Newspaper Page Text
BY CRAWFORD, LOGA.Y & CRITTENDEN.
Vol. 5.
_ POLITICAL.
Speech of lion. Alfred Iverson,
Delivered at Uiilfin, July 14,
1859.
The tender of a public dinner, and the
highly complimentary demonstrations
which you have this day made toward
me, would fill me, I fear, with too much
pride, if I did not feel and understand
rhat the foundation and object of the |
movement were to endorse and approve, i
iu an imposing and emphatic manner, the
sentiments which I utteied in the Senate j
of the United States, during the last ses-j
sion, m my speech upon the Pacific Rail |
Road Bill. — And whilst lam not insensi
to the honor confered upon me, person-1
ully, by these manifestations of your favor ’
and friendship, lam more gratified to’
consider them as a sign that your hearts !
and the hearts of the people of Georgia
are sound and right upon the great qnes- j
tions which press themselves upon the j
public attention, and upon which I am j
called to address you to-day.
Iu a Government of such peculiar and j
complicated form as our own—of such j
vast, multiplied and important monitary,
commercial and political interests—of'!
isuch extended and extending territorial
compass—questions of most grave and j
important character, are ever arising to
interest and agitate the public ; to awn- i
ken the solicitude, enlist the sympathy j
and arouse the energies of the statesman i
and patriot. But of all the great sub-j
jects which have excited the people, di-i
vided parties, and threatened the peace!
and stability of the Government, since!
its formation, none has produced morel
sensation, more bitterness and more dan-!
ger than the question of slavery in the |
Southern States of this confederacy.— i
And well may it have produced these ex- j
traordinary effects. It is indeed a ques-|
tion of paramount importance, and will
continue to grow wider and deeper, in 1
interest, until it swallows up all others i
which concern the people of this Uniou. j
It is not a question in which any one class j
alone, at the South, is interested ; it is a 1
subject in which ail are deeply concerned !
.—the rich man and the poor man—the ;
owner of his hundred slaves and thou-1
sands of broad acre', and the humble 1
citizen, who never owned a negro and j
never expects to own one- all are vitally
interested iu the institution of slavery and i
its preservation, as it now exists in the j
Sou: hern States. Indeed, fellow-cititi ;
zens, if there beone class of*our people j
more interested in its preservation than!
iiii-t'iCi, Oi‘ fill OtliOiS, it is dial eia."S who j
earn tlu ir bread by the sweat of their j
brow.” Emancipate the slaves of the j
South, and what would be the condition !
of the poor laboring white man ? It is
raid that slave labor comes in competi
tion with, and cheapens the labor of the 1
white man Set the negro free, and how i
much would that competition be lessened? j
The negro must live ; he must be fed, :
clothed and housed—to obtain these lie
ees-aries of life, he must labor ; these are j
all he works for now ; lie would work for
no less if he were free ; in either coudi-j
tion, his labor conics in competition with
the white man to that extent, and no i
more in the one case than the other. Jf j
the whole black race at the South, was ;
extinguished —wiped out of existence,
then there would be no labor left for!
employment but that of the poor white !
man, and his labor might be increased iu j
value; but who supposes that we shall
ever get rid of the black race, for centu
ries to come, even should they be eman
cipated ? Our Northern brethren would I
not receive and keep them.—The free |
black population oi the .Northern States,
is confessedly the greatest curse which :
afflicts that country. The Northern;
people would be the very last on the j
face of the earth, to welcome our libera-;
led negroes amongst themselves. lust -
gated by feelings of fanaticism, envy and
hatred towards the Southern people, I
they are ever ready and willing to slecil
them from us —that annoys harrasses and
injures us, and gratifies their malevolence;
but take away these motives, and there
>s not a free State in the Union that
would not prohibit the emigration of free
persons of color amongst them. V\ hat
disposition, then, could be made of our
four millions of emancipated slaves?—
Would they be sent to Africa at the ex
pense of the Government ? To say noth
ing of the inhumanity of subjecting them
to a certain relapse into barbarianism,
the process of removal would bankrupt
the national treasury. Such a scheme
would be impracticable, and would not
be attempted. The generous philanthropy j
of our Northern brethren, would never;
stimulate them to the < xpenditure of;
millions upon millions of their money, to
rid the Southern people of their liberated !
negroes. No, sirs, there would be but j
one solution to this question. V\ hen our j
slaves are set free, witu or without our j
consent, they will be left upon our own
soil, still to compete, in an altered condi
tiou, with the labor of the poor white
juau, and to curse all classes with their
vicious, degraded and disgusting habits.
