, 1860-09-06
The National Divergence and
Return.


SPEECli 0F
WILLIAM III. SEWARD,
Dsltssr<d At Detroit, Sgt. 4, 1860.
Fellow C1T1zExs: We claim that our pol'ti-
cal 81 ystem is judlcious one, aud that we are IN
intelligent and virtuous people. The govern.
meut ought therefore not only to secure respect
and good will abroad, but also to produces good
order, c0ntentm, Mt and harmony ut oMe. II
faia to attain these ends. Tho Canadians Ger.
taiDly neither .ervy nor lore us- All INC lode',
pendent American rowcr8fru tne Alo Hfanoe
10 Cape Horn, uhi.e they strive to construct
governments for themselves ntter OUT models,
fear, and mupy o! them hate US. European ne-
1iona do indeed revere our constitutions and ad-'
uaire our progress, but they generally agreo in
pronpuuciug NJ Inconsistent with our organic
principle and capricious. The President H.
Weighs against corruption amouK the people.
The immediate representatives Of the people in
Congress charge the! President with immoral
PRACTICES. and the President protests against
their action AZ subyersive Of the Executive pre-
roratiye. The House Of Rerfesentat.ves
organizes itself convulsively auid confessed
Listens unsurprised, und almost without excite
anent. to menaces Of violence, secession and
disuniou. Frauds aud violence in the Terri
tories are palliated and rewarded: ExpLsure
and resistance to them are condemned and pur-
i:hed, while the just. enlightened aud reasou-
abe will OF the people there, though constitu.
tionally expressed, Is circumsented, disobryed
and d,ssega1ded. States watch an1iousy for
unlawful ipttusion and invasion by citizens OF
other States, while the Federal Courts fail to
suppress pirac:es on the high seas, and eren on
our OWE coasts. The government Of the Union,
courts and submits to StAae espionage Ct the
Federal mails, while the States scarcely IT.
~, riu},3u ,fr rsfj
Of other States, peacefully pursuing narm'ess
occupations within thElr ttaterna1 Jurisdictions.
A CHANGE WANTED.
Are the people satisfied and contentf Let
their several parties and masses answer Ger.
tainIy you, the Republicans Of Hichtcan, as well
a the Republicans throughout the whois coun-
try, are not satisfied. 81. you a1e interested
IN a change OF administration, and therefore
perhaps prejudiced. Ask, then, the Conatltu'
iiopal Union men, few and inefficient, indeed.
here, but numerous and encrkelic Elsewhere.
They are not satisfied. II they "crc th,5 would
not be sugaged, as they are low. in hopeless
attempt to Organize q new purity without my
principles at al, after their recent failures to
combine srch party on obnoxious principles.
But they also are interested and possibly preju-
diced, like the Republicans. Appeal tfen to
the Democratic party, which ep]oys aud ~ielos %
the patronage aud power Of the Federal GoS'
eminent Even the Democrats gre no less Dis
satisfied. They certainly are dissatisfied With
the Republicans, with the National Uninn men,
with their own administration, with each other,
and, as think, eveu Individually, with them
selves. The North il not fatished. Its masses
want suppression OF the African slave trade,
and an ctfsctual exclusion Of slavery from the
Teri tories. - that the new AID tutura States
may be surely tree States. The South is no!
satisfied. Its masse1, by whatever means, aud
at whatever cost. desire the establishment and
protection Of slavery in the Territories, 50 that
none Of the new States may tait to become slave
S!ates: The East is disc ntented with tae reg
leet of its tisheriss, manufactures ard naviga'
ton, and the Vest is impatient urder the ope'
ration of pationaT policy, hostile to its a2rl-
cultural, mining and social Developments. " lat
government in the word but ours has persist*
emily refused to improve rivers, construct har-
hors and establish lighthouses, for the pGoscc-
tion Of its commerces New and anomalous
combinations Of citizens appear, in the North
justifying armed instigators Of civil aDd sifsile
war in the South deEisiDg means for the dis
rupt1on and dismembeIment Of the Union. 1t
is manifest that We are suffering in the respect
aud confidence Of foreign States, and that dis
order and confusion are mora tagrant among
ourselves now than ever before.
do not intend to be understood that these
evils are thus far productive Of material sutler.
