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■BENTON ADDRESSING THE UNITED STATES 
 
 SENA TE 
 
 Tro»i a Contemporary K^ii^'-raTmi; 
 
 r 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 OF ORATORY 
 
 Ancient and Modern 
 
 with CRITICAL STUDIES of the 
 WORLD'S GREAT ORATORS 
 by EMINENT E S S A Y I ST S 
 
 CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW, LL.D. 
 
 United States Senator from the State of New York 
 
 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 
 
 NATHAN HASKELL DOLE 
 CAROLINE TICKNOR THOMAS CHARLES QUINN 
 
 ASSOCIATE EDITORS 
 
 JEDitton i)e Xuie 
 
 IN FIFTEEN VOLUMES 
 Volume V 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 E. R. DU MONT 
 
 NEW YORK CHICAGO 
 
Copyright, 1902 
 
 BY 
 
 J. C. TiCHENOR 
 
f^EMOTE STORAGE 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 VOLUME V 
 
 BORN. PAGE. 
 
 Eliphalet Nott 1773 I 
 
 "How Are the Mighty Fallen." 
 
 Daniel O'Connell 1775 15 
 
 Ireland Worth Dying For. 
 
 Henry Clay 1777 28 
 
 Dictators in American Politics. 
 
 On the Seminole War 41 
 
 The Emancipation of South America. . . 46 
 
 The American System and the Home Market 59 
 
 For "Free Trade and Seamen's Rights." . 74 
 
 The Greek Revolution 80 
 
 Address to Lafayette 84 
 
 Reply to Randolph 86 
 
 Lord Brougham 1778 87 
 
 On Negro Emancipation. 
 
 Robert Emmet 1778 105 
 
 Speech when under Sentence of Death 
 
 Joseph Story 1779 115 
 
 Characteristics of the Age. 
 
 William Ellery Channing 1780 130 
 
 Char cter of Christ, 
 
 (V) 
 
vi 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 BORN. PAGE. 
 
 Thomas H. Benton 1782 152 
 
 On the Expunging Resolution. 
 
 EsAiAS Tegner 1782 168 
 
 Address before the University of Lund. 
 
 Daniel Webster 1782 170 
 
 "-^ Reply to Hayne . 171 
 
 v/Bunker Hill Monument Oration. . . . 268 
 
 v-^t Plymouth in 1820 293 
 
 In Commemoration of Adams and Jefferson. 296 
 
 "■"^^n the Murder of Joseph White. ... 304 
 
 John C. Calhoun 1782 309 
 
 On the Slavery Question. 
 Lewis Cass 1782 336 
 
 On the Spirit of the Age. 
 
 Lord Palmerston 1784 348 
 
 On the Affairs of Greece. 
 
 Charles Phillips 1789 361 
 
 Speech at an Aggregate Meeting of Roman 
 Catholics at Cork. 
 
 John Jordan Crittenden. 1787 376 
 
 On the Crittenden Compromise. 
 
 GuizoT 1787 389 
 
 Civilization and the Individual Man. . . 390 
 Address at the Distribution of Prizes at the 
 
 University of Paris 401 
 
 At the Unveiling of Statue of William the 
 
 Conqueror. 404 
 
 Sir Robert Peel 1788 409 
 
 On the Repeal of the Corn Laws. 
 
 Lamartine 1790 425 
 
 Reply to the Polish Deputation. 
 
 Congratulatory Speech 430 
 
 Reply to Club Delegates 432 
 
 5 
 
TAIiLE OF CONTENTS vii 
 
 BORN. I'AGP:. 
 
 Richard Lalor Sheii 1791 436 
 
 In Defence of Irish Catholics. 
 
 On the Jewish Disabilities Bill. . . . 438 
 
 James Buchanan 1791 448 
 
 Inaugural Address (1857) 
 
 Robert Y. Hayne 1791 459 
 
 On Foote's Resolution 
 
ELIPHALET NOTT 
 
 LiPHALKT NoTT, an American clergyman, widely known as an educator, 
 and president of Union College, Schenectady, N. Y. (1804-G6), waa born 
 at Ashford, Conn., June 25, 1773, and died at Schenectady, N. Y., Jan. 
 29, 1866. He was educated at Brown University, and after studying 
 theology became pastor of a Presbyterian church at Albany, N. Y. (1798-1804). In 
 the latter year he was chosen president of Union College at Schenectady, N. Y., and 
 remained at the head of that institution for the long space of sixty-two years. He 
 ruled the college on the parental plan, and was much beloved by successive generations 
 of students. He took a deep interest in science, and among his inventions for the 
 utilization of heat was that of the first stove for the burning of anthracite coal. As an 
 advocate of temperance and anti-slavery he was long prominent, and he also won dis- 
 tinction as a pulpit orator; his most famous discourse (here appended) was a mem- 
 orable and oft-quoted sermon on the death of Alexander Hamilton. His published 
 writings consist of "Miscellaneous Works" (1810); "Counsels to Young Men" 
 (1845); " Lectures on Temperance" (1847); and "The Resurrection of Christ" (1872). 
 
 "HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN" 
 DELIVERED AT ALBANY. JULY 9, 1804 
 
 THE occasion explains the choice of my subject — a 
 subject on which I enter in obedience to your 
 request. You have assembled to express your 
 elegiac sorrows, and sad and solemn weeds cover you. 
 
 Before such an audience and on such an occasion I enter 
 on the duty assigned me with trembling. Do not mistake my 
 meaning. I tremble indeed — not, however, through fear 
 of failing to merit your applause ; for what have I to do with 
 that when addressing the dying and treading on the ashes of 
 the dead; not through fear of failing justly to portray the 
 character of that great man who is at once the theme of my 
 encomium and regret. He needs not eulogy. His work is 
 finished, and death has removed him beyond my censure, and 
 
 I would fondly hope, through grace, above my praise. 
 Vol. 6-1 (1) 
 
2 
 
 ELIPHALET NOTT 
 
 You will ask then why I tremble ? I tremble to think that 
 I am called to attack, from this place, a crime, the very idea 
 of which almost freezes one with horror — a crime, too, 
 which exists among the polite and polished orders of society, 
 and which is accompanied with every aggravation; com- 
 mitted with cool deliberation, and openly in the face of day! 
 But I have a duty to perform : and difficult and awful as that 
 duty is, I will not shrink from it. 
 
 Would to God my talents were adequate to the occasion. 
 But such as they are, I devoutly proffer them to unfold the 
 nature and counteract the influence of that barbarous custom 
 which like a resistless torrent is undermining the founda- 
 tions of civil government, breaking down the barriers of 
 social happiness, and sweeping away virtue, talents, and 
 domestic felicity in its desolating course. 
 
 Another and an illustrious character — a father — a 
 general — a statesman — the very man who stood on an 
 eminence and without a rival among sages and heroes, the 
 future hope of his country in danger — this man, yielding to 
 the influence of a custom which deserves our eternal repro- 
 bation has been brought to an untimely end. 
 
 That the deaths of great and useful men should be par- 
 ticularly noticed is equally the dictate of reason and revela- 
 tion. The tears of Israel flowed at the decease of good 
 Josiah, and to his memory the funeral women chanted the 
 solemn dirge. . . . 
 
 The Hero, called from his sequestered retreat, whose first 
 appearance in the field, though a stripling, conciliated the 
 esteem of "Washington, our good old father. Moving by 
 whose side, during all the perils of the Revolution, our young 
 chieftain was a contributor to the veteran's glory, the guar- 
 dian of his person, and the co-partner of his toils. 
 
' HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN ' 
 
 3 
 
 The Conqueror, who, sparing of human blood when victory 
 favored, stayed the uplifted arm and nobly said to the van- 
 quished enemy, " Live ! 
 
 The Statesman, the correctness of whose principles and 
 the strength of whose mind are inscribed on the records of 
 Congress and on the annals of the council chamber; whose 
 genius impressed itself upon the constitution of his country; 
 and whose memory, the government — illustrious fabric, 
 resting on this basis — will perpetuate while it lasts ; and 
 shaken by the violence of party should it fall, which may 
 heaven avert, his prophetic declarations will be found in- 
 scribed on its ruins. 
 
 The Counsellor, who was at once the pride of the bar and 
 the admiration of the court; whose apprehensions were quick 
 as lightning, and whose development of truth was luminous 
 as its path; whose argument no change of circumstances 
 could embarrass; whose knowledge appeared intuitive; and 
 who by a single glance, and with as much facility as the eye 
 of the eagle passes over the landscape, surveyed the whole 
 field of controversy; saw in what way truth might be most 
 successfully defended and how error must be approached; 
 and who, without ever stopping, ever hesitating, by a rapid 
 and manly march, led the listening judge and the fascinated 
 juror, step by step, through a delightsome region, brighten- 
 ing as he advanced, till his argument rose to demonstration, 
 and eloquence was rendered useless by^ conviction; whose 
 talents were employed on the side of righteousness; whose 
 voice, whether in the council chamber, or at the bar of 
 justice, was virtue's consolation ; at whose approach oppressed 
 humanity felt a secret rapture, and the heart of injured inno- 
 cence leaped for joy. 
 
 Where Hamilton was, in whatever sphere he moved, the 
 
4 ELIPHALET NOTT 
 
 friendless had a friend, the fatherless a father, and the poor 
 man, though unable to reward his kindness, found an advo- 
 cate. It was when the rich oppressed the poor; when the 
 powerful menaced the defenceless; when truth was disre- 
 garded or the eternal principles of justice violated; it was on 
 these occasions that he exerted all his strength; it was on 
 these occasions that he sometimes soared so high and shone 
 with a radiance so transcendent, I had almost said, so 
 " heavenly, as filled those around him with awe and gave to 
 him the force and authority of a prophet.'^ 
 
 The Patriot, whose integrity baffled the scrutiny of inquisi- 
 tion; whose manly virtue never shaped itself to circum- 
 stances; who, always great, always himself, stood amidst the 
 varying tides of party, firm, like the rock which, far from 
 land, lifts its majestic top above the waves and remains 
 unshaken by the storms which agitate the ocean. 
 
 The Friend, who knew no guile ; whose bosom was trans- 
 parent and deep; in the bottom of whose heart was rooted 
 every tender and sympathetic virtue; whose various worth 
 opposing parties acknowledged while alive, and on whose 
 tomb they unite, with equal sympathy and grief, to heap 
 their honors. 
 
 I know he had his failings. I see, on the picture of his 
 life — a picture rendered awful by greatness, and luminous 
 by virtue — some dark shades. On these let the tear that 
 pities human weakness, fall; on these let the veil which 
 covers hiiman frailty rest. As a hero, as a statesman, as a 
 patriot, he lived nobly: and would to God I could add, ho 
 nobly fell. Unwilling to admit his error in this respect, I go 
 back to the period of discussion. I see him resisting the 
 threatened interview. I imagine myself present in his 
 chamber. Various reasons, for a time, seem to hold his 
 
' HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN ' 
 
 5 
 
 determination in arrest. Various and moving objects pass 
 before him and speak a dissuasive language. His country, 
 which may need his counsels to guide, and his arm to defend, 
 utters her veto. The partner of his youth, already covered 
 with weeds, and whose tears flow down into her bosom, inter- 
 cedes! His babes, stretching out their little hands and 
 pointing to a weeping mother, with lisping eloquence, but 
 eloquence which reaches a parent's heart, cry out, " Stay, 
 stay, dear papa, and live for us! " 
 
 In the meantime the spectre of a fallen son, pale and 
 ghastly, approaches, opens his bleeding bosom and as the 
 harbinger of death points to the yawning tomb and warns a 
 hesitating father of the issue ! He pauses, reviews these sad 
 objects, and reasons on the .subject. I admire his magna- 
 nimity, I approve his reasoning, and I wait to hear him 
 reject with indignation the murderous proposition and to 
 see him spurn from his presence the presumptuous bearer of 
 it. But I wait in vain. It was a moment in which his great 
 wisdom forsook him — a moment in which Hamilton was not 
 himself. He yielded to the force of an imperious custom: 
 and, yielding, he sacrificed a life in which all had an 
 interest — and he is lost — lost to his country, lost to his 
 family, lost to us. For this act, because he disclaimed it and 
 was penitent, I forgive him. But there are those whom I 
 cannot forgive. I mean not his antagonist; over whose 
 erring steps, if there be tears in heaven, a pious mother looks 
 down and weeps. 
 
 If he be capable of feeling, he suffers already all that 
 humanity can suffer — suffers, and wherever he may fly will 
 suffer, with the poigTiant recollection of having taken the life 
 of one who was too magnanimous, in return, to attempt his 
 own. Had he known this, it must have paralyzed his arm 
 
6 
 
 ELIPHALET NOTT 
 
 while it pointed at so incorruptible a bosom the instrument 
 of death. Does he know this now? His heart, if it be not 
 adamant, must soften — if it be not ice, must melt. But on 
 this article I forbear. Stained with blood as he is, if he be 
 penitent, I forgive him — and if he be not, before these 
 altars, where all of us appear as suppliants, I wish not to 
 excite your vengeance, but rather, in behalf of an object 
 rendered wretched and pitiable by crime, to wake your 
 prayers. 
 
 But I have said, and I repeat it, there are those whom I 
 cannot forgive. I cannot forgive that minister at the altar 
 who has hitherto forborne to remonstrate on this subject. 
 I cannot forgive that public prosecutor who, entrusted with 
 the duty of avenging his country's wrongs, has seen those 
 wrongs and taken no measures to avenge them. I cannot 
 forgive that judge upon the bench, or that governor in the 
 chair of state, who has lightly passed over such offences. I 
 cannot forgive the public, in whose opinion the duellist finds 
 a sanctuary. I cannot forgive you, my brethren, who till 
 this late hour have been silent while successive murders 
 were committed. 
 
 'No; I cannot forgive you that you have not, in common 
 with the freemen of this State, raised your voice to the 
 powers that be and loudly and explicitly demanded an execu- 
 tion of your laws; demanded this in a manner which, if it 
 did not reach the ear of government, would at least have 
 reached the heavens and pleaded your excuse before the God 
 that filleth them — in whose presence as I stand I should 
 not feel myself innocent of the blood that crieth against us 
 had I been silent. But I have not been silent. Many of 
 you who hear me are my witnesses — the walls of yonder 
 temple, where I have heretofore addressed you, are my wit- 
 
' HOW ARE THE MIGHTY B^ALLEN 
 
 7 
 
 nesses, how freely I have animadverted on this subject in 
 the presence both of those who have violated the laws and 
 of those whose indispensable duty it is to see the laws exe- 
 cuted on those who violate them. 
 
 I enjoy another opportunity; and would to God I might 
 be permitted to approach for once the last scene of death. 
 Would to God I could there assemble, on the one side, the 
 disconsolate mother with her seven fatherless children; and 
 on the other those who administer the justice of my country. 
 Could I do this, I would point them to these sad objects. 
 I would entreat them, by the agonies of bereaved fondness, 
 to listen to the widow's heartfelt groans ; to mark the orphan's 
 sighs and tears. And having done this, I would uncover the 
 breathless corpse of Hamilton — I would lift from his gaping 
 wound his bloody mantle — I would hold it up to heaven 
 before them, and I would ask, in the name of God, I would 
 ask whether at the sight of it they felt no compunction? 
 
 You will ask, perhaps, what can be done to arrest the prog- 
 ress of a practice which has yet so many advocates? I answer, 
 nothing — if it be the deliberate intention to do nothing. 
 But, if otherwise, much is within our power. Let, then, the 
 governor see that the laws are executed; let the council dis- 
 place the man who offends against their majesty; let courts of 
 justice frown from their bar, as unworthy to appear before 
 them, the murderer and his accomplices ; let the people declare 
 him unworthy of their confidence who engages in such san- 
 guinary contests; let this be done, and should life still be 
 taken in single combat, then the governor, the council, the 
 court, the people, looking up to the Avenger of sin, may say, 
 " We are innocent, we are innocent.'' Do you ask how proof 
 can be obtained? How can it be avoided? The parties 
 return, hold up before our eyes the instruments of death, 
 
s 
 
 ^LIPHALET NOTT 
 
 publish to the world the circumstances of their interview, and 
 even with an air of insulting triumph boast how coolly and 
 deliberately they proceeded in violating one of the most sacred 
 laws of earth and heaven ! 
 
 Ah! ye tragic shores of Hoboken, crimsoned with the 
 richest blood, I tremble at the crimes you record against us — 
 the annual register of murders which you keep and send up to 
 God ! Place of inhuman cruelty ! beyond the limits of reason, 
 of duty, and of religion, where man assumes a more barbarous 
 nature and ceases to be man. What poignant, lingering sor- 
 rows do thy laAvless combats occasion to surviving relatives! 
 Ye who have hearts of pity — je who have experienced the 
 anguish of dissolving friendship — who have wept, and still 
 weep, over the moldering ruins of departed kindred, ye can 
 enter into this reflection. 
 
 O thou disconsolate widow! robbed, so cruelly robbed, and 
 in so short a time, both of a husband and a son, what must be 
 the plenitude of thy sufferings! Could we approach thee, 
 gladly would we drop the tear of sympathy and pour into 
 thy bleeding bosom the balm of consolation ! But how could 
 we comfort her whom God hath not comforted? To his 
 throne let us lift up our voice and weep. O God! if thou art 
 still the widow's husband and the father of the fatherless, if 
 in the fulness of thy goodness there be yet mercies in store for 
 miserable mortals, pity, O pity this afflicted mother, and grant 
 that her hapless orphans may find a friend, a benefactor, a 
 father, in thee ! On this article I have done, and may God 
 add his blessing. 
 
 But I have still a claim upon your patience. I cannot here 
 repress my feelings and thus let pass the present opportunity. 
 
 " How are the mighty fallen." And, regardless as we are of 
 vulgar deaths, shall not the fall of the mighty affect us? A 
 
' HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN ' 
 
 9 
 
 short time since, and he who is the occasion of our sorrows 
 was the ornament of his country. He stood on an eminence, 
 and glory covered him. From that eminence he has fallen — 
 suddenly, forever, fallen. His intercourse with the living 
 world is now ended ; and those who would hereafter find him 
 must seek him in the grave. There, cold and lifeless, is the 
 heart which just now was the seat of friendship. There, dim 
 and sightless, is the eye whose radiant and enlivening orb 
 beamed with intelligence; and there, closed forever, are those 
 lips on whose persuasive accents we have so often and so 
 lately hung with transport! From the darkness which rests 
 upon his tomb there proceeds, methinks, a light in which it 
 is clearly seen that those gaudy objects which men pursue 
 are only phantoms. In this light, how dimly shines the splen- 
 dor of victory; how humble appears the majesty of grandeur! 
 The bubble which seemed to have so much solidity has burst; 
 and we again see that all below the sun is vanity. 
 
 True, the funeral eulogy has been pronounced; the sad and 
 solemn procession has moved; the badge of mourning has 
 already been decreed, and presently the sculptured marble 
 will lift up its front, proud to perpetuate the name of Ham- 
 ilton and rehearse to the passing traveller his virtues. Just 
 tributes of respect! And to the living useful. But to him, 
 moldering in the narrow and humble habitation, what are 
 they ? How vain ! how unavailing ! 
 
 Approach, and behold while I lift from his sepulchre its 
 covering! Ye admirers of his greatness; ye emulous of his 
 talents and his fame, approach, and behold him now. How 
 pale ! How silent ! No martial bands admire the adroitness 
 of his movements ; no fascinating throng weep, and melt, and 
 tremble at his eloquence! Amazing change! A shroud! a 
 coffin! a nan'ow, subterraneous cabin! This is all that now 
 
10 
 
 ELIPHALET NOTT 
 
 remains of Hamilton! And is this all that remains of him? 
 During a life so transitory, what lasting monument, then, can 
 our fondest hopes erect! 
 
 My brethren! we stand on the borders of an awful gulf, 
 which is swallowing up all things human. And is there, 
 amidst this universal wreck, nothing stable, nothing abiding, 
 nothing immortal, on which poor, frail, dying man can fasten? 
 Ask the hero, ask the statesman, whose wisdom you have been 
 accustomed to revere, and he will tell you. He will tell you, 
 did I say? He has already told you from his death-bed, and 
 his illumined spirit still whispers from the heavens, with well- 
 known eloquence, the solemn admonition. 
 
 "Mortals! hastening to the tomb, and once the companions 
 of my pilgrimage, take warning and avoid my errors ; cultivate 
 the virtues I have recommended; choose the Saviour I have 
 chosen ; live disinterestedly ; live for immortality ; and, would 
 you rescue anything from final dissolution, lay it up in God.'' 
 
 Thus speaks, methinks, our deceased benefactor, and thus 
 he acted during his last sad hours. To the exclusion of every 
 other concern, religion now claims all his thoughts. Jesus! 
 Jesus, is now his only hope. The friends of Jesus are his 
 friends; the ministers of the altar his companions. While 
 these intercede, he listens in awful silence, or in profound 
 submission whispers his assent. Sensible, deeply sensible of 
 his sins, he pleads no merit of his own. He repairs to the 
 mercy-seat, and there pours out his penitential sorrows, 
 there he solicits pardon. Heaven, it should seem, heard and 
 pitied the suppliant's cries. Disburdened of his sorrows, and 
 looking up to God, he exclaims, "Grace, rich grace." "I 
 have," said he, clasping his dying hands, and with faltering 
 tongue, "I have a tender reliance on the mercy of God in 
 Christ." In token of this reliance, and as an expression of his. 
 
' HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN ' 
 
 11 
 
 faith, he receives the holy sacrament; and having done this, 
 his mind becomes tranquil and serene. Thus he remains, 
 thoughtful indeed, but unruffled to the last, and meets death 
 with an air of dignified composure and with an eye directed to 
 the heavens. 
 
 This last act, more than any other, sheds glory on his char- 
 acter. Everything else death effaces. Religion alone abides 
 with him on his death-bed. He dies a Christian. This is all 
 which can be enrolled of him among the archives of eternity. 
 This is all that can make his name great in heaven. Let not 
 the sneering infidel persuade you that this last act of homage 
 to the Saviour resulted from an enfeebled state of mental 
 faculties or from perturbation occasioned by the near 
 approach of death. 'No; his opinions concerning the divine 
 mission of Jesus Christ and the validity of the holy Scriptures 
 had long been settled, and settled after laborious investigation 
 and extensive and deep research. These opinions were not 
 concealed. I knew them myself. Some of you, who hear 
 me, knew them; and had his life been spared it was his deter- 
 mination to have published them to the world, together with 
 the facts and reasons on which they were founded. 
 
 At a time when scepticism, shallow and superficial indeed, 
 but depraved and malignant, is breathing forth its pestilential 
 vapor, and polluting, by its unhallowed touch, everything 
 divine and sacred, it is consoling to a devout mind to reflect 
 that the great and the wise and the good of all ages, those 
 superior geniuses whose splendid talents have elevated them 
 almost above mortality and placed them next in order to 
 angelic natures — yes, it is consoling to a devout mind to 
 reflect that while dwarfish infidelity lifts up its deformed 
 head and mocks these illustrious personages, though living 
 in different ages, inhabiting different countries, nurtured in 
 
12 
 
 EIIPHALET NOTT 
 
 different schools, destined to different pursuits, and differing 
 on various subjects, should all, as if touched with an impulse 
 from heaven, agree to vindicate the sacredness of revelation 
 and present with one accord their learning, their talents, and 
 their virtue on the gospel altar as an offering to Emanuel. 
 
 This is not exaggeration. Who was it that, over-leaping 
 the narrow bounds which had hitherto been set to the human 
 mind, ranged abroad through the immensity of space, dis- 
 covered and illustrated those laws by which the Deity unites, 
 binds, and governs all things ? Who was it, soaring into the 
 sublime of astronomic science, numbered the stars of heaven, 
 measured their spheres, and called them by their names? It 
 was Newton. But Newton was a Christian. Newton, great 
 as he was, receiA^ed instruction from the lips and laid his 
 honors at the feet of Jesus. Who was it that developed the 
 hidden combination, the component parts of bodies? Who 
 was it dissected the animal, examined the flower, penetrated 
 the earth, and ranged the extent of organic nature? It was 
 Boyle. But Boyle was a Christian. Who was it that lifted 
 the veil which had for ages covered the intellectual world, 
 analyzed the human mind, defined its powers, and reduced 
 its operations to certain and fixed laws? It was Locke. But 
 Locke too was a Christian. 
 
 What more shall I say ? For time would fail me to speak of 
 Hale, learned in the law; of Addison, admired in the schools; 
 of Milton, celebrated among the poets; and of Washington, 
 immortal in the field and the cabinet. To this catalogue of pro- 
 fessing Christians, from among, if I may speak so, a higher 
 order of beings, may now be added the name of Alexander 
 Hamilton — a name which raises in the mind the idea of 
 whatever is great, whatever is splendid, whatever is illustrious 
 in human nature; and which is now added to a catalogue 
 
HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN 
 
 13 
 
 which might be lengthened — and lengthened — and length- 
 ened, with the names of illustrious characters whose lives 
 have blessed society and whose works form a column high 
 as heaven ; a column of learning, of wisdom, and of greatness, 
 which will stand to future ages, an eternal monument of the 
 transcendent talents of the advocates of Christianity, Avhen 
 every fugitive leaf from the pen of the canting infidel 
 witlings of the day shall be swept by the tide of time from the 
 annals of the world and buried with the names of their 
 authors in oblivion. 
 
 To conclude. "How are the mighty fallen!" Fallen 
 before the desolating hand of death. Alas! the ruins of 
 the tomb I The ruins of the tomb are an emblem of the ruins 
 of the world; when not an individual, but a universe, already 
 marred by sin and hastening to dissolution, shall agonize and 
 die! Directing your thoughts from the one, fix them for a 
 moment on the other. Anticipate the concluding scene, the 
 final catastrophe of nature, when the sign of the Son of man 
 shall be seen in heaven; when the Son of man himself shall 
 appear in the glory of his Father, and send forth judgment 
 unto victory. The fiery desolation envelops towns, palaces, 
 and fortresses; the heavens pass away! the earth melts! and 
 all those magnificent productions of art which ages heaped 
 on ages have reared up are in one awful day reduced to 
 ashes. 
 
 Against the ruins of that day, as well as the ruins of the 
 tomb which precede it, the gospel, in the cross of its great 
 High Priest, offers you all a sanctuary; a sanctuary secure 
 and abiding; a sanctuary which no lapse of time nor change 
 of circumstances can destroy. 'No; neither life nor death. 
 No; neither principalities nor powers. 
 
 Everything else is fugitive; everything else is mutable; 
 
14 
 
 ELIPHALET NOTT 
 
 everything else will fail you. But this, the citadel of the 
 Christianas hopes, will never fail you. Its base is adamant. 
 It is cemented with the richest blood. The ransomed of the 
 Lord crowd its portals. Embosomed in the dust which it 
 encloses, the bodies of the redeemed " rest in hope." On its 
 top dwells the Church of the first-born, who in delightful 
 response with the angels of light chant redeeming love. 
 Against this citadel the tempest beats, and around it the 
 storm rages and spends its force in vain. Immortal in its 
 nature, and incapable of change, it stands, and stands firm, 
 amidst the ruins of a moldering world, and endures forever. 
 
 Thither fly, ye prisoners of hope! — that when earth, air, 
 elements, shall have passed away, secure of existence and 
 felicity, you may join with saints in glory to perpetuate the 
 song which lingered on the faltering tongue of Hamilton, 
 " Grace — rich Grace." 
 
 God grant us this honor. Then shall the measure of our 
 joy be full, and to his name shall be the glory in Christ. 
 
DANIEL O'CONNELL 
 
DAI^^IEL O'CONNELL 
 
 ANIEL, O'CoNNELL, a famous Irish lawyer and orator, known familiarly as 
 the "Liberator," the Irish "agitator," and champion of Catholic Emanci- 
 pation, was born of an old family that had been implicated in the 
 rebellion of 1641. The place of his birth was Carhen, County Kerry, 
 Ireland, and the date Aug. 6, 1775. His elementary education was received at Cork, 
 after which he studied at the colleges of St. Omer and Douay, and in 1798 was 
 called to the Irish Bar. At the latter his skill in addressing juries was phenomenal, 
 and brought him much legal practice; while he had a wonderful command over 
 popular audiences at public meetings and in addresses from the hustings, especially 
 if they had gathered to hear a speech from the great orator on the repeal of the 
 Union, which to the last day of his life he strove, though strove hopelessly, to bring 
 about. For this and other seditious speeches at monster meetings of the Irish people 
 he was twice prosecuted ; but luck and the advocacy of friends in high quarters 
 relieved him on both occasions from the imposed fines and imprisonment. In 1828, 
 he was elected to the English Parliament, and there, besides harrying the Conserva- 
 tives and some ministries, he did great service in compelling the government to 
 grant Catholic Emancipation. The appended speech on Irish autonomy, the ever- 
 present hope of his heart, is characteristic of his oratory. Though possessed of no 
 wide political intelligence, and somewhat unsound in his reasoning, with a mind 
 fettered by Catholic teaching, O'Connell was a great force in his day, made the more 
 effective by his humor, sarcasm, and power of passionate utterance. He died at 
 Genoa, Italy, May 15, 1847, in his seventy-fourth year, his health broken by the 
 failure of the Repeal movement, and by the misery and wretchedness of his beloved 
 Ireland. 
 
 IRELAND WORTH DYING FOR 
 
 DELIVERED AT MULLAGHMAST IN FAVOR OF ANNULLING THE UNION 
 WITH ENGLAND. SEPTEMBER, 1843 
 
 I ACCEPT with the greatest alacrity the high honor yon 
 have done me in calling me to the chair of this ma- 
 jestic meeting. I feel more honored than I ever did 
 in my life, with one single exception, and that related to, 
 if possible, an equally majestic meeting at Tara. But I 
 must say that if a comparison were instituted between 
 them, it would take a more discriminating eye than mine 
 to discover any difiEerence between them. There are the 
 
 (15) 
 
16 
 
 DANIEL O^CONNELL 
 
 same incalculable numbers; there is the same firmness; 
 there is the same determination; there is the same exhibi* 
 tion of love to old Ireland; there is the same resolution 
 not to violate the peace; not to be guilty of the slightest 
 outrage; not to give the enemy power by committing a 
 crime, but peacefully and manfully to stand together in 
 the open day, to protest before man and in the presence 
 of God against the iniquity of continuing the Onion. 
 
 At Tara, I protested against the Union — 1 repeat the 
 protest at Mullaghmast. I declare solemnly my thorough 
 conviction as a constitutional lawyer, that the Union is 
 totally void in point of principle and of constitutional 
 force. I tell you that no portion of the empire had the 
 power to traffic on the rights and liberties of the Irish 
 people. The Irish people nominated them to make laws, 
 and not legislatures. They were appointed to act under 
 the Constitution, and not annihilate it. Their delegation 
 from the people was confined within the limits of the 
 Constitution, and the moment the Irish Parliament went 
 beyond those limits and destroyed the Constitution, that 
 moment it annihilated its own power, but could not anni- 
 hilate the immortal spirit of liberty, which belongs, as a 
 rightful inheritance, to the people of Ireland. Take it 
 then from me that the Union is void. I admit there is the 
 force of a law, because it has been supported by the police- 
 man's truncheon, by the soldier's bayonet, and by the 
 horseman's sword; because it is supported by the courts 
 of law and those who have power to adjudicate in them; 
 but I say solemnly, it is not supported by constitutional 
 right. The Union, therefore, in my thorough conviction, 
 is totally void, and I avail myself of this opportunity to 
 announce to several hundreds of thousands of my fellow- 
 
IRELAND WORTH DYING FOB 
 
 17 
 
 gabjects that the Union is an unconstitutional law and 
 that it is not fated to last long — its hour is approaching. 
 America offered us her sympathy and support. We re- 
 fused the support, but we accepted the sympathy; and 
 while we accepted the sympathy of the Americans, we 
 stood upon the firm ground of the right of every human 
 being to liberty; and 1, in the name of the Irish nation, 
 declare that no support obtained from America should be 
 purchased by 'the price of abandoning principle for one 
 moment, and that principle is that every human being is 
 entitled to freedom. 
 
 My friends, I want nothing for the Irish but their 
 country, and I think the Irish are competent to obtain 
 their own country for themselves. I like to have the 
 sympathy of every good man everywhere, but I want 
 not armed support or physical strength from any country. 
 The Republican party in France offered me assistance. I 
 thanked them for their sympathy, but I distinctly refused 
 to accept any support from them. I want support from 
 neither France nor America, and if that usurper, Louis 
 Philippe, who trampled on the liberties of his own gallant 
 nation, thought fit to assail me in his newspaper, I re- 
 turned the taunt with double vigor, and I denounce him 
 to Europe and the world as a treacherous tyrant, who has 
 violated the compact with his own country, and therefore 
 is not fit to assist the liberties of any other country. I 
 want not the support of France; I want not the support 
 of America; I have physical support enough about me to 
 achieve any change; but you know well that it is not my 
 plan — I will not risk the safety of one of you. I could 
 not afford the loss of one of you — I will protect you all, 
 and it is better for you all to be merry and alive, to enjoy 
 
 Vol. 5—2 
 
18 
 
 DANIEL O'CONNELL 
 
 the repeal of the Union; but there is not a man of you 
 there that would not, if we were attacked unjustly and 
 illegally, be ready to stand in the open field by my side. 
 Let every man that concurs in that sentiment lift up 
 his hand. 
 
 [All hands were lifted] 
 
 The assertion of that sentiment is our sure protection, 
 for no person will attack us, and we will attack nobody. 
 Indeed, it would be the height of absurdity for us to think 
 of making any attack; for there is not one man in his 
 senses in Europe or America that does not admit that the 
 repeal of the Union is now inevitable. The English papers 
 taunted us, and their writers laughed us to scorn; but now 
 they admit that it is impossible to resist the applicati<>n 
 for repeal. More power to you. But that even shows wo 
 have power enough to know how to use it. Why, it is 
 only this week that one of the leading London newspapers, 
 called the "Morning Herald," which had a reporter at the 
 Lismore meeting, published an account of that great and 
 mighty meeting, and in that account the writer expressly 
 says that it will be impossible to refuse so peaceable, so 
 determined, so unanimous a people as the people of Ire- 
 land the restoration of their domestic legislature. For my 
 own part, I would have thought it wholly unnecessary to 
 call together so large a meeting as this, but for the trick 
 played by Wellington, and Peel, and Graham, and Stanley, 
 and the rest of the paltry administration, by whose govern- 
 ment this country is disgraced. I don't suppose so worth- 
 less an administration ever before got togethero Lord 
 Stanley is a renegade from Whiggism, and Sir James 
 Graham is worse. Sir Kobert Peel has five hundred colors 
 
IRELAND WORTH DYING FOR 
 
 19 
 
 on his bad standard, and not one of them is permanent. 
 To-day it is orange, to-morrow it will be green, the day 
 after neither one nor the other, but we shall take care 
 that it shall never be dyed in blood. 
 
 Then there is the poor old Duke of Wellington, and 
 nothing was ever so absurd as their deification of him in 
 England. The English historian — rather the Scotch one — 
 Alison, an arrant Tory, admits that the Duke of Welling- 
 ton was surprised at Waterloo, and if he got victoriously 
 out of that battle, it was owing to the valor of the British 
 troops and their unconquerable determination to die, but 
 not to yield. No man is ever a good soldier but the man 
 who goes into the battle determined to conquer or not 
 come back from the battlefield. No other principle makes 
 a good soldier ; conquer or die is the battle-cry for the good 
 soldier; conquer or die is his only security. The Duke of 
 Wellington had troops at Waterloo that had learned that 
 word, and there were Irish troops among them. You all 
 remember the verses made by poor Shan Van Vocht: 
 
 •*At famed "Waterloo 
 Duke Wellington would look blue 
 If Paddy was not there too, 
 Says the Shan Yan Vocht.'* 
 
 Yes, the glory he got there was bought by the blood 
 of the English, Irish, and Scotch soldiers — the glory was 
 yours. He is nominally a member of the administration, 
 but yet they would not intrust him with any kind of 
 of&ce. He has no duty at all to perform, but a sort of 
 Irish anti-repeal warden. I thought I never would be 
 obliged to the Ministry, but I am obliged to them. They 
 put a speech abusing the Irish into the Queen *s mouth. 
 They accused us of disaffection, but they lied; it is their 
 
20 
 
 DANIEL O'CONNELL 
 
 speech; there is no disafiection in Ireland. We were 
 lojal to the sovereigns of Great Britain, even when they 
 were our enemies; we were loyal to George III. even 
 when he betrayed us; we were loyal to George IV. when 
 he blubbered and cried when we forced him to emancipate 
 us; we were loyal to old Billy, though his Minister put 
 into his mouth a base, bloody, and intolerant speech against 
 Ireland; and we are loyal to the Queen, no matter what 
 our enemies may say to the contrary. It is not the Queen's 
 speech, and I pronounce it to be a lie. There is no dis- 
 satisfaction in Ireland, but there is this — a full determina- 
 tion to obtain justice and liberty. I am much obliged to 
 the Ministry for that speech, for it gives me, among other 
 things, an opportunity of addressing such meetings as 
 this. I had held the monster meetings. I had fully dem- 
 onstrated the opinion of Ireland. I was convinced their 
 unanimous determination to obtain liberty was sufficiently 
 signified by the many meetings already held; but when 
 the Minister's speech came out, it was necessary to do 
 something more. Accordingly, I called a monster meeting 
 at Loughrea. I called another meeting in Cliffden. I had 
 another monster meeting in Lismore, and here now we are 
 assembled on the Eath of Mullaghmast. 
 
 At Mullaghmast (and I have chosen this for this obvi- 
 ous reason), we are on the precise spot where English 
 treachery — ay, and false Irish treachery, too — consum- 
 mated a massacre that has never been imitated, save in 
 the massacre of the Mamelukes by Mehemet Ali. It was 
 necessary to have Turks atrocious enough to commit a 
 crime equal to that perpetrated by Englishmen. But do 
 not think that the massacre of Mullaghmast was a ques- 
 tion between Protestants and Catholics — it was no such 
 
IRELAND WORTH DYING FOR 
 
 21 
 
 thing. The murdered persons were to be sure Catholics, 
 but a great number of the murderers ^rere also Catholic 
 and Irishmen, because there were then, as well as now, 
 many Catholics who were traitors to Ireland. But we 
 have now this advantage, that we may have many honest 
 Protestants joining us — joining us heartily in hand and 
 heart, for old Ireland and liberty. I thought this a fit 
 and becoming spot to celebrate, in the open day, our una- 
 nimity in declaring our determination not to be misled by 
 any treachery. Oh, my friends, I will keep you clear of 
 all treachery — there shall be no bargain, no compromise 
 with England — we shall take nothing but repeal, and a 
 Parliament in College Green. You will never, by my ad- 
 vice, confide in any false hopes they hold out to you; 
 never confide in anything coming from them, or cease 
 from your struggle, no matter what promise may be held 
 to you, until you hear me say I am satisfied; and I will 
 tell you where I will say that — near the statue of King 
 William, in College Green. No; we came here to express 
 our determination to die to a man, if necessary, in the 
 cause of old Ireland. We came to take advice of each 
 other, and, above all, I believe you came here to take 
 my advice. I can tell you, I have the game in my hand 
 — I have the triumph secure — I have the repeal certain, 
 if you but obey my advice. 
 
 I will go slow — you must allow me to do so — but you 
 will go sure. No man shall find himself imprisoned or 
 persecuted who follows my advice. I have led you thus 
 far in safety; I have swelled the multitude of repealers 
 until they are identified with the entire population, or 
 nearly the entire population, of the land, for seven-eighths 
 of the Irish people are now enrolling themselves repeal- 
 
22 
 
 DANIEL O'CONNELL 
 
 ers. [Cheers and cries of "More power to you."] I don't 
 want more power; 1 have power enough; and all I ask of 
 you is to allow me to use it. I will go on quietly and 
 slowly, but I will go on firmly, and with a certainty of 
 success. I am now arranging a plan for the formation 
 of the Irish House of Commons. 
 
 It is a theory, but it is a theory that may be realized 
 in three weeks. The repeal arbitrators are beginning to 
 act; the people are submitting their difierences to men 
 chosen by themselves. You will see by the newspapers 
 that Doctor Gray and my son, and other gentlemen, have 
 already held a petty session of their own, where justice 
 will be administered free of all expense to the people. 
 The people shall have chosen magistrates of their own in 
 the room of the magistrates who have been removed. 
 The people shall submit their differences to them, and 
 shall have strict justice administered to them that shall 
 not cost them a single farthing. I shall go on with that 
 plan until we have all disputes settled and decided by 
 justices appointed by the people themselves. ["Long may 
 you live!"] I wish to live long enough to have perfect 
 justice administered to Ireland, and liberty proclaimed 
 throughout the land. It will take me some time to pre- 
 pare my plan for the formation of the new Irish House 
 of Commons — that plan which we will yet submit to her 
 Majesty for her approval when she gets rid of her pres- 
 ent paltry administration and has one that I can support. 
 But I must finish that job before I go forth, and one of 
 my reasons for calling you together is to state my inten- 
 tions to you. Before I arrange my plan, the Conciliation 
 Hall will be finished, and it will be worth any man's 
 while to go from Mullaghmast to Dublin to see it. 
 
IRELAND WORTH DYING FOR 
 
 23 
 
 When we have it arranged I will call together three 
 hundred, as the Times" called them, "bogtrotters," but 
 better men never stepped on pavement. But I will have 
 the three hundred, and no thanks to them. Wales is up 
 at present, almost in a state of insurrection. The people 
 there have found that the landlords' power is too great, 
 and has been used tyrannically, and I believe you agree 
 with them tolerably well in that. They insist on the sa- 
 credness of the right of the tenants to security of posses- 
 sion, and with the equity of tenure which I would estab- 
 lish we will do the landlords full justice, but we will do 
 the people justice also. We will recollect that the land 
 is the landlord's, and let him have the benefit of it, but 
 we will also recollect that the labor belongs to the tenant, 
 and the tenant must have the value of his labor, not 
 transitory and by the day, but permanently and by the 
 year. Yes, my friends, for this purpose I must get some 
 time. I worked the present repeal year tolerably well. 
 I believe no one in January last would believe that we 
 could have such a meeting within the year as the Tara 
 demonstration. You may be sure of this — and I say it in 
 the presence of Him who will judge me — that I never will 
 wilfully deceive you. I have but one wish under Heaven, 
 and that is for the liberty and prosperity of Ireland. I 
 am for leaving England to the English, Scotland to the 
 Scotch, but we must have Ireland for the Irish. I will 
 not be content until I see not a single man in any office, 
 from the lowest constable to the Lord Chancellor, but 
 Irishmen. This is our land, and we must have it. We 
 will be obedient to the Queen, joined to England by the 
 golden link of the Crown, but we must have our own 
 Parliament, our own bench, our own magistrates, and we 
 
24 
 
 DANIEL O'CONNELL 
 
 will give some of the shoneens who now occupy tho bench 
 leave to retire, such as those lately appointed by Sugden. 
 He is a pretty boy, sent here from England; but I ask: 
 Did you ever hear such a name as he has got? I re- 
 member, in Wexford, a man told me he had a pig at 
 home which he was so fond of that he would call it Sug- 
 den. No; we shall get judicial independence for Ireland. 
 It is for this purpose we are assembled here to-day, as 
 every countenance I see around me testifies. If -there is 
 any one here who is for the Union, let him say so. Is 
 there anybody here for the repeal? [Cries of "All, all!"] 
 Yes, my friends, the Union was begot in iniquity — it 
 was perpetuated in fraud and cruelty. It was no com- 
 pact, no bargain, but it was an act of the most decided 
 tyranny and corruption that was ever yet perpetrated. 
 Trial by jury was suspended — the right of personal pro- 
 tection was at an end — courts-martial sat throughout the 
 land — and the county of Kildare, among others, flowed 
 with blood. Oh, my friends, listen now to the man of 
 peace, who will never expose you to the power of your 
 enemies. In 1798 there were some brave men, some val- 
 iant men, to head the people at large; but there were 
 many traitors, who left the people in the power of their 
 enemies. The Curragh of Kildare afforded an instance of 
 the fate which Irishmen were to expect, who confided in 
 their Saxon enemies. Oh, it was an ill-organized, a pre- 
 mature, a foolish, and an absurd insurrection; but you 
 have a leader now who never will allow you to commit 
 any act so foolish or so destructive. How delighted do 
 I feel with the thorough conviction which has come over 
 the minds of the people, that they could not gratify your 
 enemies more than by committing a crime. No; our an- 
 
IRELAND WORTH DYING FOR 
 
 25 
 
 cestors suffered for confiding in the English, but we never 
 will confide in them. They suffered for being divided 
 among themselves. There is no division among us. They 
 suffered for their own dissensions — for not standing man 
 to man by each other's side. We shall stand peaceably 
 side by side in the face of every enemy. Oh, how de- 
 lighted was I in the scenes which I witnessed as I came 
 along here to-day! How my heart throbbed, how my 
 spirit was elevated, how my bosom swelled with delight 
 at the multitude which I beheld, and which I shall be- 
 hold, of the stalwart and strong men of Kildare! I was 
 delighted at the activity and force that I saw around me, 
 and my old heart grew warm again in admiring the beauty 
 of the dark-eyed maids and matrons of Kildare. Oh, there 
 is a starlight sparkling from the eye of a Kildare beauty, 
 that is scarcely equalled, and could not be excelled, all 
 over the world. And remember that you are the sons, 
 the fathers, the brothers, and the husbands of such women, 
 and a traitor or a coward could never be connected with 
 any of them. Yes, I am in a county, remarkable in the 
 history of Ireland for its bravery and its misfortune, for 
 its credulity in the faith of others, for its people judged 
 of the Saxon by the honesty and honor of their own na- 
 tures. I am in a county celebrated for the sacredness of 
 its shrines and fanes. I am in a county where the lamp 
 of Kildare's holy shrine burned with its sacred fire, 
 through ages of darkness and storm — that fire which for 
 six centuries burned before the high altar without being 
 extinguished, being fed continuously, without the slight- 
 est interruption, and it seemed to me to have been not an 
 inapt representation of the continuous fidelity and relig- 
 ious love of country of the men of Kildare. Yes, you 
 
26 
 
 DANIEL O'CONNELL 
 
 have those high qualities — religioas fidelity, continuous 
 love of country. Even your enemies admit that the world 
 has never produced any people that exceeded the Irish in 
 activity and strength. The Scottish philosopher has de- 
 clared, and the French philosopher has confirmed it, that 
 number one in the human race is, blessed be Heaven, the 
 Irishman. In moral virtue, in religion, in perseverance, 
 and in glorious temperance, you excel. Have I any tee- 
 totalers here? Yes, it is teetotalism that is repealing the 
 Union. I could not afford to bring you together, I would 
 not dare to bring you together, but that I had the teeto- 
 talers for my police. 
 
 Yes, among the nations of the earth, Ireland stands 
 number one in the physical strength of her sons and in 
 the beauty and purity of her daughters. Ireland, land of 
 my forefathers, how my mind expands, and my spirit walks 
 abroad in something of majesty, when I contemplate the 
 high qualities, inestimable virtues, and true purity and 
 piety and religious fidelity of the inhabitants of your 
 green fields and productive mountains. Oh, what a scene 
 surrounds us! It is not only the countless thousands of 
 brave and active and peaceable and religious men that are 
 here assembled, but Nature herself has written her character 
 with the finest beauty in the verdant plains that surround 
 us. Let any man run round the horizon with his eye, and 
 tell me if created nature ever produced anything so green 
 and so lovely, so undulating, so teeming with production. 
 The richest harvests that any land can produce are those 
 reaped in Ireland; and then here are the sweetest mead- 
 ows, the greenest fields, the loftiest mountains, the purest 
 streams, the noblest rivers, the most capacious harbors — 
 and her water power is equal to turn the machinery of the 
 
IRELAND WORTH DYING FOR 
 
 27 
 
 whole world. Oh, my friends, it is a couDtry worth fight- 
 ing for — it is a country worth dying for; but, above all, it 
 is a country worth being tranquil, determined, submissive, 
 and docile for; disciplined as you are in obedience to those 
 who are breaking the way, and trampling down the barriers 
 between you and your constitutional liberty, I will see every 
 man of you having a vote, and every man protected by the 
 ballot from the agent or landlord, I will see labor pro- 
 tected, and every title to possession recognized, when you 
 are industrious and honest. I will see prosperity again 
 throughout your land — the busy hum of the shuttle and 
 the tinkling of the smithy shall be heard again. We 
 shall see the nailer employed even until the middle of 
 the night, and the carpenter covering himself with his 
 chips. I will see prosperity in all its gradations spread- 
 ing through a happy, contented, religious land. I will 
 hear the hymn of a happy people go forth at sunrise to 
 God in praise of his mercies — and I will see the evening 
 sun set down among the uplifted hands of a religious and 
 free population. Every blessing that man can bestow and 
 religion can confer upon the faithful heart shall spread 
 throughout the land. Stand by me — join with me — I will 
 say be obedient to me, and Ireland shall be free. 
 
