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leiicr from Gov. ’JVlnpoflin—Position of
Kentucky.
• Frankfort, Ky., Nov. 16, 1860.
11. }f. Major, Esq., Editor of the Yco
in an :
Dear Sir : I am asked by a number of
friends, yourself one of them, and have re
vived letters from various parts of the
state, all of the same tenor, inquiring of
me. what will Kentucky do, and what ought
fto do, now that Lincoln is elected i I
will frankly give you my opinion.
I blieve she will adhere firmly to her
jriDciples. We are defeated, but not con
quered. We are beaten, but not disinay
fi Kentucky will stand by the positions
upon which I was elected in August, 1859.
Mu will stand by the equality and the
rights of the States, and the equality and
tlierights of the people in the States. She
wiiistand by the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise, by the Died Scott decision,
dm! by the enforcement of tlie fugitive
slave I.*w. She will stand by every right
sin bis under the Constitution of the Uni
ted Stales, and under the laws and consti
tutions of the separate States. She will
demand that slavery shall not be abolished
unite District of Columbia, or wherever it
bow exists in the Union, and that the slave j
trade between the States shall not be in- j
tdltred with by Congress. She willde
muud her equal rights in all the Terri to- ;
ties of this irovernmeut. She will stand by j
tie position that slave property in the Ter
renes is entitled to the same protection j
w>;li other property therein, and that n<> j
can be made by the Terri
t rial J/gislatnre against that property, so
a- to exclude it directlv, or to impair ih<-
ri;ht ot th- o>vio vs i . or by unfriendly
l ;\>l t; n to render it valueless. Shi* will an- ,
i. ml that winnever the people of a Ten i
i v having suiiieient popular iori shall form
.State Constitution, withor without slave
ry in it, and ask of Congress admission as
a State into the Union, she shall be ad
inittol provided her constitution is repuh
iu ia ft rm. She will keep her present j
r tu> upon the slavery question, believing
ovs, i|),> constitution, and the courts
*rd her adequate protection. She will
• ml immovably upon the Democratic 1
itbru) .Mooted last winter at Frankfort, i
1 uputi the one adopted last summer at
■ i!i.more, upon which her noble aud gifted
’ n has just been defeated,
liiitr iich and in this position behind the
“dans of the Supreme Court of the
i Sui*es, her rallying cry will be, her
-iitMind her equality in the Union. Sin
‘•ii a-.k nothing she will not concede to j
* i States. She wants ali In r rights
■ C :>s*imtjon. and site willneith
-1 go'c ui [joi compromise a single one of
“"in. fine will
nii n ly stun ling steadfastly by them, i
Hie only principles upon which it can be]
ptstrved. She will be, as she lias ever
firm, wise, moderate, and just, and
l! ‘era dominant, reckless, sectional
” ity. disregaidiug t he idea of her equal
brgetting that the government was
I d<-‘ to protect the weak against the
’ r " || ,g, and to protect persons, vroperty
‘dtlie rights of the States, shall turn it
II an engine of oppression instead ot pro
:vhnii. by tiampliug upon her rights, she
il her duty, and she will do it. She
Li appeal to the ballot-box, to the rea- j
to the justice, and to the patriotism
Tougress, of the States, and ot the peo
r everywhere ; and when every thing fails,
üb!v fortified in her impregnable posi
jd. she will, calm and resolutely, look the
ittger in the face, and no matter what the
•-;> may be against her, then she will ap-
Kto the God of battles, and with the
1 -ffitution in one hand and the sword iu
other, and under the flag of the Union,
and gallant sons will prove them-
S( -*vesForthy of the glorious heroes from
‘'*‘oo] they sprung, by striking for their
“ c mes aud their firesides —for their altars
their rights—for their liberties and
of their children —for the Un
•3Q under the compact of the Constitution
“and he who would not do it is a coward
u “d a slave.
