The Portland daily press., 1864-06-01

and liberality among their oplressors, or a
least by his discriminating thunder, may mani
fest to the wor ID that they ars not left to the
guidance of Ind fatuity.''
y Mr.. President, the exterminating thunder has
eomel The accumulated wrongs which this
people have heaped upon an unfortunate race
brought it down from high Heaven, and it has
blasted this accursed system in Louisiana, as il
has blasted il throughout the whole land. Cap
plause.)
Now,I propose to let Mr.. Abel answer Mr..
Abel, byrekrring TO different portions of his
speech. | will put the gentleman from the
Fifth District against the gentleman from the
Fifth District and | think it Is better so than to
answer him myself.
He tells us with great deal Of flourish that
the nature of the negro is idleness, that he will
not work unless compelled TO under the lash of
the driver In the next breath he tel6 US he
believes If these same lazy, idle, good-for-noth-
ing, vagabond negroes are set free, they will
come in competition with the white laborers,
who will stand no chance at ALL There IS Mr..
Abel against MIR. Abel. daughter and APP
plause.1 isss
In the same strain he boasted that the Ameri-
can people, being mixture of all the blood of
+ the world, was the greatest, the most powerful,
civilized, and altogether the smartest race ever
existing on the face of the earth. He boasted
we had whipped England: two or three times,
/ and that we could thrash France, and were
never whipped ourselves and never could be in
/ the nature Of things. The next moment he says,
I if the slaves are freed in Louisiana they will
I rise up and Undue their hands in the blood of
his posterity Though not at all afraid of Eng
I land, France or any white nation, he Is much
afraid Of the negroes
Another instance of the gentleman answering
I himself is where he says the whites never would
labor for SO small pay as the negroes. Then he
asks what we are going to do with the negroes
If we set them free. | think he gave 4 good
n. ,.uba ha
would work for less wages than the white
man.
He says again the negroes are perfectly miser-
able are in most degraded condition-cn-
tirely incapable of taking care of themselves,
when he states that slavery Is ciyllizing and
eleyating institution. Now | want to know
how many centuries it takes to elevate a
race so that it is capable of taking care Of it
self
This institution which the gentleman would
have us believe il SO benignant and elevating to
the blacks, has been in existence in Louisiana
from the earliest period of her history down to
the moment of rebellion, and yet, according to
the same gentleman, to-day this race has be-
come SO degraded that it is utterly unable to
take care of itself
Another instance of this logic. He says the
bone and sinew of the country would be driven
out of the State by the emancipation of the
slaves. In the next breath almost, he tells us
negroes, OfUduiLeu eiaNtfN Will W0rk
great deal better than il they are free. Now,
then, if the negroes are going to work more in
slavery than when they are free, | wish to know
how freeing them is to drive the white laboring
man out of Louisiana? Ii the negro will not
work when free, and will work as q slave, |
think the white man has less chance of employ
ment under system of slavery
The gentleman, in the course of his remarks,
has seen fit to speak of the people of Louisiana
under the Presidential and military authority as
an oppressed" people. If the people of Louis
lana are oppressed, as the gentleman would have
us believe, L wish him to tell us by whom we are
oppressedg He seems to forget that three years
ago the rebellion was forced upon the country
BY the slayeholding oligarchy; that Louisiana
was IN the full enjoyment OF commercial and
agricultural prosperity, and that under the pro-
tecting agis of the Union, her shareholders
were in secure possession OF their slaves; that
it was the rebellion that interrupted this pros
perity, destroyed slavery and plunged the State
into the condition in which we now find her. /
would like TO have him point out in what man.
ner the military authorities have ever oppressed
the people of Louisiana-to point out 10 US how
this Convention would have been called together
but for these very authorities.
Mr.. President, 4 could but feel as | have lis
tened to this discussion, that see here at last
some of the fruits of the efforts of our noble
soldiers who have fallen in the battlefield for
their country. Let me ask the gentleman if |
had stood upon this floor, or any other in Louis
lana, three years ago, and said what | have
said to-day, what course would have been pur-
sued by this slayeholding oligarchy he stands
up here TO defend The halter, sir, was the
penalty for free speech in Louisiana then. Does
not the gentleman know that intellectual bond
age is inseparably connected with slavery every
where Does he not know that as the most
gross and loathsome productions of nature
flourish only in her darkest recesses, So the
loaf opd btdaof4 institution sAfs ali
can grow only where tho light of civilization and
free speech are carefully excluded? lie knows
that before the Federal flag came up the river
on the flagship of that gallant old tar, Farra-
gut, to stand up in this hall and speak as have
spoken and as others have spoken, would have
been met with the penalty Of instant death.
Talk to us of oppression Let him 60 back and
read the antais OF slavery, and see hsw
murders haze haass sccrufnTtteu III It's behalf and
under rs shield. There is no crime against free
speech, free conscience, free opinion, that has
not been perpetrated in behalf of this system;
and yet the gentleman stands up and calls the
people OF Louisiana oppressed How many
rights would heenjoy if the Federal flag were
not here
lie has told us he thought civil government
in Louisiana would be detrimental to the people.
ask the gentleman why he is herey III the
interests OF the people are opposed to this Con-
vention, why did be come here II the Federal
flag was to be displaced by that bastard banner,
the flag of the Confederacy, the gentleman
might escape the halter for having 50 ably de-
Tended the rebellion here, but even that might
not be sufficient to save his neck.
MIR. Abell---I call the gentleman 70 order.
Mr.. Hlls-I assert that the gentleman for
three days has defended the rebellion ON this
floor. tApplause.)
Mr.. Abeli again called Mr.. Hills to order.
The Chair decided that the speaker was in or
der, and MIR. Abel appealed from the decision
Of the Chair. The Chair was sustained by the
Convention.
Nj Hills-I trust the interruption will not
be deducted from my half hour. | asserted
with full knowledge of the meaning of my
words, that for three days the gentleman has
defended the rebellion on this floor. | will now
explain what meant ] say that any man who
stands up and defends slavery defends the re-
bellion, for they are synonymous terms at this
moment. (Applause.D The gentleman has
taken, | suppose, the ''ironclad'' oath Of the
President IL so, he has sworn allegiance and
obedience to the proclamation of the President,
and to all the laws of Congress framed on this
subject. The rebellion is the legitimate child of
slavery. Slavery was sure to bring on rebel
lion in this country, and the wisest men in the
land foresaw it years ago. The prophetic words
OF Jefferson, which repeated, foreshadowed il.
The trainers of our Constitution did not believe
that il would long remain IN existence in the
United States, and carefully ayoided all direct
allusion 10 il in the Constitution, because they
regarded it as q disgrace and system that
ought to be and would be abolished.
Ii the gentleman VIII take the trouble TO ex-
anime the debates on the adoption of the Con-
stitntion, he will find that such is the fact All
the wise men who helped to frame that Constitu-
ton believed that slavery was an evil, and
would speedily die out.
He has mentioned some illustrious names.
Let me ask him il he knows the opinion of Ben
jamin Franklin on the subject. | beg to remind
him he was the President Of the first Abolition
society eyer;organizcd in the United States. Does
he know the opinion Of Judge Jay? Can he
bring forward in the annals of our country the
nnine of one nreat man of the Revolutionary