The weekly Mississippian., 1860-10-24
idr. seward's Speech at Chicago.

hr' Stewards Speech at Chicago.
Mr. Seward's speech was chiefly devoted to
the discussion Of the slavery question. He
declared that there, was no enlightened and
honest man who would not surrender some
part of his wealth to abate the evil Of slavery,
and TO convert the land aecursed with it into
a land Of equal and impartial liberty Like
that Roman Governor whom st. Paul had al
most persuaded to be.a Christian, the Aneri-
can people were almost persuaded to be Re-
pubicans; but the national sense and iudg
ment had been perverted. The effect OF tol-
Grating slavery had been to produce a want of
moral courage, and that want was the fault of /
the political representatives Of the people. The
peoDle would have to select men as fearless as
Owen Bovejoy. Although they might fill the
halls of Congress with men who seemed to be
as reliable as Owen Loyeloy, vet on the first
clangor Of the slavery drum they would waver
and faiter-would suffer themselves to be de- |
moraliZed, and would then return to denoral- |
ize the peopla The first agency put in use |
said he. to retain slavery, is the fear Of com |
motion and civil war. The Shareholders have
iustlv, and truthfuIly, and rightfullg = assumed
that slaves are the natural enemies of their
masters. and of course that slaves are insidious
enemies of any State that requires them to be
held in bondage, aud therefore It Is the settled
policy in slave States to suppress freedom of
81 eech 50 far as liberty may need advocates;
while it extends the largest license Of debate
to those who advocate the interests Of slavery.
The necessary consequence Is that there is no
slave State in which ballot IS open for free
dom. or where a free man is allowed in safety
70 cast such a ballot. If only one side is al
lowed to vote in State it is very easy 20 see
that that side must prevail. Laughter. All
the slave States appear thus To he IN favor OF
slavery, and then they toll you that Republi-
canism is sectional Alter the passage Of the
Kansas Nebraska bill in 1854, there was but
one man left that did not despair. That man,
in his zeal to make his prediction just, was
BETRAYED SO far by his belief that he became
ultimately monoman'ac and suffered upon
| the gaI,ows. That man was John Brown.
! TCheers. The Grst and only time that | ever
| saw him was when he called upon me after the
! abrocation of the Missouri compromise. He
| asked me what thought OF the future? said
| was saddened and despoading; that l would
ptrsevere against hope. He said: "Cheer up,
| Rrother Seward: Kansas viii never be slaye
State" [Cheers.l ] took then deliberate
survey of the broad field | saw that freedom
! in the future States Of this continent was the
necessity Of this age and of this country.
7 saw then how il was that we could redeem
all that had been lost, and redeem it by an
pealag to the very passions and interests that
| had lost all. The process was easy. The
slave States had demoralzed the free States
! by giving them Presidencies and Secretary
ships and post Offices, and | said that here in
the Northwest we should build up more free
/ States than there are slave States, and that
these free States, having a common interest in
favor of freedom, would offer to Pennsylvania
and New y York, and New jersey and Connec-
ticut and Massachusetts, their support and
their ambition. Cheers. To-day | see the
very realization Of it, and advocates of freedom
are now as bold, as outspoken, as brave. and
as confident of the union in the Northern
States as the advocates Of slavery are in the
Southern States. | SAID that there should be
in these new States men who would say to
the States of the East, ave will buy YOUR
silks and yonF linens-buy more and pay you
better than the South does, provided you do
not betray the Union Slavery can pay no
longer, and the Democracy does not want any
thing that does not pay. Mr Douglas, il,
procuring the repeal Of the Missouri Compyo-
mise, shattered tho power Of all the parties,
and disintegrated them No man ever re-
ioiced more over the birth Of the first horn
/ than reioiced when saw the folly, tlfcriade
ness of the repeal of the Missouri COMPROMISE.
and of the rejection of Kansas raised a
song of JOY like the song of Miriam when an
nounced that henceforth the battle was ended.