HEE^RY CLAY 
 
 ENRY Clay, an eloquent and distinguished American statesman, was born 
 in Hanover County, near Richmond, Va., April 12, 1777, and died at 
 Washington, D. C, June 29, 1852. His father was a Baptist minister who 
 died when young Clay was but five years old. His mother marrying again 
 and removing to Kentucky, the future statesman was put to hard shifts to make his 
 way in life, but was aided by friends in the study of law, and in 1797 was admitted 
 to the Bar and practiced at Lexington, Ky. Here, having taken interest in the 
 affairs of the State, lately separated from Virginia, and a prominent part in the 
 discussions over its Constitution, he became, in 1803, a member of the legislature. 
 In 1806, he was sent to the United States Senate, to fill a temporary vacancy, and 
 in the following year was elected speaker of the Kentucky legislature. Two years 
 later, he appeared again in the United States Senate, and in 1811 became a repre- 
 sentative of his State in Congress, where his ability and popularity gained him the 
 speakership. Repudiating the British right of search, he urged on the war with 
 England of 1812-14, and the occupation of Canada by American troops, affirming 
 that "an honorable peace is obtainable only by an eflScient war," At its close, he 
 was one of the negotiators of peace at Ghent, and as commissioner signed the treaty. 
 On his return, he advocated a heavy protective tariff in the interest of home indus- 
 tries, and pled for a compromise with slavery, when that question came up on the 
 admission of Missouri as a slave State into the Union, in 1821, In 1824, he was 
 a candidate for the Presidency, but gave his support to the successful candidature 
 of John Quincy Adams, in whose administration he accepted the office of Secretary of 
 State, In 1832, and again in 1844, he was unsuccessful in seeking the office of President, 
 and for some years retired from public life. Re-appearing in the Senate, where he 
 wielded a potent influence and was eloquent and skillful in matters of legislation, 
 he took a leading part in effecting what is known as the Slavery Compromise of 
 1850, In the following year he was prostrated by disease, and died at the capital, 
 aged seventy-four. 
 
 DICTATORS IN AMERICAN POLITICS 
 
 DENOUNCING ANDREW JACKSON. DELIVERED IN THE UNITED STATES 
 SENATE. ON THE POINDEXTER RESOLUTION. APRIL 30, 1834 
 
 NEVER, Mr. President, have I known or read of an 
 administration which expires with so much agony, 
 and so little composure and resignation, as that 
 which now unfortunately has the control of public affairs 
 
 in this country. It exhibits a state of mind, feverish, fret- 
 (28) 
 
DICTATORS IN AMEiilCAN POLITICS 
 
 29 
 
 ful, and fidgety, bounding recklessly from one desperate 
 expedient to another, without any sober or settled purpose. 
 Ever since the dog days of last summer, it has been making 
 a succession of the most extravagant plunges, of which the 
 extraordinary Cabinet paper, a sort of appeal from a dissent- 
 ing Cabinet to the people, was the first; and the protest, a 
 direct appeal from the Senate to the people, is the last and 
 the worst. 
 
 A new philosophy has sprung up within a few years 
 past, called Phrenology. There is, I believe, something in 
 it, but not quite as much as its ardent followers proclaim. 
 According to its doctrines, the leading passion, propensity, 
 and characteristics of every man are developed in his physi- 
 cal conformation, chiefly in the structure of his head. Gall 
 and Spurzheim, its founders, or most eminent propagators, 
 being dead, I regret that neither of them can examine the 
 head of our illustrious Chief Magistrate. But if it could be 
 surveyed by Dr. Caldwell, of Transylvania University, I 
 am persuaded that he would find the organ of destructive- 
 ness prominently developed. Except an enormous fabric 
 of executive power for himself, the President has built up 
 nothing, constructed nothing, and will leave no enduring 
 monument of his administration. He goes for destruction, 
 universal destruction ; and it seems to be his greatest ambi- 
 tion to efface and obliterate every trace of the wisdom of 
 his predecessors. He has displayed this remarkable trait 
 throughout his whole life, whether in private walks or in 
 the public service. He signally and gloriously exhibited 
 that peculiar organ when contending against the enemies 
 of his country, in the battle of 'New Orleans. For that 
 brilliant exploit, no one has ever been more ready than 
 myself to award him all due honor. At the head of our 
 
30 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 armies was his appropriate position, and most unfortunate 
 for his fame was the day when he entered on the career of 
 administration as the chief executive officer. He lives by 
 excitement, perpetual, agitating excitement, and would die 
 in a state of perfect repose and tranquillity. He has never 
 been without some subject of attack, either in individuals, 
 or in masses, or in institutions. I, myself, have been one 
 of his favorites, and I do not know but that I have re- 
 cently recommended myself to his special regard. During 
 his administration this has been his constant course. The 
 Indians and Indian policy, internal improvements, the 
 colonial trade, the Supreme Court, Congress, the bank, have 
 successively experienced the attacks of his haughty and im- 
 perious spirit. And if he tramples the bank in the dust, 
 my word for it, we shall see him quickly in chase of some 
 new subject of his vengeance. This is the genuine spirit of 
 conquerors and of conquest. It is said by the biographer 
 of Alexander the Grreat, that, after he had completed his 
 Asiatic conquests, he seemed to sigh because there were no 
 more worlds for him to subdue; and, finding himself with- 
 out further employment for his valor or his arms, he turned 
 within himself to search the means to gratify his insatiable 
 thirst of glory. What sort of conquest he achieved of him- 
 self, the same biographer tragically records. 
 
 Already has the President singled out and designated, in 
 the Senate of the United States, the new object of his hostile 
 pursuit; and the protest, which I am now to consider, is his 
 declaration of war. What has provoked it? The Senate, a 
 component part of the Congress of the United States, at its 
 last adjournment left the Treasury of the United States in 
 the safe custody of the persons and places assigned by law 
 to keep it. Upon reassembling, it found the treasure re- 
 
DICTATORS IN AMERICAN POLITICS 
 
 31 
 
 moved; some of its guardians displaced; all, remaining, 
 brought under the immediate control of the President's 
 sole will; and the President having free and unobstructed 
 access to the public money. The Senate believes that the 
 purse of the nation is, by the Constitution and laws, in- 
 trusted to the exclusive legislative care of Congress. It 
 has dared to avow and express this opinion, in a resolu- 
 tion adopted on the twenty-eighth of March last. That 
 resolution was preceded by a debate of three months' du- 
 ration, in the progress of which the able and zealous sup- 
 porters of the Executive in the Senate were attentively 
 heard. Every argument which their ample resources, or 
 those of the members of the Executive, could supply was 
 listened to with respect, and duly weighed. After full 
 deliberation, the Senate expressed its conviction that the 
 Executive had violated the Constitution and laws. It cau- 
 tiously refrained in the resolution from all examination into 
 the motives or intention of the Executive; it ascribed no 
 bad ones to him ; it restricted itself to a simple declaration 
 of its solemn belief that the Constitution and laws had been 
 violated. This is the extent of the offence of the Senate. 
 This is what it has done to excite the Executive indignation 
 and to bring upon it the infliction of a denunciatory protest. 
 
 The President comes down upon the Senate and demands 
 that it record upon its journal this protest. He recommends 
 no measure — no legislation whatever. He proposes no ex- 
 ecutive proceeding on the part of the Senate. He requests 
 the recording of his protest, and he requests nothing more 
 nor less. The Senate has abstained from putting on its 
 own record any vindication of the resolution of which the 
 President complains. It has not asked of him to place it, 
 where he says he has put his protest, in the archives of the 
 
32 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 Executive. He desires, therefore, to be done for him, on 
 the journal of the Senate, what has not been done for it- 
 self. The Senate keeps no recording office for protests, 
 deeds, wills, or other instruments. The Constitution en- 
 joins that "each House shall keep a journal of its proceed- 
 ings." In conformity with this requirement, the Senate 
 does keep a journal of its proceedings— not the proceed- 
 ings of the Executive, or any other department of the gov- 
 ernment, except so far as they relate directly to the busi- 
 ness of the Senate. The President sometimes professes to 
 favor a strict construction of the Constitution, at least in 
 regard to the powers of all the departments of the govern- 
 ^ment other than that of which he is the chief. As to that, 
 he is the greatest latitudinarian that has ever filled the office 
 of President. Upon any fair construction of the Constitu- 
 tion, how can the Senate be called upon to record upon its 
 journal any proceedings but its own? It is true that the 
 ordinary messages of the President are usually inserted at 
 large in the journal. Strictly speaking, it perhaps ought 
 never to have been done; but they have been heretofore 
 registered, because they relate to the general business of the 
 Senate, either in its legislative or executive character, and 
 have been the basis of subsequent proceedings. The protest 
 stands upon totally distinct ground. 
 
 The President professes to consider himself as charged 
 by the resolution with "the high crime of violating the 
 laws and Constitution of my country." He declares that 
 **one of the most important branches of the government, in 
 its official capacity, in a public manner, and by its recorded 
 sentence, but without precedent, competent authority, or 
 just cause, declares him guilty of a breach of the laws and 
 Constitution." The protest further alleges that such an act 
 
DICTATORS IN AMERICAN POLITICS 
 
 33 
 
 as the Constitution describes "constitutes a high crime — one 
 of the highest, indeed, which the President can commit — a 
 crime which justly exposes him to an impeachment by the 
 House of Representatives; and, upon due conviction, to re- 
 moval from office, and to the complete and immutable dis- 
 franchisement prescribed by the Constitution." it also as- 
 serts: "The resolution, then, was an impeachment of the 
 President, and in its passage amounts to a declaration by a 
 majority of the Senate, that he is guilty of an impeachable 
 offence." The President is also of opinion that to say that 
 the resolution does not expressly allege that the assumption 
 of power and authority which it condemns was intentional 
 and corrupt, is no answer to the preceding view of its char- 
 acter and effect. "The act thus condemned necessarily im- 
 plies volition and design in the individual to whom it is 
 imputed; and, being unlawful in its character, the legal con- 
 clusion is, that it was prompted by improper motives and 
 committed with an unlawful intent." . . . "The President 
 of the United States, therefore, has been, by a majority of 
 his constitutional triers, accused and found guilty of an 
 impeachable offence." 
 
 Such are the deliberate views, entertained by the Presi- 
 dent, of the implications, effects, and consequences of the 
 resolution. It is scarcely necessary to say that they are 
 totally different from any which were entertained by the 
 Senate, or by the mover of the resolution. The Senate 
 carefully abstained from looking into the quo animoj from 
 all examination into the motives or intention with which 
 the violation of the Constitution and laws was made. No 
 one knows those motives and intentions better than tha 
 President himself. If he chooses to supply the omission 
 of the resolution, if he thinks proper to pronounce bis own 
 
 Vol. 5—3 
 
84 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 self-condemnation, his guilt does not flow from what the 
 Senate has done, but from his own avowal. Having cau- 
 tiously avoided passing upon his guilt by prejudgment, bo 
 neither ought his acquittal to be pronounced by antici- 
 pation. 
 
 But, I would ask, in what tone, temper, and spirit does 
 the President come to the Senate ? As a great State culprit 
 who has been arraigned at the bar of justice, or sentenced 
 as guilty? Does he manifest any of those compunctious 
 visitings of conscience which a guilty violator of the Consti- 
 tution and laws of the land ought to feel ? Does he address 
 himself to a high court with the respect, to say nothing of 
 humility, which a person accused or convicted would natu- 
 rally feel ? No, no. He comes as if the Senate were guilty, 
 as if he were in the judgment-seat, and the Senate stood 
 accused before him. He arraigns the Senate; puts it upon 
 trial; condemns it; he comes as if he felt himself elevated 
 far above the Senate, and beyond all reach of the law, sur- 
 rounded by unapproachable impunity. He who professes 
 to be an innocent and injured man gravely accuses the 
 Senate, and modestly asks it to put upon its own record his 
 sentence of condemnation ! When before did the arraigned 
 or convicted party demand of the court which was to try, 
 or had condemned him, to enter upon their records a severe 
 denunciation of their own conduct? The President presents 
 himself before the Senate, not in the garb of suffering inno- 
 cence, but in imperial and royal costume — as a dictator, to 
 rebuke a refractory Senate; to command it to record his 
 solemn protest; to chastise it for disobedience. 
 
 **The hearts of princes kiss obedience, 
 So much they love it ; but to stubborn spirits 
 They swell, and grow as terrible as storms." 
 
DICTATORS IN AMBRICAN POLITICS 
 
 35 
 
 We shall better comprehend the nature of the request 
 which the President has made of the Senate, by referring 
 to his own opinions expressed in the protest. He says that 
 the resolution is a recorded sentence, "but without prece- 
 dent, just cause, or competent authority." He "is perfectly 
 convinced that the discussion and passage of the above- 
 mentioned resolutions were not only unauthorized by the 
 Constitution, but in many respects repugnant to its provi- 
 sions, and subversive of the rights secured by it to other 
 co-ordinate departments." We had no right, it seems, then, 
 even to discuss, much less express any opinion on, the 
 President's proceedings encroaching upon our constitutional 
 powers. And what right had the President to look at all 
 into our discussions? What becomes of the constitutional 
 provision which, speaking of Congress, declares, "for any 
 speech or debate in either House, they shall not be ques- 
 tioned in any other place"? 
 
 The President thinks "the resolution of the Senate is 
 wholly unauthorized by the Constitution, and in derogation 
 of its entire spirit." He proclaims that the passage, record- 
 ing, and promulgation of the resolution affixes guilt and 
 disgrace to the President, "in a manner unauthorized by 
 the Constitution." But, says the President, if the Senate 
 had just cause to entertain the belief that the House of 
 Eepresentatives would not impeach him, that cannot justify 
 "the assumption by the Senate of powers not conferred by 
 the Constitution." The protest continues: "It is only 
 necessary to look at the condition in which the Senate and 
 the President have been placed by this proceeding, to per- 
 ceive its utter incompatibility with the provisions and the 
 spirit of the Constitution, and with the plainest dictates of 
 humanity and justice." A majority of the Senate assume 
 
36 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 the function which belongs to the House of Representatives, 
 and "convert themselves into accusers, witnesses, counsel, 
 and judges, and prejudge the whole case." If the House 
 of Representatives shall consider that there is no cause of 
 impeachment, and prefer none, "then will the violation of 
 privilege as it respects that House, of justice as it regards 
 the President, and of the Constitution as it relates to both, 
 be more conspicuous and impressive." The Senate is 
 charged with the "unconstitutional power of arraigning 
 and censuring the official conduct of the Executive." The 
 people, says the protest, will be compelled to adopt the con- 
 clusion, "either that the Chief Magistrate was unworthy 
 of their respect, or that the Senate was chargeable with 
 calumny and injustice." There can be no doubt which 
 branch of this alternative was intended to be applied. The 
 President throughout the protest labors to prove himself 
 worthy of all respect from the people. Finally, the Presi- 
 dent says: "It is due to the high trust with which I have 
 been charged, to those who may be called to succeed me in 
 it, to the representatives of the people whose constitutional 
 prerogative has been unlawfully assumed, to the people and 
 to the States, and to the Constitution they have established, 
 that I should not permit its provisions to be broken down 
 by such an attack on the Executive department, without at 
 least some effort *to preserve, protect, and defend them.' " 
 These are the opinions which the President expresses 
 in the protest, of the conduct of the Senate. In every form, 
 and every variety of expression, he accuses it of violating 
 the express language and spirit of the Constitution; of en- 
 croaching not only on his prerogatives, but those of the 
 House of Representatives ; of forgetting the sacred character 
 d,m\ impartiality wbipb l?elong to th^ highest court of justice 
 
DICTATORS IN AMERICAN POLITICS 
 
 37 
 
 in the Union; of injustice, of inhumanity, and of calumny. 
 And we are politely requested to spread upon our own 
 journal these opinions entertained of us by the President, 
 that they may be perpetually preserved and handed down 
 to posterity! The President respectfully requests it! He 
 might as well have come to us and respectfully requested 
 us to allow him to pull our noses, or kick us, or receive his 
 stripes upon our backs. The degradation would not have 
 been much more humiliating. 
 
 The President tells us, in the same protest, that any 
 breach or violation of the Constitution and laws draws 
 after it, and necessarily implies, volition and design, and 
 that the legal conclusion is that it was prompted by im- 
 proper motives and committed with an unlawful intent. 
 He pronounces, therefore, that the Senate, in the violations 
 of the Constitution which he deliberately imputes to it, is 
 guilty; that volition and design, on the part of the Senate, 
 are necessarily implied; and that the legal conclusion is that 
 the Senate was prompted by improper motives, and com- 
 mitted the violation with an unlawful intent. And he most 
 respectfully and kindly solicits the Senate to overleap the 
 restraint of the Constitution, which limits its journal to 
 the record of its own proceedings, and place alongside of 
 them his sentence of condemnation of the Senate. 
 
 That the President did not intend to make the journal 
 of the Senate a medium of conveying his sentiments to the 
 people is manifest. He knows perfectly well how to address 
 to them his appeals. And the remarkable fact is estab- 
 lished, by his private secretary, that, simultaneously with 
 the transmission to the Senate of his protest, a duplicate 
 was transmitted to the "Grlobe," his official paper, for pub- 
 lication; and it was forthwith published accordingly. For 
 
38 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 what purpose, then, was it sent here? It is painful to avow 
 the belief, but one is compelled to think it was only sent iu 
 a spirit of insult and defiance. 
 
 The President is not content with vindicating his own 
 rights. He steps forward to maintain the privileges of the 
 House of Eepresentatives also. Why? Was it to make 
 the House his ally, and to excite its indignation against the 
 offending Senate? Is not the House perfectly competent to 
 sustain its own privileges against every assault? I should 
 like to see, sir, a resolution introduced into the House, 
 alleging a breach of its privileges by a resolution of the 
 Senate, which was intended to maintain unviolated the con- 
 stitutional rights of both Houses in regard to the public 
 purse, and to be present at its discussion. 
 
 The President exhibits great irritation and impatience 
 at the presumptuousness of a resolution, which, without the 
 imputation of any bad intention or design, ventures to 
 allege that he has violated the Constitution and laws. His 
 constitutional and official infallibility must not be ques- 
 tioned. To controvert it is an act of injustice, inhumanity, 
 and calumny. He is treated as a criminal, and, without 
 summons, he is prejudged, condemned, and sentenced. Is 
 the President scrupulously careful of the memory of the 
 dead, or the feelings of the living, in respect to violations 
 of the Constitution? If a violation by him implies criminal 
 guilt, a violation by them cannot be innocent and guiltless. 
 And how has the President treated the memory of the im- 
 mortal Father of his Country? that great man, who, for 
 purity of purpose and character, wisdom and moderation, 
 unsullied virtue and unsurpassed patriotism, is without 
 competition in past history or among living men, and 
 whose equal we scarcely dare hope will ever be again pre- 
 
DICTATORS IN AMERICAN POLITICS 
 
 89 
 
 sented as a blessing to man^cind. How has he been treated 
 by the President ? Has he not again and again pronounced 
 that, by approving the bill chartering the first Bank of the 
 United States, Washington violated the Constitution of his 
 country? That violation, according to the President, in- 
 cluded volition and design, was prompted by improper 
 motives, and was committed with an unlawful intent. It 
 was the more inexcusable in Washington, because he as- 
 sisted and presided in the convention which formed the 
 Constitution. If it be unjust to arraign, try unheard, and 
 condemn as guilty, a living man filling an exalted office, 
 with all the splendor, power, and influence which that office 
 possesses, how much more cruel is it to disturb the sacred 
 and venerated ashes of the illustrious dead, who can raise 
 no voice and make no protests against the imputation of 
 high crime! 
 
 What has been the treatment of the President toward 
 that other illustrious man, yet spared to us, but who is 
 lingering upon the very verge of eternity? Has he ab- 
 stained from charging the Father of the Constitution with 
 criminal intent in violating the Constitution ? Mr. Madison, 
 like Washington, assisted in the formation of the Constitu- 
 tion; was one of its ablest expounders and advocates; and 
 was opposed, on constitutional ground, to the first Bank of 
 the United States. But, yielding to the force of circum- 
 stances, and especially to the great principle, that the peace 
 and stability of human society require that a controverted 
 question, which has been finally settled by all the depart- 
 ments of government by long acquiescence, and by the 
 people themselves, should not be open to perpetual dispute 
 and disturbance, he approved the bill chartering the present 
 Bank of the United States. Even the name of James 
 
40 
 
 HENKY CLAY 
 
 Madi?on, which, is but another for purity, patriotism, pro- 
 found learning, and enlightened experience, cannot escape 
 the imputations of his present successor. 
 
 And, lastly, how often has he charged Congress itself 
 with open violations of the Constitution? Times almost 
 without number. During the present session he has sent 
 in a message, in regard to the land bill, in which he has 
 charged it with an undisguised violation^ A violation so 
 palpable, that it is not even disguised, and must, therefore, 
 necessarily imply a criminal intent. Sir, the advisers of the 
 President, whoever they are, deceive him and themselves. 
 They have vainly supposed that, by an appeal to the peo- 
 ple, and an exhibition of the wounds of the President, they 
 could enlist the sympathies and the commiseration of the 
 people — that the name of Andrew Jackson would bear 
 down the Senate and all opposition. They have yet to 
 learn, what they will soon learn, that even a good and re- 
 sponsible name may be used so frequently, as an indorser, 
 that its credit and the public confidence in its solidity have 
 been seriously impaired. They mistake the intelligence of 
 the people, who are not prepared to see and sanction the 
 President putting forth indiscriminate charges of a violation 
 of the Constitution against whomsoever he pleases, and ex- 
 hibiting unmeasured rage and indignation when his own 
 infallibility is dared to be questioned. 
 
ON THE SEMINOLE WAR 
 
 41 
 
 ON THE SEMINOLE WAR 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 19, 1819 
 
 IF MY recollection does not deceive me, Bonaparte had 
 passed the Rhine and the Alps, had conquered Italy, 
 the Netherlands, Holland, Hanover, Lubec, and Ham- 
 burg, and extended his empire as far as Altona, on the side 
 of Denmark. A few days' march would have carried him 
 through Holstein, over the two Belts, through Funen, and 
 into the island of Zealand. What, then, was the conduct 
 of England? It was my lot to fall into conversation with 
 an intelligent Englishman on this subject. *'We knew (said 
 he) that we were fighting for our existence. It was abso- 
 lutely necessary that we should preserve the command of 
 the seas. If the fleet of Denmark fell into the enemy's 
 hands, combined with his other fleets, that command might 
 be rendered doubtful. Denmark had only a nominal inde- 
 pendence. She was, in truth, subject to his sway. We 
 said to her, Give us your fleet; it will otherwise be taken 
 possession of by your secret and our open enemy. We will 
 preserve it and restore it to you whenever the danger shall 
 be over. Denmark refused. Copenhagen was bombarded, 
 and gallantly defended, but the fleet was seized." Every- 
 where the conduct of England was censured; and the name 
 even of the negotiator who was employed by her, who 
 was subsequently the minister near this government, was 
 scarcely ever pronounced here without coupling with it an 
 epithet indicating his participation in the disgraceful trans- 
 action. And yet we are going to sanction acts of violence, 
 
42 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 committed by ourselves, which but too much resemble it I 
 What an important diEerence, too, between the relative 
 condition of England and of this country! She, perhaps, 
 was struggling for her existence. She was combating, 
 single-handed, the most enormous military power that the 
 world has ever known. With whom were we contending? 
 With a few half-starved, half-clothed, wretched Indians 
 and fugitive slaves. And while carrying on this inglorious 
 war, inglorious as regards the laurels or renown won in it, 
 we violate neutral rights, which the government had sol- 
 emnly pledged itself to respect, upon the principle of con- 
 venience, or upon the light presumption that, by possibility, 
 a post might be taken by this miserable combination of 
 Indians and slaves. . . . 
 
 I will not trespass much longer upon the time of the 
 committee; but I trust I shall be indulged with some few 
 reflections upon the danger of permitting the conduct on 
 which it has been my painful duty to animadvert, to pass 
 without the solemn expression of the disapprobation of this 
 House. Eecall to your recollection the free nations which 
 have gone before us. Where are they now ? 
 
 **Gone glimmering through the dream of things that were, 
 A schoolboy's tale, the wonder of an hour." 
 
 And how have they lost their liberties? If we could 
 transport ourselves back to the ages when Greece and Rome 
 flourished in their greatest prosperity, and, mingling in the 
 throng, should ask a Grrecian if he did not fear that some 
 daring military chieftain, covered with glory, some Philip 
 or Alexander, would one day overthrow the liberties of his 
 country, the confident and indignant Grecian would ex- 
 claim, No! no! we have nothing to fear from our heroes; 
 
ON THE SEMINOLE WAR 
 
 43 
 
 our liberties will be eternal. If a Koman citizen had been 
 asked if lie did not fear that the conqueror of Gaul might 
 establish a throne upon the ruins of public liberty, he would 
 have instantly repelled the unjust insinuation. Yet Greece 
 fell; Caesar passed the Kubicon, and the patriotic arm even 
 of Brutus could not preserve the liberties of his devoted 
 country! The celebrated Madame de Stael, in her last and 
 perhaps her best work, has said, that in the very year, al- 
 most the very month, when the president of the Directory 
 declared that monarchy would never more show its fright- 
 ful head in France, Bonaparte, with his grenadiers, entered 
 the palace of St. Cloud, and, dispersing with the bayonet 
 the deputies of the people deliberating on the affairs of the 
 State, laid the foundation of that vast fabric of despotism 
 which overshadowed all Europe. I hope not to be misun- 
 derstood; I am far from intimating that General Jackson 
 cherishes any designs inimical to the liberties of the coun- 
 try. I believe his intentions to be pure and patriotic. I 
 thank God that he would not, but I thank him still more 
 that he could not if he would, overturn the liberties of the 
 Republic. But precedents, if bad, are fraught with the most 
 dangerous consequences. Man has been described, by some 
 of those who have treated of his nature, as a bundle of hab- 
 its. The definition is much truer when applied to govern- 
 ments. Precedents are their habits. There is one important 
 difference between the formation of habits by an individual 
 and by governments. He contracts only after frequent repe- 
 tition. A single instance fixes the habit and determines the 
 direction of governments. Against the alarming doctrine 
 of unlimited discretion in our military commanders when 
 applied even to prisoners of war, 1 must enter my protest. 
 It begins upon them; it will end on us. 1 hope our happy 
 
44 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 form of government is to be perpetual. But, if it is to be 
 preserved it must be by the practice of virtue, by justice, 
 by moderation, by magnanimity, by greatness of soul, by 
 keeping a watchful and steady eye on the Executive; and, 
 aoove all, by holding to a strict accountability the military 
 branch of the public force. 
 
 We are fighting a great moral battle for the benefit not 
 only of our country, but of all mankind. The eyes of the 
 whole world are in fixed attention upon us. One, and 
 the larger portion of it, is gazing with contempt, with jeal- 
 ousy, and with envy ; the other portion, with hope, with con- 
 fidence, and with affection. Everywhere the black cloud of 
 legitimacy is suspended over the world, save only one bright 
 spot, which breaks out from the political hem'isphere of the 
 West, to enlighten and animate and gladden the human 
 heart. Obscure that by the downfall of liberty here, and 
 all mankind are enshrouded in a pall of universal darkness. 
 To you, Mr. Chairman, belongs the high privilege of trans- 
 mitting, unimpaired, to posterity the fair character and lib- 
 erty of our country. Do you expect to execute this high 
 trust by trampling, or suffering to be trampled down, law, 
 justice, the Constitution, and the rights of the people? by 
 exhibiting examples of inhumanity and cruelty and ambi- 
 tion? When the minions of despotism heard, in Europe, 
 of the seizure of Pensacola, how did they chuckle, and chide 
 the admirers of our institutions, tauntingly pointing to the 
 demonstration of a spirit of injustice and aggrandizement 
 made by our country, in the midst of an amicable negoti- 
 ation! Behold, said they, the conduct of those who are 
 constantly reproaching kings'. You saw how those admir- 
 ers were astounded and hung their heads. You saw, too, 
 when that illustrious man, who presides over us, adopted 
 
ON THE SEMINOLE WAR 
 
 45 
 
 his pacific, moderate, and just course, how they once more 
 lifted up their heads with exultation and delight beaming 
 in their countenances. And you saw how those minions 
 themselves were finally compelled to unite in the general 
 praises bestowed upon our government. Beware how you 
 forfeit this exalted character. Beware how you give a fatal 
 sanction, in this infant period of our Kepublic, scarcely yet 
 twoscore years old, to military insubordination. Remem- 
 ber that Greece had her Alexander, Rome her Caesar, Eng- 
 land her Cromwell, France her Bonaparte, and that if we 
 would escape the rock on which they split we must avoid 
 their errors. 
 
 How different has been the treatment of General Jackson 
 and that modest, but heroic young man, a native of one of 
 the smallest States in the Union, who achieved for his coun- 
 try, on Lake Erie, one of the most glorious victories of the 
 late war. In a moment of passion he forgot himself and 
 offered an act of violence which was repented of as soon 
 as perpetrated. He was tried, and suffered the judgment 
 to be pronounced by his peers. Public justice was thought 
 not even then to be satisfied. The press and Congress took 
 up the subject. My honorable friend from Virginia, Mr. 
 Johnson, the faithful and consistent sentinel of the law and 
 of the Constitution, disapproved in that instance, as he does 
 in this, and moved an inquiry. The public mind remained- 
 agitated and unappeased until the recent atonement, so hon- 
 orably made by the gallant commodore. And is there to be 
 a distinction between the officers of the two branches of the 
 public service ? Are former services, however eminent, to 
 preclude even inquiry into recent misconduct ? Is there to 
 be no limit, no prudential bounds to the national gratitude ? 
 I am not, disposed to censure the President for not ordering 
 
46 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 a court of inquiry, or a general court-martial. Perhaps, im- 
 pelled by a sense of gratitude, he determined, by anticipa- 
 tion, to extend to the general that pardon which he had the 
 undoubted right to grant after sentence. Let us not shrink 
 from our duty. Let us assert our constitutional powers, and 
 vindicate the instrument from military violation. 
 
 I hope gentlemen will deliberately survey the awful isth- 
 mus on which we stand. They may bear down all opposi- 
 tion; they may even vote the general the public thanks; 
 they may carry him triumphantly through this House. 
 But, if they do, in my humble judgment, it will be a tri- 
 umph of the principle of insubordination, a triumph of the 
 military over the civil authority, a triumph over the powers 
 of this House, a triumph over the Constitution of the land. 
 And I pray most devoutly to Heaven that it may not prove, 
 in its ultimate effects and consequences, a triumph over the 
 liberties of the people. 
 
 THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. MARCH 24. 1818 
 
 IEISE under feelings of deeper regret than I have ever 
 experienced on any former occasion, inspired princi- 
 pally by the consideration that I find myself, on the 
 proposition which I meant to submit, differing from many 
 highly esteemed friends, in and out of this House, for whose 
 judgment I entertained the greatest respect. A knowledge 
 of this circumstance has induced me to pause; to subject my 
 own convictions to the severest scrutiny, and to revolve the 
 question over and over again. But all my reflections have 
 
THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA 47 
 
 conducted me to the same clear result; and, much as I value 
 those friends, great as my deference is for their opinions, I 
 cannot hesitate, when reduced to the distressing alternative 
 of conforming my judgment to theirs, or pursuing the delib- 
 erate and mature dictates of my own mind. I enjoy some 
 consolation for the want of their co-operation, from the per- 
 suasion that, if I err on this occasion, I err on the side of 
 the liberty and happiness of a large portion of the human 
 family. Another, and, if possible, indeed a greater source 
 of the regret to which I refer is the utter incompetency 
 which 1 unfeignedly feel to do anything like adequate jus- 
 tice to the great cause of American independence and free- 
 dom, whose interests I wish to promote by my humble exer- 
 tions in this instance. Exhausted and worn down as I am, 
 by the fatigue, confinement, and incessant application inci- 
 dent to the arduous duties of the honorable station 1 hold, 
 during a four months' session, I shall need all that kind 
 indulgence which has been so often extended to me by the 
 House. 
 
 I beg, in the first place, to correct misconceptions, if any 
 exist, in regard to my opinions. I am averse to war with 
 Spain, or with any power. I would give no just cause 
 of war to any power — not to Spain herself. 1 have seen 
 enough of war, and of its calamities, even when successful. 
 No country on earth has more interest than this in cultivat- 
 ing peace and avoiding war, as long as it is possible honor- 
 ably to avoid it. Gaining additional strength every day; 
 our numbers doubling in periods of twenty-five years ; with 
 an income outstripping all our estimates, and so great, as, 
 after a war in some respects disastrous, to furnish results 
 which carry astonishment, if not dismay, into the bosom 
 of States jealous of our rising importance; we have every 
 
48 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 motive for the love of peace. I cannot, however, approve 
 in all respects of the manner in which our negotiations with 
 Spain have been conducted. If ever a favorable time ex- 
 isted for the demand, on the part of an injured nation, of 
 indemnity for past wrongs from the aggressor, such is the 
 present time. Impoverished and exhausted at home, by 
 the wars which have desolated the Peninsula; with a for- 
 eign war, calling for infinitely more resources, in men and 
 money, than she can possibly command; this is the auspi- 
 cious period for insisting upon justice at her hands in a 
 firm and decided tone. Time is precisely what Spain now 
 wants. Yet what are we told by the President, in his mes- 
 sage at the commencement of Congress? That Spain has 
 procrastinated, and we acquiesced in her procrastination- 
 And the Secretary of State, in a late communication with 
 Mr. Onis, after ably vindicating all our rights, tells the 
 Spanish Minister, with a good deal of sang-froid, that we 
 had patiently waited thirteen years for a redress of our 
 injuries, and that it required no great effort to wait longer. 
 I would have abstained from thus exposing our intentions. 
 Avoiding the use of the language of menace, I would have 
 required, in temperate and decided terms, indemnity for all 
 our wrongs; for the spoliations of our commerce; for the 
 interruption to the right of depot at New Orleans, guaran- 
 teed by treaty; for the insults repeatedly offered to our flag; 
 for the Indian hostilities, which she was bound to prevent; 
 for belligerent use of her ports and territories by our enemy 
 during the late war; and the instantaneous liberation of the 
 free citizens of the United States, now imprisoned in her 
 jails. Contemporaneously with that demand, without wait- 
 ing for her final answer, and with a view to the favorable 
 operation on her councils in regard to our own peculiar 
 
THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA 
 
 49 
 
 interests, as well as in pstice to the cause itself, i would 
 recognize any established government in Spanish America. 
 1 would have left Spain to draw her own inferences from 
 these proceedings as to the ultimate step which this country 
 might adopt if she longer withheld justice from us. And if 
 she persevered in her iniquity, after we had conducted the 
 negotiation in the manner I have endeavored to describe, I 
 would then take up and decide the solemn question of peace 
 or war, with the advantage of all the light shed upon it, by 
 subsequent events, and the probable conduct of Europe. 
 
 Spain has undoubtedly given us abundant and just 
 cause for war. But it is not every cause of war that should 
 lead to war. War is one of those dreadful scourges that so 
 shakes the foundation of society, overturns or changes the 
 character of government, interrupts or destroys the pursuits 
 of private happiness, brings, in short, misery and wretched- 
 ness in so many forms, and at last is, in its issue, so doubt- 
 ful and hazardous, that nothing but dire necessity can 
 justify an appeal to arms. If we are to have war with 
 Spain, I have, however, no hesitation in saying that no 
 mode of bringing it about could be less fortunate than that 
 of seizing, at this time, upon her adjoining province. There 
 was a time, under certain circumstances, when we might 
 have occupied East Florida with safety; had we then taken 
 It, our posture in the negotiation with Spain would have 
 been totally different from what it is. But we have per- 
 mitted that time, not with my consent, to pass by unim- 
 proved. If we were now to seize upon Florida, after a 
 great change in those circumstances, and after declaring 
 our intention to acquiesce in the procrastination desired 
 by Spain, in what light should we be viewed by foreign 
 powers, particularly Great Britain ? We have already been 
 
 Vol. 5-4 
 
50 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 accused of inordinate ambition, and of seeking to aggran- 
 dize ourselves by an extension, on all sides, of our limits. 
 Should we not, by such an act of violence, give color to the 
 accusation? No, Mr. Chairman, if we are to be involved in 
 a war with Spain, let us have the credit of disinterestedness. 
 Let us put her yet more in the wrong. Let us command the 
 respect which is never withheld from those who act a noble 
 and generous part. I hope to communicate to the com- 
 mittee the conviction which I so strongly feel, that the 
 adoption of the amendment which I intend to propose 
 would not hazard, in the slightest degree, the peace of the 
 country. But if that peace is to be endangered, I would 
 infinitely rather it should be for our exerting the right ap- 
 pertaining to every State, of acknowledging the independ- 
 ence of another State, than for the seizure of a province, 
 which, sooner or later, we must acquire. 
 
 In contemplating the great struggle in which Spanish 
 America is now engaged, our attention is fixed first by the 
 immensity and character of the country which Spain seeks 
 again to subjugate. Stretching on the Pacific Ocean from 
 about the fortieth degree of north latitude to about the 
 fifty-fifth degree of south latitude, and extending from the 
 mouth of the Rio del Norte (exclusive of East Florida), 
 around the Gulf of Mexico and along the South Atlantic to 
 near Cape Horn, it is about five thousand miles in length, 
 and in some places nearly three thousand in breadth. 
 Within this vast region we behold the most sublime and ' 
 interesting objects of creation, the richest mines of the 
 precious metals, and the choicest productions of the earth. 
 We behold there a spectacle still more interesting and sub- 
 lime — the glorious spectacle of eighteen millions of people 
 struggling to burst their chains and to be free. When we 
 
THE EMANCirATION OF SOUTH AMERICA 51 
 
 take a little nearer and more detailed view wc perceive that 
 nature has, as it were, ordained that this people and this 
 country shall ultimately constitute several different nations. 
 Leaving the United States on the north, we come to I^ew 
 Spain or the viceroyalty of Mexico on the south, passing 
 by Guatemala, we reach the viceroyalty of New Granada, 
 the late captain-generalship of Venezuela, and Guiana, 
 lying on the east side of the Andes. Stepping over the 
 Brazils, we arrive at the united provinces of La Plata, and 
 crossing the Andes we find Chile on their west side, and, 
 further north, the viceroyalty of Lima, or Peru. Each of 
 these several parts is sufficient in itself in point of limits 
 to constitute a powerful State; and, in point of population, 
 that which has the smallest contains enough to make it re- 
 spectable. Throughout all the extent of that great portion 
 of the world which I have attempted thus hastily to de- 
 scribe, the spirit of revolt against the dominion of Spain 
 has manifested itself. The revolution has been attended 
 with various degrees of success in the several parts of 
 Spanish America. In some it has been already crowned, 
 as I shall endeavor to show, with complete success, and in 
 all I am persuaded that independence has struck such deep 
 root, that the power of Spain can never eradicate it. What 
 are the causes of this great movement? 
 
 Three hundred years ago, upon the ruins of the thrones 
 of Montezuma and the Incas of Peru, Spain erected the 
 most stupendous system of colonial despotism that the world 
 Has ever seen — the most vigorous, the most exclusive. The 
 great principle and object of this system have been to render 
 one of the largest portions of the world exclusively subser- 
 vient, in all its faculties, to the interests of an inconsider- 
 able spot in Europe. To effectuate this aim of her policy, 
 
 J. OF ILL La 
 
52 HENRY CLAY 
 
 she locked up Spanish America from all the rest of the 
 world, and prohibited, under the severest penalties, any 
 foreigner from entering any part of it. To keep the natives 
 themselves ignorant of each other, and of the strength and 
 resources of the several parts of her American possessions, 
 she next prohibited the inhabitants of one viceroy alty or 
 government from visiting those of another; so that the in^ 
 habitants of Mexico, for example, were not allowed to enter 
 the viceroyalty of New Granada. The agriculture of those 
 vast regions was so regulated and restrained as to prevent 
 all collision with the agriculture of the Peninsula. Where 
 nature, by the character and composition of the soil, has 
 commanded, the abominable system of Spain has forbidden, 
 the growth of certain articles. Thus the olive and the vine, 
 to which Spanish America is so well adapted, are pro- 
 hibited, wherever their culture can interfere with the olive 
 and the vine of the Peninsula. The commerce of the coun- 
 try, in the direction and objects of the exports and imports, 
 is also subjected to the narrow and selfish views of Spain, 
 and fettered by the odious spirit of monopoly, existing in 
 Cadiz. She has sought, by scattering discord among the 
 several castes of her American population, and by a de- 
 basing course of education, to perpetuate her oppression. 
 Whatever concerns public law, or the science of govern- 
 ment, all writings upon political economy, or that tend to 
 give vigor and freedom and expansion to the intellect, are 
 prohibited. Gentlemen would be astonished by the long 
 list of distinguished authors, whom she proscribes, to be 
 found in Depons and other works. A main feature in her 
 policy is that which constantly elevates the European and 
 depresses the American character. Out of upward of seven 
 hundred and fifty viceroys and captains-general, whom she 
 
THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA 53 
 
 has appointed since the conquest of America, about eigh- 
 teen only have been from the body of her American popu- 
 lation. On all occasions, she seeks to raise and promote her 
 European subjects, and to degrade and humiliate the Creoles, 
 Wherever in America her sway extends, everything seems 
 to pine and wither beneath its baneful influence. The rich- 
 est regions of the earth ; man, his happiness and his educa- 
 tion, all the fine faculties of his soul, are regulated and 
 modified and molded to suit the execrable purposes of an 
 inexorable despotism. 
 
 Such is the brief and imperfect picture of the state of 
 things in Spanish America, in 1808, when the famous trans- 
 actions of Bayonne occurred. The King of Spain and the 
 Indies (for Spanish America has always constituted an in- 
 tegral part of the Spanish empire) abdicated his throne and 
 became a voluntary captive. Even at this day one does not 
 know whether he should most condemn the baseness and 
 perfidy of the one party, or despise the meanness and im- 
 becility of the other. If the obligation of obedience and 
 allegiance existed on the part of the colonies to the King 
 of Spain, it was founded on the duty of protection which 
 he owed them. By disqualifying himself for the perform- 
 ance of this duty, they became released from that obliga- 
 tion. The monarchy was dissolved, and each integral part 
 had a right to seek its own happiness by the institution of 
 any new government adapted to its wants. Joseph Bona- 
 parte, the successor de facto of Ferdinand, recognized this 
 right on the part of the colonies, and recommended them 
 to establish their independence. Thus, upon the ground 
 of strict right, upon the footing of a mere legal question, 
 governed by forensic rules, the colonies, being absolved by 
 the acts of the parent country from the duty of subjection 
 
54 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 to it, had an iDdisputable right to set up for themselves. 
 But I take a broader and a bolder position. I maintain that 
 an oppressed people are authorized, whenever they can, to 
 rise and break their fetters. This was the great principle 
 of the English revolution. It was the great principle ot 
 our own. Yattel, if authority were wanting, expressly sup- 
 ports this right. We must pass sentence of condemnation 
 upon the founders of our liberty, say that they were rebels, 
 traitors, and that we are at this moment legislating with- 
 out competent powers, before we can condemn the cause 
 of Spanish America. Our revolution was mainly directed 
 against the mere theory of tyranny. We had suffered but 
 comparatively little; we had, in some respects, been kindly 
 treated; but our intrepid and intelligent fathers saw, in the 
 usurpation of the power to levy an inconsiderable tax, 
 the long train of oppressive acts that were to follow. 
 They rose; they breasted the storm; they achieved our 
 freedom. Spanish America for centuries has been doomed 
 to the practical effects of an odious tyranny. If we were 
 justified, she is more than justified. 
 
 I am no propagandist. I would not seek to force upon 
 other nations our principles and our liberty, if they do not 
 want them. I would not disturb the repose even of a de- 
 testable despotism. But, if an abused and oppressed people 
 will their freedom; if they seek to establish it; we have o 
 right, as a sovereign power, to notice the fact and to act as^ 
 circumstances ana our interest require. I will say, in the 
 language of the venerated Father of my Country, *'born in 
 a land of liberty, my anxious recollections, my sympathetic 
 feelings, and my best wishes, are irresistibly excited, when- 
 soever, in any country, I see an oppressed nation unfurl 
 the banners of freedom." Whenever I think of Spanish 
 
THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA 
 
 55 
 
 America, the image irresistibly forces itself upon my mind, 
 of an elder brother, whose education has been neglected, 
 whose person has been abused and maltreated, and who has 
 been disinherited by the unkindness of an unnatural parent. 
 And, when I contemplate the glorious struggle which that 
 country is now making, I think I behold that brother rising, 
 by the power and energy of his fine native genius, to the 
 manly rank which nature, and nature's God, intended for 
 him. . . . 
 
 In the establishment of the independence of Spanish 
 America, the United States have the deepest interest. 1 
 have no hesitation in asserting my firm belief that there is 
 no question in the foreign policy of this country, which has 
 ever arisen, or which I can conceive as ever occurring, in 
 the decision of which we have had or can have so much at 
 stake. This interest concerns our politics, our commerce, 
 our navigation. There cannot be a doubt that Spanish 
 America, once independent, whatever may be the form of 
 government established in its several parts, these govern- 
 ments will be animated by an American feeling, and guided 
 by an American policy. They will obey the laws of the 
 system of the new world, of which they will compose a 
 part, in contradistinction to that of Europe. Without the 
 influence of that vortex in Europe, the balance of power 
 between its several parts, the preservation of which has so 
 often drenched Europe in blood, America is sufficiently 
 remote to contemplate the new wars which are to afflict that 
 quarter of the globe, as a calm if not a cold and indifferent 
 spectator. In relation to those wars, the several parts of 
 America will generally stand neutral. And as, during the 
 period when they rage, it will be important that a liberal 
 system of neutrality should be adopted and observed, all 
 
56 
 
 HENET CLAY 
 
 America will be interested in maintaining and enforcing 
 such a system. The independence of Spanish Americaj 
 then, is an interest of primary consideration. Next to 
 that, and highly important in itself, is the consideration ct 
 the nature of their governments. That is a question, how- 
 ever, for themselves. They will, no doubt, adopt those 
 kinds of governments which are best suited to their condi- 
 tion, best calculated for their happiness. Anxious as I am 
 that they should be free governments, we have no right 
 to prescribe for them. They are, and ought to be, the sole 
 judges for themselves. I am strongly inclined to believe 
 that they will in most, if not all parts of their country, 
 establish free governments. We are their great example. 
 Of us they constantly speak as of brothers, having a similar 
 origin. They adopt our principles, copy our institutions, 
 and, in many instances, employ the very language and 
 sentiments of our Kevolutionary papers: 
 
 '* Having then been thus impelled by the Spaniards and 
 their king, we have calculated all the consequences, and 
 have constituted ourselves independent, prepared to exer- 
 cise the right of nature to defend ourselves against the 
 ravages of tyranny, at the risk of our honor, our lives, and 
 fortune. We have sworn to the only King we acknowl- 
 edge, the Supreme Judge of the world, that we will not 
 abandon the cause of justice; that we will not suffer the 
 country which he has given us, to be buried in ruins, and 
 inundated with blood, by the hands of the executioner,*' 
 etc. 
 
 Bat it is sometimes said that they are too ignorant and 
 too superstitious to admit of the existence of free govern- 
 ment. This charge of ignorance is often urged by persons 
 themselves actually ignorant of the real condition of that 
 people. I deny the alleged fact of ignorance; I deny the 
 
THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTH AMERICA 
 
 57 
 
 inference from that fact, if it were true, that they want 
 capacity for free government. And I refuse assent to the 
 farther conclusion if the fact were true, and the inference 
 just, that we are to be indifferent to their fate. All the 
 writers of the most established authority, Depons, Hum- 
 boldt, and others, concur in assigning to the people of 
 Spanish America great quickness, genius, and particular 
 aptitude for the acquisition of the exact sciences, and others 
 which they have been allowed to cultivate. In astronomy, 
 geology, mineralogy, chemistry, botany, and so forth, they 
 are allowed to make distinguished proficiency. They justly 
 boast of their Abzate, Velasquez, and Gama, and other illus- 
 trious contributors to science. They have nine universities, 
 and in the City of Mexico, it is affirmed by Humboldt, there 
 are more solid scientific establishments than in any city 
 even of North America. I would refer to the message of 
 the supreme director of La Plata, which 1 shall hereafter 
 have occasion to use for another purpose, as a model of 
 fine composition of a State paper, challenging a comparison 
 with any, the most celebrated, that ever issued from the 
 pens of Jefferson or Madison. Gentlemen will egregiously 
 err, if they form their opinions of the present condition of 
 Spanish America from what it was under the debasing sys- 
 tem of Spain. The eight years' revolution in which it has 
 been engaged has already produced a powerful effect. Edu- 
 cation has been attended to, and genius developed. 
 
 '*As soon as the project of the revolution arose on 
 the shores of La Plata, genius and talent exhibited their 
 influence; the capacity of the people became manifest, and 
 the means of acquiring knowledge were soon made the 
 favorite pursuit of the youth. As far as the wants or 
 the inevitable interruption of affairs allowed, everything 
 
58 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 has been done to disseminate useful information. The 
 liberty of the press has indeed met with some occasional 
 checks; but in Buenos Ay res alone, as many periodical 
 works weekly issue from the press as in Spain and Portugal 
 put together/'' 
 
 It is not therefore true, that the imputed ignorance ex- 
 ists, but, if it do, I repeat, I dispute the inference. It is 
 the doctrine of thrones, that man is too ignorant to govern 
 himself. Their partisans assert his incapacity, in reference 
 to all nations; if they cannot command universal assent to 
 the proposition, it is then demanded to particular nations; 
 and our pride and our presumption too often make converts 
 of us. I contend, that it is to arraign the dispositions of 
 Providence himself, to suppose that he has created beings 
 incapable of governing themselves, and to be trampled on 
 by kings. Self-government is the natural government of 
 man, and for proof I refer to the aborigines of our own 
 land. Were I to speculate in hypotheses unfavorable to 
 human liberty, my speculations should be founded rather 
 upon the vices, refinements, or density of population. 
 Crowded together in compact masses, even if they were 
 philosophers, the contagion of the passions is communicated 
 and caught, and the effect too often, I admit, is the over- 
 throw of liberty. Dispersed over such an immense space as 
 that on which the people of Spanish America are spread, 
 their physical, and I believe also their moral condition, 
 both favor their liberty. 
 
