on; and in the free
States there were less than sixty thousand mulattoes--and a large number
of them were imported from the South.

FRAGMENT OF SPEECH AT EDWARDSVILLE, ILL.,

SEPT. 13, 1858.

I have been requested to give a concise statement of the difference, as
I understand it, between the Democratic and Republican parties, on the
leading issues of the campaign. This question has been put to me by a
gentleman whom I do not know. I do not even know whether he is a friend of
mine or a supporter of Judge Douglas in this contest, nor does that make
any difference. His question is a proper one. Lest I should forget it, I
will give you my answer before proceeding with the line of argument I have
marked out for this discussion.

The difference between the Republican and the Democratic parties on the
leading issues of this contest, as I understand it, is that the former
consider slavery a moral, social and political wrong, while the latter
do not consider it either a moral, a social or a political wrong; and the
action of each, as respects the growth of the country and the expansion of
our population, is squared to meet these views. I will not affirm that the
Democratic party consider slavery morally, socially and politically right,
though their tendency to that view has, in my opinion, been constant and
unmistakable for the past five years. I prefer to take, as the accepted
maxim of the party, the idea put forth by Judge Douglas, that he "don't
care whether slavery is voted down or voted up." I am quite willing to
believe that many Democrats would prefer that slavery should be always
voted down, and I know that some prefer that it be always voted up; but
I have a right to insist that their action, especially if it be their
constant action, shall determine their ideas and preferences on this
subject. Every measure of the Democratic party of late years, bearing
directly or indirectly on the slavery question, has corresponded with this
notion of utter indifference whether slavery or freedom shall outrun in
the race of empire across to the Pacific--every measure, I say, up to the
Dred Scott decision, where, it seems to me, the idea is boldly suggested
that slavery is better than freedom. The Republican party, on the
contrary, hold that this government was instituted to secure the blessings
of freedom, and that slavery is an unqualified evil to the negro, to the
white man, to the soil, and to the State. Regarding it as a