The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1860-03-15
Mr.. SeWard's Great Speech.

Mr.. Seward presented the memorial of the
Legislature of Kansas, praying for admission
into the Union, February 2sth,) and ad-
dressed the Senate as follows:
Mr.. President, the admission of Kansas
into the Union, without further delay, seems
to me equally necessary, just, and wise. In
recorded debates | have already Anticipated
the arguments for this conclusion.
In coming forward among the political as.
trologers, it shall be an error of judgment,
and not of disposition, ifmy Interpretation oI
the feversh dreams which are disturbing
the country shall tend to fomcnt, rather than
allay, the national excitement. shall say
nothing unnecessarily Of persons, because,
in our system, the pablic welf,re and happi-
ness depend chiefly on institutions, AMI very
little on men. | shall alluie but briefly to
incidental topics, because they are ephemcral
and because, even in the midst of appeals to
passion and prejudice, it is always safe to
submit solid truth to the deliberate conside.
ration fan honest and enlightened people
1t will be an overhowing source of shame
as well as Of sorrow, if we, thirty millions
Europeans by extraction, Americans by
birth or discipline, and Christians in faith,
and meaning to be such in practice-canno,
so combine prudence with humanity, in our
conduct concerning the one disturbing sub.
ject of Slavery, as not only to preserve our
unequal institutions of Freedom, but also to
enjoy their benefits with contentment and
harmony.
Wherever guiltless slave exists, be he eau.
casian, American, Malay, or African, he is
the subject oftwo distinct and opposite ideas
--one that he is wrongly, the other that he
is rightly slave. The balance of numbers
on either side, however great, never com.
pletely extinguishes this difference ofopinion
for there are always some defenders of Slave
ry outside, even if there are none inside a
Free State, while, also, there are always
outside, if there are not inside of every Slave
State, many who assert with Milton. that 'tnc
man who knows aught can be so stupid tc
deny, that all men naturally were born free
being the image and resemblance ofGod him
self, and were by privilege above all the
creatures, born to command and not to obey
It often, perhaps, generally happens, how
ever, that in considering the subject of Slave
ry, society seems to overlook the natural right
or personal interest of the slave himself. and
to act exclusively for the welfare of the citizen
But this fact does not materially effect ulti
mate results, for the elementary question o
the rightfulness or wrongfulness of Slavery
inhcres in every form that discussion con
corning it assumes. What is just to on,
class ofmen, can never be injurious to an,
other; and what is unjust to any con
dition of persons in q State, is necessaril,
injurious in some degree to the whole com
munity. An economical question early arises
out ofthe subject Of Slavery-labor either o
freemen or Of slaves Is the cardinal necessity
ofsociety. Some States choose the one kind
some the other. Hence two municipal sys
TENS widely different arise. The Slave Stat
strikes down and affects to extinguish tn,
personality Of the laborer, not only as a mem
Der Of the political body, but also as parent
husband, child, ncighboro or friend. He thu
becomes, in political view, merely propert,
without moral capacity, AMI without domes
tic, moral, and social relations, duties, right
and remedies-a chattel, an object ofbar.ain
sale, gift, inheritance, or theft. His earning
are compensated and his wrongs atoned, no
to himself but to his owner. The State pro
tects not the slave as man, but the capita
Of another man, which he represents. Oh
the other hand, the State which rejects Slave
~ encourages and animates and invigorate
the laborer, by maintaining and dcvelopin,
his natural personality in all the rights an,
faculties Of manhood, and generally with tn
privilege of citizenship. In the one case
capital invested in slaves becomes . grea
political force, while in the other, labor thu
elevated and snfranchised, becomes the dom