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tbi. doctrine, 1"> of the ‘lootrinn of ■olvntion
declared to man in the sacred word of Lod, but
whilst I insist upon the absolute right of the
Southern people to legal protection lu the pos
session and enjoyment of their slave property in
the Territories of the United States and the pow
er and duty of Congress to give such protection,
I utterly deny the power of congress under the
constitution or otherwise, to prohibit slavery
.from the Territories, or abolishing it, if there To
‘"regulate and protect the property of the citizen is
one thing—to deprive him of it is another, and
altogether different thing. One is not only with
in the power of all Governments, but is one of the
main objects and obligations of all Governments.
The other cannot be done in our Government and
under our Constitution, except for “the public
■ use” and not then without jut compensation to
the owner. Such is the language ot the Federal
Constitution. This right of the Southern people
on one hand, surd this power and duty ot Congress
on the otberjare, I hope and believe, fast becom
ing the settleadoctrine of the Southern people,
and will, sooner or later, be demanded by them,
with a spirit and power which cannot be resisted.
Hut this doctrine, so dear as it is, and ought to be
to the South, will never be recognized or admitted
by the North, whilst the South is divided in senti
ment or undecided in aetion.jg|The Black Repub- i
lican part y at the North scout* it. The Northern
Democracy shrink from it. It will never be gran
ted or acted*upon until the South, united upon it,
speaks in authoritative, positive and determined
language to the North, and tells it, “we aro en
titled to this right—wc must have it —if we cannot
get it in the Union,we will seek itoutofthe Union.’
If the South over brings its united mind and heart
up to that poiut, then her Constitutional rights
will be respected and conceded by the Federal
Government; but without such a bold, manly
and decided course, what are we to expect from
the Northern States, or from Federal Legislation?
Look at the present condition and future pros
pects of public sentiment in the free States—at
the present and future state of political parties in
Congress. There are a few sound and true
Northern men still lingering in the Senate, nearly
Hgpery vestige of sound Northern conservatism in
the other house has already been extinguished—
four years more will give to the abolitionists the
control of the Senate—lß64 will witness the in
auguration of a free soil President, and then, with
both branches of Congress, and an abolition
President, the Supreme Court, the last barrier to
fanatical encroachment, will soon give way.—
Vacancies upon that bench of stern old men will
occur by nature, or be made by Congressional
legislation, to be filled by the creatures of party
dictation, until that august Tribunal will bow its
neck to the yoke of unrelenting fanaticism, and
then the acts of an abolition Congress, sanctioned
by an abolition President, will be upheld by the
decrees of an abolition Court and enforced, if ne
cessary, by the bayonets of an abolition army.—
The great high Priest of the abolition Church,
Wm. H. Seward, has already declared in bold and
vaunting terms, in the Senate of the United
States, that “the Supreme Court must recede, or
the Supreme Court must be reformed,” and he
has more power and influence over the Black
Republican party of the North, than the Pope of
Rome has over the Catholic world. It is in vain
to hope that a reaction will take place in tho
Northern mind, and that a sound conservatism
wt|l ever again rule the Northern heart. We
have heard that cry and that hope repeated again
and again, for more than twenty years, and yet
the spirit and power of abolition have continued
to spread, increase and strengthen, until now,
& they control the political action of nearly every
free State in this Union, and openly proclaims
a |fe.eJ at ontion of wiping out slavery in all the
American States. The bold and daring declara
gWKtho great leader of the Republican party
in at Rochester, last fall, that freedom
slavery cannot exist together in the same
Government, and that one or the other must fall,
was but the echo of the popular sentiment all
over the free States. It has been repeated on the
floor of the National Congress ; it has filled the
public press ; it hes been re-echoed from the hust
ings of many popular assemblies and will be the
great shiboleth in the campaign of 1860. The
Northern clans are to be mustered to the war cry
of “down with Slavery,” and tho black flag of
“universal emancipation” will be raised aloft,
never again to bo furled until it shall waive in
triumph over a disgraced, degraded and destroy
ed South, or met at the threshold by a manly
spirit of Southern resistance, be driven back to
Its native regions to lead on the dark destiny and
fortunes of a separate Northern Government.—
May such be its fate—and such will he itsfate and
its only mission, if tht Southern people are only
true to themselves, true to their rights, their in
terests and their honor—true to that spirit of in
dependence, and those sacred principles of civil
I and religious liberty which animated their im
? mortal sires in the struggles of the Revolution.
I know not how others may look upon tho tri
umph of the abolitionists in the Presidential elec
tion of 1860, but I do not hesitate to declare for
myself, that I should consider it as a declaration
of war against the institution of slavery in the
Union, and a foreshadowing of a settled policy to
break it down by the influence, power and action
of the Federal Government. I cannot stop to
enlarge upon the process by which such a result
would be reached. With every branch of the
government in The hands of a party steeped in the
gall and wormwood of anti-slavery hostility, am
bitious of success, and maddened by oppositiou,
no stone would be left unturned, no means ne
glected, no effort untried to accomplish its dia
bolical purposes. In the Union, its powers would
be omnipotent. The rejection of slave States and
admission of freo States, would soon swell their
majority in both Houses of Congress to an over
powering and irresistable number, against which
the feeble voice of the South would be raised in
vain.
