£ 
 
 .cu 
 
H0LL1NGER 
 P H8.5 
 
 MILL RUN F3-1543 
 
E 423 
 C62 RE M A RjK S 
 
 'Opy J 
 
 / 
 
 MESSRS. CLEMENS, BUTLER, AND JEFFERSON DAVIS, 
 
 THE VERMONT RESOLUTIONS RELATING TO SLAVERY. 
 
 DELIVERED 
 
 IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 10, 1850. 
 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 
 
 1850. 
 
 

 
REMARKS OF MR. CLEMENS. 
 
 The Senate proceeded to the unfinished business, 
 being the resolutions from the Gen ral \ <-mbly 
 of the State of Vei mom, which were pr< sented on 
 Tuesday last by Mr. Ui-h.vm, as follows: 
 
 Resoled by the Smote and Hotui of RepresentatU 1 i. That 
 slavery U a crime against humanity, aud ■ wire evil in the 
 body politic, tliiit was excused in the framei • of me Fi di ral 
 
 Constitution as 8 crime entailed U| the country by their 
 
 predecessors, and tolerated Bolely as a thing ol inej 
 necessity. 
 
 Resolved, Thai the bo calli «i "c impromises of the Cnnsti 
 union'' restraint d the Feder ii <: ivcrniuent from interfering 
 with slavery only in tin- Statesin which II then exixted, and 
 from interference with the slave trade only tor a limited 
 time, winch has long since expired; and that the i> 
 coin', rred upon Congress by the Constitution to suppress the 
 trade, to regulate commerce between the Slates, to 
 govern the Territories, and to a Imit new States — powers 
 conferred with an express intention " to form a mon pei 
 feet union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, 
 provide tor the common defence, promote the general »i i- 
 fare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our 
 posterity"— may all rightfully be used so as to prevent the 
 
 extension of slavery into territory now free, and 10 abolish 
 
 el l very and the slave trade wherever • ither exists under the 
 jurisdiction of Congress. 
 
 Resolved, That 001 Senators and Representatives in Con- 
 gress be requested to resist hy all and every constitutional 
 means the extension of slavery m any manner, whether by 
 the annexation to slavebnldibg Ti xas of territory no'.v free, 
 or by the admission to the I'nion of territory already ac- 
 quired, or which may be hereafter acquired, without an 
 express prohibition of slavery, either In the constitution of 
 each new State asking admission, or in the acl of Congress 
 providing for such admission. 
 
 Resoleal, farther, That our Senators and Representatives 
 in Congress be requesti d to support every just and prudent 
 measure for the exclusion of slavery from the District of I 
 Columbia; for the entire suppression of the -live trade on 
 the high sens, ami wherever else Congress has jurisdiction : 
 and generally to relieve the Federal Government from ail 
 responsibility tor tin 1 existence, maintenance, or tolerance 
 of slavers, or the traffic m Blaves. 
 
 Resolved, further, Thru our Senators in Congress he in- 
 structed, and our Representatives requested, to use their 
 exertions for the speed] org mization ol a territorial govt rn- 
 ment tor New Mexico and California, with a provision for- 
 ever excluding involuntary servitude, except for crime, I 
 therefrom. 
 
 Resolved, That the Governor be requested to furnish a 
 copy of the foregoing resolutions to each of our Senators : 
 and Representatives in Congress, and to ilic Governor of 
 each State in the Union. 
 
 Approved November 12, 1849. 
 
 Mr. CLEMENS. I voted the otherday against 
 the motion to" lay the question of printing these 
 resolutions upon the table, not from any respect for 
 the body who adopted them, or any desire to ex- 
 tend a courtesy tcthose whocould so far forget what 
 was due to the people of the southern States, and 
 to theirown characters, as to clothe such sentiments 
 in such language. But I agree with the Senator 
 from South Carolina [Mr. Butler] that the people 
 of the South ought to be acquainted with northern 
 feeling. I desire these resolutions printed for an- 
 other reason: I wish to show my constituents that 
 the declarations so often and so earnestly made that 
 
 forth does n interfere with slavery 
 
 when ; entirely false, and intended only 
 
 t i rji ceive. Thi ■•• itfa boom 
 
 ess heretofore, and I should consider myself 
 very culpable if 1 did not now expose it. It is 
 true, we still have the declaration of Senators that 
 all interference loith slavery in ihr stales is fori 
 to their purposes, but it is asking too much of our 
 credulily to expect us to believe such statements 
 when they are accompanied by the introduction of 
 utions directly contradicting then- assertions. 
 These resolutions do not stop at the .same point 
 with ill" Senator from Ohio, [Mr. Chase.] They 
 j go far bcymd the ground he has taken. They as- 
 : sert that the so-called compromises of the Co:>sti- 
 tution n itrict interfere ice with slavery only in the 
 States in which it existed at the time of the adop- 
 tion of that instrument. And, according to the doc- 
 trine here avowed, Congress has the power to 
 abolish slavery in Alabama, or in any other Stale 
 admitted since the adoption of the Constitution. 
 Another and a bolder step has been taken in the 
 march of aggression. Another mask has been 
 ; removed and another deformity revealed. I am 
 \ ready, therefore, to vote for the printing of any 
 number of these resolutions, for the purpose of 
 ; distributing them among the people of the South, 
 i It is time we understood this question, and knew 
 | what we shall be called upon to re.-ist. So far as 
 1 my action goes, that knowledge shall not be with- 
 ,; held. 
 
 We have never asked anything at your hands 
 beyond a strict adherence to the Constitution. 
 i We have never proposed any interference with 
 your domestic relations. We have not assumed a 
 j censorship over your morals. We have asked fro n 
 1 you no boon, and desired nothing but non-inter- 
 I vention with the rights secured to us by the 
 ; stitution, and for the maintenance of whii : i ;. ■ r 
 ; fathers solemnly and deliberately pledged 
 faith. Sorely these are not hard conditions. > 
 in.: lot she most determined spirit of intermeddling 
 — nothing but the most reel. I s rd ol con- 
 
 • nces, or the most profound contempt for all 
 the warnings we have given, could induce the 
 : northern people to persist in the mad career they 
 have been running for the last fifteen years. W!un 
 ; the future historian records the events of that 
 period, in no matter how truthful and simile lan- 
 ^e, will posterity believe the story ? W < 
 16 after us believe it possible that a 
 whole people, from a mere spirit of aggression, 
 without a motive apart from the pleasure which 
 the tyrant always feels in the infliction of a wr.niir, 
 have madly torn to pieces the most glorious fa!>ric 
 ever erected by human hands? The miserable 
 plea that you are actuated by a desire to improve 
 
the morals of the South, and the equally miserable 
 affectation of special devotion to the cause of hu- 
 manity, will soon be forgotten, or remembered 
 only as an evidence of the deep hypocrisy of 
 which human nature is sometimes capable. Your 
 acts and your motives must both be reviewed by 
 a tribunal which cannot fail to pronounce them 
 something worse than insane. When the fountain 
 first bubbled into day, its waters were supplied by 
 folly; but the stream has gathered in its course 
 so much of hypocrisy and wickedness,, that we 
 are constrained to detest what at first we only 
 despised. 
 
 The value of the slave property in the southern 
 States exceeds nine hundred millions of dollars. 
 No people ever existed, or ever will exist, who 
 would consent to the destruction of this vast 
 wealth without a long and desperate struggle; and 
 can it be possible that you dream of effecting its 
 destruction by peaceful means, when you have to 
 deal with a race constitutionally brave, even to 
 rashness, and as prone to resentment as " the 
 sparks to fly upwards?" Or do you indulge that 
 other delusion, that it is in your power to compel 
 submission ? If either of these fancies have taken 
 possession of the northern mind, take my advice, 
 and be in some haste to expel it. The most dan- 
 gerous ignis fatuus that ever lured a wanderer by 
 night into a deadly quagmire is harmless when 
 compared with such a guide. 
 
 Suppose we had no motive to resist abolition 
 agitation save the powerful one of protecting our 
 property: would you, if the picture were reversed, 
 hesitate one moment about the adoption of the 
 most extreme measures? Would you have borne 
 what we have already submitted to ? What would 
 be your conduct, if, year after year, we flooded 
 this hall with petitions to burn down your facto- 
 ries ? If, year after year, we insulted you with 
 resolutions, passed by State Legislatures, decla- 
 ring that the system of white slavery, which unde- 
 niably exists in your manufactories and elsewhere, 
 is offensive to the moral sense of the South, and 
 one from which it became a Christian people to 
 divorce themselves ? Suppose we reminded you of 
 the pauperism and crime in ymir great cities; of the 
 bands of juvenile vagrants " pilfering whenever 
 opportunity offers, and begging when they cannot 
 steal;" of the parents driving their children forth, 
 the sons to commit felonies, and the daughters to 
 prostitution.* All these things we might urge 
 with far more justice than belongs (o any of your 
 complaints against us. But would you bear it? 
 would you tolerate such petitions, or listen with 
 patience to such resolutions? If you did, you 
 would belie the character which the world has 
 given to the Yankee States. 
 
 The Senator from Ohio says that he is not to-be 
 deterred by menaces of disunion, from pursuing the 
 course he has marked out for himself. I have no 
 wish to deter him. 1 want Inn; and other north- 
 ern men to come up boldly, and do what they tell 
 us their constituencies have demanded. I malic 
 no menaces, but 1 insist that the Senators from 
 Vermont obey the instructions of their Legisla- 
 ture, and introduce the bills they are there required 
 to introduce. I borrow the language of a mem- 
 
 s These facts are lakrn from the " Report of the Chief of 
 Police," New York, commencing May 1st and endin<- Oc- 
 tober, 1«49. 
 
 ber in the other end of the Capitol, and tell them 
 to "come up and face the music." Do not dodge 
 the question. Do not attempt to get rid of it by 
 indirection, but stand up, as the representatives of 
 freemen ought to do, and look it in the face. If 
 you are right, or believe yourselves so, persevere. 
 If you are wrong, but yet believe you can commit 
 that wrong with impunity, keep on. We have a 
 lesson in store for you which may be severe) but 
 will certainly be useful. 
 
