The Empire State. (Griffin, Ga.) 1855-18??, July 20, 1859, Image 1

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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