St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1860-09-27
Speech Of Cassiusy ! M. Clay:

!: We can give only one or two extracts Of the
mastery speech of Cassius NJ. Clay ct !Ottawa,
Illinois. The following will suffice for to-day:
's."; '' FREE SPEECH SUPERVISED !
! The liberty Of speech-that greatest Of all
liberties, the liberty of the;. press--howl are
these great constitutional rights regarded By
the slave democracy? I have had some ex-
perience in that respect, and know what they
say and do. When I attempt to show the
the level or beneath the position of the slave
himself. I met these same men, who had been
all the time crying out to you and to me, s.you
are meddling Abolitionist !; don't discuss the
question Of slavery in the North. If you want
to talk about. slavery, g6 down into the Slave
States, and discuss it where it, exists" took
them at their word.
->':%,> -; PERSONAL rxpER1ENcE. .,,..,..~-
ii was born in old Kentucky; was one of
thepioncers of Kentucky-thes son Of enc Of the
men who formed the first constitution Of Ken.
tucky-the son, Of the man, Green Clay, who,
as representative Of the district Of Kentucky,
in the Virginia convention, signed the consti-
tuition Of the United States in 1889. Born un-
der the shield and parentage Of both these
constitutions, offered to discuss this question
Of slavery right where it existed. What then.
did they say? Look at the hypocrisy Of this
slave Democracy! They said: "Why, Clay,
if you think slavery is such an Internal thing,
why don't you liberate your slaves? Prove
your faith by your. works." ! thought there
was great deal Of force in that argument, and
although was not very conscientious about
that matter, yet, seeing that was drift
ting in that direction, and willing to
60 with the tide in favor Of freedom, which
was SO strong, did liberate my slaves Ev-
cry one had on earth. Applause, and cries
Of ''good," ''amen No. man new calls me
master-nor woman either, unless she does it
through affection. (Great enthusiasm for
Clay.) Then when went out to advocate the
same principle, what did they say? They
turned on me; "Why, Clay, what have you to
90 with the question Of slavery? It's none Of
your business; you don't own any slaves" -
Loud laughter and cheers - - 49," ''''}
i went on; issued the True American I
gave no number to slaves. spoke on every
stump; but when lspoke / said ''If you do
not want. your slaves to hear, remove them
from the assembly. 1speak not to slaves; I
address myself to free white men and women -
But it made no difference, that only spoke to
the white men. That was the very thing they
were afraid Of: 1t was not al sinsurrection Of
the slaves, but an insurrection OF the free
white voters-that they feared then, and still
fear. (APplause; .'That' soy = SO, in my
hour Of bodily weakness, when lay on bed
of sickness, with a brain fever, brought on by
my exertions, in my:Tunequal hand to hand
contest with the slave power, the. King armed
himself and came down upon me, and tramp
ling under foot the Constitution, the laws, and
the liberties Of the people, bore away the press
with violence into Ohio, thus saying, virtually,
'.There, in a free State, is the place'for free
press its voice, cannot and shall not be heard
in the land Of slavery.
A voice-Was that;in 1897 10, Il '::|" z>-@
Mr.: Clayy=-r7Nosir;r intl846.9 So, gentlemen,
these men got together, and through their
leader; Thomas F: Marshall, in the name Of
the herespectable men Of Kentucky dsclared that
it was the common law Of the slave States, that
freedom Of speech and freedom 'of the press
Blood, and the blood Of every nan who dared
resist, would be the forfeit Of resistance; C.tso
you did;"] and they did shed my blood but
thank God! I still live 'thank GodH' Ito bear.
eternal protest against this attempt to over
throw al the liberties of the people, ZAP
plause ''good good."] .o2a sTaoI x> l.iu@4