The reversal of the Dred Scott decision—the
exclusion of slavery from the territories by Con
gressional enactment, the repeal of the fugitive
slave law, the abolition of slavery in the District
of Columbia, the jimpositiou of high protective
tariffs to burthen and .cripple slave labor in the
South, in short the exercise of every power, for
whioh an excuse may be found or invented, cal
culated to weaken the institution and finally des
troy it, would be tho first and early fruits*of their
daring and malignant experiments. If the Sonth
submits to one, she will submit to another, and
to all of these abominable and damnable aggres
sions. until she will find herself both unable and
unwilling to resist a decree of universal emanci
pation. In my opinion, the true safety of the
South, as well as her true honor, dictates a firm
and manly resistance to the first success of the
abolition party, which shall be|founded upon op
position to slavery and looks to its overthrow in
the Union.
If, therefore, the republican party of the free
States, which is only another name l'or the aboli
tion party, shall present sectional Northern can
didates in 18b0—shall run them as sectional can
didates, and upon a sectionalplatform of opposition
to Southern slavery, and shall elect them by a sec
tional Northern vote, it, would in my opinion, he
sufficient and ample time for separation. I care mt
in whit specious form of words, such a sectional
platform may be made ; if the spirit of aoti-slave
tj shall be its soul and its auimating element—if
hatred to slavery and those who uphold and de
fend it, shall be the coDtroling powor over the
Northern masses, and shall carry them to the
polH to vote for their aboMtion candidates and
thus the true, souud, conservative men of the
North and South shall be borne down and defeat
ed, it will be time for the Southern people to look to
the safety of their “institution,” and to seek it, if
need be, in the formation of a Southern Confed-
eracy
And now you will ask me. how is that to be
done—by what steps and through what pro
cess is such au object to be accomplished ?
Fellow-Citizens, 1 am but an humble man.
with little pride of opinion, and no great con
fidence in my ability to suggest or advise a
plan for the attainment of so important a re
sult- It is indeed a momentous subject. No
question which has occurred since the times
when our fathers commenced thq, revolulion
f?k Btr o gK - e i and declared their independence
, e . f vrowa, has arisen or could arise
more seHor?i P ? rlan ? e —*? one would deserve a
the ex*n-is nsi,tier ation,or would demand
patriotism. *?"”** an , d
*.<• of tie necessity
of such a movement—if they were satisfied
that their safety required -it, that their honor
demanded it, that their interest* called lor it,
and were united, there would be no lack of
able and patriotic statesmen, to devise the
steps, form the plan, perfect the structure, i and
inaugurate a government which would bo the
“wonder, the glory and pride of the wdirld.
With an experience of more than three-quar
ters of a century in republican government,
with the defects of our present system seen,
felt and understood; with the lights of the
past, the intelligence of the present, and the
inspirations of the future, we should be able
to form a government more perfect and more
stable than any upon which the world ever
looked. Doubtless, the most proper, ready
and certain mode of forming a Southern Con
federacy, if the Southern people were united,
in the wish to do it. would be to hold a con
vention of all the slave States, declare their
independence of and separation from the
North, form a government, and put it into im
mediate operation. Then would follow, as a
matter of course, an amicable adjustment be
tween the two governments, Northern and
Southern, of all q uestions arising out of their
former association, a just and honorable divis
ion of the public property and the public debt
of the old government, and a friendly arrange
ment of all future relations, interests and in
tercourse.
I know that many eutertain the opinion that
a separation could not take place without
bloodshed and civil war. There would not, in
my opinion, be the least danger of such a re
sult. What motive would impel the Northern
Stales to make war upon the Southern Con
federacy ? Nations do not go to war, except
to resent an insult or injury, to gain an advan
tage, or accomplish some important and at
tainable object. What object could be hoped
to be accomplished by a hostile demonstration
on the part of the States from which we may
have separated ? Would it be to force usback
into a Union with them? Vain, foolish, im
potent thought! No man of common sense in
all the North, no statesman would ever enter
tain it for a moment. To invade and conquer
the Southern States, and force them back as
revolted and subjected colonies, into a frater
nal embrace with their imperious masters'?
Never! never!! The sagacious statesmen who
would guide the councils of the Northern peo
ple, would know too well that such an effort
would be fruitless—nay, worse than fruitless—
it would be wicked and suicidal. The South
ern States contain a white population of eight
millions, and could, in such a contest, raise
and maintain an army of a half million of men,
equal to any troops in the world ; and fighting
on their own soil, in defence of their country,
their rights, their honor, their altars and their
firesides, would be invincible Defend them
selves against the North! They could stand
against the world in arms. There are but two
instances in modern times, in which a nation
united, though weak, has ever been invaded
and conquered by a foreign foe. iVlexico was
overcome by the arms of the United States;
but Mexicans are a feeble race, and no match
for the courage, skill and physical prowess of
the Anglo-Americans. Hungary, with less
than eight millions of people, was conquered
by Austria, but it required the aid of the colos
sal power of Russia, and the treachery of her
sons, to bow her neck to the yoke of the op
pressor. Talk of driving the South back into
the Union when once she cuts loose from it!
The thought is preposterous, ridiculous and
foolish. No, sirs, no attempt would ever be
made to force a re-union of these dismember
ed States. The North might humble herself
at our feet and beseech us to try once more
the pleasures of her fraternal embrace; and
if the terms of'the proposed copartnership suit
ed us, if suflieient guarantees'could be presen
ted and agreed upon for the future preserva
tion of our rights in another Union, if wecould
be impressed with sufficient faith in their fidel
ity and honesty, we might again form, with our
old friends, a bond of Union, and try our for
tunes once more in an American Confederacy;
but not otherwise.