i agree with you, that the election of
Lincoln is no cause for secession or re
"hon. j s no t s0 regarded by the peo
ot the State. It is true he has been
t,, ' } and bv a sectional party, upon sectional
pas, with a reckless sectional hostility to
the South would notsurren
dhe jieople of the slave States, and
!j.“* r o e minority of true men in the tree
,^' es j no matter whether they were the
I’l'orters of Mr. Breckinridge, Mr. Bell
* r - Douglas, took the ground that if he
and he attempted to carry
‘ ls principles and purposes, it would
Union. Kentucky says after
tart ‘ ctu>n * n m y judgment, what all
t ) lfi ‘Glared here before, and that is,
W • not submit to the earn ing out ot
lie ! ‘ rir ; ci pleß. The fathers of the Repub
lUl General Washington at the head,
VS , lri l e 'd ns against the formation and
I ‘ vil a sectional party as the only da n_
ger to the liberties of the people or to the
safety of the Confederacy. The Republi
cans have paid no attention to these war
nings, but blindly, madly, without regard
to consequences, they have dtclared this
government could not exist as part free
and part slave, but must all be free. It
matters little whether we have to give up
our slave property, or whetherour children
will be compelled to do it. They have
made their threats that they intend to de
prive us of it sooner or later, and in the
free States as far as they dare or had the
power / they have put their threats into ex
ecution.
They have passed laws in thirteen of the
free States, I believe, which prohibit the
execution of the fugitive slave law, and
have set at naught the Constitution of the
United States. Six of these States, New
York and Pennsylvania included, deny to
the owners of slaves, or to the officers of
the government, their jails or public build
ings for the protection of this property. —
Seven of them, including also New York
and Pennsylvania, provide defense for fu
gitive slaves. Many of them declare the
slaves free if their owners bring them there ;
and one State —New Hampshire—declares
him absolutely free. Nine of the free States
have imposed penalties of imprisonment
and lines of from SI,OOO to $5,000 on the
officers or the persons who may aid in en
forcing the laws which have been passed
by Congress, and declared to be constitu
tional by the Supreme Court of the Uni
ted States. The Legislature of these States,
and the courts of many of them which have
passed upon their action, have openly, in
sultingly, boldly and defiantly nullified the
laws ot Congress and the decisions of the
Supreme Court. There is no theoretical,
but practical disunion iu this.
Is it not time all this was arrested ? Is
it not time we had an under standing as to
future action, if we do not intend to he
robbed of our slave property ? All over
the border States they have their agents
and etnmissarics, and many iu the other
slave States engaged in stealing and lim
ning oil our slaves. They avow they will
neither give them up when they succeed iu
getting into the free States, nor will they
deliver up the men who steal them. They
have elected a man who has avowed, if he
did not originate, the doctrine of- the irre
pressible conflict, and that the States must
be all lice. He and his party affirm, in
the most solemn manner, they will execute
their purposes, as snou as they have the
power. They say Mr. Lnicoih ls a linn
and an honest man ; and it so, he intends
to carry out his principles. The slave
States have over tom and a half millions
of slaves. Kentucky has over $170,C00,000
in slave property. She is losing at the rate
of over $200,000 per annum of that prop
erty. When I stated, in my annual mes
sage to the Legislature, the loss was SIOO,-
COO few believed it. 1 have reliable infor
mation it is double that sum, and will soon
be again doubled. That property, more
than one-third of all we possess, guaran
teed to us by the Constitution ol the Uni
ad States and our laws, worked for, ac
quired, and left to us by our fathers—that
property we are working tor, and wish to
leave to uur children, will soon he rendered
valueb ss, and Kentucky become a free
State, it'these piinclples and purposes be
carried out. Yet with ali these grievances,
while no slave State has nullified a law of
Congress, or refused a right to a free State
under the Constitution —with all this loss
of property by Kentucky—with the furth
er fact stilling us in the face that the State
of Ohio hits violated a great Constitutional
right of the State of Kentucky, iu refusing
to deliver u] upon my demand a fugitive
from our State who has been indicted for
stealing our slaves —with till those facts
and outrages, hard to he borne, I would
say that tin* mere election of Lincoln is not
sufficient cause for secession or rebellion.—
lie is elected under the forms and accord
ing to the Constitution of the United
States.
