The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-09-11
of events are rapidly tending toward such a
catastrophe. JAMES BUCHANAN.
JOHN Y. MASON
PIERRE SoULE.

of events are rapidly tending toward such a
| catastrophe. =" JAMES BUCHANAN.
| " JOHN Y. MASON.
| PIERRE SoULE.
"Air La Chapelle October Is, 1854"
Oh yes, we will need Cuba we do need it now !;
and Central America, why we shall need that by
the time we can get it, and that will be as soon
| as Walker and his filibusters shall put slavery
| fairly under way there Have it why not have
| it when such doctor of divinity as Old Buck
says we are entitled to it by divine law7 There,
| Mr.. Chairman, is your president who will be his
| own chaplain, and do his own preyiag.
But Mr.. Chairman, this is getting slightly, but
| no more than that, in advance of the "wagon."
| Let us return to the handiwork of the slave de-
mocracy for the adrent of another dispensation of
| harmony-another fnalty to succeed the old
and worn out fnality" of 1850. The scrip
| lures say, that the " sinner an hundred years
old shall be accursed )" but slave democratic
inality" is in as sad plight at four years old,
| as the sinner at an hundred" So they cursed
their old fnality" of 1850, and introduced an
other in 1854, by the repeal of the Missouri COM
promise; which, in the short period of two years,
has deserved and received more cursing by friends
and foes, than it of 1850, all its predecessors
put together. Indeed, this last seems to have had
bad effect even according to the democratic doc
| tors themselves, inasmuch as it was a surfeit of
slavery which has resulted in the I" black ire
publican) vomit"
But seriously, Mr.. Chairman, what have spo-
ken ironically is nevertheless, not AN unfaithful
| picture of our present condition as nation,
under the wicked and imbecie attempt ofthe slave
holders and the slave democracy, to strengthen
the institutions of freedom, by nursing and feed
| ing them on the garbage of human bondage.
God knows, Mr.. Chairman, that DESIRE as ear
| nestly as human nature can long for any earthly
blessing, the perpetuity of the union of these
| states, just so long as the union shall subserve
the ends for which our fathers formed it; but my
| convictions, that the accumulated perversons of
those ends and objects, will if repeated at no dis
| tant PERIOD subvert the union, are as strong and
earnest my desires for its perpetuity. Sir l
have no faith in the conservative efficacy of any
| thing for states and nations, but the healing
| virtues of justice, truth, and liberty.
| Mr.. Chairman, it was my design, before resu-
ming my seat, to say something on the causes
which have led to the disgraceful state of things
in Kansas state so repugnant to every senti-
ment of national PRIDE to say nothing of justice,
| peace, or even common decency? Sir, there is
involved in these Kansas troubles, something low,
| vulgar, dirty, savOring of the fsh-market, on the
| part of the administration, mingled in the causes
| and accomplishments of these shameful scenes
much, sir of the low, disgusting arrogance of the
overseer, in his brutal efforts to subdue some re-
| fractory slave. awe mean to subdue you" is the
ebulliton of vulgar nature, elevated by means
and it is the mnging of this base spirit with OK
exutive power in Kansas, which has been at the
| root of all these shameful scenes.
But before going further on this subject, | wish
| to say few words, sir, on this new-fangled doc
trine of squatter or popular sovereignty, as appi-
| cable to the promiscuous settlement of new ter
| ritories, by shareholders and persons opposed
| either on conscientious economical, or any other
! grounds, to the holding of slaves. AS simple
30 c{o Shf for
the moral question involved in the extension and
| perpetuity of slavery, no congregation of block
| heads ever committed a more egregiOus or more
! shallow blunder. Why, popular sovereignty i'm
plies not only the right but imposes the necessity fol
the most absolutely free discussion by the press
| and by the exercise of perfect freedom of speech
| by the people. How can popular institutions be
rightly established without the exercise of those
fundamental rights The negative of this ques-
tion strikes at the root of democratic institutions
| The FREE STATE POPULAR sovereign must have
the same right to discuss the shareholders right to
his slave, as moral, religious, and economical
| question, as he has to discuss the policy of in
cooperating banks, granting city charters, or es'
| tablishing the legal height and strength of d.
vision fence. The moment this right is taken
from him, that moment, he ceases to be a "pop-
| ular sovereign" But slavery can bear no such
| discussion. The slave must not be told that he
has, by the law of nature, the right to seek his
own well-being in his own way, doing no harm
| to Others-that he has right to labor, and to
receive use and dispose of the fruits of his labor
that his wife and children are his own, and not
anothers.
Sir, the single free state squatter sovereign
| who is able to plant himself down in a terri
| tory, and exercise these undoubted rights Of
squatter sovereignty, would, by this simple pro-
cess of truth-tellng, expel every slave and slave
holder from 100000 square miles of territory
But the slaveholding squatter sovereign mu 81
be authorized to silence all such damnahle
heresies," coming from his free state brother
eregn; slavery must stink away from the
territories, like ghosts at the dawn of morning
But the craftsmanship of the Nebraska bill is
to set free state squatter sovereign, against slave
holding squatter sovereign, contending for free
dom against slavery and slavery against freedom
in the territories, openly, with free speech and
free press.
The shareholders understand this perfectly
| and hence the inherent and fundamental right
of freedom of speech and the press, does not and
cannot exist in slaveholding communities. This
is a necessity of despotic governments it is more
than necessity Of despotism, it is in ITSELF the
| essence of despotism. And, sir, there is not a
more morbdly suspicious, cruel, revengeful, or
lawless despotism the face Of the earth, than
the nightmare of slavery, which has settled down
| upon the people of the slaveholding states, with
states. Why sir, there is more freedom of speech
and of the press to- day, and more personal safety
in the exercise of such freedom, at Vienna, ST. Pc
tersburg, Paris, or Rome, in an attack and ex-
posure of the despOtism which reigns supreme
over those cities, than there is at Richmond
Charleston, Milledgevlle, or Mobile, to attack and
pose the saveholding despotisms which rule
over these cities with rod of iron. Sir, there
are probably more citizens, born and nurtured in
the slave states, now in exile from their native
states for the exercise of freedom of speech and
the press, against the despotism of slaveholding,
than there are from Austria, Russia, France or
the Two Siciies, for the exercise of the same
rights, against the despotisms which crush those
nations.
Why, sir, free speech and free press, would, in
less than a decade, drive slavery from every
| slave state in the union 1t would exclude sla-
very from every territory belonging to the United
States in half that time. This truth, the men OF
1920 saw clearly; and they saw that slavery and
liberty could not dwell together on the same soil
| that these two must separate or fight. They
therefore drew line of separation between
them, and instantly their territorial discussions
ceased. But the slave democracy of our times,
could not rest, while foot of soil was dedicated
to freedom. So they threw down the bars which
our fathers had raised between freedom and sla-
very, and instantly, these two mortal foes are at
each others threats, just as every sensible and
honest man knew they must be. This is the
finale of the squatter-sovereignty humbug, as q
stroke of craftsmanship; and it is but another
illustration of the maxim, that q child or q
fool may destroy in hour what it required the
wisdom and the labor of ages to construct
The great procuring cause of these troubles
| we all know to have been, the repeal of the Mis-.
sruri compromise; and the cause of this repeal