St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1858-11-25
Thaddeuy Stephens.

This gentleman who has been elected tc
tie next Congress, from Pennsylvania, was
a member in 1850; and on the Goth oil
February Of that year, delivered Il speech
Of which we give an extract below. He
will be apt to add greatly to Mr.. Buchan
ans felicity during the last years of his
reign.
Il am opposed to despotism throughout the
world. lnmy judgement, not, only the Slave
States, but the General Government recognize
ing as it does, slavery, is q despotism = : ;:
Despctlsm does not depend upon the number of
rulers 1t may have one ruler or many. Rome
was a despotism under Nero: so she was under
the Trumvrate. Athens was despotism I'M
der her Thirty Tyrants; under her Four nun
dred Tyrants; under her Three Hundred w.
rants. : = y In this government, the free
white citizens are the rulers-the soyereigns
IS we delight to be called. AL others are sub
jects. * :: x x
''The rulers and the ruled are of all colors.
from the clear white Of the Caucasian tribes to
the swarthy Ethiopian. The former by court
esy, are called white, the latter black. In
this government the subject has no rights, So
c4al, personal and political He has no voice
IL the laws which govern him He can hold
40 property. His very wife and children are
not his. His labor is another's. He and all
that appertain to him are the absolute property
OF his rulers. lie is governed, bought, sold,
punished, executed, by laws to which he neye,
gave his assent, and by rulers he never chose.-
lie IS not serf, merely, with half the rights of
men, ike the subjects Of despotic Russia; but
naked slave, stripped Of every right which,
God and nature give him, and which the HIGH
sp1lat OF our revolution declared inalenable-
which lie himself could not surrender, and
which man could not take from him: Is he
not, then, the subject Of despotic rule. j
sssthe slaves OF Athens and Rome were free
IN comparison. They had some rights could
acquire some property; could choose their own
masters, and purchase their own freedom and,
When Tree could rise in social and political
life. The slaves Of America, then, lie under
the most absolute and grinding depotism, that
the world ever saw. But who are the despots?
The rulers Of the countryside sovereign peo-
pie! Not merel y the stakeholder who cracks
the lash. He is but the instrument in the
hands. Of despotism. That despotism is the
government Of the Slave States, and the United
States, consisting of all it's rulers, all the free
citizens: Do not look upon this as a paradox,
because you and I and the sixteen millions Of
rulers are free. Nicholas Of Russia is free
The grand Sultan of Turkey is free. The
butcher of Austria is free. Augustus, An
thony and Lepidus were free while they
drenched Rome in blood. The thirty Tyrants.
the -Four hundred Tyrants, the Three Thous-
and Tyrants, were free while they bound their
countrymen in chains. You, and T, and the
sixteen millions, are free, while we fasten iron
chains, and rivct manacles on four millions Of
our fellow men; tear their wives and children
from them; sepeTate them; sell them and doom
them to perpetual, eternal bondage. Are we
not then despots-despots such as history viy
brand and God e5hor.