 The South, Mr. President, disclaims the lan- 
 guage of menace, but it is nevertheless due to all 
 parties that her deliberate purposes should be 
 plainly announced. We do not intend to stand 
 still and have our throats cut because the butcher 
 chooses to soothe us under the operation witli 
 honeyed words. You can deceive us no longer by 
 the catchwords "conciliation and harmony. " 
 Nor can our voices be stilled by the fear of in- 
 curring the reproach of imprudence. I said the 
 other day, and I repeat now, that the time for 
 prudential action has gone by. It is this prudence, 
 of which we have heard so much, that has brought 
 us tb the situation in which we now are. It is 
 this constant talking about prudential action which 
 has induced the people of the North to believe 
 that we do not intend to resist. 
 
 There is a point at which prudence changes 
 from a virtue to a vice, and it often happens that 
 it is used only as another name for cowardice. It 
 is not to be wondered at if our good brethren of 
 the North have mistaken the one for the other, and 
 have thus found courage to persist in a crusade 
 which promised to be unattended with danger. I 
 know not if they will thank me for undeceiving 
 them, but it is my habit to deal plainly with all 
 men, and I now proclaim that you have reached 
 the utmost limit to which you can go. There is 
 a line beyond which you must not pass. Ymt 
 have inarched up to it, and now cross it if you 
 dare. 1 do not say this to intimidate. I do not 
 believe it will have that effect. On the contrary, 
 I believe with the Senator from South Carolina, 
 [Mr. Calhoon.] that this movement %oill run its 
 course, and end, as all similar things have ended. 
 in blood and tears. The demagogues of the North 
 have raised a tempest they cannot control. It is 
 impelling them onwards with an irresistible force — ■ 
 they can neither recedenor stand still; and, how- 
 ever fearful may be the path before them, it is 
 one they must tread. For a miserable partisan 
 purpose they have excited and kept alive bitter 
 sectional jealousies, and burning hatreds, which 
 are now bringing forth deadly fruits. " They 
 have sown the wind, and must reap the whirl- 
 wind." In the history of nations there are fre- 
 quently periods when the statesman feels himself 
 borne along upon a turbulent tide to an unknown 
 port. A curtain is drawn between him and the 
 future which his utmost sagacity fails to penetrate. 
 But that period is past with us. Fold after fold of 
 the curtain has been rolled away, and the view be- 
 yond, is neither dim nor indistinct. He who cannot 
 now trace out step by step each successive event of 
 the future, has learned but little from the past his- 
 tory of mankind, and is ill fitted to be the lawgiver 
 of a nation. The North will not save the Union, 
 and the South cannot, unless indeed we submit to 
 indignities and wrongs of so degrading » character 
 as would almost make our fathers "burst the. cere- 
 ments of the tomb," and come among us once more 
 
to denounce and disown the di gi ni ratedeaci ndanta 
 who had disgraced a gloriou We know 
 
 well whal wi have toexn* ct, Northern d< m mds 
 have assumed a rorm which ii is in 
 to misundi rstand. Firs! comes ouri sclusion from 
 the territories. N< xl abolition in the Disti icl of 
 Columbia — in the fori . dock yards, &c. 
 
 Then the prohibit f thi I ve trade bi tv. • i n 
 
 the Stat( : ind, finally, total abolition. Theaere- 
 suits are jus) as certain, unless the Ural Blep is 
 firmly resisted, as thai the Bun will rise to-morrow, 
 and tin' night will follow hia going down. Here- 
 tofore it has been pretended thai it was nol the pur- 
 pose of any considerable body al 1 1 » •— North to in- 
 terfere with .slavery in the Stairs-, bul this is an 
 illusion which these resolutions have come in good 
 
 timo to dispel. 1 always knew it was falsi', Bul I 
 
 did not expect to see the cloak so Boon thrown 
 aside. But even it" it wi re true, 1 would still say I 
 do not choose to place myself at your mercy. I 
 will not exchange the fortifications which the C 
 stitution lias thrown around my rights for a frail 
 reliance on your generosity or your forbearance. 
 I ioncession nev< r yel satisfii d fan itici im, nor has 
 the march of the wrong-doer ever been stayed by 
 the svpplications of the sufferer. Situated as we 
 are. the impulse of manlini ss is the dictate of pru- 
 dence. Our duty and out obvious policy alike 
 demand that we should meet the danger on the 
 threshold, and fall or conquer there. It is of no 
 consequence by what name you choose to designate 
 your aggressions. When a principle is established 
 whicli must bring not only poverty bul desolation 
 
 and death lo the South, it is i an Material whether you 
 call it abolition, free soil, or, to use the phrase of I he 
 Senator from Ohio, fiee democracy; the end is the 
 same, and so should be the resistance also. When 
 the fall of the outworks must be followed by the 
 fall of the citadel, he is a poor commander who 
 hesitates to risk everything in their defence. It is 
 so with us; we cannot yield an inch of the ground 
 we now occupy without compromising our safety, 
 and, what is worse, incurring the reproach of eter- 
 nal infamy. None but children can be imposed 
 upon by the miserable delusion that abolition will 
 pause in the midst of its successes. One triumph 
 will but pave the way to another, until the wildest 
 dream of fanaticism becomes a reality, i under- 
 stand the policy of the North, as avowed in the 
 other end of the Capitol, is to urge but one meas- 
 ure at the time; to proceed step by step, anil to 
 hide as much as possible from the public eye all 
 future results. That would indeed be a shrewd 
 game, and one well worthy of the brain that con- 
 ceived it; but, unfortunately for its success, then- 
 are more fingers than one in the pie; there are too 
 many demagogues to control, and the sentiment 
 they have awakened among the honest but mis- 
 guided masses is too impatient of restraint to await 
 a process so slow and so fatiguing. They have 
 been taught to believe, that every hour slavery 
 continues on the continent detracts from their 
 chances of salvation, and that its abolition has b< en 
 specially intrusted to them by Ciod himself. No 
 wonder they go beyond the knaves who have 
 duped them. No wonder they refuse to listen to 
 prudential counsels, and demand paompt action, at 
 whatever sacrifice of life or property to themselves 
 or others. It is human nature — above all, it is the 
 nature of the fanatic. 
 
 But a. few yeans since we were told that the rig/if 
 
 lion v. as all thi j 
 
 Ided boldiu ■■< to their di manda, nnd 
 
 even thosi who cli to be modi i iu uod con 
 
 men talk with uplifted hands of the horrors 
 of slat iteful when 
 
 they p »ne the woi k ol robbery and 
 
 murdi r yel a little loi 
 
 The Senator from Ohio, tx j hi ■ it 
 
 in tin;; body, addn ed remarka la one 
 
 Of his constituents, and la- 
 the sentiments il contained. He claims to be a 
 
 Democrat, and avers that abolil lonstilufc 
 
 portion of the creed. Sir, the Senator from Ohio 
 und myself have tudied it in different chonls. I 
 think I know something of the faith which Jeffer- 
 son taught, and '< 
 
 I ,,,, | ( , • . IM | ii ,,, incul : construction of 
 
 the Constitution, and i ' the 
 
 exercise of any doubtful power. This is the whole 
 
 i. summed up in a single sentence, and it 
 n< eds no elaboration. Let us try tfie doctrine of 
 free democracy fa tie test. Where is the 
 
 constitutions n which gives to Congress 
 
 the power to legi date upon the aul tvi rjr 
 
 in the Ti rritories or el i •■■ .■ i • I maintain that it 
 is nol to be found in that instrument, and that there 
 is no -ranted power from which it can be implied. 
 It follows, then, that the exercise of the power 
 must be anti-democratic, nnd free democracy de- 
 rates into the purest federali m. Hut I do not 
 
 cl se to base my argument upon this gn 
 
 done. If Congn ed the power, il 
 
 ercise would be unjust and iniquitous — bo unjust 
 as to call for resistance "at every hazard and to 
 the last extremity." The Senate must pardon me 
 for asking, upon what principle of natural equity, 
 aside from any question of constitutional right, 
 the northern Slates rest their claim to exclusive 
 possession of the Territories ? Did_ their treasure 
 pun base the national domain? Was their blood 
 alone poured out to acquire it? Or did it come 
 down as an exclusive inheritance to them? Iap- 
 peal to the history of the country, from the earli- 
 est dawn of the Revolution to the close of ourlatest 
 struggle, for an answer. The money which has been 
 paid for the Territories was raised by duties upon 
 imports, levied notoriously and designedly for the 
 protection of the North, and paid almost entirely 
 by the South. Instead of a burden to you, it has 
 been a bonrts. How stands the accountof personal 
 
 , services? It was a southern man who pointed out 
 the road from bondage to independence; who led 
 you triumphantly through the perils of a seven 
 years' war, and sternly refused the diadem with 
 whioha grateful soldiery would have crowned him. 
 It was a southern general and southern soldiers who 
 breasted the British bayonets al New Orleans, and 
 added one of its brightest chapters to the history 
 of the Republic. S mthern blood has watered every 
 plain from the St. Lawrence to the capital of the 
 \ : ! memorable fields of Palo Alto ami 
 
 R tea de la Talma were won by a southern gen- 
 
 ' eral. It was before the genius of a southern leader 
 
 ! that the walls and towers of Monterey crumbled 
 into dust, and two southern regiments, struggling 
 side by side in a glorious rivalry, snatched from 
 the cannon's mouth the palm of victory. In the 
 narrow gorge of Angostura, southern valor again 
 stemmed the tide of war, and rolled back the mur- 
 derous charges of the foe. On the sands of Vera 
 