It has been suggested that trouble would grow
out of a division of the public domain, and oth
er property of the United States, the army, the
navy, and materials of war. It is a mistaken
apprehension; no difficulty, whatever, could
or would arise from that source. If no ar
rangement could be made, each government
would most naturally and properly be allowed
to retain the public lands within its bounda
ries The largest share in quantity might fall
to the North, but the South would care little
for that—retaining those within her own lim
its, she would willingly surrender all claim to
the mountain peaks and sterile plains of the
Northern provinces. The army and its mate
rial are nothing, in case of separation; its pre
sent elements \v<yild soon dissolve* and be
merged with the masses of its own respective
section. We could soon reconstruct an army
of any size, which the exigencies of our coun
try would justify or demand. The fortifica
tions and armament paid for out of a common
fund, would belong to the party on whose soil
they were found at the time of separation.
The ships of war lying in Southern ports, or
commanded at sea by Southern officers, and
brought into Southern ports, would fall to us,
and we should want no more; if we did, we
could build them. The public buildings at
Washington city, costing over twenty millions
of dollars, being on Southern soil, and in the
Southern Confederacy, would belong to us ;
and they are worth more than all the public
buildings in all the free States. In this way,
if no agreement could be effected, a satisfac
tory division would be made of all the public
property, of any value or importance.
But the South would hold a sword over the
Northern States, which would compel a fair
and amicable settlement of all such matters.
The National debt, in case of a separation,
would fall upon the old government; certain
ly, we would be bound in good faith and honor,
to pay our proportion of it; and so we would,
if the North gave us justice in other matters;
but whether we should pay at all, how much
weshou’dpay, and when or how, would be
questions for us to decide. The settlement of
this one question of the public debt, now
amounting to nearly one hnndred millions of
dollars, and not likely to be diminished, would
draw after it, and as a necessary incident to
it, an amicable and just arrangement and set
tlement of all other questions; negotiation and
treaty would soon close the door against all
disputes or difficulties on these points.
No, fellow citizens, there would be no earth
ly difficulty in the way of a peaceable separa
tion If the Southern people were united and
determined to take the step, the way would be
easy and plain. No war would ensue, not a
gun would be fired, except in joy at our deliv
erance * not a drop of blood would be shed,
no quarrel would arise between the two sec
tions, over the spoils and trophies of our for
mer association. The mutual interests of the
two governments and people, and more espe
cially the superior interests of the Northern
section, would produce treaties of friendship,
of commercial and personal intercourse, which
would secure peace, and make us more ob
servant of the rights of each other, than \ve
I are now in the present “glorious unton.”
These would be the immediate, necessary and
certain results of a separation willed by a uni
ted South. But I admit that the prospect of a
harmonious union of all the slave States, in a
great movement like this, would be dull and
doubtful under any, except extreme circum
stances. Circumstances might arise which
would unite them all, and bring about prompt,
decided and successful action. Any act of
the federal Government, in the hands of a
dominant, abolition party, looking to the sen
eral emancipation of the slaves o! the Southern
states, would, I have no doubt, arouse a uni
versal spirit of resistance at the South, an
lead to immediate disunion. But for anv
cause less powerful than some wanton aggres
sion upon Southern rights, it would be scarce
iv possible to unite the Southern States in a
spontaneous and general revolutionary move
ment. The border States. lying contiguous
to the North, dread the effects of separation
upon the safety of their slave property. For
getting or closing their eyes to the fwt. that
both the motive to abduct iheir negroes, and
the opportunity to the negro for escape, are a
thousand times stronger in the Union, than
they could possibly be in separate governments,
they urge this as a great bugbear in the way
of any movement tending to separation, or
even the manly assertion of our rights in the
Union. *
Why, sirs, what guards or guarantees now
exist against the wholesale abduction of the
slaves of the border States, or their escape in
to the free States ? None, save the domestic
ties and fidelity of the slaves themselves, and
the watchful vigilance of the owners. The
Northern people are allowed by our Constitu*
tion and laws, as well as by sociai courtesy,
to come amongst us at pleasure, they travel
with impunity in every State county and neigh
borhood, and have abundant opportunity to
inculcate insubordination, and seduce our
black population from their allegiance- The
facilities for escape now, are quitdas great, if
not greater, than they would be if we were
separated by a national dividing line, whilst
the outside pressure upon the slave towards
escape and freedom, and his security from
reclamation, are far more powerful and effec
tive than they ever could be in the other con
dition. Now, under the constitutional guar
antees, we cannot exclude the Northern pi
rate from our soil; in a separate government
he would be an alien and a stranger, without
the right even to enter, except by legal per
mission. Now , all the laws which Congress
has passed for the capture and rendition of
fugitive slaves, stand as a dead letter upon
the statute book. What are they werth to
the Southern people? Not the value of the
paper and ink with which they have been re
corded. In a separated State and independ
ent Government, the abduction and
of our slaves from the service of their owners,
would be cause of war, or of retaliating meas
ures of resentment and redress ; apd the over
ruling eupidity and the commercial necessities
of the Northern people, the paramount impor
tance to them of peaceful relations us,
and of enjoying the benefits of our trade and
social intercourse, would impel them into trea
ties with us, which would afford infinitely bet
ter guarantees against the abduction of our
slaves, and for the return of those who might
voluntarily escape. Give me tbe power over
the commercial relations between the North
and the .South, and the footprints of Southern
slaves, north of Mason & Dixon’s line, would
be “ like angels’ visits, few and far between.”
lfa stray negro should now and then escape
and tiee into that far and free country, he
would be caught and sent back lo his owner
in less time than he occupied in his vain race
for freedom. The Northern people may be
controlled by their interest; they never have
been governed by constitutional obligations,
and never will be while there is a negro slave
in the case.
