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![handle is hein.slavery/spmrswe0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
SPEECH OF MR. SEWARD.
Mr. PRESIDENT: Eight years ago, .e slew the
Wilmot Proviso in the Senate Chamber; and
buried it with triumphal demonstrations under
the floors of the Capitol. Four years later, we
exploded altogether the time-honored system cf
governing the Territories by Federal rules and
regulations, and published and proclaimed in its
stead a new gospel of popular sovereignty, whose
ways, like those of wisdom, were to be ways of
pleasantness, and all of whose paths were sup-
posed to be flowery paths of peace. Neverthe-
less, the question whether there shall be Slavery
or no Slavery in the Territories, is again the stir-
ring passage of the day. The restless Proviso
has burst the cerements of the grave, and, striking
hands here in our very presence with the gentle
spirit of popular sovereignty run mad, is seen
raging freely in our halls, scattering dismay
among the Administration benches in both
Houses of Congress. Thus an old and unwel-
come lesson is read to us anew. The question
of Slavery in the Federal Territories, which are
the nurseries of future States, independently of
all its moral and humane elements, involves a
dynastical struggle of two antagonistical sys-
tems, the labor of slaves and the labor of free-
men, for mastery in the Federal Union. One of
these systems partakes of an aristocratic charac-
ter; the other is purely democratic. Each one
of the existing States has staked, or it will ulti-
mately stake, not only its internal welfare, but
also its influence in the Federal councils, on the
decision of that contest. Such a struggle is not
to be arrested, quelled, or reconciled, by tempo-
rary expedients or compromises.
Mr. President, I always engage reluctantly in
these discussions, which awaken passion just in
the degree that their importance demands the
impartial umpirage of reason. This reluctance
deepens now, when I look around me, and count
the able contestants who have newly entered the
lists on either side, and shadowy forms of many
great and honored statesmen who once were elo-
quent in these disputes, but whose tongues have
since become stringless instruments, rise up
before me. It is, however, a maxim in military
science, that in preparation for war, every one
should think as if the last event depended on his
counsel, and in every great battle each one
should fight as if he were the only champion.
The principle, perhaps is equally sound in politi-
cal affairs. If it be possible, I shall performmy
present duty in such a way as to wound no just
sensibilities. I must, however, review the ac-
tion of Presidents, Senates, and Congresses. I
do indeed, with all my heart, reject the instruc-
tion given by the Italian master of political sci-
ence, which teaches that all men are bad by na-
ture, and that they will not fail to slow this de-
pravity whenever they have a fair opportunity.
But jealousy of executive power in a high, prac-
tical virtue in Republics ; and we shall find it hard
to deny the justice of the character of free ]egis-
lative bodies, which Charles James Fox drew,
when he said that the British House of Com-
mons, of which he was at the moment equally an
ornament and an idol, like every other popular
assembly, must be viewed as a mass of men ca-
pable of too much attachment and too much an-
imosity, capable of being biased by weak and
even wicked motives, and liable to be governed
by ministerial influence, by caprice, and by cor-
ruption.
Mr. President, I propose to'inquire, in the first
place, why the question before us is attended by
real or apparent dangers.
I think our apprehensions are in part due to
the intrinsic importance of the transaction con-
earned. Whenever we add a new column to
the Federal colonnade, we need to lay its found-
ations so firmly, to shape its shaft with such
just proportions, to poise it with such exact-
ness, and to adjust its connections with the ex-
isting structure so carefully, that instead of fall-
ing prematurely, and dragging other and ven-
erable columns with it to the ground, it may
stand erect forever, increasing the grandeur and
the stability of the whole massive and imperial
fabric. Still, the admission of a new State is
not necessarily or even custemarily attended by
either embarrassments or alarms. We have
aIready admitted eighteen new States without
serious commotions, except in the cases of Mis-
souri, Texas, and California. We are even now
admitting two others, Minnesota and Oregon
and these transactions go on so smoothly, that
only close observers are aware that we are thus
consolidating our dominion on the shores of Lake
Superior, and almost at the gates of the Arctic
ocean.
It is manifest that the apprehended difficulties
in the preseat case have some relation to the
Reproduced with permission from the University of Illinois at Chicago](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/spmrswe0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)