St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1858-02-18
poIitital.
MR.. BLAIR'S SPEECH.

The late arcoch hy Mr.. Bloir Of Mis-
souri,, in Congress, has produced a
great deal of talk. Thirty or forty
years ago it was not strange to hear
Representative from Slave States
dcnouncing the system Of forced labor
and dcvising plans for the removal of
the evil; but lattcrly all the accusa-
tions against the abomniablc system
have come from the North. The tide
however, is turning. Free labor, it
has been learned, is much more profit
able than cxactcd, in Missouri and
some other Slave States, and hence
the anxiety of Mr.. Blair and a majority.
Of his constituents, to see freedom
stretching southwark.
We give the concluding part of his
spccck in full, and ask the frccmcn of
Iowa to carcfullyweigh its sentiments
They come from the heart of a man
who has tested slavery, and knows, by
experience, what its evils arc:
"Thc redemption of our own race
from its vassalagc under slavery has
been brought to a stand-still, and six
millions Of our free white kindred eli
dure deprivations, corporal and intel
lcctual, from the slave occupation of
the soil and the pursuits which would
Il Il e
sense Of mental Improvement. Noith-
cr the slave owners, nor the slave
states, are responsible for the arrest
of the cntranchiscmcnt which prom
isCd blessings to the tOilcrs OF both
races. For, whether, as slave or free
men, the presence of multtudcs Of the
black race is found to be fatal to the
interests Of our race: their antago-
nism is rs strong as that Of oil and
water, and SO long as no convenient
outlet, through which the manumitted
slave can reach a congcniel climate
and country willing to receive him is
afforded, the institution of slavery
stands on compulsion. But let me
suppose Central Notwithstanding
in gold and every other production of
the tropical soil to stimulate eXcrtion,
with climate innoXious only to the
black man-wcrc opened up to him,
under the circumstances to advance
him in the scale of humanity, how long
before the masters in all the temper
ate slaves states would make compo-
sitions to liberatc them on terms that
would indemnify them for transplant
tation? Hundreds of more benevolent
owners would from a sense of public
good and for conscience sake, by wills,
or by deeds of emancipation make
this delivcrancc, il the general gov,
ernment would take charge of the de,
portation to the region it might ac.
quire for thcm--a gradual and volun
tary emancipation by individuals, il
not by states, would thus in time be
accomplished | hold that it is tho
duty Of the nation to offer this boon tC
slave states to enable them to have
complete control of the subject, whicl
is the source Of 50 much anxiety anl
mischief to them.
What a change would soon bC
wrought in the condition of Marylan,
and Virginia, Tennessee and Ken
lucky, and in my own state, Missouri
if a smooth way were opened into tn,
heart Of the tropics-prodigal o
wealth in the soil, in the mines, an,
in the forests, where the labor of tn,
robust and skillful freed man, assistc,
by the capital and instruction, and in
spired by the energy Of ontcrprising
American merchants, miners or plan
tcrs would start everything into lie
The mixed condition Of the four differ