But whilst I am satisfied that the people of the
border States are mistaken in their opinions and
fears in this matter, still it is a powerful, perhaps
a cou trolling objection in their minds, to the for
mation of a separate confederacy of tho slave
States. These and other considerations, both
local and general, would in all probability, pre
vent a common concurrence of all the Southern
States in a movement towards separation, even
for causes which might be held sufficient by a
majority of them, and I doubt whether a general
Convention could be obtained to consult upon the
common safety and to consider and decide the
question of disunion; or, if such a convention
was assembled, whether anything like unanimity
would prevail in its counsels. How then, shall
those States less than the whole, or even less than
a majority, satisfied of the necessity, policy anu
sacred duty of some action looking to their secu
rity out of the Union —how shall they proceed
towards the accomplishment of that object ?
Fellow-eitizens, the action of a single State,
except under circumstances enlisting the strong
sympathies of her contiguous sisters, might lead
to defeat and disaster. If South Carolina had
resolved herself out of the Union in 1832 on ac
count of the alleged oppressive operations of an
odious protective Tariff, which at one time was
said to have been seriously considered and con
templated, she could not have resisted the com
bined opposition of all lier sister States, and the
power of the Federal Government, upheld as it
was by the approving voice of the country. The
gallantry of her sons would have maintained a
hard struggle against Federal coercion, cither tit
the form of Federal laws or Federal bayonets;
but they would have been forced te yield at last,
and resume their former position as a State in the
Union. Whatever, therefore, might be my con
victions of the unconstitutional and dangerous
aggressions of the Northern States and the neces
sity and propriety of a Southern Confederacy to
secure the rights, interests and honor of the
South, I should be slow to recommend or approve
the secession of a single State, without the proba
ble co-operation of her coterminous sisters, and
still less against their expressed will and wish.
But whenever a respectable number of the South
ern States convinced of the necessity or policy of
seeking their safety or happiness in anew gov
ernment, shall determine upon such a step, they
can accomplish that object, if not without diffi
culty, at least without bloodshed or civil war.
Let the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Ala
bama and Mississippi, become animated by a
common spirit of Resistance ter Northern aggres
sion—let them become convinced that their safe
ty, their interests or their honor demands a sepa
ration from the North and the formation of an in
dependent government for themseves and their
posterity, aud a concerted and determined
movement by them would draw every ether
slave State into their policy and compel them
to join sooner or later in a Southern Con
federacy. Unless conciliated and reconciled to
their former associates and the Union, by the
concession of additional and satisfactory Consti
tutional guarantees, those four States could in
twelve months break the bonds of this Union so
far asunder that no power on earth could ever
re-unite them. Let any one of them through a
Convention called by authority of its Legisla
ture, solemnly resolvo that the true policy of the
South was to form a separate government and
express a willingness and readiness to join any
of her sister Southern States in the formation and
maintenance of such a government. Let her
invite in an imposing and solemn form all others
agreeing with her in opinion and object, to ap
point delegates to a Convention to be held at a
time and piace designated, for the purpose of de
claring their independence and setting up a gov
ernment for themselves.
Let such Convention of the States suggested or
others meet and in obedience to the will and wish
of their constituents, declare their independence
of the present federal government ; frame a Con
stitution and form of government and proclaim
themselves to the world, a free and independent
nation. Would any effort be made to force them
back into the Union ? {low and by whom ?
Could the Federal laws of the old government be
enforced over sovereign States thus united and
determined to be free ? Federal laws and Feder-
al officers would be alike powerless and impotent.
Would ships of war be sent to blockade our ports
to enforce the collection of Federal revenues, to
cripple or destroy our trade and break up our in
tercourse with foreign nations? Vain attempt!
The million and a half of cotton bales produced
by these four States, to say nothing of other ar
ticles of export, wmld burst asunder every bar
rier which Federal power could throw arouna
them. Prohi jited by our own laws from passing
into and through the adjoining States of the old
g -vein ment, these immense objects of commerce
and wealth would find their way to the ocean
and over it to all other countries in’ spite of Fed
eral laws or Federal guns. Any atcempt to shu
out such a supply from the cotton looms of the
old world, would set all Europe in a blaze and
bring to our aid the liberating navies of. every
commercial nation. Would an attempt be made
to invade and conquer us as rebels with Federal
arms and Federal armies? The first regiment
that crossed Mason and Dixon's lind on such an
errand, would be the signal for the rising up oi
thousands of stout hearts and stalwart arms, ever,
in those Southern States that had not joined us,
to drive the abolition invaders back to their dens.
Who can for a moment suppose that the otl er
slave States would either stand indifferently by
or join in a movement of the Federal Govern
ment, usurped, or controlled by Northern abolj.
tionists, to strike down the spirit of Southern re- |
sistanee’and coerc e their kindred and friends into
degrading submission? No, sirs, the very first
attempt at Federal legislation looking to coercion
first military movement towards otir
conquest would arouse the sympathies of all our
sister Southern Stales, and drive them out of the
old and bring theta With hasty steps into the
open and inviting arms of the new Republic.