 With regard to their superstition, they worship the same 
 God with us. Their prayers are offered up in their temples 
 to the same Eedeemer whose intercession we expect to save 
 us. Nor is there anything in the Catholic religion unfavor- 
 able to freedom. All religions united with government are 
 
"THE A.MKKICAN SYSTEM** 59 
 
 more or less inimical to liberty. All, separated from gov- 
 ernment, are compatible with liberty. If the people of 
 Spanish America have not already gone as far in religious 
 toleration as we have, the difference in their condition from 
 ours should not be forgotten. Everything is progressive; 
 and, in time, I hope to see them imitating in this respect 
 our example. But grant that the people of Spanish America 
 are ignorant and incompetent for free government, to whom 
 is that ignorance to be ascribed ? Is it not to the execrable 
 system of Spain, which she seeks again to establish and to 
 perpetuate ? So far from chilling our hearts, it ought to in- 
 crease our solicitude for our unfortunate brethren. It ought 
 to animate us to desire the redemption of the minds and the 
 bodies of unborn millions from the brutifying effects of a 
 system whose tendency is to stifle the faculties of the soul 
 and to degrade man to the level of beasts. I would invoke 
 the spirits of our departed fathers. Was it for yourselves 
 only that you nobly fought? No, no! It was the chains 
 that were forging for your posterity that made you fly to 
 arms, and, scattering the elements of these chains to the 
 winds, you transmitted to us the rich inheritance of 
 liberty. 
 
 "THE AMERICAN SYSTEM" AND THE HOME MARKET 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. FEBRUARY 2. 1832-GIVEN 
 BY BENTON AS AN UNABRIDGED REPORT 
 
 EIGHT years ago it was my painful duty to present to 
 the House of Congress an unexaggerated picture of 
 the general distress pervading the whole land. We 
 must all yet remember some of its frightful features. We all 
 know that the people were then oppressed and borne down 
 
60 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 by an enormous load of debt; that the value of property was 
 at the lowest point of depression; that ruinous sales and sac- 
 rifices were everywhere made of I'eal estate; that stop laws 
 and relief laws and paper money were adopted to save the 
 people from impending destruction; that a deficit in the pub- 
 lic revenue existed, which compelled the government to seize 
 upon, and divert from its legitimate object, the appropriation 
 to the sinking fund, to redeem the national debt; and that 
 our commerce and navigation were threatened with a com- 
 plete paralysis. In short, sir, if I were to select any term 
 of seven years since the adoption of the present Constitu- 
 tion, which exhibited a scene of the most widespread dis- 
 may and desolation, it would be exactly that term of seven 
 years which immediately preceded the establishment of the 
 tariff of 1824. 
 
 I have now to perform the more pleasing task of exhib- 
 iting an imperfect sketch of the existing state of the unpar- 
 alleled prosperity of the country. On a general survey, we 
 behold cultivation extended, the arts flourishing, the face of 
 the country improved, our people fully and profitably em- 
 ployed, and the public countenance exhibiting tranquillity, 
 contentment, and happiness. And, if we descend into par- 
 ticulars, we have the agreeable contemplation of a people 
 out of debt; land rising slowly in value, but in a secure 
 and salutary degree; a ready though not extravagant 
 market for all the surplus productions of our industry; 
 innumerable flocks and herds browsing and gambolling on 
 ten thousand hills and plains, covered with rich and ver- 
 dant grasses; our cities expanded, and whole villages 
 springing up, as it were, by enchantment; our exports 
 and imports increased and increasing; our tonnage, for- 
 eign and coastwise, swelling and fully occupied; the rivers 
 
*• THE AMERICAN SYSTEM " 
 
 61 
 
 of our interior animated by the perpeiual thunder and light- 
 ning of countless steamboats; the carrencj sound and abun- 
 dant; the public debt of two wars nearly redeemed; and, to 
 crown all, the public treasury overflowing, embarrassing Con- 
 gress, not to find subjects of taxation, but to select the ob- 
 jects which shall be liberated from the impost. If the term 
 of seven years were to be selected of the greatest prosperity 
 which this people have enjoyed since the establishment of 
 their present Constitution, it would be exactly that period 
 of seven years which immediately followed the passage of 
 the tariff of 1824. 
 
 This transformation of the condition of the country from 
 gloom and distress to brightness and prosperity has been 
 mainly the work of American legislation, fostering Ameri- 
 can industry, instead of allowing it to be controlled by for- 
 eign legislation, cherishing foreign industry. The foes of 
 the American system, in 1824, with great boldness and con- 
 fidence, predicted: First, The ruin of the public revenue, 
 and the creation of a necessity to resort to direct taxation. 
 The gentleman from South Carolina — Mr. Hayne — I believe, 
 thought that the tariff cf 1824 would operate a reduction of 
 revenue to the large amount of eight millions of dollars. 
 Second, The destruction of our navigation. Third, The 
 desolation of commercial cities. And fourth. The aug- 
 mentation of the price of objects of consumption, and far- 
 ther decline in that of the articles of our exports. Every 
 prediction which they made has failed — utterly failed. In- 
 stead of the ruin of the public revenue, with which they 
 then sought to deter us from the adoption of the Ameri 
 can system, we are now threatened with its subversion, 
 by the vast amount of the public revenue produced by 
 that system. 
 
62 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 Every branch of our navigation has increased. As to the 
 desolation of our cities, let us take, as an example, the con- 
 dition of the largest and most commercial of all of them, the 
 great northern capital. I have in my hands the assessed 
 value of real estate in the city of New York, from 1817 to 
 1831. This value is canvassed, contested, scrutinized, and 
 adjudged, by the proper sworn authorities. It is, there- 
 fore, entitled to full credence. During the first term, com- 
 mencing with 1817, and ending in the year of the passage of 
 the tariff of 1824, the amount of the value of real estate was, 
 the first year, $57,799,435, and, after various fluctuations in 
 the intermediate period, it settled down at $52,019,730, ex- 
 hibiting a decrease, in seven years, of $5,779,705. During 
 the year 1825, after the passage of the tariff, it rose, and, 
 gradually ascending throughout the whole of the latter 
 period of seven years, it finally, in 1831, reached the as- 
 tonishing height of $95,716,485! Now, if it be said that 
 this rapid growth of the city of New York was the effect 
 of foreign commerce, then it was not correctly predicted, 
 in 1824, that the tariff would destroy foreign commerce 
 and desolate our commercial cities. If, on the contrary, 
 it be the effect of internal trade, then internal trade can- 
 not be justly chargeable with the evil consequences im- 
 puted to it. The truth is, it is the joint effect of both 
 principles, the domestic industry nourishing the foreign 
 trade, and the foreign commerce, in turn, nourishing the 
 domestic industry. Nowhere more than in New York is 
 the combination of both principles so completely devel- 
 oped. In the progress of my argument I will consider 
 the effect upon the price of commodities produced by the 
 American system, and show that the very reverse of the 
 prediction of its foes, in 1824, has actually happened. 
 
" THE AMERICAN SYSTEM " 
 
 63 
 
 While th«i3 wc behold the entire failure of all that was 
 foretold against the system, it is a subject of just felicita- 
 tion to its friends, that all their anticipations of its benefits 
 have been fulfilled, or are in progress of fulfilment. The 
 honorable gentleman from South Carolina has made allu- 
 sion to a speech made by me, in 1824, in the other House, 
 in support of the tariff, and to which, otherwise, I should 
 not have particularly referred. But I would ask any one, 
 who could now command the courage to peruse that long 
 production, what principle there laid down is not true? 
 what prediction then made has been falsified by practical 
 experience ? 
 
 It is now proposed to abolish the system to which we 
 owe so much of the public prosperity, and it is urged that 
 the arrival of the period of the redemption of the public 
 debt has been confidently looked to as presenting a suitable 
 occasion to rid the country of the evils with which the sys- 
 tem is alleged to be fraught. Not an inattentive observer 
 of passing events, I have been aware that, among those 
 who were most eagerly pressing the payment of the public 
 debt, and, upon that ground, were opposing appropriations 
 to other great interests, there were some who cared less 
 about the debt than the accomplishment of other objects. 
 But the people of the United States have not coupled the 
 payment of their public debt with the destruction of the pro- 
 tection of their industry against foreign laws and foreign 
 industry. They have been accustomed to regard the ex- 
 tinction of the public debt as relief from a burden, and not 
 as the infliction of a curse. If it is to be attended or fol- 
 lowed by the subversion of the American system, and the 
 exposure of our establishments and our productions to 
 the unguarded consequences of the selfish policy of for- 
 
64 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 eiga powers, the payment of the public debt will be the 
 bitterest of curses. Its fruit will be like the fruit 
 
 **0f that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste 
 Brought death into the world, and all our woe 
 With loss of Eden. " 
 
 If the system of protection be founded on principles er- 
 roneous in theory, pernicious in practice — above all, if it 
 be unconstitutional, as is alleged, it ought to be forthwith 
 abolished, and not a vestige of it suffered to remain. But, 
 before we sanction this sweeping denunciation, let us look 
 a little at this system, its magnitude, its ramifications, its 
 duration, and the high authorities which have sustained it. 
 We shall see that its foes will have accomplished compara- 
 tively nothing, after having achieved their present aim of 
 breaking down our iron-foundries, our woollen, cotton, and 
 hemp manufactories, and our sugar plantations. The de- 
 struction of these would undoubtedly lead to the sacrifice 
 of immense capital, the ruin of many thousands of our fel 
 low-citizens, and incalculable loss to the whole communi- 
 ty. But their prostration would not disfigure, nor produce 
 greater effect upon the whole system of protection, in all its 
 branches, than the destruction of the beautiful domes upon 
 the Capitol would occasion to the magnificent edifice which 
 they surmount. Why, sir, there is scarcely an interest, 
 scarcely a vocation in society, which is not embraced by 
 the beneficence of this system. 
 
 It comprehends our coasting tonnage and trade, from 
 which all foreign tonnage is absolutely excluded. 
 
 It includes all our foreign tonnage, with the inconsider- 
 able exception made by treaties of reciprocity with a few 
 foreign powers. 
 
"THE AMERICAN SYSTEM " 
 
 65 
 
 It embraces our fisheries and all our hardy and enter- 
 prising fishermen. 
 
 It extends to all lower Louisiana, the delta of which 
 might as well be submerged again in the Gulf of Mexico, 
 from which it has been a gradual conquest, as now to be 
 deprived of the protecting duty upon its great staple. 
 
 It affects the cotton planter himself, and the tobacco 
 planter, both of whom enjoy protection. 
 
 Such are some of the items of this vast system of protec- 
 tion, which it is now proposed to abandon. We might well 
 pause and contemplate, if hunaan imagination could con- 
 ceive the extent of mischief and ruin from its total over- 
 throw, before we proceed to the work of destruction. Its 
 duration is worthy, also, of serious consideration. Not to 
 go behind the Constitution, its date is coeval with that 
 instrument. It began on the ever-memorable fourth day 
 of July — the fourth day of July, 1789. The second act 
 which stands recorded in the statute book, bearing the 
 illustrious signature of George Washington, laid the cor- 
 nerstone of the whole system. That there might be no 
 mistake about the matter, it was then solemnly proclaimed 
 to the American people and to the world, that it was nec- 
 essary, for *'the encouragement and protection of manufac- 
 tures," that duties should be laid. It is in vain to urge the 
 small amount of the measure of protection then extended. 
 The great principle was then established by the fathers of 
 the Constitution, with the Father of his Country at their 
 head. And it cannot now be questioned, that, if the gov- 
 ernment had not then been new and the subject untried, a 
 greater measure of protection would have been applied, if 
 it had been supposed necessary. Shortly after, the master 
 minds of Jefferson and Hamilton were brought to »ct on 
 
 Vol. 5-5 
 
66 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 this interesting subject. Taking views of it appertaining 
 to the departments of Foreign Affairs and of the Treasury, 
 which they respectively filled, they presented, severally, 
 reports which yet remain monuments of their profound 
 wisdom, and came to the same conclusion of protection 
 to American industry. Mr. Jefferson argued that foreign 
 restrictions, foreign prohibitions, and foreign high duties, 
 ought to be met, at home, by American restrictions, Amer- 
 ican prohibitions, and American high duties. Mr. Hamil- 
 ton, surveying the entire ground, and looking at the in- 
 herent nature of the subject, treated it with an ability 
 which, if ever equalled, has not been surpassed, and ear- 
 nestly recommended protection. 
 
 The subject of the American system was again brought 
 up in 1820, by the bill reported by the Chairman of the 
 Committee on Manufactures, now a member of the bench 
 of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the prin- 
 ciple was successfully maintained by the representatives of 
 the people; but the bill which they passed was defeated 
 in the Senate. It was revived in 1824, the whole ground 
 carefully and deliberately explored, and the bill then in- 
 troduced, receiving all the sanctions of the Constitution, 
 became the law of the land. An amendment of the system 
 was proposed in 1828, to the history of which I refer with 
 no agreeable recollections. The bill of that year, in some 
 of its provisions, was framed on principles directly adverse 
 to the declared wishes of the friends of the policy of protec- 
 tion. I have heard (without vouching for the fact) that it 
 was so framed, upon the advice of a prominent citizen, now 
 abroad, with the view of ultimately defeating the bill, and 
 with assurances that, being altogether unacceptable to the 
 friends of the American system, the bill would be lost. Be 
 
" THE AMERICAN SYSTEM 
 
 67 
 
 that as it may, the most exceptional features of the bill were 
 stamped upon it, against the earnest remonstrances of the 
 friends of the system, by the votes of Southern members, 
 upon a principle, I think, as unsound in legislation as it is 
 reprehensible in ethics. The bill was passed, notwithstand- 
 ing, it having been deemed better to take the bad along with 
 the good which it contained than reject it altogether. Sub- 
 sequent legislation has corrected very much the error then 
 perpetrated, but still that measure is vehemently denounced 
 by gentlemen who contributed to make it what it was. 
 
 Thus, sir, has this great system of protection been grad- 
 ually built stone upon stone, and step by step, from the 
 fourth of July, 1789, down to the present period. In every 
 stage of its progress it has received the deliberate sanction 
 of Congress. A vast majority of the people of the United 
 States has approved, and continues to approve it. Every 
 Chief Magistrate of the United States, from Washington 
 to the present, in some form or other, has given to it the 
 authority of his name; and, however the opinions of the ex- 
 isting President are interpreted south of Mason and Dixon's 
 Line, on the north they are, at least, understood to favor 
 the establishment of a judicious tariff. 
 
 The question, therefore, which we are now called upon 
 to determine is not whether we shall establish a new and 
 doubtful system of policy, just proposed, and for the first 
 time presented to our consideration, but whether we shall 
 break down and destroy a long-established system, patiently 
 and carefully built up, and sanctioned, during a series of 
 years, again and again by the nation and its highest and 
 most revered authorities. And are we not bound deliber- 
 ately to consider whether we can proceed to this work of 
 destruction without a violation of the public faith? The 
 
68 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 people of the United States have justly supposed that the 
 policy of protecting their industry against foreign legislation 
 and foreign industry was fully settled, not by a single act, 
 but by repeated and deliberate acts of government per- 
 formed at distant and frequent intervals. In full confi- 
 dence that the policy was firmly and unchangeably fixed, 
 thousands upon thousands have invested their capital, pur- 
 chased a vast amount of real and other estate, made perma- 
 nent establishments, and accommodated their industry. Can 
 we expose to utter and irretrievable ruin this countless mul- 
 titude without justly incurring the reproach of violating the 
 national faith ? 
 
 I shall not discuss the constitutional question. Without 
 meaning any disrespect to those who raise it, if it be debat- 
 able, it has been sufficiently debated. The gentleman from 
 South Carolina suffered it to fall unnoticed from his budget; 
 and it was not until after he had closed his speech and re- 
 sumed his seat that it occurred to him that he had forgotten 
 it, when he again addressed the Senate, and, by a sort of 
 protestation against any conclusion from his silence, put 
 forward the objection. The recent Free Trade Convention 
 at Philadelphia, it is well known, were divided on the ques- 
 tion ; and although the topic is noticed in their address to 
 the public, they do not avow their own belief that the 
 American system is unconstitutional, but represent that 
 such is the opinion of respectable portions of the Ameri- 
 can people. Another address to the people of the United 
 States, from a high source, during the past year, treating 
 this subject, does not assert the opinion of the distinguished 
 author, but states that of others to be that it is unconstitu- 
 tional. From which I infer that he himself did not believe 
 it unconstitutional. 
 
" THE AMERICAN SYSTEM " 
 
 69 
 
 Here the Vice-President (Mr. Calhoun) interposed, and 
 remarked that if the Senator from Kentucky alluded to him, 
 he must say that his opinion was that the measure was un- 
 constitutionah 
 
 When, sir — said Mr. Clay — I contended with you, side 
 by side, and with perhaps less zeal than you exhibited, in 
 1816, I did not understand you then to consider the policy 
 forbidden by the Constitution, 
 
 The Vice-President again interposed, and said that the 
 constitutional question was not debated at that time, and 
 that he had never expressed an opinion contrary to that 
 now intimated. 
 
 I give way with pleasure — said Mr. Clay — to these ex- 
 planations, which I hope will always be made when I say 
 anything bearing on the individual opinions of the Chair. 
 I know the delicacy of the position, and sympathize with 
 the incumbent, whoever he may be. It is true, the ques- 
 tion was not debated in 1816; and why not? Because it 
 was not debatable; it was then believed not fairly to arise. 
 It never has been made as a distinct, substantial, and lead- 
 ing point of objection. It never was made until the discus- 
 sion of the tariff of 1824, when it was rather hinted at, as 
 against the spirit of the Constitution, than formally an- 
 nounced as being contrary to the provisions of that instru- 
 ment. What was not dreamed of before, or in 1816, and 
 scarcely thought of in 1824, is now made by excited imagi- 
 nations to assume the imposing form of a serious constitu 
 tional barrier. 
 
 And now, Mr. President, 1 have to make a few observa- 
 tions on a delicate subject, which I approach with all the 
 respect that is due to its serious and grave nature. They 
 
70 
 
 HENKY CLAY 
 
 have not, indeed, been rendered necessary by the speech 
 of the gentleman from South Carolina, whose forbearance 
 to notice the topic was commendable, as his argument 
 throughout was characterized by an ability and dignity 
 worthy of him and of the Senate. The gentleman made 
 one declaration which might possibly be misinterpreted, 
 and I submit to him whether an explanation of it be not 
 proper The declaration, as reported in his printed speech, 
 is; ' The instinct of self-interest might have taught us an 
 easier way of relieving ourselves from this oppression. It 
 wanted but the will to have supplied ourselves with every 
 article embraced in the protective system, free of duty, 
 without any other participation on our part than a simple 
 consent to receive them." 
 
 Here Mr. Hayne rose, and remarked that the passages 
 which immediately preceded and followed the paragraph 
 cited, he thought, plainly indicated his meaning, which 
 related to evasions of the system by illicit introduction 
 of goods, which they were not disposed to countenance in 
 South Carolina. 
 
 1 am happy to hear this explanation. But, sir, it is im- 
 possible to conceal from our view the facts that there is 
 great excitement in South Carolina; that the protective 
 system is openly and violently denounced in popular meet- 
 ings; and that the Legislature itself has declared its pur- 
 pose of resorting to counteracting measures — a suspension of 
 which has only been submitted to for the purpose of allow- 
 ing Congress time to retrace its steps. With respect to this 
 Union, Mr. President, the truth cannot be too generally 
 proclaimed nor too strongly inculcated, that it is necessary 
 to the whole and to all the parts — necessary to those parts, 
 indeed, in different degrees, but vitally necessary to each; 
 
"THE AMERICAN SYSTEM" 
 
 71 
 
 and that threats to disturb or dissolve it, coming from any 
 of the parts, would be quite as indiscreet and improper as 
 would be threats from the residue to exclude those parts 
 from the pale of its benefits. The great principle which 
 lies at the foundation of all free government is that the 
 majority must govern; from which there is or can be no 
 appeal but to the sword. That majority ought to govern 
 wisely, equitably, moderately, and constitutionally, but 
 govern it must, subject only to that terrible appeal. If 
 ever one, or several States, being a minority, can, by men- 
 acing a dissolution of the Union, succeed in forcing an 
 abandonment of great measures deemed essential to the in- 
 terests and prosperity of the whole, the Union from that 
 moment is practically gone. It may linger on in form and 
 name, but its vital spirit has fled forever! Entertaining 
 these deliberate opinions, I would entreat the patriotic 
 people of South Carolina — the land of Marion, Sumter, 
 and Pickens — of Rutledge, Laurens, the Pinckneys, and 
 Lowndes — of living and present names, which 1 would 
 mention if they were not living or present — to pause, sol- 
 emnly pause! and contemplate the frightful precipice which 
 lies directly before them. The retreat may be painful and 
 mortifying to their gallantry and pride, but it is to retreat 
 to the Union, to safety, and to those brethren with whom, 
 or with whose ancestors, they, or their ancestors, have won 
 on fields of glory imperishable renown. To advance is to 
 rush on certain and inevitable disgrace and destruction. 
 
 We have been told of deserted castles, of uninhabited 
 halls, and of mansions, once the seats of opulence and hos- 
 pitality, now abandoned and moldering in ruins. I never 
 had the honor of being in South Carolina; but I have heard 
 and read of the stories of its chivalry, and of its generous 
 
72 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 and open-hearted lilDerality. I have heard, too, of the 
 struggles for power between the lower and upper country. 
 The same causes which existed in Virginia, with which I 
 have been acquainted, I presume, have had their influence 
 in Carolina. In whose hands now are the once proud seats 
 of Westover, Curies, Maycocks, Shirley, and others, on 
 James Eiver, and in lower Virginia ? Under the operation 
 of laws abolishing the principle of primogeniture, and pro- 
 viding the equitable rule of an equal distribution of estates 
 among those in equal degree of consanguinity, they have 
 passed into other and stranger hands. Some of the de- 
 scendants of illustrious families have gone to the far "West, 
 while others, lingering behind, have contrasted their present 
 condition with that of their venerated ancestors. They be- 
 hold themselves excluded from their fathers' houses, now 
 in the hands of those who were once their fathers' over- 
 seers, or sinking into decay; their imaginations paint 
 ancient renown, the fading honors of their name, glories 
 gone by; too poor to live, too proud to work, too high- 
 minded and honorable to resort to ignoble means of acqui- 
 sition, brave, daring, chivalrous, what can be the cause of 
 their present unhappy state? The "accursed tariff" pre- 
 sents itself to their excited imaginations, and they blindly 
 rush into the ranks of those who, unfurling the banner of 
 nullification, would place a State upon its sovereignty! 
 
 The danger to our Union does not lie on the side of per- 
 sistence in the American system, but on that of its abandon- 
 ment. If, as I have supposed and believe, the inhabitants 
 of all north and east of the James Eiver, and all west of the 
 mountains, including Louisiana, are deeply interested in 
 the preservation of that system, would they be reconciled 
 to its overthrow? Can it be expected that two-thirds, if 
 
" THE AMERICAN SYSTEM 
 
 73 
 
 not three-fourths, of the people of the U nited States would 
 consent to the destruction of a policy believed to be indis- 
 pensably necessary to their prosperity? When, too, this 
 sacrifice is made at the instance of a single interest which 
 they verily believe will not be promoted by it? In esti- 
 mating the degree of peril which may be incident to two 
 opposite courses of human policy, the statesman would be 
 shortsighted who should content himself with viewing only 
 the evils, real or imaginary, which belong to that course 
 which is in practical operation. He should lift himself up 
 to the contemplation of those greater and more certain 
 dangers which might inevitably attend the adoption of the 
 alternative course. What would be the condition of this 
 Union, if Pennsylvania and New York, those mammoth 
 members of our Confederacy, were firmly persuaded that 
 their industry was paralyzed and their prosperity blighted 
 by the enforcement of the British colonial system, under 
 the delusive name of free trade? They are now tranquil 
 and happy and contented, conscious of their welfare, and 
 feeling a salutary and rapid circulation of the products of 
 home manufactures and home industry throughout all their 
 great arteries. But let that be checked, let them feel that 
 a foreign system is to predominate, and the sources of their 
 subsistence and comfort dried up; let New England and 
 the West and the Middle States all feel that they too are 
 the victims of a mistaken policy, and let these vast portions 
 of our country despair of any favorable change, and then, 
 indeed, might we tremble for the continuance and safety 
 of this Union! 
 
74 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 FOR "FREE TRADE AND SEAMEN'S RIGHTS" 
 
 FROM A SPEECH ON THE WAR OF 1812. DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE 
 OF REPRESENTATIVES. JANUARY 8. 1813 
 
 NEXT to the notice which the opposition has found 
 itself called upon to bestow upon the French em- 
 peror, a distinguished citizen of Virginia, formerly 
 President of the United States, has never for a moment 
 failed to receive their kindest and most respectful atten- 
 tion. An honorable gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr. 
 Quincy, of whom, I am sorry to say, it becomes necessary 
 for me, in the course of my remarks, to take some notice, 
 has alluded to him in a remarkable manner. Neither his 
 retirement from public office, his eminent services, nor 
 his advanced age, can exempt this patriot from the coarse 
 assaults of party malevolence. No, sir, in 1801 he snatched 
 from the rude hand of usurpation the violated Constitution 
 of his country, and that is his crime. He preserved that in- 
 strument in form and substance and spirit, a precious inheri- 
 tance for generations to come, and for this he can never be 
 forgiven. How vain and impotent is party rage directed 
 against such a man I He is not more elevated by his lofty 
 residence upon the summit of his own favorite mountain 
 than he is lifted, by the serenity of his mind and the con- 
 sciousness of a well-spent life, above the malignant pas- 
 sions and bitter feelings of the day. No I his own beloved 
 Monticello is not more moved by the storms that beat against 
 its sides than is this illustrious man by the bowlings of the 
 whole British pack set loose from the Essex kennel I When 
 
"FREE TRADE AND SEAMEN's RIGHTS '* 
 
 75 
 
 the gentleman to whom I have been compelled to allude 
 shall have mingled his dust with that of his abused ances- 
 tors; when he shaU have been consigned to oblivion, or, if 
 he lives at all, shall live only in the treasonable annals of 
 a certain junto, the name of Jefferson will be hailed with 
 gratitude, his memory honored and cherished as the second 
 founder of the liberties of the people, and the period of his 
 administration will be looi^ed back to, as one of the happiest 
 and brightest epochs of American history — an oasis in the 
 midst of a sandy desert. But I beg the gentleman's par- 
 don; he has indeed secured to himself a more imperishable 
 fame than I had supposed. I think it was about four years 
 ago that he submitted to the House of Kepresentatives an 
 initiative proposition for an impeachment of Mr. Jefferson. 
 The House condescended to consider it. The gentleman 
 debated it with his usual temper, moderation, and urbanity. 
 The House decided upon it in the most solemn manner, 
 and, although the gentleman had somehow obtained a sec- 
 ond, the final vote stood, one for, and one hundred and 
 seventeen against the proposition ! The same historic page 
 that transmitted to posterity the virtue and the glory of 
 Henry the Great of France, for their admiration and ex- 
 ample, has preserved the infamous name of the fanatic as- 
 sassin of that excellent monarch. The same sacred pen 
 that portrayed the sufferings and crucifixion of the Saviour 
 of mankind has recorded, for universal execration, the name 
 of him who was guilty, not of betraying his country, but (a 
 kindred crime!) of betraying his Grod. 
 
 In one respect there is a remarkable difference between 
 the administration and the opposition ; it is in a sacred re- 
 gard for personal liberty. When out of power my political 
 friends condemned the surrender of Jonathan Bobbins; they 
 
76 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 opposed the violation of the freedom of the press in the Sedi- 
 tion law; they opposed the more insidious attack upon the 
 freedom of the person under the imposing garb of an Alien 
 law. The party now in opposition, then in power, advo- 
 cated the sacrifice of the unhappy Bobbins, and passed 
 those two laws. True to our principles, we are now strug- 
 gling for the liberty of our seamen against foreign oppres- 
 sion. True to theirs, they oppose a war undertaken for 
 this object. They have, indeed, lately affected a tender 
 solicitude for the liberties of the people, and talk of the 
 danger of standing armies and the burden of taxes. But 
 it must be evident to you, Mr. Chairman, that they speak 
 in a foreign idiom. Their brogue evinces that it is not 
 their vernacular tongue. What! the opposition, who, in 
 1798 and 1799 could raise a useless army to fight an enemy 
 three thousand miles distant from us, alarmed at the exist- 
 ence of one raised for a known and specified object — the 
 attack of the adjoining provinces of the enemy I What! 
 the gentleman from Massachusetts, who assisted by his 
 vote to raise the army of twenty-five thousand, alarmed 
 at the danger of our liberties from this very army! . . . 
 
 I omitted yesterday, sir, when speaking of a delicate 
 and painful subject, to notice a powerful engine which the 
 conspirators against the integrity of the Union employ to 
 effect their nefarious purposes — I mean Southern influence. 
 The true friend to his country, knowing that our Constitu- 
 tion was the work of compromise, in which interests, appar- 
 ently conflicting, were attempted to be reconciled, aims to 
 extinguish or allay prejudices. But this patriotic exertion 
 does not suit the views of those who are urged on by dia- 
 bolical ambition. They find it convenient to imagine the 
 existence of certain improper influences, and to propagate, 
 
" FREE TRADE AND SEAMEN's RIGHTS '* 
 
 77 
 
 with their utmost industry, a belief of them. Hence the 
 idea of Southern preponderance; Virginia influence; the 
 yoking of the respectable yeomanry of the North, with 
 negro slaves, to the car of Southern nabobs. If Virginia 
 really cherishes a reprehensible ambition, an aim to mo- 
 nopolize the Chief Magistracy of the country, how is such 
 a purpose to be accomplished? Virginia, alone, cannot 
 elect a President, whose elevation depends upon a plu- 
 rality of electoral votes, and a consequent concurrence of 
 many States. Would Vermont, disinterested Pennsylvania, 
 the Carolinas, independent Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, 
 Ohio, Louisiana, all consent to become the tools of inordi- 
 nate ambition? But the present incumbent was designated 
 to the of&ce before his predecessor had retired. How ? By 
 public sentiment — public sentiment which grew out of his 
 known virtues, his illustrious services, and his distinguished 
 abilities. Would the gentleman crush this public sentiment 
 — is he prepared to admit that he would arrest the progress 
 of opinion? 
 
 The war was declared because Great Britain arrogated to 
 herself the pretension of regulating our foreign trade, under 
 the delusive name of retaliatory orders in council — a preten- 
 sion by which she undertook to proclaim to American enter- 
 prise — "Thus far shalt thou go, and no further" — orders 
 which she refused to revoke after the alleged cause of their 
 enactment had ceased; because she persisted in the practice 
 of impressing American seamen ; because she had instigated 
 the Indians to commit hostilities against us; and because she 
 refused indemnity for her past injuries upon our commerce. 
 I throw out of the question other wrongs. The war, in fact, 
 was announced, on our part, to meet the war which she was 
 waging on her part. So undeniable were the causes of the 
 
78 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 war, SO powerfully did they address themselves to the feel- 
 ings of the whole American people, that when the bill was 
 pending before this House, gentlemen in the opposition, al- 
 though provoked to debate, would not, or could not, utter 
 one syllable against it. . . . 
 
 We are told by gentlemen in the opposition that govern- 
 ment has not done all that was incumbent on it to do to 
 avoid just cause of complaint on the part of Great Britain; 
 that, in particular, the certificates of protection, authorized 
 by the act of 1796, are fraudulently used. Sir, government 
 has done too much in granting those paper protections. I 
 can never think of them without being shocked. They re- 
 semble the passes which the master grants to his negro slave 
 — "Let the bearer, Mungo, pass and repass without molesta- 
 tion.'* What do they imply? That Great Britain has a 
 right to seize all who are not provided with them. From 
 their very nature they must be liable to abuse on both sides. 
 If Great Britain desires a mark by which she can know her 
 own subjects, let her give them an ear-mark. The colors 
 that float from the masthead should be the credentials of our 
 seamen. There is no safety to us, and the gentlemen have 
 shown it, but in the rule that all who sail under the flag (not 
 being enemies) are protected by the flag. It is impossible 
 that this country should ever abandon the gallant tars who 
 have won for us such splendid trophies. Let me suppose 
 that the genius of Columbia should visit one of them in his 
 oppressor's prison and attempt to reconcile him to his for- 
 lorn and wretched condition. She would say to him, in the 
 language of gentlemen on the other side: "Great Britain in- 
 tends you no harm ; she did not mean to impress you, but 
 one of her own subjects; having taken you by mistake, I 
 will remonstrate, and try to prevail upon her by peaceable 
 
"FREE TRADE AND SEAMEN^'s RIGHTS** 
 
 79 
 
 means to release you; but I cannot, my son, fight for you.*' 
 If he did not consider this mere mockery, the poor tar would 
 address her judgment and say: **You owe me, my country, 
 protection ; I owe you in return obedience. I am no British 
 subject, I am a native of old Massachusetts, where live my 
 aged father, my wife, my children. I have faithfully dis- 
 charged my duty. Will you refuse to do yours?" Ap- 
 pealing to her passions, he would continue: "I lost this 
 eye in fighting under Truxton with the *Insurgente' ; I got 
 this scar before Tripoli; I broke this leg on board the 'Con- 
 stitution' when the 'Guerriere' struck." If she remained still 
 unmoved, he would break out in the accents of mingled dis- 
 tress and despair: 
 
 *'Hard, hard is my fatel once I freedom enjoyed, 
 "Was as happy as happy could be I 
 Oh I how hard is my fate, how galling these chains 1" 
 
 I will not imagine the dreadful catastrophe to which he 
 would be driven by an abandonment of him to his op- 
 pressor. It will not be, it cannot be, that his country 
 will refuse him protection. . . . 
 
 An honorable peace is attainable only by an efficient 
 war. My plan would be to call out the ample resources 
 of the country, give them a judicious direction, prosecute 
 the war with the utmost vigor, strike wherever we can 
 reach the enemy, at sea or on land, and negotiate the terms 
 of a peace at Quebec or at Halifax. 
 
 We are told that England is a proud and lofty nation, 
 which, disdaining to wait for danger, meets it half way. 
 Haughty as she is, we once triumphed over her, and, if 
 we do not listen to the counsels of timidity and despair, 
 we shall again prevail. In such a cause, with the aid of 
 Providence, we must come out crowned with success; but 
 
80 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 if we fail, let us fail like men, lash ourselves to our gal- 
 lant tars, and expire together in one common struggle, 
 fighting for free trade and seamen's rights. 
 
 THE GREEK REVOLUTION 
 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 20, 1824. SUPPORTING THE 
 WEBSTER RESOLUTION 
 
 THEKE is reason to apprehend that a tremendous storm 
 is ready to burst upon our happy country — one which 
 may call into action all our vigor, courage, and re- 
 sources. Is it wise or prudent, in preparing to breast the 
 storm, if it must come, to talk to this nation of its incom- 
 petency to repel European aggression, to lower its spirit, 
 to weaken its moral energy, and to qualify it for easy con- 
 quest and base submission ? If there be any reality in the 
 dangers which are supposed to encompass us, should we not 
 animate the people, and adjure them to believe, as I do, that 
 our resources are ample; and that we can bring into the field 
 a million of freemen, ready to exhaust their last drop of 
 blood, and to spend the last cent in the defence of the 
 country, its liberty, and its institutions ? Sir, are these, 
 if united, to be conquered by all Europe combined? All 
 the perils to which we can possibly be exposed are much 
 less in reality than the imagination is disposed to paint 
 them. And they are best averted by a habitual contem- 
 plation of them, by reducing them to their true dimensions. 
 If combined Europe is to precipitate itself upon us, we can- 
 not too soon begin to invigorate our strength, to teach our 
 heads to think, our hearts to conceive, and our arms to 
 
THE GREEK REVOLUTION 
 
 81 
 
 execute, the high and noble deeds which belong to the 
 character and glory of our country. The experience ot 
 the world instructs us that conquests are already achieved, 
 which are boldly and firmly resolved on, and that men only 
 become slaves who have ceased to resolve to be free. If we 
 wish to cover ourselves with the best of all armor, let us not 
 discourage our people, let us stimulate their ardor, let us sus- 
 tain their resolution, let us proclaim to them that we feel as 
 they feel, and that, with them, we are determined to live or 
 die like freemen. 
 
 Surely, sir, we need no long or learned lectures about 
 the nature of government and the influence of property or 
 ranks on society. We may content ourselves with study- 
 ing the true character of our own people and with knowing 
 that the interests are confided to us of a nation capable of 
 doing and suffering all things for its liberty. Such a na- 
 tion, if its rulers be faithful, must be invincible. I well 
 remember an observation made to me by the most illus- 
 trious female* of the age, if not of her sex. All history 
 showed, she said, that a nation was never conquered. 
 No, sir, no united nation that resolves to be free can 
 be conquered. And has it come to this? Are we so 
 humbled, so low, so debased, that we dare not express 
 our sympathy for suffering Greece, that we dare not ar- 
 ticulate our detestation of the brutal excesses of which 
 she has been the bleeding victim, lest we might offend 
 some one or more of their imperial and royal majesties? 
 If gentlemen are afraid to act rashly on such a subject, 
 suppose, Mr. Chairman, that we unite in a humble peti- 
 tion, addressed to their majesties, beseeching them that of 
 
 Vol. 5-6 
 
 * Madame de Sta^. 
 
82 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 their gracious coadescension they would allow us to ex- 
 press our feelings and our sympathies. How shall it run ? 
 *'We, the representatives of the free people of the United 
 States of America, humbly approach the thrones of your 
 imperial and royal majesties, and supplicate that, of your 
 imperial and royal clemency" — I cannot go through the 
 disgusting recital — my lips have not yet learned to pro- 
 nounce the sycophantic language of a degraded slave! Are 
 we so mean, so base, so despicable, that we may not attempt 
 to express our horror — to utter our indignation, at the most 
 brutal and atrocious war that ever stained earth or shocked 
 high heaven; at the ferocious deeds of a savage and infuri- 
 ated soldiery, stimulated and urged on by the clergy of a 
 fanatical and inimical religion, and rioting in all the ex- 
 cesses of blood and butchery, at the mere details of which 
 the heart sickens and recoils! 
 
 If the great body of Christendom can look on calmly 
 and coolly, while all this is perpetrated on a Christian 
 people, in its own immediate vicinity, in its very pres- 
 ence, let us at least evince that one of its remote extremi- 
 ties is susceptible of sensibility to Christian wrongs, and 
 capable of sympathy for Christian sufferings; that in this 
 remote quarter of the world there are hearts not yet closed 
 against compassion for human woes, that can pour out their 
 indignant feelings at the oppression of a people endeared to 
 us by every ancient recollection, and every modern tie. . . . 
 
 But, sir, it is not for Greece alone that I desire to see 
 this measure adopted. It will give to her but little sup- 
 port, and that purely of a moral kind. It is principally for 
 America, for the credit and character of our common coun- 
 try, for our own unsullied name, that I hope to see it pass. 
 Mr. Chairman, what appearance on the page of history 
 
THE GREEK REVOLUTION 
 
 83 
 
 would a record like this exhibit? **In the month of Jan- 
 uary, in the year of our Lord and Saviour 1824, while all 
 European Christendom beheld, with cold and unfeeling in- 
 difference, the unexampled wrongs and inexpressible misery 
 of Christian Greece, a proposition was made in the Congress 
 of the United States, almost the sole, the last, the greatest 
 depository of human hope and human freedom, the repre- 
 sentatives of a gallant nation, containing a million of free- 
 men ready to fly to arms, while the people of that nation 
 were spontaneously expressing its deep-toned feeling, and 
 the whole continent, by one simultaneous emotion, was ris- 
 ing, and solemnly and anxiously supplicating and invoking 
 high heaven to spare and succor Greece, and to invigorate 
 her arms, in her glorious cause, while temples and Senate 
 Houses were alike resounding with one burst of generous 
 and holy sympathy — in the year of our Lord and Saviour, 
 that Saviour of Greece and of us — a proposition was offered 
 in the American Congress to send a messenger to Greece to 
 inquire into her state and condition, with a kind expression 
 of our good wishes and our sympathies — and it was re- 
 jected!" Go home, if you can, go home, if you dare, to 
 your constituents, and tell them that you voted it down; 
 meet, if you can, the appalling countenances of those who 
 sent you here, and tell them that you shrank from the dec- 
 laration of your own sentiments — that you cannot tell how, 
 but that some unknown dread, some indescribable apprehen- 
 sion, some indefinable danger, drove you from your purpose 
 — that the spectres of cimeters and crowns and crescents 
 gleamed before you and alarmed you; and that you sup- 
 pressed all the noble feelings prompted by religion, by 
 liberty, by national independence, and by humanity. I 
 cannot bring myself to believe that such will be the feel- 
 
84 
 
 HENRY CLAY 
 
 ing of a majority of the committee. But, for mvself, though 
 every friend of the cause should desert it, and I be left to 
 stand alone with the gentleman from Massachusetts, I will 
 give to this resolution the poor sanction of my unqualified 
 approbation. 
 
 ADDRESS TO LAFAYETTE 
 
 [Delivered on the occasion of the presentation of General Lafayette to 
 the House of Representatives of the United States, December 10, 1824.] 
 
 GENEEAL, — The House of Eepresentatives of the 
 United States, impelled alike by its own feelings 
 and by those of the whole^American people, could 
 not have assigned to me a more gratifying duty than that of 
 presenting to you cordial congratulations upon the occasion of 
 your recent arrival in the United States, in compliance with 
 the wishes of Congress, and to assure you of the very high 
 satisfaction which your presence affords on this early theatre 
 of your glory and renown. 
 
 Although but few of the members who compose this body 
 shared with you in the war of our Revolution, all have, from 
 impartial history or from faithful tradition, a knowledge of 
 the perils, the sufferings, and the sacrifices which you volun- 
 tarily encountered, and the signal services, in America and in 
 Europe, which you performed for an infant, a distant, and an 
 alien people; and all feel and own the very great extent of the 
 obligations under which you have placed our country. 
 
 But the relations in which you have ever stood to the United 
 States, interesting and important as they have been, do not 
 constitute the only motive of the respect and admiration which 
 the House of Representatives entertain for you. Your con- 
 sistency of character, your uniform devotion to regulated lib- 
 erty, in all the vicissitudes of a long and arduous life, also com- 
 
ADDRESS TO LAFAYETTE 
 
 85 
 
 mand its admiration. During all the recent convulsions of 
 Europe, amid, as after the dispersion of, every political storm, 
 the people of the United States have beheld you, true to your 
 old principles, firm and erect, cheering and animating with 
 your well-known voice the votaries of liberty, its faithful and 
 fearless champion, ready to shed the last drop of that blood 
 which here you so freely and nobly spilled in the same holy 
 cause. 
 
 The vain wish has been sometimes indulged that Provi- 
 dence would allow the patriot, after death, to return to his 
 country, and to contemplate the intermediate changes which 
 had taken place ; to view the forests felled, the cities built, the 
 mountains levelled, the canals cut, the highways constructed, 
 the progress of the arts, the advancement of learning, and the 
 increase of population. 
 
 General, your present visit to the United States is a realiza- 
 tion of the consoling object of that wish. You are in the 
 midst of posterity. Everywhere you must have been struck 
 with the great changes, physical and moral, which have 
 occurred since you left us. Even this very city, bearing a 
 venerated name alike endeared to you and to us, has since 
 emerged from the forest which then covered its site. In 
 one respect you behold us unaltered, and this is in the senti- 
 ment of continued devotion to liberty and of ardent affection 
 and profound gratitude to your departed friend, the father of 
 his country, and to you, and to your illustrious associates in 
 the field and in the cabinet for the multiplied blessings which 
 surround us, and for the very privilege of addressing you 
 which I now exercise. This sentiment, now fondly cherished 
 by more than ten millions of people, will be transmitted, with 
 unabated vigor, dovm the tide of time, through the countless 
 millions who are destined to inhabit this continent, to the 
 latest posterity. 
 
86 
 
 HBNEY CLAY 
 
 REPLY TO JOHN RANDOLPH 
 
 MADE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN 1824 
 
 m, — I am growing old. I have had some little measure 
 
 of experience in public life, and the result of that 
 
 experience has brought me to this conclusion, that 
 when business, of whatever nature, is to be transacted in a 
 deliberative assembly or in private life, courtesy, forbearance, 
 and moderation are best calculated to bring it to a successful 
 conclusion. Sir, my age admonishes me to abstain from 
 involving myself in personal difficulties; would to God that 
 I could say I am also restrained by higher motives. I cer- 
 tainly never sought any collision with the gentleman from 
 Virginia. My situation at this time is peculiar, if it be noth- 
 ing else, and might, I should think, dissuade, at least, a gener- 
 ous heart from any wish to draw me into circumstances of 
 personal altercation. I have experienced this magnanimity 
 from some quarters of the House. 
 
 But I regret that from others it appears to have no such 
 consideration. The gentleman from Virginia was pleased to 
 say that in one point at least he coincided with me — in an 
 humble estimate of my grammatical and philological acquire- 
 ments. I know my deficiencies. I was bom to no proud pat- 
 rimonial estate; from my father I inherited only infancy, 
 ignorance, and indigence. I feel my defects; but so far as my 
 situation in early life is concerned I may without presump- 
 tion say they are more my misfortune than my fault But, 
 however I regret my want of ability to furnish to the gentle- 
 man a better specimen of powers of verbal criticism, I will 
 venture to say it is not greater than the disappointment of this 
 committee as to the strength of his argument. 
 
HENRY LORD BROUGHAM 
 
 ENRY Brougham, Baron Brougham and Vaux, English statesman, 
 orator, and lord chancellor, was born at Edinburgh, Sept. 19, 1778, and 
 died at Cannes, France, May 7, 1868. Educated at the Edinburgh High 
 School, and at the University of the Scottish capital, where he distin- 
 guished himself as a classical scholar, mathematician, and student of the natural 
 sciences, he studied law, and was admitted to the Scottish and later on to the 
 English Bar. Prior to removing to London, he took part with Lord Jeffrey and. 
 Sydney Smith in founding the "Edinburgh Review," to which, on a wide range of 
 topics, he contributed, after which, in the English capital, he gained considerable 
 legal practice, and established a reputation in science which earned him member- 
 ship in the Royal Society. In 1810, he entered Parliament and attracted attention 
 as a member of the Liberal opposition, an orator of ability and energy, and a re- 
 former in matters political, social, and educational, as well as a valiant opponent 
 of the Slave trade. Just before this, he had spoken eloquently in the interest of 
 commerce, against the Orders in Council, which provoked war with this country in 
 1812-14, and at Liverpool, in October, 1812, he spoke eloquently against Pitt and 
 the war, in the interest of liberty and peace. His able and successful defence with 
 Denham, in 1820, of Queen Caroline, the injured consort of George IV, for alleged 
 indecorous conduct, gained him popular applause, though it barred him from prefer- 
 ment by the Crown, until the death of the King, when he was appointed by the 
 new Whig government Lord Chancellor, and took his seat on the woolsack as Baron 
 Brougham. In this post he distinguished himself as the pioneer of law reform, and 
 in the House of Peers he aided greatly in passing the Reform Bill, which became 
 an Act in 1832. Outside of Parliament, he also took a hearty interest in educa- 
 tional advancement, aided in founding the non-sectarian University of London, and 
 gave a great impetus to the publishing enterprises of the newly created Society for 
 the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge and to the movement for establishing Mechanics' 
 Institutes. Toward the close of his long life, he was much gratified by the honors 
 paid him, in the lord rectorship of Glasgow University and the chancellorship of 
 that at Edinburgh. His late appearances in the House of Lords, in his declining 
 days, did not add to his fame. He died in his ninetieth year. It was by his 
 speeches that Brougham's influence was most felt by his own "generation, and 
 upon them has been built his great reputation. Although there is, unhappily, 
 something evanescent, writes a contemporary, in those great efforts of the human 
 tongue which so often roused and ruled the passions and the intellect of the 
 
 (87) 
 
88 
 
 HENRY LORD BROUGHAM 
 
 senate and the nation, "their results belong to history, and Lord Brougham 
 will leave no monument behind him more worthy to be held in lasting re- 
 membrance than his orations. He labored to become a master in his art, and 
 we see in the arrangement of his topics, the structure of his periods, and the 
 choice of his language, the skill, and, in its proper sense, the artifice of the 
 consummate rhetorician." 
 
 SPEECH ON NEGRO EMANCIPATION 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE. HOUSE OF LORDS. FEBRUARY 20, 1838 
 
 I DO NOT think, my lords, that ever but once before in the 
 whole course of my public life have I risen to address 
 either House of Parliament v^ith the anxiety under 
 which I labor at this moment. The occasion to which alone I 
 can liken the present was when I stood up in the Commons to 
 expose the treatment of that persecuted missionary whose case 
 gave birth to the memorable debate upon the condition of our 
 negro brethern in the colonies — a debate happily so fruitful 
 of results to the whole of this great cause. 
 
