f 
 
 CAUSES FOK 
 
 iXATIONAL HUMILIATION 
 
 A DISCOURSE, 
 
 DKLlVEliKIl 0.\ THK DAY OF lASTlXU, HUMILIATION AM> PHAYLli. 
 RK003IMKXUEU BY THK PKESIDKNT OF THK UXITED STATES. 
 
 SEI»a?E]VIBEH S6, 1861. 
 
 By r. l. stantox, d. d., 
 
 I'AriTUU or TlIK IJIWT I'ltKSBYTEKIAK CJllKtll, riin.l.lCdTllK. 0)111 
 
 " LilicTty auil UiiioiJ. now auil t'ont^er, olio and iusciuaulik-." — " Stcc.*»ioii is Civil Wnr." 
 
 I>a>iU'l Wcbslir. 
 " Hn' iiowor, tlif aiitlidiity ami diguil.v of llie Goveiiimeiit oiigbt lo liemaiiitaincd, and ivsist- 
 aiico put down at evoiy hazard." Uvnrij (Jlaij. 
 
 " The Federal Union must and shall be preserved." 
 
 Andrew Jticlcson. 
 
 " Say ye not, A Confederacy, to all 11; em tu whom this people shall say. A Confederacy ; neither 
 tear ye their fear, nor he afraid." " Tin rrophel Uaiah. 
 
 C I N C r N N A T I : 
 MOORE, WILSTACH, KEYS & CO., Printers, 
 
 2.5 WEST FOURTU STRKKT. 
 1861. 
 
CAUSES Foil 
 
 NATIONAL HUMILIATION 
 
 A DISCOURSE, 
 
 DELIVERED ON THE DAY OF FASTING, HUMILIATION AND PRAYER, 
 RECOMMENDED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 SEI>TEIva:BET?, 26, 1861. 
 
 By R. L. STANTOK D. D., 
 
 PASTOR OF THE FIRST PKESBYTEllIAN CHl'KCH, CHILLICOTHE, OHIO. 
 
 " Liberty and Cnioc, now and forever, one and insejiarablc." — " Secession is Civil War." 
 
 Daniel Webster, 
 " The power, the authority and dignity of the Government ought to be maintained, and resist- 
 ance put down at every hazard." Henry Clay. 
 
 " The Federal Union must and sliall be preserved," Andrew Jackson. 
 
 " Say ye not, A Confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A Confederacy ; neither 
 fear ye their fear, nor be afraid." The Prophet Isaiah. 
 
 CINCINNATI: 
 
 MOOEE, WILSTACII, KEYS & CO., Printers, 
 
 25 WEST FOUKTH STREET. 
 1861 . 
 
 CO 
 
 fy 
 

n\ 
 
 CORKESPOlSrDENCE. 
 
 Chllicotiie, Oct. 8, 18G1. 
 Rev. R. L. STANTON, D. D., 
 
 Dear Sir: — Believing that the sentiments of j'our discourse 
 on the state of the Nation, delivered on the 2Gth ult., are eminently just, 
 patriotic, and suited to the times, and that the interests of our suffering 
 country would be promoted by their wider circulation, we respectfully urge 
 you to give them publicity in a permsinent form, and for that purpose we ask 
 a copy for publication. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 0. T. REEVES, THEODORE SHERER, 
 
 WILLIAM WADDLE, JOS. SILL, 
 
 ORLAND S:MITH, DANIEL DUBTMAN, 
 
 ALEXR RENICK, SAME F. McCOY, 
 
 WM. FULLERTON, HUMPHREY FULLERTON, 
 
 J. MADEIRA, ANDREW CARLISLE, 
 
 E. H. ALLEN, HENRY S. LEWIS, 
 
 BENJ. F. STONE, NATHANIEL WILSON, 
 
 WM. B. FRANKLIN, THOMAS MILLER, 
 
 T. S. GOODMAN, Jr., F. CAMPBELL, 
 
 DIXON FULLERTON, JAS. McLANDBURGH. 
 
 Chillicothe, Oct. 9, 1861. 
 
 Ho.\. 0. T. REEVES, Dr. AV ADDLE, Col. SMITH, and others: 
 
 Gentlemen: — Your note of the 8th inst., asking a copy of my Fast- 
 Day Discourse for publication, is before me. I received a note of similar 
 purport from many of you, dated on the day of the delivery of the discourse. 
 To that I gave a negative answer, as I could not, just then, command the time 
 to make a copy for the press within the period required for the immediate 
 purpose in hand. 
 
 To your jn-esent note, I respond affirmatively and cheerfully; and the 
 more so, that persons Avho had not the opportunity to hear the discourse 
 delivered, some of whom have given their opinions upon it, may read it for 
 themselves and judge accordingly. 
 
 For its "sentiments," which I am gratified meet j-our approbation, I made 
 no apology in the pulpit, and I make none now. I have been too long in the 
 ministry, and know too well what belongs to the duties of the office, to be in 
 
4 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 any manner of doubt respecting the propriety of such an utterance on such 
 an occasion, or to be in the least disturbed by any comments which have been 
 made. It has always been deemed the just pi-ovince of the pulpit, on days set 
 apart by the civil authorities for public Humiliation or Thanksgiving, to speak 
 out freely and fully upon national affairs, in their moral and religious bearings ; 
 to speak of public measures and public men, when the facts furnish the 
 warrant; to discuss any policj^ of the government, vitally affecting the social, 
 moral and spiritual well-being of the people; and thus to direct the reflections 
 as well as the devotions of those committed to our charge. This is the principle 
 by M'hich I was guided in my discourse of the 26th ult. It will be found that 
 it has no political bearing other than this. In the admirable paper of Dr. 
 Hodge, upon "The State of the Country," in the Princeton Review of January 
 last, he pertinently remarks: "There are occasions when political questions 
 rise into the sphere of morals and religion; when the rule for political action 
 is to be sought, not in considerations of state policy, but in the law of God." 
 
 At no time in our history as a nation has the pulpit of all denominations 
 been more united and distinguished for patriotic devotion, than during the 
 seven years' war of the Old Revolution, though then, as now, there were a few 
 exceptions. We are again in the midst of a revolution. As I have spoken of 
 its character in this discourse, I need say nothing of it here. I can not, 
 however, refrain from remarking, that it is the time for earnest words and 
 prompt action, if we are to save for our children the heritage which has come 
 down to us through a baptism of blood and a sacrifice of treasure from our 
 fathers. Nor can I envy either the head or the heart of that man who calls 
 himself an American, Avhether native or jiaturalized, but have for such only 
 deep commiseration, who does not see, in the simple issue now before the 
 country, that it is his duty to sustain the Federal Government in putting down 
 this unwarranted rebellion, by all the power of his manhood — by his purse, 
 his prayers, and his sword. 
 
 Most respectfully. 
 
 Your fellow-citizen, 
 
 R. L. STANTON. 
 
lit tijt ilifsi^cnt of tijt ^Initt^ .SWcs. 
 
 A PROCLAMATION. 
 
 Whereas, A joint committee of both Houses of Congress has waited on the 
 President of the United States, and requested him to recommend a day of 
 public humiliation, prayer and fasting, to be observed by the people of the 
 United States with religious solemnities, and the offering of fervent supplica- 
 tions to Almighty God for the safety and welfare of these States, his blessings 
 on their arms, and a speedy restoration to peace; and u-hereas, it is fit and 
 becoming in all people, at all times, to acknowledge and revere the supreme 
 government of God, to bow in humble submission to His chastisements, to 
 confess and deplore their sins and transgressions, in the full conviction that 
 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and to pray with all fervency 
 and contrition for the pardon of their past offences, and for a blessing upon 
 their present and prospective actions; and whereas, when our beloved country, 
 once, by the blessing of God, united, prosperous and happy, is now afflicted 
 with factious and civil war. it is peculiarly fit for us to recognize the hand of 
 God in this visitation, and, in sorrowful remembrance of our own faults and 
 crimes, as a nation and as individuals, to humble ourselves before Him, and to 
 pray for his mercy; to pray that we may be spared further punishment, though 
 most justly deserved; that our arms may be blessed, aud made efteclual lor the 
 re-establishment of law, order and peace throughout our country, and that the 
 inestimable boon of civil aud religious liberty, earned, under His guidance 
 and blessing, by the labors and sufferings of our fathers, may be restored in 
 all its original excellency; Therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
 United States, do appoint the last Thursday in September next as a day of 
 humiliation, prayer and fasting, for all the people of the nation, and 1 do 
 earnestly recommend to the people, and especially to all ministers aud teachers 
 of religion, of all denominations, to all heads of families, to observe and keep 
 that day, according to their several creeds and modes of worship, in all 
 humility, and with all religious solemnity, to the end that the united prayer ot 
 the nation may ascend to the Throne of Grace, and bring down pleutilul 
 blessings upon our own country. 
 
 lu testimony whereof, &c. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 By the President, 
 
 William H. Seward, Secretary of State. 
 
FAST-DAY DISCOUIISE. 
 
 Psalms, 4: 5. 
 "Offer tlie sacrifices of thanksgiving; and put j-our trust in the Lord." 
 
 The proclamation of the President of the United States, 
 just read, indicates the object for which this day has been 
 set apart from secular pursuits to religious solemnities. We 
 are convened in the house of God in obedience to the Pres- 
 ident's recommendation, and I trust we may engage in the 
 services of the present hour in the true spirit of his most ad- 
 mirable proclamation. 
 
 Such a day as this has never before dawned upon our 
 country. There are, probably, at this moment, throughout 
 this nation, one million of men under arms, and half that 
 number within forty miles of its capital. We take into this 
 estimate the armies in the field, iSTorth and South, with the 
 regiments in camp and in process of organization, and the 
 Home Guards in the cities and towns; and including all 
 these, a million may fall far short of the fuil number. Is 
 not this a most astounding fact? Has it, to-day, any par- 
 allel ? Have any of the empires of the Old World such a 
 military array within them ? 
 
 And how speedily has all this been accomplished ! Six 
 months ago, thirty thousand men made up the whole num- 
 ber, probabl}', of armed soldiers in our country, while the 
 actual army of the United States was but a trifle over half that 
 number. The people were engaged in their ordinary pur- 
 suits, every kind of business was unusually brisk, the fruits 
 of the earth and the products of the commerce of the seas 
 were never more abundant, the hum of industry was heard 
 on every hand, and a high degree of general prosperity, 
 
8 FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 
 
 with all the blessings of peace, was enjoyed by all classes of 
 our countrymen. 
 
 But now, within a half-year, how changed ! The earth is 
 yielding her annual reward to the husbandman, and under 
 the blessing of a bountiful Providence all the necessaries 
 and comforts of life are bestowed in rich profusion still. 
 But yet, every branch of business and trade is more or less 
 paralyzed, scores of thousands are throw^n out of employ- 
 ment, the largest capitalists in many of our commercial 
 marts have become bankrupt, hundreds of merchant ships 
 float lazily in the docks, workshops are closed, railroads are 
 broken up, and the buzz of the spindle and the ring of the 
 anvil are silent in the places of daily toil ; while now, the 
 most familiar sounds heard in the valleys and over the hills 
 and prairies and amid all the cities and villages of our land, 
 from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Northern 
 Lakes to the Southern Gulf, are the roll of the drum, the 
 blast of the bugle, and the measured tramp of armed men 
 going forth to the terrible havoc of war. Yes I — it is a 
 reality, that war, grim, bloody, relentless war, has become 
 the business of the country, supplanting the pursuits of 
 peace, and engaging larger armies than were ever led by 
 Napoleon and Wellington, or Alexander and Xerxes, or 
 Csesar and Hannibal, combined. 
 
 And wherefore this world-astounding transition — a change 
 that eclipses in its suddenness and magnitude all the extrav- 
 agance of romance and fable? Have the despots of the Old 
 World entered into a solemn league and covenant to destroy 
 the Model Republic ? Have they, under their Holy Alliance, 
 sent their fleets and armies to blot out our very name, that 
 our national example shall no longer cause their thrones to 
 tremble? And is it to resist a foreign invasion of combined 
 Europe, that we have so readily laid aside the arts of peace, 
 and have, in a single summer, become like the people of an- 
 cient Sparta, a nation of soldiers ? Ah ! would that it were 
 BO. Would that this were all that we are marshaled in 
 battle array for — to meet the world in arms ! We would 
 rejoice to accept even that terrible issue for the alternative 
 that is forced upon us. But we have not the privilege of 
 the exchange. Civil war is the issue that is made ; and it 
 
FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 9 
 
 is this fearful visitation, as a judgment of God, which has 
 called us to the house of prayer. 
 
 And while such a day as this has never heforc arisen upon 
 our country — a day for public national humiliation, prayer, 
 and fasting, occasioned by such intestine strife — no such 
 spectacle as this land now presents has ever been witnessed 
 since the world was made. This is no extravagance. His- 
 tory tells of nothing like it. If we choose to examine the 
 entire past history or present condition of the world, com- 
 paring other nations with our own, a few months ago — with 
 her more than thirty millions of people and her wide domain 
 of empire, covering twenty degrees of latitude and tifty-iive 
 of longitude, the richest and most varied in soil a!ul cliniatt.' 
 and productions ever watered by the rains of heaven ; with 
 her free and elective form of popular government, by uni- 
 versal suflrage ; with commerce and manufactures which vie 
 wnth the most forward nations of Europe ; with inventive 
 genius and mechanical skill which have made America the 
 home of some of the grandest discoveries of the age ; with 
 a system of popular education superior to that of any other, 
 which brings its blessings to the rich and poor alike; with 
 religious institutions unparalleled for their influence and 
 prevalence, benign and universal, and yet supported by the 
 unconstrained good will of the people ; in a word, with all 
 the known appliances of a high civilization, which places 
 ours in the front rank among the nations of the earth, in 
 this age of rapid and amazing progress — and then, if we 
 compare all this with what is presented to the world's eye 
 to-day, as our condition, the whole nation armed in a bloody 
 civil war, by which all this good to ourselves and its example 
 to the world are fearfully imperiled, is it not stating the 
 case in the simplest words of truth when we say that in no 
 age of the world has such a spectacle ever before been wit- 
 nessed ? 
 
