Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1860-10-12
An Infamous Cheat.

bled extract from Carl Schurz's speech, in
which allusion is made to the Declaration Of
Independence. The preceding sndlsucceed-
ing passages being omitted, it is made to
appear that he treated the Declaration and its
signers with disrepect; whereas the speech
is full of admiration for both. In the garbled
fragments he was only representing the Dec
laration as interpreted by Douglas & Co. Our
local Democratic cotemporary has been guilty
of this mean calumny.
Here we furnish the extract from Schurz's
speech at length, and no one who reads it will
ever dare to pin his faith to the honesty or
fair dealing of those editors who publish the
single extract referred to- and trumpet it as
the opinion of Carl Schurz on the Declaration
of Independence.
[F,om his speech At Springfield, Mass, January
4th, 1860.
Turn your eyes away from the sublime
spectacle of 1776, from that glorious galaxy
of men whose hearts where large enough for
all mankind, and let me recall you to the So
Der year of 1857. There is Springfield, the
capital of Illinois, one of those States which
owe their greatness to an ordinance originally
framed by the same man whose hand wrote
the Declaration ofIndependence. of In the hall
of the assembly there stands Mr.. Douglas,
who initiates an eager crowd into the mys-
teries of popular sovereignty" He will tell
you what it meant, when the men of l776
said that ''all men are created free and equal"
He says:
"No man can vindicate the character, the
motives and the conduct of the sgners of the
Declaration of Independence, except upon the
hypothesis that they referred to the white
race alone, and not the African-when they
declared all men to have been created free and
equal-that they were speaking of British
subjects on this continent being free and equal
to British subjects born and residing in Great
Britian-that they were entitled to the same
inalicnable rights, and among them were
enumerated life, liberty, and the pursuit Of
happiness. The Declaration of1ndependence of
was adopted merely for the purpose Of justi-
fying the colonists in the eyes Of the civilized
world in Withdrawing their allegiance from
the British crown, and dissolving connection
with the mother country.
What? Is that all? Is that little heap
of ouicksa the whole substructure on which
a new organization of society was to be builts
The whole foundation upon which the proud
and ponderous edifce of the United States
rests? They did, then, not mean all men,
when they said all men. They intended per-
hans to disfranchise those free blacks, who in
five of the original thirteen coloni %, enjoyed
the right of voting. They meant but the white
race. Oh, no, by no means the whole white
race not the Germans, not the French, not
the Scandnavians they meant the British
subjects. "British subjects on this continent
being equal to British subjects born and re-
siding on the other side of the great water" !"
Laug ghter and applause.
There is your Declaration of Independence,
diplomatic dodge, adopted merely for the
purpose of excusing the rebellious colonies in
the eyes of civilized mankind. There Is yo2
Declaration of Independence, no longer the
sacred code of the rights of man, but an
hypocritica. piece of special pleading, drawn
up by q batch of arttul pettifoggers, wi o,
when speaking of the rights of man, meant
but the privileges of set OF arstocratic
shareholders, but yled it the rights ofmen,'
in order to throw dust Into the eyes of the
world, and to inveigle noble hearted fools in
to lending them aid and assistance. Ap:
plause. These are your boasted revolution.
arv sires, no longer heroes and sages, but
accomplished humbugs and hypocrites, who
said one thing ana meant another who
PASSED counterfeit sentiments as genuine, and
obtained arms and assistance and sympathy
on false pretenses! There is your great
American Revolution, no longer the grea'
champion of universal principles, but a|mear
Yankee trick-(bursts Of applause and laugh
ter)-a wooden nutmeg (renewed cheers)-
the most impudent imposition ever practieet
upon the whole world! (Applause.)
That is the ssay Mr.. Douglas, soants yo'
to read and understand the proadest pages q
american history That is the kind OF his
his monerel doctrine of popular sovereignty
That is what he calls vindicating the charac
ter and the motives and the conduct Of tn
sicners of the Declaration of Independence
Ir