Wisconsin herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1846-1849, 1848-09-02


the slave trade should be continued for
twenty years and the North agreed that they
would vote 10 contnue the slave trade for
twenty yearly; yes. voted that this new Re-
public should engage in piracy and murder
az the will of two States! So the historv
reads; and the condition Of the agreement
was that those two States should agree To
some arrangement about navigation laws.--
do not blame South Carolina and Georgia
tor this transaction any more than do those
Northern States who shared in il. But SUM-
pose the question We're now presented here
by any one, whether we should adopt the
foreign slave trade and continue i, fort ens
~ years, would not the whole land turn pale
with horror, that in the middle of the Nine.
teenth Century, a citizen of free commnnS
ity, Senator of the United States, should
dare TO propose the adoption of a system
that has been dcnominaied piracy and mnrS
der, and is 10y law punishable by death all
over Christendom? What did they do thens
They had power to prohibit it, but at the
command of these two States they al
lowed that ~ be introduced into the Cohsii-
tuition to which all Slavery now existing I'M
our land is clearly to he traced. For who
can doubt that but for that woiul bargain,
Slavery would by this time have disappears
ed from all the States, with one or two exS
ccptions' The number of slaves in the U1
nited States at that period was about six
hundred thousand; il is now three millions.
And Just as you extend the area of Slavery.
so you multiply the difficulties which lie in
the way of It's determination. Ii had beer
infinitely better that day that South Carroll.
ma aud Georgia had remained out of the
Union forever, rather than that the Constis
stituton should bave.been made to sanction
the slave trade Tor twenty years. The dis
solution of the Contederacy would have been
nothing in comparison with the recognition
of piracy and murder. can CONCEIVE Of
nothing in the dark record of mans enor-
mites, from the death of Abel down to this
hour, so horrible as that of stealing people
from their own home, and making them and
their postcrty slaves forever ID is a crime
which we know has been visited, rs we
know from the pages of Sacred History, by
the vengeance and wrath of Almighty God
In thus characierlzing this accursed traffic;
! ! speak but the common sentiments of all
mankind. could not, if | taxed my feebls
intellect 10 the utmost, denounce il in Ianz
gunge us strong as that uttered by Ihomkd
Jefferson himself Nay, more, the spirit Of
that great man descending in his grandson;
in your Virginia Convention, denounced tho
Slave trade ms now carried on between the
States, MS being no less infamous than that
| foreign Slave trade carried on in ships that
went down Into the sea. ! speak of Ihoms
as Jefferson Randolph. II you would not
30 To Africa and thence people California
with slaves, may you not perpetratc equal
enormities here? You take the child from
I its mothers heart-you separate husband
and wIie--and you transport them three
thousand miles off across the broad Adam
/ tic.
! ] know that this is n peculiar institution,
aud ! doubt not that III the hands of such
gentlemen rs talk about il here, it may be
made very attractive. ID may he a very a.
greeable sight to behold large company of
Dependents, kindly treated by n benevolent
master, and 10 trace the manifestations of
gratitude which they exhibit. But in my
eyes much more grateful spectacle would
he that of patriarch in the same neighbor-
hood, with his dependents all around him,
invested with all the attributes of freedom
bestowed upon them by the Common Fa-
ther in whose sight all are alike precious -
II is, indeed, very "peculiar" institution.
According To the account of the Senator from
Mississippi, (Mr. Davis) this institution ex-
hiblts all that is most amiahle and beautiful
in our nature. That Senator drew pic
ture of an old, gray-headed negro woman
with her hand upon the soft head Of the
masters child and blessing him and his ia
therefor wbatl For the stamp of partns
sequifur ventremi But he concealed the
other side of the picture; and it was only re-
veaed 10 us by the quick apprehension of
the Senator from Florida, (Mr. Westcott)
who wanted the power To send a patrol all
over the country TO prevent this old nurse
from throllllng her mastcrl ] had almost
believed, after hearing the beautiful, rol
mantle, sentimental narration Of of the Sem
ator from Mississippi, that God had indeed,
as he said made Ibis people IN Africa, TO
come over here and wait upon US, till the
Senator from Florida walked me up TO re-
collection Of the old doctrines of Washing
ton and Jefferson, by assuring us that
wherever that patriarcbal institution existed,
rigid police should he maintained IN order
30 prevent the old woman from cutting the
throat Of somebody IL is then very "pccu-
har'' institution Those who live under 10
cannot exist a day without caresses; and on
the next they must be provided scores Of
constalles with clubs in their hands, 10 keep
them from cutting each others threats! A
inugh.]
I do not wish to extend that institution
into these territories. Is il pretended that
slave labor could he profitable in Oregon or
California; Do we expect TO grow cotton
and sugar therei | do not know that il
may not lie done there; for as the gentleman
from New York has told %, just as You go.
west upon this continent, the same line of
latitude changes very much, so thatyou may
have very different iSothermal line rs you
approach the Pneifc Ocean. But do not
care so much about that; my objection IS
radical one 10 the institution eyerywnere.--
! do believe, IL there IS any place upon the
Gl0iie which we inhabit where a white man
cannot work, 10 has no business there. IL
that place IS tit only for black men TO work,
let black men alone work there. ! do nor