The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-09-23

of all the efforts OF priest and politician to bid
it down Like the ghost Of Bauquo, it will
not down at such bidding, and am here to
meet it, to question it,
'Thc ugh hell iiselfe.pe
And bid me hold my peacel
al am to maintain, Gentlemen, not that Amer
lean Slavery ought to be limited, restricted,
modified, circumscribed, but that it ought to
relax its ruffisn grasp from the throat of every
man, woman, and child, on this Continent-and
die. am not here to identify myself with
schemes for its smelioration, its Limitation, it's
restriction; but, in my theory, it's all compre-
hensive right is the right to grave so deep,
that II shall never have q resurrection. FAD
plause.
sand now, gentlemen, am happy to be able
to start the first proposition of my argument
against American Slaveryon common ground
ground on which my opponent and myself
agree. L should have made an argument here,
had it not been rendered entirely unnecessary
to prove that American Slavery ought to be
abolished, because the slave trade, in which it
commenced, and from which it draws it's lie,
is, Before all Israel and the SUM- villain.
Gus piracy. Having had them most folly ad
mitted and argued by my opponent, / need
offer no argument to prove the premises, but
only lead you to the legitimate, inevitable con.
clusion from the premises that he himself has
furnished me. If the slave trade was piracy at
the beginning-if it was villainous in its incep-
ton and carrying out-then, as it and Ameri-
can Slavery draw their first breath simuIta-
neously, and as American Slavery never could
have had an existence without the slave trade.
and has drawn frem that trade the new blood
. which has covered the soil of our own land,
have only to take the premises of my eppc-
Hent to a conclusion which no man can dodge
that that which necessarily and legitimstely
grew out of what he joins With John Wesley in
denouncIng az the sum of all vilainies," is
itself also villainous. Applause. Slavery and
the slave trade rise or fall together. The trade
was the grand trunk artery of the whole system
in its beginning, and will be in the continu-
snce of its existence. / am astonished that q
mind SO logical as that of my opponent did not
strike deeper, and defend the trade on the only
pre- misses upon which Slavery can plart its foot
outside the internal regions. Loud applause
And now | am about to take bold DO.
sltion-one that will startle Free Sellers and
Republicans-one for which stand here to.
night alone responsible. 1 proclaim the doc
trine that, according to all Just notions of hu-
man law, there never was and never can be a
slave legally held on the American Continent.
Loud applause. AS my opponent tells me
that he is friend of law and order, that be is
friend of Constitutions and Government, that
he is no enemy of the laws of the land -when
shall have proved to you, as will, that Ameri-
can Slavery, from beginning to end, is a sys-
tenn of lswlessness, then l shall have him on
my side, for be is pledged to the support of law
and order.
81 will not stop now to quote the authorities
on that point, of which l have a multitude.
will give you only one. In the debate in the
United States Senate on the Fugitive Slave
!, 1cU
a jury trial, said If you allow jury trial,
the jury will have the right to go into questions
of law and fact, and Northern jury will in
quire for the statute under which slave is
held and added he, so far as I knoto, no
such statute can be found tn any Of the South
ern States IS
The Southern doctrine all through is, that
Slavery is a natural condition. creature of
natural laws-that your tenure to your slave is
the same as to your horse-because you can
catch him; that you hold him by virtue of con.
quest alone; that you drive him into your field
as you drive your ox-because you have bro
ken him and can manage him. The Legisls-
ture has given you no promise to put him in
your hands, or to make him work. The Legis.
lature never stands behind him, driving him up
to his work. 1t has only stood by, and enabled
you to lay your hands upon him and make him
gal right to do it, but lately allowing you to
catch him if you can. So that, gentlemen,
American Slavery has not for its support even
that shabby notion of law that we cali legisls.
ton. No Legislature has yet dared to defy
Heaven by passing an act to condemn free
man to Slavery.
"But, even if it had, it would not help the case.
For let me tell you that everything cannot be
framed into law. Law has character of its
own. Certain elements enter into it, and what
ever enactments lack these elements are no
laws at all. They are not bad law, but they
are no law-are null and void, and are often.
times conspirscies against law. An enactment
to have the authority and force of Law, must be
founded in justice and reason-must draw it's
life-principles from the government of God
must grow out of the nature of man-must bear
relation to the Divine government, and come
into harmony with it. The mere votes of
Legislature can no more make law than they
can make God, unless those votes are cast for
the development, and manifestation, and reve-
lation, of law that Sod Alzighty wove into
the structure of the universe at the beginning.
"Suppose, gentlemen-(this is an abstract ar.
gument, but you will see the sweep of it in a
mement) suppose, if you please, that a com.
psuy of ten thousand natural philosophers
should get together and undertake to leeislate
that water should cease to run down hill, and
hereafter shall run up hill; suppose they
should solemnly vote that that should be Law
of nature-that the brooks should turn round
that the streams should run up toward their
fountain-would the streams obey them. or
would they laugh on in their course, and dis
regard them2
Suppose all the mathematiciaus in the world
should gather themselves together, and enact,
as Law OF mathematics, that instead of twice
two making just four, it should make Just four
and q half, would that make it a law-vould
that make it rule in mathematics? Every
boy that counts his own fingers would tell YOU,
when the matter was proposed to him, Let
all the mathematicians in Gods world declare
that this is law, have only to count my fingers
to prove that it is not true, and does not govern
the case, and therefore cannot be law Now
for the application Ged inscribed upon mans
forefront the law of selfownership IS clearly
and distinctly as he revealed the fact that twice
two makes four. Loud applause. He gave
each man two hands and one head and if all
the Legislatures to be gathered together on
earth should legisste that a man should own
two dozen hands and one dozen heads, the Law
OF Gcd stands forever revealed against them
and instead OF such an enactment being law il
is villainous legislative conspiracy against
law, and deserves no other name. Applause
So that, were you able even to 6ud enactments
in favor of the institution of American Slavery
were you able to find ensctments in favor of
murder, of robbery, Of adultery, of any crime
that could name-you would not feel bound
to bow down to these crimes, because of these
enactments, but would say that you had come
into land OF legislative criminals, and that
what they enacted was not Law, but multiform
crime, stealing the sacred garb of law under
NH Hh To do 30, H..