 But there is this difference between the two occasions to 
 sustain my spirits now, that whereas at the former period the 
 horizon was all wrapped in gloom through which not a ray of 
 light pierced to cheer us we have now emerged into a com- 
 paratively bright atmosphere and are pursuing our journey 
 full of hope. For this we have mainly to thank that import- 
 ant discussion and those eminent men who bore in it so con- 
 spicuous a part. And now I feel a greater gratification in 
 being the means of enabling your lordships, by sharing in this 
 great and glorious work, nay, by leading the way towards its 
 final accomplishment, to increase the esteem in which you are 
 held by your fellow citizens; or if, by any differences of opin- 
 ion on recent measures, you may unhappily have lost any por- 
 
ON NEGRO EMANCIPATION 
 
 89 
 
 tion of the public favor, I know of no path more short, more 
 sure, or more smooth, by which you may regain it. But I will 
 not rest my right to your co-operation upon any such grounds 
 as these. I claim your help by a higher title. I rely upon 
 the justice of my cause — I rely upon the power of your 
 consciences — I rely upon your duty to God and to man — 
 I rely upon your consistency with yourselves — and, appeal- 
 ing to your own measure of 1833, if you be the same men 
 in 1838, I call upon you to finish your own work and give at 
 length a full effect to the wise and Christian principles which 
 then guided your steps. 
 
 I rush at once into the midst of this great argument — I 
 drag before you once more, but I trust for the last time, the 
 African slave trade, which I lately denounced here, and have 
 so often elsewhere. On this we are all agreed. Whatever 
 difference of opinion may exist on the question of slavery, on 
 the slave traffic there can be none. I am now furnished with 
 a precedent which may serve for an example to guide us. On 
 slavery we have always held that the colonial legislature 
 could not be trusted ; that, to use Mr. Canning's expression, you 
 must beware of allowing the masters of slaves to make laws 
 upon slavery. But upon the detestable' traffic in slaves I can 
 show you the proceeding of a colonial assembly which we 
 should ourselves do well to adopt after their example. These 
 masters of slaves, not to be trusted on that subject, have acted 
 well and wisely on this. The legislature of J amaica, owners 
 of slaves, and representing all other slave-owners, feel that 
 they also represent the poor negroes themselves; and they 
 approach the throne, expressing themselves thankful — tar- 
 dily thankful, no doubt — that the traffic has been for thirty 
 years put down in our own colonies, and beseeching the sov- 
 ereign to consummate the great work by the only effectual 
 
90 
 
 LORt) BROUGHAM 
 
 means — of having it declared piracy by the law of nations, 
 as it is robbery and piracy and murder by the law of God! 
 This address is precisely that which I desire your lordships 
 to present to the same gracious sovereign. ... 
 
 I well remember how uneasy all were looking forward to 
 the 1st of August, 1834, when the state of slavery was to 
 cease, and I myself shared in those feelings of alarm when 
 I contemplated the possible event of the vast but yet untried 
 experiment. My fears proceeded first from the character of 
 the masters. I knew the nature of man, fond of power, jeal- 
 ous of any interference with its exercise, uneasy at its being 
 questioned, offended at its being regulated and constrained, 
 averse, above all, to have it wrested from its hands, especially 
 after it has been long enjoyed and its possession can hardly 
 be severed from his nature. 
 
 But I also was aware of another and a worse part of human 
 nature. I knew that whoso has abused power clings to 
 it with a yet more convulsive grasp. I dreaded the nature of 
 man, prone to hate whom he has injured; because I knew that 
 law of human weakness which makes the oppressor hate his 
 victim, makes him who has injured never forgive, fills the 
 wrongdoer with vengeance against those whose right it is to 
 indicate those injuries on his own head. 
 
 I knew that this abominable law of our evil nature was 
 not confined to different races, contrasted hues, and strange 
 features, but prevailed also between white man and* white — 
 for I never yet knew any one hate me but those whom I had 
 served, and those who had done me some grievous injustice. 
 Why then should I expect other feelings to burn within the 
 planter's bosom, and govern his conduct towards the unhappy 
 beings who had suffered so much and so long at his hands? 
 But, on the part of the slaves, I was not without some anxiety 
 
ON NEGRO EMANCIPATION 
 
 91 
 
 when I considered the corrupting effects of that degrading 
 system under which they had for ages groaned, and recognized 
 the truth of the saying in the first and the earliest of profane 
 poets, that " the day which makes a man a slave robs him of 
 half his value." 
 
 I might well think that the West Indian slave offered no 
 exception to this maxim, that the habit of compulsory labor 
 might have incapacitated him from voluntary exertion; that 
 overmuch toil might have made all work his aversion; that 
 never having been accustomed to provide for his own wants, 
 while all his supplies were furnished by others, he might prove 
 unwilling or unfit to work for himself, the ordinary induce- 
 ments to industry never having operated on his mind. 
 
 In a word, it seemed unlikely that long disuse of freedom 
 might have rendered him too familiar with his chains to set 
 a right value on liberty, or that, if he panted to be free, the 
 sudden transition from the one state to the other, the instanta- 
 neous enjoyment of the object of his desires, might prove too 
 strong for his uncultured understanding; might overset his 
 principles, and render him dangerous to the public peace. 
 Hence it was that I entertained some apprehensions of the 
 event, and yielded reluctantly to the plan proposed of prepar- 
 ing the negroes for the enjoyment of perfect freedom by pass- 
 ing them through the intermediate state of indentured 
 apprenticeship. 
 
 Let us now see the results of their sudden though partial 
 liberation, and how far those fears have been realized; for 
 upon this must entirely depend the solution of the present 
 question — whether or not it is safe now to complete the 
 emancipation, which, if it only be safe, we have not the 
 shadow of right any longer to withhold. 
 
 Well, then, let us see. The first of August came, the object 
 
92 
 
 LORD BROUGHAM 
 
 of SO much anxiety and so many predictions — that day so 
 joyously expected by the poor slaves, as sorely dreaded by their 
 hard taskmasters; and surely, if there ever was a picture inter- 
 esting, even fascinating, to look upon, if there ever was a pass- 
 age in a people's history that redounded to their eternal 
 honor, if ever triumphant answer was given to all the scandal- 
 ous calumnies for ages heaped upon an oppressed race, as if 
 to justify the wrongs done them, that picture, and that pass- 
 age, and that answer were exhibited in the unifomi history 
 of that auspicious day all over the islands of the Western 
 Sea. Instead of the horizon being lit up with the lurid fires 
 of rebellion, kindled by a sense of natural though lawless 
 revenge, and the just resistance to intolerable oppression, the 
 whole of that widespread scene was mildly illuminated with 
 joy, contentment, peace, and good will towards men. 
 
 No civilized nation, no people of the most refined character, 
 could have displayed, after gaining a sudden and signal vic- 
 tory, more forbearance, more delicacy, in the enjoyment of 
 their triumph, than these poor untutored slaves did upon the 
 great consummation of all their wishes which they had just 
 attained. 'Not a gesture or a look was seen to scare the eye ; 
 not a sound or a breath from the negro's lips was heard to 
 grate on the ear of the planter. All was joy, congratulation, 
 and hope. Everywhere were to be seen groups of these harm- 
 less folks assembled to talk over their good fortunes, to com- 
 municate their mutual feelings of happiness, to speculate on 
 their future prospects. Finding that they were now free in 
 name, they hoped soon to taste the reality of liberty. Feel- 
 ing their fetters loosened, they looked forward to the day 
 which would see them fall off, and the degrading marks which 
 they left be effaced from their limbs. 
 
 But all this was accompanied with not a whisper that could 
 
ON NEGRO EMANCIPATION 
 
 93 
 
 give offence to the master by reminding him of the change. 
 This delicate, calm, tranquil joy was alone to be marked on 
 that day over all the chain of the Antilles. Amusements there 
 were none to be seen on that day — not even their simple 
 pastimes by which they had been wont to beguile the hard 
 hours of bondage, and which reminded that innocent people 
 of the happy land of their forefathers, whence they had been 
 torn by the hands of Christian and civilized men. The day 
 was kept sacred as the festival of their liberation, for the 
 negroes are an eminently pious race. Every church was 
 crowded from early dawn with devout and earnest worshippers. 
 Five or six times in the course of that memorable Friday were 
 all those churches filled and emptied in succession by multi- 
 tudes who came, not to give mouth-worship or eye-worship, 
 but to render hi^mble and hearty thanks to God for their 
 freedom at length bestowed. In countries where the bounty 
 of nature provokes the passions, where the fuel of intemper- 
 ance is scattered with a profuse hand, I speak the fact when 
 I tell that not one negro was seen in a state of intoxication. 
 Three hundred and forty thousand slaves in Jamaica were at 
 once set free on that day, and the peaceful festivity of those 
 simple men was disturbed only on a single estate, in one par- 
 ish, by the irregular conduct of three or four persons, who 
 were immediately kept in order, and tranquillity was in one 
 hour restored. 
 
 But the termination of slavery was to be an end of all 
 labor; no man would work unless compelled; much less would 
 any one work for hire. The cart-whip was to resound no 
 more, and no more could exertion be obtained from the indo- 
 lent African. 
 
 I set the past against these predictions. I have never been 
 in the West Indies; I was one of those whom, under the name 
 
94 
 
 LORD BROUGHAM 
 
 of reasoners, and theorists, and visionaries, all planters pitied 
 for incurable ignorance on colonial affairs; one of those who 
 were forbidden to meddle with matters of which they could 
 only judge who had the practical knowledge of experienced 
 men on the spot obtained. 
 
 Therefore I now appeal to the fact, — and I also appeal to 
 one who has been to the West Indies, is himself a planter, and 
 was an eye-witness of the things upon which I call for his 
 confirmatory testimony. It is to my noble friend [Lord Sligo] 
 that I appeal. He knows, for he saw, that ever since slavery 
 ceased there has been no want of inclination to work in any 
 part of Jamaica, and that labor for hire is now to be had with- 
 out the least difficulty by all who can afford to pay wages, 
 the apprentices cheerfully working for those who will pay 
 them during the hours not appropriated to their masters. 
 
 My noble friend made an inquisition as to the state of this 
 important matter in a large part of his government; and I 
 have his authority for stating that in nine estates out of ten 
 laborers for hire were to be had without the least difficulty. 
 
 Yet this was the people of whom we were told, with a con- 
 fidence that set all contradiction at defiance, with an insulting 
 pity for the ignorance of us who had no local experience, 
 that without the lash there could be no work done, and that, 
 Vhen it ceased to vex him, the African would sink into sleep. 
 The prediction is found to have been ridiculously false; the 
 negro peasantry is a& industrious as our own, and wages fur- 
 nish more effectual stimulus than the scourge. 
 
 Oh, but, said the men of colonial experience — the true 
 practical men — this may do for some kinds of produce. Cot- 
 ton may be planted, coffee may be picked, indigo may be 
 manufactured, — all these kinds of work the negro may prob- 
 ably be got to do ; but at least the cane mil ceasi© to grow, 
 
ON NEGRO EMANCIPATION 
 
 95 
 
 the cane-piece can no longer be hoed, nor the plant be hewn 
 down, nor the juice boiled, and sugar will utterly cease out of 
 the land. 
 
 Now let the man of experience stand forward, — the practi- 
 cal man, the inhabitant of the colonies, — I require that he 
 now come forth with his prediction, and I meet him with the 
 fact; let him but appear, and I answer for him, we shall hear 
 him prophesy no more. Put to silence by the past, which 
 even these confident men have not the courage to deny, they 
 will at length abandon this untenable ground. 
 
 Twice as much sugar by the hour was found, on my noble 
 friend's inquiry, to be made since the apprenticeship, as under 
 the slave system, and of a far better quality; and one planter 
 on a vast scale has said that with twenty free laborers he could 
 do the work of a hundred slaves. 
 
 But linger not on the islands where the gift of freedom 
 has been but half bestowed. Look at Antigua and Bermuda, 
 where the wisdom and the virtue have been displayed of at 
 once giving complete emancipation. To Montserrat the same 
 appeal might have been made, but for the folly of the upper 
 House, which threw out the bill passed in the Assembly by the 
 representatives of the planters. But in Antigua and in Ber- 
 muda, where for the last three years and a half there has not 
 even been an apprentice — where all have been at once made 
 as free as the peasantry of this country — the produce has 
 increased, not diminished, and increased notwithstanding the 
 accidents of bad seasons, droughts, and fires. 
 
 My lords, I have proved my case, and may now call for 
 judgment. I have demonstrated every part of the proposition, 
 which alone it is necessary that I should maintain, to prove the 
 title of the apprentice to instant freedom from his taskmas- 
 ters, because I have demonstrated that the liberation of the 
 
96 
 
 LORD BROUGHAM 
 
 slave has been absolutely, universally safe — attended with 
 not even inconvenience — nay, productive of ample benefits 
 to his master. I have shown that the apprentice wDrks with- 
 out compulsion, and that the reward of wages are a better 
 incentive than the punishment of the lash. I have proved 
 that labor for hire may anywhere be obtained as it is wanted, 
 and can be purchased. All the apprentices working extra 
 hours for hire, and all the free negroes, wherever their emanci- 
 pation has been complete, worked harder by much for the 
 masters who have wherewithal to pay them, than the slave can 
 toil for his owner, or the apprentice for his master 
 
 Whether we look to the noble-minded colonies which have 
 at once freed their slaves, or to those who still retain them in 
 a middle and half -free condition, I have shown that the indus- 
 try of the negro is undeniable, and that it is constant and 
 productive in proportion as he is the director of its application 
 and the master of its recompense. But I have gone a great 
 deal further — I have demonstrated, by a reference to the 
 same experience, the same unquestioned facts, that a more 
 quiet, peaceful, inoffensive, innocent race is not to be found 
 on the face of this earth than the Africans, not while dwell- 
 ing in their own happy country, and enjoying freedom in a 
 natural state under their own palm-trees and by their native 
 streams, but after they have been torn away from it, 
 enslaved, and their nature perverted in your Christian land, 
 barbarized by the policy of civilized states; their whole char- 
 acter disfigured, if it were possible to disfigure it; all their 
 feelings corrupted, if you could have corrupted them. Every 
 effort has been made to spoil the poor African, every source 
 of wicked ingenuity exhausted to deprave his nature, all the 
 incentives of misconduct placed around him by the fiend-like 
 artifice of Christian civiKzed men, and his excellent nature 
 
ON NEGRO EMANCIPATION 
 
 97 
 
 has triumphed over all your arts; your unnatural culture has 
 failed to make it bear the poisonous fruit that might well have 
 been expected from such abominable husbandry, though 
 enslaved and tormented, degraded and debased, as far as 
 human industry could effect its purpose of making him blood- 
 thirsty and savage, his gentle spirit has prevailed and pre- 
 served, in spite of all your prophecies, aye, and of all your 
 efforts, unbroken tranquillity over the whole Caribbean 
 chain ! 
 
 Have I not proved my case? I show you that the whole 
 grounds of the arrangement of 1833, the very pretext for 
 withholding complete emancipation — alleged incapacity for 
 labor and risk of insurrection — utterly fail. I rely on your 
 own records ; I refer to that record which cannot be averred 
 against. I plead the record of your own statute. Qn what 
 ground does its preamble rest the necessity of the intermediate 
 or apprentice state, all admitting that nothing but necessity 
 would justify it? — 
 
 Whereas, it is expedient that provision should be made, 
 promoting the industry and securing the good conduct of the 
 manumitted slaves." 
 
 Those are the avowed reasons for the measure, those its only 
 defence. All men confessed that were it not for the apprehen- 
 sion of liberated slaves not working voluntarily, and not 
 behaving peaceably, of slavery being found to have unfitted 
 them for industry, and of a sudden transition to perfect free- 
 dom being fraught with danger to the peace of society, you 
 had no right to make them indentured apprentices and must 
 at once get them wholly free. But the fear prevailed, which 
 by the event I have now a right to call a delusion, and the 
 apprenticeship was reluctantly agreed to. 
 
 The delusion went further. The planter succeeded in per- 
 
 Vol. 5-7 
 
98 
 
 LORD BROUGHAM 
 
 suading its that he would be a vast loser by the change, and 
 we gave him twenty millions sterling money to indemnify 
 him for the supposed loss. The fear is found to be utterly 
 baseless, the loss is a phantom of the brain, a shape conjured 
 up by the interested parties to frighten our weak minds, and 
 the only reality in this mockery is the payment of that enor- 
 mous sum to the crafty and fortunate magician for his incan- 
 tations The spell is dissolved, the charm is over, the 
 unsubstantial fabric of calculating alarm, reared by the 
 colonial body with our help, has been crushed to atoms, and 
 its fragments scattered to the world. 
 
 And now, I ask, suppose it had been ascertained in 1833, 
 when you make the apprenticeship law, that those alarms 
 were absolutely groundless, the mere phantom of a sick brain, 
 or contrivance of a sordid ingenuity, would a single voice have 
 been raised in favor of the intermediate state? Would the 
 words indentured apprenticeship ever have been pro- 
 nounced ? Would the man have been found endued with the 
 courage to call for keeping the negro in chains one hour after 
 he had been acknowledged entitled to his freedom? 
 
 My lords, I cannot better prove the absolute necessity of 
 putting an immediate end to the state of apprenticeship than 
 by showing what the victims of it are daily fated to endure. 
 The punishments inflicted are of monstrous severity. The 
 law is wickedly harsh; its execution is committed to hands 
 that exasperate that cruelty. For the vague, undefined, 
 undefinable offence of insolence, thirty-nine lashes; the same 
 number for carrying a knife in the pocket; for cutting the 
 shoot of a cane-plant, fifty lashes, or three months' imprison- 
 ment in that most loathsome of all dungeons, a West Indian 
 jail. 
 
 There seems to have prevailed at all times among the 
 
ON NEGRO EMANCIPATION 
 
 99 
 
 lawgivers of the slave colonies a feeling of which I grieve 
 to say those of the mother country have partaken; that there 
 is something in the nature of a slave, something in the dis- 
 position of the African race, something in the habits of those 
 hapless victims of our crimes, our cruelties, and frauds, 
 which requires a peculiar harshness of treatment from their 
 rulers, and makes what in other men's cases we call justice 
 and mercy cruelty to society, and injustice to the law in 
 theirs, inducing us to visit with the extremity of rigor in the 
 African what, if done by our own tribes, would be slightly 
 visited, or not at all, as though there were in the negro nature 
 something so obdurate that no punishment with which they 
 can be punished would be too severe. 
 
 Prodigious, portentous injustice! As if we had a right to 
 blame any but ourselves for Avhatever there may be of harsh 
 or cunning in our slaves; as if we were entitled to visit upon 
 him that disposition, were it obdurate — those habits, were 
 they insubordinate — those propensities, were they dishonest 
 (all of which I deny them to be, and every day's experience 
 justifies my denial); but were those charges as true as they 
 are foully slanderous and absolutely false, is it for us to 
 treat our victims harshly for failings or for faults with which 
 our treatment of him has corrupted and perverted his 
 nature, instead of taking to ourselves the blame, punishing 
 ourselves at least with self-abasement, and atoning with 
 deepest shame for having implanted vice in a pure soil? 
 
 If some capricious despot were, in the career of ordinary 
 tyranny, to tax his pampered fancy to produce something 
 more monstrous, more unnatural than himself; were he to 
 graft the thorn upon the vine, or place the dove among vul- 
 tures to be reared, much as we might marvel at this freak of 
 a perverted appetite, we should marvel still more if we saw 
 
100 
 
 LORD BROUGHAM 
 
 tyranny, even its own measure of proverbial unreasonable- 
 ness, and complain because the grape was not gathered from 
 the thorn, or because the dove so trained had a thirst for 
 blood. Yet this is the unnatural caprice, this the injustice, 
 the gross, the foul, the outrageous, the monstrous, the 
 incredible injustice of which we are daily and hourly guilty 
 towards the whole of the ill-fated African race! 
 
 My lords, we fill up the measure of this injustice by 
 executing laws wickedly conceived, in a yet more atrocious 
 spirit of cruelty. Our whole punishments smell of blood. 
 Let the treadmill stop, from the weary limbs and exhausted 
 frames of the sufferers no longer having the power to press it 
 down the requisite number of turns in a minute, the lash 
 instantly resounds through the mansion of woe! Let the 
 stone spread out to be broken not crumble fast enough 
 beneath the arms already scarred, flayed, and wealed by the 
 whip, again the scourge tears afresh the half-healed flesh ! 
 
 My lords, I have had my attention directed within the last 
 two hours to the new mass of papers laid on our table from 
 the West Indies. The bulk I am averse to break, but a 
 sample I have culled from its hateful contents. Eleven 
 females were punished by severe flogging, and then put on 
 the treadmill, where they were compelled to ply until 
 exhausted nature could do no more. When faint, and about 
 to fall off, they were suspended by the arms in such a man- 
 ner that has been described to me by a most respectable 
 eye-witness of similar scenes, but not so suspended as that 
 the mechanism could revolve clear of their person; for the 
 wheel at each turn bruised and galled their legs, till their 
 sufferings had reached the pitch when life can no longer 
 even glimmer in the socket of the weary frame. In the 
 course of a few days these wretched beings " languished," to 
 
ON NEGRO EMANCIPATION 
 
 10] 
 
 use the language of our law — that law which is so constantly 
 and systematically violated — and, " languishing, died." 
 
 Ask you if crimes like these, murderous in their legal 
 nature as well as frightful in their aspect, passed unnoticed; 
 if inquiry was neglected to be made respecting those deaths 
 in a prison? 'No such thing! The forms of justice were on 
 this head peremptory even in the West Indies, and those 
 forms, the handmaids of justice, were present, though their 
 sacred mistress was far away. The coroner duly attended, 
 his jury were regularly empanelled; eleven inquisitions were 
 made in order, and eleven verdicts returned. Murder? 
 Manslaughter? Misdemeanor? Misconduct? ISTo! but 
 " Died by the visitation of God ! " Died by the visitation 
 of God! A lie! — a perjury! — a blasphemy! 
 
 The visitation of God! Yes; for it is among the most 
 awful of these visitations by which the inscrutable purposes 
 of his will are mysteriously accomplished, that he sometimes 
 arms the wicked with power to oppress the guiltless; and, 
 if there be any visitation more dreadful than another — any 
 which more tries the faith and vexes the reason of erring 
 mortals — it is when heaven showers down upon the earth 
 the plague — not of scorpions, or pestilence, or famine, or 
 war — but of unjust judges or perjured jurors — wretches 
 who pervert the law to wreak their personal vengeance or 
 compass their sordid ends, and forswear themselves on the 
 gospels of God, to the end that injustice may prevail and 
 the innocent be destroyed — 
 
 " Sed nos immensum spatiis confecimus sequor 
 Et jam tempus equis spumentia solvere coUa." ^ 
 
 I hasten to^ a close. There remains little to add. It is, 
 my lords, with a view to prevent such enormities as I have 
 
 * We have traversed the boundless spaces of the desert 
 And the time has come to unyoke our foaming steeds." 
 
102 
 
 LORD BROUGHAM 
 
 feebly pictured before you, to correct the administration of 
 justice, to secure the comforts of the negroes, to restrain 
 the cruelty of the tormentors, to amend the discipline of the 
 prisons, to arm the governors with local authority over the 
 police; it is with those views that I have formed the first five 
 of the resolutions now upon your table, intending they should 
 take effect during the very short interval of a few months 
 which must elapse before the sixth shall give complete 
 liberty to the slave. 
 
 I entirely concur in the observation of Mr. Burke, 
 repeated and more happily expressed by Mr. Canning, that 
 the masters of slaves are not to be trusted with making 
 laws upon slavery; that nothing they do is ever found effec- 
 tual; and that if by some miracle they even chance to enact a 
 wholesome regulation, it is always found to want what 
 Mr. Burke calls " the executory principle ; " it fails to 
 execute itself. 
 
 But experience has shown that when the lawgivers of the 
 colonies find you are firmly determined to do your duty, 
 they anticipate you by doing theirs. Thus, when you 
 announced the bill for amending the Emancipation Act, 
 they outstripped you in Jamaica, and passed theirs before you 
 could reach them. 
 
 Let, then, your resolutions only show you to be in good 
 earnest now, and I have no doubt a corresponding disposition 
 will be evinced on the other side of the Atlantic. These 
 improvements are, however, only to be regarded as tem- 
 porary expedients, — as mere palliatives of an enormous 
 mischief for which the only efficient remedy is that complete 
 emancipation which I have demonstrated by the unerring 
 and incontrovertible evidence of facts, as well as the clearest 
 deductions of reason, to be safe and practicable , and, there- 
 
ON NEGRO EMANCIPATION 
 
 103 
 
 fore, proved to be our imperative duty at once to pro- 
 claim. 
 
 From the instant that glad sound is wafted across the 
 ocean, what a blessed change begins; what an enchanting 
 prospect unfolds itself! The African, placed on the same 
 footing with other men, becomes in reality our fellow citi- 
 zen — to our feelings, as well as in his own nature, our equal, 
 our brother. 'No difference of origin or color can now pre- 
 vail to keep the two castes apart. The negro, master of his 
 own labor, — only induced to lend his assistance if you make 
 it his interest to help you, yet that aid being absolutely neces- 
 sary to preserve your existence, — becomes an essential por- 
 tion of the community, nay, the very portion upon which the 
 whole must lean for support. 
 
 This ensures him all his rights; this makes it not only no 
 longer possible to keep him in thraldom, but places him in a 
 complete and intimate union with the whole mass of colonial 
 society. Where the driver and the jailor once bore sway, 
 the lash resounds no more, nor does the clank of the chain 
 any more fall upon the troubled ear; the fetter has ceased 
 to gall the vexed limb, and the very mark disappears which 
 for a while it had left. All races and colors run together 
 the same glorious race of improvement. Peace unbroken, 
 harmony uninterrupted, calm unruffled, reign in mansion 
 and in field, in the busy street and the fertile valley, where 
 nature, with the lavish hand she extends under the tropical 
 sun, pours forth all her bounty profusely, because received 
 in the lap of cheerful industry, not extorted by hands 
 cramped with bonds. 
 
 So now the fulness of time is come for at length discharg- 
 ing our duty to the African captive. I have demonstrated 
 
104 
 
 LORD BROUGHAM 
 
 to you tliat ever jtliing is ordered — every previous step 
 taken — all safe, by experience shown to be safe, for the 
 long-desired consummation. The time has come, the trial 
 has been made, the hour is striking; you have no longer a 
 pretext for hesitation, or faltering, or delay. The slave has 
 shown, by four years' blameless behavior and devotion to the 
 pursuits of peaceful industry, that he is as fit for his freedom 
 as any English peasant, aye, or any lord whom I now 
 address. 
 
 I demand his rights; I demand his liberty without stint. 
 In the name of justice and of law, in the name of reason, in 
 the name of Grod, who has given you no right to work injus- 
 tice, I demand that your brother be no longer trampled 
 upon as your slave! I make my appeal to the Commons, 
 who represent the free people of England, and I require at 
 their hands the performance of that condition for which they 
 paid so enormous a price — that condition which all their 
 constituents are in breathless anxiety to see fulfilled! 
 I appeal to this House! Hereditary judges of the first tri- 
 bunal in the world, to you I appeal for justice! Patrons of 
 all the arts that humanize mankind, under your protection 
 I place humanity herself! To the merciful Sovereign of a 
 free people, I call aloud for mercy to the hundreds of thou- 
 sands for whom half a million of her Christian sisters have 
 cried out; I ask that their cry may not have risen in vain. 
 But, first, I turn my eye to the Throne of all justice, and, 
 devoutly humbling myself before him who is of purer eyes 
 than to behold such vast iniquities, I implore that the curse 
 hovering over the head of the unjust and the oppressor be 
 averted from us, that your hearts may le turned to mercy, 
 and that over all the earth his will may at length be done! 
 
ROBERT EMMET 
 
 OBERT Emmet, Irish revolutionary patriot and orator, was born at Dublin 
 in 1778. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he distinguished 
 himself by his eloquence in the College historical society, he was designed 
 for the Bar, but became instead one of the leading spirits among the 
 United Irishmen, whose aim was Irish independence and severance from England. In 
 July, 1803, he led a body of insurrectionists against Dublin Castle, who, on the way, 
 soon passed beyond his control and wantonly murdered the chief justice. Lord Kilwarden, 
 whose carriage they intercepted. When the rioters were dispersed. Emmet fled to the 
 Wicklow Mountains, but was arrested and tried for treason, pleading his cause on the 
 occasion in a long and eloquent speech. He was nevertheless condemned to death, and 
 was executed Sept. 20, 1803. His death and his love for Miss Curran are the themes 
 of two of Moore's "Irish Melodies." 
 
 SPEECH WHEN UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE SESSION HOUSE, DUBLIN. BEFORE LORD NORBURY. 
 SEPTEMBER 19. 1803 
 
 MY LORDS, — What have I to say why sentence of 
 death should not be pronounced on me according to 
 law? I have nothing to say that can alter your 
 predetermination, nor that it will become me to say with 
 any view to the mitigation of that sentence which you are 
 here to pronounce and I must abide by. But I have that to 
 say which interests me more than life and which you have 
 labored (as was necessarily your office in the present cir- 
 cumstances of this oppressed country) to destroy. I have 
 much to say why my reputation should be rescued from the 
 load of false accusation and calumny which has been heaped 
 upon it. I do not imagine that, seated where you are, your 
 minds can be so free from impurity as to receive the least 
 impression from what I am going to utter, — I have no hopes 
 
 (105) 
 
106 
 
 BOBEKT EMMET 
 
 that I can anchor my character in the breast of a court con- 
 stituted and trammelled as this is, — I only wish, and it is 
 the utmost I expect, that your lordship may suffer it to float 
 down your memories, untainted by the foul breath of preju- 
 dice, until it finds some more hospitable harbor to shelter it 
 from the storm by which it is at present buffeted. 
 
 Was I only to suffer death after being adjudged guilty by 
 your tribunal, I should bow in silence and meet the fate that 
 awaits me without a murmur: but the sentence of law which 
 delivers my body to the executioner will, through the 
 ministry of that law, labor, in its own vindication, to consign 
 my character to obloquy, — for there must be guilt some- 
 where: whether in the sentence of the court or in the 
 catastrophe, posterity must determine. 
 
 A man in my situation, my lords, has not only to encounter 
 the difficulties of fortune and the force of power over minds 
 which it has corrupted or subjugated, but the difficulties of 
 established prejudice : the man dies, but his memory lives. 
 That mine may not perish, that it may live in the respect of 
 my countrymen, I seize upon this opportunity to vindicate 
 myself from some of the charges alleged against me. 
 
 When my spirit shall be wafted to a more friendly port; 
 when my shade shall have joined the bands of those martyred 
 heroes who have shed their blood on the scaffold and in the 
 field in defense of their country and of virtue, this is my 
 hope: I wish that my memory and name may animate those 
 who survive me, while I look down with complacency on the 
 destruction of that perfidious government which upholds its 
 domination by blasphemy of the Most High; which displays 
 its power over man as over the beasts of the forest; which 
 sets man upon his brother and lifts his hand in the name of 
 God against the throat of his fellow who believes or doubts a 
 
 X 
 
WHEN UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH 
 
 107 
 
 little more or a little less than the government standard, — 
 a government which is steeled to barbarity by the cries 
 of the orphans and the tears of the widows which it has 
 made 
 
 [Here Lord [N'orbury interrupted Mr. Emmet, saying that 
 the mean and wicked enthusiasts who felt as he did were not 
 equal to the accomplishment of their wild designs.] 
 
 I appeal to the immaculate God — I swear by the throne 
 of heaven, before which I must shortly appear — by the 
 blood of the murdered patriots who have gone before me — 
 that my conduct has been, through all this peril and all my 
 purposes, governed only by the convictions which I have 
 uttered, and by no other view than that of their cure and the 
 emancipation of my country from the superinhuman oppres- 
 sion under which she has so long and too patiently travailed; 
 and that I confidently and assuredly hope that, wild and 
 chimerical as it may appear, there is still union and strength 
 in Ireland to accomplish this noble enterprise. 
 
 Of this I speak with the confidence of intimate knowledge 
 and with the consolation that appertains to that confidence. 
 Think not, my lord, I say this for the petty gratification of 
 giving you a transitory uneasiness; a man who never yet 
 raised his voice to assert a lie will not hazard his character 
 with posterity by asserting a falsehood on a subject so impor- 
 tant to his country and on an occasion like this. Yes, my 
 lords, a man who does not wish to have his epitaph written 
 until his country is liberated will not leave a weapon in the 
 power of envy, nor a pretence to impeach the probity which 
 he means to preserve even in the grave to which tyranny 
 consigns him. 
 
 [Here he was again interrupted by the court.] 
 
108 
 
 ROBERT EMMET 
 
 Again I say that what I have spoken was not intended for 
 your lordship, whose situation I commiserate rather than 
 envy my expressions were for my countrymen; if there is 
 a true Irishman present, let my last words cheer him in the 
 hour of his affliction. 
 
 [Here he was again interrupted. Lord ^Torbury said he 
 did not sit there to hear treason.] 
 
 I have always understood it to be the duty of a judge, 
 when a prisoner has been convicted, to pronounce the sen- 
 tence of the law; I have also understood that judges some- 
 times think it their duty to hear with patience and to speak 
 with humanity; to exhort the victim of the laws and to offer 
 with tender benignity his opinions of the motives by which 
 he was actuated in the crime of which he had been adjudged 
 guilty: that a judge has thought it his duty so to have done, 
 I have no doubt; but where is the boasted freedom of your 
 institutions, where is the vaunted impartiality, clemency, and 
 mildness of your courts of justice, if an unfortunate prisoner, 
 whom your policy, and not pure justice, is about to deliver 
 into the hands of the executioner, is not suffered to explain 
 his motives sincerely and truly, and to vindicate the princi- 
 ples by which he was actuated? 
 
 My lords, it may be a part of the system of angry justice 
 to bow a man's mind by humiliation to the purposed igno- 
 miny of the scaffold; but worse to me than the purposed 
 shame or the scaffold's terrors would be the shame of such 
 foul and unfounded imputations as have been laid against 
 me in this court. You, my lord, are a judge ; I am the sup- 
 posed culprit: I am a man, you are a man also; by a revolu- 
 tion of power we might change places, though we never could 
 change characters. If I stand at the bar of this court and 
 
WHEN UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH 
 
 109 
 
 dare not vindicate my character, what a farce is your justice? 
 If I stand at this bar and dare not vindicate my character, 
 how dare you calumniate it? .Does the sentence of death 
 which your unhallowed policy inflicts on my body also con- 
 demn my tongue to silence and my reputation to reproach? 
 Your executioner may abridge the period of my existence ; 
 but while I exist I shall not forbear to vindicate my char- 
 acter and motives from your aspersions; and as a man to 
 whom fame is dearer than life I will make the last use of that 
 life in doing justice to that reputation which is to live after 
 me, and which is the only legacy I can leave to those I honor 
 and love, and for whom I am proud to perish. As men, my 
 lord, we must appear at the great day at one common tri- 
 bunal, and it will then remain for the searcher of all hearts 
 to show a collective universe who was engaged in the most 
 virtuous actions or actuated by the purest motives — my 
 country's oppressors or 
 
 [Here he was interrupted and told to listen to the sentence 
 of the law.] 
 
 My lord, will a dying man be denied the legal privilege of 
 exculpating himself, in the eyes of the community, of an 
 undeserved reproach thrown upon him during his trial, by 
 charging him with ambition and attempting to cast away, for 
 a paltry consideration, the liberties of his country? Why 
 did your lordship insult me, or, rather, why insult justice, 
 in demanding of me why sentence of death should not be pro- 
 nounced? I know, my lord, that form prescribes that you 
 should ask the question; the form also presumes a right of 
 answering. This, no doubt, may be dispensed with — and so 
 might the whole ceremony of trial, since sentence was 
 already pronounced at the Castle before your jury was 
 
110 
 
 ROBERT EMMET 
 
 impanelled; jour lordships are but the priests of the oracle, 
 and I submit; but I insist on the whole of the forms. 
 
 [Here the court desired him to proceed.] 
 
 I am charged with being an emissary of France! An 
 emissary of France! And for what end? It is alleged that 
 I wished to sell the independence of my country! And for 
 what end? Was this the object of my ambition? And is 
 this the mode by which a tribunal of justice reconciles con- 
 tradictions? 1^0, I am no emissary; and my ambition was 
 to hold a place among the deliverers of my country; not in 
 power nor in profit, but in the glory of the achievement! 
 Sell my country's independence to France! And for what? 
 Was it for a change of masters? No! But for ambition! 
 Oh, my country, was it personal ambition that could influence 
 me, had it been the soul of my actions, could I not by my 
 education and fortune, by the rank and consideration of my 
 family, have placed myself among the proudest of my oppres- 
 sors? My country was my idol; to it I sacrificed every selfish, 
 every endearing sentiment; and for it I now offer up my life. 
 Oh, God ! No, my lord ; I acted as an Irishman, determined 
 on delivering my country from the yoke of a foreign and 
 unrelenting tyranny and from the more galling yoke of a 
 domestic faction which is its joint partner and perpetrator in 
 the parricide, for the ignominy of existing with an exterior 
 of splendor and of conscious depravity. It was the wish of 
 my heart to extricate my country from this doubly-riveted 
 despotism. 
 
 I wished to place her independence beyond the reach of any 
 power on earth ; I wished to exalt you to that proud station in 
 the world. 
 
 Connection with France was indeed intended, but only 
 
WHEN UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH 111 
 
 as far as mutual interest would sanction or require. Were 
 they to assume any authority inconsistent with the purest 
 independence, it would be the signal for their destruction. 
 We sought aid, and we sought it as we had assurances we 
 should obtain it, — as auxiliaries in war and allies in peace. 
 
 Were the French to come as invaders or enemies, uninvited 
 by the wishes of the people, I should oppose them to the 
 utmost of my strength. Yes, my countrymen, I should 
 advise you to meet them on the beach with a sword in one 
 hand and a torch in the other; I would meet them with all 
 the destructive fury of war; and I would animate my coun- 
 trymen to immolate them in their boats before they had con- 
 taminated the soil of my country. If they succeeded in 
 landing, and if forced to retire before superior discipline, I 
 would dispute every inch of ground, burn every blade of 
 grass, and the last intrenchment of liberty should be my grave. 
 What I could not do myself, if I should fall, I should leave 
 as a last charge to my countrymen to accomplish; because I 
 should feel conscious that life, any more than death, is 
 unprofitable when a foreign nation holds my country in 
 subjection. 
 
 But it was not as an enemy that the succors of France were 
 to land; I looked indeed for the assistance of France; but I 
 wished to prove to France and to the world that Irishmen 
 deserved to be assisted; that they were indignant at slavery 
 and ready to assert the independence and liberty of their 
 country. 
 
 I wished to procure for my country the guarantee which 
 Washington procured for America; to procure an aid which 
 by its example would be as important as its valor, disciplined, 
 gallant, pregnant with science and experience; who would 
 perceive the good and polish the rough points of our char- 
 
112 
 
 ROBERT EMMET 
 
 acter. They would come to us as strangers and leave us as 
 friends after sharing in our perils and elevating our destiny. 
 These were my objects ; not to receive new taskmasters, but 
 to expel old tyrants ; these were my views, and these only 
 became Irishmen. It was for these ends I sought aid from 
 France, because Trance, even as an enemy, could not be more 
 implacable than the enemy already in the bosom of my 
 country. 
 
 [Here he was interrupted by the court.] 
 
 I have been charged with that importance in the efforts to 
 emancipate my country as to be considered the keystone of 
 the combination of Irishmen, or, as your lordship expressed 
 it, " the life and blood of conspiracy." You do me honor 
 over-much. You have given to the subaltern all the credit 
 of a superior. There are men engaged in this conspiracy 
 who are not only superior to me, but even to your own 
 conceptions of yourself, my lord; men before the splendor of 
 whose genius and virtues I should bow with respectful defer- 
 ence, and who would think themselves dishonored to be called 
 your friend — who" would not disgrace themselves by shaking 
 your blood-stained hand — 
 
 [Here he was interrupted.] 
 
 What, my lord, shall you tell me, on the passage to that 
 scaffold which that tyranny of which you are only the inter- 
 mediary executioner has erected for my murder, that I am 
 accountable for all the blood that has and will be shed in 
 this struggle of the oppressed against the oppressor? — shall 
 you tell me this — and must I be so very a slave as not to 
 repel it? 
 
 I do not fear to approach the Omnipotent Judge to answer 
 
WHEN UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH 
 
 113 
 
 for the conduct of my whole life; and am I to be appalled 
 and falsified by a mere remnant of mortality here ? — by you, 
 too, who, if it were possible to collect all the innocent blood 
 that you have shed in your unhallowed ministry, in one great 
 reservoir, your lordship might swim in it. 
 
 [Here the judge interfered.] 
 
 Let no man dare, when I am dead, to charge me with dis- 
 honor; let no man attaint my memory by believing that I 
 could have engaged in any cause but that of my country's 
 liberty and independence; or that I could have become the 
 pliant minion of power in the oporession or the miseries of 
 my countrymen. The proclamation of the provisional gov- 
 ernment speaks for our views; no inference can be tortured 
 from it to countenance barbarity or debasement at home, or 
 subjection, humiliation, or treachery from abroad. I would 
 not have submitted to a foreign oppressor for the same rea- 
 son that I would resist the foreign and domestic oppressor; 
 in the dignity of freedom I would have fought upon the 
 threshold of my country, and its enemy should enter only 
 by passing over my lifeless corpse. Am I, who lived but for 
 my country, and who have subjected myself to the dangers 
 of the jealous and watchful oppressor and the bondage of the 
 grave only to give my countrymen their rights and my 
 country her independence, — am I to be loaded with calumny 
 and not suffered to resent or repel it? No, God forbid! 
 
 If the spirits of the illustrious dead participate in the con- 
 cerns and cares of those who are dear to them in this transi- 
 tory life — O ever dear and venerated shade of my departed 
 father, look down with scrutiny upon the conduct of your 
 suffering son, and see if I have even for a moment deviated 
 from those principles of morality and patriotism which it was 
 
 Vol. 5—8 
 
114 
 
 ROBERT EMMET 
 
 youT care to instil into my youthful mind, and for which I am 
 now to offer up my life. 
 
 My lords, you are impatient for the sacrifice: the blood 
 which you seek is not congealed by the artificial terrors which 
 surround your victim; it circulates warmly and unruffled 
 through the channels which God created for noble purposes, 
 but which you are bent to destroy for purposes so grievous 
 that they cry to heaven. 
 
 Be yet patient! I have but a few words more to say. I 
 am going to my cold and silent grave: my lamp of life is 
 nearly extinguished: my race is run: the gTave opens to 
 receive me, and I sink into its bosom! I have but one 
 request to ask at my departure from this world, — it is the 
 charity of its silence! Let no man write my epitaph: for as 
 no man who knows my motives dare now vindicate them, let 
 not, prejudice or ignorance asperse them. Let them and me 
 repose in obscurity and peace, and my tomb remain imin- 
 scribed, until other times and other men can do justice to 
 my character. When my country takes her place among 
 the nations of the earth, then, and not till then, let my epi- 
 j^aph be written. I have done. 
 
JOSEPH STORY 
 
 OSEPH Story, an eminent American jurist and author, was born at Marble- 
 head, Mass., Sept. 18, 1779, and died at Cambridge, Mass., Sept. 10, 1845. 
 Educated at Harvard, he studied law and began practice at Salem in 1801, 
 and served for three years in the legislature of his native State. In 1808, 
 he was returned in the Democratic interest to Congress, where he favored the repeal of 
 the Embargo Act, a measure which had served its usefulness, if it ever had any, while 
 it had entailed much loss on American trade. Two years later, he again entered the 
 Massachusetts legislature and was elected speaker. In 1811, he was appointed asso- 
 ciate justice of the United States Supreme Court, a post he ably filled for a generation; 
 in 1820, he helped to revise the State constitution, and in 1829 became Dane professor 
 of law at Harvard, an office created for him, and which he held for the remainder of 
 his life. Story was a high authority on all legal questions, his decisions from the 
 bench and written opinions on constitutional subjects winning much and deserved fame. 
 His law lectures at Harvard and his many legal treatises testify not only to his ability 
 and soundness as a lawyer, but also to his attractiveness as a writer and to his pains- 
 taking and untiring industry. Many of his treatises are esteemed of much value 
 among jurists in England, while several of them have become text-books there as well 
 as in this country. Among them are those "On Equity Jurisprudence," "On the 
 Conflict of Laws," on the Law of Partnership, Promissory Notes, Bills of Exchange, 
 Bailments, and other treatises; besides his work on "Equity ^leadings," and his 
 "Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States." 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AGE 
 
 PRONOUNCED AT CAMBRIDGE, BEFORE THE PHI BETA KAPPA SOCIETY OF 
 HARVARD UNIVERSITY. AUGUST 31, 1826 
 
 OE'E of the most striking characteristics of our age, 
 and that, indeed, which has worked deepest in all 
 the changes of its fortunes and pursuits, is the gen- 
 eral diffusion of knowledge. This is emphatically the age 
 of reading. In other times this was the privilege of the few ; 
 in ours it is the possession of the many. Learning once con- 
 stituted the accomplishment of those in the higher orders 
 of society, who had no relish for active employment, and of 
 those whose monastic lives and religious profession sought 
 
 to escape from the weariness of their common duties. Its 
 
 (115) 
 
116 
 
 JOSEPH STORY 
 
 progress may be said to have been gradually downward from 
 the higher to the middle classes of society. It scarcely 
 reached at all, in its joys or its sorrows, in its instructions or 
 its fantasies, the home of the peasant and artisan. It now 
 radiates in all directions, and exerts its central force more 
 in the middle than in any other class of society. The means 
 of education were formerly within the reach of few. It 
 required wealth to accumulate knowledge. The possession 
 of a library was no ordinary achievement. The learned lei- 
 sure of a fellowship in some university seemed almost indis- 
 pensable for any successful studies; and the patronage of 
 , princes and courtiers was the narrow avenue to public favor. 
 I speak of a period at little more than the distance of two cen- 
 turies; not of particular instances, but of the general cast and 
 complexion of life. 
 
 The principal cause of this change is to be found in the 
 freedom of the press, or rather in this co-operating with the 
 cheapness of the press. It has been aided also by the sys- 
 tem of free schools, wherever it has been established; by that 
 liberal commerce which connects by golden chains the inter- 
 ests of mankind; by that spirit of inquiry which Protestant- 
 ism awakened throughout Christian Europe; and above all 
 by those necessities which have compelled even absolute mon- 
 archs to appeal to the patriotism and common sentiments of 
 their subjects. Little more than a century has elapsed since 
 the press in England was under the control of a licenser; and 
 within our own days only has it ceased to be a contempt, pun- 
 ishable by imprisonment, to print the debates of Parliament. 
 We all know how it still is on the continent of Europe. It 
 either speaks in timid undertones, or echoes back the pre- 
 scribed formularies of the government. The moment pub- 
 licity is given to affairs of state they excite everywhere an 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AGE 
 
 117 
 
 irresistible interest. If discussion be permitted, it will soon 
 be necessary to enlist talents to defend, as well as talents to 
 devise measures. The daily press first instructed men in 
 tbeir wants, and soon found that the eagerness of curiosity 
 outstripped the power of gratifying it. No man can now 
 doubt the fact that wherever the press is free it will eman- 
 cipate the people; wherever knowledge circulates unre- 
 strained it is no longer safe to oppress; wherever public 
 opinion is enlightened it nourishes an independent, mascu- 
 line, and healthful spirit. If Faustus were now living he 
 might exclaim with all the enthusiasm of Archimedes, and 
 with a far nearer approach to the truth, " Give me where I 
 may place a free press, and I will shake the world." 
 
 One interesting effect, which owes its origin to this uni- 
 versal love and power of reading, is felt in the altered con- 
 dition of authors themselves. They no longer depend upon 
 the smiles of a favored few. The patronage of the great is 
 no longer submissively entreated or exultingly proclaimed. 
 Their patrons are the public; their readers are the civilized 
 world. They address themselves, not to the present gen- 
 eration alone, but aspire to instruct posterity. 'No blushing 
 dedications seek an easy passport to fame or flatter the peril- 
 ous condescension of pride. ISTo illuminated letters flourish 
 on the silky page asking admission to the courtly drawing- 
 room. Authors are no longer the humble companions or 
 dependents of the nobility; but they constitute the chosen 
 ornaments of society and are welcomed to the gay circles 
 of fashion and the palaces of princes. Theirs is no longer 
 an unthrifty vocation, closely allied to penury; but an ele- 
 vated profession, maintaining its thousands in lucrative pur- 
 suits. It is not with them as it was in the days of Milton, 
 whose immortal " Paradise Lost " drew five sterling pounds, 
 
118 
 
 JOSEPH STORY 
 
 with a contingent of five more, from the reluctant book- 
 seller. 
 
 My Lord Coke would hardly find good authority in our 
 day for his provoking commentary on the memorable statute 
 of the fourth Henry, which declares that ''none henceforth 
 shall use to multiply gold or silver, or use the craft of multi- 
 plication," in which he gravely enumerates five classes of 
 beggars, ending the catalogue in his own quaint phraseology 
 with '' poetasters," and repeating for the benefit of young 
 apprentices of the law the sad admonition, 
 
 " Ssepe pater dixit, Studium, quid inutile tentas? 
 Maeonidas nuUas ipse reliquit opes."^ 
 
 There are certainly among us those who are within the 
 penalty of this prohibition if my Lord Coke's account of the 
 matter is to be believed, for they are in possession of what 
 he defines to be " a certain subtil and spiritual substance 
 extracted out of things," whereby they transmute many 
 things into gold. I am indeed afraid that the magician of 
 Abbotsford is accustomed to "use the craft of multiplica- 
 tion; " and most of us know to our cost that he has changed 
 many strange substances into very gold and very silver. 
 Yet even if he be an old offender in this way, as is shrewdly 
 suspected, there is little danger of his conviction in this lib- 
 eral age, since, though he gains by everything he parts with, 
 we are never willing to part with anything we receive from 
 him. 
 
