Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/279

Rh has rent the most powerful church of the nation in twain— has appeared upon the plains of Kansas with fierce strife and bloodshed; I address myself to it, feeling somewhat as I would to approach a cloud charged with lightning and a whirlwind. I hope, however, that the controversy will not grow up in bitterness, and bear its fruit in convulsions here, as it has elsewhere, but that good feeling and moderation may prevail in all that is said or done about the matter.

Whatever else may be alleged against those who oppose slavery in Oregon, they cannot, as it seems to me, be charged with commencing the contest about it. Daniel Webster said in his celebrated speech of March 7th, 1850, in the Senate of the United States, that God had fixed the natural limits of slavery southward of this, and though dead, his words yet live and are true. On the 26th day of July, a. d. 1845, the real pathfinders and pioneers to the Pacific Coast resolved that "slavery or involuntary servitude should not exist in this Territory." On the 14th day of August, 1848, the Congress of the United States, by a law voted for by Stephen A. Douglas, and approved by Jas. K. Polk, declared that "slavery should not exist in Oregon." People came here—laws have been enacted—social habits formed—an entire system of polity set up, and I, and those who think with me now, seek nothing but a continuation of this state of things, which these laws of God and man have established.

I quarrel with no one whose honest feelings or prejudices incline him to favor the institution of slavery, but when any man says that slavery would be an advantage to Oregon if adopted here, I must be permitted respectfully to dispute the correctness of his judgment. So far as I am able to judge of myself, I have no objections to local slavery. I do not reproach the slaveholders of the South for holding slaves. I consider them as high-minded, honorable, and humane a class of men as can be found in the world, and throughout the slavery agitation have contended that they were "more sinned against than sinning."

Wise, patriotic and just were the fathers of the Republic,