 But the question still presses, and from these very consid- 
 erations still more urgently, What are the causes which have 
 plunged such a people into an embittered war with one an- 
 other, so that it should seem suitable for us to convene in 
 the sanctuary, and as a nation come before the God of Na- 
 tions in the ordinances of worship ? 
 
10 FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 
 
 This question, justly considered, will bring our minds to 
 the proper subjects of contemplation to-day, and may aid 
 our hearts to proper feelings in view of them. The answer 
 to this question presents itself in a two-fold light — causes 
 arising from conflicting views and interests among the peo- 
 ple themselves, as divided into the two great sections now at 
 strife ; and causes arising from the sins of the whole nation, 
 which have justly provoked and brought down the judg- 
 ments of God upon us, as war in all its forms, whatever may 
 be its secondary causes, is always regarded in Scripture as a 
 visitation of God upon nations for their offences against the 
 principles he has laid down for their conduct. . 
 
 It is highly proper for us to examine the causes involved 
 in both branches of the subject. If we can view them justl}^, 
 weighing their real merits, and can be suitably affected in 
 heart by the view, and can be led to a right conduct thereby, 
 we may, in our worship, enter into the true spirit of the 
 first part of our text : " Offer the sacrifices of righteousness."' 
 And then, if we take a just view of the perils that are be- 
 fore this nation, and of the true source of its deliverance, as a 
 christian people — however strong may be our reliance upon 
 armies and munitions of war, and however earnestly we 
 should as jtatriots support them, and as christians pray for 
 their success — w^e shall be led to look beyOnd these mere 
 means of safety, and obey the injunction of the second part 
 of the text: "Put your trust in the Lord." 
 
 This text, as a whole, presents to my own mind, in its ob- 
 vious suggestions, just those topics for thought and feeling 
 which the appointed worship on this day of humiliation 
 should beget. In endeavoring to lead your minds and hearts 
 in these services, it is no affectation in me to say, that I feel 
 utterly incompetent to do justice to the occasion, or the 
 subjects on which I propose to dwell. 
 
 " Offer the sacrifices of righteousness ; and put your trust 
 in the Lord." The text is plain, and calls for little or no 
 exposition. To " ofier a sacrifice" to God, is as well under- 
 stood under the Christian as it was under the Mosaic econ- 
 omy, and it is a duty which belongs to both. Then, it was 
 the putting to death of an animal, and presenting it upon 
 the altar ; or the devoting of some other gift in the same way. 
 
FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 11 
 
 Now, it is a spiritual devotion to God, of the afteetions of 
 the heart and the services of the life. To offer a "sacrifice 
 of righteousness," was then, not the immolation of right- 
 eousness itself, but the presenting of a victim without blem- 
 ish, typical of the Immaculate Lamb of God, with a penitent 
 heart in the worshipper and a faith in the perfect righteous- 
 ness of the promised Messiah. It is the same now, spirit- 
 ually, and is the offering to God of holy afteetions and holy 
 services, with penitence for sin, and faith in the obedience 
 and sacrifice of Christ. To " put your trust in the Lord," is 
 a phrase of the text meaning then, now, and at all times, 
 substantially and spiritually the same thing. 
 
 Now, what application shall we make of this plain text to 
 this day, and to the objects for which it is set apart? 
 
 God rules the world in righteousness, and he requires 
 righteousness in mankind. " Clouds and darkness are round 
 about him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation 
 of his throne." He says to man : " Be ye holy, for I am 
 holy." And he is only pleased with and favorable to men 
 when they exhibit a character for righteousness : " Then 
 shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness." 
 
 The same character which he requires in men individ- 
 ually, he demands of nations organically; of the people and 
 their rulers; in the form and administration of government 
 over and among themselves, respecting all classes and indi- 
 viduals, as citizens embraced in or others under the control 
 of the State; and in all the intercourse of nations one with 
 another. What is sin or righteousness in the individual, 
 under the law of God, is such in the nation at large and 
 organically, so far as these characteristics may apply to men 
 and nations respectively. Hence we hear God saying: "It 
 is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness ; for the 
 throne is established by righteousness.'' " Righteousness 
 exalteth a nation ; but sin is a reproach to any people." 
 
 And not only does God demand righteousness in men, but 
 he punishes them when they do not exhibit it. This is 
 written on every page of his word. lie deals upon this prin- 
 ciple with nations : " Thus saith the Lord unto this people, 
 Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained 
 their feet, therefore the Lord doth not accept them ; he will 
 
12 FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 
 
 now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins."' And in 
 order to dehver both men and nations from their sins, to in- 
 duce humiliation and repentance, and to lead them to do the 
 works of righteousness, he brings upon them his sore judg- 
 ments : "When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhab- 
 itants of the world will learn righteousness." For this end, 
 the minister of God is directed : " Cry aloud, spare not, lift 
 up thy voice Hke a trumpet, and show my people their trans- 
 gressions, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet, they 
 seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation 
 that did righteousness." 
 
 Such, then, being God's character and administration — 
 distinguished for righteousness, demanding it in nations as 
 in men, visiting them with judgment for sin that he may 
 punish and destroy them or bring them to righteousness 
 through repentance, and as he at this moment is desolating 
 our land with judgments to bring us as we would hope to 
 see our sins and to repent of them and turn to righteousness, 
 and not to destroy us — the duty before us to-day is a plain 
 one. It is to inquire what have been our sins as a people 
 which have provoked God's displeasure, to confess them, to 
 humble ourselves and repent; and then to show forth, in 
 place of the things wherein we have offended, a righteous 
 conduct before heaven and the world. We shall in this 
 manner, and we can in no other, " offer the sacrifices of 
 righteousness." 
 
 Pursuing the plan already indicated, we may inquire, in 
 reference to one branch of the causes of the judgments of 
 God upon us as a nation, — 
 
 1. What are some of our National Sins, as committed 
 against the government of god over us ? 
 
 I shall pass over this point with brevity, doing little more 
 than naming some of our more prominent sins, in their spe- 
 cial aspect toward God, for a two-fold reason, (1.) That only 
 a few weeks ago, suggested by the day of humiliation and 
 prayer set apart by the General Assembly of our church, I 
 preached on this subject, specifying and dwelling at length 
 on some of our prominent national offences ; and (2.) That 
 the other branch of the causes of God's judgments, as seen 
 in our national strife, arising from conflicting views and 
 
FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 13 
 
 interests of the people among themselves, divided into the 
 two great sections now at war, receives, perhaps, as a moral 
 question, suited for discussion in the pulpit, too little atten- 
 tion, and may, certainly, on this national day, with eniii\ent 
 propriety, engage our thoughts. 
 
 On the first branch of the suhject — What are our national 
 sins against God? — I will state those dwelt upon, on the 
 occasion already named. 
 
 1. For our varied national blessings, exceeding, greatly, 
 those of most or all other nations, we have not been, as a 
 people, grateful to God, from whom cometh, to nations as to 
 men, "every good and perfect gift." Ingratitude is the sin. 
 But it has gone bej'ond the negative state. Our blessings 
 have been our vain boast, as though we had procured them by 
 our own power alone, likening us, as a people, to Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, who vauntingl}' said : " Is not this great Babylon 
 that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the 
 might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?" 
 
 2. Worldly prosperity, chiejiy material, has been the god of 
 our idolatry. Gain and gold we have worshipped, leading 
 to unscrupulous means to obtain them, and trampling upon 
 God's laws and institutions to gratify their inordinate love. 
 
 3. Dishonoring as a nation and a government, the Sabbath, 
 systematically and habituall}^, in several things then speci- 
 fied, as, (1.) In our universal mail system, there being no 
 plea for this but its supposed advantage to our material in- 
 terests ; a plea that would, if well founded, open ever}- work- 
 shop and counting room in the country, and drive the plow 
 on every farm. ISTo moral interest can be promoted by it, 
 (nor material, in the end,) for it is always a detriment to 
 cross God's law; and his law is the same here for nations as 
 for individuals, the exceptions in favor of labor on that day 
 being those only of " necessity and merc3\" (2.) It was 
 then mentioned, too, as showing Sabbath desecration, that 
 the present war had been fruitful in illustrations, as seen in 
 transporting troops and fighting battles, (all which is wrong, 
 unless stern necessity should plead for it,) leading t^ a pain- 
 ful realization of the trite remark, that " war knows no Sab- 
 bath." But in this matter a reform has taken place in the 
 Tight quarter, under the order of General McClellan. This 
 
14 FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 
 
 order and its already manifest effects are ominous of good, 
 and inspire the christian heart with hope and nerve the 
 power of prayer. 
 
 These are the sins on which I tlien chiefly dwelt, their 
 importance appearing more manifest, perhaps, from their 
 full illustration than in a hare statement of them as now 
 given. They do not hy an}^ means exhaust the catalogue. 
 There are many others which are offensive to heaven which 
 have covered the whole land, and which are closely inter- 
 woven with our present civil strife. On some of these it 
 would be profitable to dwell, and highly appropriate on the 
 present occasion, as they have been long and eminently 
 characteristic of us as a people. 
 
 I will, however, mention one of the most obvious of these 
 national offences, and most fruitful of our present evils, and 
 show, in some measure, how it works. It is tlie making of 
 political opinions the standard and test of moral principles and 
 obligations, and the acting out under them of the highest 
 duties of the citizen. 
 
 This phase of our public life is illustrated in the iron- 
 bound partyism which has so extensively prevailed. It is 
 seen in the demands of party, laid upon the people under 
 the weight of certain political dogmas, to put partisans into 
 office, and then laid upon the men so elected to carry out 
 the behests of party. We have been politically educated in 
 this, almost from the foundation of our government to the 
 present time. To go with our party, to stand upon our plat- 
 form, to vote the party ticket, to applaud party measures, 
 and to defend all the acts of our party when in power ; these 
 have been made the standard of moral obligation, in things 
 political. The children of each generation have been taught 
 them. They have grown up to manhood under them. They 
 have gone to the ballot box under their influence. And the 
 deadly fruit of this bitter seed we are now reaping. 
 
 But on this vital matter a better day has dawned. 
 Whether its full meridian will be as bright and healthful as 
 its genial morning is yet to be seen. But there is now at 
 least one gleam of hope. It is that patriotism is supplant- 
 ing party. It was a refreshing sentiment, uttered by the 
 present Secretary of State in the Senate of the United States 
 
FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 15 
 
 last winter, in his great speech for the Union — a man who 
 is regarded as the father of the party now in power, yet in 
 this utterance rising above all the trammels of party, and a 
 sentiment judged by the result in the Xorth to which he 
 referred, as creditable to his sagacity as a statesman as to 
 his patriotism as a man — that the time was at hand when 
 all parties and party platforms would be swept away, and 
 when the whole people would be united " to save the coun- 
 try in a party of the Union." His prediction is realized ; 
 and God be thanked that there is patriotism enough left 
 among the masses of the people to rise above the shackles 
 of party, at such a time as this. 
 
 Following out the corrupt principle to which I have re- 
 ferred — making party dogmas the moral test of political 
 obligations — we find another illustration of it, fruitful of 
 evil. It is the elevation of men to the high places of power, 
 covered with both moral and political corruption. If men's 
 political dogmas were right, if they were of the party, if 
 they stood square upon the platform, even though that 
 polygonal structure were so skilfully made that it had a 
 front on every side to delude the simple, it was regarded as 
 a moral duty to give them our sulirage. Even serious 
 minded men — religious men — have been willing to vote for 
 any party man, regularl}^ nominated, though bankrupt in 
 every moral principle relating to private or public life. I 
 say not this of any particular party, but this has been too 
 much a characteristic of our people, and we are now eating 
 of the hitter fruit of our own doings. 
 
 Following out this dogma still further, and it comes to 
 this — that the government, conducted by an administratiou 
 elevated to power solely by party, must be conducted, in all 
 its departments, upon partisan princi[)les and for partisan 
 objects. This is as well understood, and the obligation is as 
 fully recognized, as though it were stipulated in the bond 
 and ratified by oath and seal. Its patronage must be given 
 to partisans. The judicial ermine in our highest court, even 
 upon the shoulders of the chief justice, must adorn the par- 
 tisan. Offices at home and abroad must be filled by parti- 
 sans, for " to the victors belong the spoils." We have been 
 represented among all the nations of the world upon this 
 
16 FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 
 
 principle. Drunkards, gamblers, and men who have disre- 
 garded all the sanctities of domestic life, have been honored 
 by the Republic which they have disgraced, at the Courts of 
 the despotisms of the Old World. If they have been repu- 
 diated by their constituents at home, it has only furnished 
 the reason why they should be commissioned abroad. The 
 government of this free Republic, through its places of honor 
 and emolument, has not been regarded as made for the peojyU, 
 but for politicians, and as really so as the governments of 
 Europe have been regarded as made for the crowned heads 
 that administer them. This is the principle which has gov- 
 erned party conventions, and which, through the subtlety 
 and power of party organizations, has extensively governed 
 the ballot box. 
 
