i BANCROFT LIBRARY <> THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SPEECH tor TBZ HON. THADDEUS STEVENS, PEWST1VAWU, ON THE SUBJECT OF THE ADMISSION OF SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES, DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AT WASHINGTON. FEBRffART 30, TH0 FEKN & CO. HARRISBURO, PA. 1850- IB* "T .0 ' HT LAnr, SPEECH OF THE HON. THADDEUS STEVENS. Mr. CHAIRMAN : I do not know that I should I surely be no cause for rebellion and revolution have troubled the committee at this time, could I much less would the refusal to extend an evil, an see any reasonable prosp*-ct that the House would devote its time to practical legislation. But for a considerable time after our meeting, the organiza- tion of the House was obstructed; and since or- ganized, a large portion of its time has been occu- pied by speeches on the subject of slavery, mostly admitted exil, an unmitigated wrong. Will an intelligent and free posterity believe it when im- partial history records that the only cause for this high threat was the apprehension that the Con- gress of this free Republic would not propagate, nor permit to be propagated, the institution of hu- by Southern gentlemen, when no practical question, ! man slavery into her vast Territories now free ? to which they could apply was before the commit- | Yet such is the simple fact. It is proper, then, to tee. There was no doubt a well-defined object in j inquire whether the thing sought to be forced upon this, partly to intimidate Congress, and partly to occupy its time, so that no legislation could be ma- tured obnoxious to Southern gentlemen. Indeed, we are not left to conjecture on this point. Thr learned gentleman from North Carolina, (Mr. the Territories at the risk of treason and rebellion be a good or an evil. I think it is a great evil which ought to be interdicted; that we should op- pose it as statesmen, as philanthropists, and as mor- alists, notwithstanding the extraordinary position CLIXGMAN,) \vl o was selected to open the debate ! taken by the g( ntleman from Alabama [Mr. HIL- on behalf of human bondage, distinctly notified us, that unless Congress, as a condition precedent, submitted to settle the slavery question, according to Southern demands, there should be no legisla- tion, even to the passage of the ordinary appropri- ation bills necessary to sustain the Government. And that sunh measures would not be obstructed LIARD] to the contrary. While I thus announce my unchangeable hostil- ity to slavery in every form, and in every place, I also avow my determination to stand by all the I compromises of the Constitution, and carry them into faithful effect. Some of those compromises I by meeting .hem in manly debate, and voting on i ? r f ati y. disli , ke * a " d e the y now P en fo ' con ' ' their ments; but bv incessantly calling the yeas Deration, they should never receive my assent, and nays, on repeated and frivolous mo'ions to E adjourn, until the end of the session. Sir, I doubt not that before he ventured on so high a threat, he had full assurances from a sufficient number of Southern gentlemen to carry it into elfect. For, if constitution formed in difficult times, and I would not disturb them. By those compromises Congress has no power over slavery in the States. I greatly regret that it is so ; for if it were within our legitimate control, he had made it upon his own bare authority, it would 1 1 would go, regardless of all threats, for some just, degenerate into contemptible gasconade, which I ! safe and certain means for its filial extinction, am sure that discreet gentleman would not indulge j But I know of none who claims the right or desira in. The scene of last Monday in this house fully i to touch it within the States. But when we come sustained him, and showed that they had the will 'to form governments for territories acquired long anil the power to execute it. Here, then, we have a well-defined and palpable since the formation of the Constitution, and to ad- mit new States, whose only claim for admission conspiracy of Southern members combined to stop depends on the will of Congress, we are bound so the supplies necessary to the existence of the Gov-i to discharge that duty, as shall best contribute to ernment, disorganize and dissolve it, untihhe bands | the prosperity, the power, the permanency, and the that bind the Union together are severed, and, as I glory of this nation. Does slavery contribute to a gentleman early in the session desired, " discord e ther of these? Is it reigns." Well might the gentleman anticipate that the country and posterity might pronounce this treason, rank treason agz I doubt if there is another lei st the