Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1860-03-10
Speech of Hon. William ii. Seward in the
Senate of the United States.

Senate of the United States.
In the United States Senate, Wednesday, Mr.
SEWARD having presented the memorial of the
Legislature of Kansas praying for admission
into the Union, spoke 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 l have already anticipated the argu-
ments of this conclusion.
In coming forward among the political astrol-
ogers it shall be an error of judgment, and not
of disposition if my il depreciation of the fe-
verish dreams which are disturbing the country
shall tend to foment, rather than to allay, the
national excitement. l shall say nothing un-
necessarily of persons, because in our system,
the public welfare and happiness depend chiefly
on institutions, and very little on men. ] shall
allude but briefly to incidental topics, because
they are ephemera and because, even in the
midst of appeals to passion and prejudice, it is
always safe to submit solid truth to the deliber-
ate consideration of an honest and enlightened
people.
1t will be an overflowing source of shame, as
well as of sorrow, if we, thirty millons--Euro-
peans by extraction, Americans by birth or dis
cipine and Christians in faith, and meaning to
dcnce with humanity, in our conduct concerning
the one disturbing subject 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 Cau-
casian, American, Malay, or African, he is the
subject of two 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 completely extin-
guishes this difference of opinion, for there are
always some defenders of slavery outside even
if there are none inside Free State while, also,
there are always outside, il there are not inside
of every Slave State, many who assert with
MILTON, that mo man who knows aught can be
so stupid to deny that all men naturally were
born free, being the image and resemblance of
God himself, and were by privilege above all
the creatures, born to command and not to
obey 1t often, perhaps generally happens,
however. tIat IN considering The subject OF slav-
cry, society seems to overlook the natural right
or personal interest of the slave himself and to
act exclusively for the welfarS of the citizen
But this fact does not materially affect ultimate
results, for the elementary question of the right
fulness or wrongfuness OF slavery inhcres in
every form that discussion concerning it as
sumes. What is just to one class of men can
never be injurious to any other; and what is
unjust to any condition of persons in State
is necessarily injurious in some degree to the
whole community. An economical question
early arises out of the subject of slavery-labor
either of frcemen or of slaves is the cardinal
necessity of society. Some States choose the
one kind, some the other. Hence two ilunici-
pal systems widely different arise. The slave
State strikes down and affects to extinguish the
personality OF the laborer, not only as mem
Der of the political body but also as patent
husband, child, neighbor or friend. He thus
becomes, in a political view, merely property
without moral capacity and without domestic
moral, and social relations, duties, rights. and
remedies-a chattel, an object of bargain, sale
gift Inheritance, or theft. His earnings arr
compensated and his wrongs atoned, not tc
himself, but TO his owner. The State
protects not the slave as man, blI the capita
Of another man, which he represents. On the
other hand, the State which rejects slavery en-
courages and animates- and inyigorates the la
borer, by maintaining and developing his natu
raj personality in all the rights and faculties o
manhood, and generally with the privileges o
citizenship. In the one case, capital invested
in slaves becomes a great political force, whil'
in the other labor thus elevated and enfran
chiscd, becomes the dominating political power
1t thus happens that we may, for convenience
sake and not inaccurately, call slave States cap
ital States, and free States labor States.
So soon as a State feels the impulses of com
merce or enterprise, or ambition, its citizen
begin to study the effects of these systems o
capital and labor respectively on its intelligence
its virtue, its tranquility, its integrity or unity
its defence, its prosperity, its liberty, its happi
ness its aggrandizemcnt, and its fame. In 9th
er words, the great question arises whethe
~ II .
a moral social, and political evil. This is TIL
3 slavery question at home. But there is mu
tual bond of amty and brotherhood betweel
man and man throughout the world Nation
5 examine freely the political systems of eac
E other, and of all preceding times, and accord
ingly as they approve or disapprove of the tw
systems of capital and labor respectively, the
r sanction and prosecute, or condemn and prohi
bit commerce in men. Thus, in one way or an
other, the slavery question which so man
g among us, who are more willing to rule tina
d patient in studying the conditions of societ,
think is merely accidental or unnecessar
question that might and ought to be settled am
dismissed at once, is, on the contrary, world
wide and enduring subject of political consd
Grafton and civil administration. Men, State,
and nations entertain it, not voluntarily, bu
r because the progress of society continual
.
!, not perversely, but because, owing to difierenc
= of constitution, condition or circumstances, the
cannot agree
l. The Fathers of the Republic encountered i
r They even adjusted it so that It might hay
$ given us much less than our present Dispute
: had not circumstances afterward occurred whc
they, wise as they were, had not clearly fore
\ seen. Although they had inherited, yet the
, generally condemned, the practice of slaver.
p and hoped for its dscontinuance They e'
J pressed this when they asserted in the Declare
= ton of Independence, as fundamental prime
pie of American society," that all men are crea
- ed equal, and have inalienabe rights TO lif
:. liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Fac
State, however, reserved to itself exclusive pc
: litical power over the subject of slavery, With
|, its own borders. Nevertheless, it unayoidab
> presented itself in their consultations on bon
- of Federal Union. The new government WI
!, +o ba n ranrnsantntivp one Slaves were can