The Union and journal. [volume], March 09, 1860, Image 1

About The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882

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LOUIS 0. COWAN,]
VOLUME XVI.
"ETERNAL TTOSTILITY TO EVERY FORM dF OPPRESSION OVER THE MINDOR BODY OF MAN."^Joffer«on.
[EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
lilDDEFORD, ME., FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH 9, 1860.
NUMBER 11.
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SPEECH OF
Hon. WILLIAM II. SEWARD,
OP NEW YORK,
In tho UNITED STATES SENATE,
WcdncMlny, Feb. 2tfth.
TIIE NATIONAL EXCITEMENT!
REPUBLICANISM AND ITS FLATFOIUl !!
The KanMiN Question.
Tlir "Irrrprralble Cenflirt" fnlljr Stated!
DEMOCRACY AND TIIB DEMOCRATIC
PARTY DISSECTED.
WORDS OP Tltl'TII AM) WISDOM)
OF JUKTOKY ANDPROPIIKCI'.
ADMtSSION or KANSAS.
Mr. President, the admission of Kansas
into the Union, without further delay, wouit
to me equally necenury, jost, and wise. In
reeoidcd debates 1 havo already. anticijiated
the arguments fur this conclusion.
Till: NATIONAL EXCITEMENT.
In coming forward amun* the political as
trologers, it shall bo an error of judgement,
nnd not of disposition, if uiy interpretation
of the feverish dreamt which are disturbing
the country shall tend to foment, rather tliau
to allay, tho national excitement. 1 shall
nay nothing unnecessarily of is'rsons, because,
in our system, tho public welfare and happi
n«iw depend chiefly on institutions, and very
little on men. I shall allude hut briefly to
incidental topics, because they are ephemer
al, and because, even in the midst of ap|s*aln
to pa.»sion and prejudice, it is always Kile to
submit solid truth to the deliberate consider
ntion ui au hon««t and enlightened people.
It will he an overfl »wiug souroe of shame, j
at well as of sorrow, il we, thirty millions — j
Europeans by extraction, Americans by birth
or discipline, and Christians in faith, and
meaning to be such in practice—cannot mi
combine prudence with humanity, in our
conduct coneerning the one disturbing sub
j.«ct of slavery, a* not only to preserve our
unequaled institution* ol freedom, hut »1m>
to enjoy their benefits with coutcutmeiit and
harmony.
1IKNK AMD NOW. •
Whcrwrcr a guiltl<*s slave exist*, bo he
Caucasian. American, Malay, or African, he
in the subject of two distinct and opposite
ideas—one that he is wrongly, the other that
ho is rightly a slave. Tho balance ofuum
hcrs on either side, however gmit, never
completely extinguishes thin difference of
opinion, lor there are alwavs Miiue defenders
of slavery outside, even if there are none in
side of a free State, while aiM> there are al
ways outside, if there are not insid* of every
slave State, many who a*M<rt with Milton,
that " no man who knows aught cau he so
stupid as to deny that all men naturally were
born Irec, being the image and resemblance
of («od hi tin*'It, and were by privilege above
all the creature*, born to command und not
to obey•** It often, pcrha]« generally haj>
jHMiK, however, that in ciyisHlcring the sub
ject of slavery, society sooias to overlook the
natural right, or personal of the
slave hiiii«clt, and to act exclusively for tho
welfare of the cititcn. lint thin fact does
not materially a fleet ultimate r.ntiltn, fur the
elementary question of the rightfuln-•>* or
or wrongfulness of »lavery inheres in every
form that discumion concerning it aasuoMt.
What U just to am class of men can never
bo injurious to another ; and what in unjust
to any condition of |H?rsons in a ft ite, is
necessarily injurious in some decree to the
whole community. An economical question
early ari.vs out of the subject of slavery—la- f
boreitherof freemen or of slaves!* the cardin
al necessity of society. Some State* choose
the ono kiud, miui) tho other, llence two
municipal systems widely d iff-rent ari*v>.—
Tito slave State striken Jown and atfccts to
e*tingui»h the personality of tho laborer, |
not only as a member of tho political body, I
but aU> un a parent, hunhand, child, neigh- !
bor, or friuoU. Ho thus becomes, in a polit ,
ical view, m<-ri'lv property without moral '
capacity, and without domestic, moral, and ;
social relatioiM, ri^|ltll| Hn<| remedies
—chattel, an object of bargain, wile, gift,
inheritance, or thelt. Ilk ,vrninj-, un, .
|M>mated and his wrongs atoa«|, not to him.
self, but to his owner. The sute promts
not the slavo as a man, but the capital of
another man, which he represents. On the
other hand, the State which rejects »Uv«ry
encourages and animates and invigorates tl,„
laborer by maintaining and developing h»
natural penonality in all the rights ami fac
ulties of manhood, and generally with the
privileges of citiaenship. In the one caw
capital invested in slaves becomes a great
political force, while in the other labor thus
elevated and enfranchised, becomes the dom
inating political power. It thus happens
thalsra may. for convenience sake, and not
inaccurately, call slave States capital States,
and free States labor States.
Till Qt-DTIOX Til IT AOI1XS.
