consumed as stubble, and from before whose face every oppressor of the land shall flee, and the hearts of the judges if your Supreme Court shall be turned to dust and ashes.

Sir, it is the purpose and mission of the Republican party to avert, if possible, the impending doom which hangs like a black pall over the future of the Republic. It is their purpose, if possible, to prevent, first, the political slavery and then the final subjugation of the poor whites to a despotism which, in all ages and all countries, has been inseparable from even a milder form of servitude than ours. Remembering that the result of slave systems has ever been the same; that it has destroyed all the empires and republics which have perished from the earth; and believing that it will destroy this Republic of ours unless we provide and prepare the way for its ultimate extinction, they have proposed to the people of all sections and all former political parties a union - first, to prevent the further spread of this evil, as our fathers did; and secondly, to provide a way for the final freedom of all. If some just and fair plan is not adopted to prevent the further spread of this evil, and secure the liberation of every slave, then indeed may we look back in vain through the history of all the republics and nations that have flourished and fallen, to find a people whose condition was not preferable to the slaveholders of the Southern States; preferable in that security to person and property which is indispensable to peace and happiness. Sir, there is scarcely a government, today, in civilized Europe, whose citizens do not enjoy greater security for their persons and their families than do the slave holders of the South. Overtaxed and oppressed though they. may be and are, yet they enjoy a freedom from apprehension which the slaveholder can never know- an apprehension fearful and dark as the grave, and which all must dread who sleep beneath the overshadowing wing of slavery. There is and there can be no security from this terrible apprehension. It is inseparable from the slave system. Night never closes her mantle around the plantation home, that a shudder does not creep through the heart of the master, and suspicion, like an ever-watchful sentinel, sit upon his eyelids.

Sir, the policy of the Republican party is, by an ultimate emancipation of this race to secure the liberty and happiness

of both master and slave, and remove forever the cause of this cruel alarm and apprehension, and thus to bring safety and prosperity where now sectional jealousy and alienation, desolation and fear, are supreme; to cause the white-winged sail of commerce, whose mission is peace, to cover every Southern river and fill every Southern harbor; to reclaim her impoverished wastes, and make her desolate places the home of peace and plenty. If this cannot be done, and speedily done, and peacefully done, then indeed I fear the day is not far distant when the genius of despair, like an atmosphere, will pervade every habitation, and flap its dark and desolating wings over your fairest heritage; when peace shall flee from your borders, and the terrible cry of " to arms! to arms!" shall be heard from mountain to mountain, and by the side of every river and in every valley; when the shrieks of flying women and helpless children will be borne upon every gale, and the avenging hand of Heaven shall be laid heavily upon you, as it was of old upon the oppressors of the children of Israel. Sir, I know of no way of escaping the like impending doom, which has sealed the fate of all nations and people who have preceded us that were guilty of this wrong, except by dealing justly, loving mercy, and permitting this oppressed people to go. When this is done, peace and concord, prosperity and happiness, shall again return to bless us as a free and united people; and it can only return when, throughout the nation, on every foot of American soil, and everywhere beneath the national ensign, the rights of humanity are fully recognized and respected, and your law-makers, and your General and State Governments shall again be directed by the genius of universal emancipation.

SPEECH

OF HON. JAMES M. ASHLEY, OF OHIO.

DELIVERED IN THE U. S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 17, 1861.

A CONTINENTAL REPUBLIC, WITH NO SLAVE BENEATH ITS FLAG!

THE MAJORITY MUST GOVERN. IT IS TREASON TO SECEDE!

MR. CHAIRMAN: For more than a quarter of a century, the citizens of the free States of this Union, powerful in numbers, indomitable in energy, superior in wealth and culture, have submitted to the constitutionally expressed will of the people, and a few thousand slave-owners of the South, in the name of Democracy, have dictated and controlled the policy of the National Government. The constitutionally expressed will of the people is again declared, and the parties which have been defeated are called upon to assent to the adoption of the policy of the fathers in the inauguration of the just sway of freedom in the National Government. But a large majority of the leaders of one of the parties into which the South is divided, not only refuse obedience to the legally constituted authorities, but some four or five States, under the guidance of these party leaders, have gone so far as to declare their independence, and others are openly threatening rebellion, and the destruction of the government they have so long controlled.

