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![handle is hein.slavery/bbslvyow0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
THE BARBARISM OF SLAVERY.
SPEECH OF HON. OWEN LOVEJOY, OF 1LLINOIS
0
Delivered in the U. S. House of Representatives, April 5, 1860.
0
The House being in the Committee of the
Whole on the state of the Union-
Mr. LOVEJOY said:
Mr. CHAm AN : The House has been occupied
for several days in the discussion of the subject
of polygamy. The Republican party, of which
I am a member, stands pledgedsince 1856 to the
extermin ttion, so far as the Federal Government
has the power, of the twin relics of barbarism,
slavery and polygamy. We have this power in
the Territories of the, United States.
Now, sir, as we anticipate a death blow having
been given to one of these twins, I propose to
pay my respects to the other. I want to see
them both strangled and go down together, as
they both richly deserve.
Mr. COBB. I rise to a question of order.
The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman will state
his question of order.
Mr. COBB. I was going to raise a question of
order upon the right of the gentleman to discuss
the question of the twin relics, under the new*
rule we have adopted. However, I will not inter-
fere; the gentleman may go on with his speech.
Mr. LOVEJOY. I am entitled to the floor ; I
do not yield to the gentleman ; and I will pro-
teed with my remarks within my hour, with the
gentleman's permission, or without it.
The CHAIRMAN. The Chair supposes that
general debate is in order upoii this bill, the
House now being in the Committee of the Whole
on the state of the Union, and no special order
pending.
Mr. LOVEJOY. I was about to say, when in-
terrupted, that I am aware that the practical
que.tion presented to this House and to the
country is, whether slavery sha,!l be extended
beyond its present limits, as that is the only
question over which they have exclusive juris-
diction. And if slavery were contented to re-
main restricted, and findtits future where it now
is, we might perhaps forbear this discussion.
But when it is proposed to extend what is
termed an institution-but which is not an in-
stitution ; which is simply a practice-the ques-
tion naturally arises, what is the nature, what
are the influences, and what are the elements of
this practice, and what will they prove to he if
allowed expansion ?
I am aware it has been stated upon this floor
that I he morale of slavery is settled; that its
ethics are no longer to be discussed; that they
were settled ages ago by the Stagyrite of Greece,
and have been reaffirmed and re-established by the
Ciianticleer of Ohio, [Mr. Cox,] in rhetoric gor-
geous as sunset's glow. We are told that where
slavery will pay, slaveholding will go. Precise-
ly upon the same principle we might say, that
where robbery will pay, robbery will go; where
piracy will pay, piracy will go; and where adi-
nose human flesh is cheaper than that of beeves,
cannibalism will go, because it will pay. Sir,
than robbery, than piracy, than polygamy, slave-
holding is worse-more criminal, more injurious
to man, and consequently more offensive to God.
Slaveholding has been justly designated as the
sum of all villainy. Pnt every crime perpetrated
among men into a moral crucible, and dissolve
and combine them all, and the resultant amalgam
is slaveholding. IL bas the violence of robbery.
A ME smn. You arejoking.
Mr. LOVEJOY. No, sir; I am speaking in
dead earnest, before God, God's own truth. It
has the violence of robbery, the blood and cru-
elty of piracy, and the offensive and brutal
lusts of polygamy, all combined and concentra-
ted in itself, with aggravations that neither one
of these crimes ever knew or dreamed of.
Mr. Chairman, the justification of slavery is
placed, so far as I know, mainly upon these
grounds: the inferiority of the enslaved race;
the fact that enslaving men imparts Chris-
tianity and civiliiation to them; and, thirdly,
the guaranties of the Constitution. These are
the .three main arguments presented to justify
slavery, and consequently to justify its expari-
sion. And, by the way, I hold that the extreme
men, as they are called, on this question, are
the only men who have the logic of it. I am
right, or the fire-eaters are right. If slavery is
right in Virginia, it is right in Kansas. If it is
wrong in Kansas, it is wrong everywhere.
Now, sir, in regard to the first point-the infe-
riority of the enslaved race. We may concede
it as a matter of fact, that it is inferior; but
does it follow, therefore, that, it is right to en-
slave a man simply because he is inferior? This,
to me, is a most abhorrent doctrine. It would
place the weak everywhere at the mercy of the
strong ; it would place the poor at the mercy of
the rich ; it would place those that are deficient
in intellect at the mercy of those that are gifted
in mental endowment.
The principle of enslaving human beings be-
cause they are inferior, is this : If a man is a
cripple, trip him up; if he is old and weak, and
bowed with the weight of -years, strike him, for
he cannot strike back; if idiotic, take advantage
of him ; and if a child, deceive him. This, sir,
this is the doctrine of Democrats, and the doc-
trine of devils as well; and there is no place
in the universe, outside the five points of hell
and the Democratic party, where the practice
and prevalence of such doctrines would not be
a disgrace. [Laughtor.] If the strong of.the
earth are to enslave the weak here, it would jus-
tify angels in enslaving men, because they are
superior; and archangels in turn would be jasti-
fied in subjugating those who are inferior in in-
tellect and position, and ultimately it would
transform Jehovah into an infinite Juggernaut,
rolling the huge wheels of his Omnipotence-
[Mr. LOvEJOY had advanced into the area, and
Reproduced with permission from the University of Illinois at Chicago](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/bbslvyow0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)