.fMI HoUinger Corp. pH8.5 DEMOCRACY alias SLAVERY E 438 .ni4 Copy 1 s r E E (; 11 OP HON. JAS. B. McKEAN, OF NEW YORK. Delivered in the U. S. House of Kepresentatives, June 6, 1860. • The House being in the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union — Mr. McKEANsaid: Mr. Chairman : " The South rules supreme in the councils of the Democ- racy." So said a Southern Opposition member of the last Congress. And he gave it as his reason for uniting with the Democratic party. How true the statement, and what a spectacle has that party exhibited to the world, be- cause of such Southern supremacy ! How changeable, and yet steadily sectional, has been the policy of the South ! Look at it, sir. When the Southern rulers of the Democracy coveted Missouri for a slave State, they said it was constitutional for Congress to pro- hibit slavery in the Territories. When they coveted Kansas for the same pur- pose, they said it was unconstitu- tional for Congress to prohibit sla- very in the Territories. Wlien they considered themselves strong enough forcibly to plant slavery in free soil, they said, " Leave the question to the settlers." Wlien the settlers plucked up slavery by the roots, they said that I that was unconstitutional, and that Con- I gross must protect slavery in the Terri- tories. When they meant to violate the compromise of 1820, they said it had been virtually repealed by that of 1850, inasmuch as the latter neither estab- ■ lished nor prohibited slavery in New Mexico ; whereas the compromise of 1820, itself, neither established nor prohibited slavery south of the desig- nated line. When Mr. Cobb would probably be chosen Speaker of this House, they said that the plurality rule was constitutional. When Mr. Sher- man would probably be chosen, they said that that rule was unconstitutional. Sir, the Constitution is generally supposed to be a fundamental law, firm as granite. But there are those who seem to regard it as a spring-board, on which to turn summersets. These Southern rulers of the Democracy re- quire that party to believe, or to profess to believe, that stolid barbarism fosters the highest style of civilization; that the structure of white society must have a black foundation ; and that the tree of liberty will grow only in the c«*> barren, shifting quicksands of slavery ; I he said of the slavery question and they arc rapidly convincing the rest of the world that Dahomian and Southern Democratic politics are the same. Recently, at the Charleston Conven- tion, this sectional supremacy ■was, for the first time, mildly opposed hy the Northern Democracy ; and the South contemptuously spurned their Northei-n allies, and arrogantly took to themselves the name of " the Democratic States." Sir, the supreme South is ruling the Democracy to death. [Thus far Mr. McKean spoke on the evening of June 6, when he was inter- rupted by a call of the roll, demanded by Mr. Craige, of North Carolina. The House continued in session all night. The next morning, the speaker resumed his remarks.] Mr. Chairman, this is no time for me to make a speech. A few remarks must suffice. Last evening, I should have been brief; this morning, I shall be still briefer. Many considerations prompt me to be so. Not the least among them is the exhaustion conse- quent upon a sleepless night. Sir, the statesman from whom I have quoted uttered but part of the truth. He should also have said, " The South- cm Democracy rules supreme in the councils of the country." And what a spectacle has our country exhibited to the world, because of this supremacy ! Opposed to a reasonable tariif to encour- age free labor ; opposed to a Pacific railroad, so located as best to promote the interests of the whole country ; op- posed to free homes for free men, the South demands that slavery shall be extended and strengthened. The su- premacy of the South is the supremacy of slavery. The gentleman from Ala- bama [Mr. CloptonJ P]jokV truly when It overshadows all other questions." In the language of that distinguished man, whose illustrious career terminated in the old Hall, just without that door, and whose distinguished son now sits in this Hall, just within that door — in the language, I say, of John Quincy Ad- ams — " The preservation, propagation, and ' perpetuation of slavery constitutes ' the vital and animating spirit of the ' National Government." Last evening, I should