The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-01-22

but one vote to give, but he did not give even
that for Fremont. Garrison, speaking for him
self and his associates, did say:
The best wishes of every enlightened friend
OF Freedom must be on the side of Fremont; so
that, II there rere moral barrier TO our uOti,g,
and we had million of votes to bestow, we
should cast them all for the Republican candi-
date. Justly open 10 censure as the Republican
party is, on other ground-its fidelity to the Uni
ted States COnsttution, in regard to its Pro-Sla-
very compromiSes-itis deserving of commenda-
ton for endeavoring to battle the designs of the
Slave Power IN regard TO our Udst Territorial
possessions at the Vest"
Sir, this is what Garrison said and | call upon
the Senator to place this matter right before the
people whose ear he has. Garrison said, in ex-
PLANTATION of this position
We have uniformly expressed our preference
for Fremont as against Buchanan or Fillmore,
and this is the universal feeling of the ultra Abo-
litiOnists not because Fremont is an Adolf
ZIONIST, not because his party gives any counte-
nance whatever to our disunion views, or to
'ultraism in any shape; but because he and
they are right in resisting the extension of Sla-
very, and in that act necessarily have our SYM
pathies and good wishes, however culpable
they may be, and are, in other respects just as
we approved of Mr.. Websters course when he
declared: THE freemen of the North have
deep interest in keeping labor free, exclusively
free, in the new Territories Il
shall consent to no extension of the area of
Slavery upon this continent, nor TO any increase
of slave representation in the other House of
Congress- This is Fremontism, in whole and
in part-nothing mOre-nothing less"
The Senator also made the charge here that
the New York Tribune had appealed to the Gar
rison Abotionists, and to the supporters of
Gerrit Smith, to support the Republican party;
promising that in due time the Republican party
would go with them in attacking Slavery in the
States. To this declaration of the Senator, the
Tribune gives this complete denial
|" The Tribune made appeal whatever to
the Garrison and Gerrit Smith AbolitiOnists to
come over to the Fremont party, nor anything
ing the use of Federal authority or power to
overthrow Slavery in the States"
l call the attention of the Senators who make
it practice here before the people to class us
with the Garrison AbOlitiOnists, and with the
supporters of Gerrit Smith, to the precise and
exact difference between us. The Garrison
Abolitonists do not vote at all. They win
neither vote nor hold Office. They take no
political part or lot in the Government of the
country. They are not only committed against
the extension of Slavery, but they are committed
against Slavery in the slave States Believing,
with Brssot, that Slavery in all its FORMS in all
its degrees, is a violation Of divine law, and a
degradation of human nature" and believing
the Constitution to be what some honorable Sena-
tors this floor represent it to be, instrument
that recognises what Madison said he would not
embody in 1T, the idea that there can be prop
erty in man" they are in favor of dissolving the
present Union, and overthrowng the Federal
Constitution. | dissent, the Republican party
dssents, from their construction of the Constitu-
ton of the United States. We dissent altogether
from their disunion sentiments-we do not con-
cur with them in abstaining from the exercise Of
the elective franchise. | have ever ayowed that
disagreement at home-I avow it here. But
while disagree with them altogether, will DO
them the justice to say here that they have for
years devoted their lives and their property, and
incurred costumely and reproaches, for the cause
of the bondmen of America; and here or else
where, while | express my total disagreement
with them, ] will say that they of self
sacrificing devotion, and men of great ability,
who have studied the Slavery question in all its
aspects, collected volumes of statistics bearing
upon it in all its relatons-men at whose feet
the Senator from Pennsylvania Mr.. BIGLER1
and other Senators who so glibly pronounce
them fanatics, might sit and learn something of
Slavery in America.
There is a class of men calling themselves
Radical Abolitionists. They believe the Consti-
tuition of the United States is an Anti-Slavery
Constitution. They believe that the Supreme
Court which sits under us has the constitutional
power to proclaim the emancipation of every
slave in America, rs Lord Mansfield in England
and the Supreme Court in Massachusetts declared
Slavery illegal in England and Massachusetts.
They believe the Declaration of Independence to
he, in the words of John Hancock, " the ground
and foundation of future government in Amer
lea. They believe the declaration that all men
are created equal, underlies the foundation of our
political institutions. They believe that the Con-
sttution of the United States was ordained and
established to secure not only in the Territories
not only under the exclusive control of Congress,
but in all the States, the inalienable rights of
every human being. That is their position
The Republican party, Mr.. President, differs
with this party, as it differs with the Garrison
Aboltionists, in regard to the Constitution of
the United States When the members of the
first Congress assembled, in IVA, at Philadel-
plia, when they formed that first union of the
American Colonies, when they prescribed the
slave trade, when they made the articles of the
Association that bound together as one people
the inhabitants of these thirteen colonies, they
assumed no power over Slavery in the States.
When the Articles of the Confederation were made
in 1878, no power then specifically grant
e to Congress the local affairs of the States.
When the Constitution framed, the men who
framed it did not intend to give Congress the
power to abolish Slavery in the saveholding
States Opening the Constitution of our county
we find no power specifically granted to Con-
gress TO abolish Slavery in these States Sir, the
Republicans, like the Garrison AbolitiOnists and
the Radical Abo!itonsts, are opposed to Slavery.
We believe, with Burke, that Slavery is a state
so degrading to the feelings and capacities Of
human nature that it ought not to be suffered
to exist We believe, with Henry Clay, that
Slavery is n curse--a curse to the master---a
wrong, grievous wrong, to the slave that it is
all wrong, and no possible contingency can make
it right" We believe, with President Pierce, that
everything connected with Slavery is odiOus U
and, in the expressive language of the Trainer of
your Cincinnati platform, Eve in favor of
Freedom and free soil wherever man lives
throughout Gods heritage"
Since took my seat in the Senate, early in Feb
ruary, 1855, | have travelled more than thirty
thousand miles in fourteen of the free States;
have seeo hundreds of thousands of American
citizens in counsel ! have listened to many OF the
ablcst men of the country ] have counselled with
them; and ] never yet heard one word uttered
claiming power in Congress, or proposing to usurp
power in Congress, to abolish Slavery in the
slaveholdng States. The venerable Senator from
Michigan Mr.. CAss mistakes in the idea that
many persons voted under the conviction that
they were voting for the abolition of servtude in
the States. The Republican party was brought
into being because the people saw there was an
attempt making to reverse the action of the Gov
eminent for sixty years, and TO revolutiDnize the
whole policy of the Government in regard to the
Territories. The people of the whole country
were summoned to meet in June in Philadelphia,
to organize movement on the basis of the inhi-
btion OF Slavery in the Territories by Oongresson-
al action. The Republican party was then organ
lied and it announced to be its sentiments,
principles, and purposes
The maintenance of the principles promulgated
in the Declaration of independence, and embodied
in the Federal Constitution
The Federal Constitution, the rights of the
States. and the Union of the States shall he