The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1858-03-18

| A1VAAs w. 10 90 w 80 u . SRCOSAAs
We regret inability to published this able
speech against the. Lecompton Constitution
entire. We select the following paragraph
from the concluding portion:
Mr.. President. the expansion Of territory to
make Slave States will only fail to be great
crime because 1t is impracticable, and there
fore will turn out to be astupendous imbecilf-
ty. A free republican Government, like this,
Notwithstanding all its constitutional checks,
canrot long resist and counteract the progress
Of society Slavery, wherever and whenever
and in whatsoever form it exsist, Is exception
al, local and short-lived. Freedom is the COM
mon right, interest end ultimate destiny of all
mankind. All other nations have already
abolished, or are about abolishing Slavery
Does this fact mean nothing? All parties in
this country that have tolerated the extension
Of Slavery, except one, have persisted for that
error already. That last one--the Democratic
party-is hurrying on, irretrievable, toward
the same fate. An Administration that have
avowed this policy have gone down dishonor-
ed for that canse, except the present one. A
pi. deeper and darker still is opening to re-
ceive this Administration, because it sins more
deeply than its predecessors. There Is a
meaning in all these facts. which it becomes
US to study well. The nation has advanced
another stage; it has reached the point where
Intervention, by the Government, for Slavery
and Slave States, will no longer be tolerated.
Free Labor has at last apprehended its rights,
its interests, its power, and its destiny, and is
organizing itself to assume the government of
the Republic. 1t will henceforce meet you
boldly and resolutely here; it will meet you
everywhere, in the Territories OF out Of them
where you may 10 to extend Slavery. 1t has
driven you hack in California and in Kansas;
it will invade you soon in Delaware, MARYLAND
Virginia, Missouri and Texas. 1t will meet
yon in Arizona, in Central America, and even
in Cuba. The invasion will be not merely
harmless, but beneicent, If you yield season.
ably to its Just and moderate demands. It
proved so in New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl-
vania, and the other Slave States, which have
already yielded in that way to its advances
You may, indeed, get start under or near the
Tropics, and seem safe for time, but it will
only be short time. Even there, you will
found States only for Free Labor to maintain
and occupy. The interest OF the white races
demands the ultimate emancipation Of all men.
Whether that consumation shall be allowed
to take effect, with needful and wise precau-
tons against sudden change and disaster, or be
h,,rr al al = o1lk A..
You to decide. For the failure ofyour system
Of Slave Labor throughout the Republic, the
responsibility will rest not on the agitatorz
you condemn, nor on the political parties you
arraign, nor even altogether on yourselves,
but il will be due to the inherent error of the
system itself, and to the error which thrusts it
forward to oppose and resist the destiny, not
more of the African ttan that of the white
races. The white man needs this continent to
labor upon. His head is clear, his arm is
strong. and his necessities are fixed. He must
and will have it. To secure it, he will oblige
the Government Of the United States to aban-
don Intervention in favor of Slave. Labor and
Slave States, ard go backward forty years, and
resume the original policy Of intervention ir
favor of Free Labor and Free States. The
fall of the castle of San Juan d. Ulloa determine
ed the fate of Mexico, although more si-ges
and severe pitched battles interviewed before
the capture of the capital Of the Aztecs. The
defeats you have encountered in California and
ciple for which you have been contending -
II is for yourselves, not for us, to decide how
long and through what further modification
and disasters the contest shall be protrac.ed b. .
fore Freedom shall enjoy her already assured
triumph. would have it ended now, and
would have the wounds Of society bound up and
healed. But this can be dons only in one way,
It cannot be done by offering further resis.
lance, nor by any evasion or partial surrender
nor by forcing Kansas into the Union as Z
Slave State against her will, leaving her tt
east of Slavery afterward, as she best may
nor by compelling Minnesota and Oregon tt
wait. and wear the humiliating costume Of
Territories at the door'of Congress, until thu
/ people Of Kansas or their true defenders here
shall be brought to dishonorable COMPROMISES
1t can be done only by the simple and direc
admission OF the three new States as Free Sta,
ties, without qualification condition reservation
or compromise, and by the abandonment OF al
further attempts to extend Slavery under tn
Federal Constitution. You have unwisely
pushed the controversy so far that only thes
broad concessions will now be accepted b,
the interest Of Free Labor and Free States
For myself, see this fact, perhaps, the NOR
distinctly now because have so long fore
seen IT. can therefore counsel nothing les
than those concessions. know the hazard
incur in taking this position. known hov
men and parties. now earnest and jealous an,
bold may fall away from me as the controvers,
shall wax warm. and alarms and dangers, nov
unlocked for, shall stare them in the face, a
men and parties equally earnest. bold an
jealous, have done, in like circumstances be
fore. But is the same position took in tn
case Of California, eight years ago. II is tn
same ] maintained on the great occasion Of tn
organization OF Kansas and Nebraska, fou
years ago. Time and added experience hay
vindIcated it since, and assume 1t again,
be maintained to the last, with confidence ths
1t will be justified, ultimately, by the countr.
and by the civilized world. You NAV refus