The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1854-06-07
Mr.. Seward on Nebrasks.

give below the more striking portions.
Having commenced by saying, II rise
with no purpose of further resisting, or
even delaying, the passage of this BILL"
the honorable Senator proceeded as fol
lows
SO far as am concerned, the time for
looking on tho dark side has passed.
feel quite sure that slavery, at most, can
get nothing moro than Kansas, while
Nebraska, the wider northern region.
will escape, for the reason that its soil
and climate arc uncongenial with tho
staples of slave culturc-ricc, sugar, COT
ton and tobacco Moreover since tho
public attention has been so we'll and sd
effectually directed toward the subject,
| cherish hope that slavery will not
bo able to gain foothold even in Kan
sas. Congress only give consent, but it
does not aud cannot introduce slavery
there. Slavery will be embarrassed by
Its own ovcr.grasping spirit. No one, /
am sure, anticipates the re.establishmens
of the African slave trade The tide of
emigration is to be supplied there solely
ty the domestic fountain OF slave pro
duction. But slavery has other regions
besides Kansas to be filled from that
fountain. There is all of Mexico and
all Of Utah already within tho United
States; and tLtr there is Cuba, that
consumes slave labor and life as fast as
any one of the slave-holding States can
supply it and besides these regions
there remains all of Mexico down to the
1sthmus.-The streams of slave labor
flowing from small fountain, and brok-
en- into several divergent channels, will
not cover so great field and it is roa-
sonably to be hoped that the part Of it
nearest to the North Polo will be the
last to bo inundated. But African
slave emigration is to compete with froe
emigration of white men, and tho source
of this latter tide is as ample as the civ
ilization of the two entire continents
The honorable Senator from Delaware
mentioned, as If it were q startling fact,
that twenty thousand European emig-
rants arrived in New York in one month.
Sir, he has stated the fact with too much
moderation. On my return to the Cap
ital a day or two ago, met twelve thu
sand of these emigrants who had arrived
inNew York on one morning and who had
thronged tho churches on the following
Sabbath to return thanks for deliverance
from the perils of the sea, and for their
arrival in land not of slavery but of
liberty. also thank God for their es
cape, and for their coming They are
on their way to tho west, and the news
Of the passage of this bill proceeding
them will swell many OF them towards
Kansas and Nebraska. Such arrivals
are not egtraordinary-they occur al.
most every week; and the immigration
from Germany, from Great Britain. and
Norway, and Sweden, during the Euro
poan war, will rise to six or seven hun
dred thousand souls in a year. And
with this tide is to be mingled ono rap
idly swelling from Asia and from the Js
lands of tho South Sea- And all these
emigrants under this bill as the House
of Representatives overruling you hava
ordered, will bo good, loyal, liberty-lov-
ing, slavery-fearing citizens. Come on
then, gentlemen Of the slave States.
Since there is no escaping your chal-
lenge, | accept it in behalf of the cause
of freedom. We will engage in competi-
tion for the virgin soil of Kansas. and
God give the victory to the side which
is stronger in numbers as it is in right
Do honorable Senators then indeed
suppose they are establishing principle
at all ? Ifso | think they eereglously
err whether the principle is either good
or bad, right or wrong They are not
establishing it and cannot establish it in
this way, You subver. oho law caprici
ously by making another lais in its place.
That is all. VIII your new law have
any more weight, authority, solcmniiy,
or binding force on future Congresses
than the first had You aIrogate tho
law of your predecessors-they will have
equal power ani equal liberty to abrogate
yours, You allow no barriers raised a
round the old Law to protect it from alb
rogation. You erect none around your
new law to stay the hand Of future inno-
vators. On what ground do you expect
the new law to stand ? If you are candid
you will confess tha. you rest your hopes
on the ground that the Free States will
never agitate repeal, but always a,quies-
&C. 1t may be that you are right, I sun
not going to predict the course Of the
Free States. l claim no authority to
speak for them, and still less to say what
they will dG But may venture to say
that il they shall not repeal this laH; i.
will not be because they are not strong
enough TO do il. They have power in
the House of Representatives greater
than that of the Slave Statos, and when
they choose to exercise it, poEsr great
or even hero in the Senate. Tho Free
States are not dull scholars even in prac.
teal political strategy. When you shall
bayo taught them that a Compromise
law establishing freedom eau bo Rbrogat-
ed and the Union nevertheless stand,
you will have let them into another Sc
cret, namely that law permitting or
esta blishing Slavery can be repealed and
The Union nevertheless remain firm. Ii
you inquire why they do not stand by
their rights and their interests more
firmly, will tell you TO the best of my
ability. It is because they are conscious
Of their strength, and therefore unsus,
pccting and slow to appreheLd danger
The reason why you prevail in SO many
contests is because you are in perpetual
fear.
There cannot he a conyocation of Abo
litionists, however impractical, Fancuil
Hall or the Tabernacle, though it con,
sists Of men and women who have separ.