Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-09-25


Of artfiI petftoqgers, Irho, i0hen speaking Of
he ,i0hts Of man, meant BAT he privileges Of a
set Of arisfocrdhe slaUeholdTs but styled it
ushs rights Of Man" u order to ttTOl0 dust info
he tyeS Of tie worId, and to iqVagle noble
hearted fools into lending them aid and assist-
, dNce TApplahse. These are your boqsted
Revolutionary sires no Iopcsr heroes and sqqss,
6uf accomplished hlnlbuqgers and hypoerites,
l0ho SAID one thing and meant another i0ho
passed oolHterfeit sentiments as genuine, and
obtained arms and money and assistance and
sympathy on false PTetenoesi There is your
great american ReUolutior, no longer The great
champion Of izliUerSal principles, biH a mean
Fdnkse trick-Ibursts Of applause and laugh
ter "a IOoodeR nutmeg renewed cheersI-
tts most haPudeRt imposition eUeT Practeed
upon 1is WhOls leOrldl [Applause.
That is the way Mr.. Douglas wants you to
read and to understand the propdest pages OF
American history That is the kind Of histo-
ry with which he finds it necessary to prop
his mongrel doctrine Of popular sovereignty
That is what he calls vindicating the charac-
ter and the motives and the conduct Of the
signers of the Declaration of Independence
Thus he did not blush to slaDder Jefferson,
who, when speaking of his country, meant
the world, and, when speaking of his fellow
citizens, meant mankind; and Franklin in
whose clear head theory and practice were
: the same, and who, having declared FALL men
to be created free and equal" became the
/ first President of the first great Abolition
Society; and John Adams, the representative
Of that State which abolished slavery within
: its limits with one great stroke Of Legislation;
and Washington, who declared Il to be "his
fondest wish to see slavery abolished by
law" and affixed to the Declaration of hide
pendence the broad signature Of his heroic !
sword; and Madison, who deemed it 'ab- |
surd to admit the idea of property in man." |
and Of the trainers of the Constitution, who |
took care not to disgrace that instrument |
with the werd slavery" and, before adopting |
it finally, blotted out from the extradition |
clause the word ''servitude," aDosoedly because
it sigHlfed the condition Of a slave, and substi-
tuted lthe word Service" avoWedly because
itsigRifed the condition of a freeman. Thus
Mr.. Douglas dares to speak of all those true
men, who, afteS having proclaimed their prin-
ciples IN the Declaration, endeavOred to intro
duce them into practical life in almost every
State, in the way Of gradual emancipation =
That they have failed in this, is it a fault of
theirs 1t shows not that they were less
great and sincere, but that subsequent gene
rations were hardly worthy Of so noble an
ancestry Applause.
There is Mr.. Douglass version of yourhis-
tory. He despairs of converting you with
out slandering your fathers. His present
doctrines cannot thrive unless planted in
caiumny on the past He vindicate the
signers of the Declaration of independence
Indeed, they need it sadly. see the illus
trious committee of five rise from their
graves, at their head Thomas jefferson; his
lips curled with the smile of contempt, and
hear him say to Mr.. Douglas: "Sir, you
may abuse us as much as you please, but
have the goodness to spare US with your vim
dications Of our character and motives -
Great laughter and applause.
It is a common thing that men of coarse
cast of mind so lose themselves in the mean
pursuit of selfish ends, as to become insensi-
BILE to the grand and sublime. Measuring
every character and every event in history
by the low standard of their own individu-
alities, applying to everything the narrow
rule of their own motives, incapable of
grasping broad and generous IDEAS they will
beIittle every great thing they cannot deny
and drag down every struggle OF principles
of small competing interests. Eighteen
hundred years ago, there were men who saw
nothing in incipieut Christianity but mere
wrangling between Jewish theologians, got
up by carpenters boy, and carried on by a
few crazy fishermen Three hundred years
ago, there were men who saw in the great re- ,
formatory movement of the sixteenth CEN
tury, not the emancipation of the individual {
hr,f y,,nra f1fco l-Tcl-ad mn b,- !
German monk who wanted to get married.
Two hundred years ago there were men who
saw in Hampden's refusal to pay the ship ]
money, not a bold vindication of constitu- !
tional liberty, but the crazy antics of man (
who was mean enough to quarrel about /
few shillings. And now, there are men who !
see in the Declaration of Independence and !
the American Revolution, not the reorgani- !
zation of human society upon the basis of !
liberty and equality, but a dodge of some
English colonists who were unwilling to pay
their taxes. CONTINUED applause
But the dignity Of great characters and
the glory of great events find their vindica- ,
ton in the eOnscienees of the people I
TCheers.7 1t is in vain for Demagoguism to I
raise its short arms against the truth of his
tory. The Declaration Of Independence
stands there. No candid man ever read it
without seeing and feeling that every word !
of it was dictated by deep and earnest
thought, and that every sentence of it bears
the stamp of philosophical generality. It is
the summing up of the results of the philo-
sophical developments of the age; it is the
practical embodiment of the progressive ideas
which, very far from being confined to the
narrow limits of the English colonies, perya-
ded the very atmosphere Of all civilized cOun- ,
tries. That code of human rights has grown ,
on the very summit of civilization, not in the
miry soil of South Carolina cotton field
He must have a dull mind or a disordered
brain, who misunderstands its principles
but he must have the heart of ViJLGiH who
knowingly misrepresents them. Loud
cheers.
Mr.. Douglas ambition might have been
satisfied with this ignominious exploit. But r
the necessities of the popular sovereignty doc 1
trine do not stop there. After having tried
to explain away the fundamental principles
underlying this Republic, which are hostile
to slavery and its extension, Mr.. Douglas
finds it Exceedingly inconvenient to encounter
facts which prove, beyond doubt, that these
principles, from mere theoretical existence,
rose to practical realization. Popular soYe-
reignty, which is at war with the doctrines
of the Declaration of independence, demands
the slaughter of the ordinance of 1897, and
Mr.. Douglas is up to the task. He does not
stop at triAes .iII