So soon as a State fceb the impulses of
commerce or enterprise or ambition, its citi
sens begin to wtodv the eflect* of these svs
tems ot capital and labor respectively on its
intelligence, it* virtue, it* tranquillity, ita
integrity or unity. it* defence, it* prosperity,
it* liberty, it* haw hi'**, it* aggrandizement,
und it* *faiue In other word*. tho great
question arise*. whether slavery i* a moral,
*>oi tl, and politcal good, or a moral, itociiil,
and julitical evil. This w the ilawry que*
tion at home. Hut them m a umtual bond
of unity and brotherhood between uian and
man throughout t*to world Nation* exam
ine fn«lv the political *p«teuu of each other,
and of ittl preceding tim> *. and ncconlingly
um they approve or di*approvoof the two *y»
tonit of capital and la'wr respectively. they
function and prow-cute, wr condemn and pro
hihit commerce in lu-n. Tlum. in 0110 way
or in another, the ulawry question which m>
many aimiii^t u*,who ure more willing t > rule
th.m juti nt in studying the e uidition* of
•ociety, think is a merely accidental or un
necessary qmnti m that might and ought to
bo r'tthil ami di*miw*«d at once, i», on the
contrary, a world-wide and enduring subject
of political co!i*i«iorati<m aud civil udmini*
t nit ion. Men.Sut'K, uud nations cutertaiu
it, not voluntarily* hut iKXiU^tyfthu prognM
of Bocietpr continually brings it into their
way. '1 hey divide upon it, not pervewcly,
hut because, owing to differences of constitu
tion, condition, or circumstances, they can
not agree.
WHAT Ol'R FATHERS TlIOir.HT AND DID.
Tho fathers of the Republic mcountered it.
They even adjusted it so that it might have
given uh much less than onr present disquiet,
had not circumstances afterwards occurred
which they, wise as they were, hud not clear
ly foreeccn. Although they had inherited,
yet they generally condemned tho practice of
slavery and hoped for itn discontinuance.—
They expre-sed this when they aw< rrted in
the Declaration oflndepemlenco, as a lum!a
mental principle of American society, that
all men are created equal, and havo inalien
able rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit o(
happiiiem. Kaeh State, howerer, reserved
to itself exclusive political power over the
subject o( slavery within its uwu borders.—
Nevertheless, it unavoidably presented itself
in their consultations on a l>ond of Fed ral
Union. Tho new Government was to l» a
representative one. Slaves woro capital in
s >tno States, in others enpital had no invctt
ments in la'*»r. Should thus-' slaves l>o r»p
f* -jitcd as capital or ns persons, taxed ijs
capital or as persons, or should tjj"y not bo
repreiiented or taxed at all? Tlie fathers
disagreed, debated long, and com prom is. il at
last. Rich State, they determined, shall
have two Senators in Congress. Three fifths
of the slaves shall 1h> elsewhere represented
and b* taxed aa persons. What should Ikj
(Iolo if the slavo should csca^ into a labor
State? ShouM that Stato cunltw him to be
a chattel and restore him as such, or might
it regard liiiu as a person, and harbor and
protect him as a maii ? Tliev compromised
again, and decided that n> p'r>m hel l tJ
labor or service in one State by the laws
thereof, escaping into anoth -r, shall by any
law or regulation of that State, be discharg
ed from such labor or service, but shall Dei
delivers I up on claim to the person to whom
such lanor or service s mil ne uw».
Froo laborer* would immigrato. nnd •laves
might bo imported into the States. The1
fathers ugrctu that Congress may establish ,
uniform laws of naturalisation, and it might
prohibit importation of |<cnoiM after 1K0M. I
Communities in tho Southwest, det'ichcd
from tho Southern States, were growing up
in the pnrtiou of slavery, to Uu-npital
New Statu* would winn grow up in tho
Northw st, while as yet capital stood ulooi,
niid labor had not lilted tho uxto l>egiu thero
iu endlw hat biMliwiit tuk. Tho fathers
authorial C digress to nut' e all needful
rulcsand regulations concerning thcirrango
nicnt and dis;>o*ition of the jHiblie land*,
and to admit n:w Stnt<«. So the Constitu
tion, while tt (l « not disturb or ufl'et tho
system of capital in slaves, existing in any
State under it* own law*, duett, nt the same
time, recognize every human Is ing when
within any exclusive sphere of FciKt.iI juris
diction, not as capital but um a ]snon.
WIUT Tttr.T DID IN OU.XUIUSS.
What was tho action of tho fathers in
CuncMH? They admittctl the now States of
tho Southwest as capital States, liecuuso it
was practically uajsmiMo to do otherwise,
and hy tho onliuime of 17*7, conl'rmcd in
1789, they provided for tho organization utid
admission of only labor States in the North
west. They directed fugitives from amies
to ls« restored not as chattels, but tut {tenons.
They awarded naturalization to immigrant
froe laborers, antl they prohibited the trade
in African luhor. This disposition of tho
whole subject was iu harmony with tho con
dition of society, and, iu tho main, with tho
spirit of the ago. The seven Northern States
contentedly became labor State* by their own
act*. Tho nix Southern States with equal
tranquility and hy their own dotenuination
reuiainetl capital States.
mm aur.i i»n» lunr.^rr..
Tho circumstances which tlio fathers did
not clearly torvseo weru two, namely : tho
reinvigorutioti of slavery consequent on tho
incntiMJ consumption of cotton, ami thecx
tension of tho national domain across tho
Mississippi, nnd them occurred before 18120.
Tho State of L»ibian.\toratc i onaslavehold
ing French settlement, within tho newly n**
quired Loiisianian Territory, had then al*
ready b vu admitted into tho Union. There
rot remained, however, a vast region which
included Arkansas and Missouri, together
with the then unoccupied and even unnam
ed .Kansas and Nebraska. Arkansas a
slaveholding community, was nearly ready
to apply, and Missouri, another such Terri
tory, was actually applying for admission in
to tho Federal Union. Tho existing capital
States seconded these application*,und claim
ed that tho whole Liuisianian Territory win
rightfully open to slavery, ardto the organi
sation of future slave Stat**. Tlio labor
Static maintained that Cougrcnshad supreme
legislative power within tlio domain, and
could ami ought t » exclude slavery then*.
