will allow,—­what are these arguments?  They are the arguments that kings have made for enslaving the people in all ages of the world.  You will find that all the arguments in favour of kingcraft were of this class; they always bestrode the necks of the people,—­not that they wanted to do it, but because the people were better off for being ridden.  That is their argument; and this argument of the Judge is the same old serpent, that says, “You work, and I eat; you toil, and I will enjoy the fruits of it.”  Turn in whatever way you will,—­whether it come from the mouth of a king, an excuse for enslaving the people of his country, or from the mouth of men of one race as a reason for enslaving the men of another race,—­it is all the same old serpent; and I hold, if that course of argumentation that is made for the purpose of convincing the public mind that we should not care about this, should be granted, it does not stop with the negro.  I should like to know—­taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal, upon principle, and making exceptions to it—­where will it stop?  If one man says it does not mean a negro, why not another say it does not mean some other man?  If that Declaration is not the truth, let us get the statute-book in which we find it, and tear it out!  Who is so bold as to do it?  If it is not true, let us tear it out. [Cries of “No!  No!”] Let us stick to it, then; let us stand firmly by it, then.

It may be argued that there are certain conditions that make necessities and impose them upon us, and to the extent that a necessity is imposed upon a man, he must submit to it.  I think that was the condition in which we found ourselves when we established this government.  We had slaves among us; we could not get our Constitution unless we permitted them to remain in slavery; we could not secure the good we did secure, if we grasped for more; but, having by necessity submitted to that much, it does not destroy the principle that is the charter of our liberties.  Let that charter stand as our standard.

My friend has said to me that I am a poor hand to quote Scripture.  I will try it again, however.  It is said in one of the admonitions of our Lord, “Be ye [therefore] perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”  The Saviour, I suppose, did not expect that any human creature could be perfect as the Father in heaven; but He said:  “As your Father in heaven is perfect, be ye also perfect.”  He set that up as a standard, and he who did most toward reaching that standard attained the highest degree of moral perfection.  So I say in relation to the principle that all men are created equal, let it be as nearly reached as we can.  If we cannot give freedom to every creature, let us do nothing that will impose slavery upon any other creature.  Let us, then, turn this government back into the channel in which the framers of the Constitution originally placed it.  Let us stand firmly by each other.  If we do not do so, we are tending in the contrary direction, that our friend Judge Douglas proposes,—­not intentionally,—­working in the traces that tend to make this one universal slave nation.  He is one that runs in that direction, and as such I resist him.