have spoken in brief detail of the conduct of the Southern Democracy towards the Ter- ritories. An instance or two must now suffice. Look back a few years, and behold the fair young Kansas, with her brow and waist adorned by the hand of Na- ture with wreaths and girdles of flowers. See how she is assailed by that ruffian, Slavery. See how she struggles to tear herself from the grasp of the monster, Avhile Democratic Presidents, and Cab- inets, and Senators, and Representa- tives, with locked arms, form the ring around. Look again. She is free. Thank God, she is free, and her virtue is unsullied. Her lately bloody garments are replaced by robes of spotless white. And, coming up through great tribula- tion, and leaning on the arm of her Con- way, this fair half-sister of ours now stands at the threshold of the Capitol. Hasten, sir ; open the door, and let her come into the sisterhood of States. We shall see if the Dahomian Democracy will again slam the door in her face. Turn your attention to the Territory of New Mexico. Not only has slavery been established there, where it was pro- hibited by the laws of Mexico, but the votaries of slavery have enacted laws giving the masters of hired servants the Waet.BeB.filsk.BMk right to -whip tbem, and denying sucli servants all redress therefor in the courts. I shall make no comments on such laws. No comments are necessary to disclose their more than Draconian atrocity. The rulers of the Democracy and of the country now claim that neither Con- gress nor Territorial Legislatures, nor any human power, can keep slavery out of the Territories, and that Congress must protect it there. Thus do they seek to make slavery absolute emperor, dictator, czar. In the language of Cas- eins M. Clay, the noble Kentuckian, who is adding new lustre to both his Ro- man and American name — " The slave oligarchy began by ask- * ing neutrality in the National Govern- ' ment, then equality with freedom, and ' at last supremacy.'''' Turn from the Territories, and see what effect the supremacy of slavery is having upon the States. Sir, as one wayward member of a family may dis- turb the happiness of all the rest, so one Southern member of this family of States has more than once disturbed the harmony of the Union. Recently she sent an ambassador extraordinary, and proposed — ay, we are told, that in the very hall where Aaron Burr was tried on suspicion of treason, she proposed to a sister State that they join in an act akin to treason. On a former occasion she tried a nullification experiment. General Jackson was about to teach her better, when Henry Clay interposed a compromise. The motives of the " great pacificator" were patriotic. But, look- ing back upon those transactions in the light of subsequent events, we see reason to regret that the stern Jackson was not permitted to take hold of this refractory member of the family with his hickory hand. She would have behaved better ever afterwards. New York, supposing herself to be a sovereign State, decreed that a slave, coming by the consent of his master within her jurisdiction, should be free. Under such circumstances, she liberated the Lemmon slaves. Private individuals then paid the owner the full value of the slaves. Should not that have been the end of the matter 1 But Virginia dis- putes the sovereignty of New York, and brings her into court to compel her to be a slave State. Tell me, New York, my mother State, tell me, could any power on earth make thee a subject, and Virginia thy sovereign 1 Could all the standing armies of all the despotisms of Europe annex thee as a new domain to the Old Dominion 1 Let the courts consider long and well before they at- tempt it. Mr. LEAKE, of Virginia. V^ill the gentleman answer me a question 1 The CHAIRMAN. Does the gen- tleman from New York yield to the gen- tleman from Virginia 1 Mr. McKEAN. For six months I have sat here in silence, save when an- swering to the call of my name. Last evening I obtained the floor, and have been interrupted for twelve hours. I cannot yield. I must not omit, in this connection, briefly to speak of the affair at Harper's Ferry. Sir, as the "reign of terror" legitimately succeeded the reign of the Bourbons ; as the Sepoy rebellion was the natural consequence of the East In- dia Company's misrule ; so did lawless, pro-slavery violence, on the borders of Missouri and Kansas, beget the ofi'spring