The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1858-07-29


half Free" Applause "I do not
expect the Union to be dissolved,"-I
am quoting from my speech" do
not expect the house to fall, but / do
expect that it will cease to be divided.
Either the opponents of slavery will
arrest the spread of it, and place it
where the public mind shall rest in the
belief that it is in the course of ultimate
extinction. or its advocates will push it
forward until it shall become alike law
ful in all the States, North as well as
South" Good, good"
That is the paragraph. In this par
agraph, which / have quoted in your
hearing, and to which l ask the atten-
ton of all, Judge Douglas thinks he
discovers great political heresy. Iwant
your attention in particular to what he
has inferred from it. He says / am in
favor of making all the States of this
Union uniform in all their internal re-
lations; that in all their domestic con-
Germs l am in favor of making them
entirely uniform. He draws this infer
ence from the language / have quoted
to you. He says that / am in favor of
making war by the North upon the
South for the extinction of slavery /:
that / am also in favor of inviting, as
he expresses it, the South to war upon
the North for the purpose Of nationaliz-
ing slavery. Now, it is singular enough,
if you will carefully read that passage
over, that did not say that l was in
favor of anything in it. l only said
what l expected would take place. l
made prediction only-it may have
been a foolish one perhaps. l did not
even say that / desired that slavery
should be put in course of ultimate ex-
tinction. / do say so now, however,
[great applause,l SO there need be no
longer any difficulty about that IT
may be written down In the next speech.
Applause and laughter.
Gentlemen, Judge Douglas informed
you that this speech of mine was prob
ably carefully prepared. admit that
it was. / am not master of language
| have not fine education I am not
capable of entering into disquisition
upon dialectics, as l believe you call it
but / do not believe the language ]
employed bears any such construction
as Judge Douglas puts upon it. But
don't care about quibble in regard to
words. l know what / meant, and !
will not leave this crowd in doubt, if ]
can explain it to them, what 1 really
meant in the use of that paragraph.
/ am not, in the first place, unaware
that this government has endured
eighty-two years, half slave, and hall
free. / know that. l am tolerably
well acquainted with the history of the
country, and know THAI it ffas en-.
dured eighty-two years, half slave and
half free. belieue-and that is what
meant to allude to there-I believe il
has endured because, during all that
time, until the introduction of the Ne
braska Bill, the public mind did rest, al
the time, in the belief that slavery was
in course of ultimate extinction
r" Goodw "Good!' and applause.
That was what gave us the rest tha
we had through that period of eighty
two years at least, so / believe.
have always hated slavery, l think a.
much as any Abolitionist. Applause
l have been an Old Line Wing. / have
always hated it, but l have always beer
quiet about it until this new era of the
introduction of the Nebraska Bill be
gan. 1 always believed that every
body was against it, and that it was il
course of ultimate extinction. Point
ing to Mr.. Browning, who stood nea
by,)-Browning thought so; the grea
mass of the nation have rested in tn,
belief that slavery was in course of ul
innate extinction. They had reason 81
to believe.
The adoption of the Constitution ant
its attendant history led the people t.
believe so; and that such was the be
lief of the trainers of the Constitution
itself Why did those old men, abou
the time of the adoption of the Con
stitution, decree that slavery shoult
not go into the new Territory where j
had not already gone? Why declar
; that within twenty years the African
Slave Trade, by which slaves are sup
piled, might be cut off by Congress
Why were all these acts? Nigh
enumerate more Of such acts-bu
enough. What were they but clea
/ indication that the trainers of the Con
stitution intended and expected the ul
innate extinction of that institution
, Cheers. And now when / say, as
say in this speech, that Judge Dougla
has quoted from, when I say that
} think the opponents of slavery will re
} sist the further spread of it, and plac
it where the public mind shall rest wit
, the belief that it is in course of ulti
mate extinction, / only mean to say
: that they will place it where the found
ers of this government originally place
, it.
/ have said hundred times, and
, have now no inclination to take it back
that l believe there is no right, an
ought to be no inclination in the peopl
) of the free States to enter into the slav
States, and interfere with the questio
of slavery at all. 1 have said that a
, ways. Judge Douglas has heard m
4 say tiff not quite hundred times, a
least as good as hundred times; an
: when it is said that l am in favor G
t interfering with slavery where it exist
4 / know it is unwarranted by anythin
| l have ever intended, and, as l believ
, lhv onvfhinp have evar cold TT !,