Year: 1860

treated as such. She is the heart OF the Union
the center of lis population, its prodnetion
and its consumption. From the great living
fountain of her boundless resources, the nation
is enriched and sustained, and upon them Its
prosperity and power must always chiefly de-
pend. Never denying to any section OF the
country its legitimate weight in the administra-
tion OF the government, the west will be reso-
lutte in the assertion of her rights. Conscious
of her great political power which will install
her in the control of the government after the
coming national census. she will demand the
Inauguration of that broad, generous, national
policy, for guarding and promoting the enter
prise and industry Of the country, which while
comforting its inestimable benefits upon the peo-
pie of all the other States, will secure to her
agricultural and commercial interest, that de-
velopment, and those unobstrueted and untaxed
outlets TO the markets of the world, which their
necessities imperatively require. their value
will abundantly compensate, and the dignity
of the West demands shall be no longer post
poned.


Briefly, but in an especial manner, do re-
gard it as my duty. to urge you to invite the
immediate attention of Congress, to the impor-
ance OF Its granting prompt and liberal aid for
improving and sec ring the practical freedom
of the navigation at the Falls of the Ohio River.
The necessity of some more extended and
| complete work Than the Louisville and Portland
Canal, as now constructed, to cheaper and facil-
late the conveyance of property around the
Falls, Is recognized by every person familiar
with the navigation and trade of the Ohio Riv-
er. Owing to the insufficiency of the construc-
tion of that work. and the contracted size of its
locks, it is estimated, that more than one-half
of all the tonnage of the Ohio and Mississippi
rivers is prevented from passing through the
canal. The practical effect is, TO destroy the
| ee IL II 4 e
commerce. by dividing it at the Falls, and SO
making the portion above, a tributary to the
portion below them. The consequent injustice
and heavy pecuniary loss to every branch of in
dusry above the falls, are too obvious to need
argument. Nor does any other interest, or any
other section of the country derive any benefit
from these results The serious delay from the
obstruction to the transportation of the millions
of property that annually pass through the ca
nal, with the excessive tolls imposed upon il, in


iict most grievous and unreasonable tax upon
the industry and enterprise, everywhere, that
contribute, in any way, in making up the COM
merce of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.


The subject, therefore. is not Of mere local,
but of the highest national import


The canal being virtually owned by the Unit
ed States, although nominally the property of a
private corporation, prevents any improvement
of it without her consent, and renders State leg
isla'ion powerless for relief.


cannot but express the hope, that this i'm
portant subject may receive the early and favor
able attention of the Legislatures of the several
States bordering npon the Ohio River. and OF
the other States interested in its navigation, and
that they will unite with the Legislature ofthis
State, in urging prompt and liberal appropria-
lions by Congress, for the construction of such
improvements around the Falls, as Will be best
adapted to the present and future wants of West
ern Commerce.


Firmly loyal to the Union of the States-rev-
erenciug it as the precious legacy from the
Fathers of the Republic acknowledging their
obligations as sacred to maintain lis integrity,
and secure to the people of every section of the
Confederacy the blessings it was intended to
con fer; to defend the Constitution, which is its
bond, and to faithfully observe all of its limita-
tions and authorities, the people of Ohio. accord
to the citizens of the other States all the politi
cal and social rights which they claim for them
selves, and as they would promptly and reso-
lutely resist any attempt by force, Unlawful
combination or otherwize, to disturb the enjoy
ment of their social rights or imperl their social
securities, SO do they deprecate and unreserved-
ly condemn, any movement or purpose, to ia
wade the rights or to leopard the peace Of the
citizens of any other State.


But the Union is threatened, and the Consti.
tullOu is ahSostiicu All tAC Ncly ITO
the right of the majority of the United States to
control the government, being denied. and ef-
forts are not waiting to defeat the great purpose
of the government. to extend and perpetuatc the
rights of freedom, by degrading the Union and
the Constitution into instruments for the propa-
cation of human slavery.


On the subject of slavery, the people Of this
State occupy no equivocal position. They re-
iect the modern dogma, that slavery is essential
to republics, that such system must fail with
out it, and that slavery must be extended and
perpetuated. to extend and perpetuate our form
Of government; but in opposition to it, they have
deliberately declared, that in their judgment
slavery is pernicious wrong, and that patriot
ism and humanity unite in demanding their re-
sstance to its extension into any free territory,
now or that may be owned by the United States.
They deny the binding authority of the dictum
of the Supreme Court ofthe United States assert
lag right of property in one man over another,
as fundamental principle, and making the fed
eral constitution the instrument of rendering it
universal, as moi limited to the reach of the local
power which created the relation of master and
slave; but on the contrary. they declare that the
idea, there could be property in men, was ex-
pressly excluded from the constitution, which
contains no such word as slave or slavery in any
of its provisions, and which in every clause,
construed, or that can be construed, as referring
to slavery, regards it rs the creature of State
legislation, and dependent wholly upon State
Legislation for its existence and continuance
They deny, that the constitution guarantees TO
the slaveholding States. any other than their
local rights, in connection with the institution
of slavery. but such as it expressly declares;
First, That the Foreign slave trade should not
be abolished before 1903; Second, That any law
OF regulation which any State might establish
in favor of freedom, should not impair the legal
remedy, supposed at the time of the adoption of
the constitution to exist by common law, for
the reception by legal process in such State, of
| fugitives from labor or service. escaping from
other States: and, Third. That three-ffths of all
slaves should be counted in settling the basis of
representation in the several States, Beyond
| these, the trainers of the constitution intended
to make no peculiar concessions to the slave
holding States, and these were made, because
"they had Union of the States TO create. and
to their ardent and generous minds the volunta-
ry removal of slavery by the action Of the States
themselves, without Federal interference. SEEM
ed not only certain. but close at hand" The
people of Ohio have further declared. that. in
| their opinion, the people of territory have no
power under the constitution, or from any other


legal source, to establish slavery as one Of their
institutions, during their territorial existence,
that the exercise of such power would be n
manifest usurpation of the individual rights Of
the citizen Of the territory, and utterly subver-
sive of all true popular sovereignty. which de-
mands as primary essential condition, the re-
cognition of inalie lable personal rights. They
insist also, that coupled with the power, is the
duty of Congress to prohibit by express enact
ment, the extension Of slavery, into any free ter
ritory of the United States-that the exercise oil