Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1862-02-05
EPERnH AF non. A. g. RIDDLE,

The House halnG IN oonmittse Of The
Whols ana having under eOaIidsration The
bln for making appropriation for the support |
oiths Military Academy for tAe ensuing year,
Nr. Riddlssaids 80
NJ. RIDDLE. Mr. Chairman, trust the
will not think, from my effort TO
set she hoor that supposed ! had any
thing Of IpeclAl value 70 say in lie presence,
The lime beyond which the House refuses 10
permit itnalf 10 be bored will preclude my
Offering any remarks in reply to any Of the
Featl ~ Who have preceded me, and Rom
whom dslfer. Il shall succeed, however
ind iHerenuy, In getting few Of my own
Grade n6tionH before this body, shall have
aooan he'd ell can hope for on this occa-
aon.
The one great Question which today pre-
ssuts io1 1olptIon 10 the people Of this coun-
try, q the disposition Of the African race
anona u1. And 70 near does this question
lie % the nalion's life and 20 intertwisted is Il
with ih vital 6boT, that the prosperity, per-
haps tho existence, of the country itself de-
pends upon its true solution. do not like
this QUESTION; never did. ] wish Il was
not heEe, nor anywhere; but il is upon Us,
ana ao may not svoia it; We cannot escape
it. II is upon and tn and about everythingi
mixed with everything or, rather, It has
itself become everything. We need not stop
70 complain Of il, nor blame anybody for h.
We nay be indignant that it 90 blocks up
The WaY Of the nation, and prevents the de-
velopment Of our own proud and beautiful
race. We may say the negro is not worth
ali this clamoT, or any part Of it. That does
not get rid Of him. Andyou are TO remem-
ber be did not bring himself and this war
Il here, Negroes never emigrste. he was
stolen and planted here against his wish; and
ont Of the ground which has been cursed
with his alien feet has sprung this internal
Question. A million of armed soldiers are
debating Il. Il is the aTgumentof every red
feld Of conflict. Every morning q million
Of bayonets come pFicking through the dull
cloud of night, TO cross and clash over it. Il
must be solved and settled. Itmust be talk
ca about; ell that everybody knows Of, or
can think it about, had better sIsightwsy be
said-said as we'll as men can say it; with
good intent, and for good purpose. Let rs
Sc It in all its lights in which it can be ex-
hibited, and find, if may be, way out of it.
The WomAn-tAced, lion-bodied Memphisn
Sphynx propounded riddle to the passers
BY, and those who failed to read it Alright
were put to death. To-day, like the SphynI,
propounds to Us this question, and If we do
not answer rightly we shall also perish. And
those who would postpone this weightiest
matter ought TO remember that the sword is
already suspended over it, and q downward
sweep will settle it forever.
In addressing myself to this grave matter,
propose, at the hazard of traversing com
mon ground, to say few things purely ele-
mentary concerning slavery, and of the po-
litical relations of slaves to the Government,
the power of Congress over them, and the
policy and no policy of dealing with them in
this emergency.
Slavery is war Wsged by the master and his
allies against the slave and his allies. The
African savage overcoming his enemy con.
tinues the war against him, and in its pro-
eress be transfers him to the foreign slave
dealer, who thereby succeeds exactly to this
right by conquest In due process the slave
merchant transfers his vsnquished enemy TO
the christian planter, who is thus subrOgsted
70 the rights Of the conquering savage on the
African sands: and shod, according 10 the
later theology, "With the preparation of the
Gospel of pesce," be places his feet il the
malformed tracks Of the heather, and taking
bis knOtted war club, be carries forward the
coWardly contest against the subdued wretch
and his posterity forever, With the right, no
other and no better, than thus derived from
the first conqueTor. Oargoes of these subdued
4 and bound RneIRisa Ware, hundreds of yeaTS
| 900, brought and deposited in the nebnlous
matter ont Of which was to be formed a new
State; dropped in while il was in the milk,
90 to speak, and hardened and solidihed and
took the form Of civil pOlity with this thing
mixed In its germinal elements, and growing
up in and with the States life.
| 's1o,,.-,v haiao uzo--a ausJ maintain ltself
" Ine Constant exercise of the active princi-
pies of War-aggression and conquest. 1t
eonquers earth on which to plant ITSELF and
sky 70 shelter it. It deeomposes and recon
stFucts the very atmosphere, 30 as TO impart
life and yigor TO its lungs, and makes con-
quest Of the sentiment about It to procure
| immunity and liberation, if not support. In
! pursuit Of its career it says to the aspiring
and needy, nAid me in this war, give me the
elements earth, sky, air, and strength
and my strength shall be yours" And 20
men bowed down TO it, and it grew; and all
the men Of the State bowed to it. and the
State made laws for it, and so made itselfthe
ally of the master in his war against the
slsve; and other States grew up, formed like
that first State, and allies Of the master in
this war; and still other States, not having
the body Of slavery in them, but enacting
laws subjecting slaves and their Kindred and
descendants to great disabilities, and thus to
that extent making themselves the allies of
the master in his war against these his help
less enemies.
So, too, when all these States assembled
to construct their fundamental national law
and in contemplation of law, all, old and
new, were 90 pTesent-it was In terms therein
set down that 30 long as this war in any
State should continue, the masters enemy
should, for the purpose of the war, be con-
Rned 70 the limits of that State, and if he
broke out the master might pursue him any
where and recapture and return him to the
old battle ground and 90 the nation became
a party to this war against the slave So,
too, every enactment aiding the master was
but treaty offensive and defensive against
the slave. know II has been srgued and
urged and believed, too, that the tree States
are in no way responsible for the existence
Of slavery in the slave States. The Con-
sdtution Of the United States, and the slave
code said 10 be enacted pursuant to its pro-
Visions, and ell the various acts of the sever
al States imposing disabilities upon this race,
are an Infamous refutation Of this claim, and
furnish the exact measure of that responsi.
bility.
The aggressions Of slavery continued un-
I'll, in the nation Is in the State, it has de-
bsuched the public morals, enchsined the
church, and overcome the national con-
science. Inssd not pursue this further. u
timstely, when the people arose to limit the
further conquests Of this war, and overthrow
It in a political contest this slavery, in obe-
diencs to the law of its lie, and pursuant to
the conclusions Of its own logic, appealed to