The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-01-08


and peace, they could not do it. There is a
great, overruling, practical necessity, which
would prevent it. They ought not TO subml
TO upon principle If they could, and could not j
they soouldp
Slavery extension is an absolute necessity, to
furnish fresh lands and fresh fields for the blight
and curse of Slavery, to prevent master and
slave from perishing by starvation.
Sir, there is no crowding in the slave States
yet In the State represented by the gentleman
while they have improved but six millions OF
of their land there is still in the same State
sixteen millions unimproved. There is no neces-
sity for such demand yet for the STAKEHOLDER in
Georgia. From the census of 1850 we find that
the slave States have not yet occupied one fourth
of the territory within their limits. But be that
as it may, the advancement Of such a reason fol-
the extension of Slavery is startling to the we'll
wisher of his country, and is sufficient to convince
reasonable men everywhere of the patriotic pur-
pose of the Republicans.
Sir, when but one fourth of the territory given
to Slavery is occupied, and when there are now
but three million slaves, and we are admonished
that they want room for self-preservation-to
expand over the free Territories to preserve the
existence of master and slave--I ask, what will
be the condition of things when Slavery is ex-
tended to the Pacific, when we have fifty slave
States, with twenty-five million slaves and no
more room to expand?
If, indeed, Slavery is becoming dangerous and
burdensome on your hands now, what will it be
then upon your children?
But this cry for room is fallacious. 1t is not
room that you are so anxious to obtain, but
pOVer--poIiticaJ poacer-the power of him who
directs labor against those who lnbor-the power
of the three hundred and fifty thousand slave
holders against the millions of free laborers from
all parts of the Union. When stated, last ses-
sion of Congress, that the Kansas bill was passed
the Missouri Compromise repealed, simply to
strengthen political power in the South, gentle
men on the other side manifested much sensitive
ness, and denied any such purpose. Northern
and Southern men both said it was " to allow the
people to be perfectly free to form their own in-
situations in their own way" Southern men
said they did not expect it would be slave State
but that the restriction was odious discrim-
nation against them. Were not the people Of
Oregon and Minnesota entitled to be "perfectly
free also, and was not the restriction around
those Territories odious as the other? Yet
you never have complained of those restrictions
You have not taken the same Jealous interest in
the enlargement of their rights The answer is
obvious and it Is manifest to all men, that where
you could not get po1oer, you cared not for the
principle. The new Governor of South Carolina
in his inaugural which received this morning
makes an honest disclosure of your purposes
He says:
"Now, in order to preserve in some meas
ure, the power to protect the rights of the
Southern States in this behalf, we must pre-
serve the equilibrium between the two sections in
at least one of the Federal Councils. That
equilibrium in the Senate was disturbed by the
irregular admission of California; may BE-
restored by The admission Of Kansas
When you complain to us for want of room
when you talk to US about popular sovereignty,
and making men perfectly free, and all that
it is all we'll enough; but the great object that
underies it all is to maintain political supremacy
in the hands of the Slave Power, and that power
will be exerted to extend itself wider and wider
and yet at the same time you freely confess that
if unduly confined this institution will involve all
in certain destruction. Sir if these results are to
follow, then indeed is it the solemn duty of every
man who loves his country, and feels an interest
for her future and the safety of his posterity
to conine the evil to its present limits, and let
those who enjoy its blessings and hug it to their
bosoms manage it i'll their own way and at their
own time. 1t is matter of your own; we neither
wish nor desire any interference in its manage
ment; but it is unfair and unchristian for you to
involve our posterity in the evils that will neces-
sarily follow the extension of your own local
institution. Republican principles are right, and
| am proud to be an humble member Of that par
ty. True, was defeated in the last canvass, and
beaten by ballot-box polluted with illegal votes
yet, sir do not abate in the least degree my ar
dor for the principles have always held. We,
as political party are not looking to the inter-
ests of section, but looking to the interest of
the whole country--to the interest of all men at
the North, and the non-slaveholder at the South ;
and, as hare repeatedly stated, we leave the
STAKEHOLDER where we find him.
l am Republican, because we stand by the
Constitution in all its requirements We say
that free speech and free press are essential to
the preservation and perpetuity of our free inst-
tutions To purchase these great constitutional
rights, my own ancestors poured out their blood
yet so far as fifteen States of this Union are con-
cerned, they made the sacrifice in vain. AS Sla-
very advances, the Constitution of the United
States, in these, the most essential features be-
comes null and void.
Sir am not IN faror Of extending African Slavery
and limiting american Freedom. When we extend
the former, we limit, restrain, and prohibit the
other. Many excellent men have been driven
from the South, for simply exercising their con-
stitutional right
But gentlemen of the slave States say to me,
ado you wish to come and speak your political
sentiments and excite Instructions among our
slaves? 2" | say i have no such desire; but when
you tell me that such discussion is dangerous to
your institutions, you confess to me that, to
completely maintain Slavery, you have to strike
blow at the Constitution itself Before YOU
read long lectures to us upon our constitutional
duty, may l be permitted to suggest that you
pluck the beam out of your own eyes, that
you may see more clearly what you will do for
others?
But gentlemen of the South say that we are
opposed to equality in the Territories, and that we
desire to legislate for ourselves, to the exclusion
of them. l say no. / say that we are willing
that you men who own slaves shall come to the
Territories of the United States upon precisely
the footing, and with the same rights and privi-
leges, that we enjoy when we go into those Ter
ritories. What moro can you ask2 Are you
made out of any better material than we are
Has God given you more rights and privileges
than he has bestowed upon us2 Why cannot
you be content to come with your own hands and
your own strong arms, and hew out civilization
out of the Western wilds by the side of us and
upon the same plat form with us? If indeed, you
were excluded by Us, you would have reason to
complain; but we say to you, come but when
you propose to come and introduce species of
labor that will strike down our labor, that will
take away half of its value, that will degrade it
and put US upon a level with your slaves, then
we enter our protest; we say, no. come as we
come F.; labor as we labor; we will strike hands
together, and build up free institutions, and
cause the wilderness to bud and blossom as the
rose,
Gentlemen say it is question between fifteen
slave States and sixteen free States. Not at all.
1t a question whether the Slave Power-the few
men interested in the institution of Slavery-are
to control the Territories of the United States,
and govern the country, or whether the millions
of free labcrers shall control the Government
Thew apply to us opurobrious epithets. for ay