 . Cruz another great name which the South has 
 
6 
 
 given to history and renown, added to a fame al- 
 ready imperishable, and wrung fiom the reluctant 
 nations of the Old World plaudits which they 
 could not withhold. At Cerro Gordo the story of 
 southern achievements was re-written in blood, and 
 among the rocks and volcanoes of Contreras the 
 glorious old Palmetto State vindicated her right 
 to the title of chivalrous, and silenced forever the 
 tongues of her detractors. Sir, I mean to indulge 
 in no disparagement of the North. She has fur- 
 nished gallant men who have done their duty nobly 
 upon the field. I would not, if 1 could, tear a 
 single laurel from her brow. But I claim that the 
 record gives to usatleastan equality of the common 
 dangers, the common sufferings, and the common 
 triumphs, and 1 demand an equal participation in 
 the rights they have established. The Senator 
 from Ohio considers this an enormous pretension. 
 Why is it enormous? It can only be because, in 
 his view, repeated submission has sanctified ag- 
 gression, and the successful perpetration of one 
 wrong fully justifies another. Sir, however enor- 
 mous it may be, I can tell the Senator it is a 
 pretension we do not mean to abandon. We have 
 yielded time after time to northern encroachment. 
 We have suffered one violation of the Constitution 
 to follow another, until we began to lose our own 
 self-respect. But, thank God, a different spirit is 
 now abroad in the land; and the descendants of 
 those who fought at Eutaw, at Guilford, at the 
 Cowpens, and at King's Mountain, are beginning 
 to manifest something of the old revolutionary 
 blood. Repeated aggressions have forced us to 
 recall many things we would willingly have for- 
 gotten, and new demands cannot fail to remind us 
 of what has already been granted. Perhaps it 
 may not be altogether without its uses to recall 
 some striking events in the history of the past. I 
 suppose it has not escaped the memory of the 
 Senator from Ohio, that the whole northwestern 
 territory, now constituting the States of Ohio, 
 Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, was 
 originally slave territory. It was ceded to the 
 Confederacy by the magnanimity of Virginia, 
 and you have manifested your gratitude by fos- 
 tering upon its bosom a population who are now 
 ready-to sting to death their benefactors. In 1803 
 we acquired Lousiaua, and of all that vast region 
 you excluded us by the Missouri compromise 
 from something like four-fifths of the' whole, and 
 appropriated it exclusively to yourselves. And 
 this, be it remembered, was slave territory, not an 
 acreof it came into the Confederacy free. In 1819 
 we acquired Florida and Oregon, and of this the 
 South got 59,000 square miles, and the North 
 341,000; making in all something like ] ,000,000 of 
 square miles which the North has seized more than 
 the South. We have submitted to this wholesale 
 robbery with apatience that Job mighthave envied. 
 Actuated by an anxious desire to preserve every 
 bond of the Union unbroken, and every memory 
 of the Revolution unembittered,\ve have pocketed 
 the wrong, and taken the wrong-doers to our 
 bosoms. But this manifestation of christian for- 
 bearance on our part has not purchased the ex- 
 emption it was intended to secure. You now claim 
 the whole territory acquired in the war with Mex- 
 ico,and not only this, but the half of Texas besides. 
 History, sir, has but one parallel case. It is that 
 of Brennus casting his sword and belt into the 
 scale, and I, for one, am ready to reply in the lan- 
 
 guage of Camillus, " it is the custom with us Ro- 
 mans to ransom our country not with gold, but 
 with iron." 
 
 It has become the fashion to answer every com- 
 plaint made by the South with appeals in favor 
 of the Union, and there are not wanting ready 
 tongues and readier pens to denounce all those who 
 dare to calculate its value. Without professing to 
 be any bolder than other men, I have yet enough of 
 moral and physical csurage to defy all such sense- 
 less clamors. The Union is valuable only for 
 the privileges it confers and the rights it secures. 
 When the government is so administered as to op- 
 press and grind down one portion of the Confeder- 
 acy, it ceases to be an object of veneiation to me, 
 and I am ready to rend asunder its firmest bonds. 
 If you desire us to remain in the Union, deal with 
 us justly and fairly. If you wish to preserve a 
 community of interests, act in such a manner as 
 to win back that kindly confidence you have done 
 so much to forfeit. Until this is done, it is worse 
 than idle to talk to me of the glories of the Union. 
 That glory which is purchased by the degradation 
 of the South, and enjoyed only amid insult and 
 oppression, has no charms for me. Yet I would 
 not have the Senate to understand that I am insen- 
 sible to all the advantages which we have derived, 
 and might still derive, from such a Union as our 
 fathers contemplated. Give me that Union. Re- 
 store that constitution which has been so mourn- 
 fully disfigured, and I will follow its banner 
 through every peril humanity can face. But what 
 reverence can you expect a southern man to en- 
 tertain for a Union which is known to him chiefly 
 through the insults it hassanctionedand the wrongs 
 it has legalized. 
 
 The Senator from Ohio asks what grounds we 
 have of complaint. The list of grievances is a 
 long one, and the patience of the Senate would be 
 exhausted if I attempted to recount them all. I 
 will, however, remind him of some of the many 
 claims the people of the North have established 
 to our gratitude. They have established clubs 
 throughout the North for the dissemination of 
 pamphlets and other incendiary publicationsamong 
 our slaves, in which the foulest libels upon our 
 citizens are mingled with the most terrible appeals 
 to all the worst passions of the slave. Murder is 
 boldly advocated, and the burning of our dwellings 
 and the violation of our wives and daughters held 
 up as a venial offence. They have formed combi- 
 nations to steal and run away our property. They 
 have hired lecturers whose sole business it is to 
 inflame the public mind at the North against us. 
 Enactment after enactment, is crowded into your 
 statute books to hinder, delay, and defraud the 
 southern man in the prosecution of his constitu- 
 tional rights. Your courts of justice have been 
 converted into the vilest instruments of oppression, 
 J and, .when other means have failed to accomplish 
 j a robbery, riot and murder have been freely resort- 
 ed to. Even your pulpits have become the sanc- 
 ! tuaries of slander, and the temples dedicated to the 
 i worship of the living God have echoed and re- 
 j echoed to vile and base denunciations of our peo- 
 ple and their institutions. Will you tell me that 
 all this is the work" of a few mad-brained fanatics? 
 I answer that a few fanatics could not have given 
 color to the legislation of thirteen States, and pre- 
 verted the justice of their courts. No, sir, no. It 
 is general, nay, almost universal, and, whatever 
 
magic there may lie in that word " Union, " it lias 
 no balm for wounds like these. 
 
 The Senator from Ohio says that he otl 
 to prohibit the slave trade between the Suns, and 
 abolish slavery in tins District; and other pl« 
 where Congress has exclusive powers of legi la- 
 tion. He may well afford to pause at that point 
 in his labors, for all beyond that will follow with- 
 out an effort. Your forts, arsenals, and dock 
 yards, would at once become cities of refuge for 
 the slave, and the recovery of a fugitive would be 
 utterly impracticable. But the resolutions now 
 
 under consideration go vary far bey 1 this, and 
 
 there are not wanting other evidences of more de- 
 termined purposes. I have here a speech deliv- 
 ered not very long since by the Senator from 
 New York, [Mr. Seward,] and 1 propose to | 
 trouble the Senate with some extracts from it. 
 Before doing so, however, let me say thai I un- 
 derstand the Senators from Ohio and New Hamp- | 
 shire have excluded the Senator from New York ; 
 from their political fellowship, and deny his right 
 to be regarded as a true disciple of the Abolition 
 church. This is a degree of rank injustice, against 
 which I feel bound to enter my protest. The Sen- 
 ator from New York is entitled to a higher place : 
 in the synagogue than either of them; for he has ' 
 avowed opinions and principles from which they 
 shrink with unaffected repugnance. Even your 
 merits, Mr. President, illustrious as they confess- 
 edly are upon this subject, must pale before the 
 brighter glories which cluster around his brow. 
 You are guiltv of the criminal weakness of be- 
 lieving that the Constitution which you are sworn 
 to support cannot be violated without some degree 
 of moral delinquency, and while carrying on a 
 warfare, pitiless and merciless, indeed, against 
 our institutions, you yet acknowledge that there 
 are barriers which cannot be broken down, and 
 restraints which must be respected.* The Senator 
 from New York has emancipated hirnself from 
 the thraldom of all such unmanly prejudices, and 
 finds in the virtue of the people, and in the Divine 
 commandments, his apology and his justification. 
 Hear him, and blush for your own feeble and 
 timid advocacy of a cause which has awakened 
 such emotions and called forth such sentiments: 
 
 "Slavery was once the sin of not some of the Slates only, 
 but of them all ; of not our nation only, but of all nations. Ii 
 pervcried and corrupted the moral Bense of mankind deeply, 
 universally; and this corruption becamt a universal habit. 
 * * * * It is written in the Constitution of the United 
 States that five slaves shall count equal to three freemen as 
 a basis of representation; and it is written, also, in violation 
 of the Divine law, that we shall surrendi r the fugitive slave 
 who takes a refuge at our firesides from his relentless pur 
 suer. You blush not at these things, because they have be- 
 come as familiar as household words, * * * * What, 
 then, you say ; can nothingbedone tor freedom because the 
 public conscience is inert? Yes. much can be done— every- 
 thing can be done— slavery can be limited to its present 
 bounds — it can be ameliorated — it can he ,ind it must be abol- 
 ithed, and you and I can and must do it.'' 
 
 There is no evasion here. All is open, bold, and 
 undisguised. We cannot misunderstand this lan- 
 guage, and I trust that no one hereafter will ask 
 us to believe that anything short of total abolition 
 will satisfy northern agitators. 
 
 « But we must begin deeper and lower than in the com- 
 position and combination affections and parties, when in the 
 strength and security of slaver) Hi ■ You nnswer that it lies 
 in the Constitution of the United stale- and the constitutions 
 and laws of the slaveholding States. Notal all." 
 
 "Not at all." And yet the Senator has come 
 into this Chamber and taken an oath to support and 
 
 defend thai rery Constitution which he had de- 
 liberati I to be in violation of the Divine 
 
 nil which he had openly avowed his pur 
 po • to trample in 
 
 •■ In- in lie- err OS ->- n 1 1 tix'li t til BOfM 
 
 Con tltulionsand laws can no more rise above th< nil 
 the people than tho limpid stream can climb above In native 
 spring. Inculcate the love of freedom and the equal rigbn 
 n under the paternal roof. Bee in II thai they nrr 
 
 taught in ii shoow and the churches, Reform your mm 
 
 code, V * M 
 
 U would your 
 
 any 
 
 iO Vf M 
 
 ,,s!„-i. Bay to i lavery f whi nit shows in boM 
 and demands its pound or flesh, If ltdraws one dropol blood 
 its life shall pay the rorfl It." 
 
