The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-11-13
WASHINGTON, ID. {.
Reported for the National Era
SPEECH
OF
CASSIUSM NJ. CLAY, AT LEXINGTON, KY.
A
Delivered August !, 1851

of kentucky.
come. not as my rivals, Messrs Dixon and
Powell, backed by great political parties.
stand against the ruling class in the State and
Nation the wealth - the social ban the
press-and the pulpit. These are great odds
Yet standing here on the basis of Truth, JUS
tice and Liberty, as humble in popularity and
ability as the least appreciatiye of my friends
or enemies would have me- do not shrink from
the duties which every citizen Of Republic
owes to his country.
No man knows better than the deep-rOoted
preiudices which have been studiously planted
in the minds of this people from the begin
ming, against me personally and the cause
which advocate. Of this do not complain
He who would change the organic laws of a
State ought to be prepared to meet hatred,
calumuy. and yiolence-for such has been the
fate of Patriots in all times and in all cOun-
tries. pass all personal misrepresentation in
silence; if | cannot live them down, vain is
the attempt to speak them down.
Objections which have been made against
the party with whom have the honor to act |
deem worthy of notice
1t is urged that the question of Slavery and
Emancipation has been once considered, and
decided againstUs, by the people of Kentucky
and therefore il is iactious' again To re-
open it.
Now, this objection. if true, has but little
weight, coming from the Democrats, who have
been defeated for twenty years or more in this
State; yet now we find them arrayed once
more under their banners. So does it come
with equally bad grace from the Wings, who
have been in the nation relatively about in the
same position as the Democrats have been in
the State
The objection, when stripped of its casuistry,
means simply that we are in a minority. Now,
when 80 many men, even of first distinction,
are ready to float with the popular tide into
- Go. ~. ;.'yiee.,oe ,,r;do that rn
s.en9 frD, ~ DE aivSss,GY. Of what wo tuif-
oeve Ges At The basls e't 30, ntasierifv at
safety to the State. '"''
But the allegation is untrue The question
OF emancipation never has been fairly discussed
before, or decided upon by, the people Of this
State The forty men--who met in Frankfort
IN l84S, all shareholders, but still protesting to
represent all parties in the State interested in
the Convention ACKNOWLEDGEMENT that, so
far az they were concerned the then relations
OF Slavery should not be disturbed And again
when the Legislature met in the winter of that
year, resolution was passed that SidueTy ought
not 10 be discussed
whole Wing and Democratic press BY such
weight of authority against us, the Emancipa-
ton Convention, which met at Frankfort in
1849, was induced to defer making the battle
upon the merits of their cause, and only con-
tended for what is called the "open clause in
the Constitution so that the question of Eman
cipation mighh be- AS suggested by our oppo
nents decided, separately from all other nfluen-
ceS upon its merits. And such was the position
taken by the orators upon the stump and urg-
ed everywhere in private conversation,
Now, when the Constitution is formed and
carried into execution-when parties are mar
rowed down to the same platform so nearly |
that the matter Of contest between Wing and
democrat seems to be- whether there is really
any d ference in principl es-whcn the public |
mind IL calm and ready for sound conclusions |
and we mt last come forward and urge Enamel
patton upon just and constitutional grounds
these same men, who all along were saying
the time had not yet come, now clamor that
the time has passed-it is too late-the ques-
ton has been decided against us
No with the shareholders the time has not
and never will come for the consideration of
Emancipation If left to them they would,
like Sheridan with his creditors, put it off till
the day after Judgment!
We, then, friends of Emancipation and vital
republicanism, must Judge for ourselves of the |
time and means of throwing off this insttu- |,
ton, which wrongs" the slave and threatens
our own liberty We are all equals-we were
born lree--and while we allow to our opponents
all the privileges which we claim for ourselves
we avow our purpose to yield to others none
which we will not iearlessy demand
care nothing for party names, 30 that they
,,rno;,laS Tho Whioo ora ooIIoJ
Bank Federalists the Democrats Loco
focos "--we call ourselves Emancpationistsn
Liberty and Union men, Our enemies call
us "Abolitionists All we ask is the under
standing of our views upon them we are will
ing TO stand or TO fall
There are in the State Of Kentucky, in round
numbers, ten hundred thousand people Of
these two hundred thousand are African slaves
You all know what slaves are. BY the laws
of all the slave States they can neither acquire
nor hold property in their own right, "by the
sweat of the face" or by gift or devise, or
Inheritance To them is denied the family re-
lation. They know not the name of parent or
child - husband or wife-sister or brother:
they are not secured in life, liberty, or prop
erty, or the pursuit of happiness In word, |
they are subject in all these to the will of their
masters, in mind and in person, being ~ goods |
and chattels or beasts of the field
In this nineteenth century amidst a civilized |
and Christian people shall not discuss the
moral relation of such an institution M this | |
appeal to reason, which is monstrous largon if |
this se Just to every unsullied conscience, |
which is quick as a flash of light in revulsion |
when self is thus threatened to the works of |
nature, where by sea and shore each mute and |
living thing OF minutcst insignlcance has al
lottcd it by Providence an independent sphere
Of action and happiness--that not alone, of all
animated existcnces, is the poor African merged
in the will and happiness of others
Above all, upon that ver-to-be-held-sacred
and glorious saying Do unto others as you
would have others do unto yOu,' | rest the
question OF the moral relation of savery--to
reason, TO conscience tn nature TO God | will |
not add the weight of my ideas of the right.
! am not here NJ IA moralist but "A politician. OF.
if | may aspire to the higher title a statesman
and us Il statesman have discussed and still
propose TO discuss this subject
Next in order arc the owners of these two
hundred thousand slaves, In 1915, they were
from the Auditors books ascertaincd TO be about
thirty-one thousand-say, since then increased
TO thirty-three and third thousand The act
ual owners of slaves, then, in this State are only
one i'm every twenty-i0ur including men. women,
and children, of the white race But allow,
which is liberal, two persons more to each actual
stakeholder for those interested in these slaves,
as heirs or expectants by gift or devise and we
have only one hundred thousand persons! Take
the two hundred thousand slaves and the one
hundred thousand masters from the ten hundred
thousand, and you have remaining seven hun
dred thousand persons--scyen out of eight of
every man, woman, and child of the white race,
in the Commonwealth the people, in the
language of politicians who have no interest
in the ownership of these slaves
On the contrary. their eyery interest social