The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1860-02-08
RAVENNA, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY s, 1860


unanimously adopted Abraham Lincoln as
their candidate for United States Senator.
Mr.. Lincoln appeared Before the Conven.
ton, accepted the nomination and made
speech; which had been previously written
and agreed to in caucus by most of the lead.
ers of that party. will read a single ex-
tract from that speech:
In my opinion it (the slavery agitHtion)
will not cease until a crisis shall have been |
reached and passed. "A house divided against
itself cannot stand.' believe this Govern |
ment cannot endure permanently half slave
and half free. do not expect the house 10
fall, butI do expect it will cease to be di-
vided. 1t will become all one thing or all
the other. Either the opponents Of slavery
will arrest the further spread ofit and place
it where the public mind shall rest in the
belief that it is in the course Of ultimate ex-
tnction, or its advocates will push forward
till it shall become alike lawful in all the
Stales-old as we'll as new-North as we'll
as South"
The moment landed upon the soil of
Illinois, before vast gathering Of many
tnUuSduuS my SOubtlluCHtS " "OiCOuC
me home, read that passage, and took direct
issue with the doctrine as being revolutionary
and reasonable, and inconsistent with the
perpetuity of this Republic. That is not the
t individual opinion of Mr. Lincoln, or the
individual opinion merely of the Senator from
New York, who, four months afterwards,
ho sauo thino in Ion
| guage; but so far as know, it is the opin-
ion of the members of the Abolition or Re-
publican party.
} They tell the North, that, unless we rally
as one man, under sectional banner, and
make war upon the South, with a view to
the ultimate extinction ofslavery, it will over.
1 run the whole North, and fasten itself upon
= our free States. Then they tell the South,
\ that unless you rally as one man, combining
+ your whole Southern people into sectional
: party, and establish slavery all over the
free States, the inevitable consequence will
:, be that we will abolish it in the sIaveholdino
i States. This is the same doctrine held by
il the Senator from New York in his Rochester
speech. He tells us that the States must al
l. become free, or all become slave in other
l. words, that the South must conquer unc
4. subdue the North, or the North must tr
umph over the South, and drive slavery from
le its limits. In order to show that have no
le misinterpreted the position of the Senate
le from New York, in notifying the South tina
rs if they wish to maintain slavery within
lit their own limits they must also fasten
upon the Northern States, will read q
extract from his speech, to which l hav
1i. alluded. He says: sit is an irrepressib
on conflict between opposing and enduring 70
tn ces, and it means the United States must, or
sr- will, sooner or later, become either entirel
is' a slsveholding nation, or entirely free-l
all Dor nation. Either the cotton and rice fielt
y. of South Carolina, and the sugar plantation
en- of Louisiana, will ultimately be titled by fire
labor, and Charleston and N ew Orleans bt
i'd come marts for legitimate merchandise ulon
al, or else the rye fields and the wheat fielt
he of Massachusetts and New York must ago.
an be surrendered by farmers to slave cultu1
for and the production of slaves, and Boston ar
an New York once more become markets Fl
lat the trade in the bodies and souls of men,"
in Thus, Mr.. President you perceive that II
ob. theory of the Republican party is that the
ler is a conflict between two different system
en-. of institutions in the different States. Not
ing conflict in the same States but an irrepress
Tho BILE conflict between the free States and Il
rn- slave States. They will argue that the
eat two systems OF States cannot permanent
ion exist in the same Union-that the section
re- warfare must continue to rage, increasi
itu. in fury, until the free States shall surrend
it's or the Slave states shall be subdued. Hem
"a while they appeal to the passions of our o.
ton section, their object is to alarm the peol
by Of the other section, and drive them to mi
ork ness with the hope that they will invade
by rights, and thus furnish them with an exc
icle to carry on their aggressions upon tn
liza. rights. appeal to the candor of Senate
but whether this is not fair exposition of
; to tendency of the doctrines proclaimed by
and Republican party. The creed Of that orga
ties, zation is founded upon the theory that,
pile. cause slavery is not desirable in the
this States, it is not desirable anywhere; beca
find free labor is good thing with us it must
ex. the best thing everywhere. In other wol
the their creed rests upon the theory that th
nth. must be uniformity in the domestic inst
ex- tions and internal policy OF the several st,
hey of this Union. Here, in my opinion, is
luce fundamental error upon which their wh
rom system rests. ] asserted everywhere,
the the Illinois campaign, and now repeat,
h OF uniformity in the domestic institutions Of
not different States is neither possible nor
lern sirable. That is the very issue upon WI
the conducted the canvass at home, and it is
nter question which desire to present to
il US Senate.
lults Was such the doctrine of the trainers OF
Constitution! wish the country to beu
for mind that when the Constitution was adol
view the Union, consisted of thirteen Sta
Ie Of twelve of which were slaveholding Sta
that and one free State. Suppose that
then doctrine of uniformity on the slavery q
for ton had prevailed in the Convention, do
= ha 1ontl laman m tho Rnnuhlicop' s;Ja ~