How much better, then, would be the
e.ouditiou. of the poor white laborers in
our country, were the negroes free ?
Ilow much more demand would there be
for white labor, and how ranch more
profitable would it become? To say the
least of it, there could be no material
improvement, whilst in the social rela
tions between the two classes, the very
worst results would follow general eman-
cipation. Many considerations connect
ed with such a change, crowd upon the
mind, all pointing to its terrible effects
upon the social condition, prosperity and
happiness of the poorer classes of our
white population, but time will not
allow me even to advert to them upon
the present occasion There is one view
of the case, however, to which do sensible
<f mptn iffH Statu
TT * w
man, rich or poor, can shut his eyes :
African si every, as it exists in the South
ern States, elevates the character and
condition of the poor white man, altho’
i he knows that there is a class above him
|in wealth, education and social refine
i ment, he feels that there is a class far
: below him, which looks up to him, yields
to him and obeys him. In political pri
j vileges, personal rights and social inter
course, this class can never approach
i him, or interfere with him. This fact
j elevates his‘pride, enhances his conse
, quenee, purifies his morality, stimulates
| his ambition and enobles his manliness.
lie walks erect in the dignity of his col
or and race, and feels that he is a supe
rior being, with more exalted powers
and privileges than others, and ne enjoys
al! the proud advantages of that superi
ority. Emancipate the slave, and the
distance between the two elas-os is at
once lessened—the white man sinks and
the negro rises, until all distiction is
sooner or later lost, and both assume a
degraded equality. How is it in coun
tries where slavery does not exist ?
Compare the condition of the poor white
classes in the Northern and Southern
States of this Union In the former,
tire poor man is the dependent and ser
vant of the rich, with a class above him
and none below him. In the latter, he
is free and independent, with a class far
below him iu the scale of political, intel
lectual and social power. There the
distance between him and his rich neigh
bor and employer is marked and degrad
ing— here it is rneasureably and almost
entirely extinguished, there the poor
man who enters the rich mail’s house on
I business or other object, takes a seat in
! the kitchen, or stands in the outer Hall
and transacts his business with the lord
ly aristocratic proprietor ; he no more
presumes to enter the parlor, or lake a
seat at the rich man’s table, than the
veriest slave iu all the South
would do the same things here. At tin ;
South, and all over it, the honest, decent
floor man and laborer, visits his *-rich j
neighbor on busines or pleasure, with the !
confidence of a freeman, and with an;
assuragee of hospitable treatment. He !
is invited to the parlor, or other eonven
! lent and decent room—he partakes of
! the social meal at the table of theowtuA,
! and is treated witn civility, respect and
i kindness. What a marked difference iu
j the condition of the same class iu differ
ent sections ! how much more proud,
I more elevated, more enviable and hap
ipy the position of the Southern than
the Northern man! Let slavery be !
! abolished In the Southern States, and
! the condition of the poor laboring whites
| would soon become worse than that of
j tin- similar class at the North. The
Not them people boast of their superior
j knowledge, of their more general diffu
, sion of education amongst all classes,
whilst it is a well ascertained fact, that
! more ignorance prevails amongst their
laboring classes, than in any other por
tion of our country. They can read and
j write and cypher, but as for a general i
knowledge of men and things, they are j
: comparatively profoundly iguoiant ; they !
know little of their own, and less of oth
er countries. At the South, though the
i poorer classes may not be so far advanced
; in book leanung, their general knowl
! edge of men and thing'’, is far more ex
j Umsive and useful.
.Mixing as they do with the higher and j
more educated classes, they acquire a 1
knowledge, and take an interest not only j
in relation to the affairs of their own 1
; country, but of foreign lands—they are !
