Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1858-10-29

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their principles are shaped and remodele
according to tho arbitrary pleasure of tn
the South, and the masses have but to ODE
and they do obey. They are watched an,
doggrd like flock of sheep, turned out Il
pasture to-day in order to be a ,eced to-mor
row. Look at the tx ,cutor of JJhn c. Cal
houn's last will in the White House, who
like an Oriental despot. hurls his anathema
and political death-warrants where he canno
debauch the conscience of a man with Il bribe
| All his power and patronage he has trans
formed into n vast machinery of corruption
in the service of Slavery. Cast your eye.
wherever you will, nothing but party despo.
tism, nothing but the fercest oppression Of
moral independence, nothing but corruption
| organized INTO a system-and all this in the
service Of Slavery. Will you deny it? Even
in the N1r:h, Slavery struggles to rule it all.
Great applause.
Where are we drifting? will not dwell
on our perverted commercial policy, nor on
the question Of internal provements and the
like. | will point out to you the antagonism
in which our political development is entan-
gled.
have often been told, that the slavehold-
crs are right in restricting the lib rites of
speech and of the press, etc, on the subject
of slavery, for those Liberties unrcstran.d
would be a real danger to them No doubt
there would be Il danger, but there il nomore
crushing argument against slavery than this
no more conclusive proof ofits entire incom-
patibility with true democracy. When an
institution in society canr OF stand before the
tribunal Of free speech and free press, the
question arises, shall we sacrifice our libcr-
ties to that institution or that institution to
I I l.. IL
tcrea 1rhich IS incompatible ,ciH free erpres-
SION Of pubiic opinion can hace right 10 erist
IN democratic or dnieation Of Sociciy.-
[Grcat applause And if it does exist, it
will be like chronic disease, or like an ulcer
lying underneath the skim which will leave
no rest or comfort to the body polite until is
is finally extirpated and extinct [Chcers. |
1t will break forth again and again with in
creased 1ury and will rage on and on to "A
final crisis.
Aye, Sir yonr standard-bearcr is right,
in spite of Douglas sophstries. \ house
that is divided against itself cannot stand.
Loud cheers. 1t cannot stand 1t must
fall unless it cease to be divided. [Continu-
ed applause. By the inexorablc, uncom-
promising logic of things we must 20 either
one way or the other; not as Mr.. Douglas
tries to make You believe, make all States
slave or free by force of arms; but we must
either abandon the principle Of equal rights.
even among white men, adapt the whole de-
velppment of our political organization to the
paramount interest Of a privileged class Of
Shareholders, put the liberties of speech and
press at the mercy of the ruling power, and
sacrifice our democratic system OF government
to the arstocratic and despotc tendencies OF
the slnveholding system throughout, or we
must break the political power of slavery in
our national concerns, and return to the orig
inal principles on which this Republic was
founded. In on word, we must formally
recognize slavery, as the ruling interest in our
national policy, or we must deny it the re-
cognition Of any national right, and confne
it to mere local existence under positive
State legislation. ICheers.I This is the al
tentative.
Now. qui'ble AS you will, devise side is
sues and sahtcrfuges, invent palliative rene
lies. deludc Others and dclude yoursev swift
fictitious compromises; this alternative will
a gain and again push away all your plausi-
hllties and suphistries, and say to you Wit
Il stern voice OF inexorable fate Here am
|! You haze not seen me, perhaps, but
here l am tChe,rs.l
And now there comes n man like Mr..
Douglas. who ought to understand the signs
of the times, and gives it as his opinion that
Slavery " Democracy having liv d side by side
these eighty years, may live on thus, and t1at
he does not see the incnmpatibility. Indeed
he does not see it! The slme man, who once
in the name Of the Shareholders cried our to
the champions Of freedom in the Senate
I'VE will subdue you" He does not sc
chat somebody and something must be sub
iued lApplause.l a blind man docs not
see the sun, and yet it shines. A deaf man
does not hear the thunder. and yet he will
feel the bolt of flightning when it strikes him
down. [Repeated applause.J Aye, sir, Sla-
very and Democracy did live sidehy side thesr
eighty years, but how dI1 they live? Lik
throat, each watching his chance to strangle
the other. Is it not 50 Cheers.
Has Mr.. Douglas seen or heard nothing of
the din and clamor of that battle which has
ragged with but short and apparent interms-
sors since the time when the ruling parties of
this Republic deviated from the original
policy of the Revolutionary fathers to confne
slavery within the narrowest limits and to
promote its gradual abolition by federal and
local legislation Does he know nothing of
the ridiculous failure of all the compromises
that were called final settlements ? May be
he is not 50 blind: but what he sees perhaps
does not suit him. [Checrs.
The conflict between Slavery and DemOc-
racy might have been settled in the spirit OF
the Revolutionary times. But it was not
and 1t springs up in its true asnect, when
Missouri claimed admission as slave State
1t is represented to be finally settled by the
Missouri Compromise. and there it is again
lurking under the tariffqueston. 1t assumes
threatening dimensions in the question of the
annexation of Texas, and the territories ac-
quir d from Mexico. 1t is again said to be
finally settled by the compromises of 1850
But there it rises again more terrible than
ever in the Nebraska bill. Mr.. Douglas
then claims to have finally settled it by intro
PRODUCING his principle of Squatter Sover
eighty. But streams of blood and shoulder
ing ruins in Kansas give him the lie
[Cheers. Then Mr.. Buchanan's election
hardly set his foot into the White House.
seen turpitude at the hand Of Judge Taney
There it is 1t is like Banquo's ghost, which
rises from the ground again and again,
shakes its bloody locks and sits down at the
very head of the banquet table. Great ap-
| plause.l
And there are some simpletons crying
PSeSN, lS'tSSt oeOP "a 'eoeloh' W hO 10 ~ INA
/ agitatesit? Who agitated it in 1920 but those
that wanted to extend slavery in the free west.
Who agitated it, when Texas was to be
annexed, but those who wanted to give sla
very an unlimited domain in the South anC
Southwest? Who agitated it by the Ne
braska bill, but those who wanted to breal
down the last barrier to slavery? Who agl,
tated it by the Dred Scott decision, but thos
who wanted to make Slavery the rule and Ii
berty the exception? Who agitated it BY
the Lecompton question. but those VIII,
wanted to s4crifce the last safeguard of self
government to slavery? CHEERS And al
those who did SO, were but obeying the logi
Of things. For slavery cannot live unless
rules, and it can never keep peace unless
dies, Continued applausc.] And still som
simpletons are crying stop agitation Wher
will you begin ? Where will you end
Stop agitation The President of the Unit