 These are but a few of the more palpable illustrations, 
 which start up on every hand, of the corrupt principle of 
 making partisan opinions and partisan action the test of the 
 obligation of the citizen, in the exercise of the right of suf- 
 frage, one of the very highest and most sacred of all his 
 public duties. 
 
 Can we marvel, then, that under such a recognized system 
 of political virtue we have become mournfully corrupt as a 
 nation, and that our oftence is rank and smells to heaven? 
 Could it be possible, under the prevalence of such a prin- 
 ciple, that any part of the body politic should escape demor- 
 alization? Prompted by such power, could any law of God 
 successfully withstand assault, if it should presume to stand 
 in the way of reaching partisan ends ? Or could any interest 
 of humanity be safe, if challenged to such a contest? Can 
 we wonder, then, that under such a code of political action, 
 we should now be plunged into civil war? Can we not see, 
 in this, at least one of the causes, and that not the least 
 potent, of our present national strife? — that the section now 
 in revolt, which, through partisan organization, has managed 
 the government nearly from its origin, enjoying largely its 
 honors and emoluments in civil and military life, though an 
 extreme minority of the people, should now, through its poli- 
 tical leaders, when they see the sceptre departing from their 
 hands forever, determine to overthrow the government by 
 an armed rebellion iu several of the States ? Are we sur- 
 
FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 17 
 
 prized at this ? . Yes ! at this we may stand amazed — and so 
 does the whole world— making all due allowance, too, for 
 the personal and political corruption of human nature, when 
 we scan the magnitude and determination of this hloody 
 attempt to overturn the host government for the largest 
 happiness of man, admitting all its defects of administra- 
 tion, upon which the sun has ever shone. I seriously doubt 
 whether the corruption of devils is too deep to prevent thcin 
 from standing aghast in all the caverns of hell, at this folly, 
 this infatuation, this very madness of wickedness, in the 
 demagogues of the nation to effect this purpose ! You may 
 search all the records of history for a parallel, and you will not 
 find it, for such an unwarranted and wide-spread rebellion. 
 
 And this brings me directly to state some of the causes in 
 the other general branch of the subject, which have occa- 
 sioned our present strife, — 
 
 II. Causes arising from conflicting views and interests of 
 THE People, as divided into tue two great sections now at 
 
 WAR. 
 
 What are these causes? Some think they find them in 
 the loss of political power and patronage sustained by the 
 South, in the change of the I'ederal administration ; or in 
 their complaints about taritfs, and their desire for free trade; 
 or in the doctrine of State rights, to which the South is 
 attached, and to which they think the IS^orth has not due 
 regard; or in their wish for a stronger government, in a 
 limited monarchy, or at least with a privileged aristocrasy ; 
 or in a separate confederacy, by which they can regulate all 
 these and a thousand other questions at pleasure, in despite 
 of the power of the Korth, now grown great, and no longer 
 controllable. 
 
 Some of these are without doubt proximate and even 
 powerful causes. But there is one which underlies them all, 
 the secret spring of the whole movement. What is the ijrcat 
 cause which stimulates the South in its action, as given on 
 the very best authority by the South itself? It is a cause 
 which takes various shapes of statement, suited to the pres- 
 sure of the moment, but always culminating in this — to pre- 
 serve, perpetuate, and extend the institution of Negro Slavcr>/ in 
 this land. 
 
 2 
 
18 FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 
 
 The object and limits of this discourse do not allow me to 
 argue upon the right and wrong of this system. Nor is it 
 necessary. I hold to the old doctrine of the fathers — a doc- 
 trine, till within a few years, universal in this country, in 
 Church and State — that it is a system, politically, socially, 
 and morally, evil and that continually, to both races con- 
 cerned in it, and that it ought, just as soon as it will be for 
 the interests of all concerned, to be brought to an end. I 
 have in my library much of the literature of the South of 
 modern days, on the subject of slavery, from the huge oc- 
 tavo to the smaller volume, periodicals, sermons, pamphlets, 
 newspapers, from Cobb, and Bledsoe, and Smylie, and 
 Palmer, and Thornwell, and many others. I have examined 
 their arguments attentively, and some of these writers are 
 men of master mind. If nuy person can make the worse 
 appear the better reason it is they. I am not convinced by 
 them ; perhaps it is my fault. Besides this, I have lived 
 where the system prevails, in the extreme South, in Missis- 
 sippi and New Orleans, for the. larger part of my profes- 
 sional life. I have seen it in city and country, at work and 
 in recreation, upon the plantation and in the household, in 
 the cabin and in the church, at home and abroad, and I am 
 not aware that I have yet to learn anything new about 
 American slavery as a s^^stem. And yet, I am free to say, 
 that the more I have known of it, the longer I have lived 
 among it, and the more T have read about it, the firmer is 
 my conviction that the old doctrine of the fathers is correct, 
 and that the modern doctrine of its divinity is another 
 gospel and a pestilent heresy. This conviction is only the 
 more strengthened, when I see that the radical cause, assigned 
 by the South itself, for overthrowing the authority among 
 them of the Federal Government, is to preserve, perpetuate, 
 and extend the system in this fair land, until, perchance, the 
 dream and boast of the late Secretary of State of the South- 
 ern Confederacy, in the Senate of the United States, shall 
 be realized, that he would yet call the roll of his slaves at 
 the foot of the Bunker Hill monument. 
 
 Does any one ask for the proof that this is the main cause 
 which the South itself assigns for its attempted revolution ? 
 It is found, in one form or another, in the writings and 
 
FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 19 
 
 speeches of their leading men in Church and State, and in 
 the Constitution they have IVanicd. Dr. Pahner is a repre- 
 sentative man of the Southern Church, a native of South 
 CaroUna, and a resident of New-Orleans. In his Thanks- 
 giving Discourse of last November, in urging the South to 
 independent political action, he says it is her great providen- 
 tial mission to "conserve and perpetuate the system," and this 
 is his grand argument for secession.* Alexander IT. Stephens 
 is a representative man among Southern statesmen. lie 
 rejoices in the establishment of the Southern Confederacy, be- 
 cause negro slavery is made the " corner stone" on which the 
 edifice rests ; and he deems it a worthy theme for their public 
 self-gratulation, that theirs is the first great civilized nation 
 which has rested on such a basis.f For this same purpose, 
 they have modified their supreme organic law; and the most 
 prominent of the changes made in their Constitution from 
 the old one, is in the immunities and safeguards granted to 
 the institution of slavery. Tlie proof then is ample — they 
 being witnesses — that this is the radical cause of their revolt, 
 Avhich underlies all others. 
 
 Granting, then, this to be the cause, what was there in the 
 condition of the country, or in the action of the government, 
 which could be deemed sufficient to justify the revolt, eveii 
 as viewed by themselves^ in order to secure the institution from 
 supposed danger ? In giving the answer to this question, I 
 speak advisedly. I have read their most elaborate defences 
 of the movement, from their public " Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence," as they term it, to the utterances of their states- 
 men and divines. They do not plead any action of the 
 Federal Government in justification, cither in its Executive, 
 Legislative, or Judicial Departments. When this revolt 
 began, each department was under the control of the party 
 with which the large majority of the South had always 
 acted; and yet, it is against this Goccnnncnt alone — its Con- 
 stitution, Laws, and authority — that the rebellion is waged. 
 What, then, is the plea which they make? When their dis- 
 quisitions are put into the crucible and reduced to their last 
 analysis, it comes to this — the appheiiension, pretended or 
 real, that the administration coming into power, four months 
 after the rebellion was inaugurated, would, or iniyht, wage 
 
 » See Appendix, Note A. t See Appendix, Note D. 
 
20 FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 
 
 war upon, or exert its influence in some way against, the 
 institution of slavery ; and this, too, when all departments 
 of the Government but the Executive, would still be in their 
 own hands. This is the plea, and the whole of it, fairly 
 stated, leading Southern men being the sworn witnesses. 
 And this plea they urged, and acted upon, and filled the 
 whole South with their sophistry to make out a case, when 
 it was patent to all the world, that such a purpose in the 
 party coming into power, w^as denied oyer and over again, 
 in the most explicit terms, and in all the possible official 
 forms known to the case, from the declarations of Conven- 
 tions and the President elect down to all its leading public 
 men ; and no tongue or pen w^as ever authorized to utter the 
 contrary of these denials — to say nothing of the impassable 
 impediments ofl'ered in the Constitution and Laws to any 
 such action. And yet, they inaugurate this astounding, 
 bloody revolution, against this mild and free Government of 
 the People, in the face of all this testimony to disprove their 
 imaginary apprehension — the only plea they venture to offer ! 
 "Was ever such an instance heard of, since rebellion and rev- 
 olution were terms known in the vocabulary of man? * 
 
 And what would be, reasonably, their p)rospect of success 
 in preserving the institution of slavery, should they succeed 
 in establishing their Southern Government? The answer to 
 this is best furnished in the sagacious words of an old Vir- 
 ginian spoken to me last winter, a man who has been in the 
 Congress of the United States. " I am amazed," said he, in 
 substance, " at the infatuation of Southern men, in their 
 supposing they can save the institution of slavery by dis- 
 solving the Union. Why," said he, " the Constitution and 
 the Union are what have made it controllable, profitable, 
 and safe. It could not have lived to this day without them. 
 If they dissolve the Union, I fear it w^ill speedily come to an 
 end and go down in violence and blood ! " This is valuable 
 testimony, and it accords with wdiat is palpable to common 
 observation. And this is one of the items in the account 
 which induces the belief that the men w^ho are leading on 
 this movement are covered with judicial blindness, and 
 that through this very blindness God may bring to an end 
 that which they w^ould preserve, illustrating also the heathen 
 
 ■■■■ Sec Appendix, Note C, 
 
FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 21 
 
 proverb, that, "Whom the gods wish to destroy they first 
 make mad." 
 
 In attempting to give color to the apprchen.'<ion referred to, 
 and in justification of the revolt by reason of it, it was said 
 by the Sonthern leaders, that the present generation of the 
 North have been for thirty years under a process of educa- 
 tion which has at length totally abolitionized the people, 
 that they are about to have control of the government, and 
 that is what we fear at the South. 
 
 To non€ but the inebriate does the ground appear to be 
 reeling. The change in sentiment wnth regard to slavery, 
 is in the South rather than in the North. Forty-three 
 years ago last May, the General Assembly of the Presby- 
 terian Church put forth an elaborate paper on slavery. * It 
 fairly represents what was then the general sentiment of 
 the country, in the Church and the State, and in both sec- 
 tions of the Union. The paper was drawn up by Dr. Bax- 
 ter of Virginia, and was adopted b}- the Asse-mbly unani- 
 mously, every Southern and every Northern man voting 
 for it. It is decidedly opposed to the system, and so strong 
 in its statements that the South of to-day pronounce it an 
 abolition document, and reject it with scorn. The present 
 sentiment of the Presbyterian Church in the North, though 
 now as ever opposed to slaver^-, is not unanimously accord- 
 ant with the teachings of that document. The few among 
 the people of the North who have gone to the utmost verge 
 of opposition to the system — the ultra abolitionists, as they 
 are termed — are more than overbalanced, in number and in- 
 fluence, by those holding views more conservative or pro- 
 slavery, than the paper referred to ; while yet, nuw as then, 
 and then as now, and always, the general sentiment of the 
 North concerning the system, has been and is just what the 
 general sentiment of the South was, until within a compara- 
 tively few years, viz : — that slavery was an evil to both races, 
 political, social, moral, entire. The proof of this you will 
 not ask me to give. The world knows it by heart 
 
 "While, then, the North stands on this platform to-day, 
 while the evil of the system is the pole-star of her sentiment, 
 the South has completely boxed the compass ; and now, with 
 laer people, the essential goodness and divinity of the system 
 
 * See Appendix, Note D, 
 
22 FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 
 
 and tlie relation of master and slave as such, constitute the 
 corner-stone of their so-called government, an axiom in their 
 political economy, the doctrine taught in their schools, and 
 the theology preached in their pulpits. They are reeling 
 and staggering under the intoxication of the teachings by 
 which they have been but too willingly drugged — and lo ! 
 they look up and think the whole world but themselves is 
 turned upside down ! 
 
 Precisely analogous to the change which has taken place 
 in the Southern mind under the teaching of some of her 
 divines, respecting the merits of the sj^stem of slavery, is the 
 change which has occurred there, under the lead of certain 
 of her statesmen, touching the relations of the Federal Gov- 
 ernment and the Federal Constitution to that system. By 
 all the political fathers, slavery was regarded as an evil, and 
 destined, sooner or later, to come to an end. And although 
 the}' made no provision in the Federal Constitution for its 
 termination — it being regarded as a State institution, to be 
 regulated, perpetuated, or ended, by State authority — yet, 
 that Constitution was formed by men who with great una- 
 nimity held such a sentiment. You do not ask me to stop 
 to give you the proof of this here. Every one who reads 
 knows it to be true. The Vice President of the Southern 
 Confederacy admits it, in one of his elaborate harangues, 
 made since the Southern revolt commenced.^ Can it be 
 supposed, then, as a possible thing, that what has been 
 claimed for the Constitution as its original intent and mean- 
 ing, in these latter days, is well founded ? — ^that the Consti- 
 tution carries slavery wherever it goes, into all the Terri- 
 tories of the laud? One of the prime canons for the inter- 
 pretation of any written document, executed in good faith, 
 is, that it is to be construed according to the intended mean- 
 ing of its authors, if that meaning can be ascertained. Tried 
 by this rule, was the Constitution intended to grant what 
 the South now claim upon the point in question? They 
 liold to the principle of strict construction. Do they find 
 this doctrine there taught? Passing by the well known 
 sentiments of the fathers upon slavery, if we wished to show 
 
 * An exti'act from this speech is given in Appendix, Note B. 
 
FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 23 
 
 how those viewed tlie Constitution who made it— and who 
 should know wliat it was intended to grant, if not tliey ?— 
 and to show how their sons of eacli succeeding generation 
 have viewed it until within a very few years past, it would 
 only be necessary to note tiie fact, that thirteen several times 
 since the origin of the government, beginning with the ad- 
 ministration of General Washington and coming down to 
 that of Mr. Polk, has the Congress of the United States de- 
 liberately exercised the power, by positive enactment of law, 
 prohibiting, limiting, and circumscribing slavery, in some of 
 the Territories of the comraou government. ••= The South, 
 however, here as in regard to the merits of the system, have 
 revolutionized their opinions, since they have enthroned and 
 under the golden reign of the fibrous King; and now they 
 claim, as the v^ery letter and spirit of the supreme organic 
 law, that it carries their system wherever the Constitution 
 reaches, f 
 
 And just here, in a nut-shell, stripped of all the sophistry 
 of special pleading, is the germ of the rebellion. The South- 
 reu leaders have insisted for the last few years, prompted and 
 backed by the amazing profits of the great Southern staple, 
 that the Government, Legislative, Judicial and Executive, 
 should be administered according to their modern views, — 
 new, and entirely unsupported by the Constitution, — and 
 the}' have been wonderfully successful in carrying their 
 point; until now within a twelvemonth, when they tind a 
 spirit waked up in the land, determined to resist these mani- 
 fest aggressions, turn back the tide of sentiment which had 
 well nigh revolutionized the Government, and restore the 
 Constitution to its true intent and policy upon the platform 
 of the fathers, they deliberately determine to break up the 
 Government, even at the hazard of civil war! This is the 
 judgment which will enter into the records of history, and 
 this the verdict which will be universal with posterity. Was 
 
 ••■■Though there is a slight inaccuracy here — not at all, however, affecting the 
 argumoat^-I prefer to let the language stand just as preached. Tlie error con- 
 sists iu eoufuumling later with earlier action. The '• thirteen times " covers a 
 period beginning ))reviou3 to tlie adoption of tlie present Constitution. .V. 
 suificiently full exhibition of the facts may be found in the Appendix Note K. 
 
 t See Appendix, Note F. 
 
24 FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 
 
 there ever a more barefaced and gigantic iniquity enacted 
 under the light of the heavens ? 
 
 It is plain to see from this what the South is fighting for. 
 And now on the other hand, what is the I^orth fighting for? 
 It is told in a word. We are aiming to save the life oe the 
 !N"atio]S', so ruthlessly attacked. Ours is a defensive warfare. 
 We are seeking to maintain our honor, our glory, our good 
 name, even our existence, among the nations of the earth. 
 Did we not seriously attempt this — meeting their aggression 
 of war by force of arms — we should certainly receive, and 
 we should justly merit, the contempt of the world ; and I am 
 just as clear in the conviction that we should incur the dis- 
 pleasure of God ! 
 
 I have now indicated what I deem to be the causes under 
 the second branch of the subject — all culminating in one — 
 for the present rebellion. They are quite sufficient to bring 
 down upon us the sorest judgments of God, and in view of 
 them we should be bowed in the very dust of humiliation. 
 Let us in the next and last place, — 
 
 III. Look at the conduct of our Public Men, as exhibit- 
 ing crimes for which we as a K'ation suffer, and which 
 should cause shame and sorrow. 
 
 This' is, most certainly, a point of the general subject 
 which claims earnest attention ; and I honestly confess, that, 
 in the conduct it reveals in our public men, and the pleas 
 they make to justify it, it presents to my own mind, the most 
 profound matter for national humiliation and shame, before 
 earth and heaven, that this day of humiliation suggests. 
 
 The public men of a nation, civil and military, are its prop- 
 erty. Their greatness, and honor, and fame, belong to the 
 nation. They are a part of its own glory. Or their imbe- 
 cility, crimes, meanness and treachery, contribute to the 
 shame of the nation, to its dishonor and reproach among 
 mankind. These are but common and universally accepted 
 truths. Tried by them, what is our national humiliation to- 
 day, before all the earth! The time was when to be an 
 "American citizen " was a better passport among men, than 
 it once was to be a citizen of Rome ; and the American name 
 was far more dearlj'^ loved, if not feared, than was ever that 
 of Home. But for nearly a twelvemonth past, how has it 
 
I 
 
 FAST-DAT DISCOURSE. 25 
 
 been cast out across the Atlantic, witli sneers and contempt! 
 But it need not affect us so painfully that a revolution is 
 attempted, though even that were sufficient cause for shame, 
 considering our excellent form of government. Revolutions, 
 however, frequently occur in the world ; but that this rebel- 
 hon should have revealed such conduct in so many of our 
 public men, from the President of the United States down, 
 is matter for deep mortification and sorrow. It has no par- 
 allel, exhibiting such magnificent proportions, in the whole 
 history of the world, and is well nigh enough to make an 
 American ashamed of his country. The only redeeming fea- 
 ture of the case is, that the nation has now arisen like a i^iant 
 refreshed with sleep, and has determined to throw off her 
 lethargy, and to purge out this corruption by applying the 
 only remedy the disease admits. 
 
 Going back to last December, and what a picture did our 
 public men present! Petrified imbecility sat in the Presi- 
 dential chair. Standing around it was schooled and chronic 
 corruption in nearly every post in the Cabinet. The vene- 
 rable Secretary of State was an honored exception. But in 
 the Treasury, in the War, in the i!^avy, and in the Interior 
 Departments, were men eating the bread and wearing the 
 official robes of the Government, men who had taken a sol- 
 emn oath to support the Constitution, and yet men who for 
 years were using the knowledge, the facilities, the power, 
 which all the more unsuspectingly their official station gave 
 them, to undermine the Government, to overthrow the Con- 
 stitution, to organize against it an armed rebellion, and — as 
 may appear when all the documents shall come out, now in 
 the possession of the Executive authority — to seize upon 
 the capital itself, to prevent the induction of an administra- 
 tion constitutionally elected, and to inaugurate a Rebel 
 Government in its very stead and place ! Thanks, under 
 God, be to one man, that a part of this programme failed — 
 the Lieutenant General of the Army. 
 
 Now, can you find a counterpart to this conduct in public 
 men, in all your knowledge of history, considering the form 
 and character of our Government, and the blessings to the 
 people at large, which it secures? "Was there ever such 
 thieving, and robbery, and perjury, and treachery to trust and 
 
26 
 
 FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 
 
 station — such a fitting combination of malice and meanness — 
 in such a cluster of the rulers of any people ? coming, too, 
 from that section of the country which claims a monopoly of 
 all the honor and high-bearing and chivalry which the laud 
 contains? — a section where so soon and so extensively this 
 high example set them at the capital was so faithfully copied 
 by the rulers and the people of several of the States? — and 
 while, moreover, they had not even yet, and did not for 
 months afterwards, claim, at least before the public, that they 
 w^ere engaged in revolution, but were only enacting " se-ces- 
 sion," falling back upon their rights within the Constitution; 
 and that in seizing forts, arsenals, ships, mints, custom- 
 houses, and public money, they were only exercising a kind 
 and paternal care over the property and in behalf of the Fed- 
 eral Government, in its time of peculiar trial and need ! Oh ! 
 methinks there is in these familiar facts — so familiar and so 
 often repeated in the months which have followed that they 
 have lost their effect upon us — enough to call for ii forty days' 
 season of fasting and humiliation. These were public men. 
 This is the nation's dishonor and shame. 
 
 And then, a little later, when State after State enacted 
 their paper secession, how rapidly followed the defection of 
 our public men, in both branches of the ITational Legislature, 
 utterlj'^ repudiating the solemn oath to support the Federal 
 Constitution wdiich each member takes when entering upon 
 his public duties, and giving all the influence of their abilities 
 and station in aid of the rebellion. And what a mournful 
 spectacle was pi^'esented by the Army and ISTavy, wdien so 
 many men who had been distinguished in the service of the 
 country, could so readily turn false to their special oaths of 
 allegiance which the service requires, laying ofl' this allegiance 
 and swearing fealty to the powers in revolt, with the ease of 
 changing one garment for another ; and stopping not short 
 of taking up arms, as leaders of the rebel forces, against a 
 Government which had educated them, fed them, clothed 
 them, and given them all their honor and fame, and against 
 which not one of them could say he had any complaint ! 
 Such full-ripened fruits of criminality are not the growth of 
 a night. They are the results of a corruption whose fester- 
 ing loathsomeness has been long and deeply seated in the 
 
FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 2 I 
 
 body politic. AVhat the prophet said of individual man spir- 
 itually, we may apply to the nation at large both morally and 
 politically, when such men are its representatives; and it 
 shows how pressing is the need of national repentance, and a 
 " sacrifice of righteousness :" " The whole head is sick and 
 the whole heart faint; from the sole of the foot even unto 
 the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds, and bruises, 
 and putrifying sores ; the}' have not been closed, neither 
 bound up, neither mollified with ointment." 
 
 But a reason can be given for any course of action. "When 
 we search for the reasons by which these men justify their 
 defection, we find they are two — one of a public and the 
 other of a personal nature. The public one is, that State 
 allegiance is superior to ISTational, or that there is no other 
 than State allegiance; therefore, these acts are justifiable and 
 even demanded. Consequently, when my State secedes, it 
 is my duty to follow it. That is the argument — brief, but 
 potential. 
 
 There is a delectable sublimation of political philosophy 
 in this, up to the heights of which no poor foreigner has yet 
 been able to aspire. "When he comes from fatherland to 
 enjoy the blessings of our Republic, he takes an oath of alle- 
 giance to the Federal Government, and no other. He never 
 knows any other allegiance, in whatever part of the country 
 he chooses to live. No State in the Union administers such 
 an oath as a term of citizenship. It is a matter wliich 
 belongs wholly to the Federal Government. State allegiance, 
 to the ignoring of National, is a modern invention, to meet 
 the emergencies of disloyalty. The fathers knew nothing of 
 it. The peculiar benefits of this newly-discovered political 
 wisdom are reserved for those who are "to the manor born," 
 making a distinction among citizens unknown and repugnant 
 to the genius of our system of government, the special pro- 
 duct of this age, and making wliat would be treason in those 
 born elsewhere, a high public virtue in the native-born 
 citizen. Did absurdity ever reach a higher pitch ? 
 
 Among the most humiliating exhibitions to a looker-on, 
 connected with this question of allegiance, was to observe, as 
 it was my misfortune to do, one of the Senators from \'ir- 
 o-inia and another from Texas, stand in their places in the 
 
28 FAST-DAT DI6C0URSE. 
 
 Senate last winter, while holding their seats and under their 
 oaths as Senators, and make it their boast in the face of the 
 Senate that they owed no allegiance to any Government but 
 that of their respective States. And yet, they sat there day 
 after day, and deliberated and voted upon public measures, 
 aiding or defeating them by their votes, until the end of 
 the session. A Senator or a Eepresentative, renews his oath 
 to support the Constitution at the beginning of each new 
 term to each respectively. Senator Mason had probably 
 taken that oath on the floor of the Senate at least three or 
 four times successively. He had then either discovered and 
 adopted the doctrine of State allegiance recently, or his base- 
 ness must stand without a gage. But whether the discovery 
 was recent or remote, these men were at one and the same 
 moment acting under their oaths to support the Constitution 
 while using their official power to destroy the Government, 
 and making an open boast of their infamy and casting defi- 
 ance in the teeth of their peers in the highest legislative hall 
 of the nation. Such men, who can deliberately and shame- 
 lessly in this manner ofiicially trample upon their solemn 
 appeals to God — and in these things they are but represent- 
 ative men of a large class — are ready for any deeds of dark- 
 ness. Is there not cause for humiliation in the conduct of 
 our public men? Were ever such things heard of before? 
 Was ever such forbearance shown? Any other Government 
 than ours would have suspended those men between earth 
 and heaven, on the day of these utterances, before the sun 
 went down.* 
 
 * The obligations of allegiance, and the rights and immunities of the citizen 
 under that allegiance, have hitherto been sui3i30sed to be correlatives. But 
 Southern chivalry has changed all that. To show how Senator Mason regards 
 the rights of the citizen, even under his pet doctrine of State allegian.ce, we 
 need only give an extract from his letter to the people of Virginia, published 
 in the Winchester Virginian just before the election in that State on the question 
 of her secession, prompted by certain inquiries which had been put to him. 
 We give an entire paragraph: "If it be asked, wliat ai-e those to do who in 
 their consciences can not vote to separate Virginia from the United States? 
 the answer is simple and plain: honor and duty alike require that they should 
 not vote on the question; if tliey retain such opinions they must leave the 
 State." This is worthy of Austria. Talk about " honor," when uttering such 
 an opinion upon an election! Can any one believe that such a man has the 
 remotest conception of the sentiment of "honor," or the least regard for the 
 doctrine of "allegiance" whether State or National, or any manner of concern 
 for the rights of any body, when he can deliberately pen such a paragraph? 
 This is Virginia cliiyalry! 
 
FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 29 
 
 Such are the men who are leading on this rebellion. It is 
 under the influence of such a doctrine that it is prosecuted. 
 But it is no small consolation to us in helping on the i>resent 
 war, that this is one of the pestiferous heresies which will be 
 forever put to rest. 
 
 Beyond this public reason is a personal one which influ- 
 ences many to renounce their allegiance to the Federal Gov- 
 ernment, and follow their respective States out of the Union. 
 A particular State is the place of their birth. When it 
 secedes they must go with it, wherever they may be residing. 
 That is the argument. Or their relatives and friends are 
 there; and hence go their S3'mpathie3 with the cause, per- 
 haps their active aid, or they go in person. Or, one may say, 
 my wife was born there, and her relatives and friends are 
 there ; hence I must go. This is the personal argument. 
 
 This, in many cases, has sundered the bonds between 
 officers of the Army and Navy and the Federal Government, 
 has led them to repudiate their oaths and renounce their 
 allegiance. Is not this a slender excuse by which to justify 
 the crime of treason? — a narrow foundation on which to 
 rear the superstructure of a stupendous rebellion against any 
 government, and especially against such a government as 
 ours? And yet this plea has satisfied thousands. It has 
 been uttered in due form and published to the world. Be- 
 sides ofiicers of the government who have acted upon it, 
 ministers of the Gospel have given up their charges at the 
 l^orth, and have gone to the States of their nativity, which 
 have seceded ; or they have gone because their relatives were 
 there, or their wives came from there; thus giving, for such 
 reasons, their countenance to the treason and rebellion of 
 others, and enacting their own. Is not this, too, a cause for 
 deep humiliation ? 
 
 I am by no means oblivious to the power which ties of 
 kindred may justly exert to draw relatives and IViends 
 together in times of peril. ISTor would I for one moment 
 causelessly frown upon these better feelings of our nature, 
 though they should exhibit human weakness and sometimes 
 lead astray. But there is a great and fatal error here of a 
 moral bearing which needs correcting. I hear it upon the 
 lips of men and women frequently. It involves a radical 
 
30 FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 
 
 moral principle, whose workings are doing much damage in 
 social life, and to the public welfare. It is something like 
 this : It seems to be taken for granted, in this public issue 
 of loyalty with treason, that a Southern man, because he is 
 a Southern man, is much less culpable lor taking the Southern 
 side of this question, than a JSTorthern man would be; and 
 therefore, it is expected as natural, extenuated, justified, that 
 a native-born Southerner, living in the North, should give 
 up his business and his home — if a clergyman, that he should 
 resign his charge — and go and cast in his lot with tlie South, 
 with his relatives and friends; whereas, it would be a greater 
 moral wrong for a Northern man to take this course in aid 
 of the South, simply because his friends are not found there. 
 Hence, too, we find deeper censure cast upon Northern men 
 who were residing at the South when this issue was joined, 
 and who have given in their adhesion to the Southern Gov- 
 ernment, than are cast upon men born there. " Shame on 
 them" says one, "that they should abet treason, for they 
 were born on Northern soil, and their friends are here." 
 And thus, the whole question of moral principle and moral 
 obligation, involved in this momentous issue, is made to turn, 
 either North or South, as the case may be, upon the mere 
 incidents of birth and relationship. Now, if these are your 
 views, you must revise them, or you do a damage to yourself 
 by indulging them, a damage to truth, to moral principle, 
 and to the public weal. The question here involved is simply 
 one of right and wrong. God has not constituted these 
 family relationships so as to allow us to make the afiection 
 and sympathy which these ties beget the test of duty in such 
 a great issue as this, nor indeed the test of duty in any thing 
 else, morally considered. I have no right, nor am I under 
 any obligation, (though some persons seem strangely to sup- 
 pose they are,) with the law and gospel of God before me, 
 to follow my State to perdition if she chooses to go there, 
 simply because I was born within her jurisdiction, nor to 
 follow her out of the Union for such a reason. Nor have I 
 any right, nor am I under any obligation, to follow my father 
 or mother, brother or sister, wife or child, in any course 
 involving right and wrong, simply because they are united 
 to me by the ties of blood. On this principle, why are they 
 
FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 31 
 
 not under quite as much obligation to come with me, as I 
 am to go with them? Perhaps their worklly interests, tlieir 
 business relations, or something of the kind, will not adnrit 
 of it. Is, then, this the principle on whieh we shiiU solve a 
 great question of public duty ? Must it turn iq.on a mere 
 matter of personal conveniene'e ? 
 
 We may rest assured that God has nuide family ties for 
 another purpose, and not to confuse the judgment and blind 
 the conscience on questions of moral obligation. This whole 
 matter of public duty is to be decided upon its own intrinsic 
 merits, according to the principles involved in the case, and 
 without regard to where a nuin was born, or where lie lives, 
 or whether he has a relative on earth. It is the duty of 
 man as a citizen, as a member of the body politic, that is here 
 concerned, and nothing more. lie who does not acknowl- 
 edge this has not learned the moral alphabet. 
 
 I can respect a man who differs from me, even radically, 
 on a question which he claims to have examined and judged 
 upon its merits, for I possess no infallibility. I can rcs[iect 
 a Northern rnvm just as fully as I can a Southern man, who 
 may not agree with me upon the present issue of loyalty and 
 treason — though he might name it ditlerentl}- — viewing, as 
 I suppose he may, the whole case from his own peculiar 
 stand point; though I must confess that with regard to both 
 of them the case in my judgment is too plain to admit of but 
 one opinion. But I can have very little respect for public 
 men who suspend the question of their duty to the Govern- 
 ment, and make the issue of loyalty and treason turn upon 
 lines of latitude or family relationshi[)S. And I have felt 
 especially ashamed of my brethren of the ministerial profes- 
 sion, when I have seen so many of them give up their 
 charges at the North and turn their speedy feet to the South, 
 and publish to the world the reason, substantially, that they 
 were born in Virginia, or Georgia, or Carolina, and they 
 must follow their State; or that their relatives are there, 
 their sympathies are with them, and they must go where 
 they lead ! 
 
 If these men are children, or imbeciles— in their ininority 
 and irresponsible— and if they liave wandered too far from 
 home, and are overtaken in an unwary moment by an 
 
32 FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 
 
 unexpected storm, let them hie to their homes again, go back 
 to their guardians and to the arms of their mothers and 
 nurses for protection, and we will pray for their safe arrival 
 and that they may never wander more. But if they have 
 come to man's estate — if they have a commission from God 
 to stand in the pulpit and teach the p'eople — then for the 
 credit of the ministry, for the honor of human nature, let 
 them not in a time of civil war, for reasons which ought to 
 shame boys of fifteen years of age, turn their backs upon 
 their country and join the standard of a bloody rebellion, 
 and meekly publish such reasons from their pulpits and give 
 them to the world. If ever devils laugh in hell, it is over 
 such a spectacle as this ! Have we not, in the conduct of 
 public men, causes for national humiliation? 
 
 It is, indeed, upon the clergy of the South that a very 
 large share of the responsibility rests for the inauguration 
 of the revolution there in progress. I speak by the record, 
 and prove it from their own lips and pens. Would that 
 there were time to give you the evidence in detail, but there 
 is not. They claim for themselves the credit. It is freely 
 accorded to them by Southern statesmen. They were the 
 first to change their opinions and to proclaim the divinity of 
 slavery ; the State has but followed in their wake. * They 
 took the lead in many instances, and in others early rallied 
 around the politicians of the South, in this rebellion ; and 
 on every hand it is claimed and conceded, that, without the 
 influence of the clergy, leading on the church, they could not 
 have succeeded in arousing the masses of the people, f If 
 the clergy had even stood aloof from the movement — if not 
 able to muster moral courage to oppose it — we might have 
 had for them some charity. But they threw themselves into 
 the van — and they glory in it. Dr. Palmer, one of the most 
 eloquent divines of the age, preached his famous secession 
 sermon in New-Orleans on the 29th of November, nearly 
 one full mouth before South Carolina seceded, and while as 
 yet the current of public opinion in the Crescent City was 
 against secession, as evidenced in Conventions there held 
 afterwards, and yet he mounted the very crest of the com- 
 
 * Sec Appendix, Note G. f See Appendix, Note H. 
 
FAST- DAY DISCOURSE. 33 
 
 ing wave and became there the King of the storm. Dr. 
 Thornwell wrote in Decemhor his elaborate defence of seces- 
 sion, and pnblished it in January in the Southern Presby- 
 terian Qnarterly Ixeview. This was regarded by i)olitician8 
 as by far the ablest paper ever written on tlie subject; and 
 edition after edition was printed, as also of Dr. Palmer's 
 sermon, and sown broadcast through the South. =i= 
 
 What class of men, then, are the most guilty to-day for 
 this wicked rebellion? Among divines I name such men as 
 these. One holds the pen of a ready writer and w iclds the 
 sabre of a keen dialectitian. The, other, for the ehxpience 
 of impassioned declamation, has few equals in Church or 
 State. I name also the Right Reverend Bishop Polk, now 
 a Major General in the Southern army. Such men have a 
 different sphere of o[>eration from that of the i)olitical dema- 
 gogue among the i-abble whirh make u[> the sta[)le of mobs. 
 They sway by their talents, their soeial allinities, their moral 
 character, tbeir ecclesiastical position, and their general in- 
 fluence, the best and the most influential part of the com- 
 munity. They have waved their magic wand and twined 
 these leading multitudes into the bloody path of rebellion. 
 
 On the same principle, who of all the statesmen of the 
 Soutb bears ofl' the palm of guilt for ensnaring large num- 
 bers of the best citizens in the meshes of treason ? It is not 
 your hot-blooded Keitt, and your blustering Toombs, and 
 your cool and calculating Davis, though the latter has 
 always been a plotter of disunion. It is Alexander 11. 
 Stephens. jS^or let this provoke a smile. The foremost 
 statesman of the South for ability, and purity of private and 
 public life; up to a late period when his State was in her 
 tribulation, and while sitting in her Convention, a Union 
 man still; opposing with unanswerable logic before the 
 Georgia Legislature, last November, her secession, attribut- 
 ing her prosperity to the Union, and denying that there was 
 any cause for lier leaving it; and yet, Anally falling in with 
 the tide and becoming tlie most vigorous of the oarsmen. 
 These are the reasons why he occupies the unenviable posi- 
 tion I have named. When finding the torrent irresistible, 
 he could, with becoming grace and as an honest man, have 
 
 * Extracts from botti, Ai)pciulix A. and C. 
 
 3 
 
34 FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 
 
 bowed before the storm and retired to private life. But the 
 ghtter of office and power had too strong attractions even 
 for him, and hence he soon turns up the second in position in 
 their Government but the first in eminent ability, to become 
 the leading orator for secession, to battle against his own 
 former impregnable arguments, and to driig the better classes 
 in the trail of his treason. 
 
 These are the men, if any in the land, who for their obliv- 
 iousness to their moral obligations in this highest crime 
 known against the State, and for their al)ility and success in 
 plotting its overthrow, first of any richly deserve the halter. 
 Is there not abundant cause for humiliation on account of 
 the defection of our public men ? 
 
 And is there not in the causeless inception and peculiar 
 character as illustrated in tlie entire history and progress of 
 this Southern movement, enough to stimulate the loyal to 
 put down and punish such iniquity for the sake of this and 
 coming generations? — quite enough, as put into the li[>s 
 of one of ancient times, when he would avenge his own 
 " wrongs," 
 
 " To stir a fever in the blood of age, 
 And make the infant's sinews strong as steel?" 
 
 There have been two men in our history holding the 
 second office w/ithin the gift of the people, wlio have been 
 regarded as guilty of the crime of treason. One was Vice 
 President under Jefferson, and has long since passed from 
 the stage. The other is the grandson of the Attorney Gen- 
 eral in Jefferson's Cabinet, of an honored ancestry, of highly 
 honorable and distinguished family connections now living, 
 in the persons of several of the ablest divines in our own 
 church, and himself now holding a seat in the Senate of the 
 United States. Behold him to-day ! under the lashings of a 
 guilty conscience, fleeing like a thief in the night, from his 
 home in his native State, our nearest Southern sister, that 
 he may escape the vengeance of the law, and heading an 
 armed band of marauders to make war upon his own people 
 who have three several times by overwhelming majorities 
 voted against secession, and to make war upon that Govern- 
 ment which has lavished upon him its distinguished honors ! 
 His name will hereafter be linked with that of Burr, while 
 that of Arnold will be forgotten in the comparison. Oh ! is 
 
FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 35 
 
 there not in tlioi^e davp. in tlie eondnct of onr pnl)lic men, 
 canse for deep Immiliation I And can wo tind anvtliing, by 
 the most diHgent search, on this iliiy of prayer for our coun- 
 try, whicli is a more profonml cause for pubUc, national Ini- 
 mihation, shame, and sorrow, to ourselves as n peoi)k', and 
 in the eyes of all the world? 
 