; familiar with the current politics of the
; day—with the operations of the Gov
! eminent They are, in short, the best
! inlormed, most intelligent, most proud,
patriotic and happy poor class of any
’ nation in the world. Tuis superiority is, |
1 to a great extent, attr.butable to the ex
istence of slavery amongst us, and the
| elevating tendencies of that Institution,
and the poor man knows and feels it.—
When lire Northern fanatic is told that
i his continued aggressions upon that in
! stitution, will drive the South to disuu
’ ion, he tauntingly replies, that a large
! majority of the Soul hern people do not
| own slaves, are not interested in the
maintenance of slavery, and will not
permit the slaveholders to break up the
Union—no greater mistake, iu my opiu
! ion, was ever made—no greater delu
sion ever existed. Tire poor man at
; tire South knows too well what would be
the result of abolition designs—he knows
1 what would be the effect of emaucipu
i tion—he well understands that if slave-
rv be abolished the value ol his own la
bor will be diminished, his political and
; social condition lowered, and his person
|al safety itself grea. ly jeopardized. Set
i the negroes free, and the rich, man fore
| seeing the danger, and dreading the evils
i that are sure and soon to follow, can cs
! cape them by removal to a free State or
some oilier safe and quiet home. The
poor man must remain upon the soil, to
encounter the ravages of that “black
plague,” which would cover the land And
that is not all, the emancipation of our
slave population would soouer or later
lead to a wtir between the races, the
most bloody and fatal which ever stain
ed the annals of any country. The brunt
of that war would necessarily be borne
by the poorer classes of the white popu
lation—the effects would fall mainly up
on them, and they would reap’ a rich
harvest of all those terrible evils which
follow ip the train of internecine wars. —
It is true that the loss to the slavehol
der and the country would be incalcula
ble —the emancipation of four millions
of slaves, worth, at the present prices,
more than three billions of dollars, would
be a blow to the wealth and prosperity
of the South, which it would take centu
ries to repair ; but the slaveholder would
have bis brqad acres, his houses and
GRIFFIN, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY MORNING, JULY 20, 1859.
lands, his rents and profits to fall back
upon—tho’ greatly injured, if he did not
flee, he could yet survive and live ;
whilst the poor man, like his brother la
borer at the North, would become “the
hewer of wood and drawer of water” for
the rich and powerful. Yes, sirs, the
poor people of this country are more in
terested in the maintenance of slavery
than even those who own. the negroes.—
I think I understand the feelings and
sentiments of the people of our own
State upon this great subject, and I ven
ture the opinion, that if the question was
put to-day to the people of Georgia,
whether the negroes should be set free in
the country, nine out of ten of those who
do not own a slave, would vote in the
negative ; nay, more, they would take,.
tip arms, if necessary, and fight to the 1
death to prevent the infliction of so great
a calamity. Yes, fellow-citizens, the
preservation of slavery in the Southern
States is indeed of incalculable impor
tance to us all. I might enlarge upon
the subject until I would swell my re
marks to a good sized volume, but neith
er my own strength, or your patience,
would permit such a discussion. Slavery
must be maintained—in the Union, if
possible—out of it if necessary—peacea
bly if icc may—forcibly if we must.
The voice of the Northern abolitionist
and the Southern submissionist would
erv, “The Union—it must and shall be
preserved.” My voice and yours is,
‘Slavery at the South —it must and shall
be preserved, until in our own good
time, our interests and our philanthropy
shall decree its extinction.” Is the in
stitution in danger in the present Feder
al Union ? This is a great, important,
momentous question. Like the com
mandments in scripture upon which
“hang all the law and Prophets,” upon
this great question hang the interests and
fate of millions. If it be in danger, then
our interests, oar honor, our peace aud
! prosperity, nay our safety and self-pre
\ serration demand that vve shall avert the
j danger and flee from the wrath to come
j whilst we have the power to escape. I
know that there are many Southern men
j who believe or affect to believe, that the
institution of slavery is on a safer foun
dation now thau it has ever been since
the formation of the Confederacy. Some
of these parties are honest in their views,
whilst in others, “the wish is father to
the thought,” and in many selfish con
siderations give utterance to sentiments
and opinions which are not seriously felt
or entertained. My own ophiion is, that
1 the institution of slavery .in the Southern
States is not only in danger, but without
a prompt, bold, firm and manly course
on their part, is doomed to inevitable
destruction. The evidences of the truth
of this proposition are numerous and un
mista liable. Upon the present occasion,
I can only glance at a few of them—
their history is written upon the out
spread piges of the times, and in charac
ters so large that “he who ruus may
: read.” The first dawning of Northern
hostility to Southern slavery was exhibi
j ted upon the admission of Missouri into
the Union. I need not detail the cir
cumstances of that exciting and event
ful period of our history—they are as
familiar to you and all the American
people as “household words.” In the
violent opposition of the Northern States
to tire admission of Missouri because
slavery was tolerated by her Constitu
! tion, the Southern people recognized a
j decided hostility to their -‘peculiar iu.-ti
I tutiou” amongst the masses of ihe North
! era States, and a desigu to circumscribe
its area, to prevent iis extension, and fi
nally to abolish it altogether. It was
not only the violation of a constitution
al right, but a mauifesiation of implaca
ble hostility to the “Institution” itself.
