The Portland daily press., 1862-11-06

| little may be done to secure its empire. The
| Declaration of American Independence set
out with the affirmation that "all men are Gre
ated equal and endowed by their Creator with
certain inalienabe rights, among which are
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"
In Mr., Jefferson's draft of the Declaration,
the words inherent and" preceded the words
'inalienable rights" but the instrument as f.
nally adopted left them ont 1t pronounced
the. endowed rights to be certainly of divine
origin and incapable of alienation. / am con-
tent with this, because, if liberty be the gift of
God, 1t is an Inherent right in man, and its in
alienabity is necessary corollary CHEERS
In the short space of twelve years after this
grand charter had been given TO the world
and while yet Inscriptions of praise and thanks
for it were rising from the hearts and lips of
universal manhood-while men were folding
the writing among the leaves of their Bibles
the same people on whose behalf the Declara-
ton was made, and five of the same persons
who to its support pledged their lives, their
fortunes and their sacred honor, adopted and
subscribed the Constitution OF 1887, the fourth
section of which doomed to helpless, hopeless
servitude, 100000 human beings, and their
wretched increase to all time. From that hour
forward the dragon teeth of slavery multiplied
themselves, and spread into all the land and
as its last and legitimate fruit, comes this war
and bloodshed which now desolate our once
peaceful and prosperous land.
1t could not be otherwise. Effects follow
their causes as certainly as night the day, or
the seasons their course. The law of colnpen-
sation adjusts itself to every condition of man,
and each violation of truth is followed by
corresponding retribution.
l know sir, the people are impatient of crit
icism when the acts OF our revolutionary faith
ers are under consideration. Veneraton is a
national instinct, and the least return Ameri-
cans can make to their ancestry actuated by
pure motives, Is to accord 10 their conduct an
unqualified honesty of purpose. Veneration,
however, sometimes assumes the form of su-
perstitious reverence, and blights progress by
foreclosng inquiry. Respect for the past is
very well in its place and degree, and while
yield to no man living in affection and respect
for the founders of this Government, cannot
resign TO this feeling the exercise of my reason,
the convictions of my intelligence, or the .eacll-
ings ofmy conscience. prolonged applausel
Duty is boder than theory, more confident
than the understanding, older and more inn
peratiye than speculative science, existing
from eternity and recognized in its binding
force from the morning of creation.
am entirely persuaded that in forming the
Constitution, if the friends and advocates of
free institutions had restlessly met and formal
ly denied the claims of the pro-slavery LEADERS,
of that day. South Carolina would not only
have joined the Union, but would not have
enacted the notification ordinance OF 1882, or
assailed Fort Sumter in 1851.
A recognition of mans right to hold his fel-
low man in servile bondage,t to make merchan-.
disc OF human blood and bone to violate every
principle of justice, to make the Declaration
of Independence thinking symbol" and the
nation scorn-is the source of the attack
made in the constitution itself by the slave OIL
isarchists of our day. and their conduct illus
trates the theory that the laws of compensa-
ton and retribution are increasingly in opera
ton. d. not attack the intentions of men
who compromise the wrong. but, sir, do i'm
peach the act ITSELF Loud cheers.
A great master of the English language
says, Il care not with what principles the pat
riot is convicted if the measures he supports
are beneficial TO the community. The nation
is interested in his conduct. His motires are
his own"
The civil strife in which our country is in
volved, and whi h has eliminated in horrid
and lratracidal war, establishes the fact that
neither individual nor national prosperity can
permanently exist, if principle be deposed by
selfishness and conscience be trampled on and
defed by injustice.
1t is for these reasons, and reasons akin to
these, that lately declared and now repeat, /
am in favor Of a new Constitution as soon as
we can constitutionally procure it--(applausel
l want Constitution which shall be a palla-
dium Of liberty, not network with which to
entangle freedom; which shall maintain the
rights of every human being to life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness-(applausel Ito
which an American the world over may refer
with pride: which will make tyranny tremble
in its sinew and marrow, and in which invol-
untary servitude will not be recognized or
contemplated, except as a punishment for
crime In ptbar ,ans stifutinn Ia mot thx,
the genius or sufficient to answer the in-
stincts of a free, enlightened and Christian
people. tApplausel
an sure that if the men who contrived the
fundamental law under which our Government
has exercised its attributes for seventy-fiye
years, could have anticipated what was to grow
out OF the concession they made TO an unjust
and cruel system, the Constitution in its pres
ent shape would never have been ratified or
approved.
The fathers regarded the gradual abolition
Of slavery as necessary element in the fr-
ture or the Republic; and in this faith, and in
| the belief that they thereby secured the bless
ings of liberty to themselves and posterity, Or
dained an instrument which they otherwise
would have spurned and rejected.
l pass from these views of remote period
and transaction fin our history, to a considera-
ton of the present circumstances of the ma
ton. "The purple testament of bleeding war;
has been opened upon us. In the midst OF an
unexampled career of prosperity all the in
dustrial and peaceful arts have been rudely
checked by the red hand of blood The busy
click of machinery, the hum OF the manufac-
tory, the rumbling of the produce-laden Wheel
tile figures of the counting-house, the business
of the merchant and professional man, have all
vanished before the heavy tread of armed
men. Civilians have become soldiers, farm
yards are converted into battle-fields, and
churches turned into hospitals Stawart men
are manned and mangled; ghastly wounds
make OF life one great suffering; and widow
hood and orphanage fill the land with cease
less lamentation.
In such condition OF the public affairs men
must attach themselves to one side or the 9TH
er. There is here no room for neutrality. and
only an idiot can be Indifferent The appeal
is to each of us as individuals to you and
me, and every man. How will you answer it
For myself. my resolution was long since TAX
| en-, and remains only unchanged as it is strong
er | believe it to be my plain duty to support
| the Government, and those who administer it,
| by every means in my power, and at any cost
of treasure or blood. What / do, would in
fiuence others to do; what believe to be
truth would have others accept lortruth. In
this crisis | would not embarrass the admins
| tration by drawing nice or labored distinc-
! tions between opposing theories, or by the
! public or private discussion of questions
| which relate to time of tranquility and
| peace. l would forget that / ever made a
partisan speech, or voted a party ticket.
would know nothing among men but my coun-
/ x.at,1l Anf.