Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Randolph County, Ind.) 1855-1862, 1858-05-06
THE SUICIDE OF SLAVERY.
SPEECH OF hon. Ell! THAYER
OF MASSACHUSETTS,
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
MARCH 25th, 1858.
TcO.cr rDrp

f"Angels and ministers OF grace de-
fend u.s." All these treasures that
were supposed to have been laid up
"wherc neither moth nor rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves do not
break through nor steal" have been
invaded by the decision of the Supreme
Court, and scattered to the four winds
of Heaven. More than two centuries
of prayers and tears, of heroic self-sac-
ritice and Christian devotion, of faith
and hope, of temporal and spiritual
agony, have come to this Lame and
impotent conclusion Laughter. /
The moral dignity of the grandest mis-
sionary enterprise of this age is ami
hilatcd.
AS Northern man, / stand here q
disinterested spectator of these events.
If | do not like the decision of the
Court, | have a higher law. The ne
gro himself can appeal to the court of
Heaven; but what refuge has the South
ern Church? Renewed laughter. +
None whatever. This decision is a
blow, direct and terrible, falling with
crushing violence upon our Southern
brethren. This Supreme Court, with
cruel and relentless hostility, has per-
secuted the Southern Church as the
dragon of tho Apocalypse pursued the
woman into the wilderness, seeking to
devour her offspring. Much laughter.
What motives could have impclled
the Court to this act? ! have no doubt
patriotic motive. am not here to
impugn the motives of any maa, or OF
any set of men. much less of the high
est judicial tribunal in this land. No
doubt, sir, their motives were patriotic,
for they had witnessed the devastation
Of this terrible religious fanaticism
through the South. They had seen
the ravages of this disastrous mission
ary monomania, and they determined
that there must be an end of it; and
how could they so effectually end it as
by annihilating at once the object OF
its aims and aspirations. That, sir,
they have done.
Here, then, endeth the moral roacer
of the institution of Slavery.
/ come now to the consideration OF
the event which just as surely has
doomed to destruction the political
pouer of that institution-I mean the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise
measure in the passage of the Kanzas-
Nebraska Bill. That act, sir, l will
show to you-if it ever was committed
by the Slave power-to have been q
suicidal act. What need was there
for repeating that Compromise, or ol
admitting Slavery into Kanzas by law'
Was not the South sure enough of the
Territory as it was before? | think
and this is my honest conviction
that had it not been for that act, Kan
zas would have been inevitably Slave
State We of the North had no par
ticular interest in that Territory. il
was put down in our biographies q:
the great American desert. We hac
not considered it of much importance
but we relied on the iaw to keep Sla
very out of 1t, and TO preserve 1t tc
Freedom. We of the North have haC
too high an idea of the power of tht
General Government and of iaw, eithe
for Freedom or against Freedom. Sir
this General Government has but little
power over this question. 1t is not ;
naotiue pouer 1t is only registry, al
exponent of power. 1t is the log-bool
of the ship of State, and not the steam
engine that propels the ship, OR tn
wind that fills the canvass. w
would like to have the log-book KEEP
right, to show us our true position; bu
we do not now consider the Govern
, ment as the motive power. The mo
tive power of this Nation, as of all Ma
tions, is the people in their homes
and as the people in their homes are
5 so is your character and so is your pro
D gress. Ii the people in their home
9 in Kanzas had been Pro Slavery, wha
could the North have opposed to it?-
1t was emigration, and emigratio
: only, that could have made Kanzas
State. either Slave or Free The grea
r law that governs emigration is this
: that emigration follows the parallel
G of latitude westward. Under that law
{ Kanzas would have been settled entire
r ly by Pro- Slavery people. as was th
J.. Southern part Of Indiana, and as wa
c the Southern part OF Illinois We i
: the North. trusting in the proteetio
: of the law. would have had no remed,
9 People in favor of Slavery would hay
n gone there. and if they were eempelle
:; at frstto adopts a Free Constitution j
; order to shape their institutions accord