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1 R. H. Duell, Position of Parties: Speech of Hon. R. H. Duell, of New York, Delivered in the U.S. House of Representatives, April 12, 1860 1 (1860)

handle is hein.slavery/ppsrhd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: POSITION OF PARTIES. -0 SPEECH OF HON. R. H. DUELL, OF NEW YORK. D- Delivered in the U. S. House of Itepresentatives, April 12, 1860. -o Mr. CHAIRMAN: There is no better way of testing the soundness of political creeds and party measures of the present day, than to re- cur to the principles which were enunciated by the founders of the Union under which we live. I sliall therefore commence my remarks by reading from Mr. Jefferson, who declared the essential principles of our Government to be,: Equal and exactjustice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political ; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all na- tions, entangling alliances with none; a jealous care of the right of election by the people; ab- solute acquiescence in the decision of the ma-' jority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital prin- ciple and immediate parent of despotism; econ- omy in the public expenditures, that labor may be lightly burdened; the honest payment of our debts, and sacred preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of com- merce as its handmaid; the diffusion of in- formation, and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of re- ligion, freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of the 'ibeas cor- pus; and trial by juries, impartially 'selected. These principles, continued Mr. Jefferson, form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment ; they should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic in- struction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust ; and should we wan- der from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps, and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety. Mr. Chairman, no one can read this declara. tion of Mr. Jefferson without feeling some dis- position to inquire whether the principles here laid down have shaped the administration of this country for the last eight years. If there has been a departure from these principles, the party in power must be held responsible, for that party has had undisputed control of the Federal Government, in all its great depart- ments. I shall endeavor to show, that upon some of the questions of the day it has widely departed from the doctrines of Jefferson and the early fathers. Before I proceed, however, to this part of my subject, I wish to notice a charge sometimes made, that the Republican party is responsible for the prominence of the slavery question. Sir, when Mr. Fillmore retired from the Presidency, the era of good feeling had been restored, and not a threatening speck appeared in the political horizon. Although the Com- promise measures of 1850 were distasteful to many at the North, they were acquiesced in, and no disposition was manifested to disturb them. President Pierce, in his first message to Congress, in December, 1853, declared that the Compromise measures had restored harmony and repose to the public mind throughout the whole Coqjederacy ; and he pledged himself in the most s1emn manner that that repose should not, if he could prevent it, receive any shock during his official term. And yet, sir, within two months from that time, a proposition to repeal the Missouri compromise was sprang upon the country, without notice, without in- timation, and without being called for by any great public exigency. The Democratic party repealed the Missouri compromise, and thus opened anew the agitation of the slavery ques- tion. To prove this, I will refer to other than Reproduced with permission from the University of Illinois at Chicago

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