Weekly herald. (Woodsfield, Monroe County, Ohio), 1858-02-12

              1EEKLY ::erald. PUBLISHED EVEKY FHIDAY MOftXIVG._ ONE DOLLAR AND FIFTY CENTS A YE A ft. WARREN HOLLISTER EDITOR. “ LEWIS SHIPLEY, PROPRIETOR. VOL I.W 001 )SFIKLIX MOXIUrE CoUx 1 \, Oi-nTiTTmDAV~PkbIuTaKY 12. 1858. NoT* pO KTR Y. Why Den't you lake Itoe I'apcrsj BY N. P. WILLIS. Why don't you take the papers? They’re the life of my delight; Except about election time, And then I read for spite. Subscribe, you cannot lose a eentWhy should yon be afraid? Fsr cash thus paid is money lent On interest fourfold paid. Go, then, and take the papers. And pay to day, nor pay delay, And my word it is inferred. You’ll live till you are grey. And old newspaper friend of mine, While flying of a cough. Desired to read the latest news, While he was dving ofT. I took the paper, and I read Of some new pills in force; lie bought a box—and is he dead? No—hearty as a horse. I knew a printer's debtor once. Racked with a scorching fever. Who swore to pay her debt next day. If her distress would leave her. Mext morning she was at her work, Divested of her pain. But did forget to pay her debt, Till taken dawn again. ‘■llero .Jessie. t ike tlie-e s'v r wheel*. And my the printer now!” She *'ept, an 1 d«pt, and then awoke. With h.-altl ujioti h r hr >w. I know two men. ns tnn h alike As ever you saw two <tii'ni>*: And no phrenologist could find A difference in their humps. One t akes the paper*, nnd his life, I* happier than a king’*, Ilis children all cnn re* 1 and write And talk of men and things. The ether took no paper, and While strolling through the woods. A tree fall down and hroue his crown, And killed him “very good:” Had he bean reading of the news, At home, like neighbor Jim, I’ll bet a eent that accident Would not have happened him. Why don’t you take the paper*. Nor from the printer sneak. Because you borrowed of his boy A paper every week. For he who takes the papers. And pays his bills whan due. Can live in peace with Ood and man And with the printer too. Mr. Monroe's Speech. In Committee of the Whole, in the Holme of Uepretenlatiwet, on the Bill of Mr. Brooke, of Hamilton, to repeal an act to prohibit the confinement of k'uyitivet from Slavery in the jail* of Ohio. Mk. Cuaibmam:—The act which this proposes to repeal is one of which I heartily approved, and for which I voted; and I should hardly do my duty to myself or to those I represent, were I to permit this bill to pass through its several stages, without protesting earnestly against its passage. W henever a hill is introduced here, especially if it be of so peculiar a nature as this, the question with which it should at once be met, is, what good reason can he offered for voting for this bill ? This question I have endeavored candidly to apply to the hill before us, and the result, after much reflection, is. that I cannot discover any even plausible reason for sustaining it. If there is any such reason it must srise either from some moral or legal obligation, or from those principles of of comity which should be maintained between different sections of the Union. The argument from moral or legal obligation, however, is not insisted on ky our opponents. I have beard no one contend that there is any prtcept of, the higher law or the lower law, making it obligatory upon the people of Ohio to buihl jails for the confinement of fugitives from slavery. There is no such | duty imposed upon us hy the Constitu; tion of Ohio, or by anv law of Congress; I and least of all. hy the law of God The advocacy of this hill therefore, must he put upon the ground of comity.— This is the argument of the Ohio Sta/e*m<tn; and this is substantially the position of the gentleman from Hamilton He has brought no law, human or divine, to his support. He merely tells us that Congress many years since, under circumstances very different from the present, before the Fugitive Slave Law of 18o0 was enacted, p issed a resolution requesting the States to open their jails for the cot>finem»nt of fugitives; and for this reason, as well as for general reasons of comity,lie thinks we should engage in this elev.ting and Democratic work. No, sir, I admit that, in many cases. Considerations of comity are "entitled to great weight Even nations that are wholly foreign to each other should treat each other with courtesy; and much ino:c -hould ih s he true of States of the same conf. d -racy in their relations, and to tlie General Government. I!ut, sir, I claim, what the gentleman has not attempted to disprove, that the present case is one of that very sort in which reasons of comity cannot obtain.1. No man can ever l>e required, on principles of comity, to do w hat is morally degrading to fiim>elf; and what is true of an in hvidual in this respect, i> tru • of a political community Now I contend that 'oluutiry co-operation in •ii.v f-mn, in the Iuimiiosss of sl.ivecatcliilig, whether in tin* man or in t:c St it , is morally d g a ling. T i pr<p>siti n is nearly -elf-evident. 