The South saw and felt it in this light
and resented the dangerous and daring
attack The controversy was angry and
bitter. The North pressed the subject
with that obstinate and unyielding te
nacity and acrimony which always ac
company fanaticism, and the South, to
preserve the Union, with short-sighted
wisdom yielded to a degrading and un
constitutional arrangement, which has
subsequently been the fruitful source of
still more degrading and insulting exac
tion from the No: th If the Southern
States,, had then, planted their feet upon
the Constitution and demanded their
rights as the only condition upon which
they would remain in the Union, vve
should never again have heard of Mis
souri restrictions, Wilmot Provisos, or
Squatter Sover ignty. A weak man
never secures the forbearance of his more
powerful enemy by submitting to a wrong
or compromising a right -- his safety lies
only i a firm and manly resistance at
the outset, a resistance, if necessary,
oven unto death. It has been the con
stant readiness of the Southern people
to submit to unconstitutional aggression
and wrong, “to save this glorious Union,”
that whetted the appetite of North
ern fanaticism and made the Northern
abolitionists bold and defiant in their ar
rogant pud dangerous demands. It re
mains to be seen whether once more and
again, the South will be lulled to sleep
by the “ Union's ’ syren voice, and be
lead on to inevitable destruction. Hav
ing made an entering wedge, by the Mis
souri restriction, towards the accom
plishment of the final overthrow of slave-
ry, the spirit ol abolitionism, alarmed
at threats of disunion from the South,
although feebly uttered, rested|for a brief
period, it broke out agaiu in a few
years and presented itself in the form of
petitions to Congress from gll the North
ern States, demanding the abolition of
slavery in the District of Columbia. —
The South, by a united ejfort successful
ly resisted this unconstitutional, insulting
apd dangerous innovation upon her
rights-: but the spirit of anti-slavery at
••NO PENT UP UTICA CONTRACTS OUR WHOLE BOUNDLESS CONTINENT IS OURS.”
the North was fed by the.contest, and
fattened into such huge proportions, that j
in a few years it swallowed up the great
Whig party of that section, and threat
ened the overthrow ol ab opposing ele
ments. The Wilraot Proviso and the;
outrages of 1850 were the bitter fruits
of that increasing and rampaut power:
of abolitionism on the one hand, and the
submissive and yielding - temper of the
Southern States on the other. TheWil
mot Proviso—which was to shut out;
slavery from ail the Territories acquired
from Mexico, anu from, all that might i
be acquired in the future; from any and j
every quarter. If Empires were ob- 1
tained with the blood or treasure of tire!
Southern people, they w -re to be couse- j
grated to*,frofci!
‘ner institution forevreT excluded. The !
manly voice of a few Southern patriots, j
the voice of the Southern Rights Party j
of Georgia, and some, of her surround-j
ing sister States, drove the. North slow
ly and reluctantly into jthe Compromise i
Measures of 1850. j
Fellow-Citizens, th re are doubtless j
some here to-day—there are thousands ;
elsewhere in Georgia, and the whole!
South, who thought tlcm “wise, liberal
and just.” They were; advocated and ;
supported by many Soif hern men, equal
ly as bone<t, and much wiser than myself)
—they have been acquiesced in by the;
Southern people and especially in a most j
formal manner by a majority of the peo
ple of my own State. It does not be
come me to speak of them with severity
or harshness—a proper respect for the
opinions and actions of a majority of my
fellow-citizens leads *ne to characterize
their adoption <mlvTf** 1 ■*( TWSf!i 1 IToi luifate
and dangerous political error. The Ter
ritories acquired from Mexico were ob
tained with the blood and treasure of
the whole country, they were the com
mon property of the people of the Uni
ted States. The Southern people were i
entitled to an equal enjoyment of them ;
to as full, free and uuiramelied posses- j
sion of the common property, as theirj
Northern brethren —trey had the un-i
doubted right to emigrate to these ter- i
ritories, and carry with them any and all;
property which they owned at home, and ;
which was recognised and secured to
them os property by tire Constitution of ;
the United States, aud by the eonstitu-!
tion and laws of their own States, llav-1
iug thus the unqualified right to go into i
the territories with their slave property, j
they had the necessarily resulting right of i
protection in the enjoyment of that prop-!
rial government, as a matter of eonstitu- j
tional obligation, and of sheer justice to j
the Southern people, it was lire duty of
Congress,'immediately after the aequisi-;
tion of these territories, to organise ter
ritorial governments, not, only without a;
prohibition as to slavery, but providing)
for its regulation and protection in case j
it either existed in, o? shorn 1 enter any i
of them by the voluntary emigration of j
the Southern people. Bet how was it?’
