Page:Speeches of Carl Schurz (IA speechesofcarlsc00schu).pdf/388

378 to go to the trouble of disturbing the process of nature, but to let it die. [Repeated applause.] Look around you. Slavery has been abolished by the loyal people of West Virginia; it has been abolished in Louisiana; it has been abolished in Arkansas; it has, at last, been abolished in Maryland. [Cheers.] And improving upon the Southern text, we may now sing: “Maryland, our Maryland!” [Loud and long cheers.] Missouri, now being fully abolitionized by the rebel General Price, will soon follow the good example, and Tennessee will not lag behind; Kentucky and Delaware, isolated, will have no choice; and as to the rest of the Southern States, as our armies move in, so slavery moves out; only let us shut the door behind it. [Great applause.] Throughout the whole South the system has been so violently shaken by the earthquake of the war, that people are glad to hurry from under. The ball of emancipation is rolling on in obedience to the laws of gravitation. Do not stand in the way. I do not expect you, Democrats, to push; all I ask you to do, is not to put on the brakes. [Applause.] You have always been telling us, that you, individually, did not love slavery; I will go so far as to excuse you even from hating it; only treat it with becoming disdain and indifference, and the rest will easily be attended to. [Renewed cheers and laughter.] Yes, slavery is abolishing itself; you have only to acknowledge the fact, and let it be duly and legally recorded. Then you will be relieved of the controversy, which, as you told us, was always so distasteful to you; with slavery the element of strife and discord will disappear, which alone has imperiled the permanency of the Union. [Applause.]

And why should you not, even if you cannot screw up your feelings to something like sympathy, take advantage of so fine an opportunity to aid in this great consummation by mere indifference? Can you tell me, or