The* question thus opened was one wfiich re
lated not at all to slavery in the existing
capital States. It was pup'lv and simply a
national question whether the common in
terest of the whole Republic required that
Arkansas, Missouri, Kanws, ami Nebraska,
should become capital States, with all the
••*il* and danger* of slavery, or bo labor
State*, with all the security, baoofita and
'•basing* ol freedom. On the decision was
■uspciAd the question, a« was thought,
whrth,.T idtiin;itelr the interior of this new
continent nh<>uld U» an asylum for the op
prewa^l on*! tl»«» coining tear after yftir
am age agw, voluntarily fp>tn every
other cmlued land. ,u well «, |& the children
of misfortune in our own, or whether, thro*
"'."T*41 sUvo trade, those
munificent ami luxuriant r^ion. should he
surrendered to the control of oaj.itul wrinv
ing out the fruit of the eurth through tbe
impoverishing toil of negro *Uriw. That
question of IS20 was identically tho question
of IStiO, so far as principle, and even the
, field of it* application was conccraod. Ev
ciy element of tho controversy now present
euterod it then ; the rightfulness or the
wrongfulness of slavery; its e fleets, present
atxl future ; the constitutional authority of
Congrcn; tho claims of tho State*, and of
their citizens; the nature of tho Federal Un
ion. whether it is a compact between tho
Statw, or an inde|tendcnt government; the
springs tif its (towers, und the ligatures upon
their exurcisi). All these wero discussed
witlt 2i*ul and ability which lufVu never lteen
HurimNMHl. History tells us, I know not how
truly, that tho Union reeled uuder tho vehe
mence of that girat deflate. Patriotism took
counsel fn>n> prudencc, and enforced a set
tlciucut which has proved to be not n final
one; und which, as is now seen, practically
left o|>en all tho gr*«t jtulitical issues which
wero involved. .Missouri und Arkansas wero
admitted a* capital States, while lultor ob
tained, as a reservation, tho abridged but yet
comprehensive field of Kansas and Nebraska.
Now, when the present conditions of the
various juris of the Louisianian Territory
are ohseivcd, und wo hoc that capital retains
undisputed poesewion of what it then obtain
ed, while labor is convulsing the country
with so hard and so prolonged a struggle to
regain the lost equivalent which was then
guarantied to it under circumstance of so
great solemnity, we may well desire not to
be undeceived if tho Missouri compromise was
indeed unnccenurily accepted by tho free
Stats, intlucnced by exaggerations of the
dangers of disunion. Tho Missouri debate
disclosed truths of great moment lor ulterior
use:
WIIAT TIHTIIS THE MISSOURI DERATE DISCLOSED.
First, That it is easy to combine tho cap
ital States in defense of oven external inter
ests, while it is hard to unito tho labor States
in a common policy.
Second, That "tho labor States havo a
natoi.il loyalty to tho Union, while the cap
! ital States havo a natural facility for nlarrn
ing that loyalty by threatening disunion.
Third, That the capital Stabs do not
practically distinguish between legitimate
and constitutional rtvistunco to tho extension
of slavery in the common Territories of tho
Union, und unconstitutional aggression
against slavery established bj local laws in
thu capital States.
7IIK>
The early political iiarties wero organized
without reference to slavery. But sinco 1H
20, Kuropean questions havo loft us practi
cally unconcerned. There has been a great
increase of invention, mining, manufacture,
and cultivation. Steam on land and on
water has quickened couimerco. Tlio press
and the tel graph have attained prodigious
activity, and the social intercourse between
the State* and their eilizena has been im
measurably increased; and consequently,
their mutual relations nfTecting slavery have
Ikvij. for many years, subjects ofearnest and
often excited discussion. It is in my way
only to show how such disputes havo operat
ed on the cuurso of political events—not to
re-open them for argument here. Then* was
a slave insurrection in Virginia. Virginia
and Kentucky dehated, and to tho great sor
row of tho free States, rejected tho system of
voluntary labor. The Colonixation Society
was established with much favor in tho cap
ital States. Emanci]>ation societies arose in
tho free States. South Carolina instituted
ptoeeedings to nullify obnoxious Federal rev
enue laws. The capital States complained
of courts and legislatures in tho laltor States
for interpreting Unconstitutional provision
for tho surrender of fugitives from service so
as to treat them as persons, and not projier
ty.and they discriminated against color d
persons of tho labor Statu, when they came
to the capital States. They denied, in l In
gres, tho right of |»ctition, and embarrassed
or denied tho frvdo.n of debate on tho sub
jeet of slavery. Presses, which undertook
the defence ot tho labor system in tho capital
States, were suppressed by violence, and even
iu the labor States, public assemblies, con
vened to consider slavery questions, were dis
" p >rwed by molissym|iathizing with tho capi
tal States.
the wuia and oraoauTtc parties—what
TIIKY tun AND HOW.
Tho Whig party, being generally an of
puHitinn party, practiced nunc forbearance
toward tho interest of labor. The Demo
cratic party, n>t without demonstration* of
diment, wu* generally found sustaining the
policy ot'iapit.kl. A disposition towards tlie
removal of slavery from tho presence of (ho
national Capitol appeared in tho DiHtrict oi
Columbia. Mr. \nn Huren, a Democratic
President, launched a prospective vetoagaiust
the unticpated measure. A Democratic Con
gress brought Texan into tho Union, stipulat
ing practicully for it> future re-organizution
in four Mate States. Mexico wan inccnscd.
