Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-02-02

slavery. rf r-rs
But revolutions seldom 80 backward and
this one Is fast getting beyond the control o
It's anthers Undoubtedly, D large majority
Of these men only intended 20 play the ole
and ott-repeated game by which, heretofore
they had always been successful; which ha.
been, hrsts to create panic ia al the slave
States, by the most uniounded statements
and inAammstory appeals; and when the
"orisis' had reached the eliminating point
boldly threaten the disruption and desiruc-
ton Of the Government, unless new conces-
sions were made by the North; and the con-
eession they were to dem md this time IS a
condition for remaining in the Union was,
not o new compromise that might be repeal
ed, as they had repealed the old Missouri
Compromise; but a so-called compromise
that should, indeed, this time, be q FINAL
ia" BY making slavery constitutional and
! perpetual. 'AA
This play, however, has had It's run. The
people ot the free States have seen behind the
curtain, and begin 20 comprehend the man
ner in which these periodical crises are got
ten up. They have not forgotten the manu-
iactured crisis of ls50-nor forgiven the
northern men who pretended that that sham
was a reality. They have not forgotten
that many of their faithless Representatives
1 surrendered the rights and interestan honor
Of the North, at the bidding OF & few slave
i masters. And why did these northern Repre-
sentatives then surrender2 To save the
! Union, they answer. Southern men threat
/ ened then, rs now, the dissolution of the
! Union and the destruction of the Govern
/ ment unless their demands were complied
| with. And to save any trouble, these accom-
! modating Representatives, at the bidding of
/ a few northern men. yielded.
| Did that " FINALITY,p as it was called, settle
the question Not at all. Hardly had these
j pretended northern patriots time TO take a
breathing spell, lin the retirement from the
cares Of public life which the people imme-
| 1iately permitted most of them to enjoy, be-
fore it was broken up by the new and afinal
! adjustment" of 1854. Upon what pretext
I was this demand for a compromise, that
should be "final, made in 1902 The pre-
! text Of equality in the Territories The free
men of Oalif0rnia--as they had the right to
| ao-bad made California free State. This
was mortal ofienss to the slave interest; be-
cause, by this action of the miners of Cali
fornia, the slave propaglndists lost the golden
prize upon which they had set their hearts,
and for which they had involved this nation
in an unconstitutional war. And because of
the action of the free laboring men of Cali
fornia, in prohibiting slavery in that State,
these men would not admit her into the
Union, unless all the remaining territory
wrested from Mexico should be given up to
slavery.
Sir, when the impartial historian comes to
write the history of the compromise schemes
Of 1850, and the war made by the act of tine |
Executive of this powerful nation against the |
weak Republic OF Mexico, for the sole pur- |
pose of extending the institution of slavery |
over the free and virgin soil of Utah, New |
Mexico, and California, he will be compelled |
to class these acts as among the darkest crimes |
of which this nation was ever guilty and /
the compromisers from the free States as
morally guiltier than those who precipitated
US into that unjust war.
When the old Wing party authoritatiyely |
Endorsed, in their national convention, these
compromise measures, its death was inevita-
bic. This old party,so formidable and manly,
when the ally Of freedom, Immediately became
weak, sickly, and powerless, when it became
the ally of slavery, and died-died as the SO
called Democratic party had Just died, because
also false to freedom; and as the Republican
party viii die, and as it ought to die, if it ever
agrees to ingraft into the Constitution a
clause recognizing property in man. If it
should do this thing nothing can or ought to
save it; neither the talents of its most distin-
guished leaders, their prospective promotion,
or Redistribution Of the patronage Of the Fed
eral Government. If all these combine dcould
have saved any party, the Whig party could
have been saved. But they could not. And
as l now look back, over the long list OF
names which once made that party illustrious
in the history of my country, l feel almost
startled at the thought, that men so great, so
venerated by the people of the United States,
could, by the allurements and Establishments
Of the slave power, have been so far overcome
as to betray the cherished principles of their
lives; and the hopes of the people who in /
trusted them with power. But such was the
fate of most Of the leaders of the organize
ton Of which am speaking. One after an
other deserted, until, at last the eyes of the
nation were fixed upon one, whose unsuTpass-
ed ability and great name had, in almost
every crisis through which The country had
passed, been the hope and reliance of the lib
masses. And when, alas be toe
fell, black pail, as Of midnight darkness
spread over the political horizon, and many
earnest and true men gave up in despair.
1t may be- sir, that with Others, / have
placed too great an estimate upon this extra
ordinary man, who has done so much as a
statesman and orator TO give our country
fame and position among the nations Of the
earth; who has done so much for freedom;
and so much, alasl for slavery; whose fall
will ever be regretted by the good and great,
and whose fatal step should be a perpetual
warning to all who shall come after rim {
Sir, it would seem as if by the rock-beaten
shore OF his own beloved Massachusetts, in
whose bosom be is laid down to rest, there
must come up forever from old ocean sor-
rowing response to the sad hearts Of the peo-
pie of Massachusetts for his fall. "Vanity of i,
vanities; all IS vanity, saith the Preacher.
The weakness and nOthingness Of human
greatness never, in all the history Of the past.
shown out more conspicuously than when t
this great light went out, overshadowed as it
was by the dark cloud of slavery. From the
hour he abandoned the principles of freedom
and the will Of the people of Massachusetts
be felt that he was dying, and he hurriedly i
bade adieu to this Capitol, to the scenes of | :
his wonderful triumphs and former glory, | =
and to the dying organization which had
been once his life and his death, and passing {
ing away with It, both were entombed to
gether and there the party, and he who was {
its brightest ornament and most distinguished
leader, will ever remain-the party TO be re-
membered in history only for its greatness
and folly, its timidity and its wrongs its
greatness-in that it had as its leaders the 3
brightest intellects of the land, and in its
ranks the mass of intelligence; its folly-in
that Sit subordinated human rights to a I
financial policy calculated to benefit the few
rather than guard the interest of the many;
its timidity-in that it never could lead, but
was ever on the defensive, pleading for case
and quiet its wrongs in that It gave the
sanction Of its organization to the most Of
fensive demands Of the slave power when it :
indorsed the fatal compromise of 1850.
Mr.. Chairman, there was no more necessity
for the political excitement which preceded