 The rewards of authorship are now almost as sure and reg- 
 ular as those of any other profession. There are, indeed, 
 instances of wonderful success and sad failure; of genius 
 pining in neglect; of labor bringing nothing but sickness of 
 
 ^ " Often my father said: 'Why dost thou useless study? ' He himself left 
 no Homeric works." 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OP THE AGE 
 
 119 
 
 the heart; of fruitless enterprise baffled in every adventure; 
 of learning waiting its appointed time to die in patient suf- 
 fering. But this is the lot of some in all times. Disappoint- 
 ment crowds fast upon human footsteps in whatever paths 
 they tread. Eminent good fortune is a prize rarely given even 
 to the foremost in the race. And after all, he who has read 
 human life most closely knows that happiness is not the con- 
 stant attendant of the highest public favor; and that it rather 
 belongs to those who, if they seldom soar, seldom fall. 
 
 Scarcely is a work of real merit dry from the English press, 
 before it wdngs its way to both the Indies and Americas. It 
 is found in the most distant climates and the most seques- 
 tered retreats. It charms the traveller as he sails over rivers 
 and oceans. It visits our lakes and our forests. It kindles 
 the curiosity of the thick-breathing city and cheers the log 
 hut of the mountaineer. The lake of the woods resounds 
 with the minstrelsy of our mother tongue, and the plains of 
 Hindostan are tributary to its praise. I^ay, more, what is 
 the peculiar pride of our age, the Bible may now circulate its 
 consolations and instructions among the poor and forlorn of 
 every land in their native dialect. Such is the triumph of 
 letters; such is the triumph of Christian benevolence. 
 
 With such a demand for books, with such facilities of inter- 
 course, it is no wonder that reading should cease to be a mere 
 luxury and should be classed among the necessaries of life. 
 Authors may now, with a steady confidence, boast that they 
 possess a hold on the human mind which grapples closer and 
 mightier than all others. They may feel sure that every 
 just sentiment, every enlightened opinion, every earnest 
 breathing after excellence will awaken kindred sympathies 
 from the rising to the setting sun. 
 
 Nor should it be overlooked what a beneficial impulse has 
 
120 
 
 JOSEPH STORY 
 
 been tliiis communicated to education among the female sex. 
 If Christianity may be said to have given a permanent eleva- 
 tion to woman as an intellectual and moral being, it is as 
 true that the present age, above all others, has given play to 
 her genius and taught us to reverence its influence. , 
 It was the fashion of other times to treat the literary 
 acquirements of the sex as starched pedantry or vain pre- 
 tensions; to stigmatize them as inconsistent with those domes- 
 tic affections and virtues which constitute the charm of soci- 
 ety. We had abundant homilies read upon their amiable 
 weaknesses and sentimental delicacy, upon their timid gentle- 
 ness and submissive dependence; as if to taste the fruit of 
 knowledge were a deadly sin, and ignorance were the sole 
 guardian of innocence. Their whole lives were ^'sicklied 
 o^er with the pale cast of thought," and concealment of intel- 
 lectual power was often resorted to, to escape the dangerous 
 imputation of masculine strength. In the higher walks of 
 life the satirist was not without color for the suggestion, that 
 it was — 
 
 "A youth of folly, an old age of cards; " 
 
 and that elsewhere " most women had no character at all " 
 beyond that of purity and devotion to their families. 
 
 Admirable as are these qualities, it seemed an abuse 
 of the gifts of Providence to deny to mothers the power of 
 instructing their children, to wives the privilege of sharing 
 the intellectual pursuits of their husbands, to sisters and 
 daughters the delight of ministering knowledge in the fire- 
 side circle, to youth and beauty the charm of refined sense, 
 to age and infirmity the consolation of studies which elevate 
 the soul and gladden the listless hours of despondency. 
 
 These things have in a great measure passed away. The 
 prejudices which dishonored the sex have yielded to the 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AGE 
 
 121 
 
 influence of truth. By slow but sure advances education 
 has extended itself through all ranks of female society. 
 There is no longer any dread lest the culture of science 
 should foster that masculine boldness or restless independence 
 which alarms by its sallies or wounds by its inconsistencies. 
 
 We have seen that here, as everywhere else, knowledge is 
 favorable to human virtue and human happiness; that the 
 refinement of literature adds lustre to the devotion of piety; 
 that true learning, like true taste, is modest and unostenta- 
 tious; that grace of manners receives a higher polish from the 
 discipline of the schools; that cultivated genius sheds a cheer- 
 ing light over domestic duties, and its very sparkles, like 
 those of the diamond, attest at once its power and its purity. 
 There is not a rank of female society, however high, which 
 does not now pay homage to literature, or that would not 
 blush even at the suspicion of that ignorance which a half 
 century ago was neither uncommon nor discreditable. There 
 is not a parent whose pride may not glow at the thought 
 that his daughter's happiness is in a great measure within 
 her own command, whether she keeps the cool sequestered 
 vale of life or visits the busy walks of fashion. 
 
 A new path is thus open for female exertion, to alleviate 
 the pressure of misfortune, without any supposed sacrifice of 
 dignity or modesty. Man no longer aspires to an exclusive 
 dominion in authorship. He has rivals or allies in almost 
 every department of knowledge; and they are to be found 
 among those whose elegance of manners and blamelessness 
 of life command his respect as much as their talents excite 
 his admiration. 
 
 Who is there that does not contemplate with enthusiasm 
 the precious fragments of Elizabeth Smith, the venerable learn- 
 ing of Elizabeth Carter, the elevated piety of Hannah More, 
 
122 
 
 JOSEPH STORY 
 
 the persuasive sense of Mrs. Barbauld, the elegant memoirs 
 of her accomplished niece, the bewitching fictions of Madame 
 D^Arblay, the vivid, picturesque, and terrific imagery of Mrs. 
 Eadcliffe, the glowing poetry of Mrs. Hemans, the matchless 
 wit, the inexhaustible conversations, the fine character-paint- 
 ing, the practical instructions of Miss Edgeworth, the great 
 known, standing in her own department by the side of the 
 great unknown? 
 
 Another circumstance, illustrative of the character of our 
 age, is the bold and fearless spirit of its speculations. Noth- 
 ing is more common in the history of mankind than a servile 
 adoption of received opinions and a timid acquiescence in 
 whatever is established. 
 
 It matters not whether a doctrine or institution owes its 
 existence to accident or design, to wisdom, or ignorance, or 
 folly; there is a natural tendency to give it an undue value 
 in proportion to its antiquity. What is obscure in its origin 
 warms and gratifies the imagination. What in its progress 
 has insinuated itself into the general habits and manners of 
 a nation becomes imbedded in the solid mass of society. It 
 is only at distant intervals, from an aggregation of causes, 
 that some stirring revolution breaks up the old foundations, 
 or some mighty genius storms and overthrows the entrench- 
 ments of error. 
 
 Who would believe, if history did not record the fact, that 
 the metaphysics of Aristotle, or rather the misuse of his meta- 
 physics, held the human mind in bondage for two thousand 
 years? that Galileo was imprisoned for proclaiming the true 
 theory of the solar system? that the magnificent discoveries 
 of Sir Isaac Newton encountered strong opposition from phil- 
 osophers ? that Locke's ^' Essay on Human Understanding " 
 found its way with infinite difiiculty into the studies of the 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AGE 
 
 123 
 
 English universities? that Lord Bacon's method of induction 
 never reached its splendid triumphs until our day? that the 
 doctrine of the divine right of kings and the absolute alle- 
 giance of subjects constituted nearly the whole theory of gov- 
 ernment from the fall of the Roman Republic to the seven- 
 teenth century? that Christianity itself was overlaid and 
 almost buried for many centuries, by the dreamy comments 
 of monks, the superstitions of fanatics, and the traditions of 
 the Church? that it was an execrable sin throughout Christen- 
 dom to read and circulate the Holy Scriptures in the vulgar 
 tongue ? ]^ay, that it is still a crime in some nations, of which 
 the Inquisition would take no very indulgent notice, even 
 if the head of the Catholic Church should not feel that Bible 
 societies deserve his denunciation? 
 
 Even the great reformers of the Protestant Church left 
 their work but half done, or rather came to it with notions 
 far too limited for its successful accomplishment. They com- 
 batted errors and abuses and laid the broad foundations of 
 a more rational faith. But they were themselves insensible 
 to the just rights and obligations of religious inquiry. They 
 thought all error intolerable ; but they forgot in their zeal 
 that the question, what was truth, was open to all for discus- 
 sion. They assumed to themselves the very infallibility 
 which they rebuked in the Romish Church ; and as unre- 
 lentingly persecuted heresies of opinion as those who had 
 sat for ages in the judgment-seat of St. Peter. 
 
 They allowed, indeed, that all men had a right to inquire; 
 but they thought that all must, if honest, come to the same 
 conclusion with themselves; that the full extent of Christian 
 liberty was the liberty of adopting those opinions which they 
 promulgated as true. The unrestrained right of private judg- 
 ment, the glorious privilege of a free conscience, as now estab- 
 
JOSEPH STORY 
 
 lished ill this favored land, was farther from their thoughts 
 even than Popery itself. 
 
 I would not be unjust to these great men. The fault was 
 less theirs than that of the age in which they lived. . . . 
 
 To us, Americans, nothing indeed can or ought to be 
 indifferent that respects the cause of science and literature. 
 We have taken a stand among the nations of the earth, and 
 have successfully asserted our claim to political equality. 
 We possess an enviable elevation so far as concerns the 
 structure of our government, our political policy, and the 
 moral energy of our institutions. If we are not without 
 rivals in these respects we are scarcely behind any, even in 
 the general estimate of foreign nations themselves. But our 
 claims are far more extensive. We assert an equality of 
 voice and vote in the republic of letters, and assume for our- 
 selves the right to decide on the merits of others as well as 
 to vindicate our own. 
 
 These are lofty pretensions, which are never conceded with- 
 out proofs, and are severely scrutinized and slowly admitted 
 by the grave judges in the tribunal of letters. We have not 
 placed ourselves as humble aspirants, seeking our way to 
 higher rewards under the guardianship of experienced guides. 
 We ask admission into the temple of fame as joint heirs of 
 the inheritance, capable, in the manhood of our strength, 
 of maintaining our title. 
 
 We contend for prizes with nations whose intellectual 
 glory has received the homage of centuries. France, Italy, 
 Germany, England, can point to the past for monuments of 
 their genius and skill, and to the present with the undismayed 
 confidence of veterans. It is not for us to retire from the 
 ground which we have chosen to occupy, nor to shut our eyes 
 against the difficulties of maintaining it. 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AGE 
 
 125 
 
 It is not by a few vain boasts, or vainer self-complacency, or 
 rash daring, that we are to win our way to the first literary 
 distinction. We must do as others have done before us. 
 We must serve in the hard school of discipline; we must 
 invigorate our powers by the studies of other times. We 
 must gTiide our footsteps by those stars which have shone 
 and still continue to shine with inextinguishable light in the 
 firmament of learning. ISTor have we any reason for despond- 
 ency. There is that in American character which has never 
 yet been found unequal to its purpose. There is that in 
 American enterprise w^hich shrinks not, and faints not, and 
 fails not in its labors. We may say with honest pride, 
 
 " Man is the nobler growth our realms supply. 
 And souls are ripen'd In our northern sky." 
 
 We may not then shrink from a rigorous examination 
 of our own deficiencies in science and literature. If we have 
 but a just sense of our wants we have gained half the victory. 
 If we but face our difficulties they will fly before us. Let 
 us not discredit our just honors by exaggerating little attain- 
 ments. There are those in other countries who can keenly 
 search out and boldly expose every false pretension. There 
 are those in our own country who would scorn a reputation 
 ill-founded in fact and ill-sustained by examples. We have 
 solid claims upon the affection and respect of mankind. Let 
 us not jeopard them by a false shame or an ostentatious 
 pride. The growth of two hundred years is healthy, lofty, 
 expansive. The roots have shot deep and far; the branches 
 are strong and broad. I trust that many, many centuries to 
 come will witness the increase and vigor of the stock. 
 'Neyev, never may any of our posterity have just occasion to 
 speak of our country in the expressiveness of Indian rhetoric, 
 
 It is an aged hemlock; it is dead at the top." . . . 
 
126 
 
 JOSEPH STORY 
 
 There is, indeed, enough in our past history to flatter 
 our pride and encourage our exertions. We are of the 
 lineage of the Saxons, the countrymen of Bacon, Locke] and 
 Newton, as well as of Washington, Franklin, and Fulton. 
 We have read the history of our forefathers. They were 
 men full of piety and zeal, and an unconquerable love of 
 liberty. They also loved human learning and deemed it 
 second only to divine. Here, on this very spot, in the 
 bosom of the wilderness, within ten short years after their 
 voluntary exile, in the midst of cares and privations and suf- 
 ferings, they found time to rear a little school and dedicate 
 it to God and the church. It has grown; it has flourished; 
 it is the venerable university to whose walls her grateful 
 children anually come with more than filial affection. The 
 sons of such ancestors can never dishonor their memories ; the 
 pupils of such schools can never be indifferent to the cause 
 of letters. 
 
 There is yet more in our present circumstances to inspire 
 us with a wholesome consciousness of our powers and our 
 destiny. We have just passed the jubilee of our indepen- 
 dence and witnessed the prayers and gratitude of millions 
 ascending to heaven for our public and private blessings. 
 That independence was the achievement, not of faction and 
 ignorance, but of hearts as pure, and minds as enlightened, 
 and judgments as sound as ever graced the annals of man- 
 kind. Among the leaders were statesmen and scholars as 
 well as heroes and patriots. We have followed many of 
 them to the tomb, blest with the honors of their country. 
 We have been privileged yet more; we have lived to witness 
 an almost miraculous event in the departure of two great 
 authors of our independence on that memorable and blessed 
 day of jubilee. 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AGE 
 
 127 
 
 I may not in this place presume to pronounce the funeral 
 panegyric of these extraordinary men. It has been already 
 done by some of the master-spirits of our country, by men 
 worthy of the task, worthy as Pericles to pronounce the honors 
 of the Athenian dead. It was the beautiful saying of the 
 Grecian orator that " This whole earth is the sepulchre of 
 illustrious men. Nor is it the inscriptions on the columns 
 in their native soil alone that show their merit, but the 
 memorial of them, better than all inscriptions, in every 
 foreign nation, reposited more durably in universal remem- 
 brance than on their own tomb." 
 
 Such is the lot of Adams and Jefferson. They have lived, 
 not for themselves, but for their country; not for their coun- 
 try alone, but for the world. They belong to history as 
 furnishing some of the best examples of disinterested and 
 successful patriotism. They belong to posterity as the 
 instructors of all future ages in the principles of rational 
 liberty and the rights of the people. They belong to us of 
 the present age by their glory, by their virtues, and by their 
 achievements. These are memorials which can never perish. 
 They will brighten with the lapse of time, and, as they loom 
 on the ocean of eternity, will seem present to the most distant 
 generations of men. That voice of more than Roman elo- 
 quence which urged and sustained the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, that voice whose first and whose last accents were 
 for his country, is, indeed, mute. It will never again rise 
 in defence of the weak against popular excitement and vindi- 
 cate the majesty of law and justice. It will never again 
 awaken a nation to arms to assert its liberties. It will never 
 again instruct the public councils by its wisdom. It will 
 never again utter its almost oracular thoughts in philosophi- 
 cal retirement. It will never again pour out its strains of 
 
128 
 
 JOSEPH STORY 
 
 parental affection, and in the domestic circle give new lorue 
 and fervor to the consolations of religion. The hand, too, 
 which inscribed the Declaration of Independence is, indeed, 
 laid low. The weary head reposes on its mother earth. The 
 mountain winds sweep by the narrow tomb, and all around 
 has the loneliness of desolation. The stranger-guest may no 
 longer visit that hospitable home and find him there whose 
 classical taste and various conversation lent a charm to every 
 leisure hour; whose bknd manners and social simplicity 
 made every welcome doubly dear; whose expansive mind 
 commanded the range of almost every art and science ; whose 
 political sagacity, like that of his illustrious coadjutor, read 
 the fate and interests of nations as with a second-sight, and 
 scented the first breath of tyranny in the passing gale; whose 
 love of liberty, like his, was inflexible, universal, supreme; 
 whose devotion to their common country, like his, never fal- 
 tered in the worst and never wearied in the best of times; 
 whose public services ended but with life, carrying the long 
 line of their illumination over sixty years; whose last 
 thoughts exhibited the ruling passion of his heart, enthusi- 
 asm in the cause of education; whose last breathing com- 
 mitted his soul to God and his offspring to his country. 
 
 Yes, Adams and Jefferson are gone from us forever — 
 gone, as a sunbeam to revisit its native skies — gone, as this 
 mortal, to put on immortality. Of them, of each of them, 
 every American may exclaim: 
 
 " Ne'er to the chambers where the mighty rest. 
 Since their foundation, came a nobler guest. 
 Nor e'er was to the bowers of bliss conveyed 
 A fairer spirit or more welcome shade." 
 
 We may not mourn over the departure of such men. ^We 
 should rather hail it as a kind dispensation of Providence to 
 affect our hearts with new and livelier gratitude. They were 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AGE 
 
 129 
 
 not cut off in the blossom of their days, while yet the vigor 
 of manhood flushed their cheeks and the harvest of glory was 
 ungathered. They fell not as martyrs fall, seeing only in dim 
 perspective the salvation of their country. They lived to 
 enjoy the blessings earned by their labors and to realize all 
 which their fondest hopes had desired. The infirmities of life 
 stole slowly and silently upon them, leaving still behind a 
 cheerful serenity of mind. In peace, in the bosom of domes- 
 tic affection, in the hallowed reverence of their countrymen, 
 in the full possession of their faculties, they wore out the last 
 remains of life, without a fear to cloud, with scarcely a sorrow 
 to disturb its close. The joyful day of our jubilee came over 
 them with its refreshing influence. To them, indeed, it was 
 " a great and good day." The morning sun shone with soft- 
 ened lustre on their closing eyes. Its evening beams played 
 lightly on their brows, calm in all the dignity of death. Their 
 spirits escaped from these frail tenements without a struggle 
 or a groan. Their death was gentle as an infant's sleep. It 
 was a long, lingering twilight, melting into the softest shade. 
 
 Fortunate men, so to have lived, and so to have died. For- 
 tunate to have gone hand in hand in the deeds of the Revolu- 
 tion. Fortunate in the generous rivalry of middle life. 
 Fortunate in deserving and receiving the highest honors of 
 their country. Fortunate in old age to have rekindled their 
 ancient friendship with a holier flame. Fortunate to have 
 passed through the dark valley of the shadow of death 
 together. Fortunate to be indissolubly united in the mem- 
 ory and affections of their countrymen. Fortunate, above all, 
 in an immortality of virtuous fame, on which history may 
 with severe simplicity write the dying encomium of Pericles, 
 " No citizen, through their means, ever put on mourning.'' 
 
 Vol. 5-9 
 
WILLIAM E. CHAINING 
 
 ILLIAM Ellery Channing, a distinguished Unitarian clergyman, author, 
 and philanthropist, was born at Newport, R. I., April 7, 1780, and died 
 at Bennington, Vt., Oct. 2, 1842. After graduating with high honors 
 at Harvard, he became a private tutor for a time at Richmond, Va., and 
 then studied theology and became, in 1803, pastor of the Federal Street Church, 
 Boston, Mass., where for thirty years he exercised a wide and beneficent influence. 
 Though strictly allied with no theological sect, he became the recognized leader in 
 this country of the Unitarian movement and gained a high reputation for the saint- 
 liness of his character and the spirituality and literary beauty of his sermons. In 
 his later years he became an earnest advocate of social reforms, interested in the 
 welfare of the laboring classes, zealous for negro emancipation, and an active pro- 
 moter of temperance. Disliking controversy, he was on one occasion, however, 
 drawn into it, in the interest of liberal Christianity, and took advantage of the oc- 
 casion to define, at Baltimore, Md., in 1819, the Unitarian position, in a remarkable 
 sermon preached at the ordination of Jared Sparks, afterward the well-known his- 
 torian and president of Harvard. He was strongly opposed to sectarian dogmatism 
 and exclusiveness, zealous for religious liberty, and upheld the supremacy of reason 
 in religious matters and the dignity of human nature. Though not a believer in 
 the deity of Christ, he patterned himself on his moral character and impressively 
 taught his ethical gospel. His writings, which have had a large sale in Britain, as 
 well as in this country, are numerous, and include not only his sermons, but many 
 felicitous addresses and essays. These in their collected form have been issued by 
 the American Unitarian Association, which also issues a life by his nephew, Wm. 
 Henry Channing. 
 
 CHARACTER OF CHRIST 
 "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." — Matthew xvii, 5. 
 
 THE character of Christ may be studied for various pur- 
 poses. It is singularly fitted to call forth the heart, 
 to awaken love, admiration, and moral delight. As 
 an example it has no rival. As an evidence of his religion 
 
 perhaps it yields to no other proof; perhaps no other has so 
 (130) 
 
CHARACTER OF CHRIST 
 
 131 
 
 often conquered unbelief. It is chiefly to this last view of 
 it that I now ask your attention. The character of Christ is 
 a strong confirmation of the truth of his religion. As such 
 I would now place it before you. I shall not, however, think 
 only of confirming your faith; the very illustrations which 
 I shall adduce for this purpose will show the claims of 
 Jesus to our reverence, obedience, imitation, and fervent 
 love. 
 
 The more we contemplate Christ's character as exhibited 
 in the Gospel, the more we shall be impressed with its gen- 
 uineness and reality. It was plainly drawn from the life. 
 The narratives of the Evangelists bear the marks of truth 
 perhaps beyond all other histories. They set before us the 
 most extraordinary being who ever appeared on earth, and 
 yet they are as artless as the stories of childhood. The 
 authors do not think of themselves. They have plainly but 
 one aim, to show us their Master; and they manifest the 
 deep veneration which he inspired by leaving him to reveal 
 himself, by giving us his actions and sayings without com- 
 ment, explanation, or eulogy. 
 
 You see in these narratives no varnishing, no high coloring, 
 no attempts to make his actions striking or to bring out the 
 beauties of his character. We are never pointed to any cir- 
 cumstance as illustrative of his greatness. The Evangelists 
 write with a calm trust in his character, with a feeling that it 
 needed no aid from their hands, and with a deep veneratioii, 
 as if comment or praise of their own were not worthy to 
 mingle with the recital of such a life. 
 
 It is the eifect of our familiarity with the history of Jesus 
 that we are not struck by it as we ought to be. We read it 
 before we are capable of understanding its excellence. His 
 stupendous works become as familiar to us as the events of 
 
132 
 
 WILLIAM ELLERT CHANNING 
 
 ordinary life, and his high offices seem as much matters of 
 course as the common relations which men bear to each 
 other. 
 
 On this account it is fit for the ministers of religion to do 
 what the Evangelists did not attempt, to offer comments on 
 Christ's character, to bring out its features, to point men to 
 its higher beauties, to awaken their awe by unfolding its 
 wonderful majesty. Indeed, one of our most important 
 functions as teachers is to give freshness and vividness to 
 truths which have become worn, I had almost said tarnished, 
 by long and familiar handling. We have to fight with the 
 power of habit. Through habit men look on this glorious 
 creation with insensibility, and are less moved by the all- 
 enlightening sun than by a show of fireworks. It is the 
 duty of a moral and religious teacher almost to create a new 
 sense in men, that they may learn in what a world of beauty 
 and magnificence they live. And so in regard to Christ's 
 character; men become used to it until they imagine that 
 there is something more admirable in a great man of their 
 own day, a statesman or a conqueror, than in him the 
 latchet of whose shoes statesmen and conquerors are not 
 worthy to unloose. 
 
 In this discourse I wish to show that the character of 
 Christ, taken as a whole, is one which could not have entered 
 the thoughts of man, could not have been imagined or 
 feigned; that it bears every mark of genuineness and truth; 
 that it ought therefore to be acknowledged as real and of 
 divine origin. 
 
 It is all-important, my friends, if we would feel the force 
 of this argument, to transport ourselves to the times when 
 Jesus lived. We are very apt to think that he was moving 
 about in such a city as this, or among a people agreeing 
 
CHARACTER OP CHRIST 
 
 133 
 
 with ourselves in modes of thinking and habits of life. But 
 the truth is, he lived in a state of society singularly remote 
 from our own. 
 
 Of all nations the Jewish was the most strongly marked. 
 The Jew hardly felt himself to belong to the human family. 
 He was accustomed to speak of himself as chosen by God, 
 holy, clean; whilst the Gentiles were sinners, dogs, polluted, 
 unclean. His common dress, the phylactery on his brow or 
 arm, the hem of his garment, his food, the ordinary circum- 
 stances of his life, as well as his temple, his sacrifices, his 
 ablutions, all held him up to himself as a peculiar favorite 
 of God, and all separated him from the rest of the 
 world. With other nations he could not eat or marry. 
 They were unworthy of his communion. Still, with all these 
 notions of superiority he saw himself conquered by those 
 whom he despised. He was obliged to wear the shackles of 
 Rome, to see Roman legions in his territory, a Roman guard 
 near his temple, and a Roman tax-gatherer extorting, for the 
 support of an idolatrous government and an idolatrous wor- 
 ship, what he regarded as due only to God. The hatred 
 which burned in the breast of the Jew toward his foreign 
 oppressor perhaps never glowed with equal intenseness in any 
 other conquered state. 
 
 He had, however, his secret consolation. The time was 
 near, the prophetic age was at hand, when Judea was to break 
 her chains and rise from the dust. Her long-promised king 
 and deliverer was near, and was coming to wear the crown of 
 universal empire. From Jerusalem was to go forth his law, 
 and all nations were to serve the chosen people of God. To 
 this conqueror the Jews indeed ascribed the office of pro- 
 moting religion; but the religion of Moses, corrupted into 
 an outward service, w^as to them the perfection of human 
 
134 
 
 WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING 
 
 nature. They clung to its forms with the whole energy of 
 their souls. To the Mosaic institution they ascribed their dis- 
 tinction from all other nations. It lay at the foundation of 
 their hopes of dominion. I believe no strength of prejudice 
 ever equalled the intense attachment of the Jew to his 
 peculiar national religion. You may judge of its power by 
 the fact of its having been transmitted through so many ages, 
 amidst persecution and sufferings which would have subdued 
 any spirit but that of a Jew. You must bring these things to 
 your mind. You must place yourselves in the midst of this 
 singular people. 
 
 Among this singular people, burning with impatient 
 expectation, appeared Jesus of Nazareth. His first words 
 were, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'^ 
 These words we hear with little emotion; but to the Jews, 
 who had been watching for this kingdom for ages, and who 
 were looking for its immediate manifestation, they must have 
 been awakening as an earthquake. Accordingly we find 
 Jesus thronged by multitudes which no building could con- 
 tain. He repairs to a mountain, as affording him advantages 
 for addressing the crowd. I see them surrounding him with 
 eager looks, and ready to drink in every word from his lips. 
 And what do I hear? JN^ot one word of Judea, of Rome, of 
 freedom, of conquest, of the glories of God's chosen people, 
 and of the thronging of all nations to the temple on Mount 
 Zion. 
 
 Almost every word was a death-blow to the hopes and 
 feelings which glowed through the whole people, and were 
 consecrated under the name of religion. He speaks of the 
 long-expected kingdom of heaven; but speaks of it as a 
 felicity promised to, and only to be partaken of by, the humble 
 and pure in heart. The righteousness of the Pharisees, that 
 
CHARACTER OF CHRIST 
 
 135 
 
 which was deemed the perfection of religion, and which tho 
 new deliverer was expected to spread far and wide, he pro- 
 nounces worthless, and declares the kingdom of heaven, or 
 of the Messiah, to be shut against all who do not cultivate a 
 new, spiritual, and disinterested virtue. 
 
 Instead of war and victory he commands his impatient 
 hearers to love, to forgive, to bless their enemies; and holds 
 forth this spirit of benignity, mercy, peace, as the special 
 badge of the people of the true Messiah. Instead of national 
 interests and glories, he commands them to seek first a spirit 
 of impartial charity and love, unconfined by the bounds of 
 tribe or nation, and proclaims this to be the happiness and 
 honor of the reign for which they hoped. Instead of this 
 world's riches, which they expected to flow from all lands into 
 their own, he commands them to lay up treasures in heaven, 
 and directs them to an incorruptible, immortal life, as the 
 true end of their being. 
 
 Nor is this all. He does not merely offer himself as a 
 spiritual deliverer, as the founder of a new empire of inward 
 piety and universal charity; he closes with language announc- 
 ing a more mysterious office. " Many will say unto me in 
 that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? 
 and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then 
 will I profess unto them, I never knew you ; depart from me, 
 ye that work iniquity." Here I meet the annunciation of a 
 character as august as it must have been startling. I hear 
 him foretelling a dominion to be exercised in the future 
 world. He begins to announce, what entered largely into 
 his future teaching, that his power was not bounded to this 
 earth. These words I better understand w^hen I hear him 
 subsequently declaring that, after a painful death, he was to 
 rise again and ascend to heaven, and there, in a state of pre- 
 
136 
 
 WILLIAM ELLERT CHANNING 
 
 eminent power and glory, was to be the advocate and judge 
 of the human race. 
 
 Such are some of the views given by Jesus, of his charac- 
 ter and reign, in the Sermon on the Mount. Immediately 
 afterwards I hear another lesson from him, bringing out 
 some of these truths still more strongly. A Roman centurion 
 makes application to him for the cure of a servant whom he 
 particularly valued; and on expressing, in a strong manner, 
 his conviction of the power of Jesus to heal at a distance, 
 Jesus, according to the historian, marvelled, and said to 
 those that followed. Verily I say unto you, I have not found 
 so great faith in Israel ; and I say unto you, that many shall 
 come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abra- 
 ham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but 
 the children of the kingdom " (that is, the Jews) " shall be 
 cast out." 
 
 Here all the hopes which the Jews had cherished of an 
 exclusive or peculiar possession of the Messiah's kingdom 
 were crushed; and the reception of the despised Gentile 
 world to all his blessings, or, in other words, the extension 
 of his pure religion to the ends of the earth, began to be 
 proclaimed. 
 
 Here I pause for the present, and I ask you whether the 
 character of Jesus be not the most extraordinary in history, 
 and wholly inexplicable on human principles. Review the 
 ground over which we have gone. Recollect that he was 
 born and grew up a Jew in the midst of Jews, a people 
 burning with one passion, and throwing their whole souls 
 into the expectation of a national and earthly deliverer. He 
 grew up among them in poverty, seclusion, and labors fitted 
 to contract his thoughts, purposes, and hopes; and yet we 
 find him escaping every influence of education and society. 
 
CHARACTER OF CHRIST 
 
 137 
 
 We find him as untouched by the feelings which prevailed 
 universally around him, which religion and patriotism con- 
 curred to consecrate, which the mother breathed into the ear 
 of the child, and which the teacher of the synagogue 
 strengthened in the adult, as if he had been brought up in 
 another world. We find him conceiving a sublime purpose, 
 such as had never dawned on sage or hero, and see him pos- 
 sessed with a consciousness of sustaining a relation to God 
 and mankind, and of being invested with powers in this 
 world and the world to come, such as had never entered the 
 human mind. Whence now, I ask, came the conception of 
 this character ? 
 
 Will any say it had its origin in imposture ; that it was a 
 fabrication of a deceiver ? I answer, the character claimed 
 by Christ excludes this supposition by its very nature. It 
 was so remote from all the ideas and anticipations of the 
 times, so unfit to awaken sympathy, so unattractive to the 
 heathen, so exasperating to the Jew, that it was the last to 
 enter the mind of an impostor. A deceiver of the dullest 
 vision must have foreseen that it would expose him to bitter 
 scorn, abhorrence, and persecution, and that he would be 
 left to carry on his work alone, just as Jesus always stood 
 alone and could find not an individual to enter into his spirit 
 and design. What allurements an unprincipled, self-seeking 
 man could find to such an enterprise, no common ingenuity 
 can discover. 
 
 I affirm next that the sublimity of the character claimed 
 by Christ forbids us to trace it to imposture. That a selfish, 
 designing, depraved mind could have formed the idea and 
 purpose of a work unparalleled in beneficence, in vastness, 
 and in moral grandeur, would certainly be a strange depart- 
 ure from the laws of the human mind. I add, that if an 
 
138 
 
 WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING 
 
 impostor could have lighted on the conception of so sublime 
 and wonderful a work as that claimed by J esus, he could not, 
 I say, he could not have thrown into his personation of it the 
 air of truth and reality. The part would have been too 
 high for him. He would have overacted it or fallen short 
 of it perpetually. His true character would have rebelled 
 against his assumed one. We should have seen something 
 strained, forced, artificial, awkward, showing that he was not 
 in his true sphere. To act up to a character so singular and 
 grand, and one for which no precedent could be found, seems 
 to me utterly impossible for a man who had not the true 
 spirit of it, or who was only wearing it as a mask. 
 
 l^ow, how stands the case with Jesus ? Bred a Jewish 
 peasant or carpenter, he issues from obscurity, and claims 
 for himself a divine ofiice, a superhuman dignity, such as 
 had not been imagined ; and in no instance does he fall below 
 the character. The peasant, and still more the Jew, wholly 
 disappears. 
 
 We feel that a new being, of a new order of mind, is taking 
 a part in human affairs. There is a native tone of grandeur 
 and authority in his teaching. He speaks as a being related 
 to the whole human race. His mind never shrinks within 
 the ordinary limits of human agency. A narrower sphere 
 than the world never enters his thoughts. He speaks in a 
 natural, spontaneous style, of accomplishing the most ardu- 
 ous and important change in human affairs. This unlabored 
 manner of expressing great thoughts is particularly worthy 
 of attention. You never hear from Jesus that swelling, pom- 
 pous, ostentatious language, which almost necessarily springs 
 from an attempt to sustain a character above our powers. 
 He talks of his glories as one to whom they were familiar, 
 and of his intimacy and oneness with God as simply as a 
 
CHARACTER OF CHRIST 
 
 139 
 
 child speaks of his connection with his parents. He speaks 
 of saving and judging the world, of drawing all men to him- 
 self, and of giving everlasting life, as we speak of the ordi- 
 nary powers which we exert. He makes no set harangues 
 about the grandeur of his office and character. His con- 
 sciousness of it gives a hue to his whole language, breaks out 
 in indirect, undesigned expressions, showing that it was the 
 deepest and most familiar of his convictions ? 
 
 This argument is only to be understood by reading the 
 Gospels with a wakeful mind and heart. It does not lie on 
 their surface, and it is the stronger for lying beneath it. 
 When I read these books with care, when I trace the unaf- 
 fected majesty which runs through the life of Jesus, and see 
 him never falling below his sublime claims amidst poverty, 
 and scorn, and in his last agony, I have a feeling of the 
 reality of his character which I cannot express. I feel that 
 the Jewish carpenter could no more have conceived and sus- 
 tained this character under motives of imposture than an 
 infant's arm could repeat the deeds of Hercules, or his 
 unawakened intellect comprehend and rival the matchless 
 works of genius. 
 
 Am I told that the claims of Jesus had their origin not in 
 imposture, but in enthusiasm; that the imagination, kindled 
 by strong feeling, overpowered the judgment so far as to 
 give him the notion of being destined to some strange and 
 unparalleled work ? I know that enthusiasm, or a kindled 
 imagination, has great power; and we are never to lose 
 sight of it, in judging of the claims of religious teachers. 
 But I say first, that, except in cases where it amounts to 
 insanity, enthusiasm works, in a greater or less degree, 
 according to a man's previous conceptions and modes of 
 thought. 
 
140 WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING 
 
 In Jiidea, where the minds of men were burning with 
 feverish expectation of a Messiah, I can easily conceive of a 
 Jew imagining that in himself this ardent conception, this 
 ideal of fi^lory, was to be realized. I can conceive of his seat- 
 ing himself in fancy on the throne of David, and secretly 
 pondering the means of his appointed triumphs. But that a 
 Jew should fancy himself the Messiah, and at the same time 
 should strip that character of all the attributes which had 
 fired his youthful imagination and heart — that he should 
 start aside from all the feelings and hopes of his age, and 
 should acquire a consciousness of being destined to a wholly 
 new career, and one as unbounded as it was new, this is 
 exceedingly improbable; and one thing is certain, that an 
 imagination so erratic, so ungoverned, and able to generate 
 the conviction of being destined to a work so immeasurably 
 disproportioned to the power of the individual, must have 
 partaken of insanity. 
 
 l^owy is it conceivable that an individual, mastered by so 
 wild and fervid an imagination, should have sustained the 
 dignity claimed by Christ, should have acted worthily the 
 highest part ever assumed on earth ? Would not his enthusi- 
 asm have broken out amidst the peculiar excitements of the 
 life of Jesus, and have left a touch of madness on his teaching 
 and conduct ? Is it to such a man that we should look for 
 the inculcation of a new and perfect form of virtue, and for 
 the exemplification of humanity in its fairest form ? 
 
 The charge of an extravagant, self-deluding enthusiasm 
 is the last to be fastened on Jesus. Where can we find the 
 traces of it in his history? Do we detect them in the calm 
 authority of his precepts ; in the mild, practical, and benefi- 
 cent spirit of his religion; in the unlabored simplicity of 
 the language with which he unfolds his high powers and 
 
CHARACTER OF CHRIST 
 
 141 
 
 the sublime truths of religion; or in the good sense, the 
 knowledge of human nature, which he always discovers in 
 his estimate and treatment of the different classes of men 
 with whom he acted ? Do we discover this enthusiasm in 
 the singular fact that, whilst he claimed power in the future 
 world, and always turned men's minds to Heaven, he never 
 indulged his own imagination or stimulated that of his dis- 
 ciples by giving vivid pictures or any minute description of 
 that unseen state ? 
 
 The truth is, that, remarkable as was the character of 
 Jesus, it was distinguished by nothing more than by calm- 
 ness and self-possession. This trait pervades his other excel- 
 lences. How calm was his piety ! Point me, if you can, to 
 one vehement, passionate expression of his religious feelings. 
 Does the Lord's Prayer breathe a feverish enthusiasm ? The 
 habitual style of Jesus on the subject of religion, if intro- 
 duced into many churches of his followers at the present day, 
 would be charged with coldness. The calm and the rational 
 character of his piety is particularly seen in the doctrine 
 which he so earnestly inculcates, that disinterested love and 
 self-denying service to our fellow creatures are the most 
 acceptable worship we can offer to our Creator. 
 
 His benevolence, too, though singularly earnest and deep, 
 was composed and serene. He never lost the possession of 
 himself in his sympathy with others ; was never hurried into 
 the impatient and rash enterprises of an enthusiastic philan- 
 thropy; but did good with the tranquillity and constancy 
 which mark the providence of God. The depth of his calm- 
 ness may best be understood by considering the opposition 
 made to his claims. 
 
 His labors were everywhere insidiously watched and indus- 
 triously thwarted by vindictive foes who had even conspired 
 
142 
 
 WILLIAM ELLERY OHANNING 
 
 to compass, through his death, the ruin of his cause. ITow, a 
 feverish enthusiasm which fancies itself to be intrusted with 
 a great work of God is singularly liable to impatient indig- 
 nation under furious and malignant opposition. Obstacles 
 increase its vehemence; it becomes more eager and hurried 
 in the accomplishment of its purposes, in proportion as they 
 are withstood. 
 
 Be it therefore remembered that the malignity of Christ's 
 foes, though never surpassed, and for the time triumphant, 
 never robbed him of self-possession, roused no passion, and 
 threw no vehemence or precipitation into his exertions. He 
 did not disguise from himself or his followers the impression 
 made on the multitude by his adversaries. He distinctly 
 foresaw the violent death towards which he was fast 
 approaching. Yet, confiding in God and in the silent pro- 
 gress of his truth, he possessed his soul in peace. Not only 
 was he calm, but his calmness rises into sublimity when we 
 consider the storms which raged around him and the vast- 
 ness of the prospects in which his spirit found repose. I say 
 then that serenity and self-possession were peculiarly the 
 attributes of Jesus. I affirm that the singular and sublime 
 character claimed by Jesus can be traced neither to imposture, 
 nor to an ungoverned, insane imagination. It can only be 
 accounted for by its truth, its reality. 
 
 I began with observing how our long familiarity with 
 Jesus blunts our minds to his singular excellence. We 
 probably have often read of the character which he claimed, 
 without a thought of its extraordinary nature. But I know 
 nothing so sublime. The plans and labors of statesmen sink 
 into the sports of children when compared with the work 
 which Jesus announced, and to which he devoted himself in 
 life and death with a thorough consciousness of its reality. 
 
CHARACTER OF CHRIST 
 
 143 
 
 The idea of changing the moral aspect of the whole earth, 
 of recovering all nations to the pure and inward worship of 
 one God and to a spirit of divine and fraternal love, was 
 one of which we meet not a trace in philosopher or legislator 
 before him. The human mind had given no promise of this 
 extent of view. The conception of this enterprise, and the 
 calm, unshaken expectation of success in one who had no 
 station and no wealth, who cast from him the sword with 
 abhorrence, and who forbade his disciples to use any weapons 
 but those of love, discover a wonderful trust in the power 
 of God and the power of love ; and when to this we add that 
 Jesus looked not only to the triumph of his pure faith in 
 the present world, but to a mighty and beneficent power in 
 Heaven, we witness a vastness of purpose, a grandeur of 
 thought and feeling so original, so superior to the workings 
 of all other minds, that nothing but our familiarity can pre- 
 vent our contemplation of it with wonder and profound awe. 
 
 I confess, when I can escape the deadening power of habit, 
 and can receive the full import of such passages as the fol- 
 lowing : — ^' Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy 
 laden, and I will give you rest,'' — I am come to seek and 
 to save that which was lost,'' — He that confesseth mo 
 before men, him will I confess before my Father in Heaven," 
 
 — ^' Whosoever shall be ashamed of me before men, of him 
 shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the 
 glory of the Father with the holy angels," — " In my Father's 
 house are many mansions ; 1 go to prepare a 'place for you: " 
 
 — I say, when I can succeed in realizing the import of such 
 passages, I feel myself listening to a being such as never 
 before and never since spoke in human language. I am 
 awed by the consciousness of greatness which these simple 
 words express; and when I connect this greatness with the 
 
144 WILLIAM ELLEEY OHANNING 
 
 proofs of Christ's miracles which I gave you in a former dis- 
 course, I am compelled to exclaim with the centurion, 
 "Truly, this was the Son of God." 
 
 I have thus, my friends, set before you one view of Jesus 
 Christ, which shows him to have been the most extraordinary 
 being who ever lived. I invite your attention to another, and 
 I am not sure but that it is still more striking. You have 
 seen the consciousness of greatness which Jesus possessed; 
 I now ask you to consider how, with this consciousness, he 
 lived among men. 
 
 To convey my meaning more distinctly, let me avail myself 
 of an imaginary case. Suppose you had never heard the par- 
 ticulars of Christ's history, but were told in general that, 
 ages ago, an extraordinary man appeared in the world, whose 
 mind was wholly possessed with the idea of having come 
 from God, who regarded himself as clothed with divine power 
 and charged with the sublimest work in the universe, who 
 had the consciousness of sustaining a relation of unexampled 
 authority and beneficence, not to one nation or age, but to all 
 nations and all times, and who anticipated a spiritual king- 
 dom and everlasting power beyond the grave. 
 
 Suppose you should be told that, on entering the world, he 
 found not one mind able to comprehend his views, and felt 
 himself immeasurably exalted in thought and purpose above 
 all around him ; and suppose you should then be asked what 
 appearance, what mode of life, what tone, what air, what 
 deportment, what intercourse with the multitude seemed to 
 you to suit such a character, and were probably adopted by 
 him ; how would you represent him to your minds ? 
 
 Would you not suppose that, with this peculiar character, 
 he adopted some peculiar mode of life, expressive of his 
 superiority to and separation from all other men? Would 
 
CHARACTER OF CHRIST 
 
 145 
 
 you not expect something distinctive in his appearance? 
 Would you not expect him to assume some badge and to 
 exact some homage? Would you not expect that, with a 
 mind revolving such vast thoughts, and raised above the earth, 
 he would look coldly on the ordinary gratifications of men? 
 that, with a mind spreading itself over the world and medi- 
 tating its subjection to his truth, he would take little interest 
 in ordinary individuals? and that possessing, in his own doc- 
 trine and character, a standard of sublime virtue, he would 
 attach little importance to the low attainments of the ignorant 
 and superstitious around him? Would you not make him a 
 public character and expect to see him laboring to establish 
 his ascendancy among public men? Would you not expect 
 to see his natural affections absorbed in his universal philan- 
 thropy; and would not private attachments seem to you quite 
 inconsistent with his vast superiority and the immensity of 
 his purposes? Would you not expect him to avail himself 
 of the best accommodations the world could afford? Would 
 you not expect the great Teacher to select the most sacred 
 spots for his teaching, and the Lord of all to erect some con- 
 spicuous seat from which should go forth the laws which 
 were to reach the ends of the earth? Would you not, in a 
 word, expect this extraordinary personage to surround himself 
 with extraordinary circumstances, and to maintain a sepa- 
 ration from the degraded multitude around him? 
 
 Such, I believe, would be the expectation of us all; and 
 what was the case with Jesus? Read his history. He comes 
 with the consciousness of more than human greatness, to 
 accomplish an infinite work, and where do you find him? 
 What is his look? what his manner? How does he converse, 
 how live with men ? His appearance, mode of life, and inter- 
 course are directly the reverse of what we should have sup- 
 
 Vol. 5—10 
 
146 
 
 WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING 
 
 posed. He comes in the ordinary dress of the class of society 
 in which he had grown up. He retreats to no solitude, like 
 John, to strike awe, nor seeks any spot which had been con- 
 secrated in Jewish history. Would you find him ? Go to the 
 house of Peter, the fisherman. Go to the well of Samaria, 
 where he rests after the fatigues of his journey. Would you 
 hear him teach? You may find him, indeed, sometimes in 
 the temple, for that was a place of general resort; but com- 
 monly you may find him instructing in the open air, now from 
 a boat on the Galilean lake, now on a mount, and now in 
 the streets of the crowded city. He has no place wherein 
 to lay his head, nor will he have one. A rich ruler comes 
 and falls at his feet. He says, " Go, sell what thou hast and 
 give to the poor, and then come and follow me." 
 
 Nor was this all. Something more striking remains to be 
 told. He did not merely live in the streets and in the houses 
 of fishermen. In these places, had he pleased, he might have 
 cleared a space around him, and raised a barrier between 
 himself and others. But in these places and everywhere he 
 lived with men as a man, a brother, a friend, sometimes a 
 servant; and entered, with a deep, unexampled sympathy, 
 into the feelings, interests, wants, sorrows of individuals, of 
 ordinary men, and even of the most depressed, despised, and 
 forsaken of the race. 
 
 Here is the most striking view of Jesus. This combina- 
 tion of the spirit of humanity, in its lowliest, tenderest form, 
 with the consciousness of unrivalled and divine glories, is 
 the most wonderful distinction of this wonderful character. 
 Here we learn the chief reason why he chose poverty and 
 refused every peculiarity of manner and appearance. He 
 did this because he desired to come near to the multitude 
 of men, to make himself accessible to all, to pour out the 
 
CHARACTER OF CHRIST 
 
 147 
 
 fullness of his sympathy upon all, to know and weep over 
 their sorrows and sins, and to manifest his interest in their 
 affections and joys. 
 
 I can offer but a few instances of this sympathy of Christ 
 with human nature in all its varieties of character and con- 
 dition. But how beautiful are they! At the very opening 
 of his ministry we find him present at a marriage to which 
 he and his disciples had been called. Among the Jews this 
 was an occasion of peculiar exhilaration and festivity; but 
 Jesus did not therefore decline it. He knew what affections, 
 joys, sorrows, and moral influences are bound up in this 
 institution, and he went to the celebration, not as an ascetic, 
 to frown on its bright hopes and warm congratulations, but 
 to sanction it by his presence and to heighten its enjoyments. 
 
 How little does this comport with the solitary dignity 
 which we should have pronounced most accordant with his 
 character, and what a spirit of humanity does it breathe! 
 But this event stands almost alone in his history. His chief 
 sympathy was not with them that rejoice, but with the 
 ignorant, sinful, sorrowful; and with these we find him culti- 
 vating an habitual intimacy. Though so exalted in thought 
 and purpose, he chose uneducated men to be his chief dis- 
 ciples; and he lived with them, not as a superior, giving 
 occasional and formal instruction, but became their com- 
 panion, travelled with them on foot, slept in their dwellings, 
 sat at their tables, partook of their plain fare, communicated 
 to them his truth in the simplest form ; and though they con- 
 stantly misunderstood him and never perceived his full 
 meaning he was never wearied with teaching them. 
 
 So familiar was his intercourse that we find Peter reprov- 
 ing him with an affectionate zeal for announcing his approach- 
 ing death, and we find John leaning on his bosom. Of his 
 
148 
 
 WILLIAM ELLERT CHANNING 
 
 last discourse to these disciples I need not speak. It stands 
 alone among all writings for the union of tenderness and 
 majesty. His own sorrows are forgotten in his solicitude to 
 speak peace and comfort to his humble followers. 
 
