Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-05-25
BEDFORD. Pa. FRIDAY. MAY a5. 1866

the graves of their dead and had become,
with some worthy and glorious exceptions,
panderers and apologists Of the lust and vio-
fence Of the master, who, in return for their
services, were willing to feed them on the fat
of the land. Our Legislators, instead of fol-
lowing the Christian law requiring much
where much is given, aad proportioning ac-
countabiity to the gifts and talents Of ma
ture, had established the reverse enactnents,
Furnishing the ignorant and uneducated,
whom it was made a crime to enlighten,
with death for many offences, which, when
committed by the educated and privileged
were satisfied with fine OF imprisonment
Our courts of justice had proclaimed the
infamous doctrine that dusky men had no
rights which white men were bound to res
pect and into this very temple Of law a
pious woman had been dragged as a crimi-
nal for an act which might almost invite an
archangel to come down from the mansions
of the blest-for teaching the poor children
of oppression and of licensed wrong to read
the Bible, and the laws made not to govern
them bat to crush out Of them every feel
ing Of humanity.
And worst Of all and most to be deplor-
ed was the prostitution of our homes, the
very heart and seat OF domestic purity, the
poisoning of which is ltal to all moral vi.
tality and death to pub ic and private happi-
ness The subjection Of the women of one
complexion to the wild fury Of unbridled
lieentiousness, and as consequence deny
ing to the women of our own complexion
the holy rites of marriage, or making in
thousands of eases those rites as much a
mockery as conscious traitors oath, were
proclaimed on every plantation in the bleach
ed faces of the children of the slave women,
bleached by the blood of the first families,
until hardly half our births were of lawful
wedlock, and until it would seem that mas
culine virtue must be nearly extinct in the
proud circles of the chivalric aristocracy of
the State
Your duties, under these circumstances,
are both difficult and dangerous, for you are
called upon to oppose the worst passions Of
very desperate men, who will make vigorous
efforts to verify their often repeated predic-
tons that freedom would bring ruin and ex-
termination upon the colored people, and it
is possible that some of you may meet with
violence for faithful discharge of your du-.
ties, as one of the last Grand Jury has ala
ready DONE But better thousand times
better to fall by the hand Of the assassin,
as Lincoln and Dixon have fallen, or die un-
der the mockery of pretended forras of law,
as our Saviour did, in the cause of freedom
and humanity, than to shrink Ike towards
from our public trusts in order TO drag out
a few more years of ignoble life before filling
unhonored graves.
The laws of Congress which viii guide
your action are instinct with equity, and are
ample, if fearlessly administered to check
and humble the most defiant, differing es-
sentialy IN this respect from tho laws Of our
State Legislature, which, like those of an
ancient heather nation, seem like cob
webs made to catch the weak, but to permit
the strong to break through them Yours
is the rough pioneer work Of removing the.
great distractions Of crime and violence
from our midst so that education, intellect
ual, moral and religious, education very diff
ferent in kind and degree from the past,
may come to cure the evils under which we
suffer.
Where there is so much vice to be re-
claimed, ign orance to be enlightened and
misery to be alleviated, we may hope the
teacher and the missionary viii come, and
that a culture and refinement will yet be
seen approaching that which now blesses
Massachusetts and New England, and that
the time may be Fastening when our people
shall feel and act like brethren of the same
blood, children of the same Almighty Ben
efactor, who permits all alike to range the
same earth, breathe the same air, bask in
the same sunshine, and dwell under the
same celestial canopy, thus teaching our du-
ty and inviting our imitation.
When joining in efforts for mutual aid,
we shall forget the terrible past and the
gloomy present the bitter fruits of ages of
violence and oppression on our side, and of
misery, Ignorance and degradation on the
other. Since the adjournment of the last
Grand Jury, the attention of the court has
been particularly called to our disloyal press,
by the highest military authority in the
country, with a view to tie punishment of
its treason and excitement of rebellion.
While concurring entirely with the Lieu
tenant General and the distinguished soldier
and accomplished lawyer who commands
the department of Virginia, in the proprie
ty of abating by military power such papers,
during the supremacy Of martial law, and
recognizing the distinction between liberty
and licentiousness, alter mature reflection
we doubt the policy of suppressing by the
courts, papers reasonable as any even in
this State
Aside from an unwillingness to limit the
freedom of the press, it is submitted that
the cause of good government may gain
more by the exposure of reasonable designs
through the most disloyal press than it
would By punishment and suppression. By
restraint the disease would not be cured, but
would only become concealed and more dan
gerous by c0ncealment.
The vanity, egotism and heartlessness of
our disloyal editors can, with their limited
do little harm, except to them
selves and their friends. Their attacks upon
good men only display their own malignity,
and greatly endear those they assail to the
hearts and sympathies of the true friends of
freedom and the country. 1t is not intended
to urge these views, and they are submitted
with great difidenee since they seem to con-
fict with such eminent patriotism and high
Your attention is also called to the laws
against counterfeiting and passing the coun-
terfeit currency of the United States; and
also to violations of the revenue and postal
laws of the United States, with the hope
that you will be troubled with but few cases
under them, and after a short session be
permitted to return to your homes conscious
OF faithful discharge of your important
duties.
After the Judge concluded the charge, j.
foreman Of the jury arose, and
after making q few remarks explanatory Of
bis calling, as man of peace aud good
will to all men, he respectfully requested !
The judge to excuse him from serving upon
he jury, as he felt himself totally incompe
ent to handle the tools spoken Of in the
,harge. He did not know how to use
hem. The judge held the request under