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1 Orris S. Ferry, Speech of Orris S. Ferry, of Connecticut 1 (1860)

handle is hein.slavery/sporris0001 and id is 1 raw text is: SPEECH OF ORRIS S, FERRY, OF CONNECTICUT, Delivered in the House of Representatives, February 10, 1860. The thouse being in Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, and having under consideration the President's annual message- Mr. FERRY said: Mlr. Chairman, in adopting the principles which govern my public conduct, I am not an are that I am actuated by any desire to ad- vance the interests-of one section of the coun- try beyond those of any other. I have sought Utways to advocate such measures, and such only, as, in my deliberate judg ment, were cal- culated tu promote the welfare of the entire Confederacy. I have felt it to be my duty to act in political affairs not merely for tie pres- -nt, but for the future also; not only for the twenty-five millions of the present generation, but for the forty millions of the next; not only for the thirty-fbur States of to-day, but for the fitly sovereignties which some of us may live to see confederated under I he Constitution of the Repnllici in a ward, not to be a politician simply, but, in so far as I am able, to be a statesman. It is with such motives that I have male my choice between the great political or- ganizations which divide the public sentiment of the country, and my only antagonismns are ,ho-e which neucssarily arise when I find my cherished principles assailed: schemes, which seem to me destructive, pressed into legislative enactments ; or measures which I deem bene- ficial strenuously resisted. I have no contro- versy with the people of the South; I an heart- ily tired of the sectional watch-words which have so long resounded in our ears, and I shall hot permit myselt to be drawn into a dispute upon local and geographical distinctions. Iy controversy is with those who guide the actioi of the Democratic party; it is there that I find the sources of the evils which afflict us, the fountains of treasonable sentiment, and the causes which have led the Government of this Republic into a well-nigh universal betrayal of the common rights of humanity. And wieu I speak of the Democratic party, I mean the or- ganization which is now called by that name. There ws a Democratic party once, sir, of a far different character, and which spoke with a widely different utterance. There was a Dem- ocratic party once, from whose platform all mention of the inalienable rights of man was not erased, and to whose ears freedom had not become a hateful sound. That party is no more ; I speak not o Cit; it is the living issues and the living organizations of the present which I choose to meet. For the first eight weeks of the session, the Democratic party in this House occupied its time, almost without interruption, in the discus- sion of the slavery question. The President de- votes a large portion of his message to the same topic. The Vice President has been home to Kentucky, and, from the legislative halls of that State, has addressed an essay to the nation upon the same subject. A Democratic Senator from Ohio introduced into the Senate, as the first measure of the session, a resolution open- ing anew the whole of this vexed question. The consequence, if not the object, of these proceedings, is seen in a wide-spread agitation throughout the country, disturbing its business interests, and endangering the peace and good order of society. The discussion which was forced upon this House has had a large share in producing these unhappy results. nor ha-s the manner in which it has been conducted by gentlemen upon the other side of the Hall been calculated to diminish its pernicious effects. With a few honorable exceptions, they have suffered passion to usurp the place of reason ; have substituted vituoeration for argument, and

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