The Ohio Democrat. [volume] (Canal Dover, Ohio) 1840-1900, 1863-09-25
THE GREAT SPEECH
i. T HON. WILLIAM Il ALLEN,
.,-, .. Delivered at
70 Hamilton, Butler County, on The lOth
Of September, 1868.
Delivered at

the country was prosperous, and over
every acre Of soil there prevailed law
and order peace and happiness. Up
to that period not the first drop of hu.
man blood had, from the foundation OF
thefgovernment, been shed for political
ofense /; but now the land is desoated
with the most stupendous civil war that
has ever diSGgured the face of our plan,
ct, or cast reproach upon the fraity of
Tour nature. Instead of this old peace,
4 We have this. destructive war; instead Of
the security which this gave, and which
was enjoyed by every citizen, we are now
endangered for no other crime than for
our opinions; to have our houses entered
at midnight by armed men, and our peo.
pie taken off to be tried, not before o
% jury but before military inquisition,
and, for the crime of thinking, condemn
ed to exile. [Great cheers. ] Wherev.
er there is great effect produced, wheth-
er in the world Of politics, morals, or 10
the. world Of matter, there must be cor
responding cause to produce it. What
cause could that be which was powerful
enough to transform this great people
from band of associated brothers into
40 many inyeterate enemies? Was it
because you disagreed with each other
on the questions of the internal policy Of
the Government, snch as the Tariff ques-
tion, the Bank question, or the Distribu.
tion ofthe Proceeds of the Public Lands?
No; that belonged to the class Of qnes.
tions which could be debated and dec.
ded, and acted upon without endangering
the Interests of the country, or without
ip6icting any more evil than the tempo
rary endurance Of an indefinite public
measure. But there was another class
of questions, and these were precisely Of
that class of questions which our fore
fathers foreSaw, and against which they
80 loudly and so repeatedly admonished
us. These were local, sectional ques.
tions; questions calculated to array one
part of the States against another part,
and there happened to be in this country
'one faction which admitted of being used
for the purpose of destroying the Union
through the very instrumentality that
had been anticipated by our forefathers.
No question touching commerce, NO
question touching agriculture or the
mechanical arts, no question which had
any relation whatever TO the bare means
of subsistence or happiness among the
people should be made local question;
no question of this sort could ever be
made sectional question by which the
people of one end of the Union could be
made the enemies of the other end of the
Union. Bot there was one question, one
fact which afforded an opportunity lor
'evil-minded men to produce this mis-.
chief, and this question was
. i.. The Slavery Question.
'a' Now, my friends, l wish to make
some few remarks upon this subject,
which ] wish you all to bear in mind
and think over when you ar upon
your farms and in your workshops. -
First, remember the fact that slavery ex.
listed before our Government; remember
that slavery was no fault of the Amer-
can people. 1t was brought here by
British legislation; it was here when our
thirteen original States were colonies. --.
The fact, then, of slavery existing was
mo fault of our Government-ei either
State or Federal After the revolution,
the States = being bound together only
by temporary association - were all
leagued together, but were totally indie
pendent of each other. When the rev.
olutiohary war was concluded, they were
2 at liberty, if they thought proper, to ex.
q ist side BY side as SO many independent
sosereignties. The revolutionary war
had given them a right OTTO exist. :
@ The Articles Of Confederation which
Sound them together during the war
ceassdqwith the war, and therefore each
State was Independent to act for itself.
All this time slavery existed, The Con.
stitutiou of'the United States was form.
sed,Gbelng nonmore nor less than great
treaty or stipulation between the States
D with regard to- their future gcondGct. ~
When Gthe Constitution was formed,
therefore, nthe fact of slavery existed;
and consequently no act could deprive it
n0fits iifeei When the Constitution was
Gdepted. slavery was recognized in its
. double aspect. ndtwas recognized even
as an article offoreigh commerce, and
eSis6lsm6 stipulation was placed in the
body Of the Constitution that the slave
stthde should not extend-where? Be.
5ohd the adoption of the Constitution
nINotJAt all! But that the African slave.
trade should1not be stopped for twenty
! years. u Marx that 1 For tw nty years
'ofr6m the adoption of the Federai5 Con
ostitution-Aup to j 8OS, the Government
jhavtng gone into operation twelve years
before the conclusion of the last century,
and eight years of this century, thetwen.
ty yearsnwithin which 1t was lawful to
, carry on the slave.trade by importing
I fresh lislaves from Africa, Now, when
Il the Convention put in'this amendment,
limiting the duration Of the AFRICAN
slase!trade, why did they not put in an
o amendment limiting the duration Of sla-
very in the StatesP Because they had
no power to put it there. Laughter, !
But yet lift was sin, then was the time
for the Aboitionists to have prevented
from entering the new Government. ~,
,orujs1 The Garden of Eden.s ~
| Here was the Garden of Eden. -
IAusw Constitution about to be formed,
, they were about to start up new state
Of existence. II slavery was sin, nov
is your time, before the fatal fruit there
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