The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1860-10-09
From the N. Y Tribune
THE QUESTIONS TO BE DECIDED.
SPEECH OF CARL SCHURZ,
OF WISCONSIN.
Delivered at the Cooper institute, N. Y. Sept. 18Th

agitating the country, am little inclined
to discuss the personal qualities of can
didates but, when the individual merits
of a man are set up as his principal claim
to the highest and most responsible Office
in the Republic, it is natural that we
should feel obliged to examine his history
and character with more than ordinary
care.
1t is a notorious fact that the friends of
Judge Douglas in the Northern States So
licit the vote Of the people on the ground
that he has done more for the freedom of
the Territories, and that he is a truer
champion of free labor, and, besides, a
greater statesman, than any living indi-
vidual. Thus personal issue is urged
upon us, and we are ready to accept it.
This will be the subject of my remarks
to night. shall not transgress the lin
its OF propriety. but | am determined to
call things by their right names.
What is ii that entities Judge Douglas
to the high sounding appellatlon, the
champion of freedom, . or the greatest
Of living statesmen ?" Is it his past ca
reer or is it his present position y? You
can SUI vey the history of this champion
of freedom at a single glance. The
JUDI sc has his Free-Soil record-what
Northern Pro Slavery man has not But
there is not hardly prominent man in
political life who has taken more pains
than he to disclaim and apologize for his
early Anti Slavery sentiments. So we
may drop this subject. What follows is
more instructive.
In 1920, the Missouri Compromise was
framed as a sacred compact between the
two sections of the Union. By virtue OF
that Compromise. Missouri was admitted
as Slave State and Arkansas as a Slave
State and thus the free North, as one
party to the contract paid down its price
for the Slavery prohibition north of SO
30. Was Mr.. Douglas ever heard to ex :
press any doubt as TO the constitutional
lLy OF the Missouri Compromise So long
as 1t served to augment the number of
Slave States Ii was 10 him, rs TO all
Others, "asacred and inviolable compact"
AS sacred and inviolable AS the Consti
tuition itself and he cursed the ruth
less hand" that would dare 10 break it
down. When, after the Mexican war
the Territories acquired for this Union
were 10 be organized, he was among the
first and foremost who advocated the ex-
tension of the Missouri line across the
whole continent. What would have been
the result of that measure In the Ter
ritorles acquired from Mexico Slavery
was abolished and prohibited by local
Legislation, but the extension of the Mis-
souri, line was calculated to admit Slav-
cry into all that part of it which lies
south Of $3.50, Mark well So long as
the Missouri Compromise served to in
troduce Slave States, he did not dream Of
its unconslitutionality When by the ex-
tension of the Missouri line free territory
could be converted into slave territory,
he found ii SO emiuently convenient, SO
excellent an arrangement, that he not on
y proposed TO preserve II in its original
extent, but to run it across the whole
continent to the shores of the Pacific
Ocean.
But now the time arrives when Free
States are 10 grow up under the guaran.
ties of the same Missouri Compromise.
A new light dawns upon Judge Doug
las. He rises in the Senate Chamber,
and asserts that the Territory north Of
The Missouri line can no longer be ex-
empted from Slavery, because the exclu-
sion of Slavery from 1.-THE very condi-
lion on which Missouri was admitted as
a Slave Slate-was at war with the fun
iamental principles of the Constitution.
The same man who had cursed as ruth
less Me hand that would violate the Mis-
sour Compromise, As long as that Com.
pact was bene fetal 10 Slavery, tore it
down Nth his o,cn hands as soon as il was
10 serve the interests of free labor. And
ne is the lruest " champion of freedom -
How wonderful change At the time
when he proposed the extension of the
Missouri line to the Pacific Ocean. he
was either conv lnced of the unconstitu- /
Iionality of that compromise or he was
not. 1t he was, how could he conscien-
liously propose the extension and perpet-
lation OF a measure which he considered /
crime against the Constitution ? Were |
his conscience and his convictions hush
ed into silence by the interests of Slav-
cry? Or If he was not. how did it come |
10 pass that he became SO suddenly con.
einced Of that unconslilutonalily the |
very moment that the preservation and /
execution OF that compromise would have
advanced the interests Of flee labor ?
How did it happen that his convictions,
N all their prompt and wonderful trans
carnations. always concided so admira-
bly, with the interests of Slavery This
IS indeed a most astonishing coincidence.
aud | leave il TO your sagacty 10 draw
your conclusions.
But Mr.. Douglas is still the "true
champion of Free Labor - for ii is AS.
serted that the Nebraska bill-the same
which breaks down the barriers
o Slavery by that very operation
Introduce Free Labor into the Terrific
'ies. The thing is speedily brought to
practical test. No sooner is the Ne I
oraska bill enacted, and the Missouri re-
'trlction struck down, than Emigrant Aid