The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1858-08-14
Judge Trumbuil max a Speech In
Ottawa.


On Thursday our city was honored by a
visit from Judge Trumbull, and of course
the faithful had no trouble to persuade him
to remain and give them a speech in the
evening Handouts announcing the fact
were posted up over town, and at the aP-
pointed time quite crowd--snough to fill
the court house, collected to hear him. He
Was introduced to the audience by Judge
Cavalry. We took comfortable seat in
quiet corner and heard him.
The first part of his speech was the old
Kansas Shrek, which we have heard and
handled so often heretofore that We shall
pass it over, with the simple remark that
among all the shrieks and harrangues about
bleeding Kansas we had heard-and they
have been hundreds-we never heard more
unfair and perverted history of those trou-
bles The country knows all about that
,natter-entirely too mich to be humbugged
with it-and no man with ordinary political
tact will stand forth at this late day, and
charge that all the violence, and murders,
and outrages in Kansas (Which nobody has
ever attempted to justify or apologize for)
were directly melted by, and upheld and de-
Tended by the democratic party. Nor was
there any more fairness in his history of the
legislation on the subject of slavery in this
country. Its accuracy may bejudged Of by
the fact that he stated over and over, that
the ordinance of 1877 was passed by the first
Congress that met after the adoption of the
Constitution, and was signed by George
Washington as President; when every
school boy knows that Geo. Washington was
never inargursted until 1889, and that the
frs! Congress never met until late in that
year.
He was guilty of a like'piece Of unfairness
in speaking of the Nebraska bill, charging
that its object and design was to force slave
~ into Kansas, and in proof quoted that Ste
reo;yped clause that " it is the true intent
and meaning of this act neither to lesislate
slavery into any state or territory nor to
exclude it therefrom," &c. He paused at
the word State" asked who ever thought
or heard of legslatins slavery into State,
and said the word was pu, in designed'y to
deceive and mislead the public mind And
in giving the rest of the quotation he omit
ted the words "nor to exclude it therefrom."
The omission was made dcsignedly for it
would have detected the perversion he made
of the word 'Sta,e," which the quotation in
full would have shown to refer to neo States
20 bs formed out Of territories, and rot old
States, as Mr.. Trumbull construed it,
The drift and burden of his speech was
Tfambull's old hobby, that from the first in
democratic party as a body we're engaged in
a conspiracy, the design and object of which
was to force slavery into Kansas and all the
territories, whether the people wanted it or
not Of course, whoever has been in the
habit OF hearing Trumbull speak, or reading
his speeches, has the arguments by which
he makes this out by rote for he always
comes over the same thing. In the brief
and hasty review We are by want of time
and space compelled to make Of his speech,
we can notice but two of bis arguments or
points
TIE first of these was that matter in re-
ference to the Toombs bill. At the session
of Congress in the spring of 1856, says
Trumbulb Mr.. Toombs, one of the chief
eonspirators in this diabolcal plot, intro
duced q bill in the Senate 10 enable Kansas
70 form Q constitution and State govern
msnt; and in drawing up the l3th section
of that bill be committed the objectionable
bIunder (for such, as head conspirator, it
certainly would have besn,) to insert =
clause requiring the constitution, formed in
pursuance of the bill, to be submitted to q
vote of the people. The bill was referred to
the committee on territories, of which
Douglas Was chairman, who "a much sharp
= er conspirator) detected the biunder and
struck it out; then reported the bill to the
Senate, and it was passed. Now this, as
Trumbull truly said, WAS serious charge,
and be only made it because he had the de-.