Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1863-04-02
[ WHOLE NO. 334,


among my first wishes to see plan adopt
ed by which slavery in this country may
be abolished by Laws And Jefferson,
in his Summary View of the Rights of
British America" originally published in
August. 1774, said: The abolition of do
nestle slavery is the great object of desire
in the Colonies, where it was. unhappily
introduced in their infant state;'** = while
eight years later. in bis Notes on Virgin
ia,' he fell into that erroneous religious
belief which, according to the South Car
olina Declaration, renders hopeless all
remedy for the grievances Of the South
Adverting to possible con fict. in the fu-
turs, between slave and STAKEHOLDER, he
says: The Almighty has no attribute
which can take side with us in such a con-
test."tt
If this view OF revolutionary opinions
should happen to surprise yon, it will be
because you are less accurately informed
on the subject than the Vice President of
the insurrectionary States. Let Mr.. Ste-
phe ms have credit for the honesty with
which. In the address from which l have
already quoted, he made this confession:
1.-The prevailing ideas entertained by JEFF
ferson and most of the leading statesmen,
at the time of the formation of the old
Constitution, were. that the enslavement
of the African was in violation of the laws
of nature; that it was wrong in principle,
socially. morally. and politically" The
ultimate extinction" heresy, too, was
shared by these men, as Mr.. Stephens thus
reminds US: "Slavery was an evil they
knew not how to deal with; but the gener-
al opinion of the men of that day was,
that. somehow or other. in the order of
Providence, the institution would be evan
escent, and pass away."It
Reconstruct the Union without New
England. and no man who shares these
revolutionary scntiments-no man who be-
lievcs as Washington and Jefferson believed
can ever reach the Presidential chair, or
ever receive from the occupant OF that
chair, any Office, at home or abroad, civil
or military, of any importance whatever.
The vast patronage of the Government
the tens of millions annually in its gift
would become a gigantic bribe Its de-
moraiizing influence in calling forth pro-
fessions of money getting creed, would
be immense.
But well would it be if this wholesale
premium on hypocrisy were the only evil,
or the worst evil, which South-controll-
ed Congress would bring upon us. What
laws would such Congress pass?
The characteristic political doctrine uni
versally asserted throughout the South is
this: 1.-The Constitution provides that the
citizens of each State shall be entitled to
all the privileges and immunities of citi-
zens in the several States Therefore all
citizens are entitled wherever they may re-
side. to equal rights of property. Neither
the Federal Government nor q State has
a right to discriminate between different
kinds of property legally held. 1t is un-
constitutional to declare by law that any
legally held property is property in one
portion of the country. and is not property
in another. 1t is equally unconstitutional
for the Federal Government, or for any
State, to pass laws which shall prohibit the
transfer of any legally held property from
one portion of the Union to another; or to
enact that any one species of property le-
gally used in any one State or Territory
may not be used in another.
but slaves are property: as absolutely
and legally articles of merchandise Though
different in kind) as horses, or cattle, or
foeks of sheep. property righteously as
well as legally held; property the holding
of which is based on great ply phi
nd III
toned by religion.
Therefore, wherever one citizen may
lawfully take or use his cattle and horses
and focks of sheep. another citizen may
lawfully take and use his slaves To pro-
hibit him from doing so is moral wrong,
as well as an unconstitutional sct."SS
That is the openly -avowed doctrine and
demand Of the South. Individual excep-
tions to such opinions there are, Of course,
in the slave States. just as, in the free
States, men are found who believe that
slavery is enjoined by morality and sane
toned by religion. But the official decla-
rations of the South prove. and no honest
stakeholder will deny, that l have here
fairly and candialy stated the leading arti-
Gle, never to be relinquished, Of their po-
litical creed.
Upon this doctrine was based that claim
Of the South to equal rights of settlement
in the Territories, the expected denial of
which was one of the chief incentives to
this war. Bot it is evident that if this doc
trine be tenable at all, it applies as Justly
to o State as to Territory. Ar Indian
ian may buy Kentucky farm and settle
thereon with all his movable property
Shall Kentuckivn be forbidden to settle,
in like manner, on farm in Indiana, un-
less he shall first sell the most valuable
movesble property he possesses? Is.
1t is not more certain that the earth
will continue to revolve around the sun,
than that the Sonth, while slavsholding,
will persevere, whenever and wherever she
obtains the political ascendency, in assert
ing and enforing by law what she re-
CARDS as her political rights in this matter.
Choose. then, farmers of Indianal citi-
zens of the Northwest! Strike off twenty
nine votes from the Northern majority of
the House. Abandon by the cession Of
twelve votes more, your present majority
in the Senate. Consent to the dismem-
berment Of your country. Relinqnish for
ever to the South the balance of legislative
power. Do this, il you will. But bear
in mind. that on the day you assent to the
scandalous compact, you will have virtual
ly repealed that noble ORDINAScE to which
IL