nation! Sir, islative body in the them all ? not rather subversive of Let us first view it in the low light of world where such sedition would not be followed political economy. That nation, I suppose, is al- ways the most prosperous, all other things being equal, that has the most indus'rious, and the larg- est number of the producing classes. Those who by prosecution and punishment. France has lately merely consume the fruits of the earth, add noth- exiled members of her Assembly for a similar of- j ing to the strength or the wealth of a nation. Slave fence. But in this glorious country, where nearly ! countries never can have a large number of indiis- two-thirds of the people are free, we can say any- i trious freemen. Slaveholders form an untitled thing within these walls or beyond them with im- I aristocracy, with numerous dependant?. Indivi- punity, unless it be to agitate in favor of human liberty that is aggression ! Let us inquire, what is the grave offence, the mighty wrong, which can justify a threat big with such portentous consequences? The refusal of Congress to propagate or to establish i doubtful or ven an admitted good in the Territories would luals appropriate large tracts of territory to them- selves, and thus prevent it from being thickly set- tled by freemen. Their laborers, having no ambi- tion to gratify, no love of gain to stimulate them, no parental feelings to impel them to action, are idle and wasteful. When 'he lash is the only stim- ulant, the spirit of man revolts from labor. war, that lias not an intelligent and industrious- ycomnnry, equally removed from luxury an:l from pov> rtv. The middling classes who own the soi'. mid work it with their own hands, are the mail support of every f rt e government. Qrtputtfin ma\ be powerful, and long ?u->ta n-d by a mix.-d popu lation of serfs and nobles. But free representative republics that rely upon the voluntary action of the people, never can. Under such governments, those who defend and support the country must have a stake in the soil ; must have interests to protect and rights to defend. Slave countries never can have such a yeomanry; never can have a Iwdy of small proprietors who own the soil and till it with their own hands, and sit down in conscious independence under thi-ir own vine and fig-tr*ee. There is no sound con necting link between the aristocrat and the slave. Trc.e there is a class of human beings Between them ; but they are the most worthless and miser- able of mankind. Tue p >or white laborer is the so >rn of the slave himself: for slavery always degrades labor. The white pei pie who work with their hands are ranked with the other laborers the slaves. They are excluded from the society of the rich. Their associations, if anywhere, are with the colored population. They feel that they are degraded and despised', and tueir minds ami conduct generally conform to their condition. The soil occupied by slavery is much less pro- ductive than a similar soil occupied by freemen. Men who are to nc_'ive none of the wages of their iai>>>rdonot care to multiply its fruits. S ! oth,negli- gcnic^, improvidence, are the consequence. The land being neglected, becomes poor anil barren ; U3 it becomes exhausted it is thrown out as wsi^te, for slave labor never renovates its strength. This applies particularly to agricultural Staus. Tak Virginia, the favorite example for the South, which lias been so triumphantly referred toby the gentle man from North Carolina, [Mr. CLINGMAN.] Whence he drew his facts that she. was more pros PJTOUS, more populous, and more rich than the free States, I know not. I am sure it was not from personal observation. Ho would not certainly draw on his imagination in matters of fact. I sup- pose he must have b-en misled by the most miser- able of sophists, and most false of chroniclers, El I wood Fisher. ive ; smiling habitations are within hail of each ther; the whole country is dotted with pchooU 'ous.es and churches within sight of each ot]ierj_ :iid, exi-.pt i.n ler p.culiar circumstances, their nanufi.cuires and m c'lan c arts lumishing lucra- ive employmt nt to ail their petple ; and their pop- ulation sti-adily and rapidly increasing. Turn igain to Virginia. There is scaic.