War ensued. The labor State* asked that
tho Mexican law of liberty, which covered
the Territories brought in by tho treaty of
pjaco, might remain and bo confirmed. The
Democratic purty refused. The Missouri de
bate ol 18:20 recurred now, under circum
stance* of heat and excitciuent, in relation to
three conquests. The defeudera of labor took
alarm lest tho number of new capital States
might become *Mftreat as to enable that class
of States to dictate tho wholo policy of the
Government; and in caso of constitutional
resistant o, tl*n to form a new slavchohliti£
confederacy around the (iulfof Mexico. By
this time the capital State* seemed to havo
b'como fixed in a determination that tho
Kediral Government, and even tho labor
States, should rvogniu) their slaves, though
outside of the slave States, and within tho
T> rritories of tho U. S., as property of which
tho m ister could not bo in any way or by
any authority divested; and the labor Stab's,
having becomo now inorv essentially Demo
cratic than ever before, by tho great develop
ment of free labor, more firmly than ever in
*i«tcd on tho constitutional* doctrino that
slaves Toluntarily carried by their masters
into tho common Territories or into labor
Stuto*, are jtersons. men.
Under tho auspicious influence of a Whig
success, California and New Mexico appear
ed before Congress as labor States. Thoeap
ital States refusal to conscnt to their admis
sion into the Union; and again threats of
disunion carried terror and consternation
throughout the land. Another compromise
was tuado. Specific - enactments admitted
California an a labor State, and remanded
New .Mexico uud Utah to remain Territories,
with the right tocliooso freedom or slavery
when ripened into States, while they gave
new remedies for tho rvcapturo of fugitives
from service, and abolished tho open slave
market in tho District of Columbia- These
new enactments, collated with tho existing
statutes, namely, tho ordinance of 1787, the
Missouri prohibitory law of 1820, nod the
articles of Texas annexation, disposed by law
of the subject of Slavery in all ths Territories
of the Uniud States. And so the compro
mise of 1850 was pronounced a full, final,
absolute, ami comprehensive settlement of all
existing ami all possible disputes concerning
slavery underfthsfederal authority. The two
groat parties fearful fur tho Union, struck
h unN in muking and in pres"nting thisns an
adjustment, never ulterwrards to bo opened,
disturbed, or oven questioned, and tho people
accepted it by majorities unknown before.—
Tho now President, chosen over un illuatri
ou* rivul 1111 a pi i vocally on tho ground of
printer ability, even if not nioro reliable pur
! |»k«* to maintain tlio now treaty inviolate,
' nude Imsto to justify this expectation when
Congrem assembled. Ho said :
" When the grave fchull have closrd over nil
who are now endeavoring to meet the obliga
tions of dut.\, the year ltt50 will be recurred to
am u period tilled wi'h anxiety and apprehen
sion A successful war haa just terminated;
lieaee brought with it a great augmentation of
territory. Disturbing question* arose bearing
ujmiii the domeatic institutions of a portion of
the Confederacy, nnd iuvolving the constitu
tional right* of the State*. But, notwithstand
ing differences of opinion and sentiment, In re
lation to details and specific provitions, the ac
quicsence of distinguished citisecs, whose de
votion to tho Uuiot. can never bs doubted, has
given renewed vigor to our institutions, and re
stored a sense of security and repot* to the pub.
lie mind throughout Uis ConMerscy. That
this repose Is to suffer no shock during tuy
official term, if I h'ave the power to avert it,
tho* who placed mo here may be assured."
Hardly, however, luui these inspiring
Bounds died away, throughout a tnmnrod
and delighted land, Ijcforo tho natiunal re
pone was allocked again ; shocked, indeed, as
it had never before been, nnd smitttn this
timo by a blow from the very hand that luN
just released the chords of the National burp
from their utterance of that exalted sympho
ny of peace.
KANSAS AND NEBRASKA.
Kansas and Nebraska, tho long-devoted
reservation of labor and freedom, saved in
tho ugony of national fear in 1820, and saved
again in tho pnnic of 1850, wero now to bo
opened by Congress, that the never-ending
course ol s.-ed time and harvest might begin.
Tlio slavo capitalists of Missouri, from tl.eir
own well-assured homes on the eastern hanks
of their uoblo river, look<nl down upon and
coveted the fertllo prairies of Kansas; while
n sudden terror ran through ull tho capital
States, when they saw u seeming certainty
that ut last a now labor State would bo built
on their western border, inevitably fraught
us thuv said, with a near or remote abolition
of slavery. What couldjbe done? Congress
could hardly lie expected to interveno direct
ly for their cafoty no goon after tlio compro
mise of 1850. Tlio lubor hive of tlio froo
States wan distant, tho way new, unknown,
and not without perils. Mfinuil Wll n«>ar
nnd watchful nnd held tho keys of tho gates
of Kansas. She might seize the now nnd
smiling Territory by surprise, if only Con
pro <s would roiuovo the harrier established in
1820. The conjucture was favorable. Clay
and Wei*tor, tlio distinguished citizens whose
unquestionable devotion to the Union was
manifested by their acquiesenee in tho com
promise of 1H50, had pone down alrcad* in
to their honored graves. Tho hilsir Stat**
had disinipscd many of their representatives
hero for too great fidelity to freedom, anil
too great distrust of tho efficacy of that new
bond ol peaeo, and had replaced them with
partisans who were only timid, hut not un
willing. Tho Democratic President und Con
gress hesitated, but not long. They revised
tho last great compromise, and found, with
delighted surprise, that it was so far from
contirniing the law of freedom of IH'20, that
on tho other hand, it exactly provided for
tho abrogation of that venerated statute ;
nay, that tho compromise itselfuctuallv kill
ed the spirit of tho Missouri law, and devolv
ed on Congress tho duty of removing the life
less letter from the national code. The deed
was dono. The new enactment not only rc
pealed the Missouri prohibition of slavery.
inn n prunounc <1 me jicopic 01 i\aut<an ami
Nebraska perfectly free to establish freedom
or slavery; ami pledged Congress to admit
them in duo time an States, either of capital
<.r of ljlior into the Union. Thu Whig rep
nienbitivn of tlio capital States, in un hour
of strange Ituwildurincnt, concurred ; ami thu
Whig j>arty instantly went down, never
to rise again. Democrats seceded, and stood
aloof; thu country wan confounded ; and
amid the perplexities of the hour, n republi
can party was seen gathering itself together
w ith much earnestness, hut with littlo show
of organization, to rcacuo, if it were not now
too latu, thu cauno of freedom and lubor, no
unexpected and grievounlv imperiled in tho
Territories of tho United b'taUs.
