Year: 1862

suOserve the interests OF slavery, then they


are opposed to any change. helieYe they are


both good lawyers. Now,T would like to ask


them if that is the way they treat upsuccess.


foil thieves, burglars and iucendiaries When


those gentlemen ~ try to fire houses aud are


caught in the act and brought into court, do


these Senators who are their counsel, plead be-


fore the court thus "ghese gentlemen did try


to succeed in breaking into house for such


and such perposee, sbut they failed, they did


not succeed aud are brought before you We


claim that they shall have the same privileges


as are guaranteed to innocent men Is that


the way they plead Yet these shareholders


are moving heaven and earth to destroy the


Government, and these Senators claim that if


they cannot succeed they shall at least bs al-


lowed to come in and enjoy its protection


Mr.. Speaker, there was a law in Athens that
theft was honorable if the thief was not detect.
ed. II the man was caught he wasdisgraeed
NOT because of The theft but that he
was so imprudent as to be discovered Ac-
cordiOgly, sir, it is recorded In history that
a man once stole fox. He clasped in bis
arms, wrapped his mantle around il and start
ed with it. As you would suppose, from the
nature Of the animal it was not very quiet
but being pursued, and fearing detection, the
man held on and clasped him TO bis bosom
while the fox tore away into his very yIralS.
Now, sir, while for years and years, as O
country, We have been hugging this one insti-
tuition TO our bosom, it has been gnawipg snd
gnawing into our vtaIs, aud now it has got st
the very heart strings of the country, and is
tearing out its soul, Iioting upon its dearest
interests, and pressing its complete dsmsm.
berment. Yet gentleman predicate that insii-
tuition upon the law of the great GoD, aud say
it shall remain intact. They demand that it
shall dig away at the FACILITATING heat of tue
nation, and when the nation is virtually dead
it shall still be allowed, like an insatiate hyeRa
to crouch upon its bones. When we talk of
saving the country, of killing the vampire by
emanciPating the bondman, they are thrown
into politcalspasm and party Mysteries. They
denounced it as fanatical novelty.


Let me remind gentlemen that emancipation
is no new nor isolated idea, generated in the
whirilng blaios of modern fanatics. Its records
are old as the pyramids its footprints are
upon the sands of the Nile. Modern sophiSts may
sneer at it, but ages since the ancient of days"
flung before its redet med hosts the banner OF
lire and cloud, and constrained the waves of the
sea to beat retreat at their approach. The
history Of emancipation constitutes q bright
page the in annals of England For twenty
long years such men as Wherefore and Clark
son labored asSduouSly for the suppression of
the slave trade aud the abolition of slavery IT,
self. They were dirided aud Kissed at. Never
they wearied not, but poured the
truth upon the nations frozeH heat, as fall the
suns rays upon the glacier, till icy sel6shness
and prejudice melted into streams Of justice
and mercy, affording O fit illustration of the
great fact that


Truth crushed to earth viii rise agstn,


The immortal years of Cop are hers


While error wounded wrhes in pain


And dies amid he woFshppers."


Russia is lifting the yoke from the necks of
mllious of serfs Your political fathers taught
it. Every man knows or should know, that
Madison erased from the original daft of the
Constitution the word slave, declaring that in
that sacred document there shoEI3 not be q
single word that could possible acknowledge
the right OF property in man. Contemplating
the enermltles OF slavery upon one hand aud
divine retribation upon the other, II trenble
for my country when / remember that GoD
is just" said Jefferson. Franklin was president
OF the first abolition society in Pennsylvania,
while w aShington avoRed the removal of this
system was the great desire Of bis heart, and
Tor its accomP' 'ishment his vote never should
be wanting" The free state have taught this
doctrine by example, and the present cotton
states, years since, when the public mind was
less polluted than now, held abolition meet
ngs and passed anti-savery resolutions. Here
IS history, in which we End the noblest men
advocating great principle and that princi-
pie, when reduced to practice, producing the
most benign results. We fnd too that our
country is trembling and bleeding at every
pour from the attacks of slavery. We appeal
10 those redoubtable Democratic statesmen in
his emergency, ia the name of sacred history,
BY the precepts of their fathers, by the exam
pie of other lands, by the claims of patriotism
and philanthropy to join with us and help save
he country by striking TO the heart its dead.
lest foe


The Senator from Burkes affirmed that there
vas no higher governmental law in earth or
heaven than the Constitution aud put on the
ook of the statesman, not TO say the dictator,
and added, he who says there is, is either q
'anatic or traitor" do not know that the
gentleman was conscious OF the wide sweep of
that remark. | hardly think he was aware
upon what different subjects, teachings and
principles that circle touched, and which he
would sweep away by the assertion that there
5 no higher law in governmental matters
than the Constitution, and who says there is,
IS fanatic or a traitor. Let US look at it.
A man must look at some things very closely;
and | will ask you to look at this carefully
will not declaim upon it. Truth, justice, equ
~, right and virtue are eternal principles
Mr.. Speaker, they DO not change with the eli
mate nor with place truth in Pennsy Ivania is
truth in New York, at the North Pole or at
the Equator Justice is ditto. These are ev-
srlastng principles. Truth is the attribute OF
GoD, old as eternity, existing before the foun-