Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1864-04-16
Speech of Hon. RpvnRpY JOHNSON.


Speech of Hon. REvERDY JOHNSON.
The greatest argument that has yet been
made in favor of the amendment of the |
Federal Constitution so as forever to prohi- |
bit slavery in the United States, and forever
to remove the origin and feeder of the re-
bcllion and the cause of discomfort among
the people, was made in the Senate by Hon.
Revcrdy johnson of Maryland, on Tuesday
of last week. The following sublime extract
coming from patriot who discards all past
theories and opinions, and plants himself
| on the enduring basis of hostility to slavery,
will, no doubt, be read with much interest
"Remembcr, now the question is, Can that
institution which deals with humanity as
property; which claims to slackle the mind
the soul, and the body; which brings to
the level of the brute portion of the race
of man, cease to be within the reach of the
political power of the people of the United
! States, not because it was not at one time
within their power, but because at that time
they did not exert the power9 What says
the preamblel How pregnant with a conclu
sivc answer is the preamble to the PROPOSE
tion that slavery cannot be abolished ! What
does that preamble state to have been the
chief objects that the great and wise and
good men had at heart in recommend
ing the Constitution, with that preamble, to
the adoption of the American people That
Justice might be established that tranquil
ty might be preserved that the common
defence and general welfare might be main
tanned and, last and chief of all, that liber
ty might be secured. Is there no justice in
putting an end to human slavery Is there
no danger to the tranquility of the country
in its existence May it not interfere with
the common defence and general welfare 2
And. above all is it consistent with any no.
ton which the mind of man can conceive of
human liberty The very clause under
which we seek to put an end to the institu-
, ton, the amendatory clause, may have been,
, and, in all probability was, inserted into the
instrument from a conviction that the time
would come when Justice would call SO
: loudly for the extinction of the institution
= that her call could not be obeyed when
q the peace and tranquility OF the land would
demand in thunder tones the destruction OF
the institution as inconsistent with such
: peace and tranquility; and when the scnti-
D ment of the world would become shocked
\ with the existence of u condition OF things
in the only free Government upon the face
! of the globe as far as the white man is con
C cerned, and founded upon principles utter
:, ly inconsistent with any other form of gov
q ernment than government which secure:
freedom; when the sentiment of the wort
would be shocked by the continuing exist
ence Of human bondage, and we shoulC
g become the scoif and scorn of Chrstendom
# 81 am not to be told, Mr.. President, tina
our fathers looked to this race, merely be
cause they differed in color from ourselves
a, ~,
e selves they declared TO be inalcnabe Their
II was not one of them, from the most humble
y intellectually and moraily-if there wer
P any humble in that great body which form
IS ed the Convention that recommended til
VI Constitution of the United States to tn
II adoption of the American people-wh
&c would not have been shocked if he had bee,
told that there was n right TO make slav
y of any human being. The advocates O
Is slavery now in our midst do not mea
here, but in the South and in some of tn
u pulpits of the North--say that slavery of tn
"a black race is of divine origin. Scripture
II authority for its existence and its pcrpetua
e existence from time to time, till, as | think
D, the moral mind has become nauseated b
~ the declaration, has been vouched for It
IL sanctity and its perpetual existence. Th
Saviour of mankind did not put au end t
u IL Dy physical power, or Dv the ueclarato
IS. of any existing ilegali;y in word. His mis-
IN sion upon earth was not to propagate Iii
doctrines by force. He came to save, not t
. conquer. His purpose WAS not to marc
n armed legions throughout the habitabl
r. globe, securing the allegiance of those to
q whose safety He was striving. lie warre
% by other influences He aimed at the hear
II principally. lie inculcatcd His doctrines
ie more ennobling than any that the worlc
TO enlightened as the world was before Iii
ii advent upon earth, had been able to discoN
er. He taught TO man the obligation {
brotherhood. He announced that the tru
10 duty of man was to do to Others as he woul
p have Others do to him, to all men the worl
,o over; and unless some convert to the moe
=, ern doctrine that slavery itself finds not onl
~ guarantee for its existence, but for its leg
IS. existence, in the Scripture, excepts out
sc, the operation of the influences which ii
We morality brought to bear on the mind OF Il
ho Christian world the black man, and shoy
that it was not intended to apply to blac
OF men, then it is not true, it cannot he tru
in that lie designed His doctrine not to
in equally applicable to the back and to Il
in white, to the race of man, as he then c
-, istcd, or as he might exist in all after time