afterwards brought forth at Harper's Ferry. And then, too vicious to be ashamed, but so timid as to be afraid of that ofi'spring, the Southern Democracy sought to lay it on the doorsteps of the Ftepublican party. The gentleman from r Alabama [Mr. Curry] -R-as so just and generous as to say : " From the bottom of my h^-art I do * acquit the Republican party from all * connection with that raid Avhich -ivas * made into Virginia." All sensible men know, and all just and generous men admit, that it is right thus to acquit the Republicans. But why is it that the South is alarmed? Why is it that even her brave men are alarmed, as though they saw an apparition? John Brown, in- visible to us, is ever and anon awfully visible and audible to them. How is this ? Is not John Brown dead ? Did not the United States conquer him ? And afterwards, did not Virginia kill him 1 Ah ! sir, he seems to be like the great wild boar, Scrimner, in the Northern Mythology, that was killed every day fur an oflFering to the gods in Valhalla, and came to life again every night. Sir, I do not blame even brave men for being afraid. He who builds his domicile on the side of a volcano, or where earth- quakes prevail, has aright to be afraid — ought to be afraid. But is it not ama- zing that any one should demand that the structure of society in the Territo- ries should be built on the volcanic foundations of slavery 7 In the light of the affair at Harper's Ferry, how clearly is seen the vast dif- ference between slave and free society — the insecurity of the one, the safety and Stability of the other. Could that affair have happened in a free State, the police would have intervened, the law would have had its quiet course, and society would have been disturbed about as much as the ocean is disturbed by the falling of a pebble. Sir, a slave State is balanced on a point, like a boulder on a craggy summit ; the hayd of a child can rock it ; one man'^* qt'to can hurl it 4 into the anarchical abyss below. A free State stands like a p}-ramid on the plain— nor winds, nor floods, nor thun- derbolts, can beat it down, nor the weight of centuries can crush it. Though purposely abridging my re- marks, I cannot overlook the Southern Democracy as exhibited here in the Fed- eral Capitol. Congress convenes ; and day after day, for weeks and months, on the highest notes in tenor, on the lowest in double-bass, with the gestures, tropes, and idioms, peculiar to the Anglo-Congo school of oratory, they clamor against Northern men — " Loud aa the wolTes on Orciis' 3torray steep, Howl to the roarings of the northern deep." And because the " northern deep " will not roar, but will be calm, the noise from Slavery-s " stormy steep " is the louder and the longer. At length, amid the deafening din, made by others, and not by himself, a usually self-poised gentleman from Virginia cried out, in tones of bitter complaint, that the Re- publicans sat here " in sullen and almost contemptuous silence." Sir, if one of the ancients could have come back to earth, and from that gallery have wit- nessed the composure on this side, and the clamor on that, would he not have exclaimed, " Are these the Senators of Rome? Are those the chiefs of Bren- nus ? " And all this clamor, sir, is about John Brown, a dead man, and a pamphlet written for white men, and which slaves cannot read ! We are repeatedly told, by gentlemen on the other side of the House, that the North must send other men to this Fed- eral council — must send " national and conservative men." They are so kind as to tell us who are " national and con- servative." And as nearly as I can understand the definition, they are those Southern men who hold that slavery is God's vicegerent upon earth, and those .Northern men -who fall down and wor- ship it as divine. Such men, they tell us, are alone fit to represent the people. Sir, in the ancient days of i^^sop, when quadrupeds were endoAved with the power of speech, the wolves sent an em- bassy to the sheep, saying, " Let us ' hereafter live in peace, as good ncigh- ' bors. Those watch-dogs of yours make ' all the trouble. Send them away, and ' we shall live in harmony and union." The thoughtless sheep sent away the dogs. But hardly were they out of sight, when the " national and conservative " wolves leaped into the fold, slaughtered the sheep, and sucked their blood. To the people of the North, the history