The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1860-02-16
EXTRACT FROM
CARL SCIlURHS SPEECH.

On the 4th OF January, that eloquent
German Republican, CARL ScHuRz, of
Wisconsin, delivered a speech at Spring
field, Mass, in which he reviewed Mr..
DouGLAs' Squatter Sovereignty argu-
ment, and examined the Illinois Senator's
general position on the subject of Slav-
cry in the light of history and morality
We have not room for the whole speech,
but cannot refrain from giving the con
Guiding portion of il, in which be so ell
oquently and forcibly and trulhfully mea-
sures the arguments, and estimates the
moral perceptions, of the Senator. AT
ter concluding the details of his argu-
ments, Mr.. ScHuRz proceeded to sum up
as follows:
Thele is Mr.. Douglass version of
yonr history. He despairs of converting
you without slandering your fathers. His
present doctrines canrot thrive unless
planted in calumny on the past. He
vindicate the signers of the Declaration
of Independence Indeed, they need il
sadly. | see the industrious committee
of five rise from their graves, at their
head Thomas Jefferson, his lips curled
with the smile of contempt. and | hear
him say TO Mr.. Douglas, - Sir, YOU may
abuse us as much as you please, but
have the goodness TO spare Us with your
vindicaiions of our character and mo-
tives." Great laughter and applause
Ii Is common thing that men OF
coarse cast of mind so lose themselves in
the mean pursuit of selfish ends as to be-
come insensible TO the grand and sub
lime. Measuring every character and
every event in history by the low stand
ard of their own indlvidualites, apply
ing to everything the narrow rule of their
own motives, incapable of grasping
broad and generous ideas, they will be-
little every great thing they cannot de-
ny, and drag down every struggle of
principles to the sordid arena of aspiring
selfshness, or of small competing inter-
ests. Eighteen hundred years ago. there
were men who saw nothing in incpient
Christianity but mere wrangle between
Jewish theologians. got up by carpeu-
ter's boy, and carried on by few crazy
fishermen. Three hundred years ago
there were men who saw in the great re-
tormatory movement of the 10th centu-
ry not the emancipation of the individu-
al conscience, but mere fuss kicked up
by German monk, who wanted to get
married. Two hundred years ago there
were men who saw in Hampden's refusal
TO pay the ship money not bold vindi-
cation of constitutional liberty, but the
crazy antics of man who was mean
enough to quarrel about a few shillings.
And. now, there are men who see in the
Declaration of Independence and the
American Revolution. not the re-organ-
zation of human society upon the basis
of Liberty and Equality, but dodge of
some English colonists who were unwill-
ing to pay their taxes. Continued ap-
plause.
But the dignity of the grea. character
and the glory OF the great events find
their vindication in the consciences of
the people. Cheers. 1t is in vain for
demagogueism to raise its short arms
against the truth of history. The Dec
laration of Independence stands there.
No candid man ever reads ii without see-
ing and feeling that every word of il was
dictated by deep and earnest thought,
and that every sentence of it bears the
stamp Of philosophical generality. II is
the summing up of the results of the
philosophical development of the age !;
It is the practical embodiment Of the pro-