Such, would be the inevitable effect of any hostile
demonstration against the new Confederacy, and
no such demonstration would be made. Nor
would it matter whether any effort were made or
not, to coerce the seceding Strtes into their for
mer position in the Union. Anew government
once formed and put into operation would attract
all tbe other slave States to it—no human power
could hold them off. The attractions of a com
mon interest and a common sympathy—of a com
mon race, language and religion—of common
danger, insult and injury—of kindred associa-
tions and kindred institutions—of similar pur
suits and similar objects—of a like origin and a
like destiny, would be as potent as the all-power
ful and all-pervading natural laws of attraction
and gravitation, to unite, fasten and bind togeth
er by a bond too strong to be broken by the
combined efforts of all the nations of the earth.
No, fellow-citizens, let a Southern Confederacy
be once formed by even a few of the slave States,
and all the laws which control human action
would stamp their impress upon every Southern
State of this Union and be irresistable. mmmm
’ And new, for what cause, and on what occa
sion shall such a movement be make by any of
the Southern States ? This question is already
answered, to a certain extent, by the solemn de
claration of our own State, enunciated at Mil
ledgevile in the Convention of December, 1850
That Convention was not one formed by volunta
ry pi'imary meetings of the people assembled in
small numbers, and as usual in Bu**h cases eon
trolled by a few leading and ambitious men—it i
was a Convention called by the Governor under
the authority aud instructions of the Legislature
—the delegates were elected by the people of the
several counties under the usual rules and regu
lations of law—they were chosen after a protrac
ted and heated contest, in which all tho objects
and bearings of tho proposed Convention were
fully discussed and considered by the people—it
was an authoritative and imposing Convention,
composed of some of the ablest and best men of
both political parties in the State—it spoke the
voice of the people in unmistakable language,
and although there was. a large and respectable
party in the State, which did not think that the
Convention went far enough, yet they acquiesced
in its final action and its solemn resolutions of
resistance in the future. I may safely say that
if the people of Georgia were never before, or
are not now, united upoL any other political sub
ject, they are united upon tbe Platform framed
by that Convention. The 4th Resolution of that
Platform dec’ares, “That the State of Georgia,
in the judgment of this Convention will and
ought to resist, even (as a last resort) to adisrup
tion of every tie which binds her to the Union
any action of Congress upon the subject of slave,
ry in tbe District of Columbia, or in places sub
ject to the jurisdiction of Cougress, incompatible
with the safety, domes“'c tranquility, the rights
and honor of tho slaveholding States; or any
act suppressing the slave trade between the slave
holding States: or any refusal to admit as a State
any Territory hereafter applying because of the
existence of slavery therein; or any act prohibi
ting the introduction of slaves into the territories
of Utah or New Mexico; or any act repealing or
materially modifying the laws j >ow in force for
the recovery of fugitive slaves.”
Since the adoption of that Platform the un
mistakable voice of most of the Southern
States, has applauded and approved it, and ex
pressed their determination to stand by Geor
gia in its maintenance, “even to the disrup
lionof all the ties that bind them to the Union.”
Now, let any one of the provisions of that
Platform be violated by an abolition Congress,
and the LTnion would be dissolved in less time
than it took to form it- It would not, in my
opinion, live another year. So far so good—
come what may, the true-hearted Southern
man, who is ready and willing to risk the al
leged and apprehended dangers of separati in
and a Southern Confederacy, has the consola
tion to know that Congress can do neither of
the acts embraced and prohibited in that bold
and defiant declaration without producing dis
union and bringing about the ultimate and ner-”
muiient orotectiort or our institutions! n anoth
er and be ter Government. Let the abo ition
ists of the North take the Federal Govern
ment, if they can. and put our pluck to the test
by violating any portion of thi Georgia Plat
form. Let them do it if they can — let them- do
it if they will — let them do it if they dare’ But
iVthere no other cause, no other action of the
free States which would justify separation and
probably produce it ?
Fellow-citizens, I have said elsewhere, “The
election of a Northern President, upon a section
al and antislavcry issue, will be considered cause
enough to justify secession. Let the Senator
from New York, [Mr. Seward,] or any other man
avowing the sentiments aud policy enunciated by
him in his Rochester speech, be elected President
of the United States, and, in my opinion, there
are more than one of tho Southern States that
would take immediate steps towards separation.
And sir, I am free to declare, here in the Senate,
that whenever such an event shall occur, for one,
/ shall be for disunion, and shall, if alive, exert
all the powers I may have in urging upon tho
people of my State the necessity and propriety
of an immediate separation.”
