The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-08-18
100
SPEECH OF CAssIUs Il. CLAY.

Southern champion Of Free Soil, Free Labo
and Free Speech, the Hon. Cassius NJ. Cha
addressed an audience of two thousand Peep
for two hours, in his plain, fearless, and col
vincing manner. We copy from the Cincinna
G0zette the following sketch of his tellin
speech:
LIBERTY AND DEsPoTIsM.
After abiding to the right of every citize
OF kentucky-a State professedly free, and re
pubhcan In Its lnstltutlons-to express 1rankl
his political sentiments, no man, the speake
remarked, could fail to see that there was nov
crisis in the history of our Republic whIcl
called upon the patriotism and craftsmanship
however humble, of every man who loved HI
country. The great Napoleon had well san
that Europe must ultimately be either all Re
publican or all Cossack. There was an end
less conflict between the principles OF hepublI
canism and of Despotism one could not exis
in Europe beside the other. Freedom was al
Elysium upon which the subjects of despotisn
could not look, without aching to be free them
selves and the rise and fall OF Napoleon. at
forded apt illustrations of the truth OF his OWL
saying. Human nature was the same here as
In Europe; and though we called ourselve;
Republican, the love Of power was as strong
opinions was going on. Nothing of the slight
est value-not even one Of our growing crops
could be preserved bat by our own exertions
and how could we exrect our hterty-pro
nounced by ell philosophers, statesmen, ano
jurists, the most priceless of possess'ons--to lie
maintained without etcrnsl Vigilance?
AGGkL5s!cNs OF SLAVERY.
When the Feieral Constitution was made,
Slavery was In conflict with the principles OF
Liberty and Progress. II stood in the very
Convention which framed it, in the persons OF
the Representatives from Georgia and South
Carolina, and there, as always, dictated to US.
1t said to our fathers who had sent forth the
Declaration of independence, "If you do not
make Constitution recognising Slavery, and
permitting the importation of slaves for twenty
years, all your labors for Liberty and the
formation of Union shall be undone, aud
you shall be driven back, perhaps, to another
conflict with Great Britain" Under the fear
of this dread alternative, the point had been
yielded, and Constitution formed indirectly
recognising the institution. During the early
years of the Government, the incompatibility,
incongruity, and impOssibility, of the coexist-
ence of Slavery and Liberty had not been fully
developed. But the subsequent history of the
country had proved that those interested IN
Slavery had been eternally vigilant, never
losing sight Of the political and social power
they derived from it, until il had grown from a
suppliant 20 great power, threatening to over
spread the whole continent, and carry us back
to the despotism Of ancient ages. This was its
present relation TO the interests Of the Ameri-
can people; and conservative men of the North.
South, East, and West, had been driven from
neutrality into taking position upon IT, The
hope Of Henry, Lee, Franklin, Adams, Jay, and
Morris, when, by the ordinance of 1881, they
dedicated all the unoccupied territory of the
country 10 eternal Freedom, that it was des-
tined TO speedy extinction, had proved a fatal
illusion. it had spread in the admission of
Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana. and Missouri:
and under the name of Conservatism, and the
threat of the dissolution of the Union. had
again and again triumphed over the laborers
of the South and the North, and invaded the
territory set apart TO be forever free Was
there any one within the sound of his voice.
whether calling himself Democrat, Wing.
American, or Republican, who did not feel that
the enslavement of ANY man invaded the rights
and degraded the position of every other man
who earned his bread with his hands?
THE COMPROMISES.
Influenced, be knew not by what fatal spirit
of compromise, in 1920 the freemen of the
North and South had at last said Take Mis-
sour give 1t up to this system which degrades
every man that holds pillow or drives team.
which would have the capitalist own the labor
er, but It must not extend TO more territory
north of sec 80; let that be eternalv conse-
GEaEed to fires. aboE 9n4fR ta t4fe o Gf 5s vii,
driven out by the terrible competition C Ills
malign system" That compromise was con-
sidered so sacred that the conservative Jour.
mails of the day, the National IRtelligeIacey' and
NileS Register, declared that when it should be
overthrow, American Liberty would be over.
thrown with it. Yet the slave power, which
had made 1t, was the first to Law sacrilegious
hands upon this great pacific measure. When
Texas, slave State, with the privilege of be.
ing divided into five slave States, desired ad-
mission, 1t was promptly welcomed to the I'm
ion but California, which opened TO us a com.
merce of which any Empire might be proud.
because free State, was kept waiting for
year and then only admitted under a com.
promise" including the enactment of the fu.
gitive slave law, with its odious and invidious
provisions, subiecting American freemen to in.
vasions of their rights, such as no British sub.
ject could be subjected to.
MAGoFFIN AND BELL.
Repeatedly this question had been "Gnally
settled buried forever; but it always burst
the cerements of the grave, and appeared again.
The trouble had always been with the formers
OF the compromises Of the past, and the Magof
inns and Josh Bells of to-day, that they dealt
with measures, not principles This was what
he called quackery, empiricism, politics, not
craftsmanship. The present contest in Ken.
lucky excited little interest, and no enthusiasm,
because 1t dealt with sequences and measures
only-Sas on tie surface-did not dare 10
touch the great principles involved. Every in.
telhgeEt man in the State knew and felt This.
The South, which Mogoffin and Bell talked
about, meant the slave power 4. -iored and
forgot the mechanics AID white labUripr &c,
men of the Southern Sta,e,
DOUGLAS Ayp BUCHANAN.
The speaker vert ;uto an cAterdcd n.6
amusing review OF the cclrse of ,lr. Don Ia.
who was describeu as Il lutte, sauare-shoulder.
ed fellow, with head somewhat fat On the top.
owing to limited moral qualities; and what the
hOosier girl denominated an 'infynite small
chance of legs Mr.. Clay contended that his
course had been, on the whole, one of constant
and humiliating subserviency to the slave
power, which has hitherto made and unmade
Presidents. The course of the Administration
on the Kansas question was reviewed very
severely, and Its recent position in regard to
the protection OF naturalized citizens denounced
rs pusllanlmous and contemplate
NORTH AND soUTH-KAXsAs.
The relative progress of the North. "wbere
the laborer of to-day becomes the capitalist of
tomorrow" compared with that of the South
where the capital owns the laborer, was cited
as perpetual monument of the benefcence of
Freedman illustration of the principle that
1t is always inexpedient in the long run 10 do
a moral wrong. The fact that rough land. FIVE
miles from Cincinnati, on the Ohio side of the
river, was worth $500 per acre, while that. more
smooth and fertile, the same distance back of