 Be assured, I have not drawn these pictures of public men 
 in Church and State — dimly though they have been painted 
 compared with the liviil hues of the originals — from the 
 love of an amateur artist. 1 deeply mourn that these things 
 are true. But I have attempted to discharge a patriotic duty, 
 ^[y love of country is the prompting motive. We iiave too 
 much at stake in this contest — the Church as well as the 
 State — to stand upon any sfpieamishness of feeling or minc- 
 ing of speech with regard to men. If any of you who hear 
 me do not sympathize with these sentiments, all 1 have to say 
 is, that you do not approach the remotest confines of com- 
 prehending the terrible turpitude of the crime wrapped up 
 in the sim[)le phrase — treason and armed rebellion of/ainsf t/ic 
 Gocernment of the United States. I have as dear friends in 
 the South as any man. I know them and I know their 
 country well. If I am charged with impaling them here, I 
 may answ^er with the ancient Koman — It is not because I 
 love Csesar less, but Rome more. 
 
 And now, what is our duty? It is to stand liy otir Gov- 
 ernment in this contest for its life. Fond mothers must give 
 their sons — doting wives their husbands — loving sisters their 
 brothers — and not hold them back when their country calls 
 at such a time as this, but bid them haste to the battle-field, 
 to the field of glory and of death if need be, to save onr 
 country from death in a grave dug by treason's liand. Fol- 
 low them there with your sympathies and your prayers, and 
 sustain them in the fight, and look beyond them, even to 
 God, for victory to their arms. And thus in the ottering you 
 make for your country, you shall fulfill the demands of our 
 text: "Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and juit your 
 trust in the Lord." 
 
 And do you ask with the Psalmist of old, " Oh ! Lord, how 
 long?" For how nnmy months or years must I ofier up 
 this daily sacrifice upon the altar of my country ? The 
 
36 FAST-DAY DISCOURSE. 
 
 answer is, until the strife shall be ended and the country saved. 
 Better is it that the contest should continue for years, if need 
 be, if in the end treason may effectually be put down, and the 
 causes which have brought it on forever cured. If they are 
 not, we shall have chronic war, breaking out into violence 
 every few years, and our children and our children's children 
 will be ashamed of our memory. But if we do our duty, 
 they will rise up and call us blessed. If we do our duty — 
 if the loyal men and women of this land perform their duties 
 faithfully^ and I believe they will — then, and you may mark 
 my word for it, six months from this day of prayer will not 
 pass, before the Federal armies will have possession of every 
 important city, town and post, in the South, before that iden- 
 tical old " banner of beauty and of glory," shot down by 
 rebel guns from the flagstaff of Sumter, shall again wave 
 over its walls, and the stars and stripes be again unfurled 
 over every fortress, and arsenal, and custom-house, in every 
 Southern port. And as the gallant commander of the depart- 
 ment of the West, shall approach the Mexican Gulf, and 
 knock at the gates of the Crescent City, he will have no 
 such contest for admission as Jackson had to save it, when 
 he disputed the approach of Pakenham upon the plains of 
 Chalmette, but the people will welcome the Pathfinder as 
 their Deliverer, and like " the iron gate that led into the 
 city" of Jerusalem when the Apostle Peter w^as escaping 
 from prison, the gates of IsTew Orleans will " open to him of 
 their own accord." 
 
 But what if the strife shall continue longer ? We are con- 
 tending for liberty, for country, for posterity, for mankind, 
 and if God in his providence so direct we will labor longer, and 
 yield a cheerful submission to his will. We will adopt as our 
 motto the beautiful sentiment of Whittier, the Quaker poet : 
 
 If, for the age to come, this hour 
 Of trial hath vicarious power, 
 And blest by Thee, our present pain 
 Be Liberty's eternal gain. 
 
 Thy will be done ! 
 Strike Thou, the Master, we Thy keys. 
 The anthem of the destinies ! 
 The minor of Thy loftier strain : 
 Our hearts shall breatlie the old refrain, 
 
 Thy will be done 1 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Note A. — Page 19. 
 
 The following extracts are IVom Dr. Pulmer's discourse: "In detprininiri): 
 our duty in this emergency, it is necessary that we sliould first ascertain the 
 nature of the trust providentially connnittod to us. * * * If, then, (he Soulli 
 is such a people, what, at this juncture, is llieir providential trust? I answer, 
 that it is io conserve and pcrjjetuate the institution of dotnenlic slaver;/ as now exist- 
 ing. * * Without, therefore, determining the question of duty for future 
 generations, I simply say, that for us, as now situated, the duty is plain, of 
 conserving and transmitting the system of slavery, with the freest scope fur its 
 natural development and extension. *• * * No man has thoughtfully watched 
 the progress of this controversy without being convinced tliat the crisis niu.xi 
 at length come. * * * The embarrassment has been, wliilo dodging amidst 
 constitutional forms, to make an issue that should be dear, sinijde, and tangi- 
 ble. Such an issue is at length presented in the result of the recent Presiden- 
 tial election. * * * For myself, I say, that under the rule wliich threatens 
 us, / throw off the yoke of this Union as readily as did our ancestors the yoke 
 of King George III, and for causes immeasurably stronger than (hose pleadeil 
 in their celebrated Declaration. * * * The decree has gone forth that the 
 institution of Southern slavery shall be constrained within assigned limits 
 Though nature and Providence should send forth its branches like the Banyan 
 tree, to take root in congenial soil, here is a power superior to both, that say^ 
 it shall wither and die within its own charmed circle. What say you to this, 
 to whom this great providential trust of conserving slavery is assigned? * * * 
 It is this that makes the crisis. Whether we will or not, this is the historic mo- 
 ment when the fate of this institution hangs suspended in the balance. * • " 
 As it appears to me, the course to be pursued in this emergency, is that which 
 has already been inaugurated. Let the people in all the Southern Stales, iu 
 solemn council assembled, reclaim the powers they have delegated. * * Let them 
 pledge each other in sacred covenant to uphold and perpetuate what they can- 
 not resign without dishonor and palpable ruin. Let tiieni furtlier take all the 
 necessary steps looking to separate and independent existence, and initiate meas- 
 ures for forming a nctv and homogeneous Confederacy. Thus prepared for every 
 
 contingencj', let the crisis come.'' "It establi^lies tiie nature and solemnity 
 
 of our present trust, to preserve and transmit our existing system of domestic 
 servitude, with the right, unchanged by man, to go and rout itself wherever 
 Providence and nature may carry it. This trust we will discharge in the face 
 of the worst possible peril. Though war be the aggregation of all evils, yei 
 should the madness of the hour appeal to the arbitration of tiie sword, we will 
 not shrink even from the baptism of fire. " 
 
38 APPENDIX. 
 
 Thus the eloquent declaimer furnishes the proof of the position 1 have taken, 
 and urges disunion at the hazard of civil war nearly one full montli before the 
 "secession" of his own native South Carolina — for the purpose of '■ conserving 
 and transmitting the system of slavery with the freest scope for its natural 
 development and ejctension." 
 
 Note B.— Page 19. 
 
 The Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the "Confederate 
 States," in a speech at Savannah, March 21, ISiil, as reported for the Savannah 
 Republican, uses the following language: 
 
 "The new Constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions 
 relating to our peculiar institutions — African Slavery as it exists amongst us — 
 the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This Avas the im- 
 mediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferso.v, in his 
 forecast, had anticipated this, as the ^rock upon which the old Union would split.' 
 He was right. What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact. But 
 whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood 
 and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained hy him and most of 
 the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old Constitution, were that 
 the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laivs of nature; that it icas 
 wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an evil they knew 
 not well how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that day, was 
 that some how or other, in the order of Providence, the institution would be 
 evanescent and pass away. This idea, though not incorporated in the Consti- 
 tution, WAS THE PREVAILING IDEA AT THE TIME. The Constitution, it is true, 
 secured every essential guaranty to the institution while it should last, and 
 hence no argument can be justly used against the Constitutional guarantees 
 thus secured, because of the common sentiment of the day. These ideas, hotv- 
 ever, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality 
 of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the idea of a 
 Oovernment built upon it, Avhen 'storm came and wind blew, it fell.' Our 
 new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations 
 are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal 
 to the white man; that Slavery^subordination to the superior race — is his 
 natural and moral condition. This, our new Government, is the first, in the 
 historj' of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical and nioi-al 
 truth." 
 
 Note C— Page 20. 
 
 The following are extracts from Dr. Thornwell's celebrated article on the 
 '• State of the Country," in defence of secession, as published in the Southern 
 Presbyterian Review, (a quartei'ly,) in January, 1861, showing that the cause of 
 the rebellion, was the apprehension of "something" to result to the institu- 
 tion of slavery from the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency. Speaking 
 of the action of the South Carolina Convention, he says: "The presumption 
 clearly is, that there is something in the attitude of the Government M'hicli 
 PORTENDS danger aud demands resistance. There must be a cause for this 
 
api'i:ni>ix. 39 
 
 iutense ami pervading sense of injustice and iujurv. ' ^ The real cause of 
 the intense excitement of tlie South, is not vain dreams of natidual glory in a 
 separate Confederacy, nor the love of the filtliy lucre of the African slave 
 ti-ade; it is the profound conviction that tiie Constitution, in id relnduiis to 
 slavery^ has been virtually repealed; that the Government has assumed a new 
 and dangerous attitude upon the suliject; that we have, in short, new terms of 
 union submitted to our acceptance or rejection. Here lies the evil. The elec- 
 tion of Lincoln, when properly interpreted, is noihinj; moie nor less than a 
 proposition to the South to consent to a Government, fundamentally ditt'ereni 
 upon the question of slavery, from that which our fathers established. If this 
 point can be made out, secession becomes not only a riyhl but a bonndrn duly. ' * 
 If, therefore, the South -is not prepared to see her institutions surrounded by 
 euemicSj and wither and decay under these hostile inHuences, if she means to 
 cherish and protect them, it is her bouiideii dul}' to resist the revolution which 
 threatens them with ruin. The triumph of the principles which .Mr. Lincoln 
 is pledged to carry out, is the death-knell of slavery. * * The principle is at 
 work and enthroned in power, whose inevitable tendency is to secure this 
 I'esult. Let us crush the serpent in the egg. * * Under these circumstances, 
 we do not see how any man can (luestion either the rijhdousness or the necessity 
 of secession.^' 
 
 As further proof of the cause assignetl being founded in ilie aim'Rkiikxsiox 
 referred to, take the following from Dr. Palmers elaborate paj)er entitled " .V 
 Vindication of Secession and the South.' published in liie South-rn Prexhytrrinn 
 Review, (a quarterly.) in April last, in reply to an article in tlie Danville lie- 
 view by Dr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky: 
 
 "It betrays a want of statesmanship to overlook the real cnnxes of a great 
 popular movement, and to base a political remedy upon motives which are 
 purely fanciful. Why will not Ivcntucky and the world believe the constant 
 averment of the seceding South, that she has acted under the conviction of an 
 amazing peril, and from a sense of compelling justice? Through nearly a half 
 a century a party has been struggling for political rule, in sworn hostility to 
 that institution upon which the life and being of tiie South depend. It has 
 grown through all opposition, until it has imbued the public mind of the North 
 with a kindred, though somewhat restrained, abhorrence of slavery. It has 
 laid hold upon all parties as instruments of its will; and now at length, subor- 
 dinating the Republicans as its pliant tool, it h.as throned itself upon tiie chair 
 of State, and si^caks with the authority of law. We nceil not go through all 
 the details of a long and too familiar story, and recite tiie utterances and 
 disclose the platforms of the dominant party now represented in the occu- 
 pancy of the White House. What was the South to do? Submission at this 
 stao-e would have been submission forever; and since this was impossible 
 without the surrender of all that a people can hold dear— liberty, honor, and 
 safety — she simply, and, as we think, with great tlignity, withdrew from the 
 disgraceful and destructive association. Yet, while struggling thus for life 
 itself, she is stigmatized by such a man as Dr. IJreckinridge, with a base lust 
 of power, or peevishly resenting the loss of a political control which she can 
 not hope i» recover." 
 
40 APPENDIX. 
 
 Note D. — Page 21. 
 
 The following is the paper of the General Assembly referred to: 
 ? 42. Aciion of the Asscmhly of 1818. 
 
 (a) "The following resolution was submitted to the General Assembly, viz: 
 " Resolved, That a person who shall sell as a slave, a member of the Church, 
 
 who shall be at the time in good standing in the Church and unwilling to be 
 sold, acts inconsistently with the spirit of Christianity, and ought to be 
 debarred from the communion of the Church. 
 
 "After considerable discussion, the subject was committed to Dr. Green, Dr. 
 Baxter, and Mr. Burgess, to prepare a report to be adopted by the Assembly, 
 embracing the object of the above resolution, and also expressing the opinion 
 of the Assembly in general, as to slavery." — 3Imufes, 1818, p. 688. 
 [The report of the committee was unanimously adopted, and is as follows,viz.J 
 " The General Assembly of the Presbyteria)i Church, having taken into con- 
 sideration the subject of slavery, think proper to make known their sentiments 
 upon it to the Churches and people under their care. 
 
