Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1860-03-16

State OF Felee would not have equal rights
with the other States. He might say il is
the law ofmy country. We have a right TO
roast and eat this property and if you don't
protect us in it, we will pull down the pill
lars of this Republic aud involve all 10 one
common ruin. ] suppose the Senator from
Illinois would say the Territories have
perfect right to have canuibaism or not,
and l don't care whether they have it or
not; they arc perfectly Free Another SEN
ator says they have right to bring them
there, and be protected by the laws of Con-
gress. Another man says Congress has no
right to pass laws, but the courts, which are
now omnipotent, can proclaim a law and
we must all bow down to 1t. There is lust
this difference of opinion on that side of
the chamber, but all agree that slavery
should be spread to tho ends of the earth.
But suppose another case. Suppose Brig
ham Young should come from Utah to.
Kansas or any other Territory, with his for
ty wives. Brigham says these arc my
property, and l must have right TO bring
them in here, else the State of Utah will
not have her equal rights. Away with
such doctrine. There is no guarantee in
the Constitution for any such position as
that. Our safety consists in keeping close
to the Constitution, and the moment we do
stray from this we endanger the harmony
of our action. But, waving the Consttu-
tional law, l will suppose that you have
| right TO take your slaves into the Territories
and hold them there. Still, Sir, is it expe-
dient, right and proper to do itl And
that brings me to consider n question that
has been incidentally brought up. Tho
Fathers Of the Republic, believe without
a dissenting voice, agreed that slaveholding
was against the common right of man, and
was wrong in itself and should not be cher
ished. But we find they did not under
stand it. And now the slaveholding States
have found ont that slavery is the normal
condition of the black race and blessing
to society, and therefore ought to be extend
ed. That is the only issue l wish to make,
because know your determination to extend
slavery, arising from this new philosophy,
that slavery is the normal condition of tho
laboring man, and that 1t is right Just and
proper, if not necessary to the happiness of
all concerned. If you are right in that
will 90 with you. Let us extend it and let
us employ missionaries to preach the glory
| of slavery, and induce the whole world to
! turn Shareholders or slaves. | am glad at
last to see this great question placed on q
solid foundation, for every man knows that
no political principle can be placed on any
thing short of eternal justice and right. The
Senator from Georgia msy tell us that sla-
very is the basis on which society has been
founded for thirty centuries. Sir, it is dis
covered that it is asandy foundation, whchis
/ fast washing away with the advance of
mankind in civilization and knowledge. II
is a principle that is deemed barbarous, and
which is passing away. Onthat issue letus
stand. lf'slavery is right, lei us extend it;
if it is wrong let it die the death. hard
ly know how 10 meet this issue, for have
been in the habit of believing with the
fathers, that liberty was the gift of God to
every beng, and had suspected that this
was sef-evident.
If there is any one who will not for
himself respect the old sentiment-"Givo
me Liberty, or give me Death ~--let him
speak, who would not rather follow a friend
or relation to the grave than into the sham
bes of eternal slavery. l know it is said
the African is an inferior race and cannot
defend his own rights. But my ethics tell
me that so far from this giving the right to
enslave him, it should teach men to be.
more scrupulous of his rights. l know he
is still human being; they are still men
and women; and there are thousands now
in bondage who are much more white than
black. But whether white or black they
have the same joys and sorrows, and are ac-
tuated by the same motives as we are
They may be treated like brutes, their souls
may be ignored, you may whip and trample
them down, but as they are human beings
they will rise from the utmost degradation
and stand forth in the image of God, tho
conscious candidates of immortal life. This
gives them full consciousness of their
manhood, that stands as an eternal proof
that they are not always TO be slaves. But
if it is right, why this purtubation and fear
at the South lest their institutions should
fall? Why is it you withhold knowledge
from the slavesg What means this perse-
cution of Northern men who 90 there?
What is the fear of the Helper book o.
If slavery is the normal condition of the
race, do you fear that the handiwork of
God will be overturned by these frivolous
means! Society in the North needs no
such means to sustain itself You may 90
there and talk against our institutions
We will invite you TO preach the glories of
slavery and its normal condition, and our
institutions will stand frmer than ever after
the conflict. We fear no such things,
though the Senator from Virginia (Mr.
HuuteD may say slavery is the normal con-
dition and freedom but an experiment
which is likely to come out second best,
everything shows the security of the
North, and shows which is the normal con-
dition of man and which not Look at
the great Northwest, with population as.
great as all your slaveholding States, so Sc
cure and conscious of her strength that she
forms an empire of herself We hear this
cry from the South of "Southern Rights" ;"
but we hear nothing from the secure region
of freedom and free labor All this goes to
show that slavery is not the normal eondi-
ton of man, but it is an institution that
has outgrown the times in which it former
ly lived, and now only on the suffrage of