The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-08-26


color among lis, fair hearing or trial, after be
ing kidnapped to be sent into the Southerl
States as slaves. But, as if to yield to thei
every wish, whether reasonable and lust o.
z not, for we really wished to avoid trouble.
resolution was introduced into Congress- Of
this nature. 20 a1o!y sI7eI =1s= us ail j
q WHEREAS, The Constitution of the Uni
TED States is the supreme law of the land. and
Its right and faithful observance the duty ot
all good and law-abiding citizens therefore
Resozved, That we deprecate the spirit Of
disobed;ence to that Constitution where er
manifested and that we earnestly recommend
the repeal OF all statutes including the Per-
sonal Liberty Bills, SO called, enacted bv State
legislatures, conflicting with and in violation
ots that sacred instrument, and the laws of
Congress made IN pursuance thereof''
That resolution was introduced in the spirit
of conciliation, and it was voted for by every
member of the House of Representatives !;
and IN accordance withit, State after State re-
yised thoseilaws which, 1 believe, were wise
in themselves. and could wrong no one but
they were repealed in order to get rid of all
pretext for complaint resi- i
| 4tH WHAT MORE COULD THEY ASK
And now what else was there to quarrel
about? These people of the Southern States
bad this peculiar property and naturally
enough wished to be protected in its posses
sion. We granted them every security q nd
immunity they asked, and now you, will in
| qure Why did they rebel against our COM
mon Government, and take up arms apainst
it?s They enjoyed all the blessings and hon.
ors it conferred, and they were innumerable
They had the Presidency of the Government
fifty out of seventy years, and they held three
fourths of all the Offices within the Gift of
that Government. Every law then upon the
statute book, received the sanction, more or
less of those Southern men. They have
general y had the controlling influence in the |
National Legislature. They have been better
politicians tkan you, on account of your ar.
tive employment in other life and hence
have controlled almost every thing their own
way. Then why did they rebel !? That
question propose to answer, and I think
shall do it to the entire satisfaction of nv
butternut friends, if there are any present.
'5' Here we are living in peace and prosperity,
In glorious country-a country superior be-
yond comparison to any known in the history
of the world. 1t has only been few wears
since our grandfathers secured the indepep-
dence of our nation, at which time we were
only three millions of people; but now we
have grown to thirty millions. They secured
little strip of land lying along the ocean
now, almost the whole continent is ours. and
until the rebellion peace and prosperity reign
ed throughout the land. We were, in fact.
marching on to untold magnifcenee and glo-
ry, the conception of which had never enter
ed the mind of men. Why, then, attempt to
break down the Government. Oh. if is an
outrage OF the darkest kind, and believe that
the men engaged in it have one of the worst
OF crimes to answer for. The rebellion of the
Devil himself was hardly worse than the at
tempt to break up this best of all human Gov
OBJECT OF THE REBELLION
l have shown you that the object of the re-
belllon was not to secure any, constitutional
rights, for these they possessed without mo-
lestatlon; nor any privileges granted by the
laws, for every thing they had asked had been
granted them. What, then, was the purpose
OF the rebels ? 1t was to alter our form of
government SO as to conform to the spirit of
their local institution of slavery. They were
not afraid but they coald enjoy all the rights
secured to them by the Constitution. They
wanted more They wanted to change and
modify the Constitution of the United States. |
so as to make slavery the cornerstone of the
only free republic in the world s-.t 3sg.7ag
z Sometimes our Democratic friends saw tbev
ire IN favor of the Constitution as it is Bbt
W no is 1T that has proposed to change the Con-
'titution of the United States Did ever
any Black Republican" propose to do it p
J" no. tell me- in the whole history of this
tovernment, has proposed to change the
constitution, since the adoption of the origi-
1al amendments, except for the interest of
slavery? No change has ever been proposed
~ any one for the interest of freemen. We
If the North have always been in favor of
he Constitution as it is. No Northern man
las ever proposed to change it, except such
'ne as Vallandigham, and he did it for the
'eneht of slavery. [Applause.] No, my
rlends, they were not satisfied with the pro- I
visions of the Constitution upon the subject
he trainers of that instrument were anti l
lavery men, such as Madison and Jefferson e
md the other wise fathers of the Republic-l 4
hey believed slavery to be wrong, and pro-
7lded only FORTS temporary existence in the I
Government, supposing that in ashort time it t
would be done away with voluntarily. 1 t
night read you testimony in abundance on D
his point but do not deem it necessary. 1t is t
amiliar to all who have read the history of IL
he country, and only propose to give you r
ut of testimony on the other side of the ques- II
ion, to prove the different views of those b
Who are attempting to establish the Confede- s.
acy. .5,...,-... .-s...,,-..--f Il
LAvERY THE CORNER STONE OF REPUBLIC. II
[ will read again from Alexander H Ste
'hens, who gives the reasons the South had
or seeding. | read from speech madeiin Z
darch, 1861, after Georgia had gone out of o
he Union in which he was comparing the I
ew Constitution of the Confederacy with the a
Id Constitution of the United States - 81 cl
Not to be tedious in recounting the nu- W
nerous changes for the better, allow me to p
efer to one other-though last, not least I
he new Constitution has put at rest forever Il
II the agtating questions relatingto our pc al