The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1861-02-28

Congressman 1 will be frank, sir, il
saying that / have not expected that il
the ninety days which are allowed K
this term of Cofigress=this great con
troversy would certainly be adjusted
peace restored and the Union firmly
established.
/ know, sir, that these sixty day.
or ninety days were fixed for definite
objects and purposes, by that portion
of my fellow citizens who have thought
it would consult the interests of the
State to which they belonged, to dis
sever the Union. 1 would not have
expected that reason and judgment
would come back to the people and be
come so peryading, so universal in thai
time, as that they would appreciate the
danger and be able to agree on the
remedies. Still / have been willing
that it should be tried, though unsuc
cessful. But my confidence have re-
NAMED the same, for the simple reason
that as l have not believed that the
passion and frenzy Of the hour could
overturn this great fabric of constitu.
tional liberty, this empire, in ninety
days; so / have felt that there would
be time, even after the expiration OF
the ninety days, for the restoration OF
all that has been lost, and for the re-
establishment of all that was in danger.
A great many and very various in
terests and elements were brought into
conflict by this sudden crisis. There
were great many personal ambitions
and great many sectional ambitions
and great many sectional interests /;
and it would be strange if they would
all be accommodated, arranged and
made harmonious, so as to admit and
give full effecrto one of the profound
est, strongest and most enduring senti-
ments or passions for the United States
that of devotion to the Union. These,
whether you call Them secession or rev.
olution on the one side, or coercion OF
defiance on the other, are all to subside
and pass away before the Union is to
become the grand absorbing object of
interests, affection and duty upon the
part of the citizens of the United States.
A great many partizan interests are
to be suppressed, such as the partizan
interests expressed by the Charleston
Platform, the Baltimore Platform, and
the Chicago Platform. If the Union
is in danger and is to be saved, these
interests, and these platforms, and eve-
ry body standing on them, or connec-
ted with them, are to pass away before
the Union can be saved. But it will
require very short time, if the Union
is i'll danger and does require to be
saved, for all these platforms and these
men to disappear. You and every
body who shall oppose. resist, or stand
in the way of the preservation of this
Union, twill appear as the moths on a
summer eve when the whirlwind of
popular Indignation arises that shall be
excited at the full discovery that the
Union is endangered. -
| have hope and confidence that this
is to come around Just as / have said,
and quite soon enough, because / per-
ceive that although we may shut our
eyes to it, that the country and man.
kind can't shut their eyes to the true
nature of this crisis. There has been
question of Slavery in the Territories
of a real, vital nature, in this covn-
try for twelve years. 1t was the
strongest in its development jim 1850,
when all the Pacific coast, and all the
territory intervening between it and
the Louisiana Purchase, was the pur-
pose of organizing it into free and in
dependent republican Governments, as
basis of future States.
1t has been an earnest, and / regret
to say, an angry controversy, but the
admission of Kansas into the Union
yesterday, settled at least all that was
vital or important in the question, leav-
ing behind nothing but the passions
which the contest had engendered.
Kansas is in the Union, California and
Oregon are il. the Union, and now the
same contest divides and distracts this
Union for freedom and slavery in the
Territories of the United States, just
as before.
What is the extent of the Terrific
ries which remain after the admission
of Minnesota, Oregon, California and
Kansas? Ore million sixty-three thou
sand and five hundred square miles
an area tw enty four times that of the
State of New York, the largest of the
old and fully developed States. Twen-
ty-four such States as that of New
York are yet to be. organized within
the remaining Territories of the United
States. Now, under what is accepted
by the Administration as a judicial de.
cree, upheld by it, and put in practical
operation by it, every inch of that Ter
ritory is slave Territory.
l speak of that decision, not as / ae-
cept it, but as it is accepted and en-
forced by the existing Administration.
Every foot of it is slave Territory as
much as South Carolina. Over a con-
siderable portion Oft the slave code has
been made by a Government created
by the Congress of the United States,
and is enforced, SO that according to
the claims of those who insist upon
their right in the Territory of Inc Uni
ted States Tor slavery, the whole of
this one million, sixtythree thousand
miles is slave Territory. How many
slaves are there in it? How many