Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1864-11-02
SPEECH OF
Hon. jeremiah S. Black.
At the Hall of the Keystone Club, In
Philadelphia, October "a, 1864.

The following is the concluding remarks
of Judge Blacks great speech:
1t is perfectly manifest that the priDci-
plies and measures of the Abolitionist are,
and must of necessity be, Incompatible
with the safety of government like ours.
They put it TO a work which it was not
intended tor, and which it cannot do with
out destroying itself. If you have
threshing machine and place it under the
charge of man who uses it as break er
Of anthracite coal. it must infallibly fly to
pieces. So the operations of your political
system must be confined TO the purposes
designed by It's trainers, or else you must
take the inevitable consequence of break
ing it up. The more exquisitcly the seve-
raj parts of it are adapted to its one legiti-
mate purpose, the more certain it Is to be
utterly ruined by applying it to another.
Nor does 1t make any difference whether
the new object proposed be in itself good
or bad. Indeed, any government, how
ever constituted, is perfectly sure to wreck
those laws which are the essential parts of
its structure, wherever it attempts to work
out the object of some So higher law"
which does not properly belong to it.
ali the pages Of history are covered
with lessons which teach them this truth
During the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries the rulers of Europe took it into
their heads that the great paramount in
terest which they must look after was the
spiritual welfare of the people; their
temporal prosperity was nothing compared
10 their eternal salvation. They resolved,
therefore, to introduce into their govern
ment the Higher Law of true religion
But what came OF it, The Higher Law
trampled down all other laws, and tore the
whole framework of society into trag-
mcnts. Rebellion, insurrection and civil
war became the universal fasIiion-mi-
lions were slaughtered France was con-
vulScd Germany was laid waste and al
most drpopulated the city of Prague,
which began the thirty years war with
two hundred thousand inhabitants, closed
il with less than four hundred human be-
ings inside Of her walls All the land in
Ireland was confiscated four times over,
and for ages together generation after gene
ration OF her best and bravest men were
ruthlessly murdered.
England offered no terms of peace ex-
cept upon the abandonment of the Catho-
lie faith, which the Higher Law pronoun-
ced 10 be false. But though Ireland was
many times conquered was trampIed
down again and again, suhjngation brought
no peace it WAS only civil war gone 10
seed. Peace and security, AMI justice
and order never came back until England
slowly opened her eyes to the truth, and
Acknowledged that the whole doctrine Of
the Higher Law was great, unmitiSated,
monstrous, bloody lie.
We have had some experience with this
same kind of Higher Law in our own
country. Ten or twelve years ago certain
Yankee politicians, and their humble imi-
tators in other parts of the Union, form
ing together very powerful party, pro-
posed the practical disfranchisement of
Catholics and foreign-born citizens In
place Of the Constitution they wanted the
Higher Law of Protestant and exclu-
sivefy native domination. New England
pretended to be in an agony of terror, lest
the Pope and the Catholic church would
Der of the Massachusetts Legislature but
one, was sworn in secret to support the
Higher Law lying priesthood bounded
on the ignorant crowd, just as they are
doing now churches were burned nun
neries were assaulted; Catholics were
driven from the polls and run through
with pitchforks If that party had got
hold of the Federal Government, as it
seemed at one time very likely to do, and
put its Higher Law in full operation, civil
war would have been as certain as it is
now.
You can easily conceive how other ap-
plications of the principle would work IN
any given case. For instance: The mu-
nicipal law of all our States has the pro-
lection of private property for one of its
great objects; it allows the rich man to
keep what he has, and poverty is forced
to be content with its "loop'd and win
dowed raggedness." But the Higher Law
of Christian charity commands the rich
to divide with the poor. 1t is, besides,
great public evil, unjust and unnatural,
that one person should be compelled to
struggle for the bare necessaries of life,
while another, no better than he, is rolling
in the luxuries of superfuous wealth. But
suppose we were visited by an act Of Con-
vy~,~ -,