Page:General James Shields, Soldier, Orator, Statesman.djvu/14

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MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

ism, the spirit of liberty, the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of prophecy. On the attempt by the South to force slavery on California, he said:

Sir, they are laying the foundation of a great empire on the shore of the Pacific,—a mighty empire,—an empire that at some future day will carry your flag, your commerce, your arts and your arms into Asia, and through China, Hindustan, and Persia, into Western Europe. Talk about carrying slavery there, of imposing such a blight upon that people, of withering their strength and paralyzing their energies by such an institution! No, sir; such a thing was never intended by God, and will never be permitted by man. It is sometimes urged here that our constitution carries slavery with it wherever it goes, unless positively excluded by law; in other words, that slavery is the normal law of this Republic. I think the principle is just the reverse. Slavery, being in violation of natural right, can only exist by positive enactment; and the constitution of this country only tolerates slavery where it exists, but neither extends or establishes it anywhere.

Concerning the Southern threat of secession, he philosophized thus eloquently and convincingly:

But suppose the Southern Confederacy was now established, that it was quietly and peaceably established this moment, what would be the actual condition of the Confederacy? It could not exist a single day without a close and intimate connection with some great nation having all the elements of industrial, financial and commercial power. The South possesses none of these elements. It has plenty of cotton, and it has brave men and lovely women, but it is wholly destitute of all the other material elements of national power. In fact the Southern Confederacy would be a mere colony of masters and slaves to raise cotton for the factories of England. Besides, sir, it is my firm conviction that the institution of slavery, as it now exists in the South, would not last, in its present shape, for the space of twenty years in that Southern Confederacy. The South might as well attempt to shut out the pressure of the atmosphere, as to shut out the whole pressure of the civilized world on its cherished institutions.

Senator Shields' term of six years expired March 4, 1855, and on February 8 preceding the Illinois legislature met in joint session to choose his sucessor. Shields was the Democratic caucus nominee, but the embryo Republican party was in the ascendant and elected Lyman Trumbull in his stead. On the first ballot Shields received 41 votes, Abraham Lincoln 45, Lyman Trumbull 5, and 5 votes were scattered. On the last ballot the anti-Nebraska men concentrated on Trumbull and