We would say to our sister States of the
South, we have more cause of grievance
than all of the cotton States put together,
occupying, as we do, over seven hundred
miles ot borderline. Look at our exposed
position —the constant tampering with our
negroes by the Abolitionists —the immense
annual loss we sustain —the direct infringe
ment of our rights iu refusing to execute
the fugitive slave law, and iu the robbery
of our property —in the danger to thelives
of the owners when they go to the free
States to recapture their slaves —iu the
insults, and taunts, and injuries to the
Federal officers who attempt to do their
sworn duty iu executing the fugitive slave
law, as iuthe recent mob iu Ohio, and in
the case of Booth, of Wisconsin—in the
wholesale stealing every day going on ot
our negroes, and the refusal of the people
and Governors to deliver up either the
property or the thieves : All this, and
much more, we complain of, aud don’t in
tern! to submit to ; but we eaunot justify
you in breaking up the Government aud
going out of the Union on account of the
election of a man upon a bad platform, and
the worst political principles and purposes.
We say to you aud to the Republicans,
we stand here as pacificators, as arbitra
tors. We entreat you of the South not to
take this rash step ; and to you of the
North we sav, calmly, but fearlessly and
firmly, without threats, you must not en
crouch upon our Constitutional lights as
expounded by the highest and purest tri
bunal in the land. You must stay your
arm of fanaticism, of violence, of vengeance
and of power, for we are resolved to resist
unto death any violation of our rights un-
* THE UNION OF THE STATES:—DISTINCT, UKE THE BILLOWS ; ONE, LIKE THE SEA ”
THOM ASTON, (lEtllUilA, SATURDAY MORNING. DECEMBER 8, 1860.
der the Constitution. We will resist ag
gressions ; we will defend the Umou under
the flag of our fathers, following in their
foot-steps, and encouraged by their exam
ple, no matter what the odds may be
against us. Mr. Lincoln has been elected
according to all the forms of law under
the Constitution, which we revere and re
gard as the repository of our rights, and
the shield of oui safety, and notwithstand
ing his threats and the danger of carrying
out his principles he may not do it. We
must wait for an overt act, hoping that
truth and reason, and justice, embodied in
a clear and impartial delineation of our
rights under the Constitution, as expoun
ded by the Supreme Court of the United
States, will )et prevent it. A madman or
a bad man may stand in the highway ad -*
joining my premises, and he may threaten
to burn my house or rob me of my proper
ty, and yet I may treat him as a blusterer
who would not execute the threat. When
he makes the attempt —when he actually
crosses my fence, and advances upon my
property to execute the threat—then will
it be time enough and then will I be justi
fied in shooting down the villain.
Let us reason with the Republicans still
further; let us remonstrate more earnestly,
firmly, and unitedly ; let us, at all events,
wait for the overt act, and then Kentucky
can and will join her sister slave States. —
This, it seems to me, is the course of moder
ation and prudence and wisdom; certainly
so, because neither Mr. Lincoln nor his
party can pass any law, if the Opposition
remain true, that will violate our rights.—
He can’t even get an appropriation bill
through Congress to carry on the Govern
ment. He can’t appoint his Cabinet offi
cers who may be offensive to the Democratic
party and to the slave States. He can do
nothing, with the present House of Repre
sentatives and Senate, backed by the Su
preme Court, to violate our rights. Let
the anti-Republican members of the Oppo
sition firmly resolve not to discuss the ques
tion of slavery any more, aud when the Re
publicans have done, let them vote down
their measures, and proceed to business up
on the other important interests of the coun
try. The question has been dicussed too
much already and let them resolve they
will discuss it no more. It only produces dis
cord, srife, criminations and recriminations,
and huinfers all those fraternalties, socially,
politically, and religiously, which bind ns
together.
