Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1866-02-13
DESPAIR OF THE MEN OF THE REVOLUTION

words OF despair. 1t was the deSire of Washnpton's
heart that Virginia should remove slavery by nuh-
lie act: and as the prospects of Il general emancipa
ton grew more and more dim he, in utter hopeless
by bequeathing freedom to his own slaves. Good ond
true men had from the days of l776 thought of COL
onlzmg the negro in the home of his ancestors But
the idea OF lonization thought to increase the
dhculty OF emancipation and in spite of strong sun
port while 1t accomplished much good for Africa il
who IN early life disliked slavery so much that he
wished to depend little possible on the labor Of
slaves; Madison, who held that where slavery ex-
lists the republican theory becomes fallacous;" Mad
lson who IN the last years of his life would not con
sent to the annexation of Texas lest his countrymen
should fill it with slaves; Madison who said "slaVn-
ry Is the greatest evil under which the nation labors
portentous evil, an evil-moral. political and eco
nqmlca-as sad bloton ourfree country, went mourn
iully into old age with the cherries words mo SAT-
sfacory plan has yet been devised for taking out the
STAIN" N '"o
NEW VIEWS OF SLAVERY
The men of the Revolution passed away new
genGratlon sprung up, impatient that an institution
to which they clung should be condemned as inhn
man, unwse, and unjust: in the throes of discomfort
at the self reproach of their fathers and blindad hy
the ustre of wealth to be acquired by the culture of
new staple. they vised the theory that slavery,
They turned on the friends of colonization and CON
fdently demanded. why take black men from a
civilized and Christian country where their labor is
source OF immense gain and power to control the
markets of the world, and send them to a land of
ignorance, idOatry, and Incidence, which was the
home of their Orefathers but theirs? Slavery is
a blessing. Were they not in their ancestral land
naked, scarcely lifted above brutes Ignorant of the
course of the sun, controlled bv nature? And in
their new abode have they not been taught to know
the difference of the seasons, to plow, and plant
and reap, to drive oxen, to tame the horse to ex-
change their scany dialect for the richest of all the
languages among men, and the stupid alteration of
toes for the pureSt religion? And since slavery is
good Tor the blacks, It is good for their masters
race The slavery ofthe black is good in itself: he
shall serve the white man forever. And nature,
which better understood the quality of fleeing in
O0,lH nplt thn tho
man" and ''forever!'
SLAVERY AT HOME
A regular development of pretensions followed
the new declaration with logical consistency lnder
the old declaration every Of the States had re-
saves by an ordinary act of legislation; now the
powers OF the people over servitude through their
Legislatures was curtaied, and the privileged class
was swift IN imposing legal and constitutional OBJ
structIons on the people themselves. The power of
emancipation was narrowed or ia ken away. The
remained an unconfessed consciousness that the sys
TEN OF bondage was wrong, and a restless memory
that was at variance with the true American ira
alon It's safety was therefore, to be secured by po-
llucai organization. The generation that made the
Constitution took care for the prodoMinance of free
dom in Congress by the ordinance of Jefferson; the
new school aspred to secure for slavery an equality
OF votes IN the Senate; and while it hinted at an or
ganic act that should concede to the collective South
veto power on national legislation it assumed that
each State separately had the right to revise and null
lily laws OF the United States. according to the dis
cretlOn OF its judgment.
~ SLAVERY AND FOREIGN RELATIONS
. Inc new theory hung as bias on the foreign rea-
lions OF the country; there could be no recognition
OF Hayti. nor even of the American colony of Libe-
ma and the world given to understand that the
establishment OF free labor in Cuba would be rea-
son Tor wrestling that island from Spain. Territories
were annexed; Louisiana, Florida Texas half of
Mexico; slavery must have its share in them all and
1t accepted for a time dividing line between the
unquestioned domain of free labor and that in which
involuntary labor to be tolerated A few wears
passed away, and the new school, strong and AFRO
CAN'T demanded and received an apology for apply
Il TrTNr1 co tl nraFrC
SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY
Ihe Application Of that prOviSo interrupted for
three ADMINISTRATIONS; but Justice moved steadily
onward In the news that the men of California had
chosen freedom, Calhoun heard the knell of parting
slavery, and on his death bed he counselled seces-
sion. Washington, and Jefferson, and Madison had
died despairlng Of the abolition of slavery Calhoun
died IN despair at the growth of freedom His sys-
ten rushed lrreSstibly to its natural development
The death struggle for California followed by
short truce; but the school of politicians who
SAID that slavery was not evil but good soon sought
to recover the ground they had lost. and confident
OF securing Texas, they demanded that the estab-
lIshed line In the Territories between freedom and
slavery should be blotted out. The country, believ
ing IN the strength and enterprise and expansive en-
ergy of freedom, made answer. though reluctantly:
BE it so; let there be strife between brethren:
let freedom and slavery compete for the Territories
on equal terms, In fair field, under an impartial
Administration and on this theory, if on any the
contest might have beep left to the decision Of time
DRED SCOTT DECISION.
