The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1860-12-27
Speech of MIR. Wade of Ohio.

MI w aue Vi Onio maue mastery Speecf
in the United States Senate on the 18th inst
We have room for only an extract:
Mr., WADE (Rep. of Ohio) said: At time
like this, when there seems to be unusual ex
| cltement, have very little faith in the efficacy
OF any argument. But must say, when, in
TINS very chamber, where we. have all RAISED
our hands to Heaven and took our oaths tina
we would sustain the Con stitution of the Uni.
ted States, we hear it said by many Senator.
that we are on the eve Of a dissolution of the
Union, and that your constitution is TO be
trampled under foot. Silence under such Cir
cumstances seems to be akin to treason itsel
We have listened to com paints on the other
side of this chamber patiently, and with an ar.
dent desire to ascertain what they were. But
| confess am unable to understand what it is
OF which they complain. The party which
has lately elected the President, ard is pros
pectively coming into power, have never held
office under this Government, nor any individ.
ual ofthrm. Therefore il is manifest that that
party have as yet committed no act of which
anybody can complain. If any one has fears
as to what may hereafter ensue, they are mere
apprehenslons-nothing else. A bare suspicion
"a tear-rlslng out of unwarTantaGle preiudi-
ces. l wish to ascertain in the outset wheth-
er we are right, for | tell gentlemen here if
political principle that is not warranted by the
Constitution under which we live, or trenches
on their rights, they need not ask me to COM
promise, for will redress their rights myself
when am wrong No man need approach
me with the threat that the Government is to
be destroyed, because hope that have now,
and ever shall have, that sense of Justice, that
when any man shows me l am wrong, | shall
be ready to right it without threat or compro
imse
But what is the cause of this great excite
ment which undoubtedly prevails in large
portion of the country for, if the newspaners
are to be credited, there is a reign of terrors in
the cities and larger towns of the South. that
looks very much like the reign of terror in Paris
during the French revolution. We hear of nor
thern men being sent back, or scourged and
tarred and feathered, and no inquiry made in
regard to the cause. | do not suppose the req
ular government, in times of excitement like
this, is really responsible for these outbreak
of passion. If the States where these outrages
prevail were foreign governm ent, and if they
were really authorized by the constituted au-
thorities, everybody knows, if it were the strono
est government in tie world, we would declare
war in one day. But what has caused this great
excitement? ] viii tell you what l suppose it
is. do not so much blame the people of the
South, because / think they have been led TO
believe that we, to-day the dominant party who
are about to take the reins of government, are
their mortal foes, and stand ready to trample
their institutions under foot They have been
told so by our enemies at the North. and they
would not hear US at all. Now, | wish to en-
qulre candidly, honestly and fairly, whether the
Southern gentlemen who complain so much
have any reasonable grounds for that complaint
i mean when they are really informed of our
'hn
we have Personal Liberty Bills in some few of
thenorthern states, which would somehow trench
upon your rights to recapture runaway slaves
position that in more than two or three cases
has not the least foundation in fact But if
these laws are really repugnant to the Constitu-
ton, they are utterly void and the Cunrts would
declare them so at any moment Therefore I
am glad to see Senators on the other side saw
they do not complain of these bills Your men
have given up this bone of contention this
matter of complaint, which Northern men have
set forth as a grievance more than any one else
Let me say, to gentlemen of the Senate on
the other side, where you have lost one slave
by the unfaithfulness of legislative tribunals.
we have had ten men murdered by your mobs
against law. l cannot take up Southern pa
per but l read ofmen who travel for bnsne IS
but you wait upon them by some commit ee
and tell them to return. And what is the
cause? Why, Sir, you come from Ohio, and
they don't enquire what party you belong to
Many of these acts have been done under cir
cumstances that would disgrace a savage. We
have no security in travelling nearly one half
Of this Confedracy-especially the Gulf States,
don't care what mans character NAV be-
If he never violated any law under heaven;
but if he comes rom the North, and especially
if he has exercised his political rights snd vo-
Ted for Lincoln instead of somebC dy else il IS
an offence punishable by indignity, by stripes,
and by death. And you, whose constituents
are guilty of all these things, can stand up and
accuse us Of being unfaithful to the Constitu.
ton of the land! l make the assertion here
that do not believe in the history of the world
there ever was a nation or people where
law so repugnant to the general feeling was
ever executed with the same faitbfulness as has
been this most repugnant Fugitive Slave Law.
You have law in South Carolina by which.
take the citizens of Massachusetts or any other
maratime state and lock them up in jail under
penalty II the poor man cannot paw the
Jail fees eternal slavery stares him in the face
1t Is monstrous law, revolving to the best