1 am sure it c niniicnds itself to the gencroufo.d'iigs nf er.* v ■ n n *M . lb o . I Care lint by what p i tv n lines Vi>u arc Called; I know that in ibis I Invc vour .sympathy In even free, manly fn c about me I see a sympathetic response. Is.tin re »itiv lm I. bei ol tin lhu-ewho would | erionally engage in a slavebuilt If there is any such man. let him speak, that I may not argue tin* question upon a false assumption. Not one! There is no man here whose blood would not turn to flame at a request to engage in so servile a business! I can hardly think that even the patriotic and Union-saving gentleman front Hamilton would engage in such a work, I uever expect to see that gentleman, strongly as he is impressed with principles of comity, chasing a flying fugitive through the streets of Columbus or the iif* rinninniitS I honor of a long acquaintance with the gentleman, hut from what I know by report oi his high ami generous spirit, I believe that the slave-hunter who should attempt to set a hound, upon the track of hi* panting victim, would be roundly cursed for bis pains! Why. sir, Mr. Payne, the democratic nominee for Governor, in his canvass through the State the last 1" all, asserted everywhere, that the people of Ohio are under no obligations of any kind to engage voluntarily in slave-hunting, lie said they might retire to their houses, and close their doors, and leave the pursuer to reclaim Ids victim as best he could. As for myself, although I have never coveted martyrdom, and have, perhaps, less of the spirit of a m irtyr than many others upon tlds floor, vet I would be slain in my place before I would engage in such a business When God ere ited u e he set use erect upon two feet I have never hail any person to doubt the wisdom of the arrangement At least, I will n* ver so far disown my own manhood, as to prostrate myself into a barking quadruped upon the bleeding footsteps of a human brother struggling to be free. Or the case may be put in a different form. Is tl er • any gentleman here who would, out of mere comity, offer his private dwelling as a place of confinement for fugii.tr s? Would the gentle-* su fiom Hamilton, for reasons of courtesy, make a voluntary tender of his cellar, his garret. Ids store-room, or Ins barn, for a slave-prison, and cheerfully assume the ennobling dutie* of slaveholder s jailor? I ask then if it l« proper for us to impose upon our noble and i gallant commonwealth an office which we should he ashamed to assume ourselves? Is the honor of the State of Ohio of less value than that of a single member of this House? Is it not rather of more value than that of a tlnmj saml men, since up< n its preservation depends the prosperity of a great and populous empire ? Let me state a case which in every important particular is founded upon fact. A single slave-woman, living in Georgia, d< termiucs to escape from si very, and penetrate to the North until she can secure her freedom. Her infant child, her only surviving relative, she binds upon her hack, and starts upon her long and perilous way. She lies in the swamps hv day, and travels 1 -ncly by-paths by night. .She endures perils from her pursuers and perils in crossing rapid rivers. She suffers from Cold and rain and hunger and sickness. Hut still she presses f rwnrd, her little one still clinging to her neck, and her heart still trusting in God; until, with bleeding feet she has trncr-cd the whole breadth of your continent She crosses the Ohio Hi-.ir. and with the North Star -till in her eye. presses 011w ird along your rivet rallies, to reach the Canada line. Alas! she lias eluded the vigilance nf Georgia .slave-holders, but the cannot elude thep i trio tic v atehfu'inssof Federal officers in the State of Ohio. The»e arc now riding hard upon her track, and a- they rule, they call to us, b.y tiieir tidies upon this floor, to join the chase ! They demand that the State of Ohio shall bee..me a party in the ifcf.unous hunt ! She must add her power to the murderous throng that are pouring like a deluge after that sick, famished and heat l-l.t oken won an and hei weep tig child ! A -ltl. s is to lie done on principles of c«>ur!i*v ! peril ips, also, on principle'of chivairv and m anly genet osity ! ! 2. Hut again.