Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1858-12-08
THE TRUE ISSUE.
OF WILLIAM n. SEWARD.
Delivered at Rochester MondGy, Oct. 25. 1858.

FELLOW CITIZENS; The unmisiakable
of zeal which occur all around
NJ, show that you are earnest men
nd such a man am |. Let US therefore,
At leas, for time, pass b. all secondary
lnd collateral Questions, whether OF a
personal or Of general nature, and con-
,ider the min subject ofihe present can
Sass. The Democratic party-or, TO
speak more accuraiely-the party which
wears that attractive name, is in posses
sion of the Federal Government. The
propose to dislodge that
party and dismiss it from its high trust.
The main subject. then is, whether
lhe Democratic parry deserves to retain
The confidence Of the American People
In attempting 10 prove 1t unworthy,
think that am not aciuated by preiu
dices against.that party, or by proposes
sions in favor OF lis adversary; for have
learned, by some experience, vice and
are found in all parties, and
that they differ less in their motives than
in the policies tley pu sle.
Our country is theatre, which exhib !
its, in full operation, two radically diff |
erent political systems; the one resting
on the basis of servie or slave labor. the
other on the basis of voluntary labor OF
freemen.
The laborers who are enslaved are ne
groes, or persons more or less purely of
African derivation. But this is only &C
cidental. The principle Of the sis:em is,
that labor in every society, by whomsoever
perf,rmad, is necessarily unintelleciual,
groveling, and base; and that the labor
er, equally for his own COED and for the
welfare of the State, ought TO be enslav-
ed. The white laboring man, whether
native or foreigner, is not enslaved, only
because he cannot, as yet, be reduced 10
bondage.
You led not be told now that the slave
system is the cider of the Two, and that
once it was universal
The emancipation of our own ances-
tors, Caucasians and Europeans a. they
were, hardly dates beyond period cf
$40 years. The great melioration of
human society which modern times ex
hibir, is mainly due TO the substitution OF
the system Of voluntary labor for the oil
oae of servile labor, which has already
taken pace. This African slave system
is one which. in its origin and in its
growth, has been altogether foreign from
the habits Of the races which colo
nized these States, anl established civil
liZation here. Was introduced on this
new continent as an engine of conquest,
and for the establishment of monarchical
pIwer, by The Portugnes and the Span
ilrds, and was rapidly extended by them
all over South America. Central Ameri-
CT, Louisiana, and Mexico. Its legili
ma'e fruits are seen in the poverty. i'm
beciliiy, and anarchy, which now per-
vide all Portuguese and Spanish AmeIi-
ca. The free-labor system Is OF German
extraction, and it was established in our
,untrv by em;granis from Sweden, Hol-
land. Germany, Great Britain, and Ire
land.
We Justly ascribe to its influences the
strength, wealth, greatness. intelligence,
and freedom, which the whole American
people now enjoy. One of the chief ele-
menis of the value OF human life is free
dom in the perSuits of happiness. The
slave system is not ouly intolerani. un
Just, aud inhun,an, toward the laborer,
whom, only because he is a laborer, il
loads down with chains and converts in
TO merchandise, but scarcely less 10 the
freemen, TO whom, only because he is
lab1rer from necessity, it denies facilities
for employment, and whom il expels
from the community because il cannot
en,lsve and convert him into merchan-
disc als1. Ii is necessarily improvldent
and ruinous, because, as general truth,
communities prosper and flourish or drooP
and decline in just the degree tnat they
practice or neglect 10 practice the prim-
ary duties ofjustiCe and humanity. The
flee labor system conforms 10 The divine
law of equality. which is written in the
hearts and consciences of men, and there
fore is always and everywhere benef-
cient.
The slave system is one Of constant
danger, disirusi, suspicion, and watchful-
ness. Ii debases those whose toll alone
can procuce wealth and resources for
de fence. 10 the lowest degree of which
human nature is capable, 10 guard against
muiiny AMI insu rectisn, and thus wastes
energies winch otherwise might be en-
ployed in national development and az
grandizcment.
The ffee.labor system educaies all
alike, and, by opening all the fields Of
industrial employment, and all the de-
parments of authority, to the unchecked
and equal rivalry of all classes of men,
at once secures universal cou:entment,
and brings into the highest possible ac-
tivity all the physical, moral, and social
erergies of tbs whole Stale. In States
where the slave system prevails, the
masters, directly or indirectly, secure
all political power. and constitute rul-
ing aristocracy. In the States where the
free-labor system prevails. universal
suffrage necessarily obtains, and The
State inevitably becomes, sooner-or later,
a republic or democracy.
Russia yet maintains slavery, and is a
despotism. Most of the other European
States have abolished slavery, and adopt
cd the system of free labor. 1t was the
anita gonistic political tendencies of the
two systems which the first Napoleon
was contemplating when he predicted
that Europe would ultimately be either
all Cossack or all Republican. Never did
human sagaciiy utter more pregnant
truth. The Two systems are at once
perceived 10 be homogeneous. But they
are more than incongruous, they are in
compatible. They never have perman-
emily existed together in one country,