 If these were only the opinions of William 1 1 
 IRD, I should not have thought it necessary to 
 trouble the Senate with what might thi n have 
 been regarded as a very harmless exhibition of 
 venomous propensities. But subsequent events 
 have stamped them with an importance they never 
 could have derived from him. He has since that 
 period been clothed with Senatorial robes by the 
 Empire State. He has been elected to the office 
 he now holds with reference to this very matter, 
 and we are bound to. believe he truly reflects ihe 
 will of the people whose representative he is. 
 With him, therefore, I have nothing more to do. 
 The responsibility has passed from his shoulders 
 to that of more potent endorsers. And let me ask 
 you, sir, in all sincerity, what respect you can en- 
 tertain for the intellect of the South, when, with 
 all these evidences at hand, you yet think it p 
 I ble to deceive us. If, with speeches like these be- 
 . fore us, and a knowledge of the rewards which 
 J have followed them, we had not been awakened to 
 the magnitude of the coming danger, we should 
 have deserved to bear the chains you have been 
 l forging for our arms. « ,,.. 
 
 I have no threats to make— they are out of time 
 ! and place; but I tell you, more in sorrow than in 
 i anger, not only that you must pause, but that yon 
 must retrace your steps. The guarantees of the 
 ! Constitution must be respected, and its promisee 
 j held sacred, or the most weak and timid man in 
 I the State I in part represent would scorn your alli- 
 ance, and shatter your Confederacy. Indeed, I do 
 not know but what it is now too late, and that this 
 Union, over which you have preached so much, 
 and about which so many eloquent sentences have 
 ' been framed, is already at an end. Certainly you 
 have severed many of its strongest ties, and but 
 little more remains besides that formal separation 
 which embittered feelings must soon render a ne- 
 cessity. You did enough to dissolve it when you 
 commenced organized robberies of our propi r t y — 
 when you murdered our citizens— -when you vio- 
 lated every constitutional obligation, and forgot 
 every tie which bound us together as a people. 
 Reserve, then, your denunciations of disunion for 
 yourselves. It is your act, and you can say noth- 
 ing of each other so harsh as to be unjust. 
 
 Often, sir, have I stood in a \ watched 
 
 the sun as it descended behind the mountains. At 
 morning and at noon the whole earth was bathed 
 in a flood of glorious light, but as the great lumi- 
 nary of day traveled westward on Ins journey, 
 shadow after shadow began to steal along the 
 mountain side. As he sunk lower and lower, the 
 shade gathered deeper and deeper, until the whole 
 valley was covered with gloom and not a solitary 
 beam' lighted up the thick darkness which settled 
 
8 
 
 upon it. Even so has it been with this Republic. 
 Its earlier clays were blessed with the glad light of 
 a glorious prosperity 3 trials and difficulties like 
 summer clouds rapidly melted away, hosts of in- 
 vaders, in all the dread panoply of war, landed 
 upon our shores, but they were swept oft' like in- 
 sects by the wing of the tempest. Everything 
 around us was brightness and security. After a 
 while the great arch enemy of man evoked the 
 spirit of abolition, and then slowly but surely the 
 shadow and the night began to creep over the land. 
 I have watched it as I have watched the shade on 
 the mountain. What it has once gained it has 
 never lost. The spot that has once grown dark 
 has remained dark forever. Steadily and contin- 
 ually it has increased and deepened until it has 
 spread above us a pall like that which hung over 
 Jerusalem when the curses denounced by the 
 prophets were about to be fulfilled. And am I 
 now to be told that I must neglect all the warnings 
 written on the canvas of the past, madly turn 
 away from the contemplation of the future, and 
 permit myself to be lulled into a fatal security by 
 siren songs in favor of the Union ? However much 
 I may have loved that Union, I love the liberties 
 of- my native land far more, and you have taught me 
 that they might become antagonists; that the ex- 
 istence of the one might be incompatible with the 
 other. The conviction came but slowly, for it 
 was not without its bitterness. As a boy I looked 
 upon the Union as a holy thing, and worshipped 
 it. As a man I have gone through that in its de- 
 fence which would have shriveled thousands of 
 the wretched silk-worms who, in peaceful times, 
 earn a cheap reputation for patriotism by professing 
 unbounded love for the Union. Even now I am 
 not unmindful of all the glonous memories that 
 we have in common; I do not forget that there has 
 come down to us a rich inheritance of glory which 
 is incapable of division. I know that side by side 
 the North and the South struggled through the 
 Revolution; that side by side their bloody foot- 
 prints tracked the snow of Valley-Forge; that 
 side by side they crossed the icy billows of the 
 Delawarej and snatched from fate the victoryat 
 Trenton. I remember all the story of the times 
 that tried men's souls, and feel the full strength of 
 all the bonds it has woven around us. If they 
 have been fearfully weakened, if they are now 
 about to snap asunder, the sin and the folly be- 
 long not to us, but to those who have forced us 
 to choose between chains and infamy on the one 
 
 hand, or equality and independence on the other. 
 We are not the assailants, but the assailed; and it 
 does not become him who maintains a just cause 
 to calculate the consequences. 
 
 The Senator from Vermont [Mr. Phelps] has 
 undertaken to assert in substance that the whole 
 world looked upon us with abhorrence, and that by 
 upholding the institution of slavery we have placed 
 ourselves beyond the pale of civilization. When 
 the people of his own State, and their representa- 
 tives here and elsewhere, give extraordinary evi- 
 dences of uncommon morality and Christianity, I 
 may listen with patience to a lecture from him; 
 but, as I do not understand that to be the case, I 
 must be permitted to say that the man who could 
 utter such charges against a whole people is not 
 only reckless of what is due to the body of which 
 he is a member, but gives the highest evidence that 
 he is utterly ignorant of all the courtesies of life, 
 and entirely beyond the pale of that civilization of 
 which he speaks. 
 
 I hope I have satisfied the Senator from Ohio 
 that our complaints are not altogether causeless. 
 I have but little more to add. There are two 
 classes of men who have brought this Government 
 to the point at which we now stand — actuated by 
 very different motives and principles, but equally 
 culpable, and equally chargeable with the crime of 
 treason to the land. The first is that band of 
 northern fanatics who, regardless of right, regard- 
 less of the Constitution, forgetful of all past obli- 
 gations, and of all moral and social ties, have exci- 
 ted and continued a wild and reckless warfare upon 
 an institution of which they know nothing, and 
 whose blessings or curses should have been alike 
 indifferent to them. The second class is one for 
 whom I have less respect, and of whom I always 
 speak with less patience. It is that timid, hesita- 
 ting, shrinking portion in our own section of the 
 Union who are afraid to march up to the line—to 
 meet the oppressor on the confines, and hurl him 
 back the very moment his footstep presses forbid- 
 den ground. A great poet, in the story of his 
 visit to the infernal regions, gives a description of 
 certain souls which aptly applies to them. He 
 found them outside the gates of Hell, and says: 
 " Here, with those caitiff angels, they abide 
 Who stood aloof in Heaven— to God untrue, 
 
 Yet wanting courage with his foes to side. 
 Heaven east them forth its beauty not to stain, 
 
 And Hell refuses to receive them too; 
 From them no glory could the damned obtain." 
 
 REMARKS OF MR. BUTLER. 
 
 Mr. BUTLER said: I had no idea of taking any 
 part in this debate, except so far as to suggest the 
 propriety of printing the resolutions, intending to 
 take another occasion to discuss the topics which 
 have been brought under discussion in this unex- 
 pected debate. But, sir, the gentleman from Ver- 
 mont, the other day, indulged in a very wide 
 range of debate, so far as regards one of the sub- 
 jects which he thought proper to bring within the 
 scope of his remarks. He discussed all the doc- 
 trines connected with the organization of territo- 
 rial government, and uttered many sentiments 
 well calculated to arrest attention — such as seemed 
 to provoke a reply. 
 
 The gentleman from Ohio, this morning, in a 
 somewhat prepared effort, I think, has come for- 
 ward, and has avowed doctrines which in their 
 tendency and operation cannot be disguised, and, 
 sir, while he has admonished us to cultivate har- 
 mony, and while he and others have given us 
 homilies on the value of this Union, he has avowed 
 sentiments, and, not only on this occasion but on 
 others, has inculcated doctrines, which will sow 
 broadcast the seeds of discord — such as make odi- 
 ous and arrogant distinctions between different 
 sections of this Confederacy. His doctrines would 
 seern to aim at the disfranchisement of the south- 
 ern section of the Union, both through the action 
 
9 
 
 of the Federal Legislature and under the 01 
 nation of parties. It is not mere sentiment, bat n 
 scheme that he insists on to carry out hii plans <>f 
 operation. He presumes on an meres 
 ity in the North and a minority in the South, as I 
 shall show by his expressed sentiments. I eannol 
 
 therefore allow him to preach decent moderati 
 
 when I know he has, with others, ultimate de 
 — designs which I will not allow him : 
 under the. forms and professions of moderation. 
 