ing or intoferable embarrassment, much less
that tho country is, as SO many extra'agant
persons say, on the high road to cl.il war Or
dissolution. On the contrary this fair land We
lire in is 50 blessed with all The elements OF hu-
| man comfort and happiness, and its cst'zens are
et once so loyal and wise, and SO well surrounded
| by yet unbroken guarantees Of civil and 1e'ig-
| ious liberty, that our experience OF miArule ut
the very worst never becomes 20 painful as to
| raise the question. How much more Of public
misery We can endure but it leayes us at lber~
ty to stop now, as always heretofore, with the
| Hasv fonrt Y,tnr nf frnAdnt1 nrh4neritV z
and honor we can secure by The practice OF
greater wisdom and higher virtue? Discon-
| tentmeut is the wholesome fruit Of discovery
0: maladministration, and conviction OF public
error is here, AT least, always sure harbiDger
! of political reform.
view Of his own life, and cur time. for postum
nous uses. lfit is not disrespectfui, I should
like to know now the conclusions he draws from
the national events he has seen, and Of which
he has seen an Important part; for he is
shrewd observer, with advantages Of large and
long experience. To me 1t seems that the lust
forty years have constituted q period Of signal
aud lamentable failure in the efforts Of states.
men to adjust and establish feder4i policy tor
the regulation of the subject of slavery IN re
tations to the Union. In lh 9 view I regard it as
belonging to the Office Of 8 ateaman not merely
to favor In immediate and temporary .crease
Of national wealth, end an enlargement Of na'
tionsi territory, brit also to forty, SO far as tue
prescribed constitutional limits of his actiun
NAV allow, the influences Of knowledge and hu'
manity; to aba,e popular p:ejudlces asd pas.
sions, BY modifying OF removing their canse ea
to ascertain and disclose tne operation Of gen
eral Iswe, aud to study and reveal the slc;ll
tendencies Of the age, and By com5ioing thr
past with the present, while giying free play oil
the time to the recip locating action OF tue many
co-existing moral 1orceR, to develop that har.
monioua system which actually pres.ils in the
apparent chaos Of human affairs; and so to gain
something in the way Of aesurarce IS to the
complexion Of that futurty UPWARDS which
since cur country is destined 10 endure, mud in
spmuch az we desire TINT it may be immortal
our thoughts are 10 yehcmentIJ driven even by
the se16sh as well as by the generous principles
| OF our n0ture.
THE PROBLEM or SLAVERY.
have Understood that John Quincy Adams
the purest and wisest statesmen | ever knew
died despairing Of the peaceful solution OF tbl
problem Of slavery, on " hich be was so intentlJ
engaged throughout his public service. II vi
may Judge from the absolute failures ofMr. Var
| in the respect hare mentioned, and if we TAXI
into cons de1asion also the systems which Mr
Calhoun, Mr.. Benton, Mr.. Clay and Mr.. Web
ster eevera1ty recommended, and which Inv,
subsequently failed to be adopted, we may per
haps conclude that the difficulties Of establish
/
ovcrtasked even our wisest and most eu1iren
statesmen. They certainIy have been nethe
incapable nor sehsh men. No age or country
has been illustrated by public characters o
greater genirs, wisdom and virtue.
1t is easy to see, fellow citizens, that the fail
! ure has resulted not from the faults Of Oh
statesmen, but from the peculiar constitution
and characters of political parties, on whicl
they relied for power. Solid, enduring IN,
constant parties, inspired by love Of country
, reverence for virtue and devotion to huma1
liberty, bold in their conceptions Of measures
moderate in success, md resolute throughou
reverscs. are essential to effective md benz
fjceat administration in every ffee State
Unauimity, even in wise, just aud ncctssar
f policy, can never be expected in any count1
Ill At once, aud without thorough debate an
earnest conflicts Of opinion. Al public move
nent8 are therefore undertaken and prose
) cuted through the agencies, not Of individuals
but Of parties regulated, excited and moders
ted, as occasion 1nsy require, by their repre-
sentativea. He who proposes measures so i'm
r practicable That he c.n win no party to thei
J support may be philauthropist, but be car
not be q statesman and even when tia 1cade
in administration is thus sustained, be is, a
though ncEer SO earnest or wise, everywhere IN
degree that the party on Which he depends,
incouBtant, vascilstiuR, limid OF capr.ciouI
What has become ofthe seTerri political PR ie
which have aourished within your time an
, | minel That dashing, uuterrided, defiant pa
. | II, whose irresistible }eRions carried the her
est aud Intrepid hero Of New Orleans on tile
shields, through 50 many civil encounters.
that generous though not pHErejudicsd Wni
ger from too radical policies Of administration
80 often with unubated airy aud en,husias,
| mapicAl1v fecombiued its bruised and Bcnttere