of the punic faith of the wolves towards the sheep has a moral. They will not call down their sentinels from the' walls. They will not send away their watch- dogs. Let not the South suppose that the North can be induced to recall from the outposts which he has so long defended, from the councils which he has so long instructed and adorned, the Washington of this war, the Jefferson of this revolu- tion. Sir, I am not about to defend that eminent man. Senator Seward, from the assaults of the Democracy. No, not at all. When he needs to be de- fended, his own left hand will do it. But, sir, what scenes have we here be- held 1 What Democratic dwarf has taken the floor, that has not shaken his tiny shillalah at this giant 1 See how they tug and toil to tumble pebbles in his pathway, supposing them to be boulders. Look, what coils of ropes they bring to bind him ! Ropes 1 No, they are but the ravelings of the once strong cord of Democracy. Sir, do you not remember the " Strong Man," Kwa- 1 sind, in the song of Hiawatha 7 | " Now, this wondroug strength of Kwasind, In his crown alone was seated." Do you not remember " the envious little people, the Puk-Wudjics 1 " Hark, how .they conspire against the " Strong Man : " " If this great, outrageous fellow, Goes on thus a little longer, Tearing everything he touches, Rending everything to pieces, Filling all the world with wonder, What becomes of the Puk-Wudjies ? Who will care for the Puk-Wudjies ? He will tread us down like mushrooms." But, sir, the statesman is greater than the " Strong Man ; " for, unlike the lat- ter, the former grows greater and strong- er with each successive encounter. In the other end of the Capitol, behold the great statesman of New York ; behold there and here his Democratic enemies ; and then tell me, sir, do you think it more than a step from the sublime to the ridiculous? Gentlemen have been so puerile as to suppose that they could intimidate us by threats. One would have us believe that "the people" would come here and hurl us from our seats. Sir, when those people to whom the gentleman refers shall come in here to hurl us from our seats, though we are but few more than a hundred men, we shall ask for no quarter. The historian of the future may record whether we shall have needed any. The gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Davis] said to us : " When you presented Fremont as a ' sectional candidate for the Presidency, ' * * * you undertook to seize the ' Government for yourselves. * * * ' In doing that, you were guilty of or- ' ganizing rebellion against the Govern- ■ ment. * * * y^^ ^^^ going ' to bring the navy and army to put < ' down this rebellion. That is what -we ' mean to do ; and we will hang tihe last ' one of 3-011." I would have that gentleman under- stand that my constituents, not a few of whom are sons of sires who sleep be- neath the battle-field of Saratoga, have read this threat of his with as much composure as is consistent with laugh- ter. They regard his demonstration as about as formidable as that of General Tom Thumb, armed with a tin sword, slashing at the boot-legs of his keeper. Others tell us that the South will manufacture for herself, and withdraw her trade from us. Sir, let her proceed with her manufactures and her home in- dustry. She can do nothing that will so soon strangle slavery, and nothing that will so promote the prosperity of the North. Is not New York benefited by the prosperity of Massachusetts, and Ohio by that of Pennsylvania 7 So will the North and the South each be bene- fited by the progress and prosperity of the other. Parton, in his Life of Jackson, says : " To go southward is to make a jour- ' ney into the Past. Travel twenty-four ' hours into the Southern States, and * then get ten miles away from the rail- ' road, and you have arrived at Sixty- * Years- Ago." Sir, let the South awake from her Rip Van Winkle sleep, and soon the incubus of slavery will cease forever to benumb her energies. Let her turn her attention to all departments of manual industry and intellectual inquiry, and she will thereby create demands which ignorant, indolent slave labor cannot meet, and which intelligent, industrious free labor can alone sui)ply. We are told that the Union is in dan- ger. Wlicnce and why this sound of uluiin ? J-)oe3 any Republican threaten I the Union, or even predict its dissolu- tion ? No, not one. Does