 He avows openly thai he will submit to no com- 
 promise, and will assimilate to no party that will 
 not recognize as a basis the free-soil principli 
 other words, to form a party to be known B 
 democracy — a patty that puts under the ban 
 holders as tainted partners in the association. He 
 speaks of the South as having held the offices of 
 the Confederacy, and he avows doctrines that will 
 hereafter, by way of retaliation, disfranchise them 
 in the future unless they shall come to terms to be 
 prescribed on the basis which he has taken for 
 party organization. I have now a letter before 
 me, which I shall have occasion to refer to, by 
 way of verifying all that I have said; a letter in 
 which he openly avows his reliance or > the minor- 
 ity of southern interests, and, according to my 
 view, on southern defection; what he calls deser- 
 tion, I would call treason. His self-sustaining nu- 
 merical strength I suspect is at the bottom of his 
 sublime political morality. He aims at certainty 
 on the disposition of submission by the South to 
 the doctrines which he has avowed. Confidence 
 has been inspired by the desire of the South to pre- 
 serve the Union, and its past history somewhat 
 sanctions the assumption. Summed up in a feu- 
 words, he calculates upon the unconditional sub- 
 mission of one section in accommodating itself to 
 the organization of parties to be made exclusively 
 by another section ; with kind and gentle allowances, 
 however, for desertion from the southern ranks for 
 the sake of the prizes of office. But, sir, for fear I 
 might do the honorable gentll Si tan injustice, 1 will, 
 before I sit down, read extracts from a letter, which 
 seems to have been prepared by him with the care 
 of one avowing a solemn creed. It is a creed that 
 soars to the heavens in its doctrines, but looks to the 
 earth for its rewards. Philanthropy prescribes the 
 latitude of its boundaries, whilst selfishness con- 
 tracts the scope of its operation; a philanthropy 
 whose center is everywhere, and whose circum- 
 ference is nowhere, but whose practice is to be 
 found in the sordid appropriation of office and 
 property. 
 
 But allow me to say I am naturalist enough to 
 know that it is .not the purest bird that flies the 
 highest. It is said of the condor that it alights in 
 the rare and cold atmosphere of the snow-capped 
 Andes; and yet it is a bird of obscene propensities, 
 and feeds on the corruptions of the earth. These 
 gentlemen, who are so sublime in their morality, 
 when they descend from the elevation which their 
 theory aspires to, to the practical application of 
 their doctrines, are ready to deprive us of the soil 
 that has been won by the common blood and com- 
 mon treasure of the country — are ready to appro- 
 priate to themselves the offices and their emolu- 
 ments, under the organization of parties, and under 
 the fraudulent forms of legislation to effect an ' 
 odious inequality. Even Federal eligibility to of- 
 fice has been assailed, if it should be claimed by a 
 southern man. 
 
 Sir, they go further, and tell you in so many 
 words, (I. t)i 8 in tin ir propo itioi 
 
 Lti t'y 1 1 1 . iii- for thai was the true import of 
 the lai ■ ator from New 1 lampshure. 
 
 II' iy . 
 
 swell ideal 
 
 llenci which will nol compromise with :my 
 Innity of an unlimiu d morality. 
 
 Tin • jiciint by pp 
 
 . and to Ipilil those » h" tf< fi no lh( ir rights as 
 re ponaible for the Union. Those who h ive done 
 rong have no i Lion of 
 
 the pari I 
 
 sailed the Union; they h ive cheri bed it and inud« 
 all the compromises to pn ei < • il ; and I say now, 
 the northern gentlemen hold tin of its 
 
 fate in their own hands. The] c n close them on 
 the cords of this Union by going on in theii r* k- 
 
 iiin, nr stay tin ir hand and do jo 
 They are the moving parties, and in Jupiter stator 
 they may find a deity worthy of worship; but if 
 they go on, they may presume too much on the 
 arts of Mercury. The course which das been ad- 
 vertised is a rebuking commentary on southern 
 acquiescence in wrongful aggri sion. Those who 
 have been guilty of the wrong shall not hold rne 
 liable for the consequences, imr shall they a 
 me a position to the issues which they have n 
 If they have brought the Union in jeopardy, they 
 shall not throw the odium of disunion is ta on the 
 defending and innocent parly. Politicians have 
 played with this subject as an element of political 
 game, and that game shall have the true parlies 
 to it. 
 
 I say it now, and with perfect sincerity and can- 
 dor, that the people of the State which 1 represent, 
 and the people of the southern States in general, 
 have never taken measures thus far with ihe view 
 ■ or wish that they should result in disunion. I go 
 further, and say that their acquiescence in com- 
 promise is a refutation of the ehargea that have 
 ! been made against them. What compromise that 
 did not require a sacrifice of right and honor has 
 not been acceded to on the part of the South ? 
 What compromise that she entered into has she 
 : violated? These are questions that may be obvia- 
 ' ted by evasion or denunciation of a self-sustaining 
 I majority, but honesty will only answer them be- 
 fore the tribunal of history. The past cannot be 
 i changed, and it will go to show that the South has 
 made sacrifices to form the Union, and have sub- 
 mitted to unequal compromises to preserve it. The 
 North has presumed on that love of union to sanc- 
 ' tion their progressive and arrogant pretensions. 
 No, sir, the history of the Confederacy, and espe- 
 cially the history of this question, will show a de- 
 , gree of submission to compromise that astonishes 
 j me in the review of it. I shall not go further than 
 to speak of the history of this qui stion with my 
 connection with it. It has sugg< : > d new and mis- 
 chievous elements of Bectional at d selfish policy, 
 I alien to the whole spirit of the Constitution, and 
 i the love of justice which inspired its life. Will the 
 gentleman inform me what measure of compromise 
 has ever been proposed to us, if it were an honor- 
 able and just compromise, thai has been rejected by 
 us? When it was proposed to extend the Missouri 
 compromise to the Pacific, by whom was that 
 proposition made? It was made by one side, and 
 promptly and even scornfully rejected by the other. 
 It was refused, even with tiie wantonness of rejec- 
 
10 
 
 tion. It was refused on the assumption that some 
 of our own men would join in the repudiation. 
 By implication that compromise has been supposed 
 to five to the South, in all territories south of 36° 
 30' entire control. Whilst it in terms excluded 
 slavery north of that line, it recognized the right that 
 it should exist, if the people thought proper, south 
 of that line. Experience has shown that the temp- 
 tation to disregard it depended on the power of 
 doing so, to operate on a minority made so by its 
 operation. It has served the office of taking power 
 from the South and placing it in the hands of those 
 who have not magnanimity and justice to observe 
 its obligations. It has been but a dam of sand 
 that has given way to the tide of insolent power. 
 When the questions growing out of a proposition 
 to give governments to our Mexican acquisitions 
 assumed a critical aspect, an honorable effort, with- 
 out regard to sections, was made to settle them 
 forever, and to take them out of the arena of polit- 
 ical gamesters. That effort resulted in the Clayton 
 bill. It was framed to save the honor of the South. 
 Many thought her rights were not secure under it. 
 I will not state its terms. It proposed an honor- 
 able compromise, without improper concession. 
 What has been its fate? The South generally ac- 
 quiesced in it; and, I solemnly believe, for the sake 
 of the Union. Does thi3 look like a desire or design 
 to dissolve this Confederacy? No, sir, it was any- 
 thing e'se. It was a sacrifice to the very name of 
 the Union. It has provoked a confidence that may 
 be fatal. I" fear it has given rise to a delusion, that 
 there are no limits to which the North may not go. 
 
 Another bill was brought in by the honorable 
 Senator from Wisconsin, well guarded in its pro- 
 visions, in relation to New Mexico and California, 
 proposing to extend the Constitution, as far as its 
 provisions were applicable, to those Territories; 
 and to establish courts to enforce them and other 
 fundamental laws. It was assumed on that occa- 
 sion that it conceded too much to the South, and 
 gave them the advantage in the issue. Was not 
 that going far in the spirit of compromise? Could 
 anything more strangely show the wantonness of 
 non-slaveholding arrogance ? That was set aside, 
 and a clause with a snare under it was insisted on 
 by northern gentlemen as giving all that would set- 
 tle the question; in other words, a clause to cover 
 theWilmot proviso. Sir, the compromises have 
 all been one way — into the lion's den — nulla vestigia 
 retrorsum. But I shall go further and say, we have 
 violated none of the compromises into which we 
 have entered, whilst we have rejected none that 
 have been offered to us on honorable terms. We 
 have been forced to a position which we must hold, 
 and we must not be blinded any longer by faithless 
 compromises and heartless professions. 
 
 Is this not a proposition full of meaning? It 
 may be that the cup of conciliation is exhausted. 
 I shall say nothing of that. I will not utter men- 
 ace, nor will I indicate the end of this fearful ques- 
 tion. We have acceded to all that would preserve 
 our honor in every compromise that has been 
 
 [>roposed. Indeed, we have evinced a desire to 
 et this question pass by, on a point of honor, and 
 yet gentlemen come out and accuse those who have 
 maintained those compromises, and manifested a 
 desire to defend their rights, of a design to sever 
 the Union. Oh yes, we are the people, they say, 
 who have shown a disposition to sever the differ- 
 ent portions of this Union ! It is the wolf taking 
 
 offence at the lamb, because he contradicted him in 
 saying he had not muddied the water in drinking 
 below him. 
 
 The South, at the time of the formation of this 
 Confederacy, made sacrifices, and deprived herself 
 of the sceptre. She parted with the sceptre when 
 she consented to the formation of this Union, 
 when she gave up to the North the power of regu- 
 lating commerce by a mere majority. But I shall 
 go no further into the history of this matter at 
 present. I shall check myself, so far as the tend- 
 ency of this argument is concerned; but I have 
 much to say on it, and 1 go back to the honorable 
 Senator from Ohio. The gentleman from Ohio is 
 a Senator; he represents, in part, one of the largest 
 States in the Confederacy, and, sir, his opinions 
 are to be respected. I am satisfied that he, like 
 many others, acts under the pressure of an ex park 
 constituency. They are exponents of those who 
 have never looked except upon one side of this 
 question. Many who come here are committed 
 exponents of irresponsible masses. They are 
 facile and publican politicians, who feel themselves 
 bound to the law of obedience. They act in a 
 channel that popular prejudice and irresponsible 
 persons have made for them, and yet they talk of 
 L slavery. They get their places here by slavish 
 submission. They violate the Constitution before 
 they come here, by vows on an unconstitutional 
 altar. As for any effect that might be produced by 
 mere speaking, I would much rather address the 
 people than their representatives. The people have 
 no temptation to do what is wrong. They might 
 be affected by a dispassionate appeal to their judg- 
 ments. At least they could be approached as a 
 tribunal that could review its judgment. They 
 could have no interest to maintain an adversary 
 position, where from feeling and duty they might 
 wish to become friends. Politicians will play with 
 topics as a part of a game, which the people would 
 shrink from with horror could they see the conse- 
 quences. I think it may be safely said that those 
 who yield most to transient popular prejudice, and 
 indulge in habitual expressions of love to the peo- 
 ple, would betray them soonest if there were an 
 adequate temptation. An accommodating spirit is 
 generally associated with a facility in morality. 
 