-ly a m-w town, exct-pt at one or two point s, within her whole bor- lers. Her ancient villages wear the appearance of mournful decay. Her minerals ami timber are (inwrought. H r noble water power is but par- tially occupied. Her fine harbors are without hips, except from other ports; and her seaport owns are without commerce, and falling to decay. Ask yourself the cause, sir, and I will abide the answer, *~* It is essential to the existence of republics that education should be generally diffused among the people. S.avery prevents this. R oh menemph y private tutors, or send their children abioad. But the children of the people generally cannot be ed- ucated without the instrumentality of district schools. In slave States, where the plantations are large, the white population is too sparce ever to maintain them. Besides there is another fatal obstacle to them in thv aversion of the rich to asso- ciate with the poor children could never The poor white laborer's be permitted to mingle in the sanm schools, and sit upon the same benches with the rich men's sons. That would be offen-^ sive. ' ""' ' % Slavery enfeebles a nation in war as well as in peace. It is impossible that a nation of masters and slaves can be as p>werful and formi lable either in offensive or defensive war as a nation of freemen. A large portion of her population must remain at home to prevent the rebellion of those who are constantly in a state of latent war- fare with their oppressors. I know, sirf we have had a most alarming description of the prowess of the South. We have heard their C'innon roar ; seen their bayonets bristle ; heard the war c r y of tli-echarging chivalry, and seen their bowie-knives gleam within this hull, in tin* vivid p'cture of the terrible gentleman from North Carolina, CLINGMAN.) We have often been modestly reminded of the blood and treasure, and the gallantry of the I admit that, by nature, Virginia has canabiji^ S iUth." This I do not dispute. I am proud to to any StateTn tlie Union, adi ties equa', if not superior S'le ha* a delightful climate; a soil naturally fer- tile. She is intersected, as was well said by the gentleman from Virg'nia, (Mr. BAYLY,) by the nob'est rivers. Her hills and mountains are fi'K-d with lirh minerals and covered with valuable tim ber. Siie has the finest water, I believe, in the na- tion, in the very heart of her State; nrul her harbors are among th* l>est in the world. At the time of the adoption of the Constitution she was the most powerful Srate her population was d'.nible that of N--w York. It was the bonst of her statesmen that she WHS j>rima inter pare*. What is she mw? T;ie p( pu'ation of New York is more than double 'I thii.k the next c -nsus will show nearly treble hers. Her land, cultivated by unwilling hands, is unproductive. Travel tlin ugh the adjoining S nt -s of Ohio and Pjnnsylvania, and you will see that the land prodi'C s more than double as much as the same kind of land in Virginia. In the free States new towns are everywhere springing up admit that she has furnished many gallant sons, whose names will adorn the brightest pages of c ur history, both for the war of the revolution, the war of 1812, and the war which we lately assumed as the ally of Texas and of slavery. I give her full credit for her patriotism in furnishing most of the men who have boMe the official burden of the gov- ernment both in tlw civil ami military list. I know, too, she has furnished the kind of men for our ar- mies who are apt to be distinguished when great Bleeds are done. For it is only the officers nnd commanders of armies who live in snry. The stout hearts and strong arms of the common soldiers that fight the battles nnd win the victories are un- known to fame. Their birth place is not sought for; their graves are undistinguished. And the South has always furnished officers for our armies ; President for the Ripubl.c; most of our foreign ambassadors; heads of departments ; clnVfs of bu- reaus ; and, sometimes in her proud humility, has consented that the younger sons of her dilapidated houses should monopolize the places of clerks and I ty-ftve years every slave-holding State In this messengers to the Government. But whence are drawn the common soldiery, the men who peril their lives, and win victories for your glory ? Al- rrMst entirely from the free States, except in cases of sudden emergency, when volunteers are called nearest the. scene of danger. The present Secre- tary of War, a southern gentleman of great ability, and strenuous for southern rijrhts, says in his re- Union will have on its statute bocks a law for the gradual and final extinction of slavery. Then will have been consummated the fondest wishes of every patriot's heart. Then will our fair coun- try be glorious indeed ; and be to posterity a bright ixample of the true principles of government of universal freedom. ^ I am opposed to the extension of slavery into N f\ w free, for still graver reasons be- " According to the practice which hajt long prr. i cause I am opposed to despotism throughout the vailed, t/ie great majority of enlistment* i y made I world. I admit that this government cannot preach in the