TIIE SCgl'ICL.
I will not linger over tho sequel. Tho
|K>pular sovereignty of Kaunas proved to bo
the Statu sovereignty of .Missouri, not only in
pvr* >n-» of »t', > rulers, hut even in tho letter
of an urhiti.u-y and cruel codo. Tho perfect
Treedom prove to l>ea hateful and intolerable
bondage. From 1855 to 18G0, Kansas, siis
tallied and encouraged only by tho Republi
can party, has been engaged in successive and
ever-varying struggles, which havo taxed all
her virtue, wisdom, moderation, energy, nnd
rvsourccs,and often even her physical strength
and martial courage, to save herself from
lieing betrayed into tho Union as a slave
State. Ne'iiaslca, though choosing freedoms
is, thmugb the direct exercise of tho Execu,
tive power, overriding her own will, held us
as a nlavo Territory ; and Now Mexico has
relapsed voluntarily into tho practice of
slavery, froui which sho had redeemed her*
self wliil© sho ret remained a port of the
Mexican Republic. Meantime, tho Demo
cratic )>urty, advancing from tho ground of
tHipuIar sovereignty as far as that ground is
from the ordinance of 1787, now stands on
tho position that both territorial governments
and Congrea are incompetent to legislate
against slavery in tho Territories, whileihey
arc not only competent, bu^ arc obliged,
when it is neoestary, to loginlatc for its pro
tection therv.
HOW Til It DEMOCRATIC TABTT M ASKS 1TSKLT.
In this new and extreme position tlie Demo
eratie jmrtv now masks itself )»hind the
Imttert of the Supremo Court, as if it wero
]«»ssH»li» a true construction of tho Constitu
tion, tlmt tho power of deciding practically
forever between freedom and slavery in n
portion of the continent fur exceeding all
that is tlint is yot organized, should be
| reuouneed t»v Congress,which alone nonsesstw
any legislative authorty, and should be as
I sumcd and exercised by a court which can
I only tulco cognizance of the great question
collaterally, in a private action Mwecn in
dividuals, and which action the Constitntinn
will not suffer the court to entertain, if it
involves twenty dollars of money, without
I tho overruling intervention of a jury of twelve
1 good and lawful men of tho neighborhood
where the litigation arrises. The independent
over-renewed and ever-recurring representa
tive Parliament, Diet, Congress, or Ix-ginla
ture, is tho one chiof, paramount, essential,
1 indfe|>en»ihle institution in a republic. Evon
liberty, guaranteed by organic law, yet if it
i be held by other tenure than the guardian
i care of such representative popular nmuiibly,
is but precariously maintained, while slnvenr
enforml by an irresponsible judicial tribunal,
is tho complvtest possible development of
J despotism.
DETARTL'U ROM WISDOM AND TWTV*.
Mr. President, did over the annul} of any
Government show a more rapid or more
complete dqxirturo from tho wisdom aod
virtuo of its Ibundon? Did orer tho Gov
ernment of n great empire, founded on tho
rights or human labor, slide away so fast and
so far, and moor itself so tenaciously on the
basis of capital, and that capital infested in
laboring inon ? Did over a free representative
Legislature, invested with power* m great,
and with tho guardianship of rights so im
portant, of trusts so sacred, of Interests so
precious, and of hopes at onco so no noble
and so com prehensi ve surrender and renounce
them nil so unnecessarily, so unwisely, so
fatally, and so inglonously? If it be truo,
as every instinct of our Datura, and every
prccept of political cxperienoo tcachce us,
that
"Ill (area the land, to hastening ilia a prrjr,
Where wealth accumulates, and men uecay,"
then where in Ireland, in Italy, in Poland,
or in Hungary, has any ruler prepared for a
generous una confiding people disappoint
merit*, disasters, and calamities equal to
those which the Government of tho United
Stutcj holds now suspended over so largo a
portion of tho continent of North Ameri
ca.
THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE.
Citizens of the United Statv, in tho spirit
of this policy, subverted tho freo Republic of
Nicaragua, and opened it to sluvory and tho
African slave trado, and held in that con
dition waiting annexation to tho United
States, until its sovereignty was restored by
a combination of sister Republics cxttosed to
tho snmo dunger. and apprehensive o! similar
subversion. Other citiccns reopened tho
the foreign slavo trado in violation of our
laws and treaties; and, after a suspension of
that shameful traffic for fifty years, savage
Africans have been once more landed on our
shores and distributed, unrcclaimcdand with
impunity, nmong our plantations.
ITS RBPOXSIBILITY.
For this policy, so far as tho Government has
sanctioned it, the Democratic |>urty avows
itself responsible. Everywhere complaint
against it is dcnounccd, and its op|M>ncnts
proscribed When Kansas was writhing
under tho wounds of incipient, servile war,
Imhwuso of her resistance, tho Democratic
press deridinglv said, "let her bleed." Of
ficial integrity has been causo for rebuke and
punishment, when it resisted frauds desigued
to promote the extension of slavery. Through
out tho whole Republic there is not ono
known dbscnter from that policy remaining
in place, if within reach of tfio executive
arm. Nor over tho (ace of tho whole world
is there to bo found one representative of our
country who is not an apologist of tho exten
sion ol slaver}*.
