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![handle is hein.slavery/spjhabslvdc0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
SPEECH
OF
JOHN P. HALE,
Of New Hampshire,
ON THE
ABOLITION OF SLAVERY
IN THE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
DELI7ERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MARCH 18, 1862.
The bill for the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the
District of Columbia being under consideration, Mr. HALE addressed the
Senate as follows:
MR. PRESIDENT: I fear, from the long time that I have been entitled
to the floor upon this subject, the expectation may have been indulged
by some that I proposed to make some extended remarks on it; but I
do not. I propose in a very brief manner to notice one of the objections
raised by the honorable Senator from Kentucky [Mr. DAVIs] to this
bill ; and that is in regard to the consequences that are to ensue upon
the enactment of the bill now before the Senate. I may remark that
of all the forms skepticism ever assumed, the most insidious, the most
dangerous, and the most fatal, is that which suggests that it is unsafe
to perform plain and simple duty for fear that disastrous consequences
may result therefrom.
This question of emancipation, wherever it has been raised in this
country, so far as I know, has rarely ever been argued upon the great
and fundamental principles of right; the inquiry is never put, certainly
in legislative circles, what is right, what is just, what is due to the
individuals that are to be affected by the measure, but what are to be
the consequences? Men entirely forget to look at the objects that are
to be affected by the bill, in view of the inherent rights of their man-
hood, in view of the great questions of humanity, of Christianity, and
of duty; but what are to be the consequences, what is to be its effect
upon the price of sugar, tobacco, 'cotton, and other necessaries and
luxuries of life? The honorable Senator from Kentucky looks upon](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/spjhabslvdc0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)