any Amer- ican, North or ^outh, avow hostility to the Union? I have not heard one. From whom, then, the danger, and from whom the warning 1 Ah, sir, the dan- ger, if there is danger, and the warning, come from the same source. It is a noticeable fact, that no one anywhere ever knows or hears that the Union is in danger until the Democracy tell of it, and they never tell of it until they them- selves are in danger. When defeat stares them in the face, they insolently tell us that if we overthrow them they will overthrow the Union. All the time holding the helm themselves, they cry out with horror, and upbraid the passen- gers because the Ship of State has got into the outer whirls of a maelstrom ; and when we, the passengers, ask that the vessel be put about, while yet it may be done, they declare that if we insist upon that, they will scuttle the ship, and sink the passengers, crew, and cargo, all together. Ho ! men of Amer- ica, arise to the ! All hands on deck ! Let us save the vessel and her precious freight, and, if need be, cast the corsairs ovei board. If that be mu- tiny, " make the most of it." Behold the policy, behold the practice of these men ; the policy — rule or ruin ; the practice — rule and ruin. I shall quote but one of the scores of Southern Democratic members who have threatened the Union. The gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Crawford] says : " We have four million slaves. * ' * * We demand expansion. We ' will have expansion.''^ And again : " Tiiis question has resolved itself at ' last into a question of slavery and dis- ' union, or no slavery and union." Sir, let the gentleman tell the people of the North, as he tells us, that slavery and the Union cannot both exist ; that the one must destroy the other ; but that slavery shall be maintained and expand- ed ; and, iiTOspective of party, they will answer him, " Then slavery must die." They know that it is a greedy monster, whose hunger is whetted by what it feeds upon. If you cast it a State, it seizes it, coils around it, crushes it, swallows it. If you cast it a Territory, it takes it down as though it were but a morsel. Hold ! sir ; stay your hand, give it no more food ; let it digest or disgorge what it has, and then let it starve. I must hasten to a conclusion. The question is now presented to the mil- lions of Northern men, whether they will be intimidated by threats, and, like cravens, permit the country still to be misruled by men who, while in power, avow that they will be traitors when out of power 1 I think, sir, that the result will show to an admiring world that those millions of men fear traitors less than they abhor tyrants ; and then we shall see whether these disunionists will rebel against the Government, as they say they will, or whether they will merely call a convention at New Gas- cony, and adopt some resolutions. " Did the militia stand fire? " asked Washington, when he heard of the first battle of the Revolution. " Did the militia stand fire'?" He well knew that, if they did, the day of victory would soon come ; and so it did. Soon the battle of Saratoga was fought and won ; and then came our allies, the French, giving assurance of other victo- ries and final triumph. In 185G, led by Fremont and Dayton, the freemen of this land stood fire. Then they fought their Bunker's Hill. Now they are led by Lincoln and Hamlin. In the morning, at Borodino, Napoleon ex= claimed, " Yonder is the sun of Aus- terlitz ! " Who in this army of free- men does not see the dawn of the day -of victory ? We shall have our Saratoga, and then we shall have our allies — not aliens, but sons of the South. The no- blest men amongst them will declare for us, giving assurance of the final triumph of our principles ; and the South, no longer old in her youth, will stand erect, rejuvenated, as though she had bathed in the Fountain of Youth ; and the North and the South, each accepting the friendly challenge of the other, will run a race of generous and glorious ri- valry down the ages. WASHINGTON, D. C. BUELL & BLANCHARD, PRINTERS. 