Year: 1868

pie of the territory Of Kansas to form {
constitution and State goyernment-the
number of senators opposed to the ex
tention of human slavery being thirteer
the Southern representatives and the
Northern allies of the slave power, who
sat in the hall domineering and deter.
mined, being in number thirty-two, Ben
jamin f. Wade Of Ohio arose to make
his final plea for freedom and justice fol
the incoming state and for freedom and
concord for the existing Union. In the
course Of his impassioned speech, he said
"Sir, am no sycophant or worshiper
of power anywhere. know how easy il
is for some minds to glide along with the
current of popular opinion, where influ-
ence, respectability, and all those motives
which tend to seduce the human heart
are brought to bear. / am not unconscious
OF the persuasive power exerted by these
considerations to drag men along in the
current; but am not at liberty to travel
that road. / am not unaware how un-
popular on this floor are the sentiments
am about to advocate. | we'll under
stand the epithets to which they subject
their supporters. Every man who has
been in this hall for one hour knows the
difference between him who comes here
as the defender and supporter of the rights
of human nature and him who comes as
the vile sycophant and fatterer of those
In power | know that the one road is
easy to travel the other is hard and at
this time perilous. But, sir, 1 shall take
the path of duty, and shall not swerve
from it"


Ben. Wade steps out of these words an
outlined and characterized figure, for all
to see who havo not seen the man. He
stands before the reader statue of proud
and honest manhood. Walk part way
around this figure, and take another view
of it. Mr.. Wade, continuing his speech,
said


| 81 am amazed at the fecility with
which some men follow in the wake of
slavery. Sometimes it leads me to hesi-
tate whether | am strictly correct in my
idea that all men are born to equal rights
| for their conduct seems to me to contra
vene the doctrine. | see in some men an
abjectness, a want of that manly indie
pendence, which enables man to RELY
on himself and face the world on his own
principles, that don't know but that /
am wrong in advocating universal liberty.
| wish to heaven all such were of the AT.
rican race"


Look at the high, massive forehead of
the senator; see the blazing insensity of
the look out of his great black eyes; /; feel
the force of the set of his square jaws,
and you will know of verify that this
man will face the world on his own prin-
ciples, and that he is among the appoint
ed of God to advocate universal liberty.


/ come before the Senate to-day as
a Republican, or, as some prefer to call
me Black Republican for l do not OBJ
ject to the term. / care nothing about
the name. come especially as the ad-
vocate of Liberty, instead of Slavery"
A sufficient baptism, one would say !;
but he renewed the right by immersion,
going all in under, and came up before
the scowling oligarchy "the blacklist of
Black Republicans" He said:
When, however, you undertake to
extend slavery into territories now free,
must meet you. Is this Abolitionism
believe it marks strongly the character
of those you call Black Republicans. l
cannot defend them against the charge,
nor do wish to do so for l am one of
the blackest of the black, if that be the
criterion of judgment"


The portraiture of this captain of the
sshtiSioNCiN hSilt III bHc HdtiOUdI leglSla-
ture can be completed with few histori-
cal strokes of the brush. In the debate
upon the Kansas-Nebraska bill, Mr..
Wade was interrupted by Brown, of
Mississippi, as he closed this sentence: 81
know very well, sir, with what yell of
triumph the passage of this bill will be
hailed both in the South and in Pande-
monium."


Mr.. Brown" Do you know what is
going on there?" Laughter


Mr.. Wade.-"I do not pretend to know
precisely what is ON foot there: but
think it pretty evident that there's very
free communication between that country
and this body, and, unless am greatly
mistaken, see the dwarfsh medium by
which that communication is kept up"
| [Great laughter, and voice from the
Shareholders side: II reckon he's got
you, Brown!"1


Douglas, then in the depths of his er-
rors, and at the hight of his powers, in
terrupted Mr.. Wade, while speaking, with