CLEVELAND NEWSPAPER DIGEST JAN. 1 TO DEC. 31, 1852 Abstracts 2536 - 2538 SLAVERY (Cont'd) as it surely will, if not abolished before it ripens into " (19) 2536 DTD Apr. 17; ed: 2/1 - Letters from Giddings and Edwards published in the HERALD of Wednesday contained accusations of the former against the latter of having been on "the Committee of the District of Columbia" and interested in slave property. The HERALD assumes to claim that Giddings is a liar. "We not only think the 'claim' a very bold one, but are also so well convinced, that 'all men' who shall read our neighbors own account of the matter,...will entirely agree with us that we have no wish to say a word in vindication of our view of the matter.... It is quite a mistake to suppose Mr. Edwards could have no motive to pass himself off as an owner of slaves; for we have known more than one 'Northern man' pride himself on such self-abasement. We hope we can find room for both letters, soon. (6) 2537 DTD Apr. 20; ed: 2/1-2 "The developments made at Washington should startle the North. Possibly party feeling may shut its eyes and ears; but unless this be so, it will hardly submit to the tyranny, which Southern Rule and Executive will, seem resolved to exercise. "By the admission, then, of the soberer class of Whigs, South; of such men as Mr. Gentry, of Tennessee; and by the declaration of such journals as the New York TRIBUNE, we state, that there is a perfect understanding between Southern Whigs and the Administration, and that their purpose is to consolidate the Whig Party in defence of Slavery." The Washington correspondent of the New York TRIBUNE says that under General Taylor the Whig party adopted the policy of letting the subject of slavery alone, but under Fillmore they decided upon a policy, certain bills. were passed, and the northern and Southern Whigs are to sustain those laws just as they are. "The position of the Executive, and the south, is taken. Now what will the Whig North do?... A few months will settle all this matter. Meantime let us note well the signs of the times, and the actions of the two wings of the Whig Party." (16) 2538 DTD Apr. 21; ed: 2/1 "For years past, we have been struggling to convince the North...that the South would not stop, until the Free states had consented, directly to uphold slavery. "The result of it upon the Whig party, we have repeatedly stated. Loss follows loss. Now Senator Baldwin falls in Connecticut; now Senator Dayton in New Jersey; now Governor Johnson in Pennsylvania - defeat in Ohio and Massachusetts, even in Kentucky.... "Yet what is the position of the South? It makes harsher demands! Assent to the Compromise, calls forth an endorsement of the fugitive law CLEVELAND NEWSPAPER DIGEST JAN. 1 TO DEC. 31, 1852 Abstracts 2539 - 2543 SLAVERY (Cont'd) as that endorsement will end the demand for acquiescence in the creation of more Slave States, and the maintenance of slavery as a national institution. ...The party yielding must end there if the people do not hand them or strike them down." (9) 2539 - DTD Apr. 21; ed: 2/2 - - "We wish our Southern friends would learn the exact position of Anti-slavery men at the North, and give it truly. It will be better for both in the long run, certainly to deal justly with each other. "The Nashville American of the 11th...confounds everything, by identifying Mr. Seward with Mr. Garrison and his friends. These compose the Massachusetts Anti-slavery society...and of course do not represent... the New York Senator." (3) 2540 DTD May 4; ed: 2/1 The Pittsburgh GAZETTE, (Whig) referring to the Grayson county, Va. armed suppression of a court by slaveholders through a secret organization, says that had this incident occurred in a northern state, the South would have lifted up one loud, long cry of reprobation. "Were the North just, kind and considerate to the slave holder, but firm in its assertion of the right, never would the South trample upon every claim of justice by extremest brutality, nor keep out of sight, a curse which has smitten it sorely, and which will smite it unto death if it be not taught early to apply a corrective and a cure." (6) 2541 - DTD May 4:3/1 The Rev. J. McEldowney delivered an anti-slavery sermon at Wesleyan church May 2. His text was taken from Ex. 21:16: And he that stealeth a man and selleth him, so if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. (6) 2542 DTD May 5; ed: 2/2 - A county meeting held Mar. 22 in the Grayson county, Va., court house and presided over by Col. James Dickey advocated the establishment of a vigilance committee to punish and rid the county of all Abolitionists and sympathizers. "Let the citizens from the Free States ponder well over this Grayson. county action, and determine, for themselves, what they should do, in regard to the great themes which it embraces." 