in this convention came from Kentucky to Illinois (instead of going to
Missouri), not only to better their conditions, but also to get away
from slavery. They have said so to me, and it is understood among us
Kentuckians that we don't like it one bit. Now, can we, mindful of the
blessings of liberty which the early men of Illinois left to us, refuse
a like privilege to the free men who seek to plant Freedom's banner on
our Western outposts? ["No! No!"] Should we not stand by our neighbours
who seek to better their conditions in Kansas and Nebraska? ["Yes!
Yes!"] Can we as Christian men, and strong and free ourselves, wield the
sledge or hold the iron which is to manacle anew an already oppressed
race? ["No! No!"] "Woe unto them," it is written, "that decree
unrighteous decrees and that write grievousness which they have
prescribed." Can we afford to sin any more deeply against human liberty?
["No! No!"]

One great trouble in the matter is, that slavery is an insidious and
crafty power, and gains equally by open violence of the brutal as well
as by sly management of the peaceful. Even after the ordinance of 1787,
the settlers in Indiana and Illinois (it was all one government then)
tried to get Congress to allow slavery temporarily, and petitions to
that end were sent from Kaskaskia, and General Harrison, the Governor,
urged it from Vincennes the capital. If that had succeeded, good-bye to
liberty here. But John Randolph of Virginia made a vigorous report
against it; and although they persevered so well as to get three
favourable reports for it, yet the United States Senate, with the aid of
some slave States, finally _squelched_ it for good. [Applause.] And that
is why this hall is to-day a temple for free men instead of a negro
livery stable. [Great applause and laughter.] Once let slavery get
planted in a locality, by ever so weak or doubtful a title, and in ever
so small numbers, and it is like the Canada thistle or Bermuda