The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-10-30
The Brutal and Bloody Manifesto Of
Senator Seward.
THE NEW ISSUE FOR 1860.
Proposed Total Destruction Of the South
ern States and their Institutions,
6C., &c, GC
Speech OF William VI. Seward, delivered at
Rochester,. Monday. Oci. 21. 1868.

which all around show that you are earnest men
and such am l. Let us, therefore, at least for a
time pass by all secondary collateral whe
ther OF personal OF general nature consider tn,
main subject Of the present The democratic
party-or, to speak more accurately, the party whic
that attractive names In possession of the federal
government The republicans propose to dislodge that
party and dismiss il from its high trust The sub
ject, them Is whether the democratic party deserves
retain the confidence OF the American people In attempt
ing to prove II unworthy, | think that actuated
by pendces against that party or by prepossessone in
favor OF It's adversary; for have learned, by expe
rence that virtue and patriotism, vice and selsiDess
found in all parties and that they differ less p
their motives than the policies they pursue Our coun
try s theatre which exhibits, in full operation, rad
caily different political systemsthe resting tho
basis OF servlc slave labor the other on the basis
Of voluntary labor OF freemen. The laborcrs who
are enslaved are all negroes or persons or less
purely OF African derivation. But this only accidental
The principle OF the system is, that labor every
ty by whomsoever performed necessarily unintellec
ua groyelng and base and that the aborer equally for
his own good and for the welfare of the State ought
enslaved. The white laboring man. whether native or
foreigner Is not ensaved only because hc cannot yet
be reduced TO bondage, You not be told now that
the slave system the older Of two that once
was universal The emancipation Of ancestors
Caucasians and Europeans az they were-bardy dates
beyond period Of i've hundred Tho great melo-
ration OF human society which modern times exhibit, is
mainly due to the substitution Of the system OF volun
ary labor for the old OF scrvle labor which has
already taken place This African slave system ~ ono
which, in its origin and its growth has been altogether TO-
reign from the habits Of the which colonled these
States and established civilization here II
this new continent engine OF conquest and for
the establishment OF monarchical power by tho Portu
guesc and the SpaDiards, and rapidly extended by
them all south Amersa, Central America Louisiana
and Mexico Its legitimate fruits seen in the poverty
imbecity and anarchy which now pcrvade all Portuguese
and Spanish America The free labor system is OF Ger
extraction and established our country by
emgrants from Sweden, Holland, Germany Great Britain
and Ireland. We Justly asefibe 10 its influence tho
strength wealth, greatness intelligence and freedom
which the whole American people enjoy. One of tho
chef clements Of the value Of human life Is freedom in
the pursuit Of happiness The slave system not only
ntoerant, unjust and inhuman towards the laborer,
whom, only because he IL hborer il loads down with
chains and converts into merchandise, but scarcely
10 the freeman, to whom only because he s laborer
from necessity, denies facilities for employ mcnt and
whom expcls from the community because il cannot en-
slave and convert him into merchandise also. IL is ne
cessarily mprovldent and runOua because general
truth, communities prosper and flourish droop de-
cline in just the degree that they practice neglect to
practice, the primary duties Of justice and humanity
The free labor system conforms tho Divine law Of
equality which Is written in the hearts and consciencea
Of men and therefore, always and eyorywherc bene
acent The slave system s OF constant danger dis-
trust suspicion and watchfuness II debases those whose
toll alone produce wealth and
10 the lowest degree Of which human nature capable 70
guard against mutny and nsurrccton, and thus wastes
energies which otherwise might be employed in national
devsorement and The free labor System
educates all alike and by opening all the fields Of indus
trial employment and all the departments Of authority
the unchecked and equal rivalry OF all classes Of men
universal contentmcnt and brings into tho
highest possible activity all the physical moral social
energies OF the whole State In States where tho slave
system prevails the masters directly Indirectly secure
all political power and ruling aTlstocrasy In
the states whcre the
suffrage necessarily obtains and the State inevitably
becomes, later, rcpublc democracy Russia
ystmantalns slavery, and adespotsm Most Of the other
European states have abolished slavery and adopted tho
system Of free labor II the antagonstc political Ten
dcncics Of the two systems which tho Napoleon wa.