northern Atlantic cities and the adjacent in- terior town ft, whence the reerin'ts are. sent tn the general depot for instruction* and finally distri- uted to the southern and wt stern po -yfs, according to the wants of the service." Yes, sir, our northern freemen have always filled the ranks of the regular army. The South has ient ns the gentlemen to wear the ej'auletts and the sword ; to take command of our troop?, and lead them to southern and south-western climates to fight the frontier battles, and whiten your fields with their bones. I am opposed to the diffusion of slavery, because confining it within its present limits w H bring the Srates themselves to its gradual abolition. Let this disease spread, and although it will render the whole body leprous and loathsome, yet it will long a crusade of Liberty into other States and nations, much as she abhors tyrants and tyranny. There she can only mourn over its existence. But when the question of government is within her own con- trol, and she permits despotism to exist, and aids its diffusion, she is responsible for it in the face of the civilized world, and before the G;>d of Liberty. In my judgment, not only the slave States but the general government, recognizing and aiding as it docs slavery, is a despotism. I ' do not use the word in a declamatory, but strictly legal significa- tion. That government is despotic where the ru- lers govern subjects by their own mere will by decrees and laws emanating from their uncontrol- led will, in the enactment and extension of which the ruled have no voice, and under which they have no rights, except at the will of the rulers. survive. Confine it, and like the cancer that is j Despotism does not depend upon the number of the tending to the heart, it must be eradicated or it j rulers, or the number of the subjects. It may have will eat out the vitals. The sooner the patient is lone ruler or many. ^Rorpe was a despotism under, convinced of this, the sooner he will procure the j^ero ; so she was u mJert he t r MI nfyTT a t e . A Ciena heal.ng operation. j wgs a despotism under herThfrty tyranja.;' under The learned and able gentleman from Virginia, her four hj^tylr^d tyra^its^jTruTer her thr. e_thojl- s been generally observed! that (Mr. MEADE,) in n pamphlet which he laid upon Our table, takes the same view of it. He says, " Virginia ha* a slave population of nrar half a mill ion ^ whose vain* is chiefly dependant on south- ern demand." Let us pause a moment over this humil ating c.cnfes-i< n. In plain English, what does it mean 1 That Virginia is now only fit to be the breeder, not the employer, of slaves. That she is reduced to the condition that her proud chi- sand tyrants. It has de.'pongm increases in severity with the ^ despots7 the responsibility is more divided am : claims^nore numerous. The triumvirs each de- manded his vie subjects in ;s victiins. prcip.jrtK.u The small -r the number of to the tyrants the more cruel the oppression, hecause the less danger f rorrT re- bellion. In this Government, tTJe"*Tree white citi- zenTaTe the rulers the sovereigns as we delight valr/ are c ^mpelled to turn slave traders for a liv- j to be called. All others are subjects. There are, lihood ! I.istea 1 of attempting to renovate the j perhaps, some sixteen or seventeen millions of soil, and by their own honest labor competing the | sovereigns, and some four millions of subjects, earth to yield her abundance; instead of seeking The rulers and the ruled are of all colors, from for the best breed of cattle and horses, to feed on j the clear white of the Caucasian tribes to the her hills and valleys, arid fertalize the land, the J swarthy Etlropjan. The former, by courtesy, are 'all sons of riiat great State must devote their time to 'all callea^^vTute^ The latter black. In this Go- selecting and grooming the most lusty sires and | vernment the subject has no rights, social, political the most fruitful wenches, to supply the slave bar j or personal. He has no voice in the laws which racoons of the South ! And the It arned gentleman I govern him. He can hold no property. His very pathetically laments that the profits of this genteel j wife and children are not his. His labor is a riot U- trafic will be greatly lessened by the circumscrip- ers. He, and all that app -rtains to him, are the Lotion of slavery ! This is his picture ; not mine. (absolute property of his rulers. He is governed, The same gentleman says in the same speech, bought, sold, punished, executed, by laws to which, t: If toe intend to submit to the policy of confining he never gave his assent, and by rukrs whorn lie the slaves within their present limits, we should i never chose. He is not a serf, merely with ha'f commence forthwith the work of gradual email ci pa- i ltie*~r7griTs' of men, like the subjects of despotic tion ; it /'* an. easier work for us than for our chU- \ Ru.