 There are occasions on which I might expect 
 statesmen and patriots to elevate themselves above 
 those irresponsible influences, but the day has 
 passed, I am afraid, when such men are to be 
 found. And in making this statement I will not 
 tear away one leaf from the history of the North. 
 I will not deprive the North of an iota of credit 
 that is her due. The past is secure, and I speak 
 of it only in an historical point of view; but I will 
 not sit here and hear doctrines expressed which 
 in their consequences must degrade a portion of 
 the Confederacy, and deprive posterity of the 
 rights which we have ourselves inherited. 
 
 I will ask the Secretary to read a letter of the 
 Senator from Ohio, because, as I have attributed 
 to it an influence, the letter itself will furnish the 
 evidence upon which I have based it. 
 The Secretary read as follows: 
 
 Cincinnati, 1849. 
 Mv dear Sir: I observe indications in various quartern 
 of a disposition on the part of influential gentlemen to in- 
 terpose difficulties in the way of cordial union between the 
 old line democracy and the free demociacy, by insisting on 
 conditions to which the latter cannot agree without the 
 sacrifice of principles which they hold far dearer than party 
 success. 
 
11 
 
 The free democracy , holding in con n w Itli ihe old line 
 
 democracj the cardinal and essential doctrine* "i ilie demo 
 erotic faith, believi that the time ha eoim foi the applies 
 lion of those doctrines lo the subject ol 
 to the subjects of currency and trade, Th * b lieve thai 
 slavery is the wont form ol despotism. The ownership ol 
 one man by another is the most absolute suhji ctlsn know n 
 to human experience. No Democrat, who ha an 
 living faith in the great cardinal doctri mocra y, thai 
 
 w.ini, I prefer to ay, thi i national de i itii panj 
 
 ition in pi ■•:> ■ — . obi ) ing thai i 
 i ■ r- >t: r ■ — which ill ii- d ictrlnos ri eognr/.e, from the ■ * i « i rial 
 form ofnon intervention to the !• m won Ian platform 
 
 1 to in,- tint 
 
 iii,- part) in the free BtatM ought .ii oni a ui advani ( to th« 
 
 > •iii.iii ground, and linn- unitu in > il m> 
 
 with Uieir brethren ol the free d I etthe ;>ntr 
 
 in the -I. iv,- m ii, - ndvanci to lh< Pi maps, 
 
 all men have equal rights bj nature, and that the onlj icgii In advancing, some in ) over to th<- < 
 
 mi i bji cl "i got irnmenl la to m lininiu and secure tin ■ 
 
 rights, can doubt that slaveholdin Inconsistent 
 
 wlih democratic principle*, 
 
 it iB not necessary to advert to the circumstances which, 
 form an j yean, prevented either ol the great parties ol the 
 country from taking anj ground against slavery. It i- 
 enough that circumstances are now changed. Theacqui 
 ulionof Mexican territories lias presented the question ol 
 slavery In new aspects. Heretofore the slave power was 
 •onteiit with retaidincslave territory as slave territory; now 
 
 It seeks to subject i territorj to the blight of slavery. 
 
 Tins enormous pretension has led to a mon general exam- 
 ination of the constituli ii relations of the National <;<>* 
 
 ernmenl to the slave system; and that examination has 
 fastened the conviction on the minds of thousands and 
 hundreds of thousands, thai the ii"\, rnmi ul "i the Union i- 
 bound iii |iroinliii slavery in the it rritories, and to t xert all 
 
 Its legitimate and constitul :il powers to I i. loi 
 
 and discourage u. and especial!} to prohibit its existence In 
 uii places within the sphere ol Its exclusive jusrisdii lion. 
 
 Tin- is the conviction of free d cracy. They have 
 
 announced it over and ovei again, .mil an- pledged to govi rn 
 their political action by it. This pledgt they will undoubt- 
 edly redeem. 
 
 Now, what is in hinder the n ci plion of tl - faith by the 
 old-line democracy: What shall prevent ind 
 
 frank avowal ofit.' What Bhottl ■ r« .. tit 
 
 straight! u w ird action in consistent j w ith it . 
 
 1 can see inn one thing -the alliance, so calli d, \\ ith the 
 
 slaveholders Uiemseh liu fearol losing tin-ir political 
 
 support mid influence in n Pn sidi ntial eh ction. 
 
 Now, a is vi r\ ci i tain thai n« consideration of mere inim- 
 ical e\|i- diency ousAI to induce the democracy to refrain 
 from carrying out its own principles; and it seems tome 
 equally" certain that political expediencj and duty at this^ 
 fcme coincide. 
 
 For, what will be the cost to the d mocra \ of the alliance 
 of the slaveholders in ,-i Presidential campaign ? 
 
 To determine this question, it must first be seen what the 
 slaveholders demand as tin- price of theii alliance. This 
 deinaml is easily stated. 
 
 It is non-intervention upon tin* subject of slavery. That 
 is, nortii'-rnjn- n may think and act at home as they i boose, 
 
 ami southert n likewise; but when northern nun and 
 
 southern men meet at Washington, either in executive or 
 legislative capacities, they must not i ake unj action against 
 slavery, but leave the slaveholders at 1 ii>«-rt\ to introduce 
 alaveholdmg wherever they can. 
 
 Tin-, ii l understand it. i- the ground of the Washington 
 
 EftS freeVaKno universe^ 5 g£Z£ ' •'-southern man who goes over on tins « sUof 
 
 will be regarded as a train - el, who lias 
 
 well it might be, in the slave States 
 
 Now, it is my deliberate opinion that ii i- utterly imprac- 
 ticable to unite the di roocracy on this platform in ihe free 
 
 States. 
 
 The free democracy can never accede to it; and main- 
 taining, a- the) do, the cardinal doctrines of democracy, and 
 occupying, as they will, a bold anil independent position on 
 
 question and every other, the i pie who love 
 
 boldness and independence 'will rally around them in such 
 
 Dumjii r- that it will be utterly impossible for compr ising 
 
 democracj to < afij a n spei table number ol the firei Si ttes, 
 ami tiie> must, as heretofore, divide ihe free Stales with 
 compromising Whiggism. Success, therefore, on the non- 
 intervention platform i-, mr the old demoi racj , quite out of 
 the question. 
 
 The free de cracj beliave in nnn-inti rvention. such as 
 
 -mi 1 1 oi i requires; non-intervention J>j Congress with 
 the legislation of the Stan s on the subject of slavery. But 
 
 neither the history of the country, nor the Constituti >t 
 
 the country, warrants non-interveiitioH by Congress with 
 slavery in territories and elsewhere, without ihe limits of 
 any Slate., but « iihin the i xf lusive jiwkdiclinn of the Na- 
 tional Government. Slavery in s n h territory or places can- 
 not. under a strict construction of the Constitution, exist at 
 all. Blavery in such territory oj plai i - ought ai Icasi to be 
 prohilnti-il !i\ Congress. 
 
 I have regretted to see certain expressions attributed to 
 John Van Buren, calculated lo revive unpleasant ft clings 
 such as, thai the national democratic party is dissolved. 1 
 
 i ive Slates, lie part) mil >lgo Into 
 
 i i- mporai | minorltj Let It I 
 
 u id in tl • (ration, unni ) t \ . the invjni i 
 
 bllily of tin- Mini I Slants. Trium- 
 phant in th bj th-- itrength ol thi n 
 principles,) vi n lit Ihe lave States, the di m ■ rni J i an elect 
 ii- n ition il undi i sucht it lu di ipils 
 
 "I all Opposition. 
 
 .-'mil are (ny vli w - 1 Ifei i a strong ennfldi nee that time 
 
 will prove their • I am a lleilll ei.it. U 
 
 eiin , and I i' ' I ■■ i II) sol 
 
 democratic organization and ihe triumph ol lu principle*. 
 Tin- doctrl iiocracy, on the »ubj - I "i trade. 
 
 nmand ihe • nlii 
 
 .- in. lint I cannot, « hile boldl . 
 
 principles in rel it ',nt> from th.-ir 
 
 just application t slavi ry. I should feel guilt) ol "hamefui 
 dereliction of duty II [did. Yon know what multitudes 
 now sympathize with me, and how truly. It is this very 
 fidelity to dent icratic principles which make* it im 
 
 foi them to eon i rn with slavery What a mi 
 
 art] embt icing 
 defeat by suet) i compromise, and thus making II 
 for hundreds 'of thousands of the Irueal Democrat* In the 
 land loci ■ en adhesion to party and adit lion i" 
 
 principle ! 
 
 Tin- counsels of the Wa htngton Unhm tend I 
 in my judgment cannot be safel) followed. I shall ii • very 
 glad to h ii from you on this subject, and mean 
 main, triifj . your irn ml, S. P. • H I 
 
 J. (i. Hin sun, Esq, 
 
 Mr. I SUTLER. Now, sir, who are in favor of 
 union and who of disunion, according to the sen- 
 timents there expressed. The gentleman says it 
 makes a sectional party in the programme of hia 
 party organization. The basis of his party is to 
 proscribe the South, or to presume on desertion 
 and treason. Its minority is the predicate of his 
 whole sage superstructure of party organization. 
 Tins is the emanation of the new-light pun 
 who would throw into the shade of their contrast 
 the statesmen who have preceded them. Those 
 who go over to them are of the true faith, whilst 
 those who adhere to their ancient privileges and 
 constitutional positions are called deserters. Sir, 
 
 given up his constituents for lucre. The South has 
 its peculiar institution, and it is the duly of her 
 representatives to defend it to the last extremity — 
 it is the defence of our firesides. If I were to ap- 
 ply a meaning to the language used by the gentle- 
 men, it would be very different from thai which 
 he has given. Oh, yes, these gentlemen who are 
 for taking care of our slaves, who ejrprt BS so much 
 sympathy for them, who are for universal eman- 
 cipation, and who cannot listen to any proposition 
 which falls short of what they in t heir visionary 
 conceptions suppose will eventuate inthe treedom 
 of the whole human race, when applied to on the 
 part of emancipated slaves, deny them soil upon 
 which to rest the soles of their feet. They preach 
 to the slave his right of rebellion against his mas- 
 ter. So long as he can hold out t<> him ti>e means 
 of running away, they are ready and willing to 
 countenance him; but when they becomi free, wa 
 find on (he part of those gentlemen a hostility 
 equal to the love tiny professed. 
 