 The depth of his human sympathies was beautifully mani- 
 fested when children were brought him. His disciples, judg- 
 ing as all men would judge, thought that he who was sent to 
 wear the crown of universal empire had too great a work 
 before him to give his time and attention to children, and 
 reproved the parents who brought them; but Jesus, rebuking 
 his disciples, called to him the children. Never, I believe, 
 did childhood awaken such deep love as at that moment. He 
 took them in his arms and blessed them, and not only said 
 that " of such was the kingdom of heaven,'' but added, He 
 that receiveth a little child in my name, receiveth me;" so 
 entirely did he identify himself with this primitive, innocent, 
 beautiful form of human nature. 
 
 There was no class of human beings so low as to be beneath 
 his sympathy. He not merely taught the publican and sin- 
 ner, but, with all his consciousness of purity, sat down and 
 dined with them, and, when reproved by the malignant Phari- 
 see for such companionship, answered by the touching parables 
 of the Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son, and said, '^I am 
 come to seek and to save that which was lost." 
 
 'No personal suffering dried up this fountain of love in his 
 breast. On his way to the cross he heard some women of 
 Jerusalem bewailing him, and at the sound, forgetting his 
 own grief, he turned to them and said, "Women of Jerusa- 
 lem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and your chil- 
 dren." On the cross, whilst his mind was divided between 
 intense suffering and the contemplation of the infinite bless- 
 ings in which his sufferings were to issue, his eye lighted on 
 
CHARACTER OF CHRIST 
 
 149 
 
 his mother and John, and the sensibilities of a son and a 
 friend mingled with the sublime consciousness of the uni- 
 versal Lord and Saviour. Never before did natural affection 
 find so tender and beautiful an utterance. To his mother he 
 said, directing her to John, Behold thy son; I leave my 
 beloved disciple to take my place, to perform my filial offices, 
 and to enjoy a share of that affection with which you have 
 followed me through life;" and to John he said, ''Behold 
 thy mother; I bequeath to you the happiness of ministering to 
 my dearest earthly friend." Nor is this all. The spirit of 
 humanity had one higher triumph. Whilst his enemies sur- 
 rounded him with a malignity unsoftened by his last agonies, 
 and, to give the keenest edge to insult, reminded him scof- 
 fingly of the high character and office which he had claimed, 
 his only notice of them was the prayer, " Father, forgive them, 
 they know not what they do." 
 
 Thus Jesus lived with men; with the consciousness of 
 unutterable majesty he joined a lowliness, gentleness, human- 
 ity, and sympathy, which have no example in human history. 
 I ask you to contemplate this wonderful union. In propor- 
 tion to the superiority of Jesus to all around him was the 
 intimacy, the brotherly love, with which he bound himself to 
 them. I maintain that this is a character wholly remote 
 from human conception. To imagine it to be the production 
 of imposture or enthusiasm shows a strange unsoundness of 
 mind. I contemplate it with a veneration second only to the 
 profound awe with which I look up to God. It bears no mark 
 of human invention. It was real. It belonged to and it 
 manifested the beloved Son of God. 
 
 But I have not done. May I ask your attention a few 
 moments more? We have not yet reached the depth of 
 Christ's character. We have not touched the great principle 
 
150 
 
 WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING 
 
 on which his wonderful sympathy was founded, and which 
 endeared to him his office of universal Saviour. Do you ask 
 what this deep principle was ? I answer, it was his conviction 
 of the greatness of the human soul. He saw in man the 
 impress and image of the divinity, and therefore thirsted for 
 his redemption, and took the tenderest interest in him, what- 
 ever might be the rank, character, or condition in which he 
 was found. This spiritual view of man pervades and dis- 
 tinguishes the teaching of Christ. 
 
 Jesus looked on men with an eye which pierced beneath the 
 material frame. The body vanished before him. The trap- 
 pings of the rich, the rags of the poor, were nothing to him. 
 He looked through them, as though they did not exist, to the 
 soul; and there, amidst clouds of ignorance and plague-spots 
 of sin, he recognized a spiritual and immortal nature, and 
 the germs of power and perfection which might be unfolded 
 forever. In the most fallen and depraved man he saw a 
 being who might become an angel of light. 
 
 Still more, he felt that there was nothing in himself to 
 which men might not ascend. His own lofty consciousness 
 did not sever him from the multitude; for he saw in his own 
 greatness the model of what men might become. So deeply 
 was he thus impressed that, again and again, in speaking of 
 his future glories, he announced that in these his true follow- 
 ers were to share. They were to sit on his throne and partake 
 of his beneficent power. 
 
 Here I pause, and indeed I know not what can be added 
 to heighten the wonder, reverence, and love which are due 
 to Jesus. When I consider him, not only as possessed with 
 the consciousness of an unexampled and unbounded majesty, 
 but as recognizing a kindred nature in human beings, and 
 living and dying to raise them to a participation of his divine 
 
CHARACTER OF CHRIST 
 
 151 
 
 glories; and when I see him under these views allying him- 
 self to men by the tenderest ties, embracing them with a 
 spirit of humanity which no insult, injury, or pain could for 
 a moment repel or overpower, I am filled with wonder as well 
 as reverence and love. I feel that this character is not of 
 human invention, that it was not assumed through fraud, or 
 struck out by enthusiasm ; for it is infinitely above their reach. 
 When I add this character of Jesus to the other evidences of 
 his religion, it gives to what before seemed so strong a new 
 and a vast accession of strength; I feel as if I could not be 
 deceived. 
 
 The Gospels must be true; they were drawn from a living 
 original; they were founded on reality. The character of 
 Jesus is not a fiction ; he was what he claimed to be, and what 
 his followers attested. Nor is this all. Jesus not only was, 
 he is still the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. He 
 exists now; he has entered that heaven to which he always 
 looked forward on earth. There he lives and reigns. With 
 a clear, calm faith I see him in that state of glory; and I 
 confidently expect, at no distant period, to see him face to 
 face. We have indeed no absent friend whom we shall so 
 surely meet. 
 
 Let us then, my hearers, by imitation of his virtues and 
 obedience to his word, prepare ourselves to join him in those 
 pure mansions where he is surrounding himself with the 
 good and pure of our race, and will communicate to them 
 forever his own spirit, power, and joy. 
 
THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 HOMAS Hart Benton, American Democratic statesman, was born at 
 Hillsborough, N. C, March 14, 1782, and died at Washington, D. C, 
 April 10, 1858. He studied for a time at the University of North Caro- 
 lina, but for his remarkable acquirements he was mainly indebted to 
 the process of self-education, which continued all his life. From Tennessee, whither 
 his family had removed, he passed to St. Louis, where for a time he edited the 
 "Missouri Enquirer." In 1820, he was elected from Missouri to the United States 
 Senate, but thirty years afterward (1850), he met with defeat. Two years later, how- 
 ever, he was elected to the House of Representatives. In 1856, he was an unsuc- 
 cessful candidate for Governor of the State of Missouri. As the unwavering advocate 
 of a gold and silver, or bullion, currency by the government, Benton is identified in 
 the popular mind with a vital question of public policy. He belongs, in the same 
 group with Webster, Clay, and Calhoun, among the remarkable American statesmen 
 of his era. Besides editing an " Abridgment of the Debates in Congress," he wrote 
 the well-known "Thirty Years' View," a history of the working of the American 
 Government. His life has been written by President Roosevelt. 
 
 ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION 
 
 UNITED STATES SENATE. JANUARY 12. 1837 
 
 Mr, President : 
 
 IT IS now three years since the resolve was adopted by 
 the Senate, which it is my present motion to expunge 
 from the journal. At the moment that this resolve was 
 adopted, I gave notice of my intention to move to expunge 
 it; and then expressed my confident belief that the motion 
 * would eventually prevail. That expression of confidence 
 was not an ebullition of vanity, or a presumptuous calcu- 
 lation, intended to accelerate the event it affected to fore- 
 tell. It was not a vain boast, or an idle assumption, but 
 was the result of a deep conviction of the injustice done 
 
 (152) 
 
THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION 
 
 153 
 
 President Jackson, and a thorough reliance upon the justice 
 of the American people. I felt that the President had been 
 wronged; and my heart told me that this wrong would be 
 redressed! The event proves that I was not mistaken. 
 The question of expunging this resolution has been carried 
 to the people, and their decision has been had upon it. 
 They decide in favor of the expurgation ; and their decision 
 has been both made and manifested, and communicated to 
 us in a great variety of ways. A great number of States 
 have expressly instructed their Senators to vote for this 
 expurgation. A very great majority of the States have 
 elected Senators and Eepresentatives to Congress, upon the 
 express ground of favoring this expurgation. The Bank of 
 the United States, which took the initiative in the accusa- 
 tion against the President, and furnished the material, and 
 worked the machinery which was used against him, and 
 which was then so powerful on this floor, has become more 
 and more odious to the public mind, and musters now but 
 a slender phalanx of friends in the two Houses of Congress. 
 The late Presidential election furnishes additional evidence 
 of public sentiment. The candidate who was the friend of 
 President Jackson, the supporter of his administration, and 
 the avowed advocate for the expurgation, has received a 
 large majority of the suffrages of the whole Union, and 
 that after an express declaration of his sentiments on this 
 precise point. The evidence of the public will, exhibited 
 in all these forms, is too manifest to be mistaken, too ex- 
 plicit to require illustration, and too imperative to be dis- 
 regarded. Omitting details and specific enumeration of 
 proofs, I refer to our own files for the instructions to ex- 
 punge — to the complexion of the two Houses for the temper 
 of the people — to the denationalized condition of the Bank 
 
154 
 
 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 of the United States for the fate of the imperious accuser — 
 and to the issue of the Presidential election for the answer 
 of the Union. 
 
 All these are pregnant proofs of the public will, and 
 the last pre-eminently so: because, both the question of the 
 expurgation, and the form of the process, were directly put 
 in issue upon it. . . . 
 
 Assuming, then, that we have ascertained the will of the 
 people on this great question, the inquiry presents itself, 
 how far the expression of that will ought to be conclusive 
 of our action here. I hold that it ought to be binding and 
 obligatory upon us; and that, not only upon the principles 
 of representative government, which require obedience to 
 the known will of the people, but also in conformity to the 
 principles upon which the proceeding against President 
 Jackson was conducted when the sentence against him was 
 adopted. Then everything was done with especial reference 
 to the will of the people. Their impulsion was assumed to 
 be the sole motive to action; and to them the ultimate 
 verdict was expressly referred. The whole machinery of 
 alarm and pressure — every engine of political and moneyed 
 power — was put in motion, and worked for many months, 
 to excite the people against the President; and to stir up 
 meetings, memorials, petitions, travelling committees, and 
 distress deputations against him; and each symptom of 
 popular discontent was hailed as an evidence of public 
 will, and quoted here as proof that the people demanded 
 the condemnation of the President. Not only legislative 
 assemblies, and memorials from large assemblies, were 
 then produced here as evidence of public opinion, but the 
 petitions of boys under age, the remonstrances of a few 
 signers, and the results of the most inconsiderable elections 
 
ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION 
 
 155 
 
 were ostentatiously paraded and magnified, as the evidence 
 of the sovereign will of our constituents. Thus, sir, the 
 public voice was everything, while that voice, partially 
 obtained through political and pecuniary machinations, was 
 adverse to the President. Then the popular will was the 
 shrine at which all worshipped. Now, when that will is 
 regularly, soberly, repeatedly, and almost universally ex- 
 pressed through the ballot-boxes, at the various elections, 
 and turns out to be in favor of the President, certainly no 
 one can disregard it, nor otherwise look at it than as the 
 solemn verdict of the competent and ultimate tribunal upon 
 an issue fairly made up, fully argued, and duly submitted 
 for decision. As such verdict, I receive it. As the delib- 
 erate verdict of the sovereign people, I bow to it. I am 
 content. I do not mean to reopen the case nor to recom- 
 mence the argument. I leave that work to others, if any 
 others choose to perform it. For myself, I am content; 
 and, dispensing with further argument, I shall call for 
 judgment, and ask to have execution done, upon that un- 
 happy journal, which the verdict of millions of freemen 
 finds guilty of bearing on its face an untrue, illegal, and 
 unconstitutional sentence of condemnation against the ap- 
 proved President of the Kepublic. 
 
 But, while declining to reopen the argument of this 
 question, and refusing to tread over again the ground al- 
 ready traversed, there is another and a different task to per- 
 form; one which the approaching termination of President 
 Jackson's administration makes peculiarly proper at this 
 time, and which it is my privilege, and perhaps my duty, 
 to execute, as being the suitable conclusion to the arduous 
 contest in which we have been so long engaged. I allude 
 to the general tenor of his administration, and to its effect, 
 
156 
 
 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 for good or for evil, upon the condition of his country. 
 This is the proper time for such a view to be taken. The 
 political existence of this great man now draws to a close. 
 In little more than forty days he ceases to be an object of 
 political hope to any, and should cease to be an object 
 of political hate, or envy, to all. Whatever of motive the 
 servile and time-serving might have found in his exalted 
 station for raising the altar of adulation, and burning the 
 incense of praise before him, that motive can no longer 
 exist. The dispenser of the patronage of an empire, the 
 chief of this great confederacy of States, is soon to be a 
 private individual, stripped of all power to reward, or to 
 punish. His own thoughts, as he has shown us in the con- 
 cluding paragraph of that message which is to be the last 
 of its kind that we shall ever receive from him, are directed 
 to that beloved retirement from which he was drawn by the 
 voice of millions of freemen, and to which he now looks for 
 that interval of repose which age and infirmities require. 
 Under these circumstances, he ceases to be a subject for 
 the ebullition of the passions, and passes into a character 
 for the contemplation of history. Historically, then, shall 
 I view him; and limiting this view to his civil administra- 
 tion, I demand, where is there a Chief Magistrate of whom 
 so much evil has been predicted, and from whom so much 
 good has come? Never has any man entered upon the 
 Chief Magistracy of a country under such appalling predic- 
 tions of ruin and woe I never has any one been so pursued 
 with direful prognostications! never has any one been so 
 beset and impeded by a powerful combination of politi- 
 cal and moneyed confederates I never has any one in any 
 country where the administration of justice has risen above 
 the knife or the bowstring, been so lawlessly and shame- 
 
ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION 
 
 157 
 
 lessly tried and condemned by rivals and enemies, without 
 hearing, without defence, without the forms of law and 
 justice! History has been ransacked to find examples of 
 tyrants sufficiently odious to illustrate him by comparison. 
 Language has been tortured to find epithets sufficiently 
 strong to paint him in description. Imagination has been 
 exhausted in her efforts to deck him with revolting and 
 inhuman attributes. Tyrant, despot, usurper; destroyer of 
 the liberties of his country; rash, ignorant, imbecile; en- 
 dangering the public peace with all foreign nations ; destroy- 
 ing domestic prosperity at home; ruining all industry, all 
 commerce, all manufactures; annihilating confidence be- 
 tween man and man; delivering up the streets of populous 
 cities to grass and weeds, and the wharves of commercial 
 towns to the encumbrance of decaying vessels; depriving 
 labor of all reward; depriving industry of all employment; 
 destroying the currency; plunging an innocent and happy 
 people from the summit of felicity to the depths of misery, 
 want, and despair. Such is the faint outline, followed up 
 by actual condemnation, of the appalling denunciations 
 daily uttered against this one man, from the moment he 
 became an object of political competition, down to the 
 concluding moment of his political existence. 
 
 The sacred voice of inspiration has told us that there is 
 a time for all things. There certainly has been a time for 
 every evil that human nature admits of to be vaticinated of 
 President Jackson's administration; equally certain the time 
 has now come for all rational and well-disposed people to 
 compare the predictions with the facts, and to ask them- 
 selves if these calamitous prognostications have been veri- 
 fied by events? Have we peace, or war, with foreign na- 
 tions? Certainly, we have peace with all the world! peace 
 
158 
 
 THOMAS H. BENTON" 
 
 with all its benign, and felicitous, and beneficent influ- 
 ences! Are we respected, or despised abroad? Certainly 
 the American name never was more honored throughout 
 the four quarters of the globe than in this very moment. 
 Do we hear of indignity or outrage in any quarter? of 
 merchants robbed in foreign ports? of vessels searched on 
 the high seas ? of American citizens impressed into foreign 
 service? of the national flag insulted anywhere? On the 
 contrary, we see former wrongs repaired; no new ones in- 
 flicted. France pays twenty-five millions of francs for 
 spoliations committed thirty years ago; Naples pays two 
 millions one hundred thousand ducats for wrongs of the 
 same date, Denmark pays six hundred and fifty thousand 
 rix-dollars for wrongs done a quarter of a century ago; 
 Spain engages to pay twelve millions of reals vellon for 
 injuries of fifteen years' date; and Portugal, the last in the 
 list of former aggressors, admits her liability and only waits 
 the adjustment of details to close her account by adequate 
 indemnity. So far from war, insult, contempt, and spolia- 
 tion from abroad, this denounced administration has been 
 the season of peace and goodwill and the auspicious era of 
 universal reparation. So far from suffering injury at the 
 hands of foreign powers, our merchants have received in- 
 demnities for all ormer injuries. It has been the day of 
 accounting, of settlement, and of retribution. The total list 
 of arrearages, extending through four successive previous 
 administrations, has been closed and settled up. The 
 wrongs done to commerce for thirty years back, and under 
 so many different Presidents, and indemnities withheld 
 from all, have been repaired and paid over under the 
 beneficent and glorious administration of President Jack- 
 son. But one single instance of outrage has occurred, and 
 
ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION 
 
 159 
 
 that at the extremities of the world, and by a piratical 
 horde, amenable to no law but the law of force. The 
 Malays of Sumatra committed a robbery and massacre 
 upon an American vessel. Wretches I they did not then 
 know that Jackson was President of the United States!' 
 and that no distance, no time, no idle ceremonial of treat- 
 ing with robbers and assassins, was to hold back the arm 
 of justice. Commodore Downes went out. His cannon and 
 his bayonets struck the outlaws in their den. They paid in 
 terror and blood for the outrage which was committed ; and 
 the great lesson was taught to these distant pirates — to our 
 antipodes themselves — that not even the entire diameter of 
 this globe could protect them, and that the name of Ameri- 
 can citizen, like that of Eoman citizen in the great days of 
 the Republic and of the empire, was to be the inviolable 
 passport of all that wore it throughout the whole extent of 
 the habitable world. . . . 
 
 From President Jackson, the country has first learned 
 the true theory and practical intent of the Constitution, in 
 giving to the Executive a qualified negative on the legis- 
 lative power of Congress. Far from being an odious, dan- 
 gerous, or kingly prerogative, this power, as vested in the 
 President, is nothing but a qualified copy of the famous 
 veto power vested in the tribunes of the people among the 
 Romans, and intended to suspend the passage of a law until 
 the people themselves should have time to consider it. The 
 qualified veto of the President destroys nothing; it only de- 
 lays the passage of a law, and refers it to the people for 
 their consideration and decision. It is the reference of a 
 law, not to a committee of the House, or of the whole 
 House, but to the committee of the whole Union. It is a 
 recommitment of the bill to the people, for them to examine 
 
160 
 
 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 and consider; and if, upon this examination, they are con- 
 tent to pass it, it will pass at the next session. The delay 
 of a few months is the only effect of a veto, in a case where 
 the people shall ultimately approve a law; where they do 
 not approve it, the interposition of the veto is the barrier 
 which saves them the adoption of a law, the repeal of which 
 might afterward be almost impossible. The qualified nega- 
 tive is, therefore, a beneficent power, intended as General 
 Hamilton expressly declares in the "Federalist," to protect, 
 first, the executive department from the encroachments of 
 the legislative department; and, secondly, to preserve the 
 people from hasty, dangerous or criminal legislation on the 
 part of their representatives. This is the design and inten- 
 tion of the veto power; and the fear expressed by Greneral 
 Hamilton was, that Presidents, so far from exercising it too 
 often, would not exercise it as often as the safety of the 
 people required; that they might lack the moral courage to 
 stake themselves in opposition to a favorite measure of the 
 majority of the two Houses of Congress; and thus deprive 
 the people, in many instances, of their right to pass upon 
 a bill before it becomes a final law. The cases in which 
 President Jackson has exercised the veto power have shown 
 the soundness of these observations. No ordinary President 
 would have staked himself against the Bank of the United 
 States and the two Houses of Congress in 1832. It required 
 President Jackson to confront that power — to stem that tor- 
 rent — to stay the progress of that charter, and to refer it to 
 the people for their decision. His moral courage was equal 
 to the crisis. He arrested the charter until it could be got 
 to the people, and they have arrested it forever. Had he 
 not done so, the charter would have become law, and its 
 repeal almost impossible. The people of the whole Union 
 
ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION 
 
 161 
 
 would now have been in the condition of the people of 
 Pennsylvania, bestrode by the monster, in daily conflict with 
 him, and maintaining a doubtful contest for supremacy 
 between the government of a State and the directory of a 
 moneyed corporation. 
 
 To detail specific acts which adorn the administration of 
 President Jackson and illustrate the intuitive sagacity of 
 his intellect, the firmness of his mind, his disregard of per- 
 sonal popularity, and his entire devotion to the public good, 
 would be inconsistent with this rapid sketch, intended merely 
 to present general views, and not to detail single actions, 
 howsoever worthy they may be of a splendid page in the 
 volume of history. But how can we pass over the great 
 measure of the removal of the public moneys from the Bank 
 of the United States in the autumn of 1833 ? that wise, 
 heroic, and masterly measure of prevention which has res- 
 cued an empire from the fangs of a merciless, revengeful, 
 greedy, insatiate, implacable, moneyed power ! 
 
 It is a remark for which I am indebted to the philosophic 
 observation of my most esteemed colleague and friend [point- 
 ing to Dr. Linn], that, while it requires far greater talent to 
 foresee an evil before it happens, and to arrest it by precau- 
 tionary measures, than it requires to apply an adequate 
 remedy to the same evil after it has happened, yet the ap- 
 plause bestowed by the world is always greatest in the latter 
 case. 
 
 Of this the removal of the public moneys from the Bank 
 of the United States is an eminent instance. The veto of 
 1832, which arrested the charter which Congress had granted, 
 immediately received the applause and approbation of a 
 majority of the Union; the removal of the deposits, which 
 prevented the bank from forcing a recharter, was disapproved 
 
 Vol. 5-11 
 
162 
 
 THOMAS Ho BENTON 
 
 by a lar^e majority of the country, and even of his own 
 friends; yet the veto would have been unavailing, and the 
 bank would inevitably have been rechartered, if the deposits 
 had not been removed. The 'immense sums of public money 
 since accumulated would have enabled the bank, if she had 
 retained the possession of it, to have coerced a recharter. 
 ^Nothing but the removal could have prevented her fronj 
 extorting a recharter from the sufferings and terrors of the 
 people. If it had not been for that measure the previous 
 veto would have been unavailing ; the bank would have been 
 again installed in power, and this entire federal govern- 
 ment would have been held as an appendage to that bank, 
 and administered according to her directions and by her 
 nominees. That great measure of prevention the removal of 
 the deposits, though feebly and faintly supported by friends 
 at first, has expelled the bank from the field and driven her 
 into abeyance under a State charter. She is not dead, but, 
 holding her capital and stockholders together under a State 
 charter, she has taken a position to watch events and to 
 profit by them. The royal tiger has gone into the jungle! 
 and, crouched on his belly, he awaits the favorable moment 
 for emerging from his cover and springing on tho body of 
 the unsuspicious traveller ! 
 
 The Treasury order for excluding paper money from the 
 land offices is another wise measure originating in an enlight- 
 ened forecast and preventing great mischiefs. The Presi- 
 dent foresaw the evils of suffering a thousand streams of 
 paper money, issuing from a thousand different banks, to 
 discharge themselves on the national domain. He foresaw 
 that if these currents were allowed to run their course the 
 public lands would be swept away, the Treasury would be 
 filled with irredeemable paper, a vast number of banks must 
 
ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION 
 
 163 
 
 be broken by their folly, and the cry set up that nothing but 
 a national bank could regulate the currency. He stopped the 
 course of these streams of paper, and, in so doing, has saved 
 the country from a great calamity and excited anew the 
 machinations of those whose schemes of gain and mischief 
 have been disappointed, and who had counted on a new edi- 
 tion of panic and pressure, and again saluted Congress with 
 the old story of confidence destroyed, currency ruined, pros- 
 perity annihilated, and distress produced, by the tyranny of 
 one man. They began their lugubrious song; but ridicule 
 and contempt have proved too strong for money and inso- 
 lence; and the panic-letter of the ex-president of the dena- 
 tionalized bank, after limping about for a few days, has 
 shrunk from the lash of public scorn and disappeared from 
 the forum of public debate. 
 
 The difficulty with France: what an instance it presents 
 of the superior sagacity of President Jackson over all the 
 commonplace politicians who beset and impede his adminis- 
 tration at home ! That difficulty, inflamed and aggravated 
 by domestic faction, wore, at one time, a protentous aspect ; 
 the skill, firmness, elevation of purpose, and manly frank- 
 ness of the President avoided the danger, accomplished the 
 object, commanded the admiration of Europe, and retained 
 the friendship of France. He conducted the delicate affair 
 to a successful and mutually honorable issue. All is ami- 
 cably and happily terminated, leaving not a wound, nor even 
 a scar, behind — leaving the Frenchman and American on 
 the ground on which they have stood for fifty years and 
 should forever stand ; the ground of friendship, respect, good 
 will, and mutual wishes for the honor, happiness, and pros- 
 perity of each other. 
 
 But why this specification ? So beneficent and so glorious 
 
164 
 
 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 has been the administration of this President, that where to 
 begin and where to end in the enumeration of great meas- 
 ures would be the embarrassment of him who has his eulogy 
 to make. He came into office the first of generals; he goes 
 out the first of statesmen. His civil competitors have shared 
 the fate of his military opponents ; and Washington city has 
 been to the American politicians who have assailed him what 
 'New Orleans was to the British generals who attacked his 
 lines. Repulsed ! driven back ! discomfited ! crushed ! has 
 been the fate of all assailants, foreign and domestic, civil and 
 military. At home and abroad the impress of his genius and 
 of his character is felt. He has impressed upon the age in 
 which he lives the stamp of his arms, of his diplomacy, and 
 of his domestic policy. 
 
 In a word, so transcendent have been the merits of his 
 administration that they have operated a miracle upon the 
 minds of his most inveterate opponents. He has expunged 
 their objections to military chieftains ! He has shown them 
 that they were mistaken; that military men were not the 
 dangerous rulers they had imagined, but safe and prosperous 
 conductors of the vessel of state. He has changed their fear 
 into love. With visible signs they admit their error, and, 
 instead of deprecating, they now invoke the reign of chief- 
 tains. They labored hard to procure a military successor to 
 the present incumbent; and if their love goes on increasing 
 at the same rate the republic may be put to the expense of 
 periodical wars to breed a perpetual succession of these chief- 
 tains to rule over them and their posterity forever. 
 
 To drop this irony, which the inconsistency of mad oppo- 
 nents has provoked, and to return to the plain delineations of 
 historical painting, the mind instinctively dwells on the vast 
 and unprecedented popularity of this President. Great is 
 
ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION 
 
 165 
 
 the influence, great the power, greater than any man ever 
 before possessed in our America, which he has acquired over 
 the public mind. 
 
 And how has he acquired it ? Not by the arts of intrigue, 
 or the juggling tricks of diplomacy; not by undermining 
 rivals or sacrificing public interests for the gratification of 
 classes or individuals. But he has acquired it, first, by the 
 exercise of an intuitive sagacity which, leaving all book learn- 
 ing at an immeasurable distance behind, has always enabled 
 him to adopt the right remedy at the right time, and to con- 
 quer soonest w^hen the men of forms and office thought him 
 most near to ruin and despair; next, by a moral courage 
 which knew no fear when the public good beckoned him to 
 go on. 
 
 Last, and chiefest, he has acquired it by an open honesty 
 of purpose which knew no concealments; by a straightfor- 
 wardness of action which disdained the forms of office and 
 the arts of intrigue ; by a disinterestedness of motive which 
 knew no selfish or sordid calculation ; a devotedness of patriot- 
 ism which staked everything personal on the issue of every 
 measure which the public welfare required him to adopt. 
 By these qualities and these means he has acquired his 
 prodigious popularity and his transcendent influence over 
 the public mind; and if there are any who envy that in- 
 fluence and popularity let them envy also, and emulate if 
 they can, the qualities and means by which they were ac- 
 quired. 
 
 Great has been the opposition to President Jackson's . 
 administration; greater, perhaps, than ever has been exhib- 
 ited against any government, short of actual insurrection 
 and forcible resistance. Revolution has been proclaimed ! 
 and everything has been done that could be expected to pro- 
 
166 
 
 l-HOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 duce revolution. The country has been alarmed, agitated, 
 convulsed. From the Senate chamber to the village bar- 
 room, from one end of the continent to the other, denuncia- 
 tion, agitation, excitement, has been the order of the day. 
 For eight years the President of this republic has stood upon 
 a volcano, vomiting fire and flames upon him, and threat- 
 ening the country itself with ruin and desolation if the 
 people did not expel the usurper, despot, and tyrant, as he 
 was called, from the high place to which the suffrages of 
 millions of freemen had elevated him. 
 
 Great is the confidence which he has always reposed in 
 the discernment and equity of the American people. I have 
 been accustomed to see him for many years and under many 
 discouraging trials ; but never saw him doubt, for an instant, 
 the ultimate support of the people. 
 
 It was my privilege to see him often, and during the most 
 gloomy period of the panic conspiracy, when the whole earth 
 seemed to be in commotion against him, and when many 
 friends were faltering, and stout hearts were quailing before 
 the raging storm which bank machination and senatorial 
 denunciation had conjured up to overwhelm him. I saw 
 him in the darkest moments of this gloomy period, and 
 never did I see his confidence in the ultimate support of his 
 fellow citizens forsake him for an instant. 
 
 He always said the people would stand by those who stood 
 by them; and nobly have they justified that confidence! 
 That verdict, the voice of millions, which now demands the 
 expurgation of that sentence which the Senate and the bank 
 then pronounced upon him, is the magnificent response of 
 the people's hearts to the implicit confidence which he then 
 reposed in them. But it was not in the people only that he 
 had confidence ; there was another, and a far higher Power, 
 
ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION 167 
 
 to which he constantly looked to save the country and its 
 defenders from every danger; and signal events prove that 
 he did not look to that high Power in vain. 
 
 Sir, I think it right, in approaching the termination of 
 this great question, to present this faint and rapid sketch 
 of the brilliant, beneficent, and glorious administration of 
 President Jackson. It is not for me to attempt to do it jus- 
 tice; it is not for ordinary men to attempt its history. His 
 military life, resplendent with dazzling events, will demand 
 the pen of a nervous writer ; his civil administration, replete 
 with scenes which have called into action so many and such 
 various passions of the human heart, and which has given to 
 native sagacity so many victories over practised politicians, 
 will require the profound, luminous, and philosophical con- 
 ceptions of a Livy, a Plutarch, or a Sallust. This history 
 is not to be written in our day. The contemporaries of such 
 events are not the hands to describe them. Time must first 
 do its ofiice — must silence the passions, remove the actors, 
 develop consequences, and canonize all that is sacred to honor, 
 patriotism, and glory. 
 
 And now, sir, I finish the task which three years ago 
 I imposed on myself. Solitary and alone, and amid the 
 jeers and taunts of my opponents, I put this ball in motion. 
 The people have taken it up, and rolled it forward, and I 
 am no longer anything but a unit in the vast mass which 
 now propels it. In the name of that mass I speak. I demand 
 the execution of the edict of the people ; I demand the expur- 
 gation of that sentence which the voice of a few senators, and 
 the power of their confederate, the Bank of the United 
 States, has caused to be placed on the Journal of the Senate ; 
 and which the voice of millions of freemen has ordered to 
 be expunged from it. 
 
ESAIAS TEaN^]R 
 
 SAIAS Tegn^, a distinguished Swedish poet, was born in Wermeland, 
 Sweden, Nov. 13, 1782, and died at Wexio, of which he became bishop, 
 Nov. 2, 1846. His father, who was a farmer, died in 1792, leaving a 
 large family with slender means. The boy was, however, adopted by 
 a wealthy friend of the family and given every opportunity to educate himself. His 
 literary career began early. His first work shows the influence of the great writers 
 of the time, Goethe, Schiller, Oehlenschlager, and even Byron. This period was 
 soon past, however, for in 1825 appeared his great work, which is unrivaled still in 
 Scandinavian literature, "Fridthjof's Saga," a series of lyrical poems woven into 
 an epic cycle. It has been translated into nearly every European language, six dif- 
 ferent verF^ions having been made into English alone. 
 
 ADDRESS BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF LUND, 1823 
 
 WHAT is the principal subject under discussion in 
 Europe at the present time? What are the 
 so-called new revolutionary doctrines, the consti- 
 tutional tenets, that the people are contesting so vigorously? 
 Among the more deliberative and better classes at least they 
 are really no other than these: that the power of government 
 emanates, not from the regent alone, as that is despotism, 
 neither from the people alone, which is the foundation of 
 anarchism, but from the union of the two; that consequently 
 the people have a moral right, because of their part in the 
 government, to hold the responsible ruler to account before 
 God and man; that the law expressing the common will is the 
 highest authority in the State before which all must be ranked 
 as equals; that the community cannot recognize other claims 
 and preferences than those which are based either upon per- 
 sonal merits or upon natural differences which may be essen- 
 tial to good order in the community, that the State must 
 protect all personal property, for which the people would put 
 
 itself under contribution; that the State must also protect 
 (168) 
 
BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF LUND 
 
 169 
 
 the individual's inherent rights so that the citizen may per- 
 sonally or through a representative express his convictions 
 concerning matters of public interest. 
 
 What would be the results of all this? Would the most 
 important episode known to us of the more recent history, 
 would the Revolution have been fought wholly in vain? 
 Political conceptions and views which grew out of it, would 
 they finally be nothing better than glaring mistakes, without 
 expediency and without benefit to humanity? And the 
 blood, that noble blood which flowed in freedom's cause, 
 which probably will flow again for the same high purpose, 
 would that be spilt in vain? We will not subscribe to such 
 inconsolable teachings. We will not acknowledge that any- 
 thing in universal history is void of results, and least of all 
 that to which so many noble minds looked with fondest 
 expectations. We refuse particularly to acknowledge that 
 justice and the higher ideals ever can be fruitless, even if they 
 are not applicable instantly to every exigency. It is my 
 heartiest conviction and strongest hope that the so-called con- 
 stitutional doctrines shall triumph at last, but hardly in that 
 way which a certain hasty though well-meaning individual 
 desired; hardly can you expect them to transform the world 
 as if by a sudden touch of magic power. An old fable tells 
 us that Pelias' daughters, desiring to at once make their aged 
 father young again, injected young blood in his veins. The 
 results were, naturally, that the old blood ran out and the 
 new blood would not stay. So with the State. The new 
 and better element must enter the system gradually and drive 
 the unwholesome particles out slowly. The people must be 
 educated up to the new forms, as they were for centuries 
 brought up to the old. 
 
 [Specially translated by Charles E. Hurd.] 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 ANiEL Webster, American statesman and lawyer, and an orator of more 
 than national repute, was born at Salisbury (Franklin), N. H., Jan. 18, 
 1782, and died at Marshfield, Mass., Oct. 24, 1852. His father was a 
 worthy man of Scotch extraction, who had seen service as a captain in the 
 French and Indian War, and now lived with his family, to whom he was devoted, on a 
 New Hampshire farm. He gave his son, ere long to become famous in the nation, such 
 education as the district afforded, afterward sending him to an academy at Exeter ; 
 and coached by a tutor he entered Dartmouth College, where he had to meet his col- 
 lege expenses by teaching school himself, until he graduated in 1801." Casting about 
 for a profession, he entered a lawyer's office, studied law, and in 1805 was admitted to 
 the Bar and began to practice first at Boscawen, afterward at Portsmouth, and later on 
 at Boston, where he at once took a leading place in the profession. Before settling in 
 Massachusetts, he had been elected in 1813 to Congress, where he espoused the cause of 
 the Federalist party, and by two notable speeches in the House, one in opposition to 
 the war policy of the government and the other on the Berlin and Milan decrees, he at 
 once proved his ability and force as an orator. In 1818, he further enhanced his repu- 
 tation as a lawyer by a speech before the Supreme Court in the celebrated Dartmouth 
 College case ; and as an orator by his addresses, in 1820, on the two hundredth anniver- 
 sary of the Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth ; in 1825, at the laying of the corner 
 stone of the Bunker Hill monument, on the fiftieth anniversary of the battle ; and in 
 
 1826, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Others of his 
 masterly orations include the eulogies of Jefferson and John Adams, the second Bunker 
 Hill address, and the one at Washington in 1851, spoken at the laying of the corner- 
 stone of the addition to the Capitol. In all of these addresses, as well as in those de- 
 livered in the Senate, especially the reply to R. Y. Hayne, Mr. Webster shows the 
 marvelous range of his powers, and the lofty manner in which he voiced the higher and 
 patriotic sentiment of the nation. In the commercial (shipping) interest of Massa- 
 chusetts, he opposed the tariff of 1816, as well as that of 1828, which latter he 
 was, however, compelled with all its "enormities" to accept; and he was also 
 one of the opposers, though for party reasons, of the second United States Bank, 
 when it sought and obtained, in 1816, a renewal of its charter. From 1823 to 
 
 1827, Mr. Webster represented Massachusetts in Congress, and from 1827 to 1841 
 he had a seat in the United States Senate. In the latter body, he delivered those 
 great constitutional speeches that raised him to the pinnacle of fame and won for him 
 the leadership of the northern Whigs. From 1841 to 1843, he was Secretary of 
 State under Harrison and under Tyler, in which capacity he negotiated the Ashburton 
 treaty with England. He then resumed his seat in the Senate and continued to hold 
 it until from 1845 to 1850, when he became Secretary of State under Fillmore and, 
 holding this post, death took him ere he could attain the object of his ambition — the 
 Presidency. With great and noble traits of character, and personally without 
 blemish, and genial and kindly in his social relations, Webster was politically at 
 
 (170) 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
THE REPLY TO IIAYNE 
 
 171 
 
 times seriously at fault, though, doubtless, with perfect sincerity. Though not a 
 disunionist, he favored State sovereignty, believing it to be the sure basis and 
 bond of union, and that the right of nullification, if recognized, was to be enjoined, 
 as it would hold the central power in check. He also defended African slavery 
 as a solution of the conflict between labor and capital. 
 
 THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. IN REPLY TO HAYNE ON 
 THE FOOTE RESOLUTION. JANUARY 26. 1830 
 
 Mr. President: 
 
 WHEN the manner has been tossed for many days, 
 in thick weather, and on an unknown sea, he 
 naturally avails himself of the first pause in the 
 storm, the earliest glance of the sun, to take his latitude, 
 and ascertain how far the elements have driven him from 
 his true course. Let us imitate this prudence, and, before 
 we fl,oat further on the waves of this debate, refer to the 
 point from which we departed, that we may at least be able 
 to conjecture where we now are. I ask for the reading of 
 the resolution. 
 
 The Secretary read the resolution, as follows: 
 '^Resolved., That the Committee on Public Lands be in- 
 structed to inquire and report the quantity of public lands 
 remaining unsold within each State and Territory, and 
 whether it be expedient to limit, for a certain period, the 
 sales of the public lands to such lands only as have hereto- 
 fore been offered for sale, and are now subject to entry at 
 the minimum price. And, also, whether the office of Sur- 
 veyor-General, and some of the land offices, may not be 
 abolished without detriment to the public interest; or 
 whether it be expedient to adopt measures to hasten the 
 sales and extend more rapidly the surveys of the public 
 lands.'' 
 
172 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 We have thus heard, sir, what the resolution is, which 
 is actually before us for consideration; and it will readily 
 occur to every one that it is almost the only subject about 
 which something has not been said in the speech, running 
 through two days, by which the Senate has now been en- 
 tertained by the gentleman from South Carolina. Every 
 topic in the wide range of our public affairs, whether past 
 or present — everything, general or local, whether belonging 
 to national politics, or party politics, seems to have attracted 
 more or less of the honorable member's attention, save only 
 the resolution before the Senate. He has spoken of every- 
 thing but the public lands. They have escaped his notice. 
 To that subject, in all his excursions, he has not paid even 
 the cold respect of a passing glance. 
 
 When this debate, sir, was to be resumed on Thursday 
 morning, it so happened that it would have been conven- 
 ient for me to be elsewhere. The honorable member, how- 
 ever, did not incline to put off the discussion to another 
 day. He had a shot, he said, to return, and he wished to 
 discharge it. That shot, sir, which it was kind thus to in- 
 form us was coming, that we might stand out of the way, or 
 prepare ourselves to fall before it, and die with decency, 
 has now been received. Under all advantages, and with 
 expectation awakened by the tone which preceded it, it 
 has been discharged, and has spent its force. It may be- 
 come me to say no more of its effect than that if nobody 
 is found, after all, either killed or wounded by it, it is 
 not the first time, in the history of human affairs, that 
 the vigor and success of the war have not quite come up 
 to the lofty and sounding phrase of the manifesto. 
 
 The gentleman, sir, in declining to postpone the debate, 
 told the Senate, with the emphasis of his hand upon his 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNH 
 
 178 
 
 heart, that there was something rankling here, which he 
 wished to relieve. 
 
 Mr. Hayne rose, and disclaimed having used the word 
 "rankling." 
 
 It would not, Mr. President, be safe for the honorable 
 member to appeal to those around him upon the question 
 whether he did, in fact, make use of that word. But he 
 may have been unconscious of it. At any rate, it is 
 enough that he disclaims it. But still, with or without 
 the use of that particular word, he had yet something here, 
 he said, of which he wished to rid himself by an immediate 
 reply. In this respect, sir, I have a great advantage over 
 the honorable gentleman. There is nothing here, sir, which 
 gives me the slightest uneasiness; neither fear, nor anger, 
 nor that which is sometimes more troublesome than either 
 — the consciousness of having been in the wrong. There is 
 nothing, either originating here, or now received here by 
 the gentleman's shot. Nothing original, for I had not the 
 slightest feeling of disrespect or unkindness toward the 
 honorable member. Some passages, it is true, had oc- 
 curred since our acquaintance in this body, which I 
 could have wished might have been otherwise; but I 
 had used philosophy and forgotten them. When the 
 honorable member rose, in his first speech, 1 paid him 
 the respect of attentive listening; and when he sat down, 
 though surprised, and, I must say, even astonished, at 
 some of his opinions, nothing was further from my inten- 
 tion than to commence any personal warfare: and through 
 the whole of the few remarks I made in answer, I avoided, 
 studiously and carefully, everything which I thought pos 
 sible to be construed into disrespect. And, sir, while there 
 
174 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 is thus nothing originating here, which I wished at any time 
 or now wish to discharge, I must repeat, also, that nothing 
 has been received here which rankles, or in any way gives 
 me annoyance. I will not accuse the honorable member of 
 violating the rules of civilized war — I will not say that he 
 poisoned his arrows. But whether his shafts were, or were 
 not, dipped in that which would have caused rankling, if 
 they had reached, there was not, as it happened, quite 
 strength enough in the bow to bring them to their mark. 
 If he wishes now to gather up those shafts, he must look 
 for them elsewhere; they will not be found fixed and 
 quivering in the object at which they were aimed. 
 
 The honorable member complained that I had slept 
 on his speech. 1 must have slept on it, or not slept at 
 all. The moment the honorable member sat down, his 
 friend from Missouri rose, and, with much honeyed com- 
 mendation of the speech, suggested that the impressions 
 which it had produced were too charming and delightful 
 to be disturbed by other sentiments or other sounds, and 
 proposed that the Senate should adjourn. Would it have 
 been quite amiable in me, sir, to interrupt this excellent 
 good feeling? Must I not have been absolutely malicious, 
 if I could have thrust myself forward to destroy sensations 
 thus pleasing? Was it not much better and kinder, both 
 to sleep upon them myself and to allow others also the 
 pleasure of sleeping upon them? But if it be meant, by 
 sleeping upon his speech, that I took time to prepare a 
 reply to it, it is quite a mistake; owing to other engage- 
 ments I could not employ even the interval between the 
 adjournment of the Senate and its meeting the next morn- 
 ing, in attention to the subject of this debate. Neverthe- 
 less, sir, the mere matter of fact is undoubtedly true— 1 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 175 
 
 did sleep on the gentleman's speech; and slept soundly. 
 And I slept equally well on his speech of yesterday, to 
 which I am now replying. It is quite possible that in this 
 respect, also, I possess some advantage over the honorable 
 member, attributable, doubtless, to a cooler temperament on 
 my part; for, in truth, I slept upon his speeches remarkably 
 well. But the gentleman inquires why he was made the ob- 
 ject of such a reply ? Why was he singled out ? If an at- 
 tack has been made on the East, he, he assures us, did not 
 begin it — it was the gentleman from Missouri. Sir, I an- 
 swered the gentleman's speech because I happened to hear 
 it: and because, also, I chose to give an answer to that 
 speech which, if unanswered, I thought most likely to pro- 
 duce injurious impressions. I did not stop to inquire who 
 was the original drawer of the bill. I found a responsible 
 indorser before me, and it was my purpose to hold him 
 liable, and to bring him to his just responsibility without 
 delay. But, sir, this interrogatory of the honorable mem- 
 ber was only introductory to another. He proceeded to ask 
 me whether I had turned upon him, in this debate, from the 
 consciousness that I should find an overmatch if I ventured 
 on a contest with his friend from Missouri. If, sir, the hon- 
 orable member, ex gratia modestice^ had chosen thus to defer 
 to his friend and to pay him a compliment, without inten- 
 tional disparagement to others, it would have been quite 
 according to the friendly courtesies of debate, and not at 
 all ungrateful to my own feelings. I am not one of those, 
 sir, who esteem any tribute of regard, whether light and 
 occasional, or more serious and deliberate, which may be 
 bestowed on others, as so much unjustly withholden from 
 themselves. But the tone and manner of the gentleman's 
 question forbid me that 1 thus interpret it. I am not at 
 
176 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 liberty to consider it as nothing more than a civility to his 
 friend. It had an air of taunt and disparagement, some- 
 thing of the loftiness of asserted superiority, which does 
 not allow me to pass over it without notice. It was put 
 as a question for me to answer, and so put as if it were 
 difficult for me to answer: Whether I deemed the member 
 from Missouri an overmatch for myself in debate here. It 
 seems to me, sir, that this is extraordinary language, and 
 an extraordinary tone, for the discussions of this body. 
 
 Matches and overmatches! Those terms are more ap- 
 plicable elsewhere than here, and fitter for other assem- 
 blies than this. Sir, the gentleman seems to forget where 
 and what we are. This is a Senate; a Senate of equals: of 
 men of individual honor and personal character, and of ab- 
 solute independence. We know no masters; we acknowl- 
 edge no dictators. This is a hall for mutual consultation 
 and discussion; not an arena for the exhibition of cham- 
 pionSo I offer myself, sir, as a match for no man ; I throw 
 the challenge of debate at no man's feet. But then, sir, 
 since the honorable member has put the question in a 
 manner that calls for an answer, I will give him an an- 
 swer; and I tell him that, holding myself to be the hum- 
 blest of the members here, I yet know nothing in the arm 
 of his friend from Missouri, either alone, or when aided by 
 the arm of his friend from South Carolina, that need deter 
 even me from espousing whatever opinions I may choose to 
 espouse, from debating whatever I may choose to debate, or 
 from speaking whatever I may see fit to say on the floor of 
 the Senate. Sir, when uttered as matter of commendation 
 or compliment, I should dissent from nothing which the 
 honorable member might say of his friend. Still less do 
 1 put forth any pretensions of my own. But, when put to 
 
THE REPLY TO FIAYITK 
 
 177 
 
 rne as a matter of taunt, 1 throw it back, and say to the gen- 
 tleman that he could possibly say nothing less likely than 
 such a comparison to wound my pride of personal character. 
 The anger of its tone rescued the remark from intentional 
 irony, which otherwise probably would have been its gen- 
 eral acceptation. But, sir, if it be imagined that by this 
 mutual quotation and commendation; if it be supposed 
 that, by casting the characters of the drama, assigning to 
 each his part, to one the attack, to another the cry of on- 
 set; or if it be thought that by a loud and empty vaunt of 
 anticipated victory any laurels are to be won here; if it be 
 imagined, especially, that any or all these things will shake 
 any purpose of mine, I can tell the honorable member, once 
 for all, that he is greatly mistaken, and that he is dealing 
 with one of whose temper and character he has yet much 
 to learn. Sir, I shall not allow myself on this occasion, I 
 hope on no occasion, to be betrayed into any loss of tem- 
 per; but if provoked, as I trust I never shall be, into crim- 
 ination and recrimination, the honorable member may per- 
 haps find that, in that contest, there will be blows to take 
 as well as blows to give; that others can state comparisons 
 as significant, at least, as his own; and that his impunity 
 may possibly demand of laim whatever powers of taunt and 
 sarcasm he may possess. 1 commend him to a prudent hus- 
 bandry of his resources. 
 