contemplating when he predicted that Europe would Mil
mately be either all Cossack all republican Never did
human sagacity utter more pregnant truth. The tw
systems are at once perceived to be incongruous Bu
they are more than nc0ngruoushey are incompat BILE
They never have permanently existed together In ON
country, and they II would easy 10 demon
strate this mpossiby from the reconciable oontras
between Their great principles and characteristics Bu
the experience of mankind has concusyey h
slavery as have already intmated, existed in ever
state IN Europe Free labor has suppianted evcrywher
except In Russia and Turkey State neccssties deveope
in modern times, are now obgng those two nations
TO encourage and employ free labor already despoc
as they are, we find them engaged in abo hng slavery
In the United States slavery into coaon with fe.,
labor At inc close Of The last century and fell before
New England New York, New Jersey and Pennsylyania
but uumphed over II efectuay, and excluded for DE-
rod yet undetermined from Virginia, the Carolinas and
Georgia Indeed SO Incompatible the two systems
that every new state which s organized within our ever
extending domain makes It's first political act a chore
o. be one and an exclusion Of the other, even al the
out law, at the last national election forbade within
their own limits, even the casting u votes for can
didate Tor President o( the United states supposed 70
be favorable TO the establishment Of the free system
in States Hitherto the two systems hav. eyss.d M
different S,ates put sdc by side, within the American
Union This has happened because th. Union confed-
Grafton OF States But in another aspect the United States
constitute only one nation. Increase Of population which
with new and extended network railroad and other
avenues, and an internal commerce which daliy be
comes more intimate rapidly bringing the INTO a
higher and more perfect social unity consolidation.
Thus these aniag0nlstc systems continually coming
into closer contact and collision results. Shall tell yon
what this collision mcansS They who think that IL &C
cldcnal unnecessary the work of Interested or fanal
aga,ors, and therefore ephcmcra mistake the case alto.
gether. II is rrepressibc conflict between opposng
and enduring forces and means that tho tinted states
must and Will, sooner later become entirely slave
holding nation or entirely free labor Either tho
aulr falf cafG
tations Of Louisiana viii ultimately be titled BY labor
and Charleston and New Orleans become narts for egt
wheat fields of Massachusetts and New YORK
must again be surrendered by their farmers
70 sI,v. slave an, eOiisss I. and to ,as Rtodacsn q
market for trade IN the bodies and souls Of
II s the failure 20 apprchcnd this great truth that
induces many unsuccessful attempts at final compro
mise between the slave and free states and i is tho cx
tence of this great fact that renders All such pretended
compromise, when made, vain and ephemcrai Startling
as this saying may appear 10 you, fellow citizens by
no means an original or even modern one our fore
fathers knew TO be true and unanimously uron 10
when they framed the constitution of tho United States
They regarded the existence of the servile system n -
many q the states with aud shame which they
openly confessed and they looked upon the collision be-
tween them, which was then Just revealing itself and
which are accustomed dcplore with favor and
hope They knew that either the the other system
must exclusively prevail Unlike too many Of those who,
in modern time, invoke their authority, they had a
choice between the two. They preferred the system q
free labor they so 10 organize the govern
men and SO " direct its activity that that system should
surely and certainly prevail For this purpose and no
other, they based the whole structure Of government
broadly on the principle that all men are created equal,
and, therefore, freee dreaming that within the short
period Of one hundred years their descendants wvum
bear 10 be told by any orator however popular that the
ut,erance Of that principle was merely rhetorca rhap
sody or by any Judge, however yeneraed, that Was
attended by mental reservations, which rendered u
hypocritcai and false By the ordinance Of 1877 they
dedicated all the national domain not yet polluted by
slavery TO free labor Immediately thenceforh and for
while by the new constitution and laws they invited
sun And dfntor
dcted the importation OF African slave labor al All times
ia all places and under all circumstances whatsorver n
s true that they necessarily and wisely modified this
policy OF freedom by leaving 10 the several ga,es al
fccted as they were by differing circumstances 10 abolish
slavery 10 Their own way and at their own pleasure in
stead q conhdng that duty 10 Congress- and that they
secured % the slave States while yet retaining She sys
em o. slavery, three fhs representation OF slaves in
he federal government until they should Hnd themselves
lbe TO renqush with safety But The very nature OF
hese notifications cr,hes my position that the fathers
Snew that the two systems could not endure