The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1864-02-11

SPEECH OF HON. MoNraoxERY BLAIR.

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SPEECH OF HON. MONTGOMERY BLAIR.
The Postmaster General. Montgomery
Blair, delivered speech on Friday the 22d,
before the members nf the Maryland Legis-
lature, at Annapolis, Of which we present
the prominent points.
He commenced by quoting from the Pres
ident's Message, and cordially approving
his views in regard to emancipation, and
the proclamation Of amnesty, saying: "this
is more than pardon; not only does the
President spare the lives of the unfortunate
dupes of conspirators, but he restores them
their property" The invitation Of the Pres.
ident to the people of the rebellious States
to participate again in the Government on
ass uming the relations o: loyalty, he regard
ed as another indulgence which they should
appreciate. Another step of the President
looked to the perfect restoration of State
rights by recognizing their old Constitutions
in all respects, except slavery, which made
the war. He explained the policy of the
President to be the reference of the whole
subject of slavery to the people for their dis
posal.
He said that the President was no Crom-
well; Congress no military council, but felt
that the suppression of the rebellion and the
elimination of slavery from this country was
the hercu'ean labor before it He then
pointed out monopoly as tn cause of our
difficulties monopoly by an oligarchy of
the labor of others. 1t was this monopoly
that constituted the severest charge against
Great Britain in the Declaration of Inde.
pendsnce. He continued:
"Is it not amazing that the Slave States,
hav ng up to the bour of pronounced indepen-
dence made war on the slave trade and the
power that compelled submission to its ag-
ravated mischiefs, should recoil from its
denunciations in that great state paper writ
ten expressly to sum up the grievances suf.
fered under the Govern ment it was design.
ed to renounce as the only mode of deliver.
ence from them? The whole South soon
perceived that an oligarchy OF shareholders
could easily personate the King and profit
by the lessons of the monopoly he establish
ed. How well they have applied and i'm
proved upon the precedents Of their royal
master to which we have adverted, their
| course after they have expunged from our
Magma Charta the passage provided to in.
sure the extinction of the slave trade and
slavery, will show.
The first step of the shareholders after as
suming tie royal prerogative in reference to
slavery, was the demand to set aside the
Congressional interdict against the slave
trade. This was enforced by threats Of dis
solving the Union, 50 necessary to the es-
tahlishment Of our free infant institutions.
He continued to describe the ambition of
the Southern oligarchs, and their success
in subsldizing the North to it's will. culmi-
mating in the nledge which Attorney Gelsr.
al Black made the South, in the name Of his
master, James Buchanan:
g. Whither thou goest. IpW 90; where
thou loagest IpiH lodge thy people. shall
be my people, and thy God my God"
1.-The conspiracy against the Union was
well understood by Mr.. Buchanan long he.
fore this vow was made to its principal au-
thors. It's decisive overt act. in violation of
the Missouri compact, and thu seizure Of
Kansas, was then fragrant, and this scriptu.
raj adjuraton was to mark with signal force
his adhesion to tho treason; and he was
not found false to this fellowship"
Mr.. Blair traced the movements of this
last Democratic President IN assisting the
traitors to the consu,nmation of their pur-
pose, and concluded on this point:
"Slavery was to become the sure founda-
t;n., -r AL-:--n---LE-,-t,sr rr Is, we see, the
basis of the despotic military rule which
subjects the South under a dictator, and
sheds the blood of the North in torrents to
defend itself and the whole Union against
the frenzied ambition Of the chivalry that
hoped TO make cotton king over the cabi-
nets of Europe, and the negro institution
the throne or king over this continent. It
was in this spirit that it sent out its 6libus-
terers into Cuba, in Central America, and
sought an alliance with revolutionary par
ty in Mexico, to restore the reign of slavery
in that Republic. II was in this spirit that
Toombs. who apes the oratory Of Mirabeau,
in convulsing the South. announced that it
would make ''the Gulf Of Mexico it's mare
clausum, and call 'the roll Of its slaves on
Bunker Hil.'" The maniac is now fetter-
ed, but If he had broken our army at Antie-
tam or Gettysburg. could our uuarmed far
mers and citizens have arrested him in his
way to Philadelphia, Baltimore aud New
York, with an army flushed with victory
and bearing the arms ard spoils Of ours p
Might he not have bribed nobs like that
which held our emporium for three days in
terror, to take the arms won from us in the
fields of battle and join him in the plumber
and confagration of our citiesp
have not made this recapitulation Of
the causes originating and the consequences
flowing from the bloody rebellion that shakes
our country, to embitter any animosities on
either side. Ny effort is to expose to view
that rooted evil which must be extracted il
we would relieve the nation from its convul-
sions. Slavery, MS q great element Of socis.
ty, makes slaves Of all associated with il by
tha M, o,c;ops n ina smes the ma cfers nv the