The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1860-07-18

1t possesses no inherent force our comm
vance alone arms it. II is the emblem up
on the shield of Alcibiades as the child
it would be mild and harmless. but W,
give it the thunderbolt, and make it fear
ful and destructive
The cause of our distraction and dissen
sioh is the agitation of questions connecting
themselves with slavery and | would i'm
press this truth upon the pablic mind. thai
it is the determination to extend rather thar
reduce that institution which has arrayed
the sections in apparent, if not actual, hostili
ty Each succeeding day but makes it the
more evident that slavery expansion is the
omnipresent and ruling consideration, alike
in theology, in politics, and Government
If | am mistaken, why do churches wran
gle, and then sever! What has threat
ened periodically the stability of the Union
How will you account for the widespread
alarm Of 1850, and the misnamed comprom.
ises Of that year? Why do our chief Off
GERS become Incorporate partisans instead
Of temperate rulers Whence arises the
necessity for subverting party principles,
changing party policy. and destroying par.
ty platforms In what direction shall We
look for that powerful agency which dis
tinguishes between equals; in the one case
comforting sovereignty, and in the other
Withholding it Whose cupudity is ever
reaching out frantically to seize the native
African, and to clutch bordering domains
giving material aid and defence to the fiji.
ibuster and land pirate; provoking procla-
nations Of war from abroad and melting TO
bootless instructions for order at home
And to what cause shall we attribute
the perpetual failure of measures conducive
to agricultural and mechanical growth and
development
Mr. Chairman, in the last half of the
eighteenth century, when the Republican
patriots of France and America affirmed
the freedom and equality of all men by
birth and nature, our colonies accepted the
declaration as an axiom, and rested upon it
as the rock of their hope. Around it they
kindled and fed the fires of the Revolution
and shiveriDg and in rags upon the ice of
winter, and fainting and wasted upon the
sands OF summer, they defended it with
their lives, their fortunes, and their honor.
They saved it and consecrated it. On it
rests all our institutions 1t is the great
shrine which our fathers covered with their
blessings. as the Chcrubim covered with
their wings the ark Of the covenant of the
Lord. Now it is assaulted SO frequently,
it neither excites interest nor occasions re.
mark A new gospel has been preached
to the nation and a man who values either
his character or repose will be careful not
to molest the modern orthodoxy by vain at
tempts to rescucitate the past. Those trait
or zealots. who were so misguided as to
give their labOrs to God and pcsterity, died
to soon to learn the lie they had advocated,
and how little they had achieved. 1t is
we'll it was SO, for they barely escaped the
followed and taunted by derisive and de-
tractivc ephithets and when Federal
chief, sitting giddy headed in the chair OF
Washington and Jefferson, would have
opened upon them the walls of his indie
cent wrath, and demanded them in sacri-
fee. to appcase the vengeance of those who
must always despisc him. Largely connec,
ted with the institution, they did not permit
the consideration Of slavery to interfere
with the discharge of that plain duty they
believed they owed the cause Of mankind
Thinking it right to rebuke wrong, they
did so in plain and unambiguous language
They were not theorists merely, but prac
ticalists. They looked forward to an un
confined liberty. and declared absolute
perpetual bondage inimical to the education
opinions, social life, and every moral quail
ty of those who were surrounded by it
We are not permitted to follow either thei
example or their precepts. Silence, even
will not leave us unmolested. We are nov
required, under the impending pains an
penalties of party anathemas and proscrlF
ton, to declare the enslavement Of a weak
er race to be patriarchal and heaven.ol
dained; and that those who fought on
battles, and framed cur Government, wer
banded infuriates and SILLY philanthrcpist
In this land, there are as yet no chaiI
forged for the intellect, which may not b
broken; and We will never allow eitht
our faith or our confidence to be shackle,
1t was this exaction made of believin
} Christians, to array themselves against Il
sentiment of the world, and to proclai
, slavery as a sacred institution, which h;
J;r;da1 tho oburcbnc apA laid tho fouOd
ton for that remarkable propagandis
which processes to rely upon the Divine t
) vor for its ultimate ascendency and success
t The conquest Of the Southern church
> the sanction and interests Of slavery b
f given it city of refuge which it alwa
, before lacked, and has made it bold in t
: euormity of its demands We are requir
r to fall down and worship it. This is a sc
: tional view that We never can sanction
4 and We appeal to the justice of God a
the moral sense of men to sustain us in o
refusal.
!, The effort to justify the igin origin
l. slavery, however it may be regarded
d those taught in different theology, cam
C be more Objectionable than the means US
c to coerce them into its adoption. Some
,. these it is my purpose to refer to; and |
!, gret that l do not command the time
L. speak of them with that PARTICULARLY VIII
c. is demanded by their Importance.
D, The people of the Northern States ent
m tain loyal attachment to the Constitut
,e and the ITnion Those who would ds