Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1860-03-02
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SPEECH OF
H o N. w NJ. H. 5 Ew ARD
IN THE U. s. SENATE, FEB 49,


Mr.. President, the admission of Kansas into
the Union, without further delay, seems to me
equally necessary, just and wise. In recorded
debates L have already anticipated the argu-
ments for this conclusion.
In coming forward among the political as
! trologerS 1t shall be an error of judgment, and
not OF disposition, if my Interpretation of the
teverish dreams which are disturbing the
country shall tend to foment, rather than allay,
the national excitement l shall say nothing
unnecessarily ofpersons, because, in our sys
TEN, the public welfare and happiness depend
chiefly on institutions, and very little on men,
shall allude but briefly to incidental topics,
because they are ephemeral, and because, even
IN the midst OF appeals to passion and preju-
! dice, it is always safe to submit solid truth to
| the deliberate consideration of an honest and
enlightened people.
1t will be an overlooking source of shame,
as well as of sorrow, if we, thirty millions
Europeans by extraction, American by birth
or discipline, and Christians in faith, and
meaning to be such in practice-caunot so
combine prudence with humanity, in our con-
duct concerning the one disturbing subject of
slavery, as not only to preserve our unequalled
institutions of freedom, but also to enjoy their
| benefits with contentment and harmony.
Wherever guiltless slave exists, be he
Caucasian, American, Malay, or African, he is
the subject of two distinct and opposite ideas
One that he is wrongly, the other that he is
rightly a slave. The balance of numbers
on either side, however great, never complete
| ly extingnishcs this difference of opinion, for
there are always some defenders of slavery
| outside, even if there are none inside of free
state while also there are always outside, if
there are not inside of every slave state, many
who assert with Milton, That "no man who
| knows aught can be so stupid to deny that all
men naturally were born free, being the image
and resemblance of God himself, and were by
privilege above all the creatures, born to com
| mand and not TO obey" 1t often, perhaps
| generally happens, however that in consider
| ing the subject of slavery society seems to
overlook the natural right or personal inter
est of the slave himself, and to act exclusively
for the welfare of the citizen. But this fact
does not materially affect ultimate results, for
| the elementary question of the rghtfulneSs or
wrongfuness OF slavery inheres in every form
that discussion concerning it assumes. What
is just to one class of men can never be nu.
rous to another and what is unjust to any
condition of persons in a state, is necessarily
injurious i'll some degree to the whole commu-
nifty. An economical question early arises out
of the subject of slavery-labor either of free
men or Of slaves is the cardinal necessity of
society. Some states choose the one kind
some the other. Hence two municipal sys-
TENS widely different arise. The slave state
strikes down and affects TO eXtnguish the per-
sonallty OF the laborer, not only as a member
of the political body, but also as parent, hus-
band, child, neighbor or friend. He thus be-
comes, in political view, merely property
without moral capacity, and without domestic,
moral and social relations, dnties, rights and
| remedies-a chattel, an object of bargain sale
| gift, inheritance, or theft. His earnings are
compensated and his wrongs atoned not to
himself, but to his owner. The state protects
not the slave as a man, but the capital of
another man, which he represents. On the
| other hand, the state which rejects slavery en-
courages and animates and invlgorates the la
borer by maintaining and developing his natu-
raj personality in all the rights and faculties of
manhood, and generally with the privileges of
citizenship. In the one case capital invested
in slaves becomes a great political force, while
in the other labor thus elevated and enfran.
chised, becomes the dominating politicalpower.
1t thus happens that we may, for convenience
| sake, and not inaccurately, call slaves states
| capital states, and free states labor states.
| SO soon as a state feels the impulses of COM
! merce, or enterprise, or ambition, its citizens
| begin to study the effects OF these systems of
| capital and labor respectively on its intelligence,
its virtue, its tranquility, its integrity unity,
its defence, its prosperity, its liberty, its happi
ness, its aggrandizem mt, and its fame. In
other words the great question arises, whether
slavery is moral, social, and political good, or
| moral social, and political evil. This is the
slavery question at home But there is a mu-
tual bond of unity and brotherhood between
man and man throughout the world. Nations
| examine freely the political systems of each
| other and of all the preceding times, and ac-
cordingly as they approve or dsapprove of the
two systems ofaapital and labor respectively,
they sanction and prosecute, or condemn and
prohibit, commerce in men. Thus, in one
way or in another, the slavery question, which
so many among us, who are more willing to
rule than patient in studying the condition of
society, think is merely accidental or unne-
cessary question that might and ought to be
settled and dismissed at once, is, on the con
trary a worldwide and enduring subject of
political consideration and civil administration.
Men, states, and nations entertain it, not vol
unfairly, but because the progress of society
continually brings it into their way. They di-
vide upon it, not perversely, but because, ow-
ing to differences of constitution, condition, or
circumstances, they cannot agree.
The fathers of the Republic encountered it,
They even adjusted it so that it might have
given us much less than our present disquiet,
had not circumstances afterwards occurred
which they, wise as they were, had not clearly
foreseen. Although they had inherited, yet
they generally condemned the practice of
slavery and hoped for its discontnuance.
They expressed this when they asserted in the
Declaration of independence, as fundamental
principle of American society," that all men are
created equal, and have inalenable rights to
life, liberty, and the pursuit OF happiness.
Each state, however, reserved to itself political
power over the subject of slavery within its
own borders. Nevertheless, it unavoidably
psesented itself in their consultations on a bond
of federal union. The new government was
to be representative one. Slaves were CAPT.
tai in some states, in others capital had no in
vestments in labor. Should those slaves be
represented as capital or as persons, taxed as
capital or as persons, or should they not be
represented or taxed at all The fathers dis.
agreed, debated long, and compromised at last.
Each state, they determined, shall have two
Senators in Congress. Three-ffths of the
slaves shall be elsewhere represented and
taxed as persons. What should be done if the
slave should escape into labor state Should
that state confess him to be a chattel and re-
store him as such, or might it regard him as a
person, and harbor and protect him as man
They compromised again. and decided that no
person held to labor or service in one state by
the laws thereof, by escaping into another,
shall by any law or regulation of that state be
discharged from such labor or service, but
shall be delivered up on claim to the person to
whom such labor or service shall be due.
Free laborers would immigrate, and slaves
might be imported into the states. The filth
ers agreed that Congress may establish uni
form laws of naturalization, and it might pro.
hibit importation of persons after 1903. Com
munities in the southwest, detached from the
southern states, were growing up in the prac-
tce OF slavery, to be capital states. New states
would soon grow up in the northwest, while as