Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1858-03-18

Free States, without qualification, condition
reservation or compromise, and by the
abandonment Of all further attempts to ex-
tend Slavery under the Federal Constitu-
tim. You have nnwisely pushed the con-
troversy so far that only these broad con-
c~essions will now be accepted by the inter-
est of Free Labor and Free States. For
myself, l see this fact. perhaps, the more
distinctly n,w because have so long fore
seen it. can therefore counsel nothing
less than those concessions. know the
hazards l incur in taking this position.
know how men and parties, now earnest
and Jealous and bold, may fail away from
me, as the controversy shall wax warm, and
alarms and dangers, now unlocked for,-
| shall stare them 10 the face, as men and
parties equally earnest, bold, and jealous.
have done, in like circumstances before
But it is the same position took in the
case of California, eight years ago. Il is the
SAINT I maintained on the great occasion Of
! the organization Of Kansas and Nebraska,
four years ago. Time and added experience
have INDICATED it since, and | assume it
again, 10 be maintained to the last, with
confidence that i; will be justified, Ultimate
ly, by the country and bv the civilized
world. You may refuse to yield it BOW,
and for a short period, but your refusal will
only animate the friends OF Freedom with
the courage and the resolution. and produ-
ces the union among them, which alone are
necessary, on their part to attain the posi-
tion itself simultaneously with the impen-
ding overthrow of the existing Federal Ad-
minislrstion and The Constitution of a new
and more independent Congress.
MIR. President, this expansion of the en-
pire of free white men is 10 be conducted
through the process OF admitting new States
an not otherwise. The white man, wheth-
er you consent or not, will make the States
to be admitted, and he will make them all
Free States. We must admit them, and ad-
NIT them all Free; otherwise, they will be-
come independent and foreign States, con-
stituting a new empire to contend with US
for the continent To admit them is a sim
pie, easy, and natural policy. 1t is not new
to US, ncr to our times. 1t began with the
voluntary union of the first thirteen. 1t has
continued to go Of, overriding all resis-
lance. ever since. 1t will 90 on until the
ends of the continent are the borders of the
Union. Thus we become colaborers with
our fathers, and even with cur posierity
througout many ages. Af.er-times, contem-
plating the whole vast structure, completed
and perfected, will forget the dates, and the
eras, and the individualities. OF the builders
in their successful generations. 1t will he
one-great Republic, founded by enc body oil
benefactors. / wonder that the Presiden,
Of the United States underwriters the Kan
sas question, when it is a part of q :ransac.
{ on 9 immense andsublime. Far from SYM.
pathizing with him in his desire to depre.
ciate it, an. to be rid of it., | felicitate nv.
self on my humble relation 10 it, for | know
t lat Heaven cannot grant nor man desire a
more favorable occa-ion to acquire fame
than he enjoys who is engaged in LAYING The
foundation of a great empire; and | know
also, that while mankind have often defet
their benefactors, no nation has ever vel be
slowed honOrs on the memories of the foun'
ders of Slavery.
have always believed. Mr.. Pres iden
that this glorious Federal Constitution o
ours is adapted to that inevitable expansion
. of the empire which | have so feebly presen
ted. 1t has been perverted often by miscon
struction, and it has yet TO be perverte,
many times, and widely, hereafter; but it ha
5 inherent strength and vigor that will cast OF
3 all the webs which the everchanging in
: terests of classes may weave around it.
it fail US now, it will, however, not be GU
fault, but because an inevitable crisis, lik.
that OF youth, or OF ma n hood, is to be en-
countered by a constitution proved in tina
case TO be inadequate to the trial. I am sur
that no patriot, who views the subject as
do, cod d wish tn evade or delay The tria'
5 BY delay we could only extend Slavery, a
l the most, throughout the Atlantic region G
the continent. The Pacific slope is free. an
5 it always must and will be free. The noun
tain barriers that separate US from that Dol
ton of our empire are quite enough to di
: vide US too widely, possibly to ALLEVIATE u
too soon. Let us only become all slavehuld
. ing States on this side of those barriers
: while only Free States are organized an
perPetuated Oh the other side. and then, in
deed, there will come a division of the ereu
; American family into two nations, equal
D ambitious for complete control over The con
%tinent. and a conflict between them owe
which the world will mourn as the creates
) and last to be retrieved of all the Gala mite
that have ever befallen the human race.