This I deliberately said on the floor of the Sen
ate in the lace of our enemies—this I deliberately
say here to-day in the presence of friends and
neighbors. I should consider such an event
fraught with the greatest danger to Southern in
stitutions, and I would not wait for the develope
mcut ot its results. I would nip the danger in
the bud, and take immediate steps to unite the
South in a movement which should end, either in
safety within the Union, or safety out of it. A
movement towards separation even by a single
State, would bring the Northern people to their
senses it any thing could open their ears and
hearts to the voice of reason and justice The
North does not believe that tbe South will dis
solve the Union for any cause, and that they may
push their fanatical schemes upon us with impu
nity. Convince them that tho South is in earn
est, by an imposing step towards separation, and
even fanaticism will pause and “look before it
leaps.” Tho Union is far more necessary, useful
and important to them than to us, and they know
it. They would not probably drive us to the al
ternative of separation, if they were advised and
believed that such would be the result of their
hostile demonstrations against slavery and tbe
rights of the Southern people. In 1850, when a
movement towards secession was made in Geor
gia, and a few of the neighboring States, and
there seemed to be some danger of extreme meas
ures, the Northern mind began to recoil—the
Northern papers, for the first time since the Un
ion was formed, began to calculate its value and
to urge the danger and impolicy of driving the
South to extremities. Meetings of the people
were held and safqfy committees were formed to
rebuke anti-slavery agitation and suppress the
power of the abolitionists, and if the South had
acted with spirit and manliness then, the whole
subject would have been settled at once and for
ever, by such Constitutional guarantees as would
have placed our rights and our safety upon a sure
md lasting basis. But unfortunately for the
South, we had then, and I fear we ever shall have
too many ambitious public men, who were look
ing to National honors, and who from interest
or fear, were willing to sacrifice our rights, “to
preserve a Union,” from which they expected so
many personal blessings.
Fellow-citizens, if the people”of the South
would preserve their rights in the pinion, or
obtain their independence out ot it, they must
take the subject into their own bunds—speak
out their sentiments with a boldiess that be
comes freemen.-and teach politicians the salu
tary lesson, that “he who dallies is a dastard,
and he who doubts is damned.” Whetherjthe
election of a Black Republican President upon
a sectional anti-slavery platform, and by a sec
tional abolition party, shall be considered a
sufficient cause for alarm and separation by a
majority of any one or more of the Southern
States, remains to be seen. Ido not hesitate ;
here, w I have elsewhere and every where? to j
express my own opinion, that it ought to be so
fcouMdered, anti it* the tune shall ever arrive,
anti the event ever happen, come what may,
,n otliee or out of office, if ahve and able, I
shall raise mv otce in vindication ot the sin
cerity with which l have uttered the senti
ment. .
Fellow-citizens, let no man suppose or niter
front what I have said here, or elsewhere, that
I am in favor of dissolving this Union as a
matter of choice. It is true, tbat much ot my
confidence in it has been shaken—much of my
respect for it lessened —much of nty love for it
weakened, by the events ot recent
cannot be denied, that in respect to some of the
most important elements with which it was in
tended to be invested, and many of the objects
of its creation, it has proved a failure. It was
intended as a Government of defined and lim
ited powers—it has become one of construc
tive and almost unlimited, consolidated pow
ers. It was intended to be a creature—it has
grown to be a lord and master. From its for
mation to the present time, its powers have
been gradually enlarged, whilst the powers of
the States have been diminished until the lat
ter have scarcely any lett that are worth pre
serving, and the former scarcely any wanting
necessary to absolute dominion. The States,
their offices —their honors —their interests,and
their powers, are all overshsdowed by the
more dazzling and seductive attractions of
Federal honors—Federal offices—Federal in
terests, and Federal powers. Constitutional
barriers are broken down with impunity—
Constitutional rights are trampled under foot
without remorse, regret, or redress. Section
al interests, sectional prejudices and sectional
power, if they have not already, soon willcon
trol all the operations of the Federal Govern
ment and make it little less than a despotism,
subject only to the capricious will of a uumer
I ical majority. Not content to exercise the
powers granted in the Constitution, this ma
jority, composed of tee bitter enemies of the
•Southern people, do not scruple to usurp pow
ers not granted whenever their interests or
prejudices dictate the assumption.
Heretofore, a national party organized upon
the basis of State equality and State sover
eignty—of equal rights, equal privileges, and
equal burthens to all and upon all sections of
the Union, has, to some extent, withstood the
encroachments of this irresponsible majority,
and preserved the Union from destruction. —
But that party is fast melting away before the
repeated and vigorous asssults of our North
ern foes, and the discordant character of its
present elements affords little hope or pros
pect of its future ability to preserve the con
stitutional rights of the weaker section.
Such, fellow-citizens, are the present condi
tion and future prospects of the American Un
ion, presenting but a faint hope to the patriot
or the statesman of the permanence of that
true Republican Constitutional government
upon which our rights alone depend. Still,
“habit is a second nature.” and early affections,
ancient associations, and habitual love and
reverence for institutions lounded by our lath
ers and cemented by their blood, appeal with
a power difficult to resist, to all the feelings of
the American heart They affect me—they af
fect you, and I doubt not affect every son of
the South. I would surrender this Union on
ly when convinced that it had tailed of the
great objects of its creation, that its powers
were perverted to unholy ends, and that in
stead of proving a blessing, it had become a
curse to the Southern people —a Union admin
istered for the equal benelil of all—respecting
the sovereign rights of the States, and the
rights and interest of the people of all sec
tions—a Union which coniines the governing
power to the limits of the Constitution, and
carefully guards, obser.es and protects that
sacred instrument, would have my love, my
reverence and support, to the, latest hour of
my existence. But when I see and feel that
the great, paramount objects of its creation
have been or are about to be defeated and
. prostituted to uphold the power, promote the
interests and pander to the prejudices of one
section—to exalt one and oppress another of
its equal and constituent parts —to bring bless
ings upon one and curses upon another por
tion of its wide domain, I am ready to surren
der it at any and oil hazards, and to try anoth
er experiment for the preservation of those
rights wh eh are dearer to you and to me than
the existence or any government or union on
earth. If this be treason, let those who call
it so. make the most of it. I will not take back
one jot or tittle of the declaration. Nor do I
consider it absolutely essential to the prosperity
and happiness of the Southern Slates that they
should remain in the present Union. They
have the abundant elements of both within
their own borders, and they would possess and
enjoy, in a confederated government of their
own, sources of wealth prosperity, progress
and power, unsurpassed by any nation on the
lace of the earth. In what single respect
would a Southern Confederacy be wanting in
all that is necessary to make a nation great
and a people happy? In agricultural wealth
and plenty, we surpass the world. In all the
varieties of soil and climate, we are richly
blessed. We can raise breadstuffs and all the
necessaries of life in sufficient quantities to
supply the increasing population of centuries.
