Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1856-01-10
Dangers of Slavery Extension.
SPEECH OF GOV. SEWARD,
AT THE REPUBLICAN, MsETISe AT ALBANY,
Friday Evening. Oct. u, 1855.

lcoscLUDED.
The public repose that followed the en-.
nexation of Texas was Of shor, duration -
Mexico resented that offence. A war en-
sued' and terminated in the transfer Of the
entire northern portion OF Mexico to the
United States The Mexican municipal laws
iOrbade Slavery everywhere, and the new
Possessions were under that law. Not a
whit the less for that reason, did the priv
ieged class demand either an equal parti-
ton, or that the whole should be ope ned to
their colonization with slaves. The House
OF Representatives resisted these prsten.
sions, as it had resisted similar ones before:
but the Senate seconded the privileged class
with its accustomed zes.. SO Congress was
divided, and failed TO organize civil Gov.
ernments for the newly acquired Mexican
territories. and they were left under martial
law. The questio raised by the priyileg-
( ed class went down to the electors. The
people promptly filled the House of Repre-
sentatves with a majority sternly opposed
20 the extension of Slavery the breadth Of
single square mile. They increased the
force OF the unpriyiiegel cass in the Senate
while they called to the Presidency Gener-
al Taylor, who, although himself slave
holder, was committed TO non-interven;ion
ON the question in Congress- and to execute
faithfully whatever constitutional laws Com
gress should adopt. Under these circum-
stances, California and New Mexico, youth
iul communities, practically free from Sla-
very, and uncorrupted by the seductions OF
the privileged Class OF its political organs.
has'ened to establish Constitutions. and
apply for admission as .ree States; while
the eccentric population of Deseret, inIulg-
( ing Ia;itudinarian principles equally in mat
tiers OF religion and politics, prayed to be
/ received into tfe Union as State or es
/ Territory, and with or without Slavery, as
Congress should prescribe. The privileged
class demonstrated, and seditous move
ment was organized in their behalf in the
savoholding States, to overawe Congress,
ii possible, and to inaugurate revolution 4
their menaces failed. You all know well
the way OF that memorable controversy
How eminent men yielded to the menaces
without waiting for the revolution, and
projected and rendered to the privileged
class new compromise, modelled after the
aIreadv time-honored compromise oil 1920
You all know how firmly, notwithstanding
this DETECTION Of leaders honored and be-
; loved, the House of Representatives, aud
even the Senate, repelled the compromise,
and how firmly the unprvleged class OF
ireemen throughout the Unipn demanded
the unqualified and unconditional admission
vi California into the Union, and refused to
aliol any further territories 10 the privleg-
ed class. for the extension Of the system
Of human bondage. You all remember,too,
how in critical hour the President sicken.
ed and died, and how the hearts OF Con-
g-esa and OF all the people snrrowed at his
grave, and thenccfcrward all was lost. You
remember how The provisional successor OF
that IamenteC President with ominous
haste accepted the resignation of his Cab
met, and committed the seals to new one
pledged like hlmse. 10 the adoption of the
4 compromise which the people condemned; |;
and how at last, after a painful struggle,
its adoption was effected | think, also,
that you have no. thus soon forgotten the
terms Of that compromise, the fourth final
and everlasting settlement of the conflict
between the privileged and the unpriyleg-
ed classes of this Republic. You have not
| forgotten how the Ordinance of l7S3,which
excluded 5 avery from the region north
west OF the Ohio, was left TO stand, as an
institution too sacred to be even question
ed. How the Missouri Compromise, which
extended that Ordinance across the Mss
issippi and over all Kansas and Nebraska,
was made at once the authority, precedent.
! 4,d .,f 81
even declared to be an irrepeaiable law
forever. How California, which refused to
become a slave STATE, was grudglngy admit
ted into the Union as free o6e. How
the hateful and detestabe slave auctions
were banished from under the caves OF the
Capitol, quite across the opposite bank of
Y the Potomac river. And huy, in considera-
ton OF these ,magLanimous and vast con-
cessluns made by the privi eyed class, it
was stipulated thai Slavery should be con-
tlnnsd IA tho District OF Columbia as 10 sg
as the privileged class should require lis
continuance New Mexico, with her fee
Constitution, was superciliously remanIed
20 her native mountains, while, without a
nearing, her ancient und free territory was
dlsmem5ered, pnd its iarest part transfer
red to Texas, with the addition Of ten mil
lions of dollars, to win its accep ptance by
) that defiant privileged State. You remem-
Der how it was soemnIy stipulated that
Utah and New Mexico, it the shareholders
could corrupt them, should come into the
Union, in due time, as slaveholdiug States;
and, finally, how the privileged class, SO
highly offended and eSasperated, were
brought to accept this compromise on their
; part, by re-cnactmenI of the then obso-
lete fugitive slave Law of 1898, with the
addition of the revolving features of an at
tempted suspension OF the hajeas corpus;
an absolute prohibition OF the trial BY jury;
: an effective repeal of vital rules OF pro-
cedure and evidence, and the substitution
. OF commissioners in place of courts OF
justice, in derogation of the Constitution
, You all remember how laboriously and
ostentstiously this compromise was Gssociat.
ed with the time-honored forms and so,
IDENTITIES of the Missouri Compromises; how
: it was declared not the result OF mere or,
dinsry legislation, but a contract. with
mutual equivlieats, by the privileged viii
the unp;ivileged classes, irrepealable and