*ia ; but a naked slave, stripped of eveiy right dren." The eloquent gentleman from Alabama, | wh : ch G id and nature gave lijm, and which the (Mr HILLIARD,) is of the same opinion. He said : high spirit of our revolution declared inalienable *' JVo mrt*t np our minds Cither to resivt the, interdiction ef the progress of slavery, or to submit to an organic, change, in, o'tr institittiaiis." Yes sir ; this admitted result is, to my mind, one of the most agreeable consoqiv. nces of the legitimate restriction of slavery. Confine this malady within Its present limits. Surround it by a cordon of free- nen that it cannot spread, and in less than twen- which he himself could not surrender, and which man could not take from him. Is he not then the 4 of jlesrHM icswavL s faves of* AtnWs and Rome The were free in comparison. They had some fights could acquire some property ; could choose their own masters, and purchase their own freedom ; and when free could rise in social and political life. \ The slaves of America then lie under the most absolute and grinding despotism that the world ever saw. .But, ! who are the despots ? The rulers of th^oTmtry^S the sovereign people ! Not merely the slavehol- der who cruets the lash. He is but the instrument cf desixjtism. That despotism is the government of the slave States, and the United States, consist- ing of all its riders all the free citizens. Do not look upon this as a paradox because you and I and the s.xteen millions of rulers are free. The rulers of every despotism are free. Nicholas, of Russia, is free. The Grand Sultan of Turkey is free. The butcher of Austria is tree. Agustus, Antony, and Lepidns, were free while they drenched Rome in blood. The Thirty tyrants ; the Fur Hundred; the Three Thousand, were free while they bound their countrymen in chains. You, and I, and the sixteen millions, are free, while we fasten iron chains, and rivet manacles on four millions of our fellow mm ; tear their wives and children from them; seperate them ; sell them and doom them to perpetual, eternal bondage. Are we not then despots despots such as history will brand and God abhors ? - i ** '"But we are told that is none of our business. That southern slavery is a matter between the slaveholders and their own consciences. 1 trust it may be so decided by impartial history, and the unerring Judge, that we may not be branded with that great stigma, and that grievous burden may not weigh uppn our souls. But could we hope for that justification, if now, when we have the power to prevent it, we should permit this evil to spread over thousands of square leagues, now free, and settle upon unborn millions ? Sir, for myself, I should look upon any northern man, enlightened by a northern education, who would directly or indirectly, by pmmission or commission ; by base- ly voting or cowardly shulking, permit it to*pread over one rood of God's free earth, as a traitor to liberty and recreant to his \v7xrds tin; fret-men of other parts of jB ^Toe Ijnior7. yhie honorable member from Virginia from whom ihave already quoted, [Mr.. ME A say?, speaking of_filagery. " Ouj^pasf history tes- t that it elevates the character "tifies to the fact 'oTTne white ma"n". character Though, we luive Irtn in a numfricaT~-nii nority iu tut Union for ft ft i/ yf.Tr.t. c i/ft dnriiisr "t'ftr greater part of tliat period i"f kuvf. 1 winagrd to rnutrol the, tirxtiiiie.i nfl/m Union. Wh finer on the baujj^eld or m the cou^[J7 tlTe ' sonj^pf the S.>uth Have taken the lead ; and the 'records of the rtSfiofi afford ampTS'testimony of " their superior f/iergy and genius >} Sir, t do not complain of this statement. The former part of it is both candid and true. But I cannot listen to the recital without feeling the burning blush on my countenance, that the North, with her over- shadowing millions of freemen, has, for half [ century, been tame and servile enough to submit \ to this arrogant ^ The Boufli imprisons north"rn freemen when f found within her borders, if they happen to be guilty of a dark skin, and carry it "between the wind and their nobility." And when a sovereig State sends a learned and venerable apjent to test the legality of such imprisonment before their own tribunals, he i? driven with violence and in- dignity from their shores. V^Jassachusetts has suf- fered, and, I trust, remembers the insult. How often have these walls been profaned and ^ the North insulted by the insolent threat, that if v Congress legislate against Southern will, it should be