Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-03-03

gsn, Illinois, 4ndianai Wisconsin, Minnesota,
Iowa. California and Oregon I do not array
thsm 10 contrast with the capital States. 1 am
no assailaut Of States. All Of the States are
parcels of my own cOunty-the best Of them
not so wise and great as l am sure It will here
after be; the State least developed and per
fected among them all, is wiser and better
than any Foreign State l know. Is
il, then, in any, and in which Of the
States have named that negro equality Ofends
the white mans pride Throughout the wide
world where is the State where class and
caste are so utterly extinguished as they are
in each and every one Of theml Let the Eu.
Iopesn immigrant, who avoids the African as
If his skin exhaled contagiOn, answer. You
find him always ~ the State where labor is
ever free Did Washington. Jefferson and
Henry, when they impIored you to reinquish
your system and accept the one we have
adopted, propose to sink you down to the level
of the African, or was it their desire 70 exatl
all white men to a common political elevation!
But we do not seek to force, or even to in
trade, our system on you. We are excluded
Justly, wisely and cOntentedly from all POllti-
cal power and responsibility in your capital
States You are sOvereigns on the subject Of
Slavery within your own borders; as we are on.
the same subject within our borders 1t lis well
and wisely so arranged. Use your authority.
to maintain what system you please. We are
not distrustful of the result. We have wisely,
as we think, exercised ours to protect and
perfect the manhood of the members of the.
State. The whole sovereignty upon domestic
concerns within the Union is divided between
US by unmistakable boundaries. You have
your fifteen distinct parts; we eighteen parts,
equally distinct. Each must be maintained in
order that the whole may be preserved. 1t ours
shall be assaiied, within or without, by eny
enemy, or for any cause, and we shall have
need, we shall expect you to defend 1t. III
yours shall be so assaiIed, in the emergency,
no matter what the cause or the pretext, OF.
who the foe, we shall defend your sovereignty
as the equivalent of our own. We cannot,
indeed, accept your system of capital or its
ethics That would be to surrender and sub
vert our own, which we esteem to be better
Besides, if we could, what need for any division
into States at alll You are equally at liberty
to reject our system and its ethics, and to
maintain the superiority of your own BY all the
forces of persuasion and argument. We must,
indeed, mutually discuss both systems. All the
world discusses all sy stems. Especially must
we discuss them since we have to decide IS a
nation which of the two we ought to ingraft
on the new and future States growing up in
the great public domain. Discussion, then,
being unavoidable, what eOnld be more wise
than to conduct it with mutual tolerltion and
in fraternal spirit
You complain that Republicans discourse
too boldly and directly, when they express
with confidence their belief that the system Of
| labor will, in the end, be universally accepted
by the capital States, acting for themselves,
and in conformity with their own Constitutions,
while they sanction too unreseTvedlY books
designed to advocate emancipation. But
surely you can hardly expect the Federal Gov
ernment or the political parties of the nation
to maintain a censorship Of the Press or Of
debate The theory Of our system is, that
error of opinion may in all cases safely be toll
Grated where reason is left free to combat it.
Will it be claimed that more of moderation
and tenderness in debate are exhibited on your
side Of the great argument than our oWn!-
We all learned our pOlemlcs, as well as our
principles, from a common master. We are
sure that we do not, on our side, exceed bus
lessons and example. Thomas Jefferson ad-
dressed DR.. Price, an Englishman, concerning
his treatise on emancipation in America, IN this
| fashion:
"Southward of the Chesapeake, your book viii find
but few readers eoncung with itin sentiment on the
subject Of Slavery. From the mouth to the head o.
the Chesapeake the bulk Of the people viii approve u
in theory and it viii find respectable minority ready
to adopt it in practice; minority which, tor Welgn[
and worth of character, preponderates against the
greater number who have not the courage to divesi
their families Of property which however keeps tnel
cOnscienees unquiet. NOrthWard 0f the chesapeake
you may find here and there opponent to your doc
/ trine as you may find here and there robber or
murderer; but in no great number" "IhA
TVrgnisl is the next State to which we may turn ou
eyes for the interesting spectacle of justice In conhe
with avarice and oppresson-a conflict where the sa
cred side is gaining daily new recruits from the inna'
| into office of young men, grown and growing up.
| "Be not, then, discouraged What you haT'
written will do great deal Of good; and could you
still trouble yourself about our welfare no man Is mort
| able to help the laboring side"
You see, Sir, that whether we 90 for ol
against slavery anywhere, we must follow
Southern guides. You may change your pilots
with the winds or the currents; but we, whose
nativity, reekoned under the North Star, has
rendered US somewhat superstitionS, must be
excused for eonstancy in following the guid-
ance of those who framed the national ship
and gave us the chart for its noble voyage.
A profound respect and friendly regard foI
the Vice.P President of the United States has
induced me to weigh carefully the testimony be
has given on the subject of the hostility against
the South imputed to the Republican party, as
derived from the relations Ct the representa-
tives of the two parties at this capital. He
saws that he has seen here in the representa-
! tiyes of the lower Southern States most reso-
Lutte and earnest spirit of resistance to the Re-
| publican party; that he perceiyes a sensible
| loss ofthat spirit of brotherhood and that feel
/ ing of loyalty, together with that love for .
common country, which arc at last the surest
cement of the Union; so that, In the present
unhappy condition Of Affairs he Is almost tempted to
claim, that dissOlving week BY week. and month
that ara m
themselves asunder; and stranger might suppose that
the Executive Of the United States the President
of two hostile Republics It Is not for me to raise
doubt upon the correctness OF this dark picture so al
as the southern groups upon the canvas concerned
but must be INDUCED in the opinion that can pro-
nounce as accurately concerning the Northern or Re
publican representatives here any one know theil
/ public haunts and their private ways. We are not 9
hostile Republic, representatives OF one. We confer
together but only the organs OF every party do and
must do in political system which oohges Us TO act
sometimes partsans while il requires Us always 10
be patriots and statesmen Differences Of opinion, even
on the subject Of Slavery, with rs are political, not
social or personal differences There is one dis
| uniOnist disloyalst among Us all We are alto
gether unconscious OF any process OF dsso luton going
| on among or around We have not been more pa
tent and loved the representatives OF other
sections more, than We bear the same testimony
for the people around Us here, who, though in the
very centre where the holt Of dsunon must fall hrsi
and be most fearful its Effects less dis
turbsd than now. We bear the same testimony for al
the districts and States represent The people Of
the NOttu are NO. enemies - u ~
the South faithful AMI true as in the days whe death
has dealt bis arrows promseuouslY among them on
| common batte-delds Of freedom.
We will not suffer ourselves hero 10 dwell any
evidences Of different temper in the Sonth; but VI
shall be content with expressing our belief that hosl
ty that is not designedly provoked, and that canno
provoke retaliation, anomaly that must be traced
10 casual e1eitemeni, which cannot psrpetuate alien
| alton.
A canvass for Presidential election, in some respects
more important perhaps, than any since $500, has re-
Gently begun The House Of Representatives was to b
organized BY msiOrity while panty could cast more
than plurality Of votes The glo0m Of the late trag-
edy in Virginia rested the Capitol irom the Gay
when Congress assembled While the two great po-
tical parties were peacefully, lawfully, and eonstitu
tionsv though zeal0usy conducting the great natona
issue between free labor and capital labor for the Ter
ritories to its proper solution, through tne tAs u
tbe ballot operating directly indirectly on the var-
| ons departuents Of the Government band oil ex-
| centionaI men eontemptuous equally Of that great
question and Of the parties to the controversy ana