The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1858-10-20
$ ECEH Of
Hon. CARL SCHURZ
OF WISCONSIN,,
AT CHICAGO. SEPT. %, 1853.

| L
going to offer will not be of the exciting
and enthusiastic kind. | will make no
| constitutional arguments, nor will quote
authorities, nor shall I enduIge in personal
invectives against Buchanan, Douglas. or
any other man. / will speak to your
understanding, and cali your attention to
some of the simple and broad principles
which rule the Development of human
affairs.
The destinies of nations and countries
are indeed not governed by majorities
and governmental authority alone. You
will sometimes see nations strue gle with
almost superhuman efforts against certain
impending dangers; but an everything
fatality seems to Illustrate all their exer-
tons. This everything fatality, which
stands above the power Of maiorties and
governments, | will call with a simple
term "tbe logic Of things. and events."
1t is the close connection between cause
and effect, between principle and fact, q
connection which cannot be severed, and
the clear knowledge of which is the only
safe foundation of political wisdom.
l have been taught by history that a
democratic system Of government, al
though it may overcome local and tempo
I,.:y inconveniences cannot bear direct
contradiction between political principles
on one and social Institutions on the other
side. Such inconsistencies will and must
br.ng forth questions and conflicts invol-
wing the very foundations Of popular lib
ertY. They may appear in different
shapes, but when they have once taken
possession of the political arena they will
oYershadow all other issues Everything
else will be subordinate to them, they
Will form the only legitimate line Of dis
tinction between parties, and all attempts
to divert public attention from them or
to them with compromises or secondary
issues, will prove futile and abortive
Their final decision one way or the other
will decide the political existence of a peo-
pie. . 5 .e
Such contradiction is that between.
Liberty, founded upon the natural rights
OF man, and Slavery, founded upon usJr-
patton; between Democracy, which is the
life element of our Federal Constitution,
aud Privilege which is the life clement of
the slave-holding system an / of Southern
society
| do moi intend to make an auti-slaverv
speech, in the common understanding of
the term, dwelling at length upon the
sufferings Of the bondman and the cruelty
Of the master and the sinfnlness of sin
in general. My purpose is to investigate
from g political standpoint, the conflicts
which, as a natural consequence, must
spring from the mixture of the contradic
tory principles of Slavery and Democracy.
When in a Democratic community
there is powerful individual or an asso-
citation, OF class of men, whose claims
and pretensions are in conflict with the
natural rights of man in general or with
the legitimate claims of other individuals,
and who deem their own particular inter
estS above all other considerations, we
NAV well say that the liberties of the
people are in danger. When such an
individual or class of men find that their
claims and pretensions cannot stand be-
fore free criticism, they will spare no
effort to impose Silence upon the organs
of public opinion; they Will use force, if
argument is of no avail. They will en-
deavor to concentrate all political power
in their hands, and TO use it as machi-
merry for the promotion of their selfish
ends, and as safeguard of their particu-
larinterests. They will resort to usurpa-
ton, when by constitutional means they
can exercise no absolute control
In States which are ruled by absolute
monarchies, the public press is manacled
for no other reason than that absoutsm
aud its excresances cannot stand before
the free criticism of public opinion, and
that if press and speech were let free to-
day, there would be death struggle be-
tween public opinion and the absolute
power Tomorrow, which would result
either in the complete overthrow OF the
latter or complete reinstatement of the
former. & But it is no. essential that this
powerful and dangerous interest should
/ aye monarchial aspirations; If it be an
ariltocracy, or an association of great
! merchants or planters, or in general a
class of persons who have common inter
ests which are inconsistent with the natu-
/ raj rights of man, and who deem them
superior to all other considerations and
are determined to defend them--the ten
/ dency and the ultimate result will be the
same. To such an interest the people
will have to submit or against such an
interest the people will have to fight.
There viii be struggle and there must
be victory, final and conclusive.
Is, this applicable. to slavery and the
Shareholders! A rapid glance at the
political Development of this country will
answer that question. IS
In the Slaveholding States all political
life is shaped by the ruling Interest,"
While the people of the South profess the
principle of equality, one class of citizens
are. accustomed to govern and the other
to obey, land mark well, / am speaking
of the whites, not of the slaves,) and the
whole machinery of government even
down to the smallest fractions, is in the
hands of the slaseholding aristocraey
J While they profess the principles of po-