The South started back in appallment from its vic
tory for it knew that fair competition foreboded its
it from its own mistake? What l have next to saw
is spoken with emotion, but regret. Our meeting
to-day is as were at the grave in the presence Of
eternity and the truth must be uttered in soberness
and sincerity. IN great Republic as was observed
more than two thousand years ago, any attempt to
oyerturn the State owes its strength to aid from some
branch of the GOyerDment. The Chief Justice of the
United States without any esity or occasion vol
uneereG to come to the rescue of the theory slave
ry. And from his court there lay nc appeal but to
the bar OF humanity and history Against the Com
stltutOn, ag ainS the memory of the nation against
previous decision, against series of enactments
he decided that the slave is property that slave pro-
perty Is entitled to less protection than any other
property, that the Constitution uphOlas it in every
Territory against any act of local Legislature and
even against Congress Itself the President erse-
ly promulg ated the saying: Kansas is as much a
slave state South Cai oliua or Georgia: slavery bv
virtue of the Constitution exists in every Territory
The municipal character of slavery being thus taken
away, and slave property decreed to be sacred the
by the comfy of law into States where slavery had
been aboshed and in one of the of the United
states judge pronounced tho African slave trade
legitimate, and numerous and powerful advocates
demanded its restoration.
TANEY AND SLAVE RACES
Moreover, the Chief Justice, in his elaborate opin-
ION, announced what had never been heared from
any magistrate of Greece Rome-what was un-
known to civil law, and canon law, and feudal law
and common Law. and constitutional law, unknown
to Jay, to Rutledge, Ellsworth and Marshall-that
there are slave races The spirit of evil is intense
ly logical. Having the authority of this decision
five States swiftly followed the earlier example of
sixth, and opened the way for reducing the free
slave II he touched the soil of a seventh; and an
eighth from its extent and soil and mineral resouces
its coming prosperity, and enacted-as by Taneys
decision it had the right to dothat every free black
man who would live within ts limits must accept the
condition OF slavery tor himself and his posterity,
SECESSION RESOLVED UPON.
Only one step more remained to be taken. Jeffer-
son and the leading statesmen of his day held fast
the idea that the enslavement of the African was
socially. morally. and politically wrong The new
school was founded exactly gpgn tho opposite idea;
party. for which the Supreme Court had now Furnish
ed the means, and then to establish new gOvern-
ment with negro slavery its corner stone as social
ly, morally, and politically right.
the ELECTION,
AS the Presidential election drew on one of the old
traditional parties did make its appearance; the
Of her reeled it sought to preserve its old position.
and the candidate who most nearly represented its
best opinion, driven by patriotic zeal roamed the
country from end to end to speak for union eager at
least to confront its enemies yet not having hope
that it would find its deliverance through him The
storm rose @ to Whirlwind who should aIay its
country had failed; there was no hope from those
who were great after the flesh; conld relief come
from one whose wisdom was like the wisdom of little
childrenf
EARLY LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The choice of America fell on a man born west of
the Alleghanies, in the cabin of poor people Of Har
din county, Kentucky-Abraham Lincoln
His mother could read but not write; his father
could do neither; but his parents sent him. with an
old spelling book to school, and he learned in his
childhood to do both.
W hen eight years old he Hoated down the Ohio
with his father raft which bore the family and
all their possessions TO the shore Cf Indiana; and
child az he was he gave help they toiled through
dense forests to the interior of Spencer county
There in the land of free labor he grew up in log
bin, with the solemn solitude for his teacher in his
hours. OF Asatc literature he knew only
the Bible; of Greek, Latin, and medieval no more
than the translation of Esop's Fables; of English
ohm Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress The traditions Of
ieorge Fox and William Penn passed to him dimly
along the lines of two centuries through his ances-
tors, who were Quakers.
HIS EDUCATION.
- Otherwlse his education altogether American
The Declaration of independence was his compen-
dunn OF political wisdom the Life of w aShington his
constant study, and something of Jefferson and Mad
son reached him through Henry Clay, whom he hon
pred from ooyhood For the rest, from day to day,
be lived the life of the American people; walked in
its light reasoned with Its reason thought with its
power Of thought; felt the beatings of its mighty
heart; and so was in every way child of nature-a
child Of the West-a child of America
HIS PROGRESS IN LIFE.
At nineteen feeling impulses Of ambition to get on
in the world he engaged himself to go down the Mis-
siSsppi in at-b0at receiving ten dollars month
for his wages and afterwards he made the trip once
more. At twenty he drove his fathers cattle as
the family migrated TO Illinois, and split rails to
fence in the new homestead in the wild. At TWENTY
Lbree he was captain of volunteers in the Black
Hawk war. He KEPT shop, he learned something
Of sur Teying but of English literature he added to
Bunyan nothing but Shakspeare's plays. At TWEEN
ty-five he elected to the Legislature of Tno;s
where he served eight years. At twenty-seyen he
was admitted to the In 1897 he chose his home
at Springfield The beautiful centre of the richest land
IL the State In 1877 he was member of the ma
ional Congress, where he voted about forty times in
80 t.aA A~Irn tTln of fhn Lee.