The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-08-21

'..terd him as you hcouH your PdteraHt God.
Correct your error that sbtrery has any
constitutional gnnrnntee which may not be
released and 0ught nat to be ~rellnqulshed.
Whenever the public mind wills the aboll-
'tion of slavery. the uoy mtN open to erect
1T. Hcaa be, and MUST be, abolished and
you and I can. and MUST do IT..
This language was not to be mistaken. 1t
invited the Republicans, in States where
they had the control, to pass laws 10 favor OF
the slave-kidnappers, and "under-ground
R~allroadcrs; and it warned the South that
success for the Republicans meant the adop-
for the robbery of her property, and the
Seward. indeed, had already practlced
what he preached. As Governor OF New
York, he refused to deliver up a man who
had stolen a negro in Virginia; baslng his
refusal on the ground that slaves were not
property. And his advice as to the laws
was already put in effect in eleven OF the
Northern States. which by means OF Per
sonal Liberty bills" HuLeos Corpus and
Mandomus acts rendered the pursuit ofa
fugitive slave not only useless, but positively
p%erilOus. Several Southerners were Killed,
scores We're mobbed, and many were them
selves thrown into prison, on various pre-
texts, in defiance not only of the constitution
but of the decisions of the Supreme Court:
of the New York World replying to the uni
versal denunciation Estate Rights by the
enemies Of the Republic:-
From the beginning of the slavery aei-
tatiOn State rights were invoked at the
North to pr. tect the slave beyond the b r
ders of his masters State and to restrict the
extension Of slave labor Was 1T not under
the doctrine of State-rigbts that New York
struck the letters from every slave brought
by his master into nor territory We're
not State riyhts invoked against tue Fugi-
tive Slave law throughout the North upon
the ground that it was not the business of
any State. but only OF the Federal Govern
ment, to arrest and return to bondage the
fleeing bonman? Did not the FIR Soil
party Of Chase in O il, Of Hale IN New
Hampshire. Of Adams in Massachu e is,
have its birth in the assertion of State
rights? On what was the claim of a right
ritories and from States formed out of
those TER tories based but upon the doc
trine of State rights
In Wisconsin the State Courts boldly de-
fed the Federal Courts. A Federal officer,
with proper warrants, seized a runaway
slave on behalf of his owner. A mob res
cued the negro. The leader of the mob
was arrested, and the Supreme Court of
Wisconsin turned him loose, declaring the
L. S.. fugitive slave-law to be unconstitu-
tional. The United States Supreme Court
issued it's mandate to the Supreme Court Of
the State, but the latter treated the paper
with contempt. In Ohio, the Republicans
disowned and refused to re nominate their
chief justice, because he decided the fugitive
slave law to be constitutional.
r. H. O.
shaped that a SOutherner could not recover
lengthy process (the darkey in the meantime
flying to Canada, or being hidden by the
mob, while to hamper all legal proceedings
it was made impossible for any lawyer to APP
pear for a Southerner without risking the
Penitentiary for himself, as we'll as his client.
is 1t strange, Their, that the South gradually
grew weary of a Union which heaped all
manner of burdens upon her, without af-
fording her people simple protection for life
and property? And if their rights were
thus openly trampled upon under a friendly
administration of the National government.
what could be hoped from an avowedly hos
tile and aggressive one, whose very success
was owing to it's attitude of menacing hos
tility to her?
IN THE FIELD.
The Democrats finding their organization
crumbling in pieces by reason of.internal
dlssenslons, called their National Conver-
ton to meet at Charleston, April 23d,-hop-
ing that a common platform could be agreed |
upon, and the party united in it's support. |
Caleb Gushing, of Mess, was made chair
man, and 3O3 delegates, representing every
State, responded to the roll. An attempt to
re-adopt the platform of 1856, which had
lodged the issues involved in the Douglas
schism, developed the fact that little con
cesslon could be expected from either wing
OF the party. Several of the Gulf State del
eg~atlons-notably the Alabamians-had re-
celved definite instructions to withdraw from
the Convention unless some plain declara-
ton OF the position of the party in respect
to slavery in the territories should be OBJ
tanned. Viewed retrospectively, in connec-
ton with after cot nothing conld
have been more blind and foolish than this
clashmg OF extremes, upon simply abstract
questions, at a M when the guns of the
enemy were about to open fire. But there
is this To he said. neither faction droou,o1 eel