The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-03-11
VOL. XII.

of the United States to abandon interyentio, ~
favor Of slave labor and slave States. and 90
backward forty years, and resume the original
policy OF Intervention in favor of free labor and
free States. The fall of the castle of San Jps1
dUlloa determined the fate of Mexico. altbo,oL
sore sieges and severe pitched battles intervene
before the capture of the capital of the Aztecs
Inc defeats you have encountered in Californ;a
and In Kansas determine the fate of the princii-
Tor which you have been contending. II il T.
yourselves, not for US, TO decide how lone W "
through what further notifications and a.
ters the contest shall be protracted, before F,ss
dom shall enjoy her already assured tripr,rL
would have it ended now, and would have r..
wounds OF society bound up and healed -.
can be done only in one way. II cannot he daHS
by Offering further resistance nor bV apv 80
sion or partial surrender, nor by forcing 70,
into the Union as slave State against he, III
leaving her to cast of Slavery afterwards 50 80
best may nor by compelling Minnesota and a..
gon TO wait, and wear the humiliating costnro
OF Territories at the doors of Congress- urt;I I
people of Kansas, or their true defsndar, -
shall be brought TO dishonorable comnrorni..e'
1t can be done only by the simple and dirsct "a
mission OF the three new States as free ST..
without qualification, condition reservation .,
compromise, and by the abandonment of ALI fp,-
ther attempts to extend Slavery under the Fsds
Eia1
the controversy SO far, that only these broad con
cesslons will now be accepted by the ipterest os
Tree labor and free States. For myself | see his
TACT, perhaps, the more distinctly now becsrsa
l. nave so long foreseen it. can thereforo
counsel nothing less than those concessions I
kno" the hazards incur in taking this position
l know how men and parties, now earnest 90
Jealous, and bold, may yet fall away from me -
the controversy shall wax warm and alarm. ami
dangers, now unlocked for shall stare then, il
the lace, as men and parties, equally earpest
bold, and Jealous, have done, in like circu,r'
stances, before. But it is the same positioD
took in the case of California, eight wear, aa,
1t is the same | maintained on the great occ,
sion OF the organization of Kansas and Nebrasks
four years ago. Time and added experience
have Vlndlcated 1t since, and assume it again N
De maintained to the last, with confidence. that
1t will be justified, ultimately. by the country
and by the civilized world You NAV refpsa ~
yield it now, and for short period, but YOUR re-
fusal will only animate the friends of Freedom
with the courage and the resolution. and Dro-
duce the union among them, which alone are ne
cessary, on their part, to attain the position il
self simultaneously with the impending over
throw of the existing Federal Administration and
the constitution of new and more indepeudept
Congress.
Mr. President, this expansion Of the empire of
Tree white men is to be conducted through tina
process OF admitting new States, and not other
wise The white man. whether Won consent or
not will make the States to be admitted. and he
will make them all free States We must admit
them, and admit them all free: otherwise
they will become independent and foreign States
constituting a new empire to contend with us for
the continent To admit them is simple, easy,
and natural policy. 1t is not new to us. or
to our times 1t began with the voluntary
union of the first thirteen. 1t has continued
to go on, overriding all resistance ever since
1t Will go on until the ends of the continent
are the borders of our Union. Thus we be-
come co-laborers with our fathers, and even
with our posterity throughout many ages
After times, contemplating the whole vast
structure, completed and perfected, will for
get the dates, and the eras, and the indiyidu-
alities of the builders in their successive genera
tons 1t will be one great Republic, founded BY
one body of benefactors. | wonder that the
President of the United States undertakes the
Kansas question, when it is part of a transaction
so immense and sublime. Far from sympathzing
with him in his desire TO depreeiate it, and to he
rid of IT, felicitate myself on my humble rela-
ton to it, for l know that Heaven cannot grant
nor man desire a more favorable occasion to ac-
quire fame, than he enjoys who is engaged in
laying the foundations of great empire and
huON, dlSO, lndI Wnlle MANKIND have often del
fed their benetactors, no nation has ever vet
bestowed honors on the memories of the founders
of Slavery
| have always believed Mr.. President, that
this glorious Federal Constitution of ours i
adapted to the inevitable expansion of the empire
which have so feebly presented 1t has beer
perverted often by misconstruction, and il has
yet to be perverted many times, and widely. here
alter; but 1t has inherent strength and vigor
that will cast off all the webs which the ever
interests of classes NAV weave around
it. If it fail now, it will, however, not bs
our fault, but because an inevitable crisis Ike
that of youth, or of manhood, is to be encoun-
tered by constitution proved in that case to
be inadequate TO the trial. | am sure that
no patriot, who views the subject as | DO
could wish to evade or delay the trial By de-
ay we conld only extend Slavery, at the most
throughout the Atlantic region of the continent
The Pacific slope is free, and it always must and
VIII be free. The mountain barriers that sepa-
rate us from that portion of our empire are quite
enough to ALLEVIATE US too widely, possibly 10 sep
arate us too soon. Let US only become all slave
holding States on this side of those barriers while
only free States are organized and perpetuated on
the other side, and then indeed there will come
a division of the great American family into
TWO nations, equally ambitious for complete
control over the continent, and conflict be-
tween them, over which the world will mourn,
rs the greatest and last TO be retrieved of al
he calamities that have ever befallen the humAn
ace.