n had made the perpetuity of slavery a necessity in this
country.

As another piece of evidence tending to this same point: Quite recently in
Virginia, a man--the owner of slaves--made a will providing that after his
death certain of his slaves should have their freedom if they should so
choose, and go to Liberia, rather than remain in slavery. They chose to be
liberated. But the persons to whom they would descend as property claimed
them as slaves. A suit was instituted, which finally came to the Supreme
Court of Virginia, and was therein decided against the slaves upon the
ground that a negro cannot make a choice; that they had no legal power to
choose, could not perform the condition upon which their freedom depended.

I do not mention this with any purpose of criticizing it, but to connect
it with the arguments as affording additional evidence of the change of
sentiment upon this question of slavery in the direction of making it
perpetual and national. I argue now as I did before, that there is such
a tendency; and I am backed, not merely by the facts, but by the open
confession in the slave States.

And now as to the Judge's inference that because I wish to see slavery
placed in the course of ultimate extinction,--placed where our fathers
originally placed it,--I wish to annihilate the State Legislatures, to
force cotton to grow upon the tops of the Green Mountains, to freeze ice
in Florida, to cut lumber on the broad Illinois prairie,--that I am in
favor of all these ridiculous and impossible things.

It seems to me it is a complete answer to all this to ask if, when
Congress did have the fashion of restricting slavery from free territory;
when courts did have the fashion of deciding that taking a slave into a
free country made him free,--I say it is a sufficient answer to ask if
any of this ridiculous nonsense about consolidation and uniformity did
actually follow. Who heard of any such thing because of the Ordinance of
'87? because of the Missouri restriction? because of the numerous court
decisions of that character?

Now, as to the Dred Scott decision; for upon that he makes his last point
at me. He boldly takes ground in favor of that decision.

This is one half the onslaught, and one third of the entire plan of the
campaign. I am opposed to that decision in a certain sense, but not in
the sense which he puts it. I say that in so far as it decided in favor
of Dred Scott's master, and against Dred Scott a