Weston weekly leader. [volume] (Weston, Umatilla County, Or.) 1878-189?, 1885-09-11
Abolition sECEssasxIsTs.

It is . common practice siaee the
great success Of the federal arms in put
ting down the insurgent States, to look
npon the Lost Causs" "a having been
altcgsther in the wrong; but unless
there was great aud general proYocation
to revolt, ne such harmonious sctisn in
favor Of secession could have been taken
BY the Southern. States. It will not be
forgotten by those who participated in
the discussions Of the Thirty.sixth Con.
xress. which preceded and presaged the
war, that great attempts were then
made BY eminent statesmen to stay the
progress Of secession. Nor were these
attempts confined TO the Senate and the
House. ThsY were made in ''Pesps
Conventions" aud in sthsr bodies which
had great influence with business boards
and State Legislatures. Those who
thus acted m,lst have had hopeful rea.
son for their attempts to reconcile the
sections. The faults were not all on
one side. The greatest grievance Of the
South was not, perhaps, as openly e1-
pressed as it might have been The
moral sense of mankind did not sustain
the institution of slavery. The breaches
of the Constitution, IN respect to the
fugitive.slava law, had been frequent
and aggravating. That law had been
maintained hy decision of the Supreme
Court. Its violation was . pregnant
cause of complaint. On constitutional
grounds, that law should have been sus.
tanned. Th. action Of certain States Of
the North in eb.tructing its execution,
notably in Wisconsin and Ohio, was dc.
Tended in and cut of Congress on moral,
constitutional and legal grounds. Even
such eminent men as Salmon P. Chase,
then Governor of Ohio, when the IA.
NOUS Obsrlin case of Plumb. Peck, ct
al, was before the State Court upon
ths writ of habeas corpus, did pot hesi.
tate to affirm that personal liberty was
Of greater moment than the Qenstitu.
tion; that State rights were superior to
Federal DEGREES; and that no mandats
Of the Federal government should be
obeyed for the return Of human beings
to bondage.
It is we'll known that Mr.. Chase ad.
vised Mr.. Lincoln to let the seeding
States g. rather than resort to armed
coercion. Indeed, Mr.. Chase had
preached the State rights theory all his
life. in Justification Of State resistanc.
to the enforcement Of the fugitive.slave
law. From the case Of Jones We. Van
Zant in l842, ts the celebrated Obsrlir
fugltivs.slave rescue ceses, E1 part
Langston AID Ey parts Bushnell. il
1859, reported in the Ninth Ohis Stat.
Reports, the Ohio friends OF Chase die
not hesitate to express, in the most un
qualified manner. their determination t.
nullify any Federal law or act Of which
they did not approve, in connection
with the slavery question.
The cases Of Langston and Bushnell
were prosecuted on writ Of habeas cor
pus, by the State Attorney-G General, G.
P. WelcotL, under the direction of Gov
ernor Chase, for the release Of thos,
parties who had been convicted under
the Federal statute, and in Fedora
Court, tor violating the fugitive-slavt
lay. On that occasion Governor Chas.
openly declared that he would sustain
by force, if necessary, the decision o
the Supreme Court of Ohio against tn,
decision Of the Supreme Court of th'
United States, even if it should result
in collision between the State and tn,
General Government. Not at any tim,
in South Carolina, among the most ar
dent Of the Calhoun school, was ''nulli
tication more rife or aggressive thai
among the Ohis abolitionists. Wha
cared either Of these factionists for ar
gumsnt: They believed they wer
right; and if the Constitution disagree,
with their theories, the Constitution
must go--not their theories-S.S Goa
in Overland Monthly.