Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1864-03-02

basis on which the eiectlon Is Daseu Inc
mass of the people are entirely satisfied,
with the speedy organization of the State.
1.-The election will give more general salts
faction than any that has taken place in
twenty years. He speaks of the mass of the
people of Louisiana. OF those rebels who
have left the State OF Louisiana and who are
now in the armies of the confederacy, he does
not speak they are not there; but of the
mass of the people who remain in Louisiana
he says that now at this day they viii be en-
tirely satisfied with the election, and that no
person speaks of the restoration of slavery,
but all satisfied with the organization of
Louisiana upon the free State basis; all ac
cept the fact which is patent 10 all tae world,
that slavery as an institution in that State
has ceased to exist.
know, Mr. President, questions are some
times raised and discussed as to what has
caused the death of slavery. There are
some who maintain in all sincerity that the
proclamation of the President has destroyed
slavery within those States. There are some
who say the abolitionists of the country have
DESTROYED slavery within the States. Some
say the legislation of Congress has destroyed
| slavery in the States, and some say the de-
struction of slavery is the necessary conse-
| quence Of the war, the unavoidable result of
| the occupation of their territory by the ar
mics of the Union. My own opinion is, that
much, perhaps, in producing this result, more
! than all of them put together, the insane
| madness of the pretended friends of slavery
| by declaring war upon this Government in
| the name of Slavery; by waging that war
under the flag of slavery; by drawing the
sword of slavery themselves to plunge it into
the heart of this Republic, they have them
| selves done more than all other things com
| bined to put an end to that Institution forever
| on the American continent.
| God, the Almighty, has suffered the mad
ness of these men to bring on an issue which
| alone could solve the great problem of Amer
| lean slavery.
| The first shot fired at Fort Sumter was the
| death knell of slavery. The issue of 1860 as
| [ have said, was whether slavery should enter
the Territories. BY that act, they, the cham
| pions of slavery, changed the issue. 1t was
| not the party which elected Mr.. Lincoln
| President of the United States. The champi-
ons of slavery brought on this war which Ia
wolves the destruction of slavery within the
| States, not the Republican party. For the
| issue of 1860, whether slavery shall enter the
| Territories, they have forced upon the coun-
| try this other and greater issue, whether lib
| erty and Union shall live or slavery die upon
| the soil of every State of the United States.
| In reply to this often-repeated charge that
the Republican party have changed the issue
and proved false to their pledges, l am pre-
| pared to 90 further and show that, SO far as
| the Institution of slavery is concerned within
| the States, that party never sought to change
their ground nor to interfere with it at all I'M
| til the necessities of the forced it upon
| them. Indeed, sir, if they had not made war
| upon the Government slavery never stood
| stronger nor better defended by State guar
antees, nor so far as this Government is con-
| cerned, by Federal guarantees within the
| States, than it did on the 4th day of March,
| 1861 and if these men had consented to re-
| main within the Union, if they had not made
war upon this Government, there was no pow =
er Or the part of this Government nor ofany
party within the free States in the slightest
degree to affect or destroy the inftitutiOn of
| slavery.
! You know, Mr. President that the fugitive
| slave law, harsh and, l will say, barbarous as
| some of its provisions were, was still law
| upon our statute books and was enforced in
every State of the Union; it was enforced in
/ Massachusetts; it was enforced in New York;
| it was enforced in Ohio; it was enforced in
| Wisconsin; and at the very time when Mr..
| Lincoln was elected President of the United
| States a citizen of Wisconsin was in Jail, i'm
! prisoned for the violation of the fugitive slave
| law, from which, and upon the last day of
Mr.. Buchanan's administration, he was par
doned as an act of grace. These are the
| facts. More, the census report before me
| shows that notwithstanding all the contro-
| versies we had on the subject of the fugitive
| slave law, and its enforcement, from 1850 to
| 1860, there were less per cent escapes OF flu
! gitive slaves than at any former period Of the
| government. l will read a short extract from
! this report:
| SsThe number of slaves who escaped from their
in 1850 is not only much less in proportion
| than in 1850, but greatly reduced numerically
The greatest in crease of escapes appears to have
| Mississippi, Missouri. a.
! while the decrease is most marked in Delaware,
| Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, and Tennessee.
| ''That the complaint of insecurity to slave pro-
perty by the escapekof this class of persons int o
the free States, and heir recovery mpedei, where
by its value has heen iessened is the result OF mis-
| apprehension, is evident not only from the small
! number who have been lost TO the owners, but
from the fact that up to the preser ii the
! Der of escapes has beeh gradually diminishing to
| such an extent that the whole annual loss to the
southern states from this cause bears less proper
| ton to the amount OF capital involved, than the
daily variations which IN ordinary times occur III
the fluctuations of State or Government securities
J in the city of New Y ork alone.
| sSFrom the tables annexed it appears that while
| there escaped from their masters 1,0ll slaves in
1850, or one in each 3,I65 held in bondage,-being
| about one-tnirtieth OF one per cent.-during the
census year ending June /, 1860, out OF S,949, 1857
| slaves there escaped only sos being one of about
| 5000, or at the rate OF one-hftieth of one per
| cent
! / have read this extract for the purpose Of
| showing the statement made to be correct
! that notwithstanding all this pretended oppo-
sit;on to the enforcement of the fugitive slave
J law within the free States, from 1850 to 1860
! the actual escapes of slaves grew less and
| less, that all this pretense of the rebels
that the escape of their slaves was any ex-
ouse for them to plunge this country into civil
! war is without foundation. You know very
| well, sir, that if the champions of slavery and
slave propagand SIN had peaceably submitted
| To the election of Mr.. Lincoln, not the hair
| of the head of slavery within any State could
have been touched BY every pledge which
! he had given, by every pledge of every polit-
zeal party in this country down to his election
ii was always held that the Congress of the
! United States and the Federal Government
! had no power over slavery within the States
in a time of peace; and if the champions of
slavery and slave propagandism had not
, plunged the country in war, had not made
| this impious appeal to arms and 20 the God
| of hosts they could have lived in peace
within all the States and have held the insti-
tuition of slavery under their own laws, ac-
cording to their own WILL for their own dis
A., position, beyond the power of this Govern
ment or of any party in this Government to
| interfere with it in any degree. But they did