Standing, Mr. Chairman, upon the threshold of such events, events the most important in our history since the era of the Revolution, I feel the importance, the responsibility, and the grandeur of the mission committed by the verdict of a generous people to the party of which I am a member. And I desire for a short time the attention of the House, while discussing the exciting questions which it is alleged this verdict of the people has precipitated upon the country.

Mr. Chairman, however much to be regretted, I am not insensible to the fact, that in a struggle to carry any important measure through this House, tactics are often restored to rather than argument, that votes are secured and changes are oftener effected by party machinery and Executive influences, than by appeals to the judgment and patriotism of members.

Nevertheless, I feel it to be my duty to speak and make known, so far as I may in the limited time allowed me, the views of those whom I have the honor to represent.

Mr. Chairman: Our present prosperity and happiness as a nation, no less than our future peace, demands, in my judgment, the preservation of the American Union as our fathers intended it should be, with no star withdrawn from the constellation; demands the maintenance of the National Constitution inviolate, and the faithful execution of all laws passed in pursuance of that Constitution, not only in every State but in every Territory within the limits of the Republic; demands an acquiescence in and support of the legally constituted authorities chosen by the people against any and all combinations of men who may attempt to subvert or destroy the government, because they cannot longer control and dictate its policy.

Mr. Chairman, the people of the United States will ask, the nations of Europe will ask, what has been done in this country to justify revolution and the attempted destruction of the National Government? Where are the usurpations, the acts of oppression, which have been committed either by the National Government or any one or more of the Northern State governments against any of the Southern States, or the citizens of any Southern State, that will excuse, much less justify, revolution? Certainly there are no acts of the General Government, of which the Southern people may justly complain. The President [Mr. Buchanan] says in his message, that during his term of office the laws have been faithfully executed, and in order that the Southern slave barons may be doubly assured that he has been looking after and guarding their special interest, he declares that "THE FUGI

TIVE SLAVE LAW HAS BEEN CARRIED INTO EXECUTION IN EVERY CONTESTED CASE SINCE THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION."

Senator Douglas, in his letter to the merchants of New Orleans, on the 13th of November last, says: “I HAVE YET TO LEARN THAT THE PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH COMPLAIN OF THE ACTS NOW ON THE STATUTE BOOK UPON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY, AS APPLIED TO THE STATES OR TERRITORIES OR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA." Of no action of the National Government up to this date, either in refusing to pass such laws as the slave barons have demanded or executing them as they have ordered, can the South justly complain; because they have controlled until within a few days the Government, and filled all its offices with men who have done their bidding, even to conspiring with those who are attempting to overthrow the government.

What, then, is the cause of this "crisis," as it is called? I confess, Mr. Chairman, that I have seen no adequate cause for it, and therefore voted against the unusual course adopted by the House in referring that part of the President's Message treating of what is termed "OUR DOMESTIC AFFAIRS," to a special committee of thirty-three.

If there had been any serious alarm, whether with or without cause, among the great body of sober thinking men in the South; if they really believed that their so-called rights were to be invaded because of Mr. Lincoln's election; I say if there were those who were really alarmed, I was unwilling to add to that alarm by adopting an unusual course in creating an extraordinary committee, and thus give aid and encouragement to the conspirators in stirring up political animosities, for the sole purpose of precipitating the country into a revolution, unless the North again surrendered as they had uniformly done before under such menaces, and on such terms as it might please the conspirators graciously to dictate. I believed that such a committee would not only do no good as the sequel has proven - but that by creating it we would tacitly admit that there was some necessity for it. It appeared to me like pleading "GUILTY" to the indictment of the President, which I could not do, knowing it to be false. For these reasons I voted against raising this extraordinary committee of thirty-three (33).

But I am told that we are in the midst of a "crisis," a "revolutionary crisis," and such a one as we have never before