* principles »f Comity cm hardly ro<|'iiie the laboring men of Ohio to tax them cive< to I u I I jails in -upport of ati iiistiltitioii which ilegrades labor, and treats the free laboring men of the North with contempt. Those who hav j read the leading Uuchannu papeis of the South during the last two years, must have < I served with what contempt they speak of the laboring population of the Free States and how often a disposition is avowed to enslave all the working men of the land 1 happen to have before me several extract* of this kind from southern papers. The Charleston Standard, a leading Uuchanau paper in South Carolina, savs : •''lim'iv is uic iiJiunii ;iihi iinriiiiii condition of tlie laboring man, whether white or black. The great evil of Northern free society, is, that it i* burdened with a servile class of Mechanics and laborers, unfit for self-government, and yet clothed with the attributes «*ud powers of citizens. Master and slave is a relation in society as necessary as that of parent and child: and the nortl - ern states will yet h ive to introduce it. Their theory of free government is a delusion.” Another iiifliteitti.il supporter of Mr Buchanan, the Kichiitoud Examiner, Contains these word*: ••The South now maintains that Slavery is right, natural and necessary, and docs not depend upon differenceof couoJfjriim. The laws of the Slave State* justify the holding of white men in bondage.” Let me read from another paper of the same stamp published in Vlabama “Free society ! we sicken at the very name. What is it but a conglomeration of greasy mechanic*, filthy operatives, sniall-fisted farmers, and moonstruck theologist*? All the Northern, aud especially tlie New Knglaml States, are devoid of principle fitted for well bred gentlemen. T ie prevailing class • me meets is that of mechanic* strugi gliug to be genteel,and small firmer* who do their own druggery; aud yet who are hardly fit for association with a S mthern gentlem in's body-servant. This i» v»ur free society which the noultern l»*»rde# *ie endeavoring to extend into Kau*<t*.' Sentiment* equally flattering might be quoted from th<* Richmond Eatjuirtr, the South Side Xtemoera/, and other organs of the Buchanan party at the South. Theso arc tho view s generally k entertained of us by our Southern neighbors. Now is it not rather extraordinary for these slaveholders, holding such opinions nnd cherishing such designs in regard to the laboring men of Ohio, to ask, through their allies upon this floor, tiie laboring men to tax themselves upon grounds of courtesy, to build jails in which to confine tbeslaveholder s human cattle? And let me say, that this matter of taxation might become an important one. If the fugi'ive law were thoroughly carried out in Ohio—a thing wliiili i doubt not many gentlemen upon this floor woolhe glad to mi — m.d if all the fugitives and dccoiidants of fugitive mothers in our State were seiz d. and bi lged temporarily in our jails, it wonl.i he necessary lurthe tax-pi vers of Ohio to double the j ii aei iiiniin dations of the <tate. In the genticin: nN mu county of Hamilton, thei■care fugitive* i Hough to fill : 1. the jails in the (nuntv The same I suppose to lie tree ..f F r.mUiii county, of Hose. of l’iekaway. and other sou In rn c unities of the Staii, where the colored population is most numerous. A heavy burden of taxation therefore might be imposed upon the people of Ohio from this source—a burden which under the circumstances no principles of comity can require them to assume The consternations thus far offered are sufficient of themselves to show that there is no force in the argument from comity. I wish, however, to eall your attention briefly to one or two other points. o. ( omitv does not rof|u're the pco| le or any M t- to do nny <j> a!i i/out work in support of tin unconstitutional law. lint it eiiti Le domousti uted that the Fugitive Slave Law is unconstitutional. Some "f the lawyers who sit aroun 1 me, will perhaps think there is a want of delicacy in my diseu-sing this question at all as 1 ni:i not one of that learned profession, lint in the part of tli ■ State from which 1 couie, we arc in the habit of investigating subjects for ourselves, and in pronouncing the Fugitive Law of 1850 unconstitutional, i -1 all only be following, at a bumble distance, in the lead of many of our wisest and best statesmen. 1 regard that law as unconstitutional because it is a clear and gross usurpation, on the part of Congress of power* not delegated to it by the Constitution. We have recently lunl an endorsement by our Democratic friends of the Cincinnati Platform of June, 1856. With the views expressed in the following resolution of that Platform 1 fully agree: 1 hat the r eileral (jovernment is one of limited power, derived solely from the Constitution; und grants of power made therein ought to In* strictly construed hy all the departments atid agents ot the (iovert)ment,* and that it i- inexpedient and dangerous to exercise don' tf.d constitutional j» w rs.” The tenth article of amendments to tl.e (.’