 But, sir, the coalition! The coalition! Ay, "the mur- 
 dered coalition"! The gentleman asks if I were led or 
 frightened into this debate by the spectre of the coalition — 
 "Was it the ghost of the murdered coalition," he exclaims, 
 "which haunted the member from Massachusetts, and which, 
 like the ghost of Banquo, would never down ?" "The mur- 
 dered coalition!" Sir, this charge of a coalition, in refer- 
 
 Vol. &-12 
 
178 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 ence to the late administration, is not original with the 
 
 honorable member. It did not spring up in the Senate. 
 Whether as a fact, as an argument, or as an embellishment, 
 it is all borrowed. He adopts it, indeed, from a very low 
 origin and a still lower present condition. It is one of the 
 thousand calumnies with which the press teemed during an 
 excited political canvass. It was a charge of which there 
 was not only no proof or probability, but which was, in 
 itself, wholly impossible to be true. No man of common 
 information ever believed a syllable of it. Yet it was of 
 that class of falsehoods, which, by continued repetition, 
 through all the organs of detraction and abuse, are capa- 
 ble of misleading those who are already far misled, and 
 of further fanning passion, already kindling into flame. 
 Doubtless it served in its day, and in greater or less degree 
 the end designed by it. Having done that, it has sunk into 
 the general mass of stale and loathed calumnies. It is the 
 very cast-off slough of a polluted and shameless press. 
 Incapable of further mischief, it lies in the sewer, lifeless 
 and despised. It is not now, sir, in the power of the honor- 
 able member to give it dignity or decency by attempting to 
 elevate it, and to introduce it into the Senate. He cannot 
 change it from what it is, an object of general disgust and 
 scorn. On the contrary, the contact, if he choose to touch 
 it, is more likely to drag him down, down, to the place 
 where it lies itself. 
 
 But, sir, the honorable member was not, for other rea- 
 sons, entirely happy in his allusion to the story of Ban- 
 quo's murder and Banquo's ghost. It was not, I think, 
 the friends, but the enemies of the murdered Banquo, at 
 whose bidding his spirit would not down. The honorable 
 gentleman is fresh in his reading of the English olassici. 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNB 
 
 179 
 
 and can put me right if I am wrong; but, according to 
 my poor recollection, it was at those who had begun with 
 caresses, and ended with foul and treacherous murder, that 
 the gory locks were shaken! The ghost of Banquo, like 
 that of Hamlet, was an honest ghost. It disturbed no 
 innocent man. It knew where its appearance would strike 
 terror, and who would cry out, A ghost! It made itself 
 visible in the right quarter, and compelled the guilty and 
 the conscience-smitten, and none others, to start with — 
 
 "Pr'ythee, see there 1 behold !— look ! loP 
 If I stand here, I saw himl" 
 
 Their eyeballs were seared (was it not so, sir?) who had 
 thought to shield themselves by concealing their own hand 
 and laying the imputation of the crime on a low and hire- 
 ling agency in wickedness; who had vainly attempted to 
 stifle the workings of their own coward consciences by 
 ejaculating, through white lips and chattering teeth: "Thou 
 canst not say I did it!" I have misread the great poet if 
 those who had in no way partaken in the deed of the death 
 either found that they were, or feared that they should be, 
 pushed from their stools by the ghost of the slain, or ex- 
 claimed to a spectre created by their own fears and their 
 own remorse: "A vaunt! and quit our sight!" 
 
 There is another particular, sir, in which the honorable 
 member's quick perception of resemblances might, I should 
 think, have seen something in the story of Banquo, making 
 it not altogether a subject of the most pleasant contempla- 
 tion. Those who murdered Banquo, what did they win by 
 it? Substantial good ? Permanent power ? Or disappoint- 
 ment, rather, and sore mortification — dust and ashes — the 
 
 ' Mr. Webster quoted from memory. See "Macbeth," Scene 4, Act 4. 
 
180 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 common fate of vaulting ambition, overleaping itself ? Did 
 not even-handed justice erelong commend the poisoned 
 chalice to their own lips ? Did they not soon find that for 
 another they had **filed their mind"? that their ambition, 
 though apparently for the moment successful, had but put 
 a barren sceptre in their grasp ? Ay, sir — 
 
 •*A barren sceptre in their gripe, 
 Thence to be wrenched by an unlineal hand, 
 No son of theirs succeeding." 
 
 Sir, I need pursue the allusion no further. 1 leave the 
 honorable gentleman to run it out at his leisure, and to 
 derive from it all the gratification it is calculated to admin- 
 ister. If he find himself pleased with the associations and 
 prepared to be quite satisfied, though the parallel should 
 be entirely completed, 1 had almost said, I am satisfied also 
 — but that 1 shall think of. Yes, sir, I will think of that. 
 
 In the course of my observations the other day, Mr. 
 President, I paid a passing tribute of respect to a very 
 worthy man, Mr. Dane, of Massachusetts. It so happened 
 that he drew the Ordinance of 1787 for the government of 
 the Northwestern Territory. A man of so much ability and 
 so little pretence ; of so great a capacity to do good and so 
 unmixed a disposition to do it for its own sake; a gentle- 
 man who had acted an important part forty years ago, in a 
 measure the influence of which is still deeply felt in the 
 very matter which was the subject of debate, might, I 
 thought, receive from me a commendatory recognition. 
 
 But the honorable member was inclined to be facetious 
 on the subject. He was rather disposed to make it matter 
 of ridicule that I had introduced into the debate the name 
 of one Nathan Dane, of whom he assures us he had never 
 before heard. Sir, if the honorable member had never be- 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNI 
 
 181 
 
 fore heard of Mr. Dane, I am sorry for it. It shows him 
 less acquainted with the public men of the country than 
 1 had supposed. Let me tell him, however, that a sneer 
 from him at the mention of the name of Mr. Dane is in bad 
 taste. It may well be a high mark of ambition, sir, either 
 with the honorable gentleman or myself, to accomplish as 
 much to make our names known to advantage, and remem- 
 bered with gratitude, as Mr. Dane has accomplished. But 
 the truth is, sir, I suspect that Mr. Dane lives a little too 
 far north. He is of Massachusetts, and too near the north 
 star to be reached by the honorable gentleman's telescope. 
 If his sphere had happened to range south of Mason and 
 Dixon's Line, he might, probably, have come within the 
 scope of his vision! 
 
 I spoke, sir, of the Ordinance of 1787, which prohibited 
 slavery in all future times, northwest of the Ohio, as a 
 measure of great wisdom and foresight, and one which had 
 been attended with highly beneficial and permanent conse- 
 quences. I supposed that on this point no two gentlemen 
 in the Senate could entertain different opinions. But the 
 simple expression of this sentiment has led the gentleman, 
 not only into a labored defence of slavery, in the abstract, 
 and on principle, but, also, into a warm accusation against 
 me, as having attacked the system of domestic slavery now 
 existing in the Southern States. For all this there was not 
 the slightest foundation in anything said or intimated by 
 me. I did not utter a single word which any ingenuity 
 could torture into an attack on the slavery of the South. 
 I said only that it was highly wise and useful in legislating 
 for the northwestern country, while it was yet a wilderness, 
 to prohibit the introduction of slaves; and added that I pre- 
 sumed, in the neighboring State of Kentucky, there was no 
 
182 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 reflecting and intelligent gentleman who would doubt that 
 it the same prohibition had been extended at the same early 
 period over that Commonwealth, her strength and popula- 
 tion would, at this day, have been far greater than they 
 are. If these opinions be thought doubtful, they are, 
 nevertheless, 1 trust, neither extraordinary nor disrespect- 
 ful. They attack nobody and menace nobody. And yet, 
 sir, the gentleman's optics have discovered, even in the 
 mere expression of this sentiment, what he calls the very 
 spirit of the Missouri question! He represents me as mak- 
 ing an onset on the whole South, and manifesting a spirit 
 which would interfere with and disturb their domestic con- 
 dition! Sir, this injustice no otherwise surprises me than 
 as it is committed here, and committed without the slightest 
 pretence of ground for it. I say it only surprises me as 
 being done here; for I know full well that it is, and has 
 been, the settled policy of some persons in the South, for 
 years, to represent the people of the North as disposed to 
 interfere with them in their own exclusive and peculiar 
 concerns. This is a delicate and sensitive point in South- 
 ern feeling; and of late years it has always been touched, 
 and generally with effect, whenever the object has been 
 to unite the whole South against Northern men or Northern 
 measures. This feeling, always carefully kept alive, and 
 maintained at too intense a heat to admit discrimination or 
 reflection, is a lever of great power in our political machine. 
 It moves vast bodies, and gives to them one and the same 
 direction. But it is without all adequate cause j and the 
 suspicion which exists wholly groundless. There is not, 
 and never has been, a disposition in the North to interfere 
 with these interests of the South. Such interference has 
 never been supposed to be within the power oi govern* 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 183 
 
 ment; nor has it been in any way attempted. The slavery 
 of the South has always been regarded a matter of domestic 
 policy, left with the States themselves, and with which the 
 Federal Government had nothing to do. Certainly, sir, I 
 am and ever have been of that opinion. The gentleman, 
 indeed, argues that slavery in the abstract is no evil. Most 
 assuredly I need not say I differ with him, altogether and 
 most widely, on that point. I regard domestic slavery as 
 one of the greatest of evils, both moral and political. But 
 though it be a malady, and whether it be curable, and if so, 
 by what means; or, on the other hand, whether it be the 
 vulnus immedicahile of the social system, I leave it to those 
 whose right and duty it is to inquire and to decide. And 
 this I believe, sir, is, and uniformly has been, the sentiment 
 of the North. Let us look a little at the history of this 
 matter. 
 
 When the present Constitution was submitted for the 
 ratification of the people, there were those who imagined 
 that the powers of the government which it proposed to 
 establish, might, perhaps, in some possible mode, be exerted 
 in measures tending to the abolition of slavery. This sug- 
 gestion would, of course, attract much attention in the 
 Southern conventions. In that of Virginia, Governor Ean- 
 dolph saidi 
 
 "I hope there is none here, who, considering the subject 
 in the calm light of philosophy, will make an objection dis- 
 honorable to Virginia — that at the moment they are securing 
 the rights of their citizens, an objection is started that there 
 is a spark of hope that those unfortunate men now held m 
 bondage, may, by the operation of the general government, 
 be made free." 
 
 At the very first Congress, petitions on the subject were 
 
184 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 presented, if I mistake not, from different States. The 
 Pennsylvania society for promoting the abolition of slavery 
 took the lead, and laid before Congress a memorial, praying 
 Congress to promote the abolition by such powers as it 
 possessed. This memorial was referred, in the House of 
 Eepresentatives, to a select committee, consisting of Mr. 
 Foster of New Hampshire, Mr. Gerry of Massachusetts, 
 Mr. Huntington of Connecticut, Mr. Lawrence of New 
 York, Mr. Sinnickson of New Jersey, Mr. Hartley of 
 Pennsylvania, and Mr. Parker of Virginia — all of them, 
 sir, as you will observe, Northern men, but the last. This 
 committee made a report, which was committed to a com- 
 mittee of the whole House, and there considered and dis- 
 cussed on several days; and being amended, although with- 
 out material alteration, it was made to express three distinct 
 propositions, on the subject of slavery and the slave trade. 
 First, in the words of the Constitution, that Congress could 
 not, prior to the year 1808, prohibit the migration or im- 
 portation of such persons as any of the States then existing 
 should think proper to admit. Second, that Congress had 
 authority to restrain the citizens of the United States from 
 carrying on the African slave trade, for the purpose of sup- 
 plying foreign countries. On this proposition, our early 
 laws against those who engage in that traffic are founded. 
 The third proposition, and that which bears on the present 
 question was expressed in the following terms: 
 
 Resolved^ That Congress have no authority to interfere 
 in the emancipation of slaves, or in the treatment of them 
 in any of the States; it remaining with the several States 
 alone to provide rules and regulations therein, which 
 humanity and true policy may require." 
 
 This resolution received the sanction of the House of 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNB 
 
 185 
 
 Representatives so early as March, 1790. And now, sir, 
 the honorable member will allow me to remind him that 
 not only were the select committee who reported the reso- 
 lution, with a single exception, all Northern men, but also 
 that of the members then composing the House of Repre 
 sentatives, a large majority, I believe nearly two-thirds, 
 were Northern men also. 
 
 The House agreed to insert these resolutions in its jour- 
 nal; and from that day to this, it has never been main- 
 tained or contended that Congress had any authority to 
 regulate or interfere with the condition of slaves in the 
 several States. No Northern gentleman, to my knowledge, 
 has moved any such question in either House of Congress. 
 
 The fears of the South, whatever fears they might have 
 entertained, were allayed and quieted by this early deci- 
 sion; and so remained, till they were excited afresh, without 
 cause, but for collateral and indirect purposes. When it 
 became necessary, or was thought so, by some political per- 
 sons, to find an unvarying ground for the exclusion of 
 Northern men from confidence and from the lead in the 
 affairs of the Republic, then, and not till then, the cry 
 was raised, and the feeling industriously excited, that the 
 influence of Northern men in the public councils would 
 endanger the relation of master and slave. For myself, I 
 claim no other merit than that this gross and enormous 
 injustice toward the whole North has not wrought upon 
 me to change my opinions or my political conduct. I hope 
 I am above violating my principles, even under the smart 
 of injury and false imputations. Unjust suspicions and 
 undeserved reproach, whatever pain 1 may experience from 
 them, will not induce me, 1 trust, nevertheless, to overstep 
 the limits of constitutional duty, or to encroach on the 
 
186 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 rights of others. The domestic slavery of the South 1 
 leave where I find it — in the hands of their own govern- 
 ments. It is their affair, not mine. Nor do I complain of 
 the peculiar effect which the magnitude of that population 
 has had in the distribution of power under this Federal 
 Government. We know, sir, that the representation of the 
 States in the other House is not equal. We know that 
 great advantage in that respect is enjoyed by the slavehold- 
 ing States; and we know, too, that the intended equivalent 
 for that advantage, that is to say, the imposition of direct 
 taxes in the same ratio, has become merely nominal, the 
 habit of the government being almost invariably to collect 
 its revenue from other sources and in other modes. Never- 
 theless, I do not complain, nor would I countenance any 
 movement to alter this arrangement of representation. It 
 is the original bargain, the compact — let it stand; let the 
 advantage of it be fully enjoyed. The Union itself is too 
 full of benefit to be hazarded in propositions for changing 
 its original basis. I go for the Constitution as it is, and for 
 the Union as it is. But I am resolved not to submit in 
 silence to accusations, either against myself, individually, 
 or against the North, wholly unfounded and unjust; accu- 
 sations which impute to us a disposition to evade the con- 
 stitutional compact, and to extend the power of the govern- 
 ment over the internal laws and domestic condition of the 
 States. All such accusations, wherever and whenever made, 
 all insinuations of the existence of any such purposes, I 
 know and feel to be groundless and injurious. And we 
 must confide in Southern gentlemen themselves; we must 
 trust to those whose integrity of heart and magnanimity 
 of feeling will lead them to a desire to maintain and dis- 
 seminate truth, and who possess the means of its diffusion 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 187 
 
 with the Southern public ; we must leave it to them to dis- 
 abuse that public of its prejudices. But, in the meantime, 
 for my own part, I shall continue to act justly, whether 
 those toward whom justice is exercised receive it with can- 
 dor or with contumely. 
 
 Having had occasion to recur to the Ordinance of 1787, 
 in order to defend myself against the inferences which the 
 honorable member has chosen to draw from my former ob- 
 servations on that subject, I am not willing now entirely 
 to take leave of it without another remark. It need hardly 
 be said that that paper expresses just sentiments on the 
 great subject of civil and religious liberty. Such senti- 
 ments were common, and abound in all our State papers 
 of that day. But this ordinance did that which was not 
 so common, and which is not, even now, universal; that 
 is, it set forth and declared, as a high and binding duty of 
 government itself, to encourage schools and advance the 
 means of education, on the plain reason that religion, mo- 
 rality, and knowledge are necessary to good government 
 and to the happiness of mankind. One observation further. 
 The important provision incorporated into the Constitution 
 of the United States and several of those of the States, and 
 recently, as we have seen, adopted into the reformed Con- 
 stitution of Virginia, restraining legislative power in ques- 
 tions of private right, and from impairing the obligation of 
 contracts, is first introduced and established, as far as I am 
 informed, as matter of express written constitutional law, in 
 this Ordinance of 1787. And 1 must add, also, in regard to 
 the author of the ordinance, who has not had the happiness 
 to attract the gentleman's notice, heretofore, nor to avoid his 
 sarcasm now, that he was chairman of that select committee 
 of the old Congress, whose report first expressed the strong 
 
188 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 sense of that body, that the old Confederation was not ade- 
 quate to the exigencies of the country, and recommending to 
 the States to send delegates to the Convention which formed 
 the present Constitution. 
 
 An attempt has been made to transfer from the North 
 to the South the honor of this exclasion of slavery from the 
 Northwestern Territory. The journal, without argument or 
 comment, refutes such attempt. The cession by Virginia 
 was made March, 1784. On the nineteenth of April follow- 
 ing, a committee, consisting of Messrs. Jefferson, Chase and 
 Howell, reported a plan for a temporary government of the 
 Territory, in which was this article: "That, after the year 
 1800, there shall be neither slavery, nor involuntary servi- 
 tude in any of the said States, otherwise than in punishment 
 of crimes, whereof the party shall have been convicted." 
 Mr. Spaight, of North Carolina, moved to strike out this 
 paragraph. The question was put according to the form 
 then practiced: "Shall these words stand as part of the 
 plan," etc. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Ehode Island, 
 Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania — 
 seven States — voted in the affirmative; Maryland, Virginia, 
 and South Carolina in the negative. North Carolina was 
 divided. As the consent of nine States was necessary, the 
 words could not stand, and were struck out accordingly. 
 Mr. Jefferson voted for the clause, but was overruled by 
 his colleagues. 
 
 In March of the next year (1785), Mr. King, of Massa- 
 chusetts, seconded by Mr. Ellery, of Ehode Island, proposed 
 the formerly rejected article, with this addition: "And that 
 this regulation shall be an article of compact, and remain a 
 fundamental principle of the constitutions between the thir- 
 teen original States, and each of the States described in the 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNB 
 
 l89 
 
 resolve/* etc. On this clause, which provided the adequate 
 and thorough security, the eight Northern States of that 
 time voted affirmatively, and the four Southern States nega- 
 tively. The votes of nine States were not yet obtained, and 
 thus the provision was again rejected by the Southern States. 
 The perseverance of the North held out, and two years after- 
 ward the object was attained. It is no derogation from the 
 credit, whatever that may be, of drawing the ordinance, that 
 its principles had before been prepared and discussed in the 
 form of resolutions. If one should reason in that way, what 
 would become of the distinguished honor of the author of 
 the Declaration of Independence ? There is not a sentiment 
 in that paper which had not been voted and resolved in the 
 assemblies and other popular bodies in the country over and 
 over again. 
 
 But the honorable member has now found out that this 
 gentleman [Mr. Dane] was a member of the Hartford Con- 
 vention. However uninformed the honorable member may 
 be of characters and occurrences at the North, it would seem 
 that he has at his elbow on this occasion some high-minded 
 and lofty spirit, some magnanimous and true-hearted moni- 
 tor, possessing the means of local knowledge, and ready to 
 supply the honorable member with everything down even 
 to forgotten and moth-eaten twopenny pamphlets, which 
 may be used to the disadvantage of his own country. But 
 as to the Hartford Convention, sir, allow me to say that 
 the proceedings of that body seem now to be less read and 
 studied in New England than further south. They appear 
 to be looked to, not in New England, but elsewhere, for the 
 purpose of seeing how far they may serve as a precedent. 
 But they will not answer the purpose — they are quite too 
 tame. The latitude in which they originated was too cold. 
 
190 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 Other conventions of more recent existence have gone a 
 whole bar's length beyond it. The learned doctors of Col- 
 leton and Abbeville have pushed their commentaries on the 
 Hartford collect so far that the original text writers are 
 thrown entirely into the shade. I have nothing to do, sir, 
 with the Hartford Convention. Its journal, which the gen- 
 tleman has quoted, I never read. So far as the honorable 
 member may discover in its proceedings a spirit in any de- 
 gree resembling that which was avowed and justified in 
 those other conventions to which I have alluded, or so far 
 as those proceedings can be shown to be disloyal to the 
 Constitution, or tending to disunion, so far I shall be as 
 ready as any one to bestow on them reprehension and 
 censure. 
 
 Having dwelt long on this convention, and other oc- 
 currences of that day, in the hope, probably (which will 
 not be gratified), that I should leave the course of this 
 debate to follow him, at length, in those excursions, the 
 honorable member returned and attempted another object. 
 He referred to a speech of mine in the other House, the 
 same which I had occasion to allude to myself the other 
 day, and has quoted a passage or two from it with a bold, 
 though uneasy and laboring air of confidence, as if he had 
 detected in me an inconsistency. Judging from the gentle- 
 man's manner, a stranger to the course of the debate, and 
 to the point in discussion, would have imagined from so 
 triumphant a tone that the honorable member was about 
 to overwhelm me with a manifest contradiction. Any one 
 who heard him, and who had not heard what I had, in fact, 
 previously said, must have thought me routed and discom- 
 fited, as the gentleman had promised. Sir, a breath blows 
 all this triumph away. There is not the slightest difference 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNB 
 
 191 
 
 in the sentiments of my remarks on the two occasions. 
 What I said here on Wednesday is in exact accordance 
 with the opinion expressed by me in the other House in 
 1825. Though the gentleman had the metaphysics of Hudi- 
 bras, though he were able 
 
 **To sever and divide 
 A hair 'twixt north and northwest side,** 
 
 he yet could not insert his metaphysical scissors between 
 the fair reading of my remarks in 1825, and what I said 
 here last week. There is not only no contradiction, no dif- 
 ference, but, in truth, too exact a similarity, both in thought 
 and language, to be entirely in just taste. I had myself 
 quoted the same speech, had recurred to it, and spoke with 
 it open before me, and much of what I said was little more 
 than a repetition from it. In order to make finishing work 
 with this alleged contradiction, permit me to recur to the 
 origin of this debate and review its course. This seems 
 expedient and may be done as well now as at any time. 
 
 Well, then, its history is this; The honorable member 
 from Connecticut moved a resolution, which constitutes the 
 first branch of that which is now before us; that is to say, 
 a resolution instructing the Committee on Public Lands to 
 inquire into the expediency of limiting, for a certain period, 
 the sales of the public lands, to such as have heretofore been 
 offered for sale ; and whether sundry offices connected with 
 the sales of the lands might not be abolished without detri- 
 ment to the public service. 
 
 In the progress of the discussion which arose on this 
 resolution, an honorable member from New Hampshire 
 moved to amend the resolution so as entirely to reverse its 
 object; that is to strike it all out and insert a direction to 
 
192 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 the committee to inquire into the expediency of adopting 
 measures to hasten the sales and extend more rapidly the 
 surveys of the lands. 
 
 The honorable member from Maine, Mrc Sprague, sug- 
 gested that both those propositions might well enough go 
 for consideration to the committee ; and in this state of the 
 question, the member from South Carolina addressed the 
 Senate in his first speech. He rose, he said, to give us his 
 own free thoughts on the public landSo I saw him rise with 
 pleasure and listened with expectation, though before he 
 concluded 1 was filled with surprise. Certainly, I was 
 never more surprised than to find him following up, to 
 the extent he did, the sentiments and opinions which the 
 gentleman from Missouri had put forth, and which it is 
 known he has long entertained. 
 
 I need not repeat at large the general topics of the hon- 
 orable gentleman's speech. When he said yesterday that 
 he did not attack the Eastern States, he certainly must 
 have forgotten, not only particular remarks, but the whole 
 ' drift and tenor of his speech; unless he means by not at- 
 tacking, that he did not commence hostilities — ^but that 
 another had preceded him in the attack. He, in the first 
 place, disapproved of the whole course of the government, 
 for forty years, in regard to its dispositions of the public 
 land; and then turning northward and eastward, and fan- 
 cying he had found a cause for alleged narrowness and 
 niggardliness in the *' accursed policy" of the tariff, to 
 which he represented the people of Kew England as 
 wedded, he went on for a full hour with remarks, the 
 whole scope of which was to exhibit the results of this 
 policy, in feelings and in measures unfavorable to the 
 West. I thought his opinions unfounded and erroneous 
 
THE REPLY TO IIAYNE 
 
 193 
 
 as to the general course of the government, and ventured to 
 reply to them. 
 
 The gentleman had remarked on the analogy of other 
 cases, and quoted the conduct of European governments 
 toward their own subjects, settling on this continent, as in 
 point to show that we had been harsh and rigid in selling, 
 when we should have given the public lands to settlers with- 
 out price. I thought the honorable member had suffered 
 his judgment to be betrayed by a false analogy; that he 
 was .struck with an appearance of resemblance where there 
 was no real similitude. I think so still. The first settlers 
 of North America were enterprising spirits, engaged in pri- 
 vate adventure or fleeing from tyranny at home. When ar- 
 rived here they were forgotten by the mother country, or 
 remembered only to be oppressed. Carried away again by 
 the appearance of analogy, or struck with the eloquence of 
 ihe passage, the honorable member yesterday observed that 
 the conduct of government toward the Western emigrants, 
 or my representation of it, brought to his mind a celebrated 
 speech in the British Parliament. It was, sir, the speech 
 of Colonel Barre. On the question of the Stamp Act, or 
 tea tax, I forget which, Colonel Barre had heard a member 
 on the Treasury bench argue that the people of the United 
 States, being British colonists, planted by the maternal care, 
 nourished by the indulgence, and protected by the arms of 
 England, would not grudge their mite to relieve the mother 
 country from the heavy burden under which she groaned. 
 The language of Colonel Barre, in reply to this, was: They 
 planted by your care? Your oppression planted them in 
 America. They fled from your tyranny, and grew by your 
 neglect of them. So soon as you began to care for them, 
 you showed your care by sending persons to spy out. their 
 
 Vol. 5—13 
 
194 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 liberties, misrepresent their character, prej upon them and 
 eat out their substance. 
 
 And how does the honorable gentleman mean to main- 
 tain that language like this is applicable to the conduct of 
 the government of the United States toward the Western 
 emigrants, or to any representation given by me of that 
 conduct? Were the settlers in the West driven thither 
 by our oppression? Have they flourished only by our 
 neglect of them? Has the government done nothing but 
 to prey upon them and eat out their substance ? Sir, this 
 fervid eloquence of the British speaker, just when and 
 where it was uttered, and fit to remain an exercise for 
 the schools, is not a little out of place when it is brought 
 thence to be applied here to the conduct of our own country 
 toward her own citizens. From America to England, it may 
 be true; from Americans to their own government it would 
 be strange language. Let us leave it to be recited and de- 
 claimed by our boys against a foreign nation; not introduce 
 it here, to recite and declaim ourselves against our own. 
 
 But I come to the point of the alleged contradiction. In 
 my remarks on Wednesday I contended that we could not 
 give away gratuitously all the public lands; that we held 
 them in trust; that the government had solemnly pledged 
 itself to dispose of them as a common fund for the common 
 benefit, and to sell and settle them as its discretion should 
 dictate. Kow, sir, what contradiction does the gentleman 
 find to this sentiment, in the speech of 1825? He quotes 
 me as having then said that we ought not to hug these lands 
 as a very great treasure. Yery well, sir, supposing me to 
 be accurately reported in that expression, what is the con- 
 tradiction ? I have not now said that we should hug these 
 lands as a favorite source of pecuniary income. No such 
 
THK REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 195 
 
 thing. It is not my view. What 1 have said, and what I 
 do say, is that they are a common fund — to be disposed of 
 for the common benefit — to be sold at low prices for the ac- 
 commodation of settlers, keeping the object of settling the 
 lands as much in view as that of raising money from them. 
 This I say now, and this I have always said. Is this hug- 
 ging them as a favorite treasure? Is there no difference 
 between hugging and hoarding this fund, on the one hand, 
 as a great treasure, and, on the other, of disposing of it at 
 low prices, placing the proceeds in the general treasury of 
 the Union ? My opinion is that as much is to be made of 
 the land as fairly and reasonably may be, selling it all the 
 while at such rates as to give the fullest effect to settlement. 
 This is not giving it all away to the States, as the gentleman 
 would propose; nor is it hugging the fund closely and tena- 
 ciously, as a favorite treasure; but it is, in my judgment, 
 a just and wise policy, perfectly according with all the 
 various duties which rest on government. So much for 
 my contradiction. And what is it ? Where is the ground 
 for the gentleman's triumph ? What inconsistency in word 
 or doctrine has he been able to detect? Sir, if this be a 
 sample of that discomfiture, with which the honorable gen- 
 tleman threatened me, commend me to the word discomfi- 
 ture for the rest of my life. 
 
 But, after all, this is not the point of the debate, and I 
 must now bring the gentleman back to what is the point. 
 
 The real question between me and him is: Has the doc- 
 trine been advanced at the South or the East, that the popu- 
 lation of the West should be retarded, or at least need not 
 be hastened, on account of its effect to drain off the people 
 from the Atlantic States ? Is this doctrine, as has been al- 
 leged, of Eastern origin ? That is the question. Has the 
 
196 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 gentleman found anything by which he can make good his 
 accusation ? I submit to the Senate, that he has entirely 
 failed; and as far as this debate has shown, the only per- 
 son who has advanced such sentiments is a gentleman from 
 South Carolina, and a friend to the honorable member him- 
 self. The honorable gentleman has given no answer to this; 
 there is Done which can be given. The simple fact, while it 
 requires no comment to enforce it, defies all argument to re- 
 fute it. I could refer to the speeches of another Southern 
 gentleman, in years before, of the same general character, 
 and to the same effect, as that which has been quoted; but 
 I will not consume the time of the Senate by the reading of 
 them. 
 
 So then, sir, New England is guiltless of the policy of 
 retarding Western population, and of all envy and jealousy 
 of the growth of the new States. Whatever there be of that 
 policy in the country, no part of it is hers. If it has a local 
 habitation, the honorable member has probably seen, by this 
 time, where to look for it; and if it now has received a name, 
 he has himself christened it. 
 
 We approach, at length, sir, to a more important part of 
 the honorable gentleman's observations. Since it does not 
 accord with my views of justice and policy to give away the 
 public lands altogether, as mere matter of gratuity, I am 
 asked by the honorable gentleman on what ground it is that 
 I consent to vote them away in particular instances ? How, 
 he inquires, do I reconcile with these professed sentiments 
 my support of measures appropriating portions of the lands 
 to particular roads, particular canals, particular rivers, and 
 particular institutions of education in the West? This leads, 
 sir, to the real and wide difference, in political opinion, be- 
 tween the honoraA;)le gentleman and myself. On mj part, I 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 197 
 
 look upon all these objects as connected with the common 
 good, fairly embraced in its object and its terms; he, on 
 the contrary, deems them all, if good at all, only local good. 
 Tliis is our difference. The interrogatory which he pro- 
 ceeded to put, at once explains this difference. "What in- 
 terest," asks he, *'has South Carolina in a canal in Ohio?" 
 Sir, this very question is full of significance. It develops 
 the gentleman's whole political system; and its answer ex- 
 pounds mine. Here we differ. I look upon a road over the 
 Alleghany, a canal round the falls of the Ohio, or a canal or 
 railway from the Atlantic to the Western waters, as being 
 an object large and extensive enough to be fairly said to be 
 for the common benefit. The gentleman thinks otherwise, 
 and this is the key to open his construction of the powers 
 of the government. He may well ask: What interest has 
 South Carolina in a canal in Ohio? On his system, it is 
 true, she has no interest. On that system, Ohio and Caro- 
 lina are different governments and different countries: con- 
 nected here, it is true, by some slight and ill-defined bond 
 of union, but, in all main respects, separate and diverse. 
 On that system, Carolina has no more interest in a canal 
 in Ohio than in Mexico. The gentleman, therefore, only 
 follows out his own principles; he does no more than ar- 
 rive at the natural conclusions of his own doctrines; he 
 only announces the true results of that creed, which he 
 has adopted himself, and would persuade others to adopt, 
 when he thus declares that South Carolina has no interest 
 in a public work in Ohio. Sir, we narrow-minded people of 
 New England do not reason thus. Our notion things is 
 entirely different. We look upon the States, not as sepa- 
 rated, but as united. We love to dwell on that union, and 
 on the mutual happiness which it has so much promoted, 
 
198 
 
 DANIEL AVEBSTER 
 
 and the common renown which it has so greatly contributed 
 to acquire. In oar contemplatioQ, Carolina and Ohio are 
 parts of the same country; States, united under the same 
 general government, having interests, common, associated, 
 intermingled, in whatever is within the proper sphere of 
 the constitutional power of this government, we look upon 
 the States as one. We do not impose geographical limits 
 to our patriotic feeling or regard; we do not follow rivers 
 and mountains, and lines of latitude, to find boundaries be- 
 yond which public improvements do not benefit us. We 
 who come here as agents and representatives of these nar- 
 row-minded and selfish men of JSIew England consider our- 
 selves as bound to regard, with an equal eye, the good of 
 the whole, in whatever is within our power of legislation. 
 Sir, if a railroad or canal, beginning in South Carolina and 
 ending in South Carolina, appeared to me to be of natural 
 importance and national magnitude, believing, as I do, that 
 the power of government extends to the encouragement of 
 works of that description, if I were to stand up here, and 
 ask: What interest has Massachusetts in a railroad in South 
 Carolina ? I should not be willing to face my constituents. 
 These same narrow-minded men would tell me that they had 
 sent me to act for the whole country, and that one who pos- 
 sessed too little comprehension, either of intellect or feeling; 
 one who was not large enough, both in mind and in heart, to 
 embrace the whole, was not fit to be intrusted with the inter- 
 est of any part. Sir, I do not desire to enlarge the powers of 
 the government, by unjustifiable construction; nor to exPi.*- 
 cise any not within a fair interpretation. But when it is oe- 
 lieved that a power does exist, then it is, in my judgment, to 
 be exercised for the general benefit of the whole. So far as 
 respects the exercise of such a power, the States are one. It 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 199 
 
 was the very object of the Constitution to create unity of in- 
 terests to the extent of the powers of the general government. 
 In war and peace we are one; in commerce, one; because the 
 authority of the general government reaches to war and peace, 
 and to the regulation of commerce. I have never seen any 
 more difficulty in erecting lighthouses on the lakes than on 
 the ocean; in improving the harbors of inland seas than if 
 they were within the ebb and flow of the tide; or of remov- 
 ing obstructions in the vast streams of the West more than 
 in any work to facilitate commerce on the Atlantic coast. 
 If there be any power for one, there is power also for the 
 other; and they are all and equally for the common good of 
 the country. 
 
 There are other objects apparently more local, or the 
 benefit of which is less general, toward which, nevertheless, 
 I have concurred with others, to give aid, by donations of 
 land. It is proposed to construct a road, in or through one 
 of the new States, in which this government possesses large 
 quantities of land. Have the United States no right, or, as 
 a great and untaxed proprietor, are they under no obligation 
 to contribute to an object thus calculated to promote the 
 common good of all the proprietors, themselves included? 
 And even with respect to education, which is the extreme 
 case, let the question be considered. In the first place, as 
 we have seen, it was made matter of compact with these 
 States that they should do their part to promote education. 
 In the next place, our whole system of land laws proceeds 
 on the idea that education is for the common good ; because, 
 in every division, a certain portion is uniformly reserved 
 and appropriated for the use of schools. And, finally, have 
 not these new States singularly strong claims, founded on 
 the ground already stated, that the government is a great 
 
200 
 
 DAHIEL WEBSTER 
 
 untaxed proprietor, in the ownership of the soil? It is a 
 consideration of great importance, that, probably, there is 
 in no part of the country, or of the world, so great call for 
 the means of education as in those new States — owing to 
 the vast numbers of persons within those ages in which 
 education and instruction are usually received, if received 
 at all. This is the natural consequence of recency of settle- 
 ment and rapid increase. The census of these States shows 
 how great a proportion of the whole population occupies 
 the classes between infancy and manhood. These are the 
 wide fields, and here is the deep and quick soil for the seeds 
 of knowledge and virtue; and this is the favored season, 
 the very springtime for sowing them. Let them be dissemi- 
 nated without stint. Let them be scattered with a bounti- 
 ful broadcast. Whatever the government can fairly do 
 toward these objects, in my opinion, ought to be done. 
 
 These, sir, are the grounds succinctly stated on which 
 my votes for grants of lands for particular objects rest; 
 while I maintain, at the same time, that it is all a common 
 fuitd for the common benefit. And reasons like these, I 
 presume, have influenced the votes of other gentlemen from 
 Kew England! Those who have a different view of the 
 powers of the government, of course, come to different con- 
 clusions on these as on other questions. I observed, when 
 speaking on this subject before, that, if we looked to any 
 measure, whether for a road, a canal, or anything else, in- 
 tended for the improvement of the West, it would be found 
 that, if the New England ayes were struck out of the lists 
 of votes, the Southern noes would always have rejected the 
 measure. The truth of this has not been denied and cannot 
 be denied. In stating this, I thought it just to ascribe it to 
 the constitutional scruples of the South rather than to any 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 201 
 
 other less favorable or less charitable cause. But no sooner 
 had I done this, than the honorable gentleman asks if I re- 
 proach him and his friends with their constitutional scru- 
 ples. Sir, I reproach nobody. I stated a fact and gave the 
 most respectful reason for it that occurred to me. The gen- 
 tleman cannot deny the fact; he may, if he choose, disclaim 
 the reason. It is not long since I had occasion, in present- 
 ing a petition from his own State, to account for its being 
 intrusted to my hands, by saying that the constitutional 
 opinions of the gentleman and his worthy colleague pre- 
 vented them from supporting it. Sir, did I state this as a 
 matter of reproach? Far from it. Did I attempt to find 
 any other cause than an honest one for these scruples? 
 Sir, I did not. It did not become me to doubt or to insin- 
 uate that the gentleman had either changed his sentiments 
 or that he had made up a set of constitutional opinions, 
 accommodated to any particular combination of political 
 occurrences. Had I done so, I should have felt that while 
 I was entitled to little credit in thus questioning other 
 people's motives, I justified the whole world in suspecting 
 my own. But how has the gentleman returned this respect 
 for others' opinions? His own candor and justice, how 
 have they been exhibited toward the motives of others, 
 while he has been at so much pains to maintain, what no- 
 body has disputed, the purity of his own? Why, sir, he 
 has asked when, and how, and why. New England votes 
 were found going for measures favorable to the West ? He 
 has demanded to be informed whether all this did begin in 
 1825, and while the election of President was still pending? 
 Sir, to these questions retort would be justified; and it is 
 both cogent, and at hand. Nevertheless, I will answer the 
 inquiry, not by retort, but by facts. I will tell the gentle- 
 
202 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 man when, and how, and why, New England has supported 
 measures favorable to the West. I have already referred to 
 the early history of the government — to the first acquisition 
 of the lands — to the original laws for disposing of them, and 
 for governing the Territories where they lie; and have 
 shown the iDfluence of Kew England men and New Eng- 
 land principles in all these leading measures. I should not 
 be pardoned were 1 to go over that ground again. Coming 
 to more recent times, and to measures of a less general 
 character, I have endeavored to prove that everything of 
 this kind, designed for Western improvement, has depended 
 on the votes of New England; all this is true beyond the 
 power of contradiction. 
 
 And now, sir, there are two measures to which I will 
 refer, not so ancient as to belong to the early history of the 
 public lands, and not so recent as to be on the side of 
 the period when the gentleman charitably imagines a new 
 direction may have been given to New England feeling and 
 New England votes. These measures, and the New Eng- 
 land votes in support of them, may be taken as samples and 
 specimens of all the rest. 
 
 In 1820 (observe, Mr. President, in 1820), the people of 
 the West besought Congress for a reduction in the price 
 of lands. In favor of that reduction. New England, with 
 a delegation of forty members in the other House, gave 
 thirty-three votes, and one only against it. The four 
 Southern States, with fifty members, gave thirty-two votes 
 for it and seven against it. Again, in 1821 (observe again, 
 sir, the time), the law passed for the relief of the purchasers 
 of the public lands. This was a measure of vital impor- 
 tance to the West, and more especially to the Southwest. 
 It authorized the relinquishment of contracts for lands, 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNK 
 
 203 
 
 which had been entered into at high prices, and a reduction 
 in other cases of not less than thirtj-seven and one-half per 
 cent on the purchase money. Many millions of dollars — 
 six or seven, I believe, at least, probably much more — were 
 relinquished by this law. On this bill, New England, with 
 her forty members, gave more affirmative votes than the 
 four Southern States, with their fifty-two or three members. 
 
 These two are far the most important general measures 
 respecting the public lands, which have been adopted within 
 the last twenty years. They took place in 1820 and 1821. 
 That is the time "when." As to the manner "how, ' the 
 gentleman already sees that it was by voting, in solid 
 column, for the required relief; and lastly, as to the cause 
 "why," I tell the gentleman, it was because the members 
 from New England thought the measures just and salutary; 
 because they entertained toward the West neither envy, 
 hatred, nor malice; because they deemed it becoming them, 
 as just and enlightened public men, to meet the exigency 
 which had arisen in the West, with the appropriate measure 
 of relief; because they felt it due to their own characters, 
 and the characters of their New England predecessors in 
 this government, to act toward the new States in the spirit 
 of a liberal, patronizing, magnanimous policy. So much, 
 sir, for the cause "why"; and I hope that by this time, sir, 
 the honorable gentleman is satisfied; if not, I do not know 
 "when," or "how," or "why," he ever will be. 
 
 Having recurred to these two important measures, in 
 answer to the gentleman's inquiries, I must now beg per- 
 mission to go back to a period yet something earlier, for the 
 purpose of still further showing how much, or rather how 
 little, reason there is for the gentleman's insinuation that 
 political hopes or fears, or party associations, were the 
 
204 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 grounds of these New England votes. And after what has 
 been said, I hope it maj be forgiven me, if I allude to some 
 political opinions and votes of mj own, of very little public 
 importance, certainly, but which, from the time at which 
 they were given and expressed, may pass for good witnesses 
 on this occasion. 
 
 This government, Mr, President, from its origin to the 
 peace of 1815, had been too much engrossed with various 
 other important concerns to be able to turn its thoughts 
 inward, and look to the development of its vast internal 
 resources. In the early part of President Washington's 
 administration, it was fully occupied with completing its 
 own organization, providing for the public debt, defending 
 the frontiers, and maintaining domestic peace. Before the 
 termination of that administration, the fires of the French 
 Kevolution blazed forth, as from a new-opened volcano, and 
 the whole breadth of the ocean did not secure us from its ef- 
 fects. The smoke and the cinders reached us, though not the 
 burning lava. Difficult and agitating questions, embarrass- 
 ing to government, and dividing public opinion, sprung out 
 of the new state of our foreign relations, and were succeeded 
 by others, and yet again by others, equally embarrassing, 
 and equally exciting division and discord, through the long 
 series of twenty years, till they finally issued in the war 
 with England. Down to the close of that war, no distinct, 
 marked, and deliberate attention had been given, or could 
 have been given, to the internal condition of the country, 
 its capacities of improvement, or the constitutional power 
 of the government, in regard to objects connected with such 
 improvement. 
 
 The peace, Mr. President, brought about an entirely new 
 and a most interesting state of things; it opened to us other 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 205 
 
 prospects, and suggested other duties. We ourselves were 
 changed, and the whole world was changed. The pacifi- 
 cation of Europe, after J ane, 1815, assumed a firm and 
 permanent aspect. The nations evidently manifested that 
 they were disposed for peace. Some agitation of the waves 
 might be expected, even after the storm had subsided, 
 but the tendency was, strongly and rapidly, toward settled 
 repose. 
 
 It so happened, sir, that 1 was, at that time, a member 
 of Congress, and, like others, naturally turned my attention 
 to the contemplation of the newly altered condition of the 
 country and of the world. It appeared plainly enough to 
 me, as well as to wiser and more experienced men, that the 
 policy of the government would naturally take a start in a 
 new direction, because new directions would necessarily be 
 given to the pursuits and occupations of the people. We 
 bad pushed our commerce far and fast, under the advantage 
 of a neutral flag. But there were now no longer flags, either 
 neutral or belligerent. The harvest of neutrality had been 
 great, but. we had gathered it all. With the peace of Eu- 
 rope, it was obvious there would spring up in her circle of 
 nations, a revived and invigorated spirit of trade, and a new 
 activity in all the business and objects of civilized life. 
 Hereafter, our commercial gains were to be earned only 
 by success, in a close and intense competition. Other na- 
 tions would produce for themselves, and carry for them- 
 selves, and manufacture for themselves, to the full extent 
 of their abilities. The crops of our plains would no longer 
 sustain European armies, nor our ships longer supply those 
 whom war had rendered unable to supply themselves. It 
 was obvious that, under these circumstances, the country 
 would begin to survey itself and to estimate its own ca- 
 
206 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 pacity of improvement. And this improvement — bow was 
 It to be accomplished, and who was to accomplish it? We 
 were ten or twelve millions of people, spread over almost 
 half a world. We were more than twenty States, some 
 stretching along the same seaboard, some along the same 
 line of inland frontier, and others on opposite banks of the 
 same vast rivers. Two considerations at once presented 
 themselves, in looking at this state of things, with great 
 force. One was that that great branch of improvement, 
 which consisted in furnishing new facilities of intercourse, 
 necessarily ran into different States, in every leading in- 
 stance, and would benefit the citizens of all such States. 
 No one State, therefore, in such cases, would assume the 
 whole expense, nor was the co-operation of several States 
 to be expected. Take the instance of the Delaware Break- 
 water. It will cost several millions of money. Would 
 Pennsylvania alone ever have constructed it ? Certainly 
 never, while this Union lasts, because it is not for her 
 sole benefit. Would Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Dela- 
 ware have united to accomplish it, at their joint expense ? 
 Certainly not, for the same reason. It could not be done, 
 therefore, but by the general government. The same may 
 be said of the large inland undertakings, except that, in 
 them, government, instead of bearing the whole expense, 
 co-operates with others who bear a part. The other con- 
 sideration is, that the United States have the means. They 
 enjoy the revenues derived from commerce, and the States 
 have no abundant and easy sources of public income. The 
 costom houses fill the general treasury, while the States have 
 scanty resources, except by resort to heavy direct taxes. 
 
 Under this view of things I thought it necessary to settle, 
 at least for myself, some definite notions with respect to the 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 207 
 
 powers of the government in regard to internal affairs. It 
 may not savor too much of self-commendation to remark 
 that with this object I considered the Constitution, its ju- 
 dicial construction, its contemporaneous exposition, and the 
 whole history of the legislation of Congress under it; and I 
 arrived at the conclusion that government had power to 
 accomplish sundry objects, or aid in their accomplishment, 
 which are now commonly spoken of as internal improve- 
 ments. That conclusion, sir, may have been right, or it 
 may have been wrong. I am not about to argue the 
 grounds of it at large. I say only that it was adopted 
 and acted on even so early as in 1816. Yes, Mr. Presi- 
 dent, I made up my opinion, and determined on my in- 
 tended course of political conduct on these subjects in the 
 Fourteenth Congress, in 1816. And now, Mr. President, I 
 have further to say that I made up these opinions, and en- 
 tered on this course of political conduct Teucro duce. Yes, 
 sir, I pursued in all this a South Carolina track, on the 
 doctrines of internal improvement. South Carolina, as she 
 was then represented in the other House, set forth, in 1816, 
 under a fresh and leading breeze, and I was among the fol- 
 lowers. But if my leader sees new lights, and turns a sharp 
 corner, unless I see new lights also, I keep straight on in 
 the same path. I repeat that leading gentlemen from South 
 Carolina were first and foremost in behalf of the doctrines 
 of internal improvements, when those doctrines came first 
 to be considered and acted upon in Congress. The debate 
 on the bank question, on the tariff of 1816, and on the 
 direct tax, will show who was who, and what was what at 
 that time. The tariff of 1816, one of the plain cases of 
 oppression and usurpation, from which, if the government 
 does not recede, individual States may justly secede from 
 
208 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 the government, is, sir, in truth, a South Carolina tariff, 
 cupported by South Carolina votes. But for those votes 
 it could not have passed in the form in which it did pass; 
 whereas, if it had depended on Massachusetts votes, it 
 would have been lost. Does not the honorable gentleman 
 well know all this ? There are certainly those who do, full 
 well, know it all. I do not say this to reproach South Caro- 
 lina. 1 only state the fact; and I think it will appear to be 
 true, that among the earliest and boldest advocates of the 
 tariff, as a measure of protection, and on the express ground 
 of protection, were leading gentlemen of South Carolina in 
 Congress. I did not then, and cannot now, understand their 
 language in any other sense. While this tariff of 1816 was 
 under discussion in the House of Kepresentatives, an honor- 
 able gentleman from Georgia, now of this House, Mr. For- 
 syth, moved to reduce the proposed duty on cotton. He 
 failed by four votes. South Carolina giving three votes 
 (enough to have turned the scale) against his motion. The 
 act, sir, then passed, and received on its passage the sup- 
 port of a majority of the Eepresentatives of South Carolina 
 present and voting. This act is the first, in the order of 
 those now denounced as plain usurpations. We see it daily, 
 in the list by the side of those of 1824 and 1828, as a case 
 of manifest oppression, justifying disunion. I put it home 
 to the honorable member from South Carolina that his own 
 State was not only "art and part" in this measure, but the 
 causa causans. Without her aid this seminal principle of 
 mischief, this root of the Upas, could not have been planted. 
 I have already said, and it is true, that this act proceeded on 
 the ground of protection. It interfered directly with exist- 
 ing interests of great value and amount. It cut up the Cal- 
 cutta cotton trade by the roots, but it passed, nevertheless, 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 209 
 
 and it passed on the principle of protecting manufacturea, 
 on the principle against free trade, on the principle opposed 
 to that which lets us alone. 
 
