subject, as I find it in the printed report of his late speech. Here it
is:

"No man can vindicate the character, motives and conduct of the
signers of the Declaration of Independence except upon the
hypothesis that they referred to the white race alone, and not to
the African, when they declared all men to have been created equal;
that they were speaking of British subjects on this continent being
equal to British subjects born and residing in Great Britain; that
they were entitled to the same inalienable rights, and among them
were enumerated life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The
Declaration was adopted for the purpose of justifying the colonists
in the eyes of the civilized world in withdrawing their allegiance
from the British crown, and dissolving their connection with the
mother-country."

My good friends, read that carefully over some leisure hour, and ponder
well upon it; see what a mere wreck and mangled ruin Judge Douglas makes
of our once glorious Declaration. He says "they were speaking of British
subjects on this continent being equal to British subjects born and
residing in Great Britain!" Why, according to this, not only negroes but
white people outside of Great Britain and America were not spoken of in
that instrument. The English, Irish, and Scotch, along with white
Americans, were included, to be sure; but the French, Germans, and other
white people of the world are all gone to pot along with the Judge's
inferior races!

I had thought that the Declaration promised something better than the
condition of British subjects; but no, it only meant that we should be
equal to them in their own oppressed and unequal condition. According to