The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1860-10-11

line was 81 r Cnier ID, with the States Of Mis-
souri, and Arkansas, to slavery Next, un-
| der the influence ofthis same decentralization.
the whole of the peninsula ofFlorida, acquired
! from Spain, was surrendered to slavery, rcn
dering it practically useless for all the nation.
al purposes for which it was acquired maxi
ng it burthen instead of national safe
guard in the Gulf Of Mexico. ..
But Texcs was surrendered to slavery, and
brought in with the gratuitous agreement
/ that four slave States should be made out Of
that Territory. Next, in 1850, Utah and
| New Mexico were abanloned to slavery
/ After these events, following in quick sue
cession, came the abrogtaion, in the wear
! 1854, Of the restriction contained in the Mis-
souri, Compromise, by which it had been
stipulated that all north of sc deg. 80 min
excepting the State of Missouri, should be
/ dedicated to freedom. That was abandoned
to saverv'to take it if she could get it and
! the administration ofthe government of the
United Stltes, with scarcely a protest from
the people, went on to favor its occupancy by
slavery. As a legitimate consequence came
the refusal, on the part of the national GOV.
ernment-ior 1T was practical refusal, or
negect-to admit Kansas into the Union be-
cause she would not accept slavery.
After this decentralization had been carried
ont in these practical measures, what right
had the nation to be surprised when the
President and the Supreme Court at LAST
pronounced that, which in no previous year.
either of them would have dared to assert
that this Constitution Of ours il not a Con.
stitution Of liberty, but that it is a Constitu
ton of human bondage that slavery is the
normal condition of the American people on
each acre Of the domain of the United States
not organiZed into States--that j. to saw,
that wherever this banner Of ours, this star
spaurlcd banner, whose glories we celebrate
so highly-whereve that banner floats over
a national ship or national Territory, there
is land not Of freedom. but ofsaverv
Hence, it has followed, that the nation up
to 1854 surrendered all the unoccupied por-
tons ofthis continent to slavery, and thereby
practically excluded freemen-because eX-
perience al, shows that when you have made
a slave territory. freedom avoids it, Just as
much as when you make free State, like
Lansas, slavery disappears from it.
! | have said that the county was demoral-
iz,a by its political representatives but these
political representatives have their agents.
linen necessarily fall into some political
party, and into some religious sect. Ambi-
ton sways in both parties and religious sects.
To gain office in a political party and share
its favor, when the nation was demoralizad,
it became necessary that the candidate should
be tolerant of slavery. So religious sccts
were ambitious to extend their ecclesiastical
sway. The consequence was that year bv
wear slavery had party upon party; slavery
had religious sect upon religious sect church
after church. But alas until the dawn of
that year, freedom had no part and no rclr-
ious sect throughout this whole country.
A people who are dcmoralized are ealily
operated upon they are easily kept persist
emily in The same erroneous habit which has
demoralzcd them. The first agency for
continuing to extend the power of slavery
upon this continent is that Of alarm Fears
of all kinds are awakened in the public mind
The chief Of them is the fear of turbulence.
Of disorder, of civil connections, and of civil
war. The Shareholders in the slave States
very justly, and truthfully, and rightly as.
sumo that slaves are the natural enemies Of
their masters and of course, that slaves are
iESiduous enemies of the State which holds
/ them, or requires them to be held in bondage;
that insrduous enemies are dangerous and,
/ therefore, in every slave State that has ever
been founded in this country, policy is es-
.tabliShel which suppreSseS freedom 0fspeech
and freedom of debate, so far as liberty needs
advocates, while it extends the largest Ii
cense of debate to those who advocote the
interests of slavery. This lack OF freedom
of speech and freedom ofdcbate is followed
in slave States by the necessary consequences,
that there Is no freedom Of sugrage. So that
at the last Presidential election--the first
when thisquastion was ever distinctly broug't
before the American peoplc-there were no
slave States in which ballot box was open
for freedom, or where free men might east
their ballots with safety. If one side only
is allowed to vote in State, il is verv easy
+ to see that that side must prevail Laugh
ter and applause, ... ....
! If the condition Of civil society is such that
voting is not to be done safely few men will
vote. Every man who wishes to express his
choice is rot expected to be martyr. The
world produces but few men willing to be
; martyrs. my friends, and such | am sorry
have not been very numerous in our day.
Nearly one half of tie United States, them
that is, all the slave States, are then arrayed
an the side of slavery, and behold them They
tell us that Rcpublicanism. which invites
: them to discuss the subject, is sectional and
not willing to rest content with this exclu-
sion of all freedom of suffrage, of speech and
of debate on the subject of slavery within
their own jurisdiction, but they require the
free states to accept the same system for
themselves. They insist that although they
may be able at home to keep down their
slaves, if we win be quiet yet they cannot
tolerate discussion of slavery in the free
States, as we thereby encourage the slaves
in the slave States to insurrection and sedi-
ton. This argument might fail to reach and
convince us. inasmuch as we, ourselves, are
safe from any danger of insurrection in the
slave States.
1 But they bring it home to our fears by
declaring that their peace is of more impor-
tance than the interest of the nation that
they prefer slavery even to union, that if we
will not acquiesce in allowing them TO MAIN
tain, fortify and extend slavery on uleuual
terms, then they dissolve the Union, and we
will all go down together, or we all suffer a
common dessolation There are few men
and there ought to be very (ew-who would
be so intent on the subject Of establishing
freedom that they would consent to a sub
version Of the Union to produce it, because
the Union is positive benefit, nay, an ab-
solute necessity, and to save the Union, men
may naturally dare to delay. Most men,
therefore, very cheerfully prefer 10 let the
subject of slavery rest for some better time
for some better occasion for some more
fortunate circumstances, aud they are con-
tent to keep the Union with slavery ifit can
not be kept otherwise.
J You see how this has worked in denoral-
. Al L. t IL. II