 (b) " AVe consider the voluntary enslaving of one portion of the human race 
 by another, as a gross violation of the most precious and sacred rights of human 
 nature; as utterly inconsistent with the law of God, which requires us to love 
 our neighbor as ourselves, and as totally irreconcilable Avith the spirit and 
 principles of the gospel of Christ, which enjoins that 'all things whatsoever 
 ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.' Slavery creates 
 a paradox in the moral system; it exhibits rational, accountable, and immor- 
 tal beings in such circumstances as scarcely to leave them the power of moral 
 action. It exhibits them as dependent on the will of others, whether they 
 shall receive religious instruction; whether they shall know and worship the 
 true God; whether they shall enjoy the ordinances of the gospel; whether 
 they shall perform the duties and cherish the endearments of husbands and 
 wives, parents and children, neighbors and friends; whether they shall pre- 
 serve their chastity and purity, or regard the dictates of justice and humanity. 
 Such are some of the consequences of slavery — consequences not imaginary, 
 but which connect themselves with its very existence. The evils to Avhich the 
 slave is always exposed often take place in fact, and in their very worst degree 
 and form; and where all of them do not take place, as we rejoice to say in 
 many instances, through the influence of the principles of humanity and reli- 
 gion on the mind of masters, they do not — still the slave is deprived of his 
 natural right, degraded as a human being, and exposed to the danger of pass- 
 ing into the hands of a master who may inflict upon him all the hardships 
 and injuries which inhumanity and avarice may suggest. 
 
 "From this view of the consequences resulting from the practice into which 
 (.'hristian people have most inconsistently fallen, of enslaving a portion of 
 their brethren of mankind — for 'God hath made of one blood all nations of 
 men to dwell on the face of the earth' — it is manifestly the duty of all Chris- 
 tians who enjoy the light of the present day, when the inconsistency of slav- 
 ei"y, both with the dictates of humanity and religion, has been demonstrated, 
 and is generally seen and acknowledged, to use their honest, earnest, and 
 tinwearied endeavors, to correct the errors of former times, and as speedily as 
 possible to eff'ace this blot on our holy religion, and to obtain the complete 
 
APPENDIX. 41 
 
 abolition of slavery throughout rhii8teiKl.ini. und if po^sililo tlimutrhout (ho 
 world. 
 
 (c) " Wc rejoice that the Chinch to whidi we bcloMK conimcnced as eiirly iiH 
 any other in this country, the good work of cndeiivoring to put iin end to «liiv- 
 ery, and that in the same work many of its nienihera have ever Hince been, 
 and now are, among tlie most active, vigorous and eflicieni laborers. We do. 
 indeed, tendeily sympatliize with those portions of our Clnirch and our country 
 where the evil of slavery has been entailed upon them; where a great, an<l 
 the most virtuous part of the community abhor slavery, and wish its exter- 
 mination as sincerely as any others — but where the number of slavcB, their 
 ignorance, and their vicious habits generally, render an immediate and uni- 
 versal emancipation inconsistent alike with the safety and happiness of the 
 master and the slave. With those who arc tlius circumstanced, wc repeat that 
 we tenderly sympathize. At the same time, we earnestly exiiort them to con- 
 tinue, and if possible, to increase their exertions to effect a total abolition of 
 slavery. Wc exhort tliem to suffer no greater <lelay to take place in tliis most 
 interesting concern, than a regard for tlie public welfare truly and indispens- 
 ably demands. 
 
 (d) "As our counti-y has inflicted a most grievous injury upon the unhappy 
 Africans, by bringing them into slavery', we cannot indeed urge that wo should 
 add a second injury to the first, by emancipating them in such manner as that 
 they will be likely to destroy themselves or others. But we do think that our 
 country ought to be governed in this matter by no other consideration than an 
 honest and impartial regard to the happiness of the injured party, uninfluenced 
 by the expense or inconvenience which such a regard may involve. We, there- 
 fore, warn all who belong to our denomination of Thristians, against unduly 
 extending this plea of necessity; against making it a cover for tlie love and 
 practice of slavery, or a pretence for not using efforts that are lawful and 
 practicable, to extinguish this evil. 
 
 " And we, at the same time, exhort others to forbear harsh censures, and un- 
 charitable reflections on their brethren, who unhappily live among slaves 
 whom they cannot immediately set free; but who, at the same time, are really 
 using all their influence, and all their endeavors, to bring them into a slate of 
 freedom, as soon as a door for it can be safely opened. 
 
 "Having thus expressed our views of slavery, and of the duty indispensably 
 incumbent on all Christians to labor for its complete extinction, we proceed to 
 recommend, and we do it with all the earnestness and solemnity which this 
 momentous subject demands, a particular attention to the following points. 
 
 (e) "We recommend to all our people to patronize and encourage the Society 
 lately formed, for colonizing in Africa, the land of their ancestors, the free 
 people of color in our country. We hope that much good may result from 
 the plans and efforts of this Society. And while we exceedingly rejoice to 
 have witnessed its origin and organization among the holders of slaves, as 
 giving an unequivocal pledge of their desires to deliver themselves and their 
 country from the calamity of slavery; we hope that those portions of the 
 American union, whose inhabitaTits are by a gracious providence more favor- 
 ably circumstanced, will cordially, and liberally, and earnestly co-openile 
 with their brethren, in bringing about the great end contemplated. 
 
 (/) "We recommend to all the members of our religious deiumiination, not 
 only to permit, but to facilitate and encourage the instruction of their slaves 
 
42 APPENDIX. 
 
 in tlie principles and duties of tlie Christian religion; by granting them lib- 
 erty to attend on the preaching of tlie gosjiel, when they have opportunity ; by 
 favoring the instruction of them in the Sabbath-school, wherever those schools 
 can be formed; and by giving them all other proper advantages for acquiring 
 the knowledge of their duty both to God and to man. We are perfectly satis- 
 lied that it is incumbeut on all Christians to communicate religious instruction 
 to those who are under their authority, so that the doing of this in the case 
 before us, so far from operating, as some have apprehended that it might, as 
 an incitement to insubordination and insurrection, would, on the contrary, 
 operate as a most powerful means for the prevention of those evils. 
 
 [g) "We enjoin it on all Church Sessions and Presbyteries, under the care 
 of this Assembly, to discountenance, and as far as possible to prevent all 
 cruelty of whatever kind in the ticatmeut of slaves; especially the cruelty of 
 separating husband and wife, parents and children, and- that which consists in 
 selling slaves to those who will either themselves deprive these unhappy people 
 of the blessings of the gospel, or who will transport them to places where the 
 gospel is not proclaimed, or where it is forbidden to slaves to attend upon its 
 institutions. And if it shall ever happen that a Christian professor in our com- 
 munion shall sell a slave who is also in communion and good standing with 
 our Church, contrary to his or her will and inclination, it ought immediately to 
 claim the particular attention of the proper Church judicature; and uniess 
 there be such peculiar circumstances attending the case as can but seldom 
 happen, it ought to be followed, without delay, by qj^ suspension of the oifender 
 from all the privileges of the Church, till he repent, and make all the reparation 
 in his power to the injured party." — 3Iinutes, 1818, p. 692. 
 
 Note E.— Page 23 
 
 The action of the "powers that be," (and that jvere,) under one form or 
 another, has been very explicit in all times of our history, showing how the 
 "political fathers" regarded slavery in connection with our Government, how 
 they "resolved" about it in Conventions and in the Continental Congress, and 
 how they repeatedly legislated upon it respecting the Territories ; and some of 
 these various acts date back earlier than the adoption of the present Constitu- 
 tion, earlier, therefore, than is intimated in the body of the Discourse, ( " since 
 the origin of the Government, beginning with the administration of General 
 Washington, and coming down to that of Mr Polk, " ) and they bring out the 
 following results : 1. That to prevent the further introduction of African 
 slaves, to prohibit the further extension of the system of slavery, and even to 
 secure its final abolition, were prominent objects of the Revolution which estab- 
 lished our national independence. 2. That all the leading men of that day, 
 with very rare exceptions, agreed in these views and objects. 3. That, includ- 
 ing the action of the Continental Congress under the old Confederation, and the 
 Congress of the United States under the present Constitution, there has been 
 direct legislation at least thirteen times, prohibitory of Slavery in the Territo- 
 ries. 4. That this legislation comes down to as late a period as the adminis- 
 tration of James K. Polk, a Southern President, who signed the bill organizing 
 the Territory of Oregon, prohibiting Slavery north of 3G : 30 degrees North lati- 
 tude. 5. That, therefore, the doctrine that the Constitution carries Slavery 
 
APPENDIX. 43 
 
 luto the Territories of its own iulierc-iii R.rce, is u luoileni uolioii,- very moJcrii,— 
 never dreanictl of by the men who niaile it. 
 
 The proof of tiicse points in deiail, w..tiM be tclioii-. The following hislori- 
 c:il data may suffice. 
 
 1. The proof of the first point is explicit. The •• Amoricnn Archives" were 
 published by order of Congress, and iire anthoritulive. In regard to tlie people 
 of Virginia, it is said, in the fonrth vidnme : 
 
 " At a meeting of freeholders and oilier inhiibilnnts of the county (d" Culpep- 
 per, in Virginia, assendiled at the Court House of said county, on Thursday the 
 7th of July, 1774, to consider the most efferlive method to {jresirve the riyhts and 
 liberties of America. Resolved, That the imjiortini/ slaves and convict servants is 
 injurious to this colony, as it obstructs the population of it with /reemen and iinr/ul 
 manujdctorii's ; and that we will nut buy any such slave or convict servant hena/trr 
 to he imported." 
 
 Resolutions to the same eft'cct were passeil in many other counties in Virginia, 
 and other Southern provinces. The State Convention met in Williiimsburgh 
 ou the 1st of August 1774, and passed the following : " Resolved, That we will 
 neither ourselves iniport, nor purchase any slave or slaves imported by any 
 other person, after the first day of November next, either from .Vfrica, the 
 West Indies, or any other place." Mr Jefferson sent to the State Convention a 
 letter containing the following : 
 
 "For the most trifling reasons, and sometimes for no conceivable reason at 
 all, his Majesty has rejected laws of the most salutary tendency. The alxdi- 
 tion of domestic slavery is the greatest object of desire in these colonies, where 
 it was unhappily introduced in their infant slate. But previous to the et\fran- 
 chiscincnt of the slaves we have, it is necessary to exclude all further importations 
 from Africa. Yet our repeated attempts to effect this by prohibitions, and by 
 imposing duties which might amount to prohibition, have l)een hitherto defea- 
 ted by his Majesty's negative. Thus preferring the immediate advantages of a 
 few African Corsairs to the lasting interests of the American States, and lo the 
 rights of human nature deeply wounded by this infamous master." 
 
 The Convention of North Cauolixa met at Newbern on the '27th of .\ugusl 
 1774, and passed the following : ^^ Resolved, That we will not imjiort any slave 
 or slaves, or purchase any slave or slaves imported, or brought into the Provin- 
 ces by others from any part of the world, after the first day of November next.'' 
 
 Other Colonial Conventions took similar action. The delegates from the 
 various colonies met in Congress, at Philadelphia, Sept. T), 1774. They formed 
 a union of the Colonies, under what was termed, "Articles of .\ssociation." 
 They adopted these Articles unanimously. They state as follows : 
 
 "We do for ourselves and the inhabitants of the several Colonies whom we 
 represent, firmly agree and asssociate under the sacred ties of virtue, honor 
 and love our country, as follows : "That we will neither import nor purchase, 
 any slave imported after the first day of December next, after which lime we will 
 wholly discontinue the slave trade, and will neither be concerned in it ourselves, 
 nor will we hire our vessels, nor sell our commodities and manufactures to 
 those who are concerned in it. 
 
 "That a Committee be chosen in every county, city, and town, by those 
 who are qualified to vote for Representatives in the Legislature, whose busi- 
 ness it shall be to attentively observe the conduct of all persons touching tliis 
 Association; and whenever it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of a 
 
44 APPENDIX. 
 
 majovity of any such Committee, that any person within the limits of their 
 appointment has violated this Association, that such majority do forthwith 
 cause the truth of the case to be published in the Gazette, to the end that all 
 such foes to the rights of British America ma,y be publicly known, and universally 
 contemned as the enemies of American Liberty; and thenceforth we will respect- 
 ively break oif all dealings with him or her." 
 
 " And we do further agree and resolve that we will have no trade, com- 
 merce, dealings, or intercovirse whatever with any colony or province in North 
 America, which shall not accede to, or which shall hereafter violate this Asso- 
 ciation, but will hold them as unicorthy of the rights of freemen, and as inimical to 
 the liberties of this country. The foregoing Association, being determined upon 
 by the Congress, was ordered to be subscribed by the several members thereof; 
 and thereupon we have hereunto set our respective names accordingly. — In 
 Congress, Philadelphia, Oct. 20, 1774." 
 
 The names of all the delegates from all the colonies represented were signed 
 to these Articles. Georgia alone was not represented in the Congress. The 
 people of that Colony, however, met in Convention on the 12th of Jan. 1775, 
 and passed the following: 
 
 "We, therefore, the Representatives of the extensive district of Darien, in 
 the colony of Georgia, having now assembled in Congress, by the authority 
 and free choice of the inhabitants of said District, now freed from their fet- 
 ters, do resolve: To show to the world that we are not influenced by any contracted 
 or interested motives, but a general philanthropy for all mankind of whatever climate, 
 language, or complexion, we hereby declare our disapprobation and abhorrence 
 of the unnattiral practice of slavery in America, (however the uncultivated state 
 of our cotintry, or other specious arguments may plead for it,) a practice founded 
 in injustice and cruelty and highly dangerous to our liberties (as well as lives), 
 debasing part of our fellow creatures below men, and is laying the basis of that 
 liberty we contend for, (and which we pray the Almighty to continue to the 
 latest posterity), upon a very wrong foundation. We therefore resolve at all 
 times to use our utmost endeavors for the manumission of our slaves in this colony 
 upon the most safe and equitable footing for the master and themselves." 
 