(institution which Mr. Jefferson regarded a> its foundation corner-stone, is in the f. ilowing words:— *•"1 lie powers not delegated to the l nited St ites hy the Constitution, nor proliibiteil hy it to t!n* St ites, are reserv'd! to tlie states respec’ivelv, or to the people.” In t io light of them principles it icvidetit. that, if we would ascertain whether the Fugitive Slave I.av. is tin constitutional, we must examine the Constitution, and see whether it anywhere contains a grant of power t* Cong’C.-s !■> legi»l:ite for the capture of fugitive slave-; hearing in mind that all grants inu-t he "strictly construed," and •’that it is inexpedient and dangerous to exercise doubtful con-tituti nial powers.” Now, sir, 1 have examined the Constitution with some care, and I leave never been able to discover any such grant of power whatever. I shall Ik* happy to give way to any lawyer in t sis I louse who will show us where an v such grant of power can l>« foumt 1 know we are commonly referred to the third paragraph of section two, article four, of the Constitution, iu these words : “No person held to service or labor in one State under the laws thereof, es taping into another, shall in consequence of any law or regulation therein bo discharged from such service or la bor; but shall be delivered up on c!a m I of the party to whom such service or 1 labor may be due.” But this sentence contains no grant of power to Congress. So far from this, it is clearly addressed to the States and leaves the whole question of the extradition of fugitives to their sound discretion. This is too evident from the very language of the provision to need further explanation. If the House desires great names in support of this ■ pinion, 1 will give it the name of Danei Webstar, who was regarded by the hole i t n as o ie of its clcare-t and imoM profound constitutional lawyers. It was his ipininn during the whole | if ii s polities! life,—an opinion pub.io!y expressed as late as his famous -peceh of the seventh of M irch,—that this clause of the Constitution contains no gr.oit of power to Congress, hut is o.iires-ed to the States. Mr. Web-M r s opinion upon tins point is etiti tiid to the ii ore wc'glit, because boih lioin the ti uijier of ins mind, and tlie l>la . of his party views, lie wasinclined to enlarge as much as possible the powers of the Federal Government. I lie idea of a strong Central government dazzled and captivated his fancy, j as it did the fancy of Hamilton. It must be remembered, too, that, in his •eventli of March speech, he was doing all lie could, honestly at least, to conciliate the favor of the South. I know that Daniel Webster anil the oolitii-al Titan* of his generation are somewhat out of date with Young America of the 1 r.-c.it day. But I am not too young | to remember the time when his view.* were awaited with i agernes*. and received with rc-pect by the whole land l remember when he used to stand in the open air in the neighborhood of Boston, literally amidst acres of his fel1 >wr eilisens, a!! hanging upon his lip^ for the wisdom that flowed from them, -nd there, with God’s own lightning flashing frem bis eyes, and God's own • thunder rolling from Ids tongue, and intelle t enough garnered up in his Alpine foreln ad to furnish a whole generation of Filibusters and Border Iiuflians. j.r> nounced those noble culogiums upon liberty and the rights of the States, which are still his grandest monument.But tins view of the Constitution has ' not been confined to Northern men — The most eminent statesman of the South have held «he same ep'nions. The Charleston J/rrcury, the organ of the Calhoun «rlnnl of politicians, pro-; uouricns the Fugitive Slave haw to be unconstitutional in the following words, written soon after the passage of the 1‘ersi n >1 liberty Bill of Massachusetts:—ui the action ot .tia'sacntiscJts in the abrogation of the Fugitive Slave Law, we ive no complaint to make. It was, from the first, a miserable illusion:: and worse, in fact—for it was an inf alignment upon one of the most eheridied principles of the Constitution. The Constitution provides that fugitives from lab .r, ‘upon demand shall be given up.” but gives no power toCongresto aet in the affair. Tenth amendment to the Constitution provides ‘-that the [lowers n>t delegated t., the United States are reserved t > the States or to tile p -ople. ’ The clause above confers no jiirter, but is the inked declaration of a right; and the power not being conferred, results to the Mates as one of tiie incidents of sover ‘igatv too dear to be trusted to the general government. Uu - Southern members strove for the passage of the law, and strove hoticstly; but it shows the evils of our unfortumte condition, that, in