Wabash express. [volume] (Terre-Haute, Vigo Co[unty], Ind.) 1841-186?, 1860-03-07
Speech of VIM. Il. Seward.

In coming forward among the political
astrologers. it shall be an error of judg
ment, and not of disposition, if nv inter-
probation of the feverish dreams which are
disturbing the country shall tend to TO-
ment, rather than allay, the national ex
element i shall say nothing unnecessari
ly of persons, because in our system. the
public welfare and happiness depend chief
ly on institutions, and very little on men.
shall allude but briefly to incidental top
les. because they are ephemeral, add be-
cause, even in the midst Of appeals to pas
sion and prejudice. it is always safe to sub
NIT solid truth to the deliberate considera
ton of an honest and enlightened people
1t will he an OVERLOOKING source of shame,
as well as of sorrow, If we, thirty millions 1
Europeans by extraction. Americans by j
birth or discipline, and Christians in faith, 7
and meaning to be such in practice-can- /
not so combine prudence with humanity, !
in our conduct concerning the one disturb /
ing subject of Slavery. as not only to pre-
serve cur uneqaled institutions of Freedom, /
but also to enjoy their benefits with con-
tentmeut and harmony.
The Senator here deliberately defined the
status Of the slave and of the free laborer,
aud said:
Ia the one case. capital invested in
slaves becomes great political force. while
in the other labor thus elevated and en-
frsnchised, becomes dominating political
power Il thus happens that We may, Tor
convenience sake, and not inaccuraely,
call Slave States capital States, and Free
States labor States.
Speaking of the coutending systems of
Of labor and irrepressibility of the qres
ton of Slavery, he said:
Thus, in one way or an other, the Sie-
very question which so many among Us,
who are more willing to rule than patient
in studying the condition of society, think
is a merely accidental or unnecessary ques-
ton that might aud ought to be settled
and dismissed at once, is, on the contrary,
world wide and eadnring subject Of po
! litical consideration ard civil administra-
| ton. Men, States, and nations entertain
it, not voluntarily, but because the pro.
gTess of society, continually brings it in
to their way. They divide upon it not
perveIsely, but because owing to differ
ences of constitution. condition or circum
stances, they cannot agree
Here the Senator went into the history Of
the slave controversy of the fathers Of the
Republic, saying:
The Fathers disagreed debated long and
compromised at last.
OF the things which the Fathers in their
adjustment of the slavery Iquestion did not
foresee, there were two:
The refrigeration of slavery conse-
quent on the increased consumption of cot.
ton, and the extension of the national do
main across the Mississippi, and these &C
Cured before 1920 The State of Louisi-
ana, formed on a slsveholding French set
Element, within the newly acquired Leui-
sianian Territory, had then already been
admitted into the Union.
Coming down to the controversy on the
Missouri restriction, the Senator said
The Missouri debate disclosed truths-ol
great moment for Interior use:
First. That it is easy to combine the
capital States in defense of even externs
interests, while it is hard to unite the la
Dor States in common policy.
Second That the labor States have
natural loyalty to the Union, while the cap
ital States have natural facility for alarm
ing Il at loyalty by threatening disunion.
Third. That the capital States do moi
|
and constitutional resistance TO the exteu
sion of slavery in the common Territories
of the Union, and unconstitutional aggres
sion against slavery established by loca
laws in the capital States.
The Senator traces the controversy clear
ly and comprehensively down to the Com
promise of 1850. He quotes the Inaugural
message o. Pierce, that "the sense of secu
rity aud repose to the public mind through
out the Confederacy" should "suffer nc
shock" during his term, and remarks:
Hardly, however, had these inspiring
sounds died away, throughout treasured
and delighted land, before the national re
pose was shocked again-shocked, indeed
as it had never before been, and smitter
this time by blow from the very hand
that had just released the chords of the
national harp from their utterance of thai
exalted symphony Of peace.
What produced the repeal of the Mis-
souri, Compromise, is thus stated:
Kansas and Nebraska, the ng-devoted
reservation of labor and freedom, saved in
the agony of national fear in 1920, and sa
we'd again in the panic of 1850, were nov
1
ending course of seed-time and harvest
might begin. The slave capitalists from
Missouri, from their own well-assured
homes on til, stern banks of their nobl,
river looked down upon and coveted the
fertile prairies of Kansas; while a sudder
terror ran through all the capital States
when they saw a seeming cetainty that a
last they saw a new Labor State would be
built on their western border, inevitably
fraught, rs they said, with near or remote
abolition of slavery
; The Senator traces the bewilderment O
the agitation that followed, with a master
hand. As for popular sovereignty:
The popular sovereignty of Kansa.
proved to be the State sovereignty of Mis-
souri,, not only in the persons of rulers, but
even in the letter Of an arbitrary and crueI
code. The perfect freedom proved to be a
) hateful and intolerable bondage.
Nebraska. though choosing Freedom. is
through the direct exercise of Executive
power. overriding her own will, held as :
slave Territory; aud New Mexico has re-
lapsed voluntarily into the practice of sla
very, from which she had redeemed herself
while she yet renamed a part of the Mex
e lean Republic. Meantime, the Democratic
, party, advancing from tho ground of Pop
ular Sovereignty, as far as that ground il
from the Ordinance of 1887, now stands on
the position that both Territorial Govern
ments and Congress are incompetent to lie
gIslate against slavery in the Territories
while they are not only competent. but are
obliged, when it is necessary, TO legislatt
Z for its protection there.
In this new aud extreme position the
Democratic party now masks Itsely behind
The battery Of the Suprme Court, as if il
were possibly a true construction of the
Constitution, that the power of deciding
practically forever between freedom and
slavery 10 portion of the continent far ex
ceeding all that is yet organized, should be
renowned by Congress, which alone pos
sesses any legislative authority, and should
be assumed and exercised by court which
can only take cognizsnce of the great ques-
ton collaterally, in a private action be.
tween individuals, aud which action the
Constitution will not suffer the court to en-
terrain, il it involves twenty dollars of
money, without the overrulIng interven
ton Of a jury Of twelve good and lawful
men OF the neig lb0Fhood where the ltips.