The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1860-01-28

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D - l1lsf Janaary. Cnl sch1ra addressed
I Y v * Springfield, Mss, On the subject
4 Popular Sovereignty He specially reviewed
Tie dsctrincs q Judge Douglaa, and completely
the false position which that gentle-
man has assumed We have no room for tho
speech . Il appears entire in the Springfield Re.
publican, but Ne must quote the concluding por-
ton Of the eloquent Germans remarks
But one thing Nj. Douglas does ten you: Il
do not care whether slavery be voted up or
down. There Is then human heart that docs
not care! Sir, look over this broad land, where
the struggle has ragged for years and years; and
across the two oceans, around the globe, to the
point where the far West meets the far East
over the teeming countries where the candle Of
lization la Europe, and over those mysterious
regions under the tropical sun, which have not
emerged yet from the night Of barbarism to the
daylight Of civilized life; and then tell me, how
many hearts do you find that do not trcmble with
mortal anguish or exultant JOY as the scales OF
human freedom or human bondage go mp or down:
Look oyer the history of the world, from the
time when infant mankind felt in its heart the
FIRST throbbings Of aspiring dignity, down to
our DAYS when the rights Of man have ut last
found bold and powerful champion in great
and mighty republic, where il the page that is
not spotted with blood and tears shed IN that ALI
absorbing struggle? where chapter that does
not tell the tale Of jubilant triumph or heart
breaking distress, as the scales Of freedom or
slavery went up or down? loud applause. y
4 50, mid Of
tury, in o republic whose programme was laid
down in the Declaration Of Independence, there
comes man to tell you with cynical GOODNESS,
that he docs not care. And because he does not
care, he claims the confidence Of his countrymen
and the highest honors Of the republic. Because
he does not care he pretends to be the represent
tatiye statesman Of this age.
Sir, always thought he can be no true states.
man whose ideas and conceptions are not found
ed upon profound moral convictions Of right
and wrong (Applause.) What, then, shall we
say of him, who boastingly parades his indiffer-
cncc US to virtue! May we not drop the discus.
sion about his craftsmanship, and ask: What
is he worth az mani repeated cheegs) Yes,
events of history find that in the life of free
nations mere legal disquisitions never turned the
tide of events and mere constitutional construc
tons never determined the tendency Of an age
The logic of things goes its steady way, immova
BILE tn eloquence and deaf to argument 1t shapes
and changes laws and constitutions according te
its immutable rules, and those adverse to its on
ward march. In times of great conflicts the
promptings and dictates of the human conscience
arc more potent than all the inventive ingenuit,
of the human brain. The conscience OF fire.,
people, when once fairly ruling the action of til,
masses, will never fail to make new laws, wher
those existing afe cOnarary TO its tendency, Or i
will put its own construction upon those that arr
there. Your dispositions and plausibilities ma,
be used as weapons and stratagems in fencing
match of controversing parties, but powerless al
they are before the conscience of man, p0sterit,
will remember she,n only as mere secondary incl
dents Of a battle of great principles, in whicl
the strongest motive powers Of human mature
were the true combatants
There is the slavery question; not a mere oc
casiOnal quarrel between Two sections of country
divided by u geographical line; not mere con
test between two economical interests for til,
preponderance: not a mere wrangle between
two political parties for power and spoils; bu
the great struggle between the human conscience
and burning wrong, between advancing ciyiliza
ton and retreating barbarisn,, between two an
tagOpistio systems of social Organization
(Checrs) In vain will our impotent mock
1
our age turn on ridiculous logical qnihbia, or
paltry legal Technically. (applause); in vain vii
they invent small lodges and call them "srea
principles;' in vain will they attempt to dra
down the all-absorbing contest to the level of
mere pot-house quarrel between two rival canai
dates for Presidential nomination. Applause
The wheel Of progressing events will crush then
to atoms as it has crushed SO many ai,nermitie
CHEERS and a future generation will perhap
read on Mr.. Douglass tombstone the inscription
'lIere lies the queer sort of u statesman who
when the great battle of slavery was fought, pre-
tended to say that he did not care whether slave
ry be voted up or voted down." (Cheers.)
But as long as the mortal vitality of this ma
ton is not entirely exhausted, Mr.. Douglas an,
men like him win in vain endeavnp 20 reduce tn
people to that disgusting state of moral indifier
ence, which he himself is not ashamed to boas
of. I so!emnly protest that the American peopl
is not to be measured by Mr.. Douglass low NOR
al standard However degraded some of on
politicians may be, the progress of the struggl
will show that the popular conscience is still
alive, and that the people DO CARE Uong con
tinned applause.) %