Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1863-05-21

Oatb-bound societies, nor the pubic aqua
tion contri7ed by intrigue, in Congress, IN
State Legislatures and election ~canvassesi
to engender partizan fury, prepared the
countrv 10 expect and meet the shock II
has received. The progress of the Govern
ment had been SO easy, prosperous n glo-
rious; it had attained such high rank win
States Of greatest strength and renoWn
that scarcely my sound mind supposed II
possible that an assassin attempt would De
made to close its career by q sudden blow,
as If its life were as frsil as that OF an IN
diyidusI. There is no parallel in the MS
torv of the world Of a similar assault on
a vast beni6cenL, beloved popular Govern
menL without even an alleged act oil oP-
p~ression on its part to provoke 1T ana
whilst it was actually administered anu
its advantages enjoyed by the very men
Who aimed the stroke for its destruction.
But whilst prosperity made US insensi-
BILE 10 the danger, the wise and patrlotle
men who founded the Government, saw IN
slavery a mine by which phrenzy and SELL
ish ambition might lay their work in rum.
The slavery of one race they felt was not
~compatible with the freedom of another
They hoped the superior race, influenced
by the benign tendencies of the GoVer1,
ment they managed and enjoyed Wouiu
ultimately extend the blessing Oh ioerty
TO q dependent people and etfectuany re.
move their disabilities on q new scene Oh
useful and independent exertlon- Ihese
considerations induced the sages on iouho-
ing the Republic not to disturb that pol
soDous element which they believed the
Viyor of the Constitution would Work out
of the svstem in time. They lived to see
their fond hopes proved decisions. Inc
~noxious plant Of barbsrous African growth,
taking root in the a-ccumulations OF ava
rice. worked by the energy of q great race
ont stript all the sweet shoots OF huma1i-
ring culture given TO our constitution Dy
the benevolent philosophy Of our forearm
ers. In plain truth, Slavery has Propaga,
ted in its region in prodigious strength all
that is evil in the nature Of our country
man. and stihed all the virtues IN whleI
onr glorious Government had its origin
How strikingly this is demonstrated by
the fact that whilst there was not a maj
E in the South, who contributed to estaollsI
? the free institutions among us, who dld no
jenounce Slavery as a curse from Whlci
the country must somehow be redeemed
= now there is not one of that Slave breed
l inc and governing class who does not pro
claim it as the all essential blessing TO
which life itself must be sacrificed.
The process by which this melsnchol
( change has been accomplished is illustra
tex by the drunkard's career. This un
4 bappy class Of reprobates once felt tna
= dece1cy, sobriety, industry and puTlt
n were the true sources of happiness. BI
e long Indulgence in intoxicating draugh'
ia renders existence q burden unless stint
lated into e~xtravagant feeling wild hlla,
itv or sensual Incidence then become the,
70 onlv good. Negro Slavery is that blac
le oni1m drug in the South which excites
into delia;ous phrenzy or sinks it into tn
sad lethargy, both alike fatal to its pro
% perity. It pampers every vice and II
pairs every virtue.
d And can a State prosper under a syste
1 working such decentralization Tit pi
ture now presented in the land Of SlaV
ut tells the same story which is to be foul
in in the annals Of every Slave empire. a
e. Asia has been corrupted by Slavery A
be RIGA, its birth place, has ever been a de
be ert. The glorious ancient republics pc
i'd ished under its influence, after reachll
of the highest point of civilization by t
tie hardy virtues Of a free people, and mode
re Europe only redeemed herself from
re common fate by the extinction of the fe
We DIAL system that originated serfdom.
~ Reverence for the hopeful idea Of o
he fathers that the inherent virtue Of the Cc
stitutian wnulde xtinenish Slavery mduf
ed destructive, to acquiesce in q passive
lc- ~sistance to its extension, although that
by sistence had proved unaasiling to its fl
:" encroachments West of the Mississippi
Ii was hoped that the passion for expa
ht- sion would be allsyed by the surrender
he Missouri and the acquisition of Tex
1r- and that the compromise line establish
he in 1920 and ~re-approyed in 1850 as
for northern boundary of slavery would
lg- respected. But having secured the Pre-
all dent, both branches of Congress and
to Supreme Court the Slave power resOly
ri TO break all compacts and strike for
ed, empire of the continent. Kansas v
Of taken by force and a Slave Governmt
was designed to be established by fral
uT and the Supreme Court affirmed a prin
lily pie in the bred Scott case which carried
ms all over our country. Slavery, the Coz
said, was q property which was held I
der the Constitution Of the United Stat
and for that reason could not be excluC
Is, from the Territories by their lawful g.
eminent. The reasoning applies to
ON States as we'll to the Territories, for
Constitution of the United States is equ
" paramount in both. Their fllibust
or pirates having failed in their atten
J. to seize Cuba and Central America, Il
~, proposed to take these countries openly
sd- the power of the Government. Such "
at the means adopted prior TO the war to ms
the Constitution of the United States W
=, that of the Confederacy nowis, an inst
I'LL ment to increase, diffuse and perpetu
lch Slavery and made it a continental insti
ion; but the Oligarchy saw by the election
Lincoln that the peaceful action Of
~ ballot box would reverse these wrongs a
Sc prevent future sggressions either to exte
ac- Slavery further South or to maintain it
let the regions subjected by the supre
ing Court. They were prepared for this c.
AZ tingency, and few to arms to assert tn
I'LL doctrine that Slavery was the best fOuI
alton for the Government, and have und
7 taken, like Mahomet, the propagation
their faith and institutions by the swo
Hence It was in vain that Mr.. Crit
denis appeasing resolutions were pas
IN vain LudL al dmouuUSAL " LAS W
for stitution declaring slavery to be irrevo
Die, bly, established unless abolished by
States within which it existed-no saC
fee, not even that Of the Constitution
give additional guarantees to slav'
where it existed could ave the coun
NJ from war, for by that means alone
was now evident could slavery be mi
the dominant principle in the new VOL
" 1t is that domination for which they
~contending. independence is sought oil
as a means of affecting that object. Oh
VI possessed by that means of the control
the Mississippi they think that the Nor
west would adopt the Confederate Com
tuition and sacrifice the freedom Of
III negroes to secure the freedom Of the N