THE TWO VIEWS Of THE SYtTUf.
It is in America that theso thing* have
happened. In the nineteenth century, the
ern of tho world's grcutcst progress, and
while all nations hut ourselves have been
cither Abridging or altogether suppressing
commerce in men; at tho very moment when
tho Kmoinn serf is finnnei{«U-d nnd tho
Georgian captivc, tho Nubian prisoner, and
tho Ahyraiun savage arc lifted up to freedom
by the successor ol Mohammed. The world,
prepossessed inour bchalfby our early devotion
to tho rights of human nature, as no nation
ever Iwforo engaged in its rosj>ect nnd sym
puthics, asks, in wonder and amazement,
what all this demoralization means? It has
an excuse tatter than tho world can imagine,
better than wo are generally conscious of
ourselves, a virtuous excuse,. Wo have
loved not freedom so much less but tho Union
of our country so much mora. W e havo been
undo to talicvo, from time to time, that, in
a crisis, l>oth of these precious institutions
could not l>e saved together, and therefore wo
have, from time to time, surrendered safe
gurds of freedom to propitiate to loy dty of
capitaland stay its hands from doing violence
to tho Union. Tho truo statu of tho enso,
however, ought not to bo a mystery to our
selves. Prescience, indeed, is not given to
statesmen; but wo are without excuso when
wo fuil to apprehend tho logic of current
events. 1/jt parties, or tho Government,
choose or do what they may, the peoplo of
tho United States do not prefer wealth to
litarty, capital to labor, African slaves to
wliito freemen, in tho national Territories
and in future States. That Question has
never boon distinctly recognized or acted
on by them. Tho llepuhlicnn tarty em
bodies tho popular protest nnd roaction
against a policy whien has lieen fastened
u]>on the nation by surprise, and which its
reason and conscionce, concurring with the
reason and conscience of mankind, con
demn.
THE CHOICE or THE NATIOX.
Tlio choieo of the nation in now between
tho Democratic party nnd tho Republican
narty. Its principles and policy ar«\ there
fore, justly and even ncecwarily examined.
I know of only ono policy which it has
adopted or avowed, namely : tho saving of
tho Territories of tho United States, if
possible, by constitutional and lawful means,
from Iteing homes for slavery and polygamy.
Who, tliut considers where this nation exists,
what raees it is composed, in what ago of
the world it acts it* part on the public stage,
and what are its predomincnt igstitutions,
customs, habits, and sentiments, doubts that
tho ltepublican party can and will, if unwa
veringly faithful to that policy, and Just and
loyalln all beside, carry it into triumphal
success ? To doubt is to bo uncertain whether
civilization can improve or Christianity save
mankind.
the mrrvnucAN PAimr.
I may, pcrhafis, infer from tho necessity
of tho caso, that it will, in all court* and
places, stand by tho freedom of speech and
of tho prees, and tho constitutioanl rights of
freemen evetywhero ; that it will favor the
s|xxxly improvements of tho public domain
by homestead laws, and will encourage
mining, manufacture and internal commerce,
with needful connectionsl»otween tho Atlantio
and Pacific States—for all thoso are impor
tant interests of freedom. For all the rest,
tho national emergencies, not individual in
fluences, must determine, as society goes on,
tho policy and charactcr of tho Republican
party. Already bearing iu part in legisla
tion and in treaties, it feels the necenfty of
being practical it its care of national health
and lifo, while it leaves metaphysical specu
lation to those whose duty it is to cultivate
tho ennobling scionco of political pbiloao
phy.
WHAT IT KNCOCXTKJU.
Dut in tho midst of these subjects, or
rather, before Ailly reaching thom, tho Re
publican party, oocounter*, unexpectedly, a
n«w and potential issue—one prior, and,
therefore paramount to all others, one of
national life and death. Just aa if so much
had oo4 already oaneeded; nay, joat aa If
nothing at til bad ever been eoooeded, to
the Interest of capital invested in men, we
hear mcnacea of disunion, tender, more
dktioct, more emphatic th»»p e#, with the
condition annexed, tliat they mall ho exe
cuted the moment that a Republican Ad
min i»tration, though con»titutionally elected,
»h«ll MPumo the (joreri ment.
I do not certainly know that tho people
arc prepated to call tuch an AdminUtratfon
to powir. I know only, that through a
•uccrwion of floodf which never prut ly excite
and ehbe which never entirelyducourageme,
the volume of Republican l«n rifta continual*
ly higher and higher. They are proably
wine, whoeo approhemiona admonish them
that it ia already atrong enough for effect.
1U8 it ru e* r
Hitherto tho Republican party has been
content with ono self-interrogatory—how
many votea it can east? Then threats en
foroo another—hoa it determination enough
to eaat them? This latter question touches
its spirit and its nrido. I am quite aure.
howtver, that as it hns hitherto practiced
self-denial in so many oil^r taps, it prill in
tiiia emergency lay asido all Impatience or
temper, together with all ambition, and will
conaidcr thvao eztraunlinary declamations
acrioualy and with a just moderation. It
would bo a waste or words to domonatrato
that they are unconstitutional, and equully
idle to ahow that tlio responsibility for
disunion attempted or effected, muat rcat not!
with thoao who in tho cxcrciao ol coontitu
tional authority maintain tho government,
but thorn who unconstitutionally engage in
tho mad work of subverting it.
What are tho ezcusea for these menaces?
They rcsolvo themselves into this, that the
Republican party in tho Nortli is hostile to
the South. Hut it already is proved to be.a
majority in tho North ; it is therefore practi
cally tho people of tho North. Will it not
still 1)0 samo North that has forborne with
you so long and <oncod<*l to you ao much ?
Can you justly arauuio that nOection which
has been so complying, can allatoncoel ango
to hatred intense u'nd inexorable?
