Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1850-04-29
GENERAL SHIEEDs' SPEECH.

|
speeches of this session Of Congress, says
the Pittsburgh Post, We may. name that of
Gen. SHIELDS onsthe Territorial. question
; as ore Of the most dis.iR guished for elo-
|quence and general ability. 1t discovers
a wide range Of thought and enquiry, and
no one can read .itwi.hout the conviction
that the General has 4 large, most accom-.
plished. and .statesnanlike mild. Every
paragraph1of,it MARKS The thinker, as well
les the crates salesnan. e elevated
.fchafasssf. fhsfs IS not o. s.
Commonplace passage in,he whole speech,
. and even where subject has been. worn
threadbare by the round OF common-places
that have been uttered with regard to it,
the general by the magic which ever dis.
.tinguishes true genius, gives it freshness
and power and makes it the medium of
high philosophic intoxicating.
We make an extract, and regret that we
have not room for the whole speech:
Mr.. President, sincerely believe that
if the South had not assumed the eXtraordi-
nary position that slavery is the normal
law Of this country; that, like the electric
fluid it pervades all space; that it exists
throughout this whole land, where not ex-
cluded by law; that Shareholders can carry
their slaves like their horses to California
and New Mexico, by force and virtue of
the Constitution of the United States, and
contrary TO the municipal laws of Mexico
still in force there, the terrible feeling a.
wax ened in the North on the subject of
the Wilmot Proviso would never have
found such general expression in that por.
ton of the country. When Southern men
declare that slaves are like horses, mere
chattels; that they can carry with them in.
to California and New Mexico by virtue
of the Constitutions; that the Constitution
protects the right Of property in chattels,
and consequently in slaves, the Northern
feeling revoI.s against such claim. And
even the very best friends of the South are
compelled to reject such untenable preten-
sions. Sir, | cannot believe that you
Southern men (Mr. CLAY in the chair)
have absolute property in your slaves. -
You have property in their service, and
that service is perpetual. Slavery is a
state of perpetual servtude, and you have
a right to employ all necessary power
over the man to enforce such service
you have no absolute property in the man,
in that mysterious being composed OF body
and soul; you do not own him as you own
your horse, because no human law can
give you such property in him. Sir, slave.
ry never was understood in this sense in
any country, neither amongst the Romans,
the Greeks or even the Mahommedans, and
it is to be deeply regretted that such a
claim should bo urged by Christians.
: have already said that the South may
give up all idea of an equilibrium. Here
it never existed, and never can exist. Ii
is a most fanciful notion at best-the mere
dream Of political visionary. You can
not balance political power; you cannot
weigh it in scales; you cannot regulate ii
by any system of equipoises. The thing
is simply impossible. Why, sir, South
Carolina proud little State, spirited and
J. intelligent-has welded more political
power in this Confederacy for several
years past than some of the larger States
of the Union. The equilibrium has been
often tried but has always failed. The
French tried it. as they have tried every
kind Of experiment. After their first rev.
olution they established a Government,
most fancifully co instructed, upon an equi-
librium compounded ofterrtory and pop
alaton. 1t was the delight ofthe enthusi.
asts of that age No liberal politician Of
that day seemed fully to appreciate the alb
surdity of the experiment but Edmund
5 Burke; and that great English statesman
| should say Irish statesman--but Englanc
l appropriated him to herself, as she does
: all renowned Irishmen-that great states
man, mean 10 say, ridiculed the whole
: scheme, pointed out its absurdity and i'm
practicablity, and predicted its destruction
And, sir the prediction was soon verified
: The very first hehve efthe great political
r mass shattered the Government into 0
thousand fragments and buried its project
ors under its ruins. The experimen
e therefore wholly failed in France Aftcl
|, the fall Of Napoleon, the Holy alliance
tried similar experiment, and if any body
/ of men possessed the power to carry ou
> such an experiment, the members Of the
q Holy Alliance did at that time. They set
tied the relative power and condition O
the several States, and established great
continental system, upon what they GALES
the equilibrium of Europe. Sir, shoule
like to know what has become Of that sys-
Q tenn? Ishould like to find out the stale o.
/ the equilibrium of Europe now? Sir, in
|, my opinion. the Czar Of Russia could throw
r the whole Of Europe at this moment, with
n the exception perhaps Of France and Eng
d land, into one scale; and he would only
i have to throw his sword into the same scale
e and in twelve months Europe would be
: Cossack from the Bosphorus to the
' British chanel. So, the experiment of an
i equilibrium has utterly failed in Europe.
+ Sir it never has succeeded, and never car
: succeed. The thing is impossible, and i'm
t. practicable. You never can maintain 6
e permanent equilibrium between States, Oh
II nations, or parts of nations. But an
d wasting time unnecessarily upon such t
}. subject. PCS ss4
Now, sir, if all the dangers which tht
South sees in the far distant future, were
a at this moment, present and pressing upor
e US, would most respectfully ask South