The Northern aboliirefused Whig Party ;
having the majority in the House of.
Representatives, obstinately refused to;
organise governments Ur those territo
ries, exeepi with a provision excluding!
slavery. Such a bill passe.l that body,;
but the Southern Senators, aided by the ;
votes of Northern Democratic Senators, i
resisted this foul demand, and defeated;
the infamous proposal. The consequence j
was that no territorial were ;
formed. The ratJswmrtrsT??'.’ orThern
abolition gold diggers cashed in tho us- j
ands to the golden fields of California.!
The Southern slave-holder having no
protection for his property, and dreading ;
the buzzard to which it vrouli be expos-;
ed, kept aloof, even from tliii land of
“milk and honey,” and the political des-j
tiny of tlie country was’seta led against i
urn The South was entitled to Culifor-j
nia. It is a notorious fact that all min- :
inn operations can be carried on more j
certainly and more profitably with slave,;
than with free labor. Tire annual cost !
of t.he former is only his personal ex- s
penses of food, raiment and medicinal :
attention, and the interest, upon his val
ue and price—he is subject to the ab-!
solute command and control of his own
er, and is always at hand and constantly j
engaged in the duties and labors, which, ‘
to be profitable must be’ ffosejy applied, j
If tire public lniu-1 i* Cfiffi-jn-riifl. had been
surveyed lip and offered in market, as
had always been usual upon the acquisi
tion of new territories, and if the South
ern people had been guaranteed protec
tion and security to their slave property,
thousands of her adventurous and enter-1
prising sons would have sought their!
homes and fortunes on the shores of the ■
Pacific, and California would have been ;
a slave State. The North knew this—[
hence their refusal either to organise a;
territorial governmet with protection to J
shivery, or to survey and sell the land.,
If the South then had acted with manly i
firmness- if it had said in authoritfve
language to the North: “Wearpenti-i
tied to an equal participation with you 1
of this common inheritance — vve are en-|
titled, as joint owners, to go into it with
our slave property—lyc are entitled to its
protection under law whilst there, and
we demand these rights—-if you yield
them, well—if you we sep
erate from you ” If this had been the
united and determined voice of the
Southern people, territorial governments
would have been formed at once, slavery :
would have had legal protection—it |
would have taken root and spread over!
the country, California would have been
a slave State, and the South would have
been spared the humiliating injustice of
the Compromise Measures of 1850.
But under the delusive and fatal pretext
of “saving the Union” the South again
surrendered a right, and submitted to a
wrong. This was (he hitter fruit of
: that violent, widely extended, and all
absorbing hostility to Southern slavery,
which had then seized and held the
Northern mind in bondage ; and yet
from a party and a people who had the
power and the will to inflict so great an
| outrage upon nearly one half of this
i Union, it is thought and said that we.j
! are to apprehend hp danger ! These I
gross violations of Southern rights— :
this reckless trampling upon Southern
feelings, was but a faint evidence of that
deadly hostility to slavery which perva
i ded and yet pervades the Northern
heart, and only a dim foreshadowing of
1 what was, and is.in wait for us in the
future. The demon of abolition as he
stood forth in gigantic proportions in the
memorable cwilest of ISoB, could not
but arrest the attention, excite the fears,
aud arouse the indignation of every
Southern man. For the first time in the j
history of the Republic candidates
for President aud Vice President were
selected from one section—ran upon a
sectional issue and voted for alone by
that section and upon that issue—oppo
sition to slavery—what did this mean ?
Did they merely wish to gut possession
of* the government to enjoy the “loaves
and fishes” of public patronage ?
It would be paying a poor coinpl .rent j
to the keen sagacity and statesmanship
of those able and adroit leaders who con-!