In geographical area, we have, even now.
length and breadth enough to sustain a hun
dred millions of people, without being as close
ly packed as England or France. Florida,
Louisiana and Texas can supply all our de
mands for sugar. The Carolinas and Georgia
can give us rice. Maryland and Virginia can
administer to our taste lor tobacco. Kentucky
and Missouri can make the Hemp to cover our
ootton bales. The Atlaimc and Gulf States
can furnish the world with timber and naval
stores, and the cotton crops of the planting
States are at this time worth annually two
hundred millions of dollars. We have navi
gable rivers running almost by the very doors
of our whole people, and where nature is de
ficient, artificial highways afford facilities for
the transportation-of all our products to cheap
aad ready markets. We have outlets to the
ocean and to other countries in harbors of un
limited capacity along a line of coast over
two thousand miles in extent. The bowels of
the earth contain inexhaustible miues of min
eral wealth. We have iron, copper, lead, salt
petre, gold and silver in quantities equal to any
region in the world- Our streams afford facil
ities for the abundant manufacluje of cloth to
cover our people and administer to their com
forts, conveniencss and luxury. We have a
population healthy, hardy and industrious—a
people “native and to the manor born,” homo
geneous in race and language, habits and laws j
■ —in pursuits and interests, in politics and re- j
ligion—in all that bind men together and make
them patriotic and powerful. In the language
of Louis Napoleon, our Government ‘‘would
be peace ” Our agricliuural products would
attract the commerce of the world and keep
all nations at peace with us—whilst other pow
ers might depend upou the sinews of war, ours
would wield the elements of peace, a id would
command it with the civilized woi Id and no
nation on earth would be so much interested
and so anxious to preserte frieudly relations
with usasour qu?n am So titer a Lrethren
So deeply concerned wouiu they be tor our /a
vor, our commercial friendship and our social
intercourse, that they would e er be 10 us
what France is to Sardinia, an ally leady and
willing to drive every invader from our soil' —
With all these elements of wealth, prosperity
and happiness increasing, expanding and de
veloping themselves as population thickened
and consumption required, what limit wouiu
there be to our progress, our power and 0111
glory? But we should not stop here. Our ex
panding policy would stretch tar beyond oui
present limits. Cuba. now withheld from r.
by the voice and votes ot our abol.tiou eue
mies, wouid soon be ours. She could not bt
held ’by £pain a year after our Government
was formed. No neutrality laws would re
strain our adventurous sons, and Spain wouJc
feel the necessity of her situation and the cer
tainty of its loss, and would eoop transfer it tc
the Southern Republic.
And Central America, so rich in tropical pro
ducts, essential to the wants and luxuries of man
kind, @ugar # Coffee, Cocoa and every variety of
delicious fruits-—a land abounding in rich sol
and covered with dense forests of valuable woods
—a country highly adapted to slave labor, and
requiring only the superior genius and enter
prise-of the Anglo American race to make it
“bloom and blossom like the rose.” Central
America would at an early day fall under the vig
orous influence of our enterprisiug people and
join their destiny to ours. AW, the same feeling
of anti-slavery jealously and hatred which keeps
Cuba from our grasp, suppresses every attempt
to revolutionize Central America ami make it
what nature intended it to be part and parcel of
a great slaveholding coufederaey.
Separated from the North and united together
as an independent power, we should take all Cen
tral America within our sisterhood j>f States and
soon settle it with a thriving, prosperous and
growing population of Southern people, with lan
guage, religion, tastes, habits,interests, pursuits
and objects similar to our own. With no aboli
tion emigrating aid societies to impede our march
or interfere with our legitimate and natural ex
pansion, we should stretch our arms all along the
line of Northern Mexico to the Pacific ocean, and
soon have a chain of slav States from the Sea
to the Gulf of Mexico; and then with our Central
American population on one side progressing up
wards, and our south western population on the
other side pressing downwards, all Mexico would
fall by degrees into our possession, and become
Americanized and transformed into slave States.
As our slave population, by its rapid increase,
would fill up the Atlantic States and the valley
of the Mississippi, and become too dense within
present limits for our safety or profit, it would
gradually and uatnrally, overflow across the line
into that vast region of inviting climate and soil
and here and (here under the dominion of the
white man, live and flourish forages to come.—
And thus, with a Republic larger in extent than
all Europe, united under a government more per
fect than was ever formed by the wisdom and
patriotism of man—with fundamental laws to
preserve our institutions from decay for all time
to c-oruo, homo geneous in everything, we should
exhibit to the world an example of greatness,
prosperity and power, which nothing but the
hand of God could ever weaken or destroy.
