Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1860-10-06
Extracts from Ne
GREAT sPEEon OF CARL seEunz.
AZ the Cooper IsssItuss, n. y.
rus DOUGLAS Docrnrrw o. avAnrErY."

tbs DOUGLAS DocrRrSK or "vARnrY."
But his speeches do coutaIn
one original idea, and tell you that was D
bright one Il belongs oil to him nobody ev-
er advocated II before, and nobody viii hefeaf
ter. We have been laboring under the impress
ion that Douglas did not caro- whether slavery
be voted mp or down bat We must beg bic
pardon--is turns ont that be does care for the
| only original idea that be can boast Of is thnt
slavery must necessarily exist for the sake OF
--rariety. (Laughter.) Don't laugh, I pray
you--it is a very serious matter---it is on this
fundamental principle upo0 which Mr.. Douglas
craftsmanship rests--and IS be Is the greatest
statesman alive, ii certainly deserves a serious
consideration. He tells rs il is the very iasna
upon which he conducted the canvass 10 illiDois
10 l855--it is on the very groaHd upon which
he placed the necessity Of his Conspiracy blu
and be has peddled 1t all over the Unien 10
numberIess speeches.
| The original idea, as exposed In bis own LAM
guage, is this assert" said he in bis speech
opening the canvass Of 1858, this is the great
fundamental principle which underiies our com
| pex system Of State and Federal governments,
which implies diversity and dssimilarity in 10
cal Institutions aud domestic affairs Of each and
every State then in the Union or hereafter TO
be admitted. / therefore conceive that Mr..
Lincoln has totally misapprehended the great
principles upon which our government rests
Uniformity in local and domestic affairs would
be destructive of States, rights, Of States SOW
ereignty-of personal liberty and personal free
dom. Wherever de doctrine of uniformity e
procLdiHed that all the States must Be free or
staUe that all the labor must be ichite or btack:
that all the citizens of the dffent States must
have the same privileges or must be ruled by
the same regulation. yOu hare destroyed de
greatest Sqf fegWdrds tchich our institutions hare
/ fb4aolnu aadf he rifSvo, fbfn Via ~
the case 1 am driven irresistibly to the conclu-
sion that diversity, dissimilarity, vaYiesy in ell
our local and domestic institutions is the safe
guard Of our liberties. / repeat that
uniformity in our institutions is neither possible
nor desirable"
This may sound very profound. bat IL WIN
not require many words to show you how ex-
ceedingiy ridiculous it is. Whatever your opin-
ions of the Judges craftsmanship may be, per-
nit me to say that whenever be attempts 70 act
the philosopher, he becomes-not to put too
fine point on livery funny.
And now mark that wonderful muddle OF
nonsense in the head OF that greatest Of living
statesmen'-our liberties rest apon our Federal
system of government--our Federal system Of
| government rests upon the variety of iDstitu-
tons that variety of institutions consists OF
there being slavery 10 some of the States. IL
slavery disappeared that variety would disap-
| pCdE ~ buab variety WOuiu utodppCAE OuE II 0us
eral system Of government would disappear
| If our Federal system of government disap-
peared the safeguards of our liberties would be
destroyed--consequently IL slavery disappears
liberty disappears slso.
| Again, ii all the States were free there would
be uniformity but uniformity in local and do
nestle affairs would be destructive OF personal
liberty-that uniformity is prevented by the
existence Of slavery consequently the exist
/ anfo oil ko
erty or liberty cannot be preserved bat by
the preservation Of slavery.
What benefactors Of our humanity were
those who introduced slavery into the land for
they furnished the material out Of which the
necessary variety was made, without which our
liberty cannot exist II they had not done so,
then all the States would be free there would
be uniformity, aud we should all be slaves
What nonsense to abolish the slave tradel The
more slave, the more variety the more variety
the more freedom.
How we must pity the unfortunate nations
that have no slavery among them for they
have no variety of Institutions. and having no
variety of institutions they can hare no liberty.
Poor people that have no slaves among them
they can never be free
1t is little surprising. however, thai the
great aud luminous doctrine Of variety shonld
have been so little known about the time when
| our government WAS OfBdul16Q ana the OOu~
stitution framed There were two individuals
living then who enjoyed some little reputation
for statesmanship one Of whom said, TRUST We
shall have Coniederacy Of free States : aud
the other said, Nothing is more certainly writ
ten in the book of fate than that those people
(meaning the slaves) are to be Tree" And they
were called statesmen What an Immense pro.
gress We have made in these seventy years |
They would be called simpletous or traitors
now for they either knew nothing of the great
doctrine Of Variety"-whieh was very foolish
or, il they knew it, they plotted the destruction
of popular freedom by advocating uniformity
which certainly was very reasonable BY the
way; the name Of one was George Washington,
and the name Of the other was Thomas Jeder-
son. You will be obliged to coDlass that you
we're very much mistaken in those two men,
What pity Judge Douglas did not live 10
those days. How he would have knocked the
great doctrine Of "Uariety" about their ears
How be would have taught Washington what
the definition Of our Federal system is How
be would have told Jefferson what the SAFE
guards of liberty are
But alas such statesmen are sometimes bore
not only out OF season bat also out OF place.
What a pity Judge Douglas does not live in
Switzerland, the oldest Republic now extants--
Those benighted people have been for centu-
ries indulging in the foolish delusion that they
were free, and that they had a federal system Of
government Why, there is no slavery IN
Switzerland is not the necessary variety
of institutions there. Their States are all free
States There is uniformity there. How can
they have federal institutions with uniformityf
How can there be liberty without varietyf I'm
possible Poor innocent souls they think
they are free and have no slaveA Let the
Judge go at once on a missionary expedition 70
liberate the Swiss He will have an opporta-
nifty to try that other great original idea Of ma
:" any political creed must 10 radically Hroag
which canaot be proclaimed eEerywnere; 1
venture to predict that every honest Swiss Doos
will lift itself aud kick the great variety Doug
las respectfully from Alp to Alp.
We are indeed greatly Indebted 10 Judge
Douglas. AT least we know what slavery =
good for, and why its sxtiBction Is neither pos-
Able nor desirable. Even the black mau. 40 bic
sufsrin9s, win dnd soothing consolation 10 the
Judges philosophy. When Sambo is Aogeea
down South, and the whip laceratea klR back.
the benevolent Judge will tell the poor fellow
he has got to be whipped for the sake al yake-
~, flaughlerl aud Samho viii emI|a 10 the