Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1883-12-08

the least; but it was treated with a de-
gree of practical wisdom which con-
trasts curiOusly with subsequent de-
velopments. The gentlemen of the
South who fought for independence,
had too much enlightenment not to
know, too much humanity not to feel,
that in slavery there were an inconsis- |
tency and poison. They did not SER
iously discuss it's economic features: !:
but the idea of slorery was abhorent to |
them. They would not allow the word
"slavery" to go into the National con
stitution. They limited protection
to the "vested capital' embarked in
slave trading to term oftwenty years.
From the vast northwest territory.
which Virginia gave to the Union, they
excluded slavery forever. Would to
God they had abolished it outright
They did not, indeed, any more than
the people of the north; and it is just
here where the argument connecting
slavery and protection begins to run
upon exactly parallel lines. The
Northern slave owner found slave
labor Improbable. Instead of go
ing to Washington to beg
bounty to protect his "niggers," like a
sensible man, he took them South
and sold them for what they would
bring and put the money he got for
them into enterprises which promised
to pay him better. The South did 9TH
erwise; perhaps it could not help itself.
With the multiplication of its slaves
and the increase OF its cotton acreage,
there was evolved out of the Ignorance
of the time a theory that slave labor
was indispensable to the highest pro-
duction of that great staple. Once
started, this theory gained wide and
rapid growth. Cotton was elevated to
the throne ofcommerce and proclaimed
King. The slave interest and the cot
ton interest became synonymous. Mis-
cradle delusion! Fatal partnership!
Constructed upon total perversion Of
economic laws, it knew, from first to
last. no real prosperity and very little
peace. Contracted without regard to
ascertainable facts, its career was per-
meated by a series of astonishing mis-
calculations and tormented by sue
cession of inevitable mischances, to cul-
inmate in a disaster as overwhelming
as it was calamitous. During all that
time four millions and half bales of
cotton were considered a good yield at
the hands of slave labor. Since the
abolition of slavery, the yield at the
hands of free labor has steadily i'll
creased; as high as 200, 900 bales have
been turned out; and, if the crop falls
short of 6, 700, 900 bales, it is justly held
to be q poor one. Yet, during the ex-
istence and ascendancy of the wretch
ed theory from which such conclusive
teachings have been obtained, the whole
power of the government and the full
strength of the constitution-yea, and
religion itself, making for the time a
veritable union of church and state
were put forth to impressi it upon the
country. Statesmen rushed to the front
to defend it. Clergymen ransacked the
Bible for scriptural authority proving
it divine right and of divine origin.
The brave, sincere, man-lOving and
God-fearing people of thirteen states
took up arms and went to war to pre-
serve and perpetuate it, not one in ten
having in it any direct personal interest
And all this while it was and it re-
manned without a single sound argu-
ment on its side. AS a system of Ia
Dor, it was costly in the last degree. Al
an agent OF production, it was feeble
clumsy and uncertain. AS an institu
ton, it was indefensible. Bless thu
Lord, it has gone, and gone forever
Those who believed in it tested it fully
They tried i. fifty years and more. They
erected affairs and offered up gigantic
sacrifices; and it has taken just tifteel
years to satisfy them that it wal
throughout delusion and snare, 81
that, if some genii should rise to-mor'
row and offer to restore the south it,
slaves, the south would start bacl
aghast and say, "Get thee behind me
Satan"
THE INFATUATED PRoTECTIONIsTs.
l fear l have taken q long while t.
60 over very little ground. But 1 cal
bear personal testimony to these things
and they bear directly upon the issu,
of free trade, or slave trade, which ha
brought us here tonight. The protec
tionists are making the same mistak,
which was made by the slave-owners
l pray they may be spared the sam'
end. The people of this country will
not submit great while longer to tn,
robber who, disguised as a tax-gather
er, is going about picking pockets all.
preaching falsehood. But for the COW
ardice of the professional politicians
the day Of reckoning would have COM
long ago. Behind these professiona
politicians stalks the officeholders
headsman, the people, and in the ives
and south the people are thoroughly
aroused. They threaten nobody. The,
propose to tear down ruthlessly NJ
honest interest or right. Calmly, in
telligently, they intend to discuss tn
principles and considerations whicl
ought to govern the laying and collect
ing of taxes, and carefully, deliberate
ly, they mean to apply these to the ex
animation and revision of our revenu
system. They defy the bandit lords Q
monopoly. They spit upon the lobby
The reign of the Randalls and tn
Keifers is over. Pennsylvania has ha'
her day. Tho real question for the pro
tectionists to consider is whether the
will continue by bullying, artitice, an,
money to bolster a cause, which is al
ready doomed, until, like slavery,
goes down with crash, or whethe
they will accept the compromise offer
ed by just revenue reform, and ALLOW
their system of jobs and bountios t
pass out of existence by process suffi
ciently gradual to compass an un
strained and general adaptation to tn
changed order, without individual LOST
If the south had accepted emancips
ton, there would have been no section
al war. We offer emancipation to tn
protectionists. If they have the wis
dom to accept it, we can go to wor
and substitute the one policy for tn
other, so simply, SO equitably, as wi
bring forth nothing but graduation an
rejoicing. If they refuse and prolon
the struggle, one short year of famin
will suffice to turn q headless and dei
perate horde upon them, carrying in il
reach and ruin a devastation far be
yond that wrought upon the "veste
millions" of monopoly, and Of pre-
lection, "leaving not rock behind.'
THE COMING CONGRESS.
, Fellow-citizens, we stand upon tn
threshold of new congress. In fey
, days body of men intrusted with tn
law-making power and fresh from tn
, people will assemble in the nations
capital. The oracles are full of specu
. lations what they will do and wha
, they will not do. The wiseacres ar
full Of counsels what they ought to d
. and what they ought not to do. TIL
protectionists exclaim, with one voice
"DOn't touch the tariff, for that wi
disturb the business of the country.
, Tima-servino democrats echo this wit