The Kanzas news., 1858-03-27
SPEECH OF WIN. II. SEWARD,
OF NEW YORK, ON THE
Lecompton Constitution

admission of KaDsas under the Lecompton
Constitution, was taken up in the Senate.
Mr.. Seward, of New York, having the floor.
He said:
Mr.. PRESIDENT Eight years ago we
slew the Wilmot ProViso in the Senate
Chamber, and buried it with triumphant
demonstrations under the floors of the Cap
itol. Four years later, we exploded alto
gether the time -honored system of govern
ing the Territories by Federal rules and reg
ulations. and published and proclaimed in
its stead new gospel of popular sovereign
ty, whose ways, like those of wisdom, were
to be ways of pleasantness, and all of whose
paths were supposed to be Aowery paths oi
peace. Nevertheless, the question whether
there shall be slavery or no slavery in the
Territories, is again the stirring passage OF
the day. The restless proviso has burst the
cerements of the grave, and, striking hands
here in our very presence with the gentle
spirit of popular sovereignty run mad, is
seen raging freely in our halls, scattering
dismay among the administration benches
of both Houses of Congress. Thus, an old,
unwelcome lesson is read to us anew. The
question of slavery in the Federal Territories,
which are tie nurseries of future States,
Independently of all its moral and humane
elements, involves dynastical struggle of
two antagonistical systems, the labor of
slaves and the labor of free men, for mas
terry in the Federal Union. One of these
systems partakes of an aristocratic charac-
ter, the other is purely democratic. Each
one of the existing States has staked, or it
will ultimately stake, not only its internal
welfare, but also its influence in the Federal
councils, on the decision of that contest
Such struggle is not to be arrested, quelled
or reconciled by temporary expedients or
compromises.
MIR. President, always engage reluctant
ly in these discussions, which awaken pas
sion Just in the degree that their importance
demands the impartial umpirage of reason.
This reluctance deepens now, when l look
around me and count the able contestants
who have newly entered the lists on either
side, and shadowy forms of many great and
honored statesmen who once were eloquent
in these disputes, but whose tongues have
since become stringless instruments, rise up
before me. It is, however, maxim in mil
itary science, that in preparation for war
every one should think as if the last event
depended on his counsel, and in every great
battle each one should fight as if he were
the only champion. The principle, perhaps,
is equally sound in political affairs. If it
be possible, l shall perform my present duty
in such a way as to wound no just sensibil-
tiles. must, however, review the action
of Presidents, Senates and Congresses.
do, indeed, with all my heart, reject the in
struction given by the Italian master of po-
litical science, which teaches that all men
are bad by nature, and that they will not
fail to show this deprayity whenever they
have fair opportunity. But jealousy OF
executive power is high, practical virtue
in republics and we shall find it hard to
deny the justice of the character of free
legislative bodies, which Charles James Fox
drew, when he said that the British House
of Commons, of which he was at the mo-
ment equally an ornament and an idol, like
every other popular assembly must be viewed
as mass of men capable of too much at
.tachment and too much animosity, capable
of being biased by weak and even wicked
motives, and liable to be governed by min
isterial influence, by caprice, and by cor
ruption.
Mr.. President, I propose to inquire, in
the first place, why the question before us
is attended by real or apparent dangers?
think our apprehensions are in part due to
the intrinsic importance of the transaction
concerned. Whenever we add new col
umn to the Federal colonade, we need to lay
its foundations so firmly, to shape its shaft
with such just proportions, to poise it with
such exactness, and to adjust its connections
with the existing structure SO carefully, that
instead of falling prematurely. and dragging
other and venerable columns with it to the
ground, it may stand erect forever, increas-
ing the grandeur and stability of the whole
massive and imperial fabric. Still the ad-
mission of new State is not necessarily OF
even customarily attended by either en-
barrassments or alarms. We have already
admitted eighteen new States without Sc
rious connections. except in cases of Mis-
souri,, Texas and California. We are even
now admitting two others, Minnesota and
Oregon and these transactions go on Sc
smoothly, that only close observers ar
aware that We are thus consolidating oul
dominion on the shores of Lake Superior
and almost at the gates of the Arctic Ocean
Asis manifest tnal the appFenenoe0 ulIncui
ties in the present case have some relation to
the dispute concerning slavery. which il
raging within the Territory of Kanzas.-
Yet, it must be remembered that nine of th,
new States which have been admitted, ex
pressly establish slavery. or tolerated it, and
nine of them forbade it. The excitement
therefore. is due to peculiar circumstances
think there are three of them, namely:
First-That whereas, in the beginning
tne ascendency of the slave States was ab
solute, it is now being reversed.
SecoRd-That whereas, heretofore, tn,
national government favored this change o
balance from the slave States to the fire.
states, 1t has now reversed this policy, ant
opposes the change.
Ihird-That national Intervention in tb,
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