1860. L^,^;;«RY OF CONGRESS II9IBII!lii PRESIDENTIAL CAMrAIGN" OF 18G0. ;«'«|-* REl'UBLICAN EXECUTIVE CONGllESSTONAL COMMITTEE. HON. PRK8T0X KING, N. Y., Chairman. " J. W. GllIMKS, IOWA. " L. F. S. FOSTER,, CONN. On the part of the Senate. " E. B. WASIIBURNE, ILLINOIS. HON. JOHN COVODE, PENN., Treasurer. " E. G. SPAULDING, N. Y. " J. B. ALLEY, MASS. " DAVID KILGORE, INDIANA. " J. L. N. STRATTON, N. J. 071 the part of the House of Reps. The Committee are prepared to furnish the following Speeches and Documents : The TarifT— Il.s Constilutiouality, Necessity, and Advanta- ElCiHT PAGES. The State of lUe Country— W. H. Seward. *' Irrepressible ConUici"— W. H. Sewurd. Free Homes for Free Men — G. A. Grow. Slmll the Territories be Africanized— James Harlan. Who have Violated Comproniists — .lohii Hickman. Inva-sion of Harper's Ferry — B. F. Wade. The Spciikershiii — G. W. Scrantou and J. H. Campbell. Colonization and Commerce- F. P. Blair. Oeueral Politics — Orris S. Ferry. The Demands of the South— The Republican Party Vindi- cated — Abraham Lincoln. The Homestead Bill— Its Friends and its Foes— W. Windom. The Barbarism of Slavery— Owen Lovojoy. The New Dogma of the South— " Slavery a Blessing "—H. L. Dawes. The Position of Parties— R. H. Duell. The Homestead Bill— M. S. Wilkinson. Polygamy in Utah— D. W. Gooch. Douglas and Popular Sovereignty— Carl Schurz. Ijiuds for the Landless— A Tract. The Poor Whites of the South— The Injury done them by Slavery — A Tract. A Protective Tariff Necessary— Rights of Labor— James H. Campbell. The Fanaticism of the Democratic Party- Owen Lovejoy. Mission of Republicans — .Sectionalism of Modern Democ- racy-Robert .McKniKlil. Southern Sectionaliym — Jnbn Hickman. Freedom vs. Slavery — .l"lin Hulcbins. Republican Laud Policy— llnnies lor the Million— Stephen C. Foster. Tariff— Justin S. Morrill. Legislative Protection to the Industry of the People— Alex- ander H. Rice. Modern Democracy— Henry Waldron. The Territorial Slave Policy ; The Reptiblican Party ; What the North has to do with Slavery— Thomas D. Eliot. The Supreme Court of the United States— Roscoe Conkling. Designs of the Republican Party— Christopher Robinson. Address— Montgomery Blair. The Necessity of Protecting American Labor-^. P. Verroe. Pennsylvania Betrayed by the Administration — J. Schwartz. The Republican Party and its Princijiles — James T. Hale. Revenue and Expenditiin-s— .Inhii Sherman. The Claims of Agricull II - - l in i ; \. Negro tijualily- The 1 ; i " into Hold Property in Another— The DeniM • disunion Party— The Success of the Repubii. .m I'li o ili' on'.v .Salvation lor the Country — Benjamin Sliintou. Muliml Interest of the Farmer and Manufacturer— Carey A. Trimble. ges — John T. Nixon. Position of Parties ami Abuses of Power- Reuben E. Fcnton. Bill and Report Repealing the Territorial Laws of New Mexi- Ico — .lohn A. Bingham. D^mlocracy alias Slavery— James B. McKean. SIXTEEN PAGES. Seizure of Arsenals at Harper's Ferry, Va. and Liberty, I Mo. — Lyman Trumbull. I Property in the Territories— B. F. Wade. True Democracy — History Vindicated — C. H. Van Wyck. Territorial Slave Code- H. Wilson. John P. Hale. " Posting the Books between the North and the South "—J. J. Perry. The t^lhoun Revolution— Its Basis and its Progress— J. R. Doolittle. The Republican Party the Result of Southern Aggression— r, B S.H|.ru!.-k. All!,. M, . i.; ,.,-:,s— M. J. Parrott. Yr^u , ,:. i . ! V' . 1— C. C. Washburn. Thuiiiu.-i Ciii v\ III .s threat Speech, Abridged. The Issues— The Dred Scott Decision- The Parties— Israel Washburn, Jun. TWENTY-FOUR PAGES. Slavery in the Territories— Jacob CoUamer. THIRTY-TWO PAGES. Thomas Corwiu's Great Speech. GERMAN. EIGHT PAGES. The Demands of the South— The Republican Party Vmdi- dicated — Abraham Lincoln Free Homes for Free Men— G. A. Grow. Shall the Territories be Africanized— James Harlan. Who have Violated Compromises— John Hickman. The Homestead Bill— Its Friends and its Foes- W. Windom Douglas and Popular Sovereignty— Carl Schurz. The Homestead Bill— M. S. Wilkinson. The Barbarism of Slavery— Owen Lovcyoy. Southern Sectionalism — John Hickman. SIXTEEN PAGES. Seizure of the Arsenals at Harper's Ferry, Va.,and Liberty, Mo., and in Vindication of the Republican Party — Lyman Trumbull. The State of the Country— W. H. Seward. Lands for the Landless— A Tract. Election of Speaker— H. Winter Davis. And all Republican Speeches as delivered. During the Presidential Campaign, Speeches and Documents will be supplied at the following reduced prices : per 100—8 pages 50 cents, IG pages $1, and larger documents m proportion. Address either of the above Committee. GEORGE HARRINGTON, Secretary. He LIBRARY OF CONGRESS II III! i 00118959140 ^