I hope yet, when mission n-c.-
son resumes its throne, that the North may
be brought to see they have as deepa stake
in preserving slavery at the South, and the
rights of the Slave States as we have.—
They cannot do without our cotton and
sugar, and lice and tobacco, and other sta- ;
pies ; and whenever the fanaticism of the
people, who have no motive to act hut for
their own good and the safety of the re
public. shall see this, ns see it they will,
sooner or later, they will refuse to follow
the lead of ambitious, reckless, dangerous,
and talented demagogues, who are willing
to risk fortune, honor, life, and country to
gain place and power. They will see that
it is not only to tlnur interest to keep the ;
negro in bondage, but it is to the interest
of the slave—that he is, morally, sociably
and religiously, a better and a happier man
than he could be in any other condition. —
Asa slave, an active and an efficient agent
in doing great good, as we have him in the
slave States ; hut as a free man, a worth
less vagabond, idle, dissipated, miserable —
a nuisance and a curse as the}’ have him in
the free States, and are compelled to pass
laws to prevent his residence among them.
They may see we have other great inter
ests in this country which ought to engage
a fair proport ion of the time of Congress.
Reason and truth and patriotism may yet
prevail. Let us hope—hope on and ever,
in the absence of an overt act, or until
there is no hope for the Union of these
States. Great God, let us do nothing !
\Ve who have been, and arc, in the right,
let us keep in the light, aud do nothing to
break up this great Government. Let us
stand upon the right, submitting to noth
ing wrong. Firmly, unwaveringly, and
all together, let us stand upon our Consti
tutional lights, with an unfaltering pur
pose to make no more concessions—
to submit to no more compromises, and
to resent at once, and to the last extrem
ity, any violation of our rights.
To the States which propose to secede,
we would say, in addition to what we have
said, you should not desert us. W e are a
border State; we have the brunt of the
battle ; we have more grievances than all
of you ; we have suffered more grievances,
but* we have had more forbearance. Even
now we have a practical question. It is a
wicked, wanton violation of our rights,
which lies at the foundation of our Gov
ernment, aud involves the very existence ot
slavery in Kentucky. It is no abstraction
—no Kansas question —no Territorial
question—but an open, direct violation of
our Constitutional rights. We don't iu
tend to submit to it. I have demanded ot
Gov. Dennison, of Ohio, a fugitive now
under indictment for stealing our slaves. —
He has refused to deliver him up.
He and the Republican party of Ohio,
and I believe of the whole Union, all con
cede that the government could not have
been formed but upon the idea that each
State must be permitted to regulate its do
mestic affairs to suit itself, and that unless
this idea is fully carried out between the
States in their intercourse, the L nion is *at
an end. Yet he refuses to deliver up this
fugitive now under indictment in our
courts, for stealing negro property, upon
the ground, among other reasons, that the
laws of Ohio do not regard it as a felony
to steal a slave. Our laws and Constitu
tion of the L nited State, do recognise ne
groes as property. They are recognised as
such by the Supreme Court of the United
States. It lias declared it to be a felony to
steal a slave, and we will not submit to
this violation of our Constitutional rights.
It is a great practical question now pend
ing between Kentucky and Ohio, and I
told you on the stump last summer, that I
would surrender no Constitutional right
Kentucky had. This is one of them. If
we would surrender this one, it would en
courage to wrest from us another and
another, until stripped of our rights, our
inheritance, and our manhood, we will
have neither the spirit, nor the courage, nor
Al ■wjiiwer to resist.
I shall take this violated right to the
Courts for the remedy. Failing there, I
would take it to Congress, as there is an
anti-Republican Congress, and if they
give the remedy, Mr. Lincoln will be called
on to sign or veto the bill. We will test
the question where we have rights whether
or not w*e have remedies. We will test
the question whether or not our rights are
to be respected under the laws and the de
cisions of the Supreme Court of the
United States. Failing there, I shall tell
the people of Kentucky, in the last resort:
Here is your violated right. I have done
all I can do to obtain the remedy. You
are a State’s right people, and now, falling
back upon your reserved rights, I will ad
vise such action as I am sure you will
take.
