Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-10-18
SPEECH OF SENATOR SEWARD.
The following is an extract from the speech o
-sSeuator Seward at Detroit, Oct. 1st.

You are impatient OF my theme, but | cannot re-
lease you yet. Mark, if you please, that thus far
j have only shown you the mere governmental or
ganisation of the slayehulding class in the United
States, and pointed out It's badges of supremacy,
suggestive Of our own debascmont and humilia.
tion. Contemplate now the reality of the power
of that class, and the condition 20 which the cause
of human nature has been reduced. In all the
Free States, the stakeholder argues and debates
the pretensions Of his class. and even prosecutos
his'ciaim FOR his slave hefure the delegate of the
Federal Government with safety and bolduess, MS
he ought. lie cxhorts the citizens of the Free
States 20 acquiesce, and even threatens them in
their very homes with the terrors of disunion II
that acquiescence is withheld, and he does all this
with safety, rs he ought, if it be done at all. lie
is listen cd to with patience and replied to with de-
corum, even in his most arrogant dcclamations In
the Halls of Congress. Through tic effective sym
pathy Of other property classes, the slaveholdlng
power maintains with entire safety a press ana
permanent political organic ltions in all the Free
States. On the contrary, if you except the north
ern border of Delaware there is nowhere, IN any
slavchOlding State, personal safety TOR n cltzen
oven Of that State itself who questions the riighttul
national domination Of the slaycholdlng class -
Debate of its prctcnsi0ns in the Halls ui Congress
i, carried on at the peril Of limb and life. A free
oress is no sooner established in II Slaveholding
State than it Is demolished, ana citizens who as.
semble peacefully to discuss even the extreme
claims Of Slavery, are at first cautioned and if
that Is lneuectudl, bdlllsHeu Ut sum, even more
surely Than the r~osistants of military despo,ism in
the French Empire. Nor, except Just new, has
the case been much better, even in the Free States.
1t is only as OF yesterday when free citizens, as
sembled to discuss the exactions of the slavehold-
in class, were dispersed in Boston, Utica, PLila-
delphia, and New York. 1t is only MS of yester-
day when | rose. on request OF the citizens Of
Michigan at Marshall, to speak of the great polit
cal questions of the day, | was enjoined not to
make disturbance, or to give offence by speaking
of Free Soil, even on the ground which the ordi-
nance of 1877 had saved to Freedom. 1t was only
MS of yesterday that Protestant Churches and The
illogical Seminaries, built on Puritan foundations,
wed with the organs of the slaveholding class in
denOuncing q legislator, who in the act OF making
laws affecting its interest declared thatEa human
Jaws ought to be conformed to the standard OF ete!'
nal Justice. The day has even not yet pa ,sed
when the Press, employed in the service Of eorcfr
ton and morality, eXpurgates from the books which
are put into the hands of the young all reflections
on Slavery. The day yet lasts when the flag OF
the United States States faunts defiance on the
high seas over cargoes of human merchandise
Nor is there an American representative anywhere
IN any one OF the Tour quarters OF the globe tina
does not labor to suppress even there the discussion
Of American slavery, lest it may possibly affect the
safety of the slavehOlding class at home.
If in a generous burst of sympathy with the
struggling Protestant Democracy Of Europe We
bring off the field one of their fallen champions tt
COnuOlC WIN wv COIhiOTl MINI, We huulCllN us
Germ that the mere agitation Of the principles Of
Freedom tends to alarm the slaveholding class
and we cast him OF again as n wait, not merell
worthless, but dangerous to ourselves. The natu
raj ana ancient order of things is reversed; Free
dom has become subordinate, sectional and local
Slavery in lis influence and combinations has be
come Predominant, national ana general. Free
direct and manly utterance ia the cause OF Free
dom even in the Free States themselves leads tc
to ostratism, superserviceabili,y to the slavehold
ing class alone secures preferment in the national
councils. The descendants Of Franklin and Ham
ilton and Jay and kiug are unprized,
"---.til they learn to betray;
uniistinguishei they lave, il they shame not their sircs,
And the torch that would light them to disnity's way; E,
Must be caught from the pi c when their country expires"
In this course Of rapid public Generalization,
what wonder is it that the action OF the Govern
meut tends continually with f~earfully augmenting
force to the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of the slayeholdlnG
class? A Government can never be better OF wi
ser, or even so good, or SO wise as the People owe
whom it presides. Who can wonder then that thu
Congress of the United States in 1920 gave up thu
west bank of the Mississippi quite up to the pres
ont line Of Kans as, and was content to save fU
Freedom out of the vast region OF Louisiana only
Kansas and Nebraska? Who can wonder that i
consented to annex aud admit Texas with power
TO kubdyide herself into five Slave States, 80 as t.
secure the slayehOlding class a balance against The
EreeStates then ex pected to he. ultimately organized
in Kansas and Nebraska? Who can wonder that
when this annexation of Texas brought on a wal
with Mexico, which ended in the annexation OF
Upper California and New Mexico, every foot OF
which was free from African Slavery, Congress d.
1ided that vast territory, reluctantly admitting the
new State Of California as a Free State because
bh3 would not consent to establish Slavery, dis
membered New Mexico, transferred o large portion
Of it to slavehJlding Texas, and stipulated that
what remained Of New Mexico together with Utah
should be received as Slave States if the people
the eof should so demand Who can wonder that
the President, without any reprool by Congress,
simultaneously offered to Spain two hundred mil
lions of dollars for the purchase OF Cuba, that 1t
might be divided into two slaveholding States, tC
he admitted as members of the Federal Union, and
at the anne time menaced the European Powers
with war if they should interfere to prevent the
consummati1 IN or the purchase? Who can wonder
that, emboldened with these concessions OF thu
people. Congress Mt last sanctioned a reprisal by
the slavehOliing class upon the regions OF Kansas
and Nebraska, not on the ground that the oiigina
concession of them to Freedom was extorted by in
Justice and unconstitutional oppression by thu
Free States. Who can wonder that the slavehold
iny class. VIXEN it had obtained the sanction o
Congress 10 that reprisal, by giving a Wedge tina
the people of these Territories should be perfectly
free, nevertheless, to establish Freedom therein
invaded the Territory Of Kansas with armed tr
ces, inaugurated an usurpatinn and established
Slavery there, and dislranchised the supporters o
Freedom by tyrannical laws, enforced 10y fire am
EhOIus anu Nlhl Aht 4 Eolitl ubA Gtliblt u1dlnlil
and uphold the slaveholiing interests in these cul
i~ninating demonstrations of th0ir power, while tn,
House Of Re representatives, lacks the power, be
cause it is wanting in the virtue to ascue the in
terests Of Justice, Freedom and Humanity? VIII,
can wonder that Federal courts in Massachusetts
indict defenders of Freedom for sedition, in Penn
sylvania subvert the State tribunals, and peryer
the IIabeas Corpus, the great wit Of Liberty, in
TO a process for arresting fugitive slaves, and con
strues into clntempt, punishable by Imprisonment
without bail or maiBprize, the simple and truthfu
denial of personal control over a fugitive femat
slave, who has made her own voluntary escap,
from bondage? Who can wonder that in Kansa
lawyers may not plead or iuries be impaneled il
the Federal Courts, nor can even citizens vote witt
out frat swearing to support the Fugitive Slay
Law and The Kansas and Nebraska Act, while cit
liens who advocate free institutions may pass, FIRE
taverns where they may rest, and free presse
through which they may speak, are destroyed I'm
der indictments for nuisaRces: md those VIII.