2543 May 8; ed: 2/2 - The Rev. John G. Smith, pastor of N. S. Presbyterian church Washington, wrote a letter to the commissioners of the general assembly declaring that he did not believe in slavery but would not discuss the matter lest he offend some one and lessen his power to do good. "How can a good man justify himself in excluding it, or be grieved........ Could it weaken the claims of Missions, or the power of Christianity? Could it grieve away the Spirit? Alas! that good men should so deceive themselves." (18) (8) CLEVELAND NEWSPAPER DIGEST JAN. 1 TO DEC. 31, 1852 Abstracts 2544 - 2547 SLAVERY (Cont'd) 2544 - DTD May 17; ed: 2/2 - Slavery exists in Washington only because the national government authorized it by statutory enactment. "Slavery, according to the well-nigh universal opinion of jurists, is so infernal an outrage against all natural rights that it can nowhere 'legally' exist excepting by the force of 'positive law. '" 2545 DTD May 17:2/3 In a letter to the editor, a Washington correspon (5) dent says: When Maryland deeded the United States government the district of Columbia, all the laws of Maryland ceased to be effective there, "provided that the operation of the laws of the state within such District shall not be affected by this acceptance, until the time fixed by Congress for the removal of the government thereto, and until Congress shall otherwise provide." "But the editor says that 'slavery existed here for a century before the declaration of independence.' True, and so did piracy and murder. Yet the editor does not hesitate to denounce those crimes, far less in magnitude than this slave trade. He also speaks of frittering away our strength by intestine feuds.... Let him give evidence to our people that he labors for South, for freedom, for justice, for humanity, and every Free Soiler will bail him as a co-worker in redeeming our country from the curse of oppress ion and violence." (17) 2546 DTD May 18; ed: 2/3 - Dr. De Bow's REVIEW is meant to be to "the Southern and Western States" what HUNT'S MERCHANT'S magazine "is to the country in general and a little more with reference to all sorts of cattle, including Negroes." Dr. De Bow reviews John Campbell's NEGRO-MANIA. This book attempts to prove that God made the Negroes as he made asses, to be worked for the benefit of the Caucassian races; that slavery is "a thought of God" and a "creation of God." It inquires as to the professional and scientific men the Negro race has produced. The "If Prof. De Bow claims to be a man he very inconsistently puzzles himself with his problem, 'why an ass is not a man, or a man an ass.' claim would deny the possibility of any problem in the case, and the only 'mystery'... would be in the fact, that at least one man 'is an ass.'' (20) ་་་ 2547 DTD May 19; ed: 2/2 - An advertisement, offering for sale a 16 year old handsome, accomplished ladies maid, appeared in the NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER. The NATIONAL ERA'S edition does not believe that the INTELLIGENCER'S editor knew of its existence. "Has not that paper almost constantly inserted such advertisements for the last forty years! Does not the editor by and sell women himself? We fear our old friend Bailey is getting too polite towards those dealers in woman flesh?" (5) CLEVELAND NEWSPAPER DIGEST JAN. 1 to DEC. 31, 1852 Abstracts 2548 - 2553 SLAVERY (Cont'd) 2548 DTD May 19; ed: 2/2 - As a result of the killing of an Indian at Happy Valley, Cal., miners burned an Indian ranch and killed 40 more to forestall a promised Indian revenge. "The Fugitive Slave Bill had passed the Senate. If it shall become a law, and remain such, the way is successfully paved for the introduction of Slavery in California." (8) 2549 - DTD May 20; ed: 2/1 - "We ask attention, to the action of the California Legislature on the subject of slavery. The purpose of the slave power is to carry slavery into that State, and the first step...is successfully taken.... Shall we parley with this injustice? Shall the Free States