To South Carolina, and such other
Slates who may wish to secede from the
Union, I would say, the geography of the
country will not admit of a division—the
mouth and sources of the Mississippi river
cannot be separated without the horrors of
civil war —we cannot sustain you in this
movement merely on account of the elec
tion of Lincoln. Do not precipitate us by
premature action into a revoluion or civil
war, the consequences of which will be
most frightful to all of us. It may yet be
avoided. There is still hope, faint though
it be. Kentucky is a border State, and
has suffered more than all of you. She
claims that, standing upon the same sound
platform, you will sympathise with her.
and not desert her in her exposed perilous
border position. She has a right to claim
that her voice, and the voice of reason and
moderation and patriotism, shall be heard
and heeded by you. It you secede, your
lA*j tesentatives will go out of Congress,
and leave us at the mercy of a Black Re
publican Government. Mr. Lincoln will
have no check. He can appoint his cabi
net and have it confirmed. The Congress
will then be Republican, and he will be
able to pass such laws as he may suggest.
The Supreme Court will be powerless to
protect us. We implore you to stand by
us, and by our friends in the tree States,
and let us all, the bold, the true, and just
men in the free and slave States, with a
united front stand by each other, by our
principles, by our rights, our equality, our
honor, and by the Union under the Consti
tution. I believe this is the only way to
save it, and we can do it.
As it is, a majority of the people are
against Mr. Lincoln, although he has been
elected. The majority in Congress is
against him and his principles. He is in
their power, and they would fully represent
a majority of the people of the United
States, if they would exercise that power
in such a manner as to obtain assurances
and iruarantees that our rights under the
Constitution should be respected and pre
served. This is what you want, and what
we want. In this way we may accomplish
it, the Union may be preserved, and we i
may go on to prosper in the future as we
have done in the past. By seceding, by
leaving the halls of Congress, by deserting
your posts and us now, the Government
will he broken up, civil war may follow,
and God only knows what will be the end.
It may yet be averted in some way by not
taking this premature step, and we appeal
to you by all these considerations, by all
the sacred memories which brought the
Government into existence, and all the ties
which should be preserved and strength
ened to keep us together as one people—by
the battle-fields of the revolution—by the
achievements and the blood, and the sac
rifices and sufferings of the illustrious
dead, the martyrs of freedom who died to
give us the liberty we now enjoy—by our
unparalleled prosperity and progress as a
nation—by our commanding position
abroad, and, if we continue to be united,
our powerful position at home—by all the
mortification, ruin and misery that would
attend a failure of our Government—by
every consideration that should influence
an aggrieved, a just, an intelligent, a loyal
a brave, a patriotic and magnanimous peo
ple, to stand by us, by your rights, by the
Constitution, and the Union under the
Constitution, in this hour of its greatest
danger since it came into existence. Let
passion be allayed ; let reason assume its
throne; let moderation, forbearance and
wisdom guide our counsels, and the coun
try may yet be saved.
In any contingency, we believe this Gov
ernment was formed in friendship, affec
tion and mutual confidence and common
interests, and whenever these ties are in
dissolubly sundered, it is idle to attempt
to keep it together by force.
In conclusion, 1 would say, Kentucky
will watch the progress of events, in my
opinion, in view of all the tremendous re
sponsibilities that devolve upon her, aod
take her position calmly, fearlessly, wisely,
wib her whole heart beating for the Union,
and her whole soul overflowing with patri
otism and loyalty to that Union under the
compact of the Constitution, determined
to be just to all sections of this blood
bought confederacy now the last, best and
brightest hope of freemen and mankind,
and with the most perfect confidence when
the dread hour of trial comes, if come it
must, she has the will, the spirit, the cour
age, the patriotism and the manhood, and
tiie ability to defend her inheritance, her
honor and her rights, which have been
guaranteed to her by the Constitution of
the United States.
Respectfully,
Your friend and ob’t. serv’t.
B. Maggoffin.
Remarks of Mr, Ilolt of Muscogee,
On presenting a set of Resolutions from a
portion of the citizens of Muscogee coun
ty on Federal Relations.
On presenting these resolutions Mr. ILult
said,
Mr. President: I hold in my hand a
series of resolutions passed by a portion of
the citizens of Muscogee county at a recent
meeting held in the city of Columbus,
which I ask to be read and referred to the
Special Joint Committee on our Federal
Relations.
After the resolutions had been read at
the Secretary's table,
Mi. H. proceeded, I ask the privilege
Mr. President, of briefly giving my reasons
for the difference of opinion between my
self and that portion of the citizens of Mus
cogee who have sent up those resolutions
to me, to be presented to this body.
