The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1860-09-20
NO.S6

word ShiOh might indicate q moral cou
viction that slavery is ,crong? Not onel
Bot one thing be does tell you: 81 do
not care aOhether slcEuery be 0oted up or
dorm I" There ia then q human heart
that does not care Sir, look over this
broad land, where the struggle has ragged
for years and years; and. across the two
oceans. around the globe, to the point
where the far West meets the far East,
over the teeming countries where the era
die of mankind stood; and over the work.
shops of civilization in Europe. and over
those mysterious N regions, under the trop-
icsl sun, which have not emerged yet
froo the night Of barbarism to tbs day
light Of eivilisej lifs-snd theR sell me,
bow many hearts do you ind thai DO Eos
treabis sith @eFtsI anguish or eSuisAnt
JOY as the scales Of human freedom or
human bondage 60 up or doRnS Look
over the history of the world, from the
tiue when infant msnkind felt in its heart
the 6rst throbbings of aspiring dignity,
down to our days, when the rights of man
have ct last found bold and powerful
champion in great and mighty Republic;
where is the page that is not spotted With
blood aud tears, shed in that all-absorb-
ing struggle; where ehspter which does
not tell the tale of jubilant triumph or
heart.breAking distress, as the scales Of
freedom or slavery vent up or down =
loud applause,) But to-day, in the
nids. of the nineteenth century, in Re-
public whose programme was laid down
in the Declaration Of Independence, there
comes q man to you, and tells you, with
cynical coolness, that be does not care
Aud because he does not care, be claims
the copfdeocs of bis eountrymen and the
highest boOOrs of the Republic Because
he does not care, be pretends to be the
representative statesman Of this age
Sir, [ always thought be can bs NO
true statesman whose idess and concep-
lions are not founded upon profound NOR
al convictions of right and wrong. ZAP
plause) What, then, shall wesay OF him
who boastingly Parades bis Indifference
as virtuei May We not drop the dis
cussion about bis statesm anship, and ask,
What is be worth as man, (Repeated
cheers) Yes; be mistakes the motive
power which shapes the events of history.
| fDd that in the life of free nations,
mere legal disquisitiOus never turned the
tide of events, and mere constitutional
constructions never determined the ton
deUcy Of an age. The logic of things
goes its steady way, immovabls to elo-
quenee and deaf to argument. Il shapes
and changes Laws aud Constitutions ac-
cording to it's immutablc rules. and those
adverse to it will prove no efectusl OBJ
structiou to its onward march. In times
of great conflicts, the prOnlpt5Hgs and dc
tateS Of the human conscience are more Do
tent than all the inventive Ingenuity of
the human brain. The conscience of
free people, when once fairly ruling the
action of the masses, will never fail to
make new laws, when those existing are
contrary to its tendency, or it will put It's
own construction upon those that are there
Your disquisitiOns and plausibilities may
be used as weapons and stratagems in a
fencing match Of controyersiUg parties;
but, powerless as they are before the coG-
science of man. Posterity will remember
them only as mere secondary incidents of
battle of great principles, in which the
strongest motive powers of human nature
were the true combatsnts.
There ia the slavery question; not .
mere occasional quarrel between two sec
tons of country divided by geograph-
ical line; net mere contest between two
economical interests for the preponder-
ance; not mere wrangle between two
political parties for power and spoils; but
the great struggle betEeen the human
conscience and burning wrong, between
advancing sivilizstion and refreshing bar
barism, betveen tso sDtsgonistis systems
of social organization. (Cheers.) In vain
will our inpoteDt mock giants endeavor
to make the test question of our sge turn
on ridiculous logical quibble, or a pal
try legal technicslity, (applause;) iu vain
will they invent small lodges. aud call
them "great principles" in vain will they
attompt to drag down the all absorbing
contest TO the level Of a mere pot house
quarrel between two rival candidates for
a Presidential nomination. (Applsuse.)
The wheel of progressing events will crush
them to atoms, as it has crushed so many
sbnormities, Cheers and future geDer-
alton will perhaps read on Mr. Douglass
Tombstone the inscription: Here lies
the queer. sort of statesman, who, when
the great battle OF slavery was fought,
pretended to say that be did not care
whether slavery vas voted up or voted
down" (Chesrs.)
But as long IS their mortal vitality of
this nation is not entirely exhausted, Mr..
Douglas, and men like him will in vain
endeayor to reduce the people to that dis
gustiDg state of moral indifference which
be himself is not ashamed to boast Of l
solemnly protest that the American peo-
pie srs not to be measured by Mr. Doug
: lass low moral standard However de.
graded some of cur politicians may be,
the progress Of the struggle will show
th At the ponular conscience is still alive