The Kenosha telegraph and tribune. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1859-1860, 1860-04-26
Speech OfHon. Owen Lovejoy of Illinois
April, 1860.

Speech ofHon. Owen Lovejoy of Illinois
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
April 8, 1860.
below will be found the most essen
tial portion of Mr. Lovejoy's speech
column or two of Interruptions from
he pro-slavery side of the House, ar
omitted, as the character of these has
been given to our readers before,
EDS. TEL
Mr.. LovEJoY, after several Interrupt
tons began as follows:
was about to say, when interrupted
that l am aware that the practical ques
ton presented to this Heuse and to tn,
country, is, whether slavery shall bt
extended beyond its present limits; as
that is the only question over which
they have exclusive Jurisdiction. And
II slavery were contented to remain re-
stricted, and find its future where it now
is, we might perhaps forbear this dis
cussion. But when it is proposed to
extend what is termed an institute on
but which is not an institution; which
is simply practice-the question nat
urally arises, what is the nature, what
are the influences, and what are the in
huences, and what are the elements oil
this Prac tice? and what will they prove
to be if allowed expansions | am aware
1t has been stated upon this floor that
the morale of Slavery is settled that
Its ethics are no longer to be discussed;
that they Were settled ages ago by the
Staglrite Of Greece, and have been re-
affirmed and reestablished by the chan
ticleer Scion of Ohio, in rhetoric gor-
geous as sunsets glow. We are told
that where Slavery will pay, slave hold
ing will go. Precisely upon the same
plan we might say that where robbery
will pay, robbery viii 60 where pi-
racy will pay ,piracy will go; and where
adipose human flesh is cheaper than
that OF beeves, cannibalism will 90, be-
cause it will pay. Sir, than robbery,
than piracy, than polygamy, slave hold
ing is worse-more criminal, more in
furious to man, and consequently more
offensive to god. Slave-holding has
been justly designated as the sum of all
villainies. Put every crime perpetrated
among men into moral crucible, and
dissolve and combine them all, and the
resultant amalgam is slaveholding. 1t
has the violence of robbery.
A Member-You are joking,
Mr.. LovEJoY-No, Sir am speaks
ing i'll dead earnest, before God, Gods
own truth 1t has the violence of rob-
berry, the blood and cruelty of piracy :;
it has the offensive and lusts of polyga-
my, all combined and concentrated in
itself, with aggravations that neither
one ofthese crimes ever knew or dream
ed Of Now, Mr.. Chairman, the iustifi-
cation of Slavery is placed, so far as l
know, mainly upon these grounds the
lnteriority Of the enslaved race the
fact that enslaving men imparts Chris
tlanity and civilization to them and
thirdly, the guarantees Of the Constitu-
ton. These are the three main argu-
ments presented to justify its expansion.
And, by the way, | hold that the ex-
IRENE men, as they are called, on this
question, are the only men who have
the logic of it. | am right, or the fire.
eaters are right. If Slavery is right in
Virginia, it is right in Kansas. fit is
wrong in Kansas, it is wrong every
where. Now, sir, in regard to the first
polnt,-the interiority of the enslaved
race. We may concede it as a matter
OF fact that it is inferior; but does it fol-
low, therefore, that it is right to enslave
a man, simply because he is inferior t?
This, to me, is most abhorrent doc
trlne. 1t would place the weak every
where at the mercy of the strong it
would place the poor at the mercy of
the rich it would place those that are
deficient in intellect at the mercy of
those that are gifted in mental endow-
ment.
The principle of enslaving human be-
ings because they are inferior is this
If man is a cripple, trip him up; fhe
is old and weak and bowed with the
weight of years, strike him, for he can
not strike back if idiotic, take advan-
tage of him, and if a child, deceive him.
This, sir, this is the doctrine of Demo-
Gratis, and the doctrine Of devils as we'll,
and there is no place in the universe
outside the five points of hell and the
Democratic party where the practice
and prevalence Of such doctrines would
not be disgrace. Laughter. If the
strong of the earth are to enslave the
weak here, it would justify angels in
enslaving men, because they are supe-
rior and archangels in turn would be
justified in subjugating those who are
inferior in intellect and position, and Ill
timately it would transform Jehovah in
to an Infinite Juggernaut, rolling the
huge wheels of his Omnipotence-
Here follow over a column of clam>
orous Interruptions on the part of south
erners, who evinced a disposition to
prevent Mr. Lovejoy from proceeding
with his specify
Mr.. Lovejoy taking his place in the
Clerks desk) resumed-Mr. Chairman,
l was about stating, when interrupted,
that the principle upon whice sIavehol-
ding was sought to be justified in this
country would, if carried out in the aft.
airs OF the universe, transform Jehovah
the Supreme, into an infinite Jugger-
naut, rolling the huge wheels of his om-