 When John Randolph, a distinguished citizen 
 
12 
 
 of Virginia — that State which gave to the gentle- 
 man's State its existence, with that ordinance 
 which has been said to have been dictated by the 
 very spirit of freedom, whilst in consequence it 
 has been pregnant with mischief— Mr. Randolph 
 gave freedom to his slaves, imagining that they 
 would easily find a place of refuge in territory 
 made free by Virginia, And what was the fact? 
 They were driven out of Ohio at the point of the 
 bayonet. But, sir, if they had gone into the State as 
 fugitives from their master, in violation of the mas- 
 ter's rights, they would readily have found a home. 
 
 Mr. CHASE. Will the gentleman allow me 
 to correct him as to a matter of fact? The eman- 
 cipated slaves of Mr. Randolph are, at this day, 
 living in Ohio. Ohio desires a homogeneous pop- 
 ulation, and does not desire a population of varied 
 character. But she drives no person from her ter- 
 ritory at the point of the bayonet or otherwise. 
 
 Mr. BUTLER. When the emancipated slaves 
 of Mr. Randolph first entered Ohio they were not 
 permitted to remain. There has been some alter- 
 ation made since, I believe, in the laws of Ohio. 
 Whether they are now in that State I cannot say. 
 I am merely stating an historical fact that they 
 were not allowed to remain upon first entering the 
 State. The gentleman cannot change the state of 
 the case by his assertion, and he need not attempt 
 to distort the facts, because I know the history to 
 be as I have stated. Yes, sir, they have proposed 
 and voted for 
 
 Mr. HUNTER. Will my friend allow me to 
 set him right in regard to this matter? I under- 
 stand that the executor of Mr. Randolph's estate 
 paid nine thousand dollars for a farm for. these 
 emancipated blacks in Ohio, and when they went 
 to take possession they were driven off by men 
 armed with guns and pistols, and never permitted 
 to settle upon the land that had thus been pur- 
 chased for them. 
 
 Mr. BUTLER. I thank my friend for this 
 statement; it is a consuming refutation of what the 
 gentleman has asserted. They reached Ohio only 
 under the garb of being servants ; they claimed 
 their civil rights by appearing to be slaves to those 
 who denounce slavery, &c. I believe that the 
 only way to be Reived favorably in Ohio is for a 
 man to represent himself as a runaway slave. In 
 their wondrous philanthropy they give them pro- 
 tection if they represent themselves as runaway 
 Slaves. But the gentleman from Virginia has 
 given you the true history of this matter, and I do 
 not stand corrected by any explanation that the 
 gentleman from Ohio has given. 
 
 But I was about to allude to the views of gen- 
 tlemen in regard to California, and I shall have 
 occasion to speak of that hereafter. I have no 
 doubt they suppose that slaveholders are to be pro- 
 hibited from carrying their property there, and 
 perhaps that blacks will be excluded altogether. 
 I will put the question to those who propose this 
 sublime doctrine — I will put it to the gentleman 
 from New Hampshire, and I believe he is at least 
 candid, I will do him the justice to say this — if 
 the South send ten thousand slaves to-morrow to 
 a free State, with a view to make them free, shall 
 we not be permitted to do so? I do not believe 
 the gentleman can answer the question. There is 
 not, sir, a non-slaveholding State in the Union 
 that would receive our slaves if we chose to send 
 them there. 
 
 I myself have had an agency in sending some 
 free people of color to Ohio; and they were better 
 off under a tolerated existence in South Carolina, 
 where their rights would not have been invaded 
 by vulgar ribaldry, than in a situation in which 
 they feel all the effects of exclusion — where free- 
 dom is talked of and where privilege is denied — 
 where philanthropy in profession covers oppres- 
 sion. 
 
 It is the interference of these pseudo-philanthro- 
 pists which has prevented the masters and mis- 
 tresses of slaves from setting them free. We can- 
 not do it now, sir, for we cannot send them into 
 those States where the institution does not exist. 
 Nor can we, according to the doctrine of these gen- 
 tlemen, send them to California or New Mexico. 
 Why, sir, if they were to go into any free State, 
 do you suppose they would be tolerated.? What 
 is to become of these people in favor of whom 
 there have been such sublime sermons preached, 
 whose condition is the subject of such super- 
 scribable zeal and solicitude? Those gentlemen 
 have taken the blacks under their especial care. 
 Baneful influences are exerted over them to. make 
 them dissatisfied with the condition in which 
 they are placed, whilst there is no substantial 
 mode pointed out to better their condition. The 
 slave, under such influences, is made a rebel 
 against his master, only that he may become 
 an outcast and a pauper in the midst of his 
 professed friends, but in fact real enemies. In- 
 cendiary publications are disseminated among 
 them,, and with a view to seduce them from their 
 fide!nyT~\VI,y, the very speeches which gentle- 
 men make on this floor, I pay for in part under 
 the post office arrangements in sending them to 
 my State, that they may be disseminated and read 
 by or to the blacks; those speeches by which they 
 are to be rendered dissatisfied with their condition. 
 I perhaps have no right here to allude to a remark 
 of an honorable gentleman from a non-slavehold- 
 ing State, and one of the most distinguished in 
 the Confederacy, who declared to me once that 
 you cannot better the condition of the slaves as 
 a mass, if the relation of master and slave could 
 be dissolved to-morrow. You cannot give them 
 the rights of freemen. The free States have re- 
 fused it. I speak of Pennsylvania particularly; I 
 do not know how far the remark will apply to the 
 other States. You give them but the name of 
 freedom, but none of its fruits. The. condition of 
 the slave could not be bettered. But the gentle- 
 man has denied that 'the free States are by clubs 
 and associations making efforts to affect the condi- 
 tion of the slave and his master. How do so 
 many printed pamphlets find their way in the 
 slave States ? How have these incendiary publi- 
 cations found their way into South Carolina? 
 Bundles of them have been found in our post of- 
 fices. One individual has been indicted, but I for- 
 bear alluding to his case, as I would not control 
 the administration of justice. 
 
 But, sir, in the. case alluded to, there is reason 
 to suppose that a combination has been formed to 
 produce a revolution in South Carolina on the 
 slave question. The pamphlets are now to be 
 found, with an aim that cannot be mistaken. They 
 are incendiary publications in every sense of the 
 word, and written from the worst of motives. 
 There is a gentleman (Mr. Barret) who has gone 
 to South Carolina, and there was found in his pos- 
 
la 
 
 session large quantitiea of pamphlet* and other 
 document*, which were calculated t" produ 
 revolution in the South. He stated that he did 
 not design their dissemination, bat there they are 
 in the post office, like a torch n< ar a powder mag* 
 azine, at this flay, 
 
 Mr. HALE. Were they addressed to white! 
 or blacks 
 
 Mr. BUTLER. They wen ' I sup- 
 
 f>ose, to some of your whites — whites who think 
 ike yourself. That i.; the beat answer 1 can 
 make. 
 
 Mr. HALE. Then there arc some p< I 
 my wav of thinking at the South. 
 
 Mr. BUTLER. Yes, there are some who travel 
 from your part of the country, and who, having 
 been fostered by our hospitality, have basely taken 
 advantage of us, and committed treason against 
 our institutions. It is certain that these papers art- 
 sent there with a view to be used. 1 do not know 
 whether Babbit is guilty of not. I shall make no 
 charge. 
 
 The gentleman has declared that he is not aware 
 that any persons are associated fbr the purpose of 
 sending these documents. Indeed, 1 am happy to 
 hear that he does not; but such documents are to 
 
 i"- found, and I aw sorry to belii re thai - 
 u tually v.i i 
 i who have n una. <i from the 
 
 .South tO < >hio. '1'hal lli' v 'I" wi i • 
 
 in. nts mi .'. i the inction ol Lion, I have 
 
 ing. The p I purport 
 
 ofthe whole thine is, these men travi I about under 
 the oeti i lie -ting 
 
 in it. rials foi hii voui 
 
 nts shall be disseminated} and I Kurc 
 
 ' ■ 
 
 that hi il 
 rid y t, .■•ii , 
 ference continually. 
 
 1 had no idi a of taking up the lime of l 
 ate; but when I 
 
 here in Ins place and preach harmony, and under 
 
 the g trb of moderation to i .1 
 
 could not refrain i'i"tn making • "t his 
 
 ide i" the is tuea involved in tn 
 
 1 shall not say here ■•• hal thi 9 »ulh •■■ i I ■ 
 
 honor and inter, BtS of thesi Si iteS will be : ; .il"'- now 
 
 in their own keeping. They havi i 
 
 storm, but I hope thoy will not be terrified l>y it 
 They will meet it with regret, but without terror 
 I think. 
 
 REMARKS OF MR. JEFFERSON DAVIS. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS, of Mississippi, said: Mr. President, 
 I do not know that I should have said anything 
 upon this occasion but for the fact that the Senator < 
 from New Hampshire [Mr. Hale] has made j 
 several points, and announced them in connection . 
 with the fact that he is about to be absent from the 
 Senate. His speech was quite in keeping, sir, i 
 with many ofthe acts I have witnessed on the part | 
 of that Senator. It was characteristic with him to i 
 make a speech upon this subject just before he 
 was to leave the Senate, that he may avail himself 
 of it, as I suppose, in the region he is about to visit, 
 as food for agitation, and as evidence of his prow- 
 ess upon the floor. On this occasion, he has taken 
 as his theme the defence of the factory laborer — 
 the intellectual cultivation and excellent morality 
 of his constituents ; and in order to produce con- 
 viction, I thought il exceeding well, quite prudent, 
 I will not say how necessary, that lie should an- 
 nounce that it was his colleague, and not himself, 
 who dwelt among and wa3 to be regarded as the 
 representative of so praiseworthy a population, so 
 high in the scale of humanity, so moral, so intelli- 
 gent and proper in all things. I thought it well, 
 sir, that it was his colleague whom the honorable 
 Senator located in the midst of such superior sam- 
 ples of humanity. 
 
