Hon. Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State (his Rochester speech of Oct. 25, 1858):
“Our country is a theatre which exhibits, in full operation, two radically different political systems—the one resting on the basis of servile or slave labor, the other on the basis of voluntary labor of freemen. * * * * * * * *
“The two systems are at once perceived to be incongruous. But never have permanently existed together in one country, and they never can.
* * * These antagonistic systems are continually coming in closer contact, and collision ensues.
“Shall I tell you what this collision means? It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces, and it means that the United States must, and will, sooner or later, become entirely a slaveholding nation, or entirety a free labor nation. Either the cotton and rice fields of South Carolina, and the sugar plantations of Louisiana, will ultimately be tilled by free labor, and Charleston and New Orleans become marts for legitimate merchandise alone, or else the rye fields and wheat fields of Massachusetts and New York must again be surrendered by their farmers to the slave culture and to the production of slaves, and Boston and New York become once more markets for trade in the bodies and souls of men.”
At a later period, in the Senate of the United States, the same Senator uttered the following language:—
“A free Republican government like this, notwithstanding all its constitutional checks, cannot long resist and counteract the progress of society.
“Free labor has at last apprehended its rights and its destiny, and is organizing itself to assume the government of the Republic. It will henceforth meet you boldly and resolutely here (Washington); it will meet you everywhere, in the Territories and out of them, wherever you may go to extend slavery. It has driven you back in California and in Kansas, it will invade you soon in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Missouri, and Texas. It will meet you in Arizona, in Central America, and even in Cuba.
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“You may, indeed, get a start under or near the tropics, and seem safe for a time, but it will be only a short time. Even there you will found States only for free labor to maintain and occupy. The interest of the whole race demands the ultimate emancipation of all men. Whether that consummation shall be allowed to take effect, with needful and wise precautions against sudden change and disaster, or be hurried on by violence, is all that remains for you to decide. The white man needs this continent to labor upon. His head is clear, his arm is strong, and his necessities are fixed.