The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-07-01

hoes his corn, is just as effeciv ga man if he
were in the army, and more so for although
he fights we'll in our army, l doubt whether
he would in theirs. | 0 you say we shall not
take him, and lead him to fight his own mas
ter and oppressor? Do you want any more
of our own race to be slaughtered than we can
avoid?y .f...za -,s--...'-...sf r.,t,..-si, i,-f.
Do you want them to cripple us all the more
i BY reason of their employment? ? If you say
1 SO, you are opposed to the progress of the
war at, all, andthere is very. little hope for
4 your redemption. 4 Cheers.] This you call
abolitionizing the war; Your orators are
talking about this good deal in various sec
tons of the country, and claim that it is un-
constitutional to interfere with slavery in the
Southern States. Ishould like to know what
those chaps down there have had to do with
the Constitution since they fired on Sumter
Years age, long before they had formed a
Constitution Of their own, if you had gone
down there and said you were there to protect
them by the Constitution, they would have
said you were crazy, and put you in the dun
geon. would like to know what constitu-
tional rights they have They have the
constitutional right to be whipped, if we can
do 1t, and thipkiwe can a voice: "That's
fact" But don't choose to go into dis
cusson of the question whether the Constitu-
|
slavery. The word /" slave' is not in the
Constitution, 1t is true that it says something
about fugitiyes from labor, and that is all the
right III regard to slavery they ever had in
constitution. All other rights of slavery
Fthey obtain under their own State CoilstitII-
Etiops. as k-a !al7es,;-s1 saaa laL II g-G
But in regard to the whole question of sla-
very, in conn ection with the war, say to
you, my friends, that you may set your minds
| perfectly at rest on the subject. | make the
I prediction here to-day, and am not the first
man who made-it, for l but repeat what 9TH
ers have said, that in so fir as the political
character Of SLAVERY is concerned, it persisted
NTH the sound Of the first gun at Charleston
tGreat applause. Itis utterly and totally
dead, and can never be revived. For this, if
for no other reason, the Northern people can
never admit the institution into the nation
again, even upon an adjustment of the pres
ent difficulties, which could hereafter at any
moment plung them into another civil war;
| [Applause.] You never will settle this con-
test, whether ly arms or diplomacy, without
remoyin ing the cause that produced it. If You
should, you would not be worthy of the free
institutions bequeathed to you by your faith
ers. tGreat applause. Snyou may dismiss
all this, matter of policy; it is an old song,
sung several times too often.
9l But you have another objection to this war
aud that is the matter of arbitrary arrests as
they are called-the arrest of certain men who
have not been content with thinking treason,
but have been talking it rather loud. There
have been about half dozen men taken
down to Fort Lafayette-perhaps there is one
down in Dixie now, Laughter You say
that these men have been taken without war
rant in the Constitution. Some legal mouser
has sat down and conned 1t all over, aud not
found any thing to justify it.
r. He has found that the trainers of the Con-
stitution never expected any such state of
things, and therefore nothing was put into it
to meet these circumstances. Treason, it
says, shall consist of an overt act and talking
is not an overt act. But we must not forget
the fundamental principle of all Governments
on earth which places a, large discretionary
power in the hands of the rulers of the nation
for cases of this kind. The old legal maxim
is that the laws are silent in the presence OF
arms. You have very little cause to COM
i plain here. If you had been down South, l
think you would have had much more =
There. is no doubt of the power of the Gov
ernment to, protect itself, under any circum-
1 stances. If you saw an incendiary apply the
torch to your house, would you wait until he
was. caught and convicted, or would you take
a club and knock him down !? What the in
i dividual may do, Government may do. 1t
may say to its citizens, you are preventing
the enlistment of soldiers in the army; you
are sowing dissensions among the people
you affording aid and comfort to the enc
my therefore we propose to put you in some
place where you can talk to yourself for a
time" If this power is not inherent in the
Government, it is not worth rope of sand
Ak |.
exercise it, is not worthy of his place as a rua
Ter. [Applause.] g.aa 81 s 7aj 30 ss--
Suppose we admit that the Constitution
has been strained little it is not strained
any further than old jackson strained it, down
in New Orleans, when he arrested Judge
Hall; and how we gloried over that act !; how
we cheered, and what bonfres we burned,
when tardy Government paid back the un-
just fine which the old hero had paid
[Cheers. Now, my Democratic friends do
not take that all back Lean not do it; upon
my word, l can not. Voices, "No, no; you
are right."1 Let US either say this Govern
ment is all right, in taking away these ele-
ments of dscord from among us, or let us dc
the other thing-postpone the discussion oil
the question till by aud BY Is this time to
be fighting the Government, when it is fight
ing the hosts of the rebellion Is this an
appropriate work in the day of our trial p
Would you tear down the temple because
some unbeliever comes among the faithful
Would you destroy the enlightened institu-
tons of Christianity, because some hypocrite
may do deeds of darkness and crime p
+ Would you abolish all the institutions Of
learning III the land, because abuses have crept
2 in? Are you goidg to stop the progress oil
this war, because some Internal copperhead
has been unnlasked and put in dungeon p
fApplause, and cries of No, no.''] If you
would, you are not the people 1 take you to
be. Then, if you do not like to indorse the
policy of the Administration, you ought to
say, "We will let this question alone for the
present and if there is any thing wrong that
can be remedied by a change, we will not call
these men back but put Others of greater trust
in their places.'' We can not afford to quar-
rel among ourselves at this time. 1t is neither
good sense nor good Judgment, to say nothing
of sound patriotism. Have we served Sc
long in the party ranks that we are bound to
4 oppose the Government, if administered by
our political, opponents; or because one oi
i our party has been sent off to rest in prison
j. for having abused the use of his tongue ; OF
that we must needs follow the party banner
if borne by some foolish fellow, no matter
whether he runs over plain or precipice P
Ir will be very foolish to do it. What will
you accomplish by it Do you hear how
they are m, ION theother side of the line p
Do you know. how the Richmond papers
chick1e over this thing-not that it will bring
peace or compromise but they say "The
fellows are divided among themselves, anG
we will whip them by and by.'' That is the
result of the factious and traitorous course or
this side of the line, Hear the conspirators
awe will whip them byand by, and re-pos,
sess ourselves of the Mississippi, when, we
will re-organize a new aGonfederacy and take