The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1862-07-17


guidance, and encouragement no,o.
An iusurrcction, rebellion, or a
revolution, is not in and of itselfa NOR
al good. It is only when founded on
sufficient causes, impelled by proper
motives, and saucided by good aims and
purposes, TINT resistance to establish
ed authority can be at all justified. So
thought the men of the Revolution, and
so in their act and deed Of separation
they have declared. prudence, indeed,
will dictate that government long es.
tablishcd should not be changed for
light and transient causes; x X
but when a long train Of abuses and
usurpations, pursuing invariably the
same Object, evinces design to reduce
a people "uuder absolute despotism, it
is their right, it is their duty, to throw
off such government, and to provide
new guards for their future security
In the calm, clear light Of History and
of Reason, how few Of the nnumerable
rebellions which have bathed the earth
with blood, can be justified The
American Revolution, however, has had,
and has, the world over, the almost
unanimous sanction Of the wise and
good. Originating in the causes in
which it did originate, prosecuted for
the purposes for which it was prosecu
ted, and eventunting in the glorious re-
suits in which it did eventuate-i
could not have been otherwise.
The men of the Reyolution-thost
who gave it shape and character, an(
direction - were eminently prudent
practical and conservative. No bod,
Of men who ever acted promineu
part in the affairs ola nation, were NOR,
so. They were not political empires
They we're not vain dreamers. The,
were not mere theorists. They did no
propose to themselves absolute perfec
tion in the government they sought t.
establish. They did not attempt tn
"eradication" Of every evil, and the "ab
olilion" of every wrong. They content
ed themselves with the reasonably posi-
Die and practicable. They never though
Of hazarling everything that was clear
~ attainaJ7e, in the effort to reach som
barely possible good. They never pro
posed to uproot and overturn the Who'll
fabric of society, in order to reach an'
extirpate some evil interviewer with ia
very structure They carefully studied
and thoroughly understood, the various
and sometimes conflicting, local inter
csts Of those for whom they acted; anc
as ol reformors and legislators should
do. and all wise and practical reformcr
and legislators do DO, they respect
ed even tho prGudices of thos
for whom they labored.
Many of them, no doubt, regarded i'm
prisonmcnt for debt as a great moral
social, and legal wrong, and "relic o
barbnrism." Bat they did not make
the subject hobby. They passed i
hy for the then present, and trustee
for the "eradication Of the evil, to tn,
silent workings out, in the future, o
the great truths and principles whicl
they advocated and established. Anc
we're they mistaken They we're not
Their great truths and principles hav'
done, in this regard, their "perlec
work" Nowhere throughout the LAM
can man be deprived of his liberty be
cause Of his misfortuues. Imprison
ment for debt is unknown amongst us.
So, too, of another subject upol
which, I trust, ii will not be deemed il
bad taste for me here to remark-S!ave
ry. That many of the fathers Of tn
Republic regarded slavery as a grea
moral, social, legal, and political evi
wo know. Their writings abundant
attest it. But they did not attempt it
abolition. On the contrary, while the
declared-and they meant just wha
they said-"that all men are create
equal" they, nevertheless, recognize
the legal existence of slavery; but the
recognized it just as they recognize
Imprisonment for debt, as legally righ
but morally wrong; and as in regard
Imprisonment for debt, so, too, in refer
ence to slavery, they trusted to the fl
ture operations of the principles of tn
Revolution, for its ultimate extinction
AND IN THIS WERE THEY MIsrAKES
At the time of the passage of III
Declaration of Independence, Slave
ry brooded over all the cont
nent, Look around you nowl A
empire has been redeemed from i
sway. Twenty millions Of free peopl
in the North have put it away frOl
them, aud forever. The silent, b.
constantly operating moral influences
the principles of the Revolution, hay
wrought out thisresult. But Slavery sti