Wabash express. [volume] (Terre-Haute, Vigo Co[unty], Ind.) 1841-186?, 1860-04-04

due" debt" payable In service or la
Dor. Also, 1t would be open TO show, D.
cotemporaneous history, that this mode O
alluding to slaves and slavery, instead o
speaking OF them. was employed on pur
pose to excluded from the Constitution tn
idea that there could be property in man
10 show all this, is easy and certain =
| when this obvious mistake Of the Judge
shall be brought 10 their notice, is it no
reasonable to expect that they will with
draw the mistaken statement aud recon
slder the conslusion based upon liz And
then IL is to be remembered that "our faith
ers who framed the government undel
which We liye"-the men who made The
Oonstitution-decided this same constitu.
tional question in our favor, long ago-de.
cided IL without a division among them
selves when making the decision; without
division among themselves about the
meaning OF 1t after it was made, aud so far
as my evidence is left, without basing il
upon any mistaken statement Of facts
Under all these circumstances, do you real
~ feel yourselves justified TO break up this
Government, unless such a court deIsion as
yours ie shall be at once submitted 10 az a
conclusive and final rule Of political ac
tonl But you will not abide the election
OF Republican President. Ia that SUD
posed event. you say, you will destroy the
Union; and then, you say. the great crime
OF having destroyed it will be upon us -
That is cool. A highway man holds pistol
70 my ear, muttsrs through his teeah
stand and deliver, or shall kill yon,
aud then you will be a murderer" To be
sure what the robber demanded OF me-
my money was my own; and had clear
right to keep it; but it was no more my ow n
than my vote is my own and the threat of
death to me, TO extort my money, and the
threat Of destruction Ito the Union, 10 ex.
tort my vote, can scarcely be distinguish
ed in principle.
AFEw woDs TO REPUBLIeANs.
A few words now to Republicans Itis
desirable that all parts ofthis great Con-
federacy shall be at peace, and ia harmo.
NY one with another. Let us Republi
cans do our part to have il so. Even
though much provoked. let US do nothing
through passion and i'll temper. Even
though the Southern people will not so
much as listen 10 US, let US calmly consid-
er their demands, and yield to them il. in
our deliberate view of our duty, we posi-.
bly, can Judging by all they say and do.
and by the subject aud nature of their con.
troversy with US, let us determine. if we
can, what will satisfy them? Will they be
satisfied if the Territories be uncondition.
ally surrendered TO them2 We know they
will not. In all their present complaints
against us, the Territories are scarcely
mentioned. Inyasions and Insurrections
are the rage now Will it satisfy them If
Ia the future, we have nothing to do with
invasions aud insurrections2 We know IL
will not. We so know because we know
we never had anything to do with invas.
ions aud insurrectioI 5; aud yet this total
abstaining does not exempt US from the
charge and the denunciations, The aues-
tion recurs, what will satisfy them? Sim.
ply this: We must not only let them alone
but must, somehow, convince them that we
do let them alone. This, we know bv
experience, is no easy task. We have been
so trying to convince them, from the yery
beginning OF our organization, but with no
success. Ia all our platforms and speech
es, We have constantly protested our pur
pose to let them alone; but this has had no
tendency to convince them. Alike una
vailing to convince them is tbesfact that
they have never detected man of US in
any attempt 10 disturb them These nat.
ural aud apparently adequate, means all
falling, what will convince them? This.
and this only; cease TO call slavery wrono.
and join them in calling it right. And this
must be done thoroughly-donei ia acts as
well as in cOrds. Silence will not be tol
Grated we must place ourselves ayowedly
with them. Douglass neto sediti0n lap must
be enacted and enforced, suppyessins oil de.
clar01ions that slsueyy is torong, phetheT made
in politics, in presses, in pulpits, or in priratc
We must arrest aud return their fugitive
slaves with greedy pleasure. We must
pull down our Free State constitutions
The whole atmosphere must be disinfected
from all taint of opposition to SIavery'be-
fore they will cease TO believe that all their
troubles proceed frsmus.
am quite aware they do not state their
case precisely ia this way. Most Of them
would probably say to us. "Let US alone
do nothing to Us, and say what you please
about slavery" But we do let them alone
have never disturbed them--so that, af.
ter all, it is what we say, which dissatis &
es them. They will continue to accuse us
of doing, until We cease saying. am also
aware they have not, as yet, in terms, de-
mandedsthe overthrow of our Free State
Constitutions. Yet those constitutions de.
clare the wrong of slavery. with more sol.
emn emphasis, than do all other sayings
against it; and when all these other say
ings shall have been sienced. the over
throw of these Constitutions will be de-
mandej, and nothing be left to resist the
demand.
1t is nothing to the contrary. that they
do not demand the whole of this Just uow
Demanding what they do, and for the rea.
son they do, they can voluntarily stop
nowhere short of this sconsummation. Hol
ding as they do. that slavery is morally
right, and socially elevating. they cannot
cease to demand a full national recogni
ton off, as local right, aud a social bless
ing.
Nor can we ejusti6ably withhold this, OF
any ground save our conviction that sla
very is wrong. If slavery is right, al
words, acts, laws, and Constitutions agaias
/ it, are themselves wrong, and should be si
lenced, and swept away. II it is right. VI
cannot Justly object TO its nationality-it
universally ;ifitis wrong. they cannot just
/ ly insist upon its extension-its enlarge
ment. Allthey ask We could readily grant
if we thought Slavery right; all we ask
/ they could as readily grant, if they though
! it wrong. Their thinking il right, and ou
/ thinking it wrong. is the precise fact upo
which depends the whole controversy
Thinking it right, as they do. they are no
+ to blame for desiring its full recognition
as being right but, thinking it wrong, a
we do, can weiyield 10 them2 Can We cas-
our own votes with their vie =. and agains
4 our own? In view of our moral, social an
/ political responsibilities, can we do this
Wrong as we think Slavery is, We can ye
ford to let it alone where it Is, brcaus
that much it due la the necessity arisin
from its actual presence in the nation; bu
can we, while our votes will prevent i
allow it to spead into the National Terr
tories, and to overrun US here in these Fire
States? If our sense of duty forbid ;hi.
then Let US stand by our duty, fearlessl
aud effectively. Let Us be diverted by non
of the sophistical conlrivances wherewitl
we are SO industriously piled aud belabore
--contriyances such as gr)ping for SON
middle ground between the right aad th
wrong, vain as the search for a man VIII
should be neither living man nor dea
man-such as policy OF don: care" O
a question about which all true men d
care--such as Union appeals, beseechin
true Union men to yield TO Disunionist
reversing the Divine rule, and callIng, IA,
sinners, but the righteous TO repentance
such as invocations of Washington, ia
n