disregarded, resisted to extremity, ami the Union destroyed. During the present session wo have been more than once told, amidst raving ex- citement, that if we dared to legislate in a certain way the South would teach the. North a lesson ! That their minds were made up to extreme resis- tance ! Is this the place to use threats instead of arguments? Are the Representatives of freemen to be thus treated 1 True, you are not wholly without justification in the belief that it will be effectual. You have too often intimidated Con- gress. You have more than once frightened the tame North from its propriety, and found ''dough- faces " enough to be your tools. And when you lacked a given number, I take no pride in sayirg, you were sure to find them in old Pennsylvania, who, in former years, has ranked a portion of her delegation among your most submissive slaves. But I hope, with some fears, that the race of dough- faces is extinct. I do not see how it could well be otherwise. They were an unmanly, an unvirile race, incapable, according to the laws of nature, of reproduction. I hope they have left no descen- dants. The old ones are deep in political graves. For them 1 am sure there is no resurrection, for they were soulless. Now, when the whole civi- lized world unites in denouncing slavery as a curse, a shame and a crime, 1 trust that when the great battle between liberty and slavery c >mes to be fought on this floor, there will be none found hiding among the stuff, no fraudulent coi.cealments, not one accursed Achan in this whole camp of the Representatives of freemen. The eloquent, gentleman from Virginia, [Mr. SELDON.] the other day, in his beautiful peroration, personated the great States of Virginia, Kentucky, and Louisiana, and in their name apostrophized the good, and I will add, the great man who now occupies the Executive chair ; and in their name besought him as he loved the place of his birth, the place of his nurture, and the place of his resi- dence, not to forsake his Southern brethren in this emergency, but to stand by them in defence of human bondage. How much more effective, en- during and hallowed would that eloquence have been, had the orator's lips been touched with a coal from the Altar of Freedom! Then could he have gone with friendly anxiety to that noble, be- nevolent, and heroice man, and admonished him, that although he had gathered all the earthly laurels that can be reaped by the sickle of death, yet if he would have his name descend to posterity with increasing lustre, he must, by one great, jus?, and patriotic example, wipe out the only spot that ob- scures the sun of his glory. He might with pro- priety have taken with him the learned gentleman from Alabama, [Mr. HILLIARD,] and together have pointed him to that solemn hour, which to him, and to all of us who are treading the down-hill of life, must soon arrive, when the visions of ambition and of earthly wealth shall have passed from before his eyes, and left him nothing but a gaping grave, and an eternal judgment. The accomplished gentleman from Alabama, [Rev. Mr. HILUAUD] might with peculiar proprie- ty, do what, with profane lips I dare not, go to his illustrious frit- nd, and with fervid piety and elo- quence more thrilling than that which made Felix tremble, implore him by a love deeper than that of birth-place, of nurture, and of residence, by the love of his own immortal soul, to be warned in time by the awful, the inexorable doom " Ac- cursed is the man-stealer." He might, perhaps, have pointed to the gloomy journey that leads through the dark shadow, and shown him how ineffably brighter are the glories of that Kingdom where all are free. Perchance, too, he would have noticed the thronging thousands travelling to that game dread tribunal, summoned to give evidence of deeds done in the body; some of them were bondsmen and slaves on earth, but whose disem- bodied spirits were then disenthralled, erect, tall as the proudest of earth's oppressors ; and asked him to inquire of his own conscience, who was most likely to meet a hearty welcome there ha whose cause was advocated by the supplicating voices of thousands with whom he had dealt just- ly on earth, and made free indeed, or he whose admission should be withstood by myriads of crush- ed and lacerated souls, showing their chains, their stripes, and their wounds to their Father and to his Father; to their God, and to his Judge. When Mr. STEVENS concluded his speech, sev- eral Southern members endeavored to get tho floor, and among them Messers. SELDON and MILL- SON ; but the Chairman awarded it to Mr. BUEL, of Michigan. \ GAYLAMOUNT PAMPHLET BINDER Manufactured by [6AYLORD BROS. Inc. Syrcue, N. Y. Stockton, Calif.