trolled that movement, to suppose that 1
such was the only, or the main object of;
their struggle; nor did they disguise |
their object —their battle cry was : down j
with the Democracy — down with the ac- j
cured slaveocracy of the South—freedom ;
shall reign eternal and universal over the
American States. the Republican pa
pers in all the free Spates teemed with
the most abusive and vituperative arti
cles, not only against slavery but against
the Southern people—a hatred more bit
ter and vindictive towards us than ever
ruled or rankled in she tory breast, du
ring the Revolution toward the immor
tal Whigs of that glorious and memora
ble period—a jealousy and envy more
violent than that which instigated the
brethren of Joseph to conspire his death,
and which doomed him to exile and
Egyptian bondage,filled all their thoughts
—poisoned all their words and blackened
all their deeds during that exciting and
excited contest. If they had succeeded,
do you suppose they would have been
satisfied with the mere possession of
power? That power would but have
stimulated them to other and more fatal
assaults upon the rights of the Southern
‘.yipufe
In all ages and in all countries fanati
cism grows more ravenous and vorocious
as it devours the victims of its fury. It
feeds and feeds until all being consumed,
nothing is left to gorge its gloated maw. —
And so with the fanaticism of the North
ern States. What but envy, haired, and
malice could have stirred up so much
sympathy for the deserved chastisement
of a contempiable paltroon, even tho’
it was done in the Senate Chamber of
the Capitoi? If a Southern Senator had
been chastised in'the same place and in
the same manner for,a personal insult or j
injury, what Northern man, or Nor- j
them Press would have raised a voice
in condemnation? It would have given
them unmitigated pleasure. It was no
sympathy for Sumner’s person, that pro
duced such a furor of* indignation and
Excitement throughout the Northern
States, it was sympathy for the cause of
abolition of which lie was the insulting
advocate. It was no personal dislike to
Brooks as a man, it was a deep rooted
and violent hatred to slavery and the
Siuthern people of which he was the no
ble and honored champion. Who but a
people steeped in fanaticism and malice!
and lost to all sense of justice and for-j
bearanee toward their Southern brethe- j
ren, could have presented a mere man of
straw for the highest office in the gift of a
great nation,and rallied to bis support up
on a sectional issue, the electoral votes of
nearly one half of* the States of this union?
What is to be expected of such a party
when firmly sealed in office and looking to
slavery as the only impediment to the
consolidation and eoiitinuctice of its pow
er ? It has already violated every con
stitutional obligation which it could vio
late with impunity. The right of the
Southern people to a peaceful and
prompt reclamation < f their fugitive j
slaves, guaranteed by the constitution
and protected by law, has been dispised,
contemned and trampled under foot
Congressional statutes enforcing the right
have been openly repudiate ’ by legisla
tive enactment in many of the free States,
in others it has been resisted and set at j
naught by organized mobs and rendered j
utterly valueless to the Southern people. j
Organised societies have been formed in
all the free States, and large sums of
money raised to pay -abolition Pirates
for stealing away t.he slaves of tlie bor
der States to harrass, irritat e and injure
their lawful owners. In short the con
duct of the masses of tho northern Peo
ple exhibits more bitterness and hostility
towards their Southern bretheren, than
ever marked the bloody contest of bor
der nations since the world began. They
are this day, the most unscrupulous, the
most violent and vindicative enemies
which the S uithorn people have on the
face of the wide earth. I speak of the
abolition hordes of the North and the
j Black Republican party of the free
States. I admit that there arc excep
tions,.
The interest of the commercial classes
in the large cities, smothers their fanati
cism, but like a hidden vclcanoe, its fires
are ohly pent up for the present, t,o
burst forth at a future day, carrying de
vastation and death in their train. The
Democratic party of the free States, al
| lied with their Southern brethren, in po
1 litical eoutests, and looking to them for
the obtainmeut of political power, has
for many years, given to the constitution-1
al rights of the South a manly support ; ,
but like an army in the face of a superior j
and more vigorous foe, doubtful of its j
position and conscious of inferiority, it i
has kept up, as it were, only a retreating ;
| fire, whilst it ranks have been constantly j
j thinned by distortion and death, until at j
| length it ims surrendered nearlyevery inch j
of ground to the enemy. From the begin-!
niiig of this abolition war, to the present j
day, not a man has gone over to the j
sound Democracy, from the free soil
rauks, whilst the lessening and wavering j
hosts of the former, have year after year j
melted away before their fanatical enemy j
like the snows before the rays of a bum-1
mg sun.
1 ’ . .
Whatever others may say—whatever
delusive hopes may be entertained to the
j contrary, I consider all lost at the North.
; The constitutional sound Democracy of
the free States, if not dead and buried,
are paralized and powerless—even the
bold, gallant—once sound and unflinch
ing Douglas—once the able and manly
defender of Southern Rights, has yielded
to the storm and bowed his thick and
stubborn neck to the yoke. He has not
j it is true, gone over “bag and baggage”
to the enemy, and announced his •
| gience to them, but he stands to-day
with one foot in our ranks and one in the
ranks of our mortal foe ; and he is sur
rounded by the very flower < f the North
ern Democracy, who are ready to follow
him, body and soul, “horse, foot and
dragoons” into the enemies’ camp when
; ever his honest convictions or his selfish
interests may speak the word of
command. Judge Douglas has been ac
cused of deserting the South and carry
ing off thousands of the Northern Demo
cracy with him in the Lecompton war.