 Such, Mr. President, were the opinions of important and 
 leading gentlemen from South Carolina, on the subject of 
 internal improvements in 1816. I went out of Congress the 
 next year; and returning again in 1823, thought I found 
 South Carolina where I had left her. I really supposed 
 that all things remained as they were, and that the South 
 Carolina doctrine of internal improvements would be de- 
 fended by the same eloquent voices and the same strong 
 arms as formerly. In the lapse of these six years, it is true, 
 political associations had assumed a new aspect and new di- 
 visions. A party had arisen in the South hostile to the doc- 
 trine of internal improvements, and had vigorously attacked 
 that doctrine. Anti-consolidation was the flag under which 
 this party fought; and its supporters inveighed against in- 
 ternal improvements much after the manner in which the 
 honorable gentleman has now inveighed against them, as 
 part and parcel of the system of consolidation. Whether 
 this party arose in South Carolina herself, or in her neigh- 
 borhood, is more than I know. 1 think the latter. How- 
 ever that may have been, there were those found in South 
 Carolina ready to make war upon it, and who did make 
 intrepid war upon it. Names being regarded as things, in 
 such controversies, they bestowed on the anti-improvement 
 gentlemen the appellation of Eadicals. Yes, sir, the appel- 
 lation of Eadicals, as a term of distinction, applicable and 
 applied to those who denied the liberal doctrines of internal 
 improvements, originated, according to the best of my recol- 
 lection, somewhere between North Carolina and Georgia. 
 Well, sir, these mischievous Radicals were to be put down. 
 
 Vol. 5— U 
 
210 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 and the strong arm of South Carolina was stretched out to 
 put them down. About this time, sir, i returned to Con- 
 gress. The battle with the Radicals had been fought, and 
 our South Carolina champions of the doctrines of internal 
 improvement had nobly maintained their ground and were 
 understood to have achieved a victory. We looked upon 
 them as conquerors. They had driven back the enemy with 
 discomfiture — a thing, by the way, sir, which is not always 
 performed when it is promised. A gentleman, to whom 1 
 have already referred in this debate, had come into Con- 
 gress during my absence from it, from South Carolina, and 
 had brought with him a high reputation for ability. He 
 came from a school with which we had been acquainted 
 et noscitur a sociis. I hold in my hand, sir, a printed speech 
 of this distinguished gentleman [Mro McDuffie], "on internal 
 improvements," delivered about the period to which I now 
 refer, and printed with a few introductory remarks upon 
 consolidation; in which, sir, I think he quite consolidated 
 the arguments of his opponents, the Eadicals, if to crush be 
 to consolidate. I give you a short, but substantive quota- 
 tion from these remarks. He is speaking of a pamphlet, 
 then recently published, entitled "Consolidation"; and hav- 
 ing alluded to the question of renewing the charter of the 
 former Bank of the United States, he says: 
 
 "Moreover, in the early history of parties, and when 
 Mr. Crawford advocated a renewal of the old charter, it was 
 considered a Federal measure; which internal improvements 
 never was, as this author erroneously states. This latter 
 measure originated in the administration of Mr. JefEerson, 
 with the appropriation for the Cumberland road; and was 
 first proposed, as a system, by Mn Calhoun, and carried 
 through the House of Kepresentatives by a large majority 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 211 
 
 of the Republicans, including almost every one of the 
 leading men who carried us through the late war." 
 
 So, then, internal improvement is not one of the Federal 
 heresies. One paragraph more, sir: 
 
 ''The author in question, not content with denouncing, 
 as Federalists, General Jackson, Mr. Adams, Mr. Calhoun, 
 and the majority of the South Carolina delegation in Con- 
 gress, modestly extends the denunciation to Mr. Monroe 
 and the whole Republican party. Here are his words: 
 * During the administration of Mr. Monroe much has passed 
 which the Republican party would be glad to approve if 
 they could. But the principal feature, and that which has 
 chiefly elicited these observations, is the renewal of the 
 system of internal improvements.' Now this measure was 
 adopted by a vote of one hundred and fifteen to eighty-six, 
 of a Republican Congress, and sanctioned by a Republican 
 President. Who, then, is this author — who assumes the 
 high prerogative of denouncing, in the name of the Republi- 
 can party, the Republican administration of the country? A 
 denunciation including within its sweep Calhoun, Lowndes, 
 and Cheves — men who will be regarded as the brightest 
 ornaments of South Carolina, and the strongest pillars of 
 the Republican party, as long as the late war shall be re- 
 membered, and talents and patriotism shall be regarded as 
 the proper objects of the admiration and gratitude of a free 
 people." 
 
 Such are the opinions, sir, which were maintained by 
 South Carolina gentlemen, in the House of Representatives, 
 on the subject of internal improvements, when I took my 
 seat there as a member from Massachusetts in 1823. But 
 this is not all. We had a bill before us, and passed it in 
 that House, entitled; *'An act to procure the necessary sur- 
 
212 
 
 DANIEL AVEBSTER 
 
 veys, plans, and estimates upon the subject of roads and 
 canals." It authorized the President to cause surveys and 
 estimates to be made of the routes of such roads and canals 
 as he might deem of national importance, in a commercial 
 or military point of view, or for the transportation of the 
 mail, and appropriated thirty thousand dollars out of the 
 Treasury to defray the expense. This act, though pre- 
 liminary in its nature, covered the whole ground. It took 
 for granted the complete power of internal improvement as 
 far as any of its advocates had ever contended for it. 
 Having passed the other House, the bill came up to the 
 Senate, and was here considered and debated in April, 
 1824. The honorable member from South Carolina was a 
 member of the Senate at that time. While the bill was 
 under consideration here, a motion was made to add the 
 following proviso: 
 
 ''Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be con- 
 strued to affirm or admit a power in Congress, on their own 
 authority, to make roads or canals within any of the States 
 of the Union." 
 
 The yeas and nays were taken on this proviso and the 
 honorable member voted in the negative ! The proviso failed. 
 
 A motion was then made to add this proviso, namely: 
 
 ''Provided, That the faith of the United States is hereby 
 pledged, that no money shall ever be expended for roads or 
 canals, except it shall be among the several States and in 
 the same proportion as direct taxes are laid and assessed by 
 the provisions of the Constitution." 
 
 The honorable member voted against this proviso, also, 
 and it failed. The bill was then put on its passage and the 
 honorable member voted for it, and it passed and became 
 a law. 
 
THE KEPLV TO II AVNE 
 
 213 
 
 Now it strikes me, sir, that there is no maintaining 
 these votes, but upon the power of internal improvement, 
 in its broadest sense. In truth, these bills for surveys and 
 estimates have always been considered as test questions — 
 they show who is for and who against internal improve- 
 ment. This law itself went the whole length and assumed 
 the full and complete power. The gentleman's votes sus- 
 tained that power in every form in which the various propo- 
 sitions to amend presented it. He went for the entire and 
 unrestrained authority without consulting the States, and 
 without agreeing to any proportionate distribution. And 
 now suffer me to remind you, Mr. President, that it is this 
 very same power, thus sanctioned in every form by the 
 gentleman's own opinion, that is so plain and manifest a 
 usurpation that the State of South Carolina is supposed to 
 be justified in refusing submission to any laws carrying the 
 power into effect. Truly, sir, is not this a little too hard? 
 May we not crave some mercy under favor and protection of 
 the gentleman's own authority? Admitting that a road, 
 or a canal, must be written down flat usurpation as was ever 
 committed, may we find no mitigation in our respect for his 
 place and his vote as one that knows the law? 
 
 The tariff, which South Carolina had an efficient hand 
 in establishing, in 1816, and this asserted power of internal 
 improvement, advanced by her in the same year, and, as 
 we have seen, approved and sanctioned by her Representa- 
 tives in 1824, these two measures are the great grounds on 
 which she is now thought to be justified in breaking up the 
 Union, if she sees fit to break it up ! 
 
 I may now safely say, I think, that we have had the 
 authority of leading and distinguished gentlemen from 
 South Carolina, in support of the doctrine of internal Ili- 
 
214 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 provement. 1 repeat that, up to 1824, i for one followed 
 South Carolina; but, when that star, in its ascension, 
 veered off, iu an unexpected direction, 1 relied on its light 
 no longer. 
 
 Mere the Vice-President, Mr. Calhoun, said: "Does the 
 chair understand the gentleman from Massachusetts to say 
 that the person now occupying the chair of the Senate has 
 changed his opinions on the subject of internal improve- 
 ments?" 
 
 From nothing ever said to me, sir, have I had reason to 
 know of any change in the opinions of the person filling the 
 chair of the Senate. If such change has taken place, I re- 
 gret it. 1 speak generally of the State of South Carolina. 
 Individuals, we know there are, who hold opinions favor- 
 able to the power. An application for its exercise, in 
 behalf of a public work in South Carolina itself, is now 
 pending, I believe, in the other House, presented by mem- 
 bers from that State. 
 
 I have thus, sir, perhaps not without some tediousness 
 of detail, shown that if I am in error on the subject of in- 
 ternal improvement, how, and in what company, 1 fell into 
 that error. If I am wrong, it is apparent who misled me. 
 
 I go to other remarks of the honorable member; and I 
 have to complain of an entire misapprehension of what 
 I said on the subject of the national debt, though I can 
 hardly perceive how any one could misunderstand me. 
 What I said was, not that I wished to put off the payment 
 of the debt, but, on the contrary, that I had always voted 
 for every measure for its reduction, as uniformly as the 
 gentleman himself. He seems to claim the exclusive merit 
 of a disposition to reduce the public charge. I do not alioW 
 it to him. As a debt, I was, I am for paying it, because it is 
 
THE KEl'LY TO UAYNE 
 
 215 
 
 a charge on our finances and on the industry of the country. 
 But 1 observed that I thought I perceived a morbid fervor 
 on that subject — an excessive anxiety to pay off the debt, 
 not so much because it is a debt simply, as because, while 
 it lasts, it furnishes one objection to disunion.. It is a tie 
 of common interest, while it continues. I did not impute 
 such motives to the honorable member himself; but that 
 there is such a feeling in existence I have not a particle of 
 doubt. The most I said was that if one effect of the debt 
 was to strengthen our Union, that effect itself was not re- 
 gretted by me, however much others might regret it. The 
 gentleman has not seen how to reply to this otherwise than 
 by supposing me to have advanced the doctrine that a 
 national debt is a national blessing. Others, I must hope, 
 will find much less difficulty in understanding me. I dis- 
 tinctly and pointedly cautioned the honorable member not 
 to understand me as expressing an opinion favorable to the 
 continuance of the debt. I repeated this caution, and re- 
 peated it more than once; but it was thrown away. 
 
 On yet another point I was still more unaccountably 
 misunderstood. The gentleman had harangued against 
 *' consolidation." I told him, in reply, that there was one 
 kind of consolidation to which I was attached, and that was 
 the consolidation of our Union; and that this was precisely 
 that consolidation to which I feared others were not at- 
 tached. That such consolidation was the very end of the 
 Constitution — the leading object, as they had informed us 
 themselves, which its framers had kept in view. I turned 
 to their communication, and read their very words — "the 
 consolidation of the Union" — and expressed my devotion 
 to this sort of consolidation. I said in terms, that I wished 
 not, in the slightest degree, to augment the powers of this 
 
216 
 
 DAmEL WEBSTER 
 
 government; that my object was to preserve, not to enlarge; 
 and that by consolidating the Union, I understood no more 
 than the strengthening of the Union, and perpetuating it. 
 Having been thus explicit; having thus read from the 
 printed book the precise words which I adopted, as ex- 
 pressing my own sentiments, it passes comprehension how 
 any man could understand me as contending for an exten- 
 sion of the powers of the government, or for consolidation, 
 in that odious sense in which it means an accumulation, in 
 the Federal Government, of the powers properly belonging 
 to the States. 
 
 I repeat, sir, that in adopting the sentiment of the 
 framers of the Constitution, I read their language audibly, 
 and word for word; and I pointed out the distinction just 
 as fully as I have now done, between the consolidation of 
 the Union and that other obnoxious consolidation which 
 I disclaimed. And yet the honorable member misunder- 
 stood me. The gentleman had said that he wished for no 
 fixed revenue — not a shilling. If, by a word, he could con- 
 vert the Capitol into gold, he would not do it. Why all this 
 fear of revenue? Why, sir, because, as the gentleman told 
 us, it tends to consolidation. Now, this can mean neither 
 more nor less than that a common revenue is a common 
 interest, and that all common interests tend to hold the 
 Union of the States together. I confess I like that tend- 
 ency; if the gentleman dislikes it, he is right in depre- 
 cating a shilling's fixed revenue. So much, sir, for con- 
 solidation. 
 
 As well as I recollect the course of his remarks, the 
 honorable gentleman next recurred to the subject of the 
 tariff. He did not doubt the word must be of unpleasant 
 sound to me, and proceeded with an effort, neither new, 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 217 
 
 nor attended with new success, to involve me and mj votes 
 in inconsistency and contradiction. I am happy the hon- 
 orable gentleman has furnished me an opportunity for a 
 timely remark or two on that subject. 1 was glad he ap- 
 proached it, for it is a question 1 enter upon without fear 
 from anybody. The strenuous toil of the gentleman has 
 been to raise an inconsistency between my dissent to the 
 tariff in 1824 and my vote in 1828. It is labor lost. He 
 pays undeserved compliment to my speech in 1824; but 
 this is to raise me high, that my fall, as he would have it, 
 in 1828, may be more signal. Sir, there was no fall at all. 
 Between the ground I stood on in 1824, and that I took 
 in 1828, there was not only no precipice, but no declivity. 
 It was a change of position, to meet new circumstances, 
 but on the same level. A plain tale explains the whole 
 matter. In 1816, I had not acquiesced in the tariff, then 
 supported by South Carolina. To some parts of it, espe- 
 cially, I felt and expressed great repugnance. I held the 
 same opinions in 1821, at the meeting in Faneuil Hall, to 
 which the gentleman has alluded. I said then, and say 
 now, that, as an original question, the authority of Con- 
 gress to exercise the revenue power, with direct reference 
 to tbe protection of manufactures, is a questionable au- 
 thority, far more questionable, in my judgment, than the 
 power of internal improvements. I must confess, sir, that, 
 in one respect, some impression has been made on my opin- 
 ions lately. Mr. Madison's publication has put the power 
 in a very strong light. He has placed it, I must acknowl 
 edge, upon grounds of construction and argument, which 
 seem impregnable. But even if the power were doubtful, 
 on the face of the Constitution itself, it had been assumed 
 and asserted in the first revenue law ever passed under that 
 
218 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 same Constitution; and, on this ground, as a matter settled 
 by contemporaneous practice, 1 had refrained from express- 
 ing the opinion that the tariff laws transcended constitu- 
 tional limits, as the gentleman supposes. What I did say 
 at Kaneuil Hall, as far as i now remember, was that this 
 was originally matter of doubtful construction. The gen- 
 tleman himself, I suppose, thinks there is no doubt about 
 it and that the laws are plainly against the Constitution. 
 Mr. Madison's letters, already referred to, contain, in my 
 judgment, by far the most able exposition extant of this 
 part of the Constitution. He has satisfied me, so far as the 
 practice of the government had left it an open question. 
 
 With a great majority of the Eepresentatives of Massa- 
 chusetts, 1 voted against the tariff of 1824. My reasons 
 were then given, and i will not now repeat them. But, 
 notwithstanding our dissent, the great States of New York, 
 Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky, went for the bill, in 
 almost unbroken column, and it passed. Congress and the 
 President sanctioned it, and it became the law of the land. 
 What, then, were we to do? Our only option was, either 
 to fall in with this settled course of public policy, and 
 accommodate ourselves to it as well as we could, or to em- 
 brace the South Carolina doctrine, and talk of nullifying 
 the statute by State interference. 
 
 This last alternative did not suit oar principles, and, of 
 course, we adopted the former. In 1827 the subject came 
 again before Congress, on a proposition favorable to wool 
 and woollens. We looked upon the system of protection 
 as being fixed and settled. The law of 1824 remained. It 
 had gone into full operation, and in regard to some objects 
 intended by it, perhaps most of them, had produced all its 
 expected effects. No man proposed to repeal it; no man at- 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNK 
 
 219 
 
 tempted to renew the general contest on its principle. But, 
 owing to subsequent and unforeseen occurrences, the bene- 
 fit intended by it to wool and woollen fabrics had not been 
 realized. Events, not known here when the law passed, 
 had taken place, which defeated its object in that particu- 
 lar respect. A measure was accordingly brought forward 
 to meet this precise deficiency; to remedy this particular 
 defect. It was limited to wool and woollens. Was ever 
 anything more reasonable ? If the policy of the tariff laws 
 had become established in principle, as the permanent 
 policy of the government, should they not be revised and 
 amended, and made equal, like other laws, as exigencies 
 should arise, or justice require? Because we had doubted 
 about adopting the system, were we to refuse to cure its 
 manifest defects, after it became adopted, and when no one 
 attempted its repeal? And this, sir, is the inconsistency 
 so much bruited. I had voted against the tariff of 1824 — 
 but it passed ; and in 1827 and 1828 I voted to amend it, in 
 a point essential to the interest of my constituents. Where 
 is the inconsistency? Could I do otherwise? Sir, does 
 political consistency consist in always giving negative 
 votes? Does it require of a public man to refuse to con- 
 cur in amending laws, because they passed against his 
 consent? Having voted against the tariff originally, does 
 consistency demand that I should do all in my power to 
 maintain an unequal tariff, burdensome to my own constit- 
 uents, and, in many respects, favorable to none? To con- 
 sistency of that sort I lay no claim. And there is another 
 sort to which I lay as little — and that is a kind of consist- 
 ency by which persons feel themselves as much bound to 
 oppose a proposition, after it has become a law of the land., 
 as before. 
 
220 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 The bill of 1827, limited, as I have said, to the single 
 object in which the tariff of 1824 had manifestly failed in 
 its effect, passed the House of Kepresentatives, but was lost 
 here. We had then the Act of 1828. I need not recur to 
 the history of a measure so recent. Its enemies spiced it 
 with whatsoever they thought would render it distasteful; 
 its friends took it, drugged as it was. Yast amounts of 
 property, many millions, had been invested in manufac- 
 tures, under the inducements of the Act of 1824. Events 
 called loudly, as I thought, for further regulation to secure 
 the degree of protection intended by that act. I was dis- 
 posed to vote for such regulation, and desired nothing 
 more; but certainly was not to be bantered out of my 
 purpose by a threatened augmentation of duty on mo- 
 lasses, put into the bill for the avowed purpose of mak- 
 ing it obnoxious. The vote may have been right or wrong, 
 wise or unwise; but it is little less than absurd to allege 
 against it an inconsistency with opposition to the former 
 law. 
 
 Sir, as to the general subject of the tariff, I have little 
 now to say. Another opportunity may be presented. I 
 remarked the other day that this policy did not begin with 
 us in New England; and yet, sir. New England is charged 
 with vehemence as being favorable, or charged with equal 
 vehemence as being unfavorable to the tariff* policy, just 
 as best suits the time, place, and occasion for making some 
 charge against her. The credulity of the public has been put 
 to its extreme capacity of false impression, relative to her 
 conduct, in this particular. Through all the South, during 
 the late contest, it was New England policy and a New Eng- 
 land administration that was afflicting the country with a 
 tariff beyond all endurance; while on the other side of the 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 221 
 
 Alleghany, even the Act of 1828 itself, the very sublimated 
 essence of oppression, according to Southern opinions, was 
 pronounced to be one of those blessings for which the West 
 was indebted to the * 'generous South." 
 
 With large investments in manufacturing establishments, 
 and many and various interests connected with and depend- 
 ent upon them, it is not expected that New England, any 
 more than other portions of the country, will now consent to 
 any measure, destructive or highly dangerous. The duty 
 of the government, at the present moment, would seem to 
 be to preserve, not to destroy; to maintain the position 
 which it has assumed; and, for one, I shall feel it an in- 
 dispensable obligation to hold it steady, as far as in my 
 power, to that degree of protection which it has under- 
 taken to bestow. No more of the tariff. 
 
 Professing to be provoked, by what he chose to con- 
 sider a charge made by me against South Carolina, the 
 honorable member, Mr. President, has taken up a new 
 crusade against New England. Leaving altogether the 
 subject of the public lands, in which his success, per- 
 haps, had been neither distinguished nor satisfactory, and 
 letting go, also, of the topic of the tariff, he sallied forth 
 in a general assault on the opinions, politics, and parties 
 of New England, as they have been exhibited in the last 
 thirty years. This is natural. The "narrow policy" of 
 the public lands had proved a legal settlement in South 
 Carolina, and was not to be removed. The "accursed 
 policy" of the tariff, also, had established the fact of 
 its birth and parentage in the same State. No wonder, 
 therefore, the gentleman wished to carry the war, as he 
 expressed it, into the enemy's country. Prudently will- 
 ing to quit these subjects, he was doubtless desirous of 
 
222 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 fastening on others that which could not be transferred 
 south of Mason and Dixon's Line. The politics of New- 
 England became his theme; and it was in this part of his 
 speech, I think, that he menaced me with such sore dis- 
 comfiture. Discomfiture! Why, sir, when he attacks any- 
 thing which I maintain, and overthrows it; when he turns 
 the right or left of any position which I take up ; when he 
 drives me from any ground I choose to occupy ; he may 
 then talk of discomfiture, but not till that distant day. 
 What has he done ? Has he maintained his own charges ? 
 Has he proved what he alleged ? Has he sustained himself 
 in his attack on the government, and on the history of the 
 North, in the matter of the public lands ? Has he disproved 
 a fact, refuted a proposition, weakened an argument main- 
 tained by me ? Has he come within beat of drum of any 
 position of mine ? Oh, no; but he has carried the war into 
 the enemy's country." Carried the war into the enemy's 
 country! Yes, sir, and what sort of a war has he made of 
 it? Why, sir, he has stretched a drag-net over the whole 
 surface of perished pamphlets, indiscreet sermons, frothy 
 paragraphs, and fuming popular addresses, over whatever 
 the pulpit, in its moments of alarm, the press in its heats, 
 and parties in their extravagance have severally thrown off 
 in times of general excitement and violence. He has thus 
 swept together a mass of such things as, but that they are 
 now old and cold, the public health would have required 
 him rather to leave in their state of dispersion. For a good 
 long hour or two we had the unbroken pleasure of listening 
 to the honorable member while he recited, with his usual 
 grace and spirit, and with evident high gusto, speeches, 
 pamphlets, addresses, and all the et ceteras of the political 
 pre^s, such as Wr^rm Jieads produce ip w^rm tiwea; and 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 223 
 
 such as it would be "discomfiture," indeed, for any one 
 whose taste did not delight in that sort of reading to be 
 obliged to peruse. This is his war. This is to carry the 
 war into the enemy's country. It is in an invasion of this 
 sort that he flatters himself with the expectation of gaining 
 laurels fit to adorn a Senator's brow! 
 
 Mr. President, I shall not — it will, I trust, not be ex- 
 pected that I should — either now, or at any time, separate 
 this farrago into parts, and answer and examine its com- 
 ponents. I shall hardly bestow upon it all a general re- 
 mark or two. In the run of forty years, sir, under this 
 Constitution, we have experienced sundry successive vio- 
 lent party contests. Party arose, indeed, with the Consti- 
 tution itself, and, in some form or other, has attended it 
 through the greater part of its history. Whether any other 
 Constitution than the old Articles of Confederation was de- 
 sirable, was itself a question on which parties formed; if a 
 new Constitution were framed, what powers should be given 
 it, was another question; and when it had been formed what 
 was, in fact, the just extent of the powers actually conferred, 
 was a third. Parties, as we know, existed under the first 
 administration, as distinctly marked as those which have 
 manifested themselves at any subsequent period. The 
 contest immediately preceding the political change in 
 1801, and that, again, which existed at the commence- 
 ment of the late war, are other instances of party excite- 
 ment of something more than usual strength and intensity. 
 In all these conflicts there was, no doubt, much of violence 
 on both and all sides. It would be impossible, if one had a 
 fancy for such employment, to adjust the relative quantum 
 of violence between these contending parties. There was 
 enough in each, as must always be expected in popular 
 
224 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 governments. With a great deal of proper and decorous 
 discussion there was mingled a great deal also of declama- 
 tion, virulence, crimination, and abuse. In regard to any 
 party, probably, at one of the leading epochs in the history 
 of parties, enough maybe found to make out another equally 
 inflamed exhibition as that with which the honorable mem- 
 ber has edified us. For myself, sir, I shall not rake among 
 the rubbish of bygone times to see what I can find, or whether 
 I cannot find something by which I can fix a blot on the es- 
 cutcheon of any State, any party, or any part of the coun- 
 try^ General Washington's administration was steadily and 
 zealously maintained, as we all know, by New England. It 
 was violently opposed elsewhere. We know in what quar- 
 ter he had the most earnest, constant, and persevering sup- 
 port in all his great and leading measures. We know where 
 his private and personal characters were held in the highest 
 degree of attachment and veneration; and we know, too, 
 where his measures were opposed, his services slighted, 
 and his character vilified. We know, or we might know, 
 if we turned to the journals, who expressed respect, grati- 
 tude, and regret when he retired from the Chief Magistracy; 
 and who refused to express their respect, gratitude, or re- 
 gret. I shall not open those journals. Publications more 
 abusive or scurrilous never saw the light than were sent 
 forth against Washington and all his leading measures 
 from presses south of New England. But I shall not 
 look them up. I employ no scavengers; no one is in 
 attendance on me, tendering such means of retaliation; 
 and, if there were, with an ass's load of them, with a 
 bulk as huge as that which the gentleman himself has 
 r>roduced, I would not touch one of them. I see enough 
 of the violence of our own times to be in no way anxious 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 225 
 
 to rescue from forgetfulness the extravagances of times 
 past. Besides, what is all this to the present purpose? 
 It has nothing to do with the public lands, in regard to 
 which the attack was begun ; and it has nothing to do with 
 those sentiments and opinions which, I have thought, tend 
 to disunion, and all of which the honorable member seems 
 to have adopted himself and undertaken to defend. New 
 England has, at times, so argues the gentleman, held opin- 
 ions as dangerous as those which he now holds. Suppose 
 this were so, why should he, therefore, abuse New Eng- 
 land? If he finds himself countenanced by acts of hers, 
 how is it that, while he relies on these acts, he covers, or 
 seeks to cover, their authors with reproach ? But, sir, if, 
 in the course of forty years, there have been undue effer- 
 vescences of party in New England, has the same thing 
 happened nowhere else? Party animosity and party out- 
 rage, not in New England, but elsewhere, denounced Presi- 
 dent Washington, not only as a Federalist, but as a Tory, a 
 British agent, a man who, in his high office, sanctioned cor- 
 ruption. But does the honorable member suppose that, if 
 I had a tender here who should put such an effusion of 
 wickedness and folly in my hand, that I would stand up 
 and read it against the South? Parties ran into great 
 heats again in 1799 and 1800. What was said, sir, or 
 rather what was not said, in those years against John 
 Adams, one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, and its admitted ablest defender on the floor 
 of Congress? If the gentleman wishes to increase his 
 stores of party abuse and frothy violence; if he has a 
 determined proclivity to such pursuits, there are treasures 
 of that sort south of the Potomac, much to his taste, yet 
 untouched — I shall not touch them. 
 
 Vol. 5—15 
 
226 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 The parties which divided the country at the commence- 
 ment of the late war were violent. But, then, there was vio- 
 lence on both sides and violence in every State. Minorities 
 and majorities were equally violent. There was no more 
 violence against the war in New England than in other 
 States; nor any more appearance of violence, except that, 
 owing to a dense population, greater facility of assembling, 
 and more presses, there may have been more in quantity 
 spoken and printed there than in some other places. In 
 the article of sermons, too, New England is somewhat more 
 abundant than South Carolina; and for that reason the 
 chance of finding here and there an exceptional one may 
 be greater. I hope, too, there are more good ones. Op- 
 position may have been more formidable in New England, 
 as it embraced a larger portion of the whole population; 
 but it was no more unrestrained in its principle, or vio- 
 lent in manner. The minorities dealt quite as harshly 
 with their own State governments as the majorities dealt 
 with the administration here. There were presses on both 
 sides, popular meetings on both sides, ay, and pulpits on 
 both sides, also. The gentleman's purveyors have only 
 catered for him among the productions of one side. I cer- 
 tainly shall not supply the deficiency by furnishing samples 
 of the other. I leave to him and to them the whole con- 
 cern. 
 
 It is enough for me to say that if, in any part of this 
 their grateful occupation; if in all their researches they find 
 anything in the history of Massachusetts, or New England, 
 or in the proceedings of any legislative or other public body, 
 disloyal to the Union, speaking slightly of its value, propos- 
 ing to break it up, or recommending non-intercourse with 
 neighboring States, on account of difference of political 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 227 
 
 opinioa, then, sir, I give them all up to the honorable 
 gentleman's unrestrained rebuke;, expecting, however, that 
 he will extend his buffetings in like manner to all similar 
 proceedings, wherever else found. 
 
 The gentleman, sir, has spoken at large of former parties, 
 now no longer in being, by their received appellations, and 
 has undertaken to instruct us, not only in the knowledge of 
 their principles, but of their respective pedigrees also. He 
 has ascended to the origin and run out their genealogies. 
 With most exemplary modesty he speaks of the party to 
 which he professes to have belonged himself, as the true 
 pure, the only honest, patriotic party, derived by regular 
 descent from father to son from the time of the virtuous 
 Eomans! Spreading before us the family tree of political 
 parties, he takes especial care to show himself snugly 
 perched on a popular bough! He is wakeful to the ex- 
 pediency of adopting such rules of descent as shall bring 
 him in, in exclusion of others, as an heir to the inheritance 
 of all public virtue and all true political principle. His 
 party and his opinions are sure to be orthodox; heterodoxy 
 is confined to his opponents. He spoke, sir, of the Federal- 
 ists, and I thought I saw some eyes begin to open and stare 
 a little when he ventured on that ground. 1 expected he 
 would draw his sketches rather lightly when be looked on 
 the circle around him, and especially if he should cast his 
 thoughts to the high places out of the Senate. Neverthe- 
 less, he went back to Rome, ad annum urhe condita^ and 
 found the fathers of the Federalists in the primeval aristo- 
 crats of that renowned empire ! He traced the flow of Fed- 
 eral blood down through successive ages and centuries till 
 he brought it into the veins of the American Tories 
 (of whom, by the way, there were twenty in the Carolinas 
 
228 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 for one in Massachusetts). From the Tories he followed it 
 to the Federalists ; and as the Federal party was broken up, 
 and there was no possibility of transmitting it furthers on 
 this side the Atlantic, he seems to have discovered that it 
 has gone off, collaterally, though against all the canons 
 of descent, into the Ultras of France, and finally become 
 extinguished, like exploded gas, among the adherents of 
 Don Miguel! This, sir, is an abstract of the gentleman's 
 history of Federalism. I am not about to controvert it. 
 It is not at present worth the pains of refutation ; because, 
 sir, if at this day any one feels the sin of Federalism lying 
 heavily on his conscience, he can easily procure remission. 
 He may even obtain an indulgence, if he be desirous of 
 repeating the same transgression. It is an affair of no dif- 
 ficulty to get into the same right line of patriotic descent. 
 A man nowadays is at liberty to choose his political pa- 
 rentage. He may elect his own father. Federalist or not 
 he may, if he choose, claim to belong to the favored stock, 
 and his claim will be allowed. He may carry back his pre- 
 tensions just as far as the honorable gentleman himself; 
 nay, he may make himself out the honorable gentleman's 
 cousin, and prove satisfactorily that he is descended from 
 the same political great-grandfather. All this is allowable. 
 We all know a process, sir, by which the whole Essex Junto 
 could, in one hour, be all washed white from their ancient 
 Federalism, and come out, every o;ne of them, an original 
 Democrat, dyed in the wool! Some of them have actually 
 undergone the operation, and they say it is quite easy. The 
 only inconvenience it occasions, as they tell us, is a slight 
 tendency of the blood to the face, a soft suffusion, which, 
 however, is very transient, since nothing is said by those 
 whom they join calculated to deepen the red on the cheek, 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 229 
 
 but a prudent silence observed in regard to all the past. 
 Indeed, sir, some smiles of approbation have been bestowed, 
 and some crumbs of comfort have fallen not a thousand 
 miles from the door of the Hartford Convention itself. And 
 if the author of the Ordinance of 1787 possessed the other 
 lequisite qualifications, there is no knowing, notwithstand- 
 ing his Federalism, to what heights of favor he might not 
 yet attain. 
 
 Mr. President, in carrying his warfare, such as it was, 
 into New England, the honorable gentleman all along pro- 
 fesses to be acting on the defensive. He elects to consider 
 me as having assailed South Carolina, and insists that he 
 comes forth only as her champion and in her defence. Sir, 
 I do not admit that I made any attack whatever on South 
 Carolina. Nothing like it. The honorable member in his 
 first speech expressed opinions in regard to revenue, and 
 some other topics, which I heard both with pain and with 
 surprise. I told the gentleman I was aware that such sen- 
 timents were entertained out of the government, but had not 
 expected to nnd them advanced in it; that I knew there 
 were persons in the South who speak of our Union with 
 indifference or doubt, taking pains to magnify its evils and 
 to say nothing of its benefits; that the honorable member 
 himself I was sure could never be one of these, and I re- 
 gretted the expression of such opinions as he had avowed 
 because I thought their obvious tendency was to encourage 
 feelings of disrespect to the Union, and to weaken its con- 
 nection. This, sir, is the sum and substance of all I said on 
 the subject. And this constitutes the attack which called 
 on the chivalry of the gentleman, in his own opinion, to 
 harry us with such a foray among the party pamphlets and 
 party proceedings of Massachusetts I If he means that I 
 
230 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 spoke with dissatisfaction or disrespect of the ebullitions 
 of individuals in South Carolina, it is true. But if he 
 means that I had assailed the character of the State, her 
 honor or patriotism; that I had reflected on her history or 
 her conduct, he had not the slightest ground for any such 
 assumption. I did not even refer, I think, in my observa- 
 tions, to any collection of individuals. I said nothing of 
 the recent conventions. I spoke in the most guarded and 
 careful manner, and only expressed my regret for the pub- 
 lication of opinions which I presumed the honorable mem- 
 ber disapproved as much as myself. In this, it seems, I 
 was mistaken. I do not remember that the gentleman has 
 disclaimed any sentiment or any opinion of a supposed anti- 
 Union tendency, which on all or any of the recent occasions 
 has been expressed. The whole drift of his speech has been 
 rather to prove that in divers times and manners sentiments 
 equally liable to my objection have been promulgated in 
 I^ew England. And one would suppose that his object 
 in this reference to Massachusetts was to find a precedent 
 to justify proceedings in the South were it not for the 
 reproach and contumely with which he labors all along to 
 load these, his own chosen precedents. By way of defend- 
 ing South Carolina from what he chooses to think an attack 
 on her, he first quotes the example of Massachusetts, and 
 then denounces that example in good set terms. This two- 
 fold purpose, not very consistent with itself, one would 
 think was exhibited more than once in the course of his 
 speech. He referred, for instance, to the Hartford Conven- 
 tion. Did he do this for authority or for a topic of re- 
 proach ? Apparently for both ; for he told us that he should 
 find no fault with the mere fact of holding such a conven- 
 tion and considering and discussing such questions as he 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 231 
 
 supposes were then and there discussed; but what rendered 
 it obnoxious was the time it was holden and the circum- 
 stances of the country then existing. We were in a war, 
 he said, and the country needed all our aid — the hand of 
 government required to be strengthened, not weakened — 
 and patriotism should have postponed such proceedings to 
 another day. The thing itself, then, is a precedent, the 
 time and manner of it only a subject of censure. Now, sir, 
 I go much further on this point than the honorable member. 
 Supposing, as the gentleman seems to, that the Hartford 
 Convention assembled for any such purpose as breaking 
 up the Union because they thought unconstitutional laws 
 had been passed, or to consult on that subject, or to cal- 
 culate the value of the Union — supposing this to be their 
 purpose or any part of it, then, I say, the meeting itself 
 was disloyal, and was obnoxious to censure, whether held 
 in time of peace or time of war, or under whatever circum- 
 stances. The material question is the object. Is dissolu- 
 tion the object ? If it be, external circumstances may make 
 it a more or less aggravated case, but cannot affect the prin- 
 ciple. I do not hold, therefore, sir, that the Hartford Con- 
 vention was pardonable, even to the extent of the gentle- 
 man's admission, if its objects were really such as have been 
 imputed to it. Sir, there never was a time under any degree 
 of excitement in which the Hartford Convention, or any 
 other convention, could maintain itself one moment in New 
 England if assembled for any such purpose as the gentle- 
 man says would have been an allowable purpose. To hold 
 conventions to decide constitutional law! — to try the bind- 
 ing validity of statutes by votes in a convention! Sir, the 
 Hartford Convention, I presume, would not desire that the 
 honorable gentleman should be their defender or advocate 
 
232 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 if he puts their case upon such untenable and extravagant 
 grounds. 
 
 Then, sir, the gentleman has no fault to find with these 
 recently promulgated South Carolina opinions. And, cer- 
 tainly, he need have none; for his own sentiments as now 
 advanced, and advanced on reflection as far as I have been 
 able to comprehend them, go the full length of all these 
 opinions. I propose, sir, to say something on these, and 
 to consider how far they are just and constitutional. Be- 
 fore doing that, however, let me observe that the eulogium 
 pronounced on the character of the State of South Carolina 
 by the honorable gentleman for her revolutionary and other 
 merits meets my hearty concurrence. I shall not acknowl- 
 edge that the honorable member goes before me in regard 
 for whatever of distinguished talent or distinguished charac- 
 ter South Carolina has produced. I claim part of the honor 
 — I partake in the pride of her great names. I claim them 
 for countrymen, one and all. The Laurenses, the Eut- 
 ledges, the Pinckneys, the Sumters, the Marions — Ameri- 
 cans all — whose fame is no more to be hemmed in by 
 State lines than their talents and patriotism were capable 
 of being circumscribed within the same narrow limits. In 
 their day and generation they served and honored the coun- 
 try and the whole country ; and their renown is of the treas- 
 ures of the whole country. Him whose honored name the 
 gentleman himself bears — does he esteem me less capable of 
 gratitude for his patriotism or sympathy for his sufferings 
 than if his eyes had first opened upon the light of Massa- 
 chusetts instead of South Carolina? Sir, does he suppose 
 it in his power to exhibit a Carolina name so bright as to 
 produce envy in my bosom? No, sir, increased gratifica- 
 tion and delight, rather. I thank God that if I am gifted 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 233 
 
 with little of the spirit which is able to raise mortals to the 
 skies, I have yet none, as I trust, of that other spirit which 
 would drag angels down. When I shall be found, sir, in 
 my place here in the Senate, or elsewhere, to sneer at pub- 
 lic merit because it happens to spring up beyond the little 
 limits of my own State or neighborhood ; when I refuse for 
 any such cause, or for any cause, the homage due to Ameri- 
 can talent, to elevated patriotism, to sincere devotion to lib- 
 erty and the country ; or, if I see an uncommon endowment 
 of heaven — if I see extraordinary capacity and virtue in any 
 son of the South — and if, moved by local prejudice, or gan- 
 grened by State jealousy, I get up here to abate the tithe of 
 a hair from his just character and just fame, may my tongue 
 cleave to the roof of my mouth ! 
 
 Sir, let me recur to pleasing recollections — let me in- 
 dulge in refreshing remembrances of the past — let me re- 
 mind you that in early times no States cherished greater 
 harmony, both of principle and feeling, than Massachusetts 
 and South Carolina. "Would to God that harmony might 
 again return ! Shoulder to shoulder they went through the 
 Kevolution — hand in hand they stood round the adminis- 
 tration of Washington and felt his own great arm lean on 
 them for support. Unkind feeling, if it exists, alienation 
 and distrust, are the growth, unnatural to such soils, of 
 false principles since sown. They are weeds, the seeds of 
 which that same great arm never scattered. 
 
 Mr. President, I shall enter on no encomium upon 
 Massachusetts — she needs none. There she is — behold her, 
 and judge for yourselves. There is her history; the world 
 knows it by heart. The past, at least, is secure. There is 
 Boston, and Concord, and Lexington, and Bunker Hill — 
 and there they will remain forever. The bones of her sons. 
 
234 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 falling in the great straggle for independence, now lie 
 mmgied with the soil of every State, from New England 
 to (jeorgia; and there they will lie forever. And, sir, 
 where American liberty raised its first voice; and where 
 its youth was nurtured and sustained, there it still lives, in 
 the strength of its manhood and full of its original spirit, 
 if discord and disunion shall wound it — if party strife and 
 blind ambition shall hawk at and tear it — if folly and mad- 
 ness — if uneasiness, under salutary and necessary restraint 
 shall succeed to separate it from that union by which alone 
 its existence is made sure, it will stand, in the end, by the 
 side of that cradle in which its infancy was rocked; it will 
 stretch forth its arm with whatever of vigor it may still re- 
 tain, over the friends who gather round it; and it will fall 
 at last, if fall it must, amid the proudest monuments of its 
 own glory, and on the very spot of its origin. 
 
 There yet remains to be performed, Mr. President, by far 
 the most grave and important duty, which I feel to be de- 
 volved on me by this occasion. It is to state and to defend 
 what I conceive to be the true principles of the Constitution 
 under which we are here assembled. I might well have 
 desired that so weighty a task should have fallen into other 
 and abler hands. I could have wished that it should have 
 been executed by those whose character and experience 
 give weight and influence to their opinions, such as cannot 
 possibly belong to mine. But, sir, I have met the occasion, 
 not sought it; and I shall proceed to state my own senti- 
 ments, without challenging for them any particular regard, 
 with studied plainness and as much precision as possible. 
 
 I understand the honorable gentleman from South Caro- 
 lina to maintain that it is a right of the State Legislatures 
 to interfere, whenever, in their judgment, this government 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 235 
 
 transcends its constitutional limits, and to arrest the opera- 
 tion of its laws. 
 
 1 understand him to maintain this right; as a right ex. 
 isting under the Constitution, not as a right to overthrow 
 it on the ground of extreme necessity, such as would justify 
 violent revolution. 
 
 I understand him to maintain an authority, on the part 
 of the States, thus to interfere, for the^purpose of correcting 
 the exercise of power by the general government, of check- 
 ing it and of compelling it to conform to their opinion of 
 the extent of its powers. 
 
 I understand him to maintain that the ultimate power 
 of judging of the constitutional extent of its own authority 
 is not lodged exclusively in the general government or any 
 branch of it; but that, on the contrary, the States may 
 lawfully decide for themselves, and each State for itself, 
 whether in a given case the act of the general government 
 transcends its power. 
 
 I understand him to insist that if the exigency of the 
 case, in the opinion of any State government, requires it, 
 such State government may, by its own sovereign authority, 
 annul an act of the general government which it deems 
 plainly and palpably unconstitutional. 
 
 This is the sum of what I understand from him to be 
 the South Carolina doctrine, and the doctrine which he 
 maintains. I propose to consider it and compare it with 
 the Constitution. Allow me to say as a preliminary remark 
 that I call this the South Carolina doctrine only because the 
 gentleman himself has so denominated it. I do not feel at 
 liberty to say that South Carolina, as a State, has ever ad- 
 vanced these sentiments. I hope she has not and never 
 may. That a great majority of her people are opposed to 
 
286 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTUR 
 
 the tarilf laws is doubtless true. That a majority somewhat 
 less than that just mentioned conscientiously believe these 
 laws unconstitutional may probably also be true. But that 
 any majority holds to the right of direct State interference 
 at State discretion, the right of nullitying acts of Congress 
 by acts of State legislation, is more than I know and what 
 1 shall be slow to believe. 
 
 That there are individuals besides the honorable gentle- 
 man who do maintain these opinions is quite certain. I 
 recollect the recent expression of a sentiment, which cir- 
 cumstances attending its utterance and publication justify 
 us in supposing was not unpremeditated. "The sovereignty 
 of the State — never to be controlled, construed, or decided 
 on, but by her own feelings of honorable justice." 
 
 Mr. Hayne here rose and said that for the purpose of 
 being clearly understood he would state that his proposi- 
 tion was in the words of the Virginia Eesolution as follows: 
 
 "That this assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily 
 declare that it views the powers of the Federal Government 
 as resulting from the compact to which the States are parties, 
 as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument 
 constituting that compact, as no further valid than they are 
 authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact; and 
 that, in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exer- 
 cise of other powers, not granted by the said compact, the 
 States who are parties thereto have the right and are in duty 
 bound to interpose, for arresting the progress of the evil and 
 for maintaining within their respective limits the authorities, 
 rights, and liberties appertaining to them." 
 
 I am quite aware, Mr. President, of the existence of the 
 resolution which the gentleman read and has now repeated, 
 and that he relies on it as his authority. I know the source, 
 too, from which it is understood to have proceeded. I need 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNB 
 
 237 
 
 not say that I have much respect for the constitutional opin- 
 ions of Mr. Madison; they would weigh greatly with me al- 
 ways. But, before the authority of his opinion be vouched 
 for the gentleman*s proposition, it will be proper to consider 
 what is the fair interpretation of that resolution to which 
 Mr. Madison is understood to have given his sanction. As 
 the gentleman construes it, it is an authority for him. Pos- 
 sibly he may not have adopted the right construction. 
 That resolution declares that in the case of the dangerous 
 exercise of powers not granted by the general government, 
 the States may interpose to arrest the progress of the evil. 
 But how interpose, and what does this declaration purport? 
 Does it mean no more than that there may be extreme cases 
 in which the people in any mode of assembling may resist 
 usurpation and relieve themselves from a tyrannical govern- 
 ment? No one will deny this. Such resistance is not only 
 acknowledged to be just in America, but in England also. 
 Blackstone admits as much in the theory and practice, 
 too, of the English Constitution. We, sir, who oppose the 
 Carolina doctrine do not deny that the people may, if they 
 choose, throw off any government when it becomes oppres- 
 sive and intolerable, and erect a better in its stead. We all 
 know that civil institutions are established for the public 
 benefit and that when they cease to answer the ends of their 
 existence they may be changed. But I do not understand 
 the doctrine now contended for to be that which, for the 
 sake of distinctness, we may call the right of revolution. 
 I understand the gentleman to maintain that, without revo- 
 lution, without civil commotion, without rebellion, a rem- 
 edy for supposed abuse and transgression of the powers of 
 the general government lies in a direct appeal to the inter- 
 ference of the State governments. 
 
238 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 Mr. Hayne here rose. He did not contend, he said, for 
 the mere right of revolution, but for the right of constitu- 
 tional resistance. What he maintained was that, in case of 
 a plain, palpable violation of the Constitution by the general 
 government, a State may interpose, and that this interposi- 
 tion is constitutional. 
 
 So, sir, I understood the gentleman, and am happy to 
 find that 1 did not misunderstand him. What he contends 
 for is that it is constitutional to interrupt the administration 
 of the Constitution itself in the hands of those who are 
 chosen and sworn to administer it, by the direct interfer- 
 ence in form of law of the States in virtue of their sovereign 
 capacity. The inherent right in the people to reform their 
 government I do not deny; and they have another right, 
 and that is to resist unconstitutional laws without over- 
 turning the government. It is no doctrine of mine that 
 unconstitutional laws bind the people. The great question 
 is: Whose prerogative is it to decide on the constitution- 
 ality or unconstitutionality of the laws? On that the main 
 debate hinges. The proposition that, in case of a supposed 
 violation of the Constitution by Congress, the States have 
 a constitutional right to interfere and annul the law of Con- 
 gress, is the proposition of the gentleman: I do not admit 
 it. If the gentleman had intended no more than to assert 
 the right of revolution for justifiable cause, he would have 
 said only what all agree to. But I cannot conceive that 
 there can be a middle course between submission to the 
 laws, when regularly pronounced constitutional, on the one 
 hand, and open resistance, which is revolution or rebellion, 
 on the other. I say the right of a State to annul a law of 
 Congress cannot be maintained but on the ground of the 
 inalienable right of man to resist oppression; that is to 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 239 
 
 say, upon the ground of revolution. I admit that there is 
 an ultimate violent remedy above the Constitution and 
 in defiance of the Constitution, which may be resorted to 
 when a revolution is to be justified. But I do not admit 
 that under the Constitution, and in conformity with it, 
 there is any mode in which a State government, as a mem- 
 ber of the U nion, can interfere and stop the progress of the 
 general government, by force of her own laws, under any 
 circumstances whatever. 
 
 This leads us to inquire into the origin of this govern- 
 ment and the source of its power. Whose agent is it ? Is 
 it the creature of the State Legislatures, or the creature of 
 the people? If the government of the United States be the 
 agent of the State governments, then they may control it, 
 provided they can agree in the manner of controlling it; if 
 it be the agent of the people, then the people alone can 
 control it, restrain it, modify, or reform it. It is observable 
 enough that the doctrine for which the honorable gentleman 
 contends leads him to the necessity of maintaining, not only 
 that this general government is the creature of the States, 
 but that it is the creature of each of the States severally; so 
 that each may assert the power for itself of determining 
 whether it acts within the limits of its authority. It is the 
 servant of four and twenty masters, of different wills and 
 di£ferent purposes, and yet bound to obey all. This ab- 
 surdity (for it seems no less) arises from a misconception 
 as to the