Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1860-12-04
Lincoln,s Opinions.

We extract the following from speech de-
livered by Lincoln in reply to Douglas, on the
18th of October, 1854, at Peoria, Illinois. On
that occasion Lincoln said :s s IS
'sWhen Southern people tell US they are no
more responsible for the origin of slavery than
we are, / acknowledge the fact. When it is
said that the institution exists, and that it is
very difcultto get rid of it, in any satisfactory
way, can understand and appreciate the saying.
surely will not blame them for not doing what
should not know how to do myself. If all
earthly power were given me, should not know
what to do as to the existing institution. My
fret impulse would be to free all the slaves, and
send them to Liberia-to their own native land.
But moments reflection would convince me-,
that whatever of high hope Gas think there isl
there may be in this in the long run, its sudden
execution is impossible. If they were all land
ed there in q day, they would all perish in the
next ten days; and there is not surplus shipping
and surplus money enough in the world to carry
them there in many times ten days. What
then? Free them all, and keep them among rs
as underlingsa Is il quite certain that thit
betters their condition7 l think would not
bold one in slavery, at any rate; yet the point
is not clear enough for me to denounce people
upon. What next? Free them, and make them
politically and socially oor equals? My own
feelings will not admit of this; and If mine
would, we well know that those of the great
mass of white people will not. Whether tliis
feeling accords with Justice and sound judgment
is not the sole question, if indeed, it is any part
of it. A universal feeling, whether well or i'll
founded, cannot be safely disregarded. We can
not, then, make them equals. 1t seems to me
that systems OF gradual emancipation might be-
adopted; but for their tardiness in this, l will
not undertake to judge our brethren of the
South
I''When they remind US of their Constitutional
rights, acknowledge them, not grudgingly, but
fully and fairly; and would give any lagsla-
tion for the reclaiming of the fugitives, which
should not, in its striDgency, be more likely to
carry free men into slavery than our ordinary
criminal laws are to hang an innocent one
6 ''Some men, mostly Wings, who condemn the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, nevertheless
hesitate to go for its restoration, lest they be
thrown in company with the abolitionists. Will
they allow me as an old Whig to tell them good
humoredly, that think this is very silly -
Stand with anybody that stands right stand
with him while he is right, and part with him
when he goes wrong. Stand soath the abolitionist
in restoring the Missouri Compromise and
stand against him when he attempts to repeal
the fugitive slave law. In the latter case you
stand with the Southern dsunionist. What of
that? you are still right. In both cases you are
right. In both cases you oppose the dangerous
extremes. In both you stand on middle ground
and hold the ship level and steady. In both
you are national and nothing less than national
This is good old Wing ground. To desert such
ground, because of any company, is to be less
than Whig-less than maE-less than an
American ~
ut is asked, 'f we did not mean to apply the
Utah and New Mexico provision to all future
territories, what did we mean, when we, in 1852,
endorsed the Compromises of SOP
"For myself, / can answer this question most
easily. meant not to ask for repeal or mod
ifcation of the fugitive slave law. | meant not
to ask for the abolition of slavery in the District
of Columbia. meant not to resist the admis-
sion Of Utah or New Mexico, even should they
ask to come in as slave State. meant nothing
about additional territories, because, as under
stood, we then had no territory whose character
as to slavery was not already settled. AS to
Nebraska, | regarded its character as being fix
ed by the Missouri Compromise for thirty years
as unslterably fixed as that of my own home in
Illinois.