for themselves. How will our Ainerican
magistrate sink when arraigned, as he will
be, before the tribunal Of humanity how
he is put in comparison with Washington
political teacher, the great Montesquieu, the
enlightened magistrate of France, in what
IRE esteemed the worst days Of her mon
srchy."
The following, also, from the death sen.
tcnce passed by the Judge on Gordon the
slave-trader, is not devoid Of interest when
read as practical comment on the bred
Scott decision.
"Do not attempt to hide from yourself the
enormity Of your crime think of the cruelty
and wickedness Of Selling nearly a thousand
fellow beings, who never did you harm, and
thrusting them between the decks of small
ship, beneath burning tropical sun, to die
of disease or sufocation, or be transported
to distant lands, and consigned, they and
their posterity, to . fate far moro cruel than
death. Think Of the suffering of the an.
happy beings whom you crowded on the
Eric, Of their helpless agony and terror as
you took them from their native land, and
especially think of those who persisted un
der the weight Of their miseries on the pas.
sage from the place Of your capture to Mon.
rova. Remember that you showed mercy
to none-carrying off as you did not only
those OF your own sex-but women and
helpless children. Do not flatter yourself
because they belonged to different race from
i yourself that your guilt Is therefore lessened
Rather fear that it is increased In the jus,
and generous heart the haable and thu
weak inspire compassion and call for pity
and forbearance and as you are soon to
pass into the presence Of that God of til.
black man as we'll as the white man, who 4.
no respeeter-c Of persons, do not indulge for {
moment the thought that He hears with in
difference the cry Of the humblest of Hi.
children" 80
Make a Note Of it.
The Republicans were the only party tina
did not at the last presidential election, vot'
for secessionist either for President or Vic
President.
4 The ''Union' party, whose platform wal
the Constitution, and whose organ was tn,
New York Express, supported forsPresiden
John Bell, srank Tennessee secessionist.
The Simon-Pure Pro-Slavery Democracy
supported for President John G. Brcckin
ridge, secessionist general, and for Vice
President doe Lane, whose preferences Ar
/ Co. he i 49, F,