! ICheers The battle is ended, and the victo-
/ nv is won. Why, then, we are asked. not
withdraw from the field? For the simple rea-
son that if the yictors retire the vanquished
will come back, and the battle will not be won.
fCheers and laughter The Republican party
viii complete the great revolution. Itclearly
4 perceives it. Daily it combines the needful
forces 1t has force in all the free States. and
force in reserve, at least, in every slave State.
1t has the right line Of policy-a policy Of
peace and moral suasi0n-a policy of. argu-
ment--a policy, not of force, but Of reason. 1t
leaves the subject Of slavery in the slave States
alone, abiding by the Constitution of tile coun-
try, which makes the slave States, on that
subject, sovereign. ] know that the Republi-
can &Ety VIII succeed becstse fe IS n f,esi..ve
and an active party. 1t is the only party in the
country that isor can be positive in its action.
D.. Abraham Lincoln represents party which is
resolved that no more slaves shall be imported
from Africa, or carried from any slave State
TO the, common soil of the United States.
Cheers Take the case of John Bell. He
is a statesman, patriotic and learned; one whom
l respect and honor. But what do John Bell
and the Constitutional Union party propose on
this great question? They propose to ignore
it altogether; not TO know that there is anv
such question. The question will not stay
ignored. Kansas will come and ask admis-
SION and the Indian Territory South of Kan
sas, must be vacated by the Indian These
will present the question, and the Shareholders
in New Mexico will presentit. The question
will not stay ignored-wili not rest What
then? You only postpone the decision four
/ years longer, and postponement does not set
tie it. Brecllinridge represents party that
/ proposes TO extend slaA cry. Well, suppose
that party could possibly succeed, would that
satisfy the American people? Shouts of
MOI Is that going to settle the question?
| No, no!"l That is only what Mr. Buchan::
an has already done. | am sure | could get
| from this audience no vote of confidence in
Mr.. Buchanan. L"No no.nl That is of
course. Laughter. II were to go into a
| t1ell and Everett meeting as vast as this, and
I propose vote of confidence in James Buchan
as you do. If in the great demonstration that
takes place here in favor of Mr.. Douglas. one
were to propose vote of confidence in James
! Buchanan, he would get the same negative re-
| sponse, onlya little louder Laughter. Then
! you are not going to elect Mr. Breckenridge
because he is only following in the footsteps
of James Buchanan. But suppose Breckin
ridge were elected, what then? You would
have combination of the Republicans. the
| Constitutional party and the Douglas party to
drive him out again cheers and laughter =
and you would only postpone the question
! four years longer. The Douglas party also
proposes to ignore the question in Congress.
Douglas says the question belongs to the peo-
pie of the Territories, and they can settle it
themselves. What will they do? If they
settle 1t in favor Of slavery are the free States
going to consent to that? Ifso why did they
not consent to the proposition of the President
that Kansas should be admitted under the Le
compton Constitution? IF the people of the
Territories should decide in favor of freedom.
are the slave States going to acquiesce? No:
they have their ticket in the field. in the per
son Of Mr.. Breckinridge to continue the war
till they regain the lost battle. But Mr., DOUG
lass proposition may result in different way.
The people may vote slavery up in some Ter
rltones and may vote slavery down in other
Territories That viii be a compromise Well,
are you going to be satisfied with compro-
mise? You tried them all, and found they.
were never kept, and on the whole you are
very sorry that any Vas ever made. Is
compromise in that way going to satisfy the |
slave States! Why, they repudiate Mr. Doug
las, an excellent Democrat, and the most able |
man among them They rcpudia,e him alto
gether, because they will not be satisfied with |
squatter sovereignty to give any Territory
whatever to the free States | have thus de-
monstrated that the Republican party is the
only positive party. There is time when
nations require the settlement of subjects of
The time has come at last. The
States and free States require the
settlement of this quarrel 1t must be re-
pressed. The people will have it repressed.
We are not to be forever disputing upon old
n =.