DRUG STORE.
VRQUII4RT & CHAPMAN,
AT THE OLD STAND OF
DAJNFORTH & NAGEL,
Oolum'bus, Geo.,
Keep constantly on band a large stock of
FRESH AND GENUINE
Drugs anti Medicines,
ALSO, PAINTS, OILS, VARNISHES, POTASH,
CONGRESS WATER. SPICES PITRE BNAN
DIES AND WINES, BRUSHES SODA,
TOILET ARTICI ES.
FIjSTE cigars,
Dental and Surgical Instruments,
STARCH, SOAPS,
FISHING TACKLE,
GARDEN SEEDS,
and all other artbles usually kept for sale in a Drug
Slore, whu h th*y offer on
Mr. FOSTER S. CHAPMAN, of the late firm of
Broohs& <'hapman, and Mr. Oliver Danforth, whose
services have been retained by ihe firm, may both be
found constantly at the Store, and from the’r long ex
perience in the business, feel warranted in asking a
liberal share of patronage from their friends and the
public generally. junl4—dwtf.
Dr. .1. A. URQUHART. F. S. CHAPMAN
NEW BOOKS.
jrf<tlL . Limits of Religious Thought, by
A. Longueville Mansel.
Good News of God, by Charles
Kingsley, author of Alton Locke, Yeast, <fec.
Life of Socrates, from G rote’s History of Greece
tf Martin Luther.
Life of Oliver Cromwell.
Life o? Joan of Are. Just received at
J. \Y. PEASE’S Book Store
IMIE CAVALIER, by G. P. R. James,
. Just received at the Book Store of
J. W. PEASE.
HARP of 1000 Strings, anew supply', just re
ceived at J. W. PEASE'S Book Storo
npHE Oassiquc of Kiawah, anew Novel by W.
I G. Simms, just received at
J. W. PEASE'S Book Storo.
IIFE of Frederick Schiller, by Thos. Carlyle,
J Just received at
J. W. PEASE’S Book Store.
MORE OF Love Me Little, Love Me Long;
What will he do with it:’
John Halifax, Gentleman, Illustrated;
Davenport Dune, complete, by Chas. Lever;
Gerald Fitzgerald. Just received at
julyl3 J. W. PEASE'S Book Store.
Wonderful! Yea Passing Strange !
THAT SO MANY THOUSAND
FAMILY SEWIM
MA-CHLT3STES,
Should have found their way into as many families.
It is nevertheless true, there are now about 25,000 of
these machines in daily use, and the demand forthem
me rea^inir
Just received a tew more of those popularMachinea
know*: as he “LADIES’ WORK BOX.’* ‘I hey ire
admirably adapted to a great variety of work. A gen
tleman ccuid not make bis wife, daugnter, sister or
mother a present more desirable, than one of those
beautiful little machines encased in Rosewood. No
family can afford to do without, this useful and beatt
tiiul articles of furniture.
Family, Plantation and Dress-maker’s Machines,
are constantly kept on hand at No. 58 Broad Street,
Columbus, Ga., four doors above the corner of Manley,
Hodges & Cos. I: si ructions ler using the Machines
given free to those who wish to purchase.
We submit the following certificates, from well
known gentlemen of this section, who have thorough
ly tested the Grover and ‘Baker Sewing Machines, to
which is added the certificate of Mrs. Gresham, a
Dress-Maker of this city.
(From lion. James F- Dowdell, LaFayette. Ala.)
La Fayette, Ala., March 26, 1850.
Mr KEITH, Columbus, Ga.
Dear Sir: I take p easure in recommencing Grover
&c Baker’s family Sew ing Machine. We have us
ed the one which we purchased of you, more than six
months, and it is all that yon represented it to be It
is not only a convenience, hut we regard ir an indis
pensable neces.-ity.
Very respectfully, T
J F. DOWDELL.
[From Col Hines Holt, Columbus. Ga.]
Grover & Baker's Sewing Machine has been inure
in my family for several months, and nas given entise
satisfaction. It <io<s nor get out of order, rarely breaks
needles or thread, or gives trouble or delay in is man
agement. Its simplicity < f const ruction, and the ease
i*d facility wirh which i; can he v3ed, constitute a
part of its numerous chief excellencies.
March 2 ;. 1859. IIINES HOLT.
[From Mrs M. Gresham, Columbus.]
ItSivebeen using one of G>over & Baktr’s Sewing
vlac .ines, in my business of Dress Making, and cheer
>l y testify to the ease and rapidity with which my
yieofwo.k maybe accomplished by its use, to its
implicity ofcomtruction ana consequent ease of man*
geuient. No consideration could induce me to be
without one, or exchange it for any other paitern I
*ave sen. MARY GRESHAM.
July ift, 1859.
[From I. A. Brokaw & Cos., Columbus, Ga.
We have used one of Grover & Baker’s Sewing
tarhines in our shop for three years past, and find
perfectly practicable, easily kept in order, and well
iapted to various kinds of work in a Tailor’s Shop.
Vetake pleasure in recommending it to the publie.
Fob. 25,1859. I. A. BROKAW Sc CO.
D KEITH, Agent.
OOIsTJIVTBTJS.
Columbia* July H, IWtK-diwtf.