The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-02-18

~ OsS - AAIA - - -
his deluded and distracted followers, well may
every Democrat who formerly advocated the
4 good old Jefersonian doctrine of the Wilmot
I Proviso, exclaim, in that bitterness of heart
| which the prospective utter ruin of their party
must cause
| "Oh, what tangled web weave,
When thus we practice 70 deceive"
Tangled and intricate, indeed, are the results
which have grown ont of the repeal Of the Mis-
souri, compromise, and the specious and de-
lusive cry of popular sovereignty" by means
of which that repeal was secured.
| Yet the political troubles that now distract
and threaten our country are not remediless.
The disinterested patriotism, the devotion to
country, the reverence for justice, the regard
for human rights, which animated the founders
OF the Government, now warming the hearts
and controlling the acts of People, President,
and Congress, would lead to speedy and easy
solution of all our difficulties, give peace and
repose to the country, and security to all within
its borders.
We of the free States, sir, are not unreason.
able. Indeed, we are very modest in our de-
mands. We ask only that the rights guaran-
tied to Us, the people of the United States"
by the Constitution, and conceded to US during
the earlier years of the Republic be restored.
We ask that the Constitution be interpreted in
the same spirit in which it was made-that it
be construed as the charter of Liberty" not
as the bulwark of Slavery. We demand that
Slavery be confined 70 the States in which it
already exists; and that, as State institution,
it rely solely on State support, neither seeking
nor receiving laid and comfort from the Gen.
eral Government. We demand that all the
Territories, and this District of Columbia, be
purged of this blighting curse, and that North.
ern freemen be no longer required to join the
chase for fugitive slaves. We demand, in
short, the complete Standardization of Slarery.
mo Slavery outside Of the present slaOe States, -
is our motto.
With Slavery in the States where it exists we
do not propose to interfere but we are unal-
terably pledged against its further extension.
We shall contest its onward march at every
step. We sball write it down, print it down,
preach it down, vote it down. We are in ear.
| nest, cir, in this matter, and we knono that we
shall triumph, for truth is omnipotent. God
| and the hearts of the people are with US and
| though the struggle may be long ard fearful,
the final result is as certain a. the continuance
of time. We shall labor on, regardless alike of
smiles of derision or fowns of defiance. We
trust we love our common country and the
Union of these States as we'll, at least, as other
the ESSENTIAL RIGHTS OF MAN better still.
Peace we love, but we do not desire it at the
expense of our inalenable rights yet we be.
ieve peaceful remedies are best, and that by
such remedies all our political maladies may be
healed. We design to use them, and them only.
We have faith in their efficiency, and in them
we trust.
But if we, or our kindred and fellow citizens
in the Territories, cannot have peace without
base and dishonorable submission to the slave
oligarchy, then we do not desire it. If money
contributed by Northern men is to be drawn
from the Federal Treasury to reward Spanish
pirates for their deeds of blood; if from the
same national fund millions are to be annually
drawn to sustain, perpetuate, and extend, this
most odious of despotisms If we are to Join in
the pursuit of fugitive slaves on our own free
soil, or, for refusing so to d. are to be robbed of
our substance and rot in prison if our mouths
are to be closed and our presses sienced any.
where beneath the stars and stripes; if the
rights OF the States are to be disregarded, and
institutions which we hate unceremoniously
thrust upon rs if all the Departments of the
Government are to make the diffusion and per-
petuity of this "sum of all villainies" the pr.
mary object of their labors; if the poisoned po-
litical chalice is to be thus constantly pressed
to our lips if all that we hold dear is to be
laid upon the bloody altar of Slavery can
only say, that when theae wrongs have reached
point no longer tolerable, the freemen of the
land will rise in their strength and remove
them, "peaceably if possible, forcibly if neces-
ssry."
These, sir, are not idle words. They but ex-
press what know to be an earnest and deep.
seated feeling among the masses of intelligent
and thinking men throughout the free States.
Most certainly they are the sentiments of the
nineteen thousand freemen by virtue of whose
votes / have the honor of a seat on this floor.
We feel, sir, that the point where forbearance
ceases to be virtue is almost reached. 1t is
very near; and 1 warn gentlemen to beware
how they press these indignities home upon
the freemen of the North henceforth. know
the strength of the Government, and that it's
power is now in your hands. The President is
with you the Congress is yours the Supreme
Court is ready to do your bidding; and the
hungry cormorants that feed and fatten at the
public crib, bow in abject submission, and rev.
erently execute the will, whatever it may be,
of those who hold the keys of the Federal
Treasury.
But there is, back of all these paid advocates
of wrong, q power, compared with which thew
are but as withered leaf before the rushing
whirlwind. Yes, sir; the people are q power
before which Presidents, and Congresses, and
Courts, with all their pampered retainers and
fawning sycophants, dwindle into contemplate
littleness. Let those who choose to insult their
intelligence, outrage all the better feelings of
their nature, and trample ruthlesaly upon their
dearest rights, look we'll to the future, and pre-.
pare for a reckoning which will surely come,
and which, from present indications, cannot be
long delayed. To-day, you have the power, and
may do what you will. You may give these
Spanish pirates $50, 900 from the peoples Treas.
ury if you choose; but let me tell you, gentle.
men, it will add as many thousand voters to the
party of Freedom in the North and West. And
every aggressive act upon our constitutional
and reserved rights will have like effect The
harder you press rs, the speedier and more
complete will be our triumph, and the more ig.
nominious your overthrow. Choose, then, your
course; but remember the impending settlement
you have to make with the three million voters
in the free States of this Union.
In conclusion, sir, have but to add, that if
appropriation, 80 earnestly recommended"
is to be made, if some fifty Thousand dollars are
to be drawn from the Treasury to settle this
Amistad affair, /, for one, shall insist upon its
going to the parties who we're the only ones
wronged in that transaction. shall insist upon
its payment to the Africans who 90 CALAMITY
rescued the ship from the Spanish pirates, and
whose property it thence became. They had a
right to the Amistad, for they captured it from
outlaws. 1t was legally and equitably theirs;
and when they were liberated by the court, the
property which their valor had won should have
been placed at their disposal. The wrongs
which these unfortunate men suffered were ir-
reparable; we cannot fully right them now
but do not let us add insult to injury, and dis
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