The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1860-04-05
Position OF Parties and Abuses OF Power.
Speech Of Hon. Reuben e. Fenton,
OF NEW YORK,
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,,
FKBRUARY is, 1860.
Mr.. FENTON obtained thu aoo,

=
Mr.. MAYNARD. Will the Rentlsm
from New York yield TO a motion for q
Committee to rise?
Mr.. FENTON. pre- 'er to speak now.-
Il seems most proper to reply at this time
the gentleman from Missouri. (Mr. AsDE
son. who has just concluded.
Mr.. ELY. hope my colleague will
permitted TO proceed.
Mr.. FENTON. Mr.. Chairman, I had yer
little right. and less desire. to engage 10 di
cussion Of the politics of the country prior I
the organization OF the House. The purpoa
Of myself and those with whom I acted. du
ring the eight weeks contest, was first to OF
gsnize. provide for the creditors OF the Gov
ernment-some of whom were on the verg
Of bankruptcy-and despatch the public bu
siness; and while thus. out of regard for tn
public good, and in submission to parliamen
tary propriety. for other purposes. we wer,
manacled. hand cuffed. and tongue tied. gen
tlemen on the other side Of this Hall made on
set with violent disunion and secession speech
es. and with daily Pervsrsions of our princi
pies and motives. Our object was peace
and maternal feeling; and we were opposed
BY disorder, acrimony. and menace.
I would not complain alone OF disunion
bluster, since what has been perhaps must be
and since, moreover. it has become almost as
necessary to the country. from early introduc.
ton and periodical use down through our his
4, tory, as the blight and frost of the season, or
the yearly circuit Of the menagerie.
AT one time. the Union was to be destroyed
BY right Of search; at another. by the United
States Bank; and then again by the tariff;
by the election of Fremont in 1856; and f.
nally, its doom was irrevocably sealed, the
other day. by the late John Brown. and
Helpers Impending Crisis. 1t is not this
that calls for reply. aud it is not to this l
speak. but to repel unjust and unfounded as
saults upon my constituents and my party;
and to vindicate, ss we'll as can, my country
and its history. blush with indignation at
the misrepresentations and perversious which
gentlemen on the other side of this Hall have
indulged in: and did not reflect that unfair
hess and wrong on the part Of intelligent men
are the expedient Of conscious weakness and
error. should suppose they had been
touched asewith the spear of Ithuriel,
which m ade them start forth into the deform-
ny revealed during this controversy.
The gentleman from Alabama. Mr. Gun
NJ endeavored. in bis usual able and ingen-
ious manner. to place this controversy on
vantage grounds from philosophical and log
ical deductions, disclaming, however. the
desire. aud dscarding the attempt of his as
sociates. to hold the Republican party rsspon-
sible for the acts or excesses Of individuals,
or - affording evidence of the position and
principles Of our party.
But he asserts that great change upon
the subject Of slavery has "come DER the
spirit Of our dresm;' that the cloud, which
was no bigger than . mans hand, now covers
the whole Northern horizon; and that our
people have really. within the last few years.
become An intensely anti-slavery people. with
alma st once aggressive and alarming to the
safety Of the South-the logical result Of all
which is the ultimate extinction OF their favor
ite institution. II the basis Of his argumen,
be correct. possibly the result indicated
would follow; in this instance. however. l
must think the honorable gentleman has
been singulsrly infslicitous in his statement
in respectt to public sentiment and his study OF
political history. May be he prefers for him
ssli and his friends to '.repose in the vague
ed with the precision of a logical de6ni
ton
The sentiment Of the North upon the
question has undergone no change; it is the
same now. with a few exceptions Of extreme
ultrasm for and against slavery. that i. was
in the earlier aud better days of the Repub
lie. The people Of the North. at An early
day. believed. with all your early statesmen,
that slavery was political. moral. and social
evil. and in time they rid themselves of
it. in harmony with their better couvic-
tions of duty. But it is true that not until
recently has this great and fixed anti slavery
sentiment. ever existing with the Northern
masses, found it important. yea. necessary,
TO take the form Of political organization
But a few years since, the men who now
make up this great Republican party were
mainly classified As Wings and Democrats;
were they not then, rs s01, moved by the
same hatred Of this curse to free labor and
70 free men, and BY the same deep seated op-
position to its extension over the free soil Of
this continent? Look over the record of pub
hc men aud public bodies. and there see the
almost universal testimony; see. still further
in the retrospect. that your fathers and our
fathers proclaimed that men were created
with equal. natural rights. and that the en-
slavement OF man. Of whatever color. was
an invasion Of these natural rights. and vio-
lstion OF the spirit and genius Of our free in
stitutions. They held it 10 be an opprobrium
to civilization; hence. they sought to circum-
scribe ito preserve soil them free, forersr
free. from its dark. blighting tread They
pushed It aside, with ali possible haste, from
. msjority Of the original thirteen States;
they provided. As was supposed. for its grad
ual decay. BY cutting off the foreign supply;
and in every way they sought to build up and
around it a Gordon of free territory. and free
States. that should exhsle an atmosphere Of
liberty that slavery must breathe or die. And
do gentlemen ask why. therefore. this Repub-
hcan party is commissioned with these great
and sacred purposes of the founders Of the
Repuolic' | will tell them why. 1t is be-
cause they have violated these FIRST covc-
nants; because they have mocked at the faith
OF The iathers. because they have sought TO
desecrase the righ.ful heritage Of free labor.
Il wss not until after all this, and not until
shey had taken possession Of a great psrtv,
and turned it into an instrument Of a9gres.
sion. sort Of Zousve force. ready and eager
Tor the work Of carnage and slaughter, that
this Norshern 6xed and unyieldinS sentiment
clothed itself with the prsrogatives Of organ.