Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1876-10-04

i being thus balkcd In their views of Ii
main chances, were fain to be satisfie
r in another way they ordered the eli
b TO be whipped she was lashcd accorc
: ingly, in company with several othc
y Quaker ladies, and then committed
: prison, to be further proceeded will
History loses sight Of her there. N
, record shows whether they killed he
[ or not.
, This is one case out Of n great many
1t is very interesting and instructiv
: when taken in connection with you
, speech for it shows the "germ Of tn
, idea" which your party acted on whe
it kidnapped and imprisoned men an
women by the thousands for believing
in American liberty as guaranteed b,
tho Constitution. Tho Quakers an,
Baptists had no printed organs in tba
day through which their private judg
ment could be expressed else you woul,
no doubt have cases directly in poin
to justify your forcible suppression o
two hundred and fifty newspapers.
Enmity TO the right of private judg
ment comes down to the party o
Plymouth ideas by consistent and rcgu
lar succession. 1t is woven like
dirty stripe into the whole warp anc
woof Of their history. As soon as they
got possession of the Federal Govern
mont under John Adams they begar
to use it as an engine for the suppress
sion of free thought. Their alien law
gave the President power to Danish o,
imprison without trial any foreigner
whose opinions might be obnoxious to
his supporters. Their sedition law put
every Democratic speaker and writer
under the heel of the administration
Their standing army was used, as il
now is, to crush out their political op.
ponents. If you come into eastern
Pennsylvania, and particularly into the
good county of Berks, you will learn
that the people there still think with
Indignation of that old reign of terror
when Federal dragons kidnapped, in
suited and beat their fathers, chopped
down their "liberty powers" broke to
pieces the press of the Reading Eagle,
and whipped its editor in the market
house. The same spirit broke out
again in the burning Of nunneries and
churches under Maria Monk, and under
Jno. Brown the whole country swarmed
with spies and kidnappcrs. When you
abandoned the harlot and rallied to the
thief, you changed your leader without
changing your principles.
The slave code planted in Massachu.
sctts was the earliest in America and
the most cruel in all its provisions. 1t
was pertinaciously adhered to for gen
erations, and never repentcd Of, or
formally repealed. 1t was gradually
abandoned, not because it was wrong,
but solely because it was found, after
long experiment, to be Improbable.
Their plan of keeping twenty negroes
as eheaply as one white servant did not
work well for in that climate negro
thus used would infallibly die before
his labor paid what il cost They sold
their stock whenever they could, but
emancipation was forbidden by law,
unless the owner gave security to
maintain the slave and prevent him
from becoming public charge. To
evade this law those who had old or
infrm negroes encouraged them to
bring suits for their freedom, and then
by sham dcmurrers, or other collusive
arrangements, got Judgments against
themselves that the negroes were free,
and always had been. Females likely
to increase the stock were advertised
to be sold, "for that fault alone"
Young ones, because they were not
worth raising, were given away like
puppies Of q superabundant litter. In
this way domestic slavery by degrees
got loose in practice, simply because it
would not pay-but the principle on
which one man may own another whom
hosubdues by superior strength or cum
Mig, was never abandoned, rcpudiatcd
ordenied. That principle was cherish
ed, preserved and transmitted to you,
their initiative and loving disciples,
and you have applied it wherever you
conld as tyrannically as they did.
You say that "war without an idea
is simply brutality" Isubmit to your
as a Christian man, whether
80. =. .,.lno,.ol nf .ta L,,.oi,,.. H.,