He deserted us, it is true, in that impor
tant and exciting struggle, but it was
not in my opinion, a voluntary desertion
—he was forced to his position by the
public sentiment of his own section- he
was borne along by a current which he
found himself unable, if willing, to resist.
The great mass of the Northern Demo
cracy, driven into straits by the swelling
power of the abolitionists, had seized
upon the heresy of “squatter sovereign
ty,” as a safe and middle ground be
tween the Wilmot Proviso of the North
oi the one hand, and the “Congressional
Protection* doctrine of the South on the
other. They were either not bold enough
or honest enough to take the true Con
stitutional ground of securing equality to
| the people of al! Die States by .Congres
sional enactment —they retreated to the
plausible, but delusive and rotten ground
of “popular sovereignty,” hoping to bam
boozle their Southern Allies, and at the
same time resist the assaults of their
Northern opponents. They have done
neither. The Southern slave holder sees
through the flirasev texture of this frail
covering to his constitutional rights—tiic
Northern abolitionist scorns and rejects
it as too rough and tedious a pathway
to the goal of his party’s ambition and
success. He chooses a more direct road to
the suppression of slavery in the Territo
ries, and demands its exclusion by Con
gressional prohibition. Os what benefit
to the South is the “squatter sovereign
ty” doctrine of Douglas and his followers?
Let Kansas speak. The South was en
titjed to Kansas, and if justice had been
done her, she would have taken Kansas.
I disagree with those Southern men who
as an apology for the surrender of Kan
sas to abolitionism, assert that the soil
and climate of that Territory are unsuit
ed to slavery. Its soil aud climate are
precise]/ those of the border counties of
Western Missouri, and it is a notorious
fact that in no part of the Southern
States is slave labor more profitable than
in Western Missouri. The census tables
of 1850 exhibit the fact that slavery had
increased in a greater ratio in the State
of Missouri, for the preceding ten years,
than in any other slave State in the
Union, and that increase was in;.: dy
confined to the Western portion of the
State, contiguous to Kansas. -The sta
ple products of that region, arc wheat,
Indian corn, tobacco, and hemp—the lat
ter is the most profitable, and yields
more money to the hand, than the culti
vation of cotton in the planting States.
I was informed by an intelligent and re
j liable gentleman, who emigrated at on
I early day, to Kansas and carried a lew
slaves with him, that he could realize
from the culture of hemp, from three to
six hundred dollars per annum to the
hand. Where, in all the South, can
slave labor be more profitably employed?
’ If the negro race can live and multiply
and thrive in Missouri, why may it n ; . j
lin Kansas ? Kansas was contiguou >
slave States, especially to Missouri —the
natural tendency of emigration to Kan
sas was from the neighboring slave
States. If there had been Congressional
protection to slave property in Kansas,
the Southern people would have felt an
abiding security in taking their negroes
into that rich and beautiful country.—
Emigration would have poured into it
from Missouri and the neighboring slave
States, and Kansas would have been
ours. But how was it ?
Congress refused to give legal protec
tion to slave property in Kansas and
left slave holders to the tender mercies
of the squatter sovereigns who were pre
cipitated upon her soil by the Northern
abolition emigrating aid societies, to
make it a free State. No prudent man
would carry his slaves into the Territory
under such circumstances. Slavery is
proverbially timid and will not go where
it is not made safe in advance from the
fangs of that voracious serpent, which is
, ever ready and eager to swallow aud de-
I vonr it.
i The los; of Kansas to the South was
j the legitimate and inevitable fruit of the
[TERMS-42 In Advance
! “Squatter Sovereignty” elements of the
! Kansas Nebraska Bill, as construed and
; enforced by its Northern authors and
1 friends. They were enough in tliem-
Iselves to produce that result, but as a
! part and parcel of the influence and pow
|er of the free-soil sentiment of the Nor
thern States, the administration of even
Gen. Pierce gave way to its bold and
impudent demands and put over Kan
sas a batch of free-soil Governors and
otl er Federal Officers to warp with offi
ch:l patronage and influence, the senti
ments and political action of the people.
