The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1860-10-16


favorite mixture his cardinal, funda-
mental, sine qua non variety and not
only have we no right to establish uni
form free labor by encroaching upon the
rights of the States but quite as a gen.
eral thing, extinction OF his favorite var-
iety, "would be neither possible nor de-
sirable." He declares it to be "a. fatal
heresy to proclaim that there can or
ought to be uniformity among the differ
ent States of this Union.'' 1t would,
then, according to the Judge, not be de-
sirable that free labor should prevail
everywhere, for that would create uni
formity, and uniformity is the death OF
Freedom.
And now mark that wonderful muddle
Of nonsence in the head of that great
est of living statesman"-our liberties
rest upon our Federal system of Govern
ment our Federal system of Govern
ment rests upon the variety of institu-
tons; that variety of institutions con-
sists Of there being Slavery in some of
the States. If Slavery disappeared, that
variety would disappear if that variety
disappeared, our Federal system of Gov
ernment would disappear if our Fed
eral system of Government disappeared,
the safeguards of our liberties would be
destroyed-consequently, if Slavery dis
appears. liberty disappears also.
Again, if all The States were free there
would be uniformity +; but uniformity in
local and domestic affairs would be de-
structive to personal liberly-that uni
formty is prevented by the existence OF
Slavery, consequently the existence OF
Slavery prevents the destr ruction of lib
erty or liberty cannot be preserved but
by the preservation of Slavery.
What bene factors of our humanity
were those who introduced Slavery into
this land for they furnished the material
out of which the necessary variety was
made, without which our liberty cannot
exist. If they had not done so, then all
the States would be free ; here would
be uniformity, and We would all be slaves!
What nonsense to abolish the slave trade
The more slaves, the more variety--the
more variety, the more freedom.
How we must pity the unfortunate ma
tons that have no Slavery among them ;
for they have no variety of institutions,
and having no variety of Institutions
they can have no liberty. Poor people
that have no slaves among them they
can never be free.
1t is a little surprising, however, that
this great and luminous doctrine of " ga
riety" should have been so little known
about the time when our Government
was organized and the Constitution fran
ed. There were two individuals living
then who enjoyed some little reputation
for craftsmanship, one of whom said,
trust we shall have Confederacy of free
States ;" and the other said, Nothing
is more certainly written in the Book oI
Fate than that those people meaning
the slaves are to be Iree." And they
were called statesmen What an i'm
mense progress we have made in these
seventy years They would be called
simpletons or traitors now ; for they eth
er knew nothing of the great doctrine oil
" pariety"-which was very foolish-or,
ii they knew it, they plotted the destruc- :
ton of popular freedom by advocating
uniformity-which certainly was very
reasonable BY the way, the name OF
one was George Washington, and the
name Of the other Thomas Jefferson
You will be obliged to confess that you
were very much mistaken in those two
men. What pity Judge Douglas did
not live in those days. How he would
have knocked his great doctrine of rari-
efy about their ears How he would
have taught Washington what the defni-
ton of our Federal system is How he
would have told jefferson what tie great
safeguards of liberty are
But, alas such statesmen are some
times born not only out of season but out
of place. What a pity Judge Doug las
does not live in Switzerland, the oldes,
Republic now extant. Those benighted
people, the Swiss, have been for eentu-
ries indulging in the foolish deluson
that they were free, and that they had a
federal system of government, Why
there is no Slavery in Switzerland-there
is not the necessary variety of institution
there. Their States are all Free States.
There is uniformity there. How can
they have federal institutions with uni
formity T? How can there be liberty
without variety =? Impossible. Poor,
innocent souls they think they are free,
and have no slaves. Let the Judge go
at once on a missionary expedition to
liberate the Swiss. He will have an op.
portunity to try that other great original
idea of his, that "sny political creed
must be radically wrong which cannot
be proclaimed everywhere" venture
to predict that every honest Swiss boot
viii lift itself and kick the great variety
Douglas from Alp to Alp.
Now. look at the strange consequences
into which his vuriety doctrine inevita.
bly, leads him The necessity of presery :
ing Slavery for the sake Of Liberty
that is. of preserving the variety Of ia.
stitutions was the principal ground up
on which he placed the necessity OF pass
ing his conspiracy bill, The same man
who tells us that slavery must be preserv
ed because its extinction would bring
about uniformity. which, in its turn
Il a -