the urgency of our contest with an aggressftt adversary, ae loose the laiidni irk" o! principle. To obtain an illusive tri! uiuph, we pressed the government to a s line a power not conferred by the iu1 siruiuent of its creation " It lias been said that the Supreme Court of the United States lias pronounced the Fugitive Law constitutional. I think, sir, this is an error. Some of t!ie District Courts have made »uch a decision, but I am uot an are that this has been done by the Supreme '1 'ourt. And if it bad made such a decision. it could hereafter reverse it,— That Court, I believe, once held that I a United States Bank is constitutional, ! an idea which is aow quite generally exploded. I hold, therefore, that thaFugitive Law is an act of usurpation oa the part of Congress. If the General Government had left this matter to tha sound discretion of the States, where rhc Constitution leaves it, there might then have been some propriety in talk* :ng about the obligations of comity. But since Congress has usurped the management of the whole matter, and has virtually told the States to hav* nothing to do with it, Ido not see how •my principles of comity can hind u»ta 1 u Id prisons for the confinement of fi gifives seized under such an act of usurpation. 4. Again, the e! araefer of the Fugitive Slave Law, apart from its unconstitutionally, in such—it is so nnjnst, cruel and oppressive, ns well as dangerous to our liberties, that, on no ground* of comity, can wc be exj ected to co-operate voluntarily with it. This is not merely ti e opinion of the “fanatics of ’he Western Reserve.” It is supported by a high authority—authority which will doubtless be acceptable to tbc majority in this House. In th* year 1S51, the following resolution was P -s-ed by the Ohio Senate. Among the names recorded in favor of its passage. is that of Mr. Payne, of Cleveland. I make haste to inform you wh* sill-ported it. lest you should think it originated in Oberlin; for it is certainly as decided as any thing ever passed at a town meeting in that village which has given so much trouble to Pro-Slavery politicians. •/I- mveI hat the Law commonly c i I d the Fugitive Slave Law, being a Law that makes exparfe evidence conelusive of tlie master's right to the recapture and return of his slave—thus denies* trial by Jury here or elsewhere; that provides f>r the appointment ef swarms of pettv officers to execute it;— that gives double compensation to find every claim set up in favor of the master, and pays the expense in every case front the public Treasury, can never receive the voluntary eo-operation of our people, and ought therefore to be immediately repealed.” Now, I ask if mere courtesy require# t!ie people of Ohio to make gratuitous sacrifice in support of a law which Mr. Payuc pronounced to be so bad that il could “never receive the voluntarily eeoperution of our people, and ought therefore to be immediately repealed?” Bui there is another item upon the Senate Journal which shows how intense Mr. Payne's hatred of this law mu<t have been. Mr. Geiger—a gentleman known during the la-t canvass as “the inimitable Joe Geiger.” and who, in spite of Ins wretched politics, is a very good and genial sort of man—proposed the following amendment to u resolution, calling for the repe >1 of the Fugitive Law: “Provided, That Congress shall believe th*t such repeal will not tend to the dissolution of the Union.” W lien Mr. Geiger, in a tremor of potri*>ti'in, offered this proviso, did Mr. Payne second his well-meant en< le»vor-? No, sir; so odious was the Fugitive Law to Mr. Payne that he voted agiiust tie Union-saving proviso,— Now, cir. I am not disposed to l»e uneharifnble to Mr Payne for voting so he did. I am one of those who can * make some all iwance for a man of large heart and small expert nee. when burning with indignation against a great wrong The vote was doubtless an unfortunate one; but the heart of a genernm man will sometimes raise so nigh is t > fl >nd his brain. I hope he wa* not willing to “let the Union slide!”— It appears that he wished to have the b ugitive Low repealed at any rate, let what would become of the Union.— Perhaps he hod sii-Ii c onfidence in the -trength of the Union, that he thought it would survive the shock. Or. perhipis, as Mr. Douglas said of Mr. DucHunan the other day, “he was not ia the country when the Union was form* e 1, and did not fully understand its vabic. W hatever may be thought of his vote, it affords satisfactory evidence that be then detested the Fugitive Slave Law. I suppose, sir. that that law is as it was in tool; and I was assured la«t fall by m, u upon the Ihtterte who voted for Mr: Payne, that that gentleman’s diel likes to the law l.a 1 not at all diminish. (Convltutod on / ttrth papa.)