You say that' tho Republican party is n
sectional one. Ia the Democratic party leas
sectional? Is it easier for ua to bear your
sectional sway than for you to bear ours?
Is it unreasonable that (or onco wo should
alternate7 nut is mo iic|iuuniwi i,u>v
sectional ? Not unless the Democratic jwrty
is. Tlio Republican party prevails in the
Houso of Representatives sometime*; the
Democratic party in the Senate always.—
Which of the two in the most jmnticptive ?
Come, if you will, into the freo State*, into
the State of New York, anywhere from Like
Rrio to Sag Harbor, among my neighbor* in
the Owasco valley, hold your conventions,
nominate your candidates, address the people
siiliuiit to thein, folly, earnestly, eloquently,
all your complaint) and grievances of
northern disloyalty, oppression, perfidy;
keep nothing luck, speak just ns freely and
as loudly there as you do here ; you will have
havo hospituhla welcomes, and appreciating
audiences, with liallot-boxcfl open lor all the
votes you can win. Aro you less sectional
than this? Extend to us the samo privilege*,
und I will engago that you will very' soon
have in theSoutli us many Republicans as wo
hare Domocrats in tlio North. There is,
however, a better test of nationality than
tlio accidental location of parties. Our
jmliey of labor in the Territories was not
sectional in the first forty yenrs of the Re
public. Its nature inheres. It will bn na
tional again, during the third forty years,
and forever afterwurds. It is not wise und
Ixmeficcnt for us nlono or injurious to you
alone. Its effects are equal, and the samo
for us all.
WHAT TUK BKITUUCANS ARK ACCUSED Or.
You accuse the Republican party of ulterior
and sccret designs. How can a purty that
counts its votis in this lund of free speech
und froo press by the hundreds of thousunds,
have any sccret designs? Who is the con
jurer, and where are tlio hidden springs by
which ho can control its uneongregated and
widely-dispersed musses and direct them to
objects unseen and purposes unavowed ? Rut
what are these hidden pur]** s! You nuuio
only one. That ono is to introduce negro
equality among you. Supnoso wo had the
power to change your social system ; what
warrant havo you lor supposing that
wo should carry negro equality umong you?
Wo know, ana wo Mill show you, if you
will only give hoed, that what our system of
lalmr works out, wherever it works out any
thing, is tho equality of white men. The
laborer in tho free States, no matter how
humblohis occupation, is a whito men, and
he is politically tho equal of his employer.
Eighteen of our thirty-threo States and free
laltor States. Thero thoy aro: Maine, New
Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode
Island, Connecticut, New York, Now Jersey,
Pensylrania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, In
diania, Wisconsin, Iowa, California and
Oregon. I do not array them in contrast
with tho capital btatc*. I am no ussailant of
States All of tho State* nro jwrccls of my
own country—tho best of them not so wise
nnd great us I am sure it will hereafter be;
tho Sttto least dovclo]>ed nnd perfected
among them all is wiser nnd nnd better than
.»«» fimdr»n State I know. Is it then in any,
and in which of the State* 1 huvo named that
negro equality offend*tho white man's nrido?
Throughout tno wido world, where la the
State where clan and cu»to are no utterly
extinguished an they arc in each and every
one ot thein ? Let the European immigrant,
who aroidi the African as if hi* skin exhaled
contagion, answer. You find him alwaj%
in tho State where lalur is ever free. Did
Washington, Jeflemm, nnd Henry, when
they implored you to relinquiah ymir system
and accept tho ono we hate adopted, propose
to aink jou down to the level ot tho African,
or wa* it their desire to exult all whito inen
to a common political elevation?
A LITTLE mt!l BALK.
But wo do not sock to foreo, or even to in
trude, our system on you. We nre excluded
justly, wisely. and contentedly, from ail
political power and rciiponsibility in your
I'iipital States. You uro sovereign on the
subject of slavery within your ow n borders,
u* we nro on tho samo subject within our
l>order*. It is well and widely so arranged,
i Use your authority to maintain what sys
tem you pleaM. \Vo ore not distrustful of
tho result. We liavo wisely, as we think,
oxercised our* to protect and perfect tiio man
liooil of the member* of tho State. The
whole sovereignty upon domestic concern*
within the Union i* dlvkW between u* by
unmistakable b<Mir.daric*. You have youf
fifteen distinct jaris; wo eighteen parte,
equally distioct. £»<'•' tuust bo maintained
in order that the wholo may be prewired.
If oura shall be assailed, within or without,
by any enemy, or for any cauao.and we a hall
have noed, and we shall expect you to defend
it. If yours ahall bo ao aaaniled, in
th4 emergency, no matter I what the
cauae or the pretext, or who the foe, wa
ahall defend your sovereignty aa the equiva
lent of oar own. Wa cannot, indeed, ac
cept your system of capital or its ethka.—
That would be to surrender and subvert our
own, which wees term to bo better. Betides,
if wo.could, what need for any division into
.States at all ? You are equally at liberty to
reject oar system and it* ethics, and (0 main
tain tho supcnority of your own bj all the
force* of persuasion ami argument. We
roust, indeed, mutually discuss both systems.
All the world discuses all systems. "Kiipoci
acllv most we discuss them since wo have to
dccuie as a nation which ol tho two we
ought to ingraft on the new and future State*
growing up in the groat publio domain.—
DiwnjMion then being unavoidable, what
could be more wiso than to conduct it with
mutual tolerations and In a frstemal spirit ?
