The Council Bluffs nonpareil., 1860-09-15

abo,ished slavery IN their colonies, and oni.
j half century since We or any European na
! ton ipserdicted the African slave trade
{ Scarcely three generations have passed AVA
J. since the subject of the wrosgfulness Q
slavery first engaged the consideration .
You and l indeed understand now yer.
veil how il is that slavery in the Territories
Of the United States 10 left open by tn
Constitution to our utmost peaceful oppo
sition, while within the slave States II i
entrenched behind local constitutions beyon,
the reach Of external legislation. But th
, subject is . complex one, and the great mas
ses Of the people to whom it has only beef
recently presented. and doudsie>sly Otter
presenieal under favorable circumstances
mi ght we'll desire time for its careful ans
4 deliberate examination.
Il Ii seems bold suggestion to say, that
-reas nation ought TO reconsider prs csics
Of forty yaars' Duration; but forty years o
| a nations life, a.a equivalent to only ont
ysar.in the life Of an individual. The though
is at least consistent With political phio'
sophy, for it is not more true that 1ersona
pe:sisteuce in error leads inevitably TO ruin.
than it is that every nation exists by obedl-
! epce to the same moral laws which direct
individual life, that they are written in its
original constitution, and it must cantinu-
ally reform itself according to the spirit ol
those laws, or perish.
/ WHAT HE ADVISES.
| Nv humble advice, then, fellow-citizens.
| is, that we return and re- establish the orig
/ inal policy of the nation, and henceforth
hold, as we did in the beginning, that sla.
very is and must be only purely local,
| temporary and exceptional institution, con-
fined within the slave States where it already
exists, while freedom is the general, nor
NAL, enduring end permanent condition OF
society within the jurisdiction, and under
the authority, of the Constitution OF the
| United States.
| | counsel thus for simple reason, inca
pable of illumination. Slavery, however il
may be at any time or in any pace excused,
is ut all times and everywhere unjust and
inhuman in its very nature; while freedom,
however i. may be at any time or any place
neglected. denied or abused, is in its nature
right. Just and bene6cent. 1t can never,
under any circumstances be wise to perse-
we're voluntarily in extending or fortieying
an institution that is intrinsically wrong or
cruel. Ii can never be unwise wherever 1t
is possible, to defend and fortify an exist.
Ing institution founded on the rights Of nu-
man Nature. Insomuch as opinions are so
materially and yet so unconsciously affected
and modified BY time, place and circumstan
ces, we may hold these great truths firmly,
| without impeaching the convictions or the
motives of those who deny them in argu-
n.ent or practice.
| counsel thus for another reason quite as
simp,e as the first. knowledge, emulation
and Independence among the members Of a
social state are the chief elements of national
wealth, strength aud power. Ignorance,
Incidence and bondage of individuals are
aivays sources of national imbocility and
decline. All nations in their turns have
prac,iced slavery. Most of them have abol-
ished it. The world over the wealshiest and
most powerful nations have been those
which tolerated it lehst, and which earliest
and most CT. N ,,letely abolished it. Virginia
and Texas are thrown into panic even now
| by the appcara 1ce or even the suspicion OF
| handful of men within their borders inssi-
eating civil war. Massachusetts, and YER
mont defod British. Iavasion, backed by
treason eighty years aro.
| The African trade, ~ prisoners OF war
! spared from slaughter, atfo ID. an alternative.
| The chiefs sold ten men, woLle.' or children
| for single horse. The conqueio OF Amer
| icaa brought this unnatural inert ha nd Sc TO
our coasts. When the English coion.sts OF
North America, happily in only ve,.V I'M
tied degree, borrowed from their pred. ceI,-
sors this bad practice of slavery, they bar
rowed also its wretcbed apology, a want OF
an adequate supply of free labor. 1t was
| then thought an exercise of Christian benev-
| olence to rescue the African heather from
eternal suffering in a future state, and
! through the painful path of earthly bond
| age to open to him the gates Of the celestial
| paradise. Butsali this is now changed. We
are at las: no feeble or sickly colonies, but
great. populoss, homogeneous nation, un-
surpassed and uncqualied 10 all the elements
| Of colonization aa1 civilization. Free labor
here continually increases and abounds. and
is fast verging towards European standards
| Of value. Thefe is not one acre too much
in our broad domain for the supply Of even
three generations, of our free population
with their certain increase. lmm grafton
| from Europe is crowding our own sons into
the western region, and this movement is
daily augmented by the application of new
machines for diminishing mechanical and
| even agricultural labor. AT this very mo
ment, Congress, after a long and obstinate
reluctance. finds itself obliged to yield a
Homestead Law to relieve the pressure
Of labor in the Atlantic States. Ger
tainly, therefore, we have no need and
no room for African slaves in the Federal
Territories. Do you say that we want more
sugar and more cotton, and therefore we
must have more slaves and more slave labor?
/ | answer, first, that no class or race o! m n
have right to demand sugar, cotton. or
| any other comfort Of human life to be
wrung from them, through the action Of
the Federal Goyernment, from the unre-
warded and compulsory labor of any other
class or race Of men.
/ | answer, secondly, that we have sugar
and cotton enough alrendy for domestic
consumption, and a surplus Of the latter
for expectation without any increase Of
slave territories. DO you say that Europe
wants more sugar aud cation than we can
now supply? Let then, Europe send her free
laborcrs hithcr, or into Italy. or into the
West Indies, or into the East: or, if
it suit them better, let III IN engage the
natives of cotton growing reg'oLs in the
Old world to produce cotton ard sugar
voluntarily and for adequate comp Ielsa
tion. Such a course, instead Of for.
bii loS anu 'HitiEihg tHe sway VI eHiNeFy
here, will leave Us free to favor lie gradual
removal. Il will renew or introduce cvili-
cation on the shores Of the Mediterranean
and throughout the coasts of the Indian
Ocean. Christianity, more fully developed
and better understood now than heretofore,
turns with disgust and horror from the en-
ploymeut Of force aud piracy as necessary
agency Of the Gospel.
/ Thirdly, there is no necessity now to for
THY or extend slavery within the United
States or on the American continent. All
the supposed necessities Of tina. sort ever
before known have passed away forever.
Let us briefly review them. With the dis
q covery and conquest Of America confessedly
came a responsibility TO reclaim j, from
nature and 10 introduce civiiza ion. I'M
Fortunately Spain aud Portugal, the discov-
i ssers and conqaerors, were, Of all the
Europsan States in the sixteenth century,
fak - 4 r A