uphold it?" (2) 2550 - DTD May 20; ed: 2/3 - Benjamin F. Hallet is anxious to prove that his set in Massachusetts have deen pro-slavery since 1840, and thus claims southern favor and slave patronage under the next administration. "He does not publish extracts from his previous writings, when he was an abolition editor. He ought to give the 'gentlemen of the south' the whole record." (2) 2551 DTD May 22; ed: 2/1 The Albany EVENING JOURNAL referring to the recent action of the California legislature says that it comes under the heading of a strange chapter in the history of the times. "All has been done, and all is doing, that can be done, to strengthen the spirit which shall demand the very legislation that the California legislature has enacted. "The North must put itself and keep itself erect, ere it can ask or expect California to be so." (7) 2552 - DTD May 22; ed: 2/2 Webster and the New York TRIBUNE stated in 1851 that slavery could never reach either California or New Mexico. The former refuses to retract his statement, but the latter has seen the impossible happen. "The slave-power is triumphant there, and will have the whole Pacific coast, unless the country shall be quickly roused." 2553 DTD May 24; ed: 2/2 - The rumor that General Scott told a Whig If this is true, with California in the slave-power grasp, and New Mexico and Utah soon to follow, will the freemen of the north tolerate a party in which the presidential nominee states its policy and agreement so badly. "The arm of the north is withered now a palsy is upon it, and will be upon it, till the blood of the people is up, and they feel their strength, and learn how to fend off a blow aimed at Freedom, or better yet, to give one which shall kill slavery.' (5) (9) CLEVELAND NEWSPAPER DIGEST JAN. 1 10 DEC. 31, 1852 Abstracts 2554 - 2558 SLAVERY (Cont'd) 2554 - DTD May 24; ed: 3/1 - "The new bill, introduced into the Virginia legislature, is simply a statute to reduce free blacks to Slavery and so admitted to be by the Petersburgh INTELLIGENCER." The bill provides for the appointing of overseers to hire Negroes out to the highest bidders, the proceeds from such auctions to be used to pay the transportation of the free Negroes to any point or country of their selection. (5) 2555 - DTD May 27; ed: 2/2 - A lady reporter for the CHRISTIAN PRESS of Cincinnati describes an incident that occured at the plantation where she was staying during a visit in the South. A slave houseboy was shipped by a field overseer, and when he expressed his indignation, the driver ordered him tied to a plow attached to spirited horses. The horses were started and the boy's head struck a stump and he was killed. What was done? Nothing. The planter was really in the power of his brutal overseer. The planter said, or thought: If the murder gets out, I shall be blamed. It was my business to employ an overseer of proper character; I have not done it. I must...hush up this matter the best way I can. So we need not be surprised that nothing was done. 2556 - DTD June 12; ed: 2/2 - C. C. Burleigh will repeat his lecture on slavery at Dr. Nevin's church on Wood st. tonight. (7) "He will have a larger audience than he had last evening, albeit that was a respectable audience, and must have been greatly delighted with the lecture, whether adopting all its sentiments or not." (2) ་་ 2557 - DTD June 26; ed: 2/2 - The southern Press, answering an assault upon it by the SOUTHERN PATRIOT of Charleston, S. C., says: "If there be in this country a single man, with the exception of John C. Calhoun, who has done more to strengthen the institution of Slavery, and vindicate the moral, social, and political equality of the south in this Union, that man is Ellwood Fisher; and his defamer knows it." (DTD) "This is not from the pen of Ellwood, but of his colleague." (2) 2558 DTD July 2; ed: 2/1 J. R. Giddings gave a splendid speech concerning freedom. "The fire of the spirit which has given to man, whatever good he enjoys on earth runs through it. One hundred such speeches delivered by one hundred such representatives in Congress would not only make the north right on the record, and right in act but lift up the South to a conviction of the necessity of Freedom for all.... Alone, almost, the speech, as delivered, arrested the attention, and commanded the respect, of the ablest leaders, North and South, in Congress, as it will do wherever read, by the country." (3) |