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
grass--you can't root it out. You yourself may detest slavery; but your
neighbour has five or six slaves, and he is an excellent neighbour, or
your son has married his daughter, and they beg you to help save their
property, and you vote against your interest and principles to
accommodate a neighbour, hoping that your vote will be on the losing
side.
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