Nebraska was a Northern Territory giv
en up by all parties to free institutions—
Kansas was a Southern Territory and
ought to have been subjected to South
ern control; but yielding to the pressure
of Northern Anti-slavery hostility and
the strong current to make Kansas a
free State—to appease the morbid appe
tite of the abolition monster, who shook
his bloody fingers ; the President, he
reversed the natural and appropriate or
der of things aud appointed r-outhern
men Governors of Nebraska, and Nor
thern men for Kansas ! And the present
; administration, though professing tho
I greatest regard for Southern rights ami
the most profound indxjferame, as to the
i political fate of Kansas, has followed the
example of its “illustrious predecessor,
and behold the array of Northern Free
Soil Governors over Kansas.—lleeder,
Gary, Shgnon, Walker and Medary,
all hailing from the same section, aU of
the same materials made, and all conse
crate.! and devoted to ;lie same great
end of making Kansas a free State, aud
thus Kansas was lost to the South. If
the Southern Stales had planted their
feet upon the firm plank of their sover
eign Equality and constitutional rights,
when Territorial Governments were form
ed and demanded protection to their
slave property by federal laws, during
the existence of the Territorial Govern
ments, as a condition of remaining in
the union, we should never have been
cursed witii the wretched uncertainties
or unmeaning generalities of the Kansas
Nebraska bill and the thousand ills of
which It has been the prolific source—
Will it be aigued that under that bill,
slavery has been established in New
Mexico? Who believes that it will be
come permanent or be maintained as the
settled policy of that Territory? It has
has been adopted through official intrigue
and under the influence of official pat
ronage aud power—it was covertly and
suddenly done—it took the South, as
well a§ the Nm-th by surprize. But the
North would even now, and before this
have overcome and obliterated it from
ihe Territorial statute book, by her
hordes of abolition scum sent there by
her emigrating aid societies, “to* regu
late the domestic institutions of the peo
ple,” if she had not reserved it as an el
ement of agitation and success, in the
next Presidential campaign. Whenever
she chooses she can wipe it out in twelve
months. She has only to bring the guns
of her aid societies to bear Upon the
doomed laud and slavery will flee from
it as it did from Kansas. No, fellow
citizens, give no legal and tangible pro
tect! hi to slavery', and it will never plant
an abiding foot print in any Territory of
the United States. I shall not stop
here to argue the doctrine of congres
sional protection to s'avery in the Terri
tories, nor to combat the errors of
“squatter sovereignty,” I take the oc
casion to confess t-dnt 1 was once the ad
vocate of the latter heresy—carried away
by its an tractive bu. deiusj-ve sophistry,
which, like the “ ignis fat tins/’ lures
only to destroy, and without serious ex
amination into its truth and general
bearings, and looking at it as ihe on y
alternative of the Wilmot Proviso, I was
ready to take it as the “best we could
get.” I was wrong and I admit, regret
and recant the error. Subsequent in
vestigation and reflection soon convinced
me that the only true theory hi relation
to Territorial Governments in the Union,
is that both {ha power and the duty arc
conferred and imposed upon Congress
to pass laws lor the protection and reg
ulation of slavery, whomever it exists or
may exist upon the common s >il. lam
as well convinced of the truth and pro
priety of this doctrine, as I am of the
doctrine of salvation di dared to man in
the sacred word of God, but whilst I in
sist upon the abst v right of the South
ern p*'ple to legal protection in the
possession and enjoyment of their slave
property in the Territories of the United
States and the power and duty of Con
gress to give such protection, 1 utterly
dmy the power of congress under the
j constitution or otherwise, to prohibit
slavery from entering the Territories, or
of abolishing it, if there. 1 o regulate
and protect the | roperty of the citi
zen is one thing—to deprive him of i‘,
is another and altogether different thing.
One is not only within the power of all
Governments, but is one of the main ob
jeets and obligations of ail Governments.
The other cannot be done in onr Govern
ment. and under our Constitution, except
for “the public use” and not then without
just compensation to the owner. Such is
the language of the Federal Constitu
tion. This right of the Southern people
on the one hand, and this power and du
ty of Congress on the other, #Te, I hope
and believe, fast becoming the settled
doctrine of the S mtlieru people and will
sooner or later be demanded by them,
with a spirit and power which eaungt
be resisted. But this doctrine, so dear
as it is, and ought to b,e the South, will
never be recognized or admitted by the
North, whilst the South is divided ii>
sentiment or uudicided in action. The
Black R publican party at the North
scouts it. The Northern Democracy
shrinks from it. It"w il never be granted
or acted upon,until the South,w/n’ferf xipoy
No. .10