You oomplain that Republicans disoourss
to boldly and directly, when they ezprss*'
with oonfldcnce their belief that toe sjstcm
of labor will, in the end, be universally
accepted by the capital State*, acting for
themselves, and in conformity with their own
constitutions, while they sanction to unre
servodly books designed to advocate emanci
pation. But sorely Jyou oan hardly expect
timet tbo FtdMaUinmnai or sue puuu
cnl parties of the nation to nminUin a cen
sorship of the nrew or of debate. The theot y
of our system is, that error of opinion inay
in all cams safely be tolerated where reason
is left free to combat it. Wilt it be claimod
that more of moderation and tenderness in d*»
bate ure exhibited on your side of tho threat
argument than our own? We all learned our
polemics, as well as our prinapeU, from a
common master. Wo nro sure that wo do
not, on our eido, cxcocd his lessons and
example. Thomas Jefferson addressed Dr.
Trice, an Englishman .concerning his treaties
on emancipation in Amcrica, in this laeh
ion:
"Southward of the Chesapeake, your book
will fiml but few rtadera concurring with it in
sentiment on the auhjeot of slavery. From the
mouth to the hend ot the Chesapeake, the bulk
of the people will approve it in theory, and it
will find a respectable minority ready to adopt
it in practice ; a minority which, for weight,
and worth of character, prepondsratea against
the greater number who have not the courage
to divest their famlUea of a property which,
however, keepa their conaeiencea unquiet.—
Northward ot the Chcaa)>eakr, you may find
here and there an opponant to your doctrine,
aa you may find here and there a robber or »
murderer, but in no greater number."
"Th?a ] Virginia] in the next Wtatc to which
we may turn our eyes for the interesting
spectacle ofjuitice in conflict with avarice and
oppression—a conflict where the sacred aide is
ginning dally new recruits from the Influx into
office of young men, grown and growing up."
"Be not, then, discouraged. What you have
written will do a great deal of good : and could
you still trouble yourself about our welfare,
no man is moicable to help the laboring side."
You sue, sir that whether wo go for or
against slavery anywhere, wo must follow
southern guides. You may change your
pilots with tho winds or tho current*; but
wo whoao nativity .reckoned under tho North
Star, has rendered us somewhat superstitious,
must bo excused for constancy in following
the guidance of those who fruuied tho national
ship and guvo us tho chart for its tiohlu
voyage.
SOXKTII1XO riBTIlta Alio IT Till RXJTDLJCAN
VAUTX..
A profound respact and friendly regard
for tho Vice Presiaent ol tho United States
has induccd me to weigh carefully tho tcsti*
mony bo has given on tho suhjoct of the
hostility against tho South imputed to tho
Republican party, as derived from tho re
lations of the representatives of the two
parties ut this capital, lie says that he has
scon hero in the representatives of tho lower
southern States a most resolute and earnest
spirit of resistance to the Republican party;
that ho proccives a sensible loss of that spirit
of brotherhood and that feeling ol loyalty,
together with that lora for a common coun
try. which arc at laat tlio surest cement of
tho Union ; ao that, in tho present unhappy
condition of aflairs, ho in almoat tempted to
exclaim, that woarc dissolving week by week
aod month by month ; that tho thread* am
gradually fretting themselves asunder; and a
stranger might supposo that the Executive of
the I nited States wait the President of two
hustile Republics. It is not for rae to rake
a doubt upon tho correctness of tliif dark
picture, ao far aa tho southern group* upon
tho canvass are concerned, hut 1 must be in
dulged in the opinion that I can pronounco
iuj accurately concerning tho northern.or
Republican representatives here aa any one.
I know their public haunts and their private
ways. Wo are not a hostile Republic, or
representatives of one. We coufer together,
but only as tho organs of every pnity do,
a>id must do in a political system which
obliges us to act sometimes as partisans, while
it requires us a I ways to bo patriots and states
men. Differences of opinion, even on the
subject of slavery, with us aro political, not
social or personal differences. There is not
ono disunionist or disloyalist among us all.
We are altogether unconscious ol any process
of dirsolution going on among us or around
us. Wo have never been mora patient, and
never loved tho representatives of other sec
tions moro than now. Wo bear tho sarno
testimony for the people around us here,
who, though in tho very ranter where tho
bolt of disunion must full first and be must
fearful in its effects, seciu never lew disturbed
than now. Wo bear the nine testimony for
ulI the districts and States wo lepccasnt.
Tho people of tho North are not enemies but
friends and brethren of tho .South, faithful
nnd true as in the days when death has dealt
his arrows promiscuously among them on
common battle-fields of froedom.
W e will not suffer ourselves hero to dwell
on sny evidences of a different tern iter in the
South ; but we shall lie content with express
ing our belief that hostility that is not di>
signedly provoked, and that cannot provoke
retaliation,Is an anomaly that must be traced
to casual excitements, which cannot perpet
uate alienation.
TUI rUGUPEk'TMi. tiw-Tiua.
A canvtM for sprrsidentisl election, in
wmo rwpecU raorr important, pcrhape, tlmn
any since 1800, haa recently begun. JThe
IIoum of Keproscntativca was to be organised
l»y a majority, white no party could caal
moro than a plurality of vole*.
tiii mum's muY RAID.
TIjo gloom of the lata tradgey in Virgin*
ia rwted on the Gspitol from the day
when Conrmi assembled. While the two
Rieat political parties were peacefully, law
full*, and constitutionally, though sealoualy
romlucting tho great national issue between
free labor and capital labor for the Territo
rioe to its porper solution, through the
trials of the ballot, operating directly or In.
directly on tbo various departments of the
Government, a band of exceptional men,
contemptuous equally of that great qassfloo
and of tbe parties to the conUomsj, sad
impatient «f tbo constitutional system wbicfc
confines tbe oitiseoe of erery State to politi
cal action by Kftage in onniMd partial
witbin their own oordsn. Inspired fa 9*
en thnsiamn peculiar to
asperated by grievance and wrongs tU(
some of them bad suSsred by inroads of