 Mr. HALE. Will the honorable Senator per- 
 mit me to interrupt him ? I stated that my col- 
 league resided in one manufacturing village of the 
 kind I have described, and that 1 reside myself in 
 another ofthe same kind. 
 
 Mr. DAVIS. I thought the Senator said it was 
 his colleague who resided among these remarkable 
 people; but as he has now corrected the statement, 
 I can only wonder the more that, coming himself 
 from the midst of a population so moral, so ac- 
 complished, and instructed, therefore to be sup- 
 posed so regardful of the rights of others, so 
 regardful of the Constitution as those he has the 
 
 honor to represent, he should make demonstra- 
 tions such as he is constantly exhibiting upon this 
 floor. 1 thought it well, as 1 understood mm first, 
 but now it assumes a more dubious form; and 
 without the high eulogy which he delivered upon 
 that population, and which I suppose he is to take 
 home with him, I should have doubted their 
 claims to such and so numerous virtues. I trust 
 he will take home with him also the speech he de- 
 livered the other day upon this floor, in which he 
 announced that all those petitions and memorials 
 are a mere trick, intended for electioneering purpo- 
 ses; that this agitation is a mere game, intended to 
 cajole the people; that it is all a very harmless mat- 
 ter; that it means really nothing, except to keep up 
 an excitement, and secure votes to cand idates at elec- 
 tion time. 1 hope that the Senator will repeat that 
 speech to these people when he happens to attend 
 meetings whence these and similar resolutions go 
 forth. When the people in that quarter of the 
 Union are about to be lashed into fury against the 
 institutions of the southern States by the prompt 
 ings of fanaticism, and, as a moral and religious 
 duty, are urged to assail that of which they 
 know nothing, 1 hope that he will rise and tell 
 them how mean a spirit, how corrupt a pur- 
 pose, and how empty are the declarations which 
 have provoked them to this madness. La him 
 tell them, as he told the Senator from Vermont, 
 when he referred to the introduction of these 
 resolutions, that it is a convenience to get up 
 resolutions of the sort when a Senator is to be 
 elected. I think, sir, this would be far b< tier than 
 any constitutional argument, or, if i ;could 
 
 be supposed there, than any southern address 
 which could be delivered. I think it would recall 
 the patriotism and the justice even of the Senator's 
 own constituency to a sense of their folly and rash- 
 ness— recall them from their wild war upon the 
 rights of others, and cause them to reflect how far 
 
14 
 
 they had been made the unwilling instruments of 
 mere demagogues, seeking to elevate themselves at 
 their expense and the expense of the country, by 
 means of exciting their jealousy and passion. 
 
 But the Senator makes another declaration which 
 surprises me — not being very well informed in re- 
 lation to his private history — that he is not a mem- 
 ber of any of those associations which are opera- 
 ting in the North against the institutions of the 
 South, and that he knows nothing of them. I am 
 glad to hear it; and can now understand his decla- 
 ration, that he knows of no associations for the 
 purpose of printing incendiary publications, to be 
 circulated at the South. We do know it, and it is 
 strange that he does not. Why, sir, the New 
 York Anti-Slavery Society sends out more publi- 
 cations, I believe, than the Senate of the United 
 States. They are sent not only into the southern 
 States, but, sir, that society has printed numerous 
 publications for the express purpose of circulation 
 in California; and the purpose has beenavowed, by 
 means of agents and publications gratuitously dis- 
 tributed, to prevent slavery from being admitted 
 into the constitution of California. Not only this, 
 but they are associated in close affiliation with 
 similar societies in Great Britain and Scotland. 
 They acknowledge the contributions of those so- 
 cieties to be applied to these very objects for which 
 they are laboring, according to their own reports. 
 It is very strange that we, who stand so far off, 
 should know so much more in relation to these 
 matters than the Senator from New Hampshire. 
 Yet, sir, I am glad that it is so — that such is the 
 fact — because it exonerates the Senator from New 
 Hampshire from much of that culpability which 
 we had heretofore assigned to him. 
 
 Mr. President, I always enter into the discussion 
 of the slavery question with feelings of reluctance; 
 and only because I am forced into it by those who, 
 having nothing to do with, nevertheless inde- 
 cently interfere in our domestic affairs, have I 
 done so. Sir, it is a melancholy fact, that morn- 
 ing after morning, when we come here to enter into 
 the business of the Senate, our feelings should be 
 harrowed up by the introduction of this exciting 
 and profitless subject, and we be compelled to listen 
 to insults heaped upon our institutions. Sir, there 
 is no man who comes here to represent his con- 
 stituency for high and useful purposes, and who 
 feels upon himself the obligation of his oath to 
 maintain the Constitution of the United States, who 
 could thus act, from day to day, for the purpose 
 of disturbing the useful legislation of the country 
 — for no other purpose than to insert another brand 
 into the flame which every reflecting, sober man 
 now sees threatens to consume the fabric of our 
 Government. We of the South stand now, a3 we 
 have always stood, upon the defensive. We raised 
 not this question; but when raised, it is our duty 
 to defend ourselves. For one, sir, my purposes 
 are to keep down this species of excitement, both 
 here and at home. I know the temper of those 
 whom I represent, and they require no promptings 
 to resist aggression or insult. I know their deter- 
 mination. It is well and deeply taken, and will be 
 shown when the crisis comes. They make no 
 threats against any one, and leastof allagainstthe 
 Union, for which they have made such heavy and 
 continued sacrifices. With them Union is a sen- 
 timent, not a calculation — they adhere to it with 
 the tenacity of filial affection; but their adhesion 
 
 in no degree results from convictions of inter- 
 ' est. They know their rights, while they fee! 
 I their wrongs; and they will maintain the one, 
 resent the other, if it may be, will preserve 
 our constitutional Union ; but the Union with- 
 out the Constitution they hold to be a curse. 
 With the Constitution, they will never abandon it. 
 We, sir, are parties to this Union only under the 
 Constitution, and there is no power known in the 
 world that could dictate to my little State a Union 
 in which her rights were continually disrespected 
 and trampled upon by an unrestrained majority. 
 The present generation, sir, will maintain the char- 
 acter their fathers won. They well know how to 
 sustain the institutions which they inherited, even 
 by civil war, if that be provoked. They will 
 march up to this issue, and meei it face to face, 
 though the world were inarms against them. 
 
 This is our position; you have not respected it. 
 I know yours, and cannot respect it; and know- 
 ing it, 1 came to this session of Congress with 
 melancholy forebodings — with apprehension that 
 it might be the last of our Government. I still 
 trusted, however, in the intelligence and patriot- 
 ism of the masses, for I have long since said that 
 I put no faith in politicians. I feel that they have 
 raised a storm which they cannot control. They 
 have invoked a spirit which they cannot allay, and 
 dare not confront. And yet I believe that the 
 honest masses, the descendants of the Frank- 
 lins, the Hancocks, and the Adamses, if they 
 saw our institutions about to be destroyed by 
 a mean and captious exercise of the power of 
 demagogues to press to a fatal extremity ag- 
 gressions upon our rights by the North, would 
 rise up in their strength, and would enforce the 
 justice and obligations of the Constitution. This 
 is no indication of any confidence which I put 
 in their representatives; with them I am ready 
 to meet this issue face to face; and if the represent- 
 atives of that people think proper to sow the 
 seeds of dissension, and to inflame the passions 
 and prejudices of one section, whilst they drive 
 the other by every possible provocation to the 
 point of civil war, then all I have to say is, that 
 the representatives of the South, true to their con- 
 stituency, are prepared to meet the issue here and 
 now. If this is to be the hot-bed of civil war, if 
 from this as a center the evil is to radiate through- 
 out our country, here let the first battle be fought! 
 If gentlemen come here constantly to press upon 
 us, strip us of our rights, to move the people of 
 one section of the nation to hostility against the 
 other, I hope that those who have brought the 
 country to this crisis will meet the first test. 
 
 Mr. President, it is no part of the business of a 
 southern representative here to deliver panegyrics 
 upon the attachment of his constituents to the 
 Union. We have proved our love of the Union 
 and our devotion to it too often and too long to 
 require such declarations. Let those who feel 
 that it may be doubted make their declarations of 
 fidelity to the Union; we have nothing of the kind 
 to do. If the State of Vermont chooses to send 
 to the Senate of the United States insulting resolu- 
 tions relating to her sister States, let the Senators 
 and Representatives of that State do their duty in 
 relation to them; and as I say nothing against a 
 sovereign State, I will only say to those Senators 
 that I regret that Vermont has not now such con- 
 stitutional scruples as actuated her in the war of 
 
15 
 
 1812, and that she does not keep her resolution! 
 within her own limits, in this war of sectional 
 aggression, as she attempted to keep her troops 
 during that war of national defence, 
 
 I regret that 1 shall have to part with many 
 friends with whom I have uniformly acted in the 
 Senate, upon the motion, now pending, to print 
 these resolutions. I would agree t" print t h«in , 
 however offensive they might bo, if the Si ' 
 sent them to the Senate. The State has a ri^ht to 
 speak to the Senate, and be heard. But 1 accept 
 the argument of the Senator from Georgia, which 
 
 Ims improperly, as it scenm to mr, been called 
 
 i' the 
 ton i" whom tl" y ire din ted, and I pel 
 no obligation n quirin ; them to have 
 befon > 
 
 to them, with refen nee to iie-ir i . and 
 
 ii.i 'lit just aa well remain in their own pockets as 
 to in- upon the table i to. I hold then 
 
 to be unii ■ ineulting, 
 
 liable to the Constitution; and I will HOI en- 
 dorse them by my »ote. I hive thus briefly suited 
 my reasons. 
 
 Printed at the I 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 011 898 084 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 011 898 084 f