Year: 1860

pass down the Mississippi, as it washe,
The shores OF Iowa, and see the accumu
lated products of the harvest, waiting, IN
, der all changes OF the weather, for mean.
/, OF transport to the eastern markets, arc
thence for distribution to the needy ir


every part OF the globe, and be unmoved


must be an enemy of his race. He who


could enter this, the principal seaport ot


the State, witness the sigrs of activity


and thrift which appear on all sides, as


cend the hills which overlook the town


and river, and see the rich and useful


mineral everywhere and on every side


extracted from the bosom of the earth


and sent abroad to perform their part in


the service of mankind, must be incapa.


bic of appreciating the elements of great


and prosperous people.


l have seen, as have my fellow travel


(ers, this exhibition and it may not be


Unpleasing to you to know-the result


of the observations we have made. It is


that, although this town and State were


stimulated to high degree of activity,


and to very rapid process of develop


ment by the great tide of capital and EN-
I5ration from the east, which was arrest


ed in the revulsion of 1857, yet the ba-


sis Of the prosperity of this city and State
is sure and steadfast the blood, after
such Increased activity IN searching the
distant parts of our great system, must


needs return 20 the heart again in the


East from which it flowed. But as long
as great nation like this remains at
peace, the blood is not long in filing up
again the storebouse of the heart With
in year or two or three, the prosperity
| of Dubuque aud OF Iowa will be renew
| ed


Fellow-citizens, we were tempted by
the committee who accompanied us to
the nights which overlook the city, a1d
who took Us for politicians Of a ditfercr t
class-we were tempted with the display
before Us. Here they said at your fee, ,
lie three States, Iowa, Wisconsin, and H.
lincis, enough, they thought, to tempt
ambitious politicians as they supposed us
to be- | answered that the States which
were desired by Northern politicians dur
ing my connection with public service,
had been no such States as these which
produced wheat and corn and lead; but
they were States which lay further Gown
the valley of the Mississippi; the nearer
the Gulf of Mexico the better And my
respected friend from Massachusetts re-
marked that they din'nt seem to know
what constitutes State in the esteem of
northern politician it is negroes that
constitute the States Politicians want
slaves, and you have noue to offer


Fel!ow-ctizens, we in the East are in
terested in your success, in your prosper
ty, in your aggrandizement, for we in the
East are but the consumers and the man
ufacturers and the sellers of what YOU
create. We should soon languish and
die If production were to cease in the val
ley Of the Mississippi. Nor, perhaps, is
it unnecessary to add, are you indepond-
ent Of US, for you are charged with the
responsibility of supplying the materials
Of men aud women, and Of men for the
defence of the liberties of this nation and
its welfare. And if we Of the East are
feeble and imbecile, you in the West will
Ianguish and come down to the same COM
mon ruin with ourselves. 1t is therefore
that We propose to speak to you on this
occasion of what concerns us all; a great
political question, winch is to be the sub
jcct of decision by the American people
in the coming canvass.


We who have come here from the
East say that the national policy for the
last iorty years on the subject has been
erroneous, false, and tends to ruin, aud
that it must be reversed That policy
simply, tersely stated is this: The poii- F.
cy Of the Federal government has been to
extend and .tortiy 4Jrican siave labor
IN the United States.


Now let there be no cavil on this
point, for many who have maintained
the the administration and the PARTY who
have carried out this policy, have been
doubtless, of the nature of
the policy they maintained. But it is
not a subject of dispute or cavil that has
been the policy Of the government of the
country fer forty years. | will give but
one illustration. No man in the nation
would have objected or could have OBJ
iected to the admission of Texas into the
Federal Union provided it had been a free
State. No man who objected could have
objected but for the reason that she was
not slave State. When the question
of annexiDg Texas tried all the existing
parties, and puzzled, bewiIdered and con-
founded the statesmen of the country, the
question was fnal decided in a short and
simple way, by the declaration Of the ad-