 The Revolutionary war commenced in April, 1775, only a few months after 
 this general action upon slavery. As the men of that day had seen all their 
 efforts to restrict slavery and the slave trade vetoed by the British crown, 
 they were determined to throw off the incubus, even at the hazard of civil 
 war. Hence this design, as the moving cause, is presented with peculiar 
 prominence in the original form in which the Declaration of Independence was 
 drawn up, and the efforts of "good King George" are thus painted: "He has 
 waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights 
 of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, 
 captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur 
 a miserable death in their transportation hither. This piratical warfare, the 
 opprobrium of Infidel Powers, is the warfare of the Christian King of Great 
 Britain. Determined to keep open a market where men should be bought and 
 sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt 
 to prohibit or restrain this execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of 
 horrors might want no fact of distinguishing die, he is now exciting those 
 very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which 
 he has deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded 
 
APPENDIX. 45 
 
 them; thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one 
 people, with crimes which he urges them to commit iigiiinst the lives of 
 another." 
 
 2. The proof of the second of ilie ahove j.oinla is found in the action ulreudy 
 given, and in the writings of men tw well known to be repeated here. 
 
 3. This point embraces a range of proof too tedious to be given at length. 
 (1.) One vital fact, showing that immediately after Independence wa.s gained, 
 the Continental Congress designed to curry out in good faith the principle 
 with regard to slavery for wiiich the Revolution was waged, is seen in its 
 action upon the then entire territory jtostested, adopting the famous "Ordinance 
 for the government of the Territory of the United States Northwest of the Ohio 
 river," July 13th, 1787. Eight States were represented, and voted on this 
 Ordinance, three now free, and five now slave, viz: free States, Massachusetts, 
 New York, and New Jersey; slave States, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, 
 South Carolina, and Georgia. Every State voted for the Ordinance, and also 
 every member but one, Mr. Yates of New York. The 0th article says: •There 
 shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, other- 
 wise tluin in punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly 
 convicted." Thus, at that time, tke whole pitlilic domain, the entire territonj, of 
 the Union, was devoted to freedom by a unanimous vote, save one, and tliat 
 from a free State. This was before the adoption of the present Constitution. 
 (2.) The Federal Constitution was adopted in the same year, and in the Con- 
 vention which framed it were many of the same men who in the Continental 
 Congress had so recently passed the "Ordinance" above cited. They jiut no 
 clause into the Constitution restrictive of slavery in the States as it was wholly 
 a State institution. And, most assuredly, entertaining the sentiments on slav- 
 ery so palpably and recently shown l\v their public action, they could not luive 
 intended the Constitution to protect slavery upon any soil covered by the Con- 
 stitution exclusively, whether territory then owned Northwest of the Ohio, or 
 any territory which might afterwards be obtained. "When the Constitu- 
 tion was adopted," it is argued, "the Ordinance of 1787 was no longer of 
 force." Be it so, and what then? The Constitution says nothing of that 
 Ordinance, nor did the Convention act upon it. To make the most of it, if the 
 Ordinance was superseded, it was on the ground only that the Constitution 
 was the supreme law. IIow then stands the case ? (3.) Why, it stands thus: 
 The Legislative Department of the government settled the matter. One of the 
 first acts of the first Congress, under the Constitution, (eml)racing, again, many 
 men who had been in the Convention that framed the Constitution, ) re-enacted 
 substantially the Ordinance of 1787, excluding slavery from the Northwest 
 Territory; and in doing this, nobody dreamed that the Constitution was vio- 
 lated. This being done by the fathers who made the instrument, it proves two 
 things, (a) That they did not make the Constitution "to protect" slavery in 
 the Territories, and attached no such meaning to its provisions; (h.) Tluit it 
 was not a violation of that instrument for Congress, acting under it, to firohibit 
 slavery in the Territories. 
 
 4. The power to prohibit slavery in the Territories lias been exerci-^ed no 
 less than eleven different times, in addition to those already specifie.l. The 
 exercise of this power began, (so far as authority existed, as shown above,) 
 before the adoption of the Constitution. The acts appear in various periods 
 of our history, and need not be detailed. One of the most important facts in 
 
46 APPENDIX. 
 
 this connection, is, that as late as the aclministration of Mr. Polk, a Southern 
 President, with a democratic majority in both Houses of Congress, this power 
 was exercised in the bill for the organization of the Territory of Oregon. 
 
 5. The Southern doctrine, therefore, that the Constitution carries slavery 
 into the Territories, and that Congress is bound to " protect " it there by posi- 
 tive law, is a doctrine unrecognized by and unknown to the fathers who made 
 the Constitution, and was never insisted upon by any persons. North or South, 
 until witliin a comparatively recent period. , 
 
 Note F.— Page 23. 
 
 In view of the facts given in Note E, (above,) is it not a most monstrous per- 
 version of historical truth for Dr. Thornwell to assert, as already quoted fiom 
 him, that "the Constitution, in its relations to slavery, has been virtually 
 repealed," by the elevation to power of the present administration, where the 
 principle involved is on\j the securing of the Territories to freedom? Eead 
 again his statement of the cause of the rebellion, and the ground of his vindi- 
 cation of it: " The presumption clearly is, that there is something in the attitiide 
 of the Government which portends danger and demands resistance. There 
 must be a cause for this intense and pervading sense of injustice and of 
 injury. "••■ * * The real cause of the intense excitement of the South, is 
 not vain dreams of national glory in a separate Confedei-acy, nor the love of 
 the iilthy lucre of the African slave-trade; it is the profound conviction that 
 the Constitution, in its relations to slavery, has been virtually repealed; that the Gov- 
 ernment has assumed a new and dangerous attitude on this subject; that we 
 have, in short, new terms of tinion submitted to our acceptance or rejection. Here 
 lies the evil. The election of Lincoln, when properly interpreted, is nothing 
 more nor less than a proposition to tlie South to consent to a Government, 
 fundamentally different upon the question of slavery from that n-hich our fathers 
 established. * "*' •■■ The issue has respect not to the man, but to tlie princi- 
 ples upon which he is pledged to administer the Government, and Avhich, we 
 are significantly informed, are to be impressed upon it in all time to come. 
 His election seals the triumph of those principles, and that triumph seals the 
 subversion of the Constitution, in relation to a matter of paramount interest to 
 the South." 
 
 Now, when the historical /rtcte are, that in the earliest times of the Govern- 
 ment, and as late as Mr. Polk's administration in 1848, an<l so many times in 
 our history, the action of the Government has been uniform in its positive pro- 
 hibition of slavery in the Territories, and never has by positive law protected it 
 therein, what are we to think of the elaborate statements of Dr. Thornwell in 
 a Quarterly Review, teaching the contrary of all this? And yet, such are the 
 men who iuive instigated and are leading on tliis iel)ellion — for such reasons. 
 
 Note G.— Page 32. 
 
 In proof of the jioint that the Church led the State in the change of views 
 on the merits of the system of slavery, may be cited an article from the A'eto 
 Orleans True Witness, a religious paper, edited by Kev. R. Mclnnis, a Presby- 
 terian clergyman, a native Mississippian, who has the means of knowing 
 whereof he affirms. It is under date of August 18, 18G0. It may be added, 
 
APPENDIX. 47 
 
 also, that the Synod of Mississippi offici.iUv declare (he snine thing fltat.d in 
 this art.cle,<-a9 to the leadinjr r,.s,.onsihility for this chanpe. The e.iiior 
 remarks as follows: 
 
 '■Smylie on- Si-AVEiiY.— It is un interesting hisn.ric-al faet, that Rev. Jumea 
 Smylie, an old-school Presl.ylerian minister, was the tirst person in onr conn- 
 try who took boldly the position that slavery was not inconsistent with the 
 teachingsof the Bihle. He was one of the first Treshyterian ministers who 
 came to the sonth-west and assisted in forming the Mississippi Treshytery 
 m 1816. The general view held at this time and for many years after, sonth 
 as well as north, was that slavery was an evil. Tlie qnestion had not been 
 examined. All took it for granted tliat slavery was an evil, and inconsistent 
 with the spirit and teachings of the word of (iod. Hence the sentiments 
 expressed by onr Church, in 1818 — wliich, by the way, has l>een most shame- 
 fully garbled and misrepresented — were at the time the sentiments of tlie 
 whole country, and was regarded as a pretty strong southern document, hence 
 all the south voted for it. In fact, so strong was the feeling for emancipation 
 that this act of 1818 discouraged it, in our members where the slaves were not 
 prepared for it, while it condemned the '-harsh censui'cs and uncharitalde 
 reflection" of the more ultra men of the north. AVe have referred to this 
 merely to call attention to the fact that the opinion of the whole country was 
 that slaverj' was an evil. And we know of no man who took a different posi- 
 tion, until Rev. James Smj-lie, in answer to a letter addressed to him as stated 
 clerk of the above Presbytery, wrote a reply in which he attempted to show 
 that neither the Old nor the New Testament Scriptures declared slavery to be 
 a sin, but both recognized it as an institution belonging to the great social 
 system. This letter, which has long since been published in a pamphlet of 
 some eighty pages, small type, was not only the iirst, but it is in our view the 
 ablest and most convincing scriptural argument ever published on the subject. 
 It shows research, ability, honesty, and is unanswerable. When the substance 
 of this letter was delivered in 1835 and '36 in the cIhucIjcs of Mississippi, in 
 the form of a sermon, the people generally, large slave-holders too, did not 
 sympathize with him in his views. We recollect hearing him on one occasion 
 for some three hours, and every person, without exception, thought him some- 
 what fanatical. The idea that the Bible did sanction slavery was regarded as 
 a new doctrine even in Mississippi. Yet Rev. James Smylie — and a more 
 honest man never lived — was honestly sincere in his convictions and his 
 views, and he went ahead against the tide of public opinion. His scriptural 
 argument has never been answered, nor can it be. This letter was tlie first 
 thing that turned public attention in the sonth, and especially in the sonth- 
 west, to the investigation of the subject; and every scriptural argument we 
 have seen is but a reproduction of this, while none is .so clear, full and unan- 
 swerable. It ought to be republished. 
 
 "Some two years after tiie jjublication of liiis letter, George .McDuflie. a sen- 
 ator of South Carolina, announced similar views in Congress, an<l was regarded 
 there as taking a strange and untenable position— one whidi met witli lillle 
 sympathy in that body. Tlie fact is, the soiilli had never exaniine.l tlie subject, 
 and were finally driven to it by the intolerant fanaticism of ultra men nt tlie 
 
 north. 
 
 " We mention the above facts, not for lli.- jpurpose of provoking discussion, t.ni 
 
48 APPENDIX. 
 
 merely to show the state of public opinion at the time on the subject of slavery; 
 and to show that the south is indebted to a minister of our church for the tirst 
 clear and unanswerable argument against the generally admitted view that 
 slavery was a sinJ' 
 
 Note H.— Page 32. 
 
 I have said that the clergy and tlie church are largely responsible for leading 
 in the Southern rebellion. The facts to prove this are abundant. The course 
 of Drs. Palmer and Thornwell, in the earliest days of the movement, are in 
 point. Numerous other cases might be given, but a single significant exhibi- 
 bition must suffice. In the Southern Presbyterian^ of Columbia, S. C, of April 
 20, 1861, appears a communication dated Macon, Georgia, entitled "The Church 
 and the Confederate States of America." The editor introduces the writer to 
 his readers thus: "Many of them will recognize it as written by a gentleman 
 occupying a high civil position in the Confederacy, and an Elder in the Pres- 
 byterian Church." The communication says: "This revolution has been 
 accomplished mainly by the Churches. I do not undervalue the name, and posi- 
 tion, and ability of politicians, still I am sure that our success is chiefly attrib- 
 utable to the support which they derived from the co-operation of the moral 
 sentiment of the country. Without that, embodying as it obviously did the 
 will of God, the enterprize would have been a failure. As a mere fact, it is already 
 historical, that the Christian community sustained it with remarkable unan- 
 imity. •'• * * In times like these upon which we have fallen, the opinion 
 of the Church upon political questions, when unanimously and freely declared, 
 is far more potent than the tricks of the demagogue, or the eloquence of the 
 renowned orator, or the oracular instructions of the retired sage. The reason 
 is, that our Church being sound, has the confidence of the irreligious world. 
 Let the Church know this, and realize her strength. She should not now abandon 
 HER OWN GRAND CREATION. She should not Icavc the creature of her prayers 
 and labors to the contingencies of the times, or the tender mercies of less con- 
 scientious patriots. Sue should consummate avhat she has begun." 
 
 And much more, in this article, to the same effect. Upon the position of the 
 Church as given in this communication, the editor writes his indorsement thus: 
 "We have no fears but that the Chiustian people of the land will prove faith- 
 ful to their country in this day of trial, to the very last. As our correspond- 
 ent suggests, this present revolution is the result of their uprising. ••■ * * 
 Much as is due to many of our sagacious and gifted politicians, they could 
 effect nothing until the religious union of the North and South was dissolved, 
 nor until they received the moral support and co-ojieration of Southern C hristians.'' 
 
 All this is explicit. The status of the Southern clergy and the Southern 
 church in this revolution is fixed by themselves, and acknowledged by South- 
 ern politicians. They have assumed the responsibility, and they rejoice in the 
 work of their own hands. This is history. What food here for thought, and 
 cause for humiliation, among the people of God! 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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