Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1858-11-18
Delivered at Chicago, Sept. IS, 1858.
The remarks I sn going to offer will

:
The remarks sn going to offer wi
not be of the exciting and enthusiast
kind. will make nc constitutional al
guments, nor win quote authorities, nc
viii | indulge in personaiinvectives sgsins
Burhansn, Douglas, or any other man.
shall speak to your understanding, and cal
your attention to some of the simple an
brosd principles which rule the develop
ment of human afaifs.s --.ttL
= The ldestinies of nations and countries
sfe indeed not governed BY msjorities ant
Eosernmental authority alone. You viii
ssmetimss see nations struggle with al
most superhuman efforts against certain
impending dangers; but an overriding fs
sssiity eeems to frustrate all theirt xertions
This oyerruling fatality, which stands above
the power of majori,ies and governments
Ixiii call with q simple term-the logic q
thines and events. II is the close connec.
eion between cause and effect, between
principle and fsct-a connection which
cannot be severed, and the clear knowl.
edge of which is the only safe foundaj ion
Of political wisdom.
have heen taught by history that dem
ocrstie system of government, although it
may overcome local and Temporary incon-
veniences, cannot beer direct contradic-
tioh between political principles on the
ene and social institutions on the other
side. Such Inconsistencies wiz and must
bring forth questions and conflicts involv-
inc the very foundations of popular liberty.
They may appear in different shapes, but
when they have once taken possession of
the political arena they will overshadow all
other issues. Everything else will be sub
ordinate to them; they will form the only
Legitimate line o: distinction between par
ties, and all attempts to divert public atten-
ton from them, or I'd palliate them with
cohpfohises, or secondary issues. will
prove futile and aboftive: Their final de-
c;sion, one way or the other, will decide
the practical existence of a people.
Such contradiction is that between
Liberty, founded upon the natural rights
of man, and Slavery, founded upon usurpa-
tion; between Democracy, which is the
life-element of our Federal Constitution,
and Privilege, " hich is the lifeeIement of
the slavsholding system and Of Sputhern
society.
do NOT intend 10 make an Anti Slarers
speech, Ii the common understanding of
The term, dwelling al length upon the sdf-
ferings OF the bondmen aud the cruelty of
the master, and the sinfulness Of sin in gen.
srsI. My purpose is to investigate, from a
political stsnd-p point, the conflicts which,
as natural consequences, must spring from
the mixture OF the contradictory principles
if Slavery and Democracy. When in a
democratic community there is powerful
iadivdtai, or an association, or class of
ineu, whose clains and pretensions are in
conflict with the natural rights of man in
general or with the Legitimate claims of
6,her individuals, and who deem their own
particular interests above all other consiG-
tra,ions, we mas well say that the liberties
of the people are in danger. When such
an individual or class of men find that their
claim, and pretensions canno: stand before
d free criticism, they will spare no effort
to impose silence upon the organs Of public
opinion; they will use force, if argument is
oi-no svsil. They will endeavor to concer-
trsie all political power in their hands. and
to use it as machinery for the promotion of
their selfish ends, and as q safeguard of
their particular interests. They will resort
to usurpation, when by constitutional means
they can exercise no absolute control. =
In States which are ruled by absolute
nenarchs, the public press Is manaclea for
no other res son than that absolutisfii and
its,excresetces can lot stand before the free
criticism OF public opinion, and that it press
and speech were let Tree to-day; there would
be death-struggle between public opinion
and the absolute power Tomorrow, which
would result either in the complete over
throw of the latter or complete re-enslave-
ment of the former. But it is not essential
that this powerful and dangerous interest
should have monarchicai aspirations; it 1t
be an aristocracy, or an association OF great
merchants or planters, or, in general a
elaes of persons who have common inter-
ests which are inconsistent with the natu-
raj rights of man, and who Geem them su-
determined to defend them-the tendency
and the ultimate result will be the same.
To such an interest the people will nave
10 submit, or agsinst such an interest the
people will have to fight. There will be
strueg and there must be e victory, final
and conclusive. IApplanse Is this sp-
plicsble to Slavery and the Siaveaoiders!-
A rapid glance at the political development
of this country viii decide shat question.
In the SlavehoIding States all political
life is shaped by the ruling interest. While
the peo3le of the South profess he princi-
pie.:of equality ,one class Of citizens is aceus-
toned to rule and another to obey, (mark
I am speaking of the whites, not uf the
slaves and the whole machinery of gov
ernment, even to the smallest functions, is
in The, hands or under the control of the
slaveholding aristocracy. While they pro-
fess the principle OF political liberty, you
dare neither speak nor write word against
the peculiar institution. While they clai
10 be freemen they have fettered the hands
of the people with the most odious Polics
regulations, dictated BY the instructive fenl
common to all tyrsnts. While they claim
to be an enlightened people. they do no
suffer the great leading ideas of the age Il
be taught in their schools and colleges. 10
fear they might engender thought agains
Slavery. While they claim TO be religi
Gus and moral people, they address ever
, their prayers to no other God than th,
4 al.