Mr. Lawton of Chatham. I ask the
same privilege of giving my views on the
resolutions I offered from the citizens of
Chatham.
Mr. H. I accord the same privilege to
the gentleman and doubt not the Senate
will grant his request. Mr. President, it
is a delicate position to differ with the peo
ple by whose votes we have been sent here;
and when that difference does exist it seems
to me to he the first duty, as it is the
highest privilege of the Repiesentative to
give his reasons for this difference. It is
for this reason, and not to discuss the mer
its of the resolutions that I rise. I have
said, Sir, that the resolutions by which it
is attempted to instruct Legislative
course do not meet with my approbation.
The expression was a little iOO broad. A
portion of these resolutions does meet my
cordial approbation and shall have my un
qualified support —that portion which di
rects me to co-operate with the Governor
in calling a Convention to declare the mode
and manner of redress for our past griev
ances. As an bumble member of this Leg
islative body, I agree with this patriotic
purpose of a portion of my fellow citizens,
and stand ready, anxious and willing to
give my support to that proposition ; but
sir it occurs to me that this respected and
patriotic portion of my fellow citizens have
left nothing for me or such Convention of
the people of Georgia to do. They have
declared in effect the government atanend,
and request this body to send forth this
Legislative opinion. I call the attention
of the Senate particularly to that feature
of the resolutions. And then we are asked
to take into immediate consideration the
passage of such laws as will provide against
and alleviate the unusual commercial em
barrassments consequent upon the present
emergency, notwithstanding, Mr. Rrest
deut the first resolution says that the elec
tion of a certain person to the Presidency,
(and no man upon this floor depreciates it
more than I do,) “must not and will not
be submitted to.” Upon that declaration
this subsequent action is asked. Sir, the
resolutions render me nothing more than
an organ to express the opinion in this
Senato which my constituents entertain :
That Georgia should at once secede from
the Confederacy of States, and. that that
secession shall he by Georgia’s own inde *
pendent united action , without having the
solicitation or consent, co-operation or
agreement of our sister Southern States, j
and before we have had their promise or at- j
tempted to obtain it, to stand by us, to
unite with us in such secession.
Mr. President, I have said that no mem
ber of this Senate, depreciate more than 1
do the election of Abraham Lincoln to the
Presidency of the United States, and in
his humble sphere no man made more ef
forts than I did to defeat it. But, sir,
when this great consequence of the disrup
tion of the government, by our own legis
lative acts, a government which was initi
ated by Jefferson, brought to completion
by Washington, protected by the policy of
Jackson, and ennobled by the statesman
ship of Crawford —(pointing to the por
traits of these patriots which adorn the
Senate Chamber.) I say sir, when it is
proposed that this government shall be
broken up in the manner and forthe cause
indicated by my constituents, I desire to
stand erect before m\ own native State, be
fore the whole country and in the face of
the civilized world, and to enter rny sol
emn protest against it, to feel and proudly
and truthfully to sav it was not we of the
South that did it without sufficient cause.
I am one of those who believe that it is
our duty to stand by the bonds into which
we have entered. We agree, sir, that it
was our contract our solemn obligation,
our distinct understanding that in a cer
tain mode and manner the people of the
United States should quadrennially elect
their President. The people, sir, in their
majesty have spoken, and the triumph of a
foul party has been announced. The ques
tion is, shall we submit to this single act ot
the election of Lincoln ; ridicule it as you
may, iu accordance with all the forms of
Editor n/nxl Proprietor
Volume 3* Number 4.
the Constitution. Upon this.floor I took
upon myself the solemn oath to support
and defend the Constitution of the United
States.
Sir, it may be the case, that the irrepres
sible conflict doctrines of the Black l'epub
lican party will prevail in the administra
tion of the government of the United
States. In that case 1 fear, I believe, the
government will, and ought to bo at an
end. Whenever that party shall attempt
to trespass upon the rights of the South, I
believe that the people of Georgia will rise
as one man and with one heart, and protect
themselves, from oppression. Ido not see
how secession will end those acts of aggres*
sion—how separate State action cures the
evils of which we complain. At whose
door do you lay the complaint ? At the
door of your Government? At the door
of your Constitution ? At the door of
your Union ? Who has made the charge
that the General Government has tailed to
p otect yourr'ghts under the
and in the Union whenever called upon to
do so? Who, I ask, Senators, has ever
made the charge in all the discussions oil
this question, that the government of the
United States in its governmental capaci
ty, has brought any oppression upon you,
committed any aggression on your rights ?
I stand ready to answer the charge should
it be made. True, Massachusetts has vi
olated the compact ; true, Connecticut has
violated it ; true other Legislatures of oth
er States have passed measures obnoxious
to the South, and it is equality true that
the Congress of the United States in an*
swer to the demands of the South has pass
ed the Fugitive Slave Law, and it isequal
ly true, that when application has been
made to the President of the United States
tor the enforcement of the rights of the
South, under this law, he has poured forth
the Federal Treasury,’ and made use of the
Federal bayonet. It is true sir, thatwheh
your rights have been questioned, its Su
preme Court has maintained them. It is
true, sir, that for the SO years of the exis*
tence of your Government, it has never
trampled upon your sovereignty, and never
refused your redress for any wrong. Why
then this hostility to such a Government ?
I nsk it Massachusetts has violated the
compact, is that a cause of disruption with
the General Government, by the action of
other States, when the people have observ
ed and been faithful to it ? The General
Government was created by thi action of
all the States in concert: and if one or
more of these States have proven recreant
to their trust, false and faithless to their
obligations, they .should be punished and
made to observe, stand to their contract,
or be denied all participation in its bene
fits.
Then, sir, I do not concur in the first of
these resolutions, declaring that the sim
ple election of one man as President of the
United States, in accordance with the pro
visions of the Constitution, is a sufficient
cause for the violation of that Constitu
tion, which every member on this floor has
sworn to support —sufficient cause for sep
arate State secession. Ido not seethe op
pressor’s hand in that act. Ido not see
the invader’s step; I see the full triufrij/h
of a party in the contest for the highest
honors in this Government.
Mr. President, my public life has been
short. The occupations of my life have
been in private station, said to be the post
of honor. But there are very few of those
who surround me, that can date their pub
lic recollictions at a period further back
than my own. My boyish remembrance
travels back to 1825, when the patriots,
whose portraits adorn the eud of your
Chamber, (Troup and Clark,) had the des
tinies of Georgia committed to theircharge;
I remember the great contest for State
Bights and State Sovereignty, when the
patriot, Troup, uttered that noble senti
ment, “The argument is exhausted, we
will stand by our arms.” And when he
uttered it the radiant brilliancy of Geor
gia’s flag shown most brilliantly. He did
not propose by that sentiment, as some
are pleased to consider, that he would cure
Georgia’s wrongs by retiring from the
Union. Sir, this sentiment never entered
into his thoughts, that the fate of Geor
gia should be decided outsideof the Union.
He determined rather to do battle with
the twenty-two other States, and within
five hundred votes of a majority of his own
State against him, and from that contest
he brought out Georgia with her stars the
brightest in the galaxy of States.
Sir, the disuuion sentiment had its ori
gin in 1828 ; it culminated in 1832, and
as an humble delegate to the celebrated
Convention, which was assembled on that
occasion, I stood upon this iloor giving my
humble advocacy to the preservation of the
Union—acting upon convictions then and
now, which were tiien and now, by somey
pronounced traitorous, and in this contest
I shall stand or fall by those convictions.—
Patriotic men in 1832, said as nowy thai
we should disrupt the Union, and some 6f
them have been for twenty-eight years
warring against it. They declare that it
brings no blessings but curses upon their
beloved State. Sir, it is one of the conso
lations of my life, that owing to the spirit
with which i resisted that advice, the spirit
of ’32, on that occasion, I have been hum
bly instrumental in giving to my native-
State twenty-eight years of existence in<
the Union, during which no national op
pression has been visited upon us, and ia
which we have prospered as a State —twee-
j ty-eight years in which, if the result hath
been otherwise then, I cannot calculate, I
will not attempt to portray what might
have been, what would have beeD the dire—
[concluded on second pace. )