The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1858-07-29

is something else connected with it.
Wehave besides these men-descended
by blood from. our anoestors-among
us perhaps, half our people who are
men who have come from Europe
German, Irish, French and .Scandina-
WAN men that have come from Europe
themselves, orr whose ancestors have
come hither and settled here, finding
themselves our equals in all things. If
they look back through history to trace
their connection with those days by
blood, they find they have none. They
cannot carry themselves back into that
glorious epoch and make themselves
feel that they are part of us, but when
they look through that old Declaration
of independence, they find that those
old men say that SC We hold these truths
to be self.evident, that all men are Gre
ated equal" and then they feel that
moral sentiment taught in that day
evinces theirrelation to those men, that
it is the father of all moral principle
in them, and that they have alright to
claim it as though they were blood aof
the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the
men who wrote that Declaration, loud
and long continued applause, and so
they are That is the electric cord in
that Declaration that links the hearts
of patriotic and liberty-loving men to-
gether, that will link those patriotic
hearts as long as the love of freedom
exists in the minds of men throughout
the world. Applause. 7a53 mi asm
Now, sirs, for the purpose of squar
ing things with this idea of "don't
care if slavery is voted up or. voted
down." for sustaining the bred Scott
decision, Ia voice. Hit him again,"]
for holding that the Declaration of In
dependence did not mean anything at
all, we have Judge Douglas giving his
exposition of what the Declaration of
Independence means, and we have him
saying that the people of America were
equal to the people of England. Ac-
cording to his construction you Ger
mans are not connected with it. Now
Il ask you in all soberness, if all these
things, if INDUCED in, if ratified, if con-
frmed and endorsed, if taught to our
children and repeated to them, do not
tend to rub out the sentiment of liverty
in the country, and to transform this
Government into government OF some
other form. Arguments are made,
with as much allowance as they are ca
pable of enjoying that as much is to
be done for them as their condition will
allow. What are these arguments !?
They are the arguments that kings
have made for enslaving the people in
all ages of the world. You will find
that all the arguments in favor of king
craft were of this class; they always
bestrode the necks of the people, not
that they wanted to do it; but because
the people were better off for being
ridden. That is their argument and
this argument of the Judge is the same
old serpent that says you work and
eat, you toll and l will enjoy the fruits
of it. Turn it whatever. way you will
whether it came from the mouth of
a King as an excuse for enslaving the
people of his country or from the
mouth of men of the race as reason
for enslaving the men of another race,
it is all the same old serpent, and hold
if that course of augmentation that is
made FOR tie purpose of convincing the
public mind that we shouldnot care about
this, should be granted, it does not stop
with the negro. | should like to know
if taking this old Declaration of indie
pendence, which declares that all men
are equal upon principle and making
exceptions to itwhere will it stop? If
one man says it does not mean negro,
why may not another say it does not
mean some other man? If that declar-
alton is not the truth, letus get the Stat
ute book in which we find it and blot
it out! Who, is SO bold as to do it
INVOICES me-" "no one," "no, no.
Let us stick to it then, [cheers1 let us
stand firmly by it then. Applause
Itmay be argued that there are GER
tain conditions that make necessities
and impose them upon us, and to the
extent thata necessity is imposed upon
man he must submit to- it. / think
that was the condition in which we
found ourselves when we established
this government. We had slaves
among us; We could not get our con-
stitution unless we permitted them to
remain in slavery; we could not secure
the good We did secure if we grasped
for more, and having by necessity sub
mitted to that much, it does not destroy
the principle that is the charter of our
liberties. Let that charter stand as our
standard. ~. -, f-.t,.fl 49,.
My friend has said to me that am
a poor hand to quote Scripture. will
try it again, however. tits said in one
of the admonitions of the Lord, sc AS
your Father in Heaven is perfect, be
we also perfect" The Saviour, l sup
pose, did not expect that any human
creature could be perfect as the Fatherin
Heaven; but He said, GAS your Father
in Heaven is perfect be we also perfect"
He set that up as a standard, and he
who did most toward reaching that
standard, attained the highest degree
of moral perfection. So say in rela-
ton to the principle tlrat all men are
created equal, let it be as nearly reached
as we can. If we cannot give freedom
to every creature, let us do nothing
that viii impose slavery upon any other
creature. Applause. Let us then
| tIIrn this Governments hack into tho