THE DOOM OF SLAVERY[1]
Mr. President and Gentlemen:—To deny the existence of an evil they do not mean to remedy, to ascribe to paltry causes the origin of great problems they do not mean to solve, to charge those who define the nature of an existing difficulty with having originated it—these are expedients which the opponents of reformatory movements have resorted to since mankind has a history. An appeal to ignorance or timidity is their last hope, when all resources of logic and argument are exhausted. The old comedy is repeated again and again.
The assertions that the great contest between free and slave labor has no foundation in fact, that the origin of the slavery controversy is to be found in the fanaticism of a few Northern abolitionists, and that those who speak of an “irrepressible conflict” are to be made responsible for its existence—these form the argumentative staple of those who possess either not sagacity enough to discern or not courage enough to state facts as they are.
In investigating the causes of the great struggle which has for years kept the minds of the people in constant uneasiness and excitement, I shall endeavor to act with the most perfect fairness. I will not indulge in any denunciations. I shall impeach the motives of no one. I shall not appeal to prejudice or passion. I invite you to pass in review the actual state of things with calmness and impartiality.
- ↑ A speech delivered in Verandah Hall, St. Louis, Mo., August 1, 1860. by invitation of the emancipationists of that city. The Presidential campaign had begun, and there was much popular excitement. Anti-slavery sentiment was strong in St. Louis, but still weak in the interior of the State. The speaker especially desired to help the emancipationists elect their Congressional candidates; he also availed himself of the opportunity to make a direct appeal to slaveholders.—From Schurz's introductory note, Speeches, 121.
