Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1862-04-15
EmLNoIPATIoN IN m pIsTRTUT.

Mr. RIDDLE. Mr. Chairman, q great
truth is Weakened By what men call eluclda.
ton. Illustration obscure3 Ii logic and ar
eument compromise Il; and demonstration
bringa it % doubt. he who permits himself
70 be put on It's defensive, Is weak man or
q coward.
A great truth Is never so strong as when
left 70 stand on is simple assertion. The
thing right forever remains right, under all
possible circumstances and conditions; in all
times, places, and seasons. Nor can 1t be
changed at all. Not all power, nor the COM
binAtion ef all power, no matter bow en-
plsyed or applied, can change It Ia the least.
L matters not Rtall how meR call it--though
the unanimous world eonspire 70 call 1t Ill
and tag Il ont With ell vile epithetE though
oil obscene moths make Il common, and
leWd tongues toss L into sewers, and delicate
and refined care may not hear tit is nOWise
changed. No matter what IN happens to 1T
though cast out, exiled, banished, and out
laWed, marked and forever banned, made
loprouS with oontumely and reproach; though
prison tried, condemned, and executed and
lie body, like carbon, cast to vultures, itstill
lives, Is still right; holds its old place and
old scepter. Nor can any maR, By any pow
er, under any circumstances, for anything,
be absolved from the allegiance he owes 1t.
So, too, its great opposite, wrong, must
forever be wrong, and not right NO mat
ter. though taken from its native hill and
enthroned e crowned king; though uni
verse bow to It, and cry "all hail though
constitutions be written to sustain II; though
laws be enacted in its name, and ermined
iudVes wrench the maxims of "wisdOms gray
fstbers" for its support though jurors be
sworn BY IL and all magistrates bound to
enforce It's deoFeeE though its name be writ
ten Ia all holy places, ana graved on all
ohrines, and its maxims mingled in the rites
Of holy minisration, and its sanctihed hands
only can bless and curse, join and put ssun-
der; though Il reign till hOary prescription
Grows no and surrounds it with q wall OF
custom and habit and use, that existed 'time
whereof the memory Of man runneth not to
the contrary" still il iB wrong, and not
right. Its reign Is an usurpation, its laws an
OUTRAGE, against which rebellion is righteous
and the immunities and privileges which 1t
conisrs are the fruits Of robbery, murder,
and Favishment
No man can rightfully do wrong nor
can one man authorize another to do the
wrong; nor can ten, I've hundred, or five
hundred thousand men. No matter with
Whist fOFmality or sOlemnity the power Is
sought 10 be conferred, whether BY common
consent, or BY the legislative forms OF State
or nation, the power Of attorney Is invalid,
and the thing done pursuant TO its scope is
crime. A thousand years Of growth cannot
change wrong to right. The proposition
which am 70 consider asserts great truth,
broadly and clearly. will listen TO no ar
Qumsnt against It, nor viii detract tom
It's force By being put upon its defense.
This measure Is indeed worthy Of an Amer
ican Congress. Look through our huge
tumid volumes of statutes, and msrk on every
page our everlasting legislation for the ma
teFial interests Of property, and not sol-
tary enactment for truth, humanity, and JUS
Ice. Everything astute and shrewd and sa-
qacious, to foster, cherish, and build mp the
PRIVILEGES and interests OF those strong enough
In the absence of law 70 protest themselves;
and not q single section or clause to Lift the
crushing weigbt-of two hundred years oi
killing oppression from the weakest and
poorest elements Of humanity, our subjects
though. they are. Nay, that poverty and
weakness are the sole pretexts for the wrong
and oppression. We have now before "a q
bill that proposes directly to dethrone and an.
initiate huge, hoary wrong, and recall and
re-enthrone the banished right
Will me to argue, declsim, or inveigh
against this measure, Is the idlest waste Of
tie most useless breath that indolent trihing
can indulge in. turn to the great rules Of
right. and see that You have raEed out the
decalogue Of 0mnipotence, and have 1subed
and smeared over the eternal adsmsnt with
tie code Of slavery; and know that It is al
q huge lie, without semblance or seeming o.
truth.
It is idle to establish to me the inferiOrity
Of that sinless race-I see that they are men
useless, by curious physiological and ethno-
logical disqUisition, TO affirm difference be.
tween the African and Caucasian tribes-for
know that God created both. Il il, 10 me
blasphemy to attempt to show that the Ore
ator intended fhisracs for slaves, for the very
elements of our common nature, which is the
common basis upon which God planted the
races, gives that DONNA the lie. If J was to
base an estimate upon the pIsctica givings
out Of this House, on a recent memorable oc-
casion, / should suppose that these, my views
we're not those OF 3 majority of this body
So low ia the ranks Of humanity do these
bondmel stand, that they were deemed the
proper subjects Of taxation. The proprietary
interest Of the master in the slave predOmi-
mates over the human interests of man IN
himself; and had the selhshnes7 Of the mas
ters and their allies hsve permitted them to
unite with the large body Of gentlemen who
voted to tax slaves, the tax would have been
laid. Nay, 30 iHhumaIwere they practically
held, that they could not be the subjects Of 8
csuitation tax even. For as q capitation tax
the scheme was eoncedad to be uRconstitu-
honal. / do not stop here to combat that
law dogma that that is property which the
law Of the place makes property. only
assert that property is the only universal
basis Of taxation; aud where given subject
is assessed with tax, that that is a practical
recognition Of such subject as property. II
Is idie to seek q confusion Of ideas in con-
fusion Of words, and 30 escape; of what
avail to call this arelation, and then say you
license the relation In that form the prop
osition is Just as obnoxious to me; would
permit for no millions such q relation, nor
MQUAu AAAA1I AsAAA A9AANG AllAGJ nun
it for any purpose. / would as soon think oi
filing the exchequer with the gains Of pros.
titution.
As men, aeapitstion tax may be 90 laid ss
to fall on these persons. Every ether posi-
bic form reduces them to things, and in no
other way can they be taxed. i.t
Slavery is s hideous snaehronism, coming
70 us out Of the barbarism and old dead night
Of the past, with no good in it, bringing no
good with It, and allied to no good about it
growing day by day more hideOus and un-
seeuly; and must be consumed BY the light
and heat Of our Christian civilization.
It need not be urged as apalliation OF Of
BET, that the condition Of the slave is more
elevated than that Of his ancestors or breth.
rem In Africa That, if true, was neither in
tended or desired BY the MASTER. Il is in
onnosition to his Wiah, and in gpite of his