Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1880-09-29
CLEARFIELD Pa, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 49, $780,

all slavery rests, ana the excuse fOf
all forms of tyranny. 1t has no sup.
port in any sound rule OF public law
and has never been acknowledged by
wise or virtuous governments to any
age since the advent of Christ. You
can find no authority for it, except in
the examples of men whose names arc
given over to universal execration.
Mahomet asserted it when he forced
his religion upon the subjugated East,
when churches were violently con-
verted INTO mosques, and the emblem
of Christianity was trampled under
foot, TO be replaced by the badge OF
the impostor. On the same principle
Poland was partitioned, and Ireland
plundered q dozen times. The King
Of Dahomey, acted upon on it when he
sold his captives, and the men Of Mas
sachusetts indorsed il when they took
them in exchange for captives Of their
own. You and your conferees adopted
it as part ofyour political creed when,
after the Southern people were thor
oughly subdued, you denied them all
rights of freemen, tore up their society,
abrogatcd all laws which could protect
them in person or property, broke
their local governments in pieces, and
put them under the domination of
notorious thieves, whom you forced
them to accept as their absolute
masters.
These results of the war are no
doubt very precious. The right to
traffic in the flesh Of Indians and
negroes was precious TO the Yankees
and the King of Dahomcy. That
was the fruit of their wars. But was
it in either case legitimate 2 Your
great reverence for the founders of
your politica! school in Massachusetts,,
to say nothing of your respect for the
authority Of the African princess, or
your faith in the Koran, will probably
impel you to stand up in favor of the
"ideas which you have learned from
them. But think can maintain the
Christian laws of liberty in opposition
to all your Mussulman notions; for
God is great, and Mahomct is not His
prophet.
1t would be very unjust to deny that
great many men, from the earliest
period of our history, were sincerely
opposed to African slavery, from
motives of religion, benevolence and
humanity. This sentiment was strong
in the South as well as the North I;
and by. none was it expressed with
more fervor than bysJ eflerson himself,
the great apostle Of Democracy. But
this concession can hardly be made to
the political aboltionists. As an al
most universal rule, the leaders of that
sect were ribald infdels, and their
conventicles teemed with the most
shocking blasphcmy. They were by
their own avowals, the most cruel
barbarians Of any age. Servile insur-
rection and a general butchery of the
Southern people was a part of their
programme from the beginning. The
leaders to whom they gave their high
est admiration were the men whose
feet were the swiftest in running to
shed innocent blood. Seward won
their affections in early manhood by
proposing measures from which civil
war would be sure to come, and in
which he promised that negroes should
be melted TO rise in blaokest insur-
rection." They applaudcd John Brown
to the echo for q series of the basost
murders on record, They did not con-
ceal their hostility to the Federal and
State governments, nor deny their en-
nifty to all laws which protected the
liberties Of white men. The Constitu.
ton stood in their way, and they cured
it bitterly; the Bible was quoted
against them, and they reviled God
Almighty himself. | know that the
mind of man, like his body, is fearfully
and wonderfully made; / understand
all the difficulty of aralyzing human
passions, and | admit that we should
not judge harshly of motives; but how
these heartlcss oppressors of their own
race could have any care for the free
dom of the negro passes my comprehen-
sion. Unless you can explain it other.
wise, the judgment Of history must
inevitably be against the sincerity of
their anti slavery professions. In the
present aspect Of the case, it seems i'm
possible to believe that love Of the ne
gro was not assumed as mere excuse
for enslaving the white race, just as
their ancestors put en- the pretense OF
piety to crafty their appetite for the
property and blood of better people
than themselves. You must positively
reconsider this subject before you un-
dertake again to present the Aboli-
tionists TO the world in the respectable
character of fanatics. | think you
will find that the crew of the May
flower brought over and planted no
" germ of an idea which has flourish.
cd with more vigor than their canting
hypocrisy.
Here let me say again, that the
vices and wickedness Of the Plymouth
colonists are not TO be visited on the
heads of their children, according to
the flesh. Among them, in every part
of the country, are great statesmen,
brave soldiers, true servants of the
church, and virtuous, patriotic Demo.
Gratis, who are more responsible for the
crimes of their ancestors than peace
able Scotchman is for the raids and
robberies which in past generations
were committed by his clan upon the
English border. But you acknowledge
that you get your political ideas from
them--you boast that your party have
no doctrines of public law and no no.
tons of public duty which were not
planted at Plymouth. Therefore, it is
not only proper, but necessary, to show
what these ideas and doctrines were.
now pass TO later period, You
say that there were two radically diff.
ierent theories about the nature Of our
government; "rhe North believing
and holding that we were a nation, the
South insisting that we were only a
confederation OF sovereign States. II
is not true that any such theoretical
conflict ever existed between the sec
tions. That the Articles of Confedera.
tion first, and the Constitution after.
ward united the States together for
certain purposes therein enumerated,
and thus made us nation among ma
tions was never denied that know OF
by any party. But this national
character was given 10 the General
Government by sovereign States who
confederated together for that tpurpose.
They bestowed certain powers Oh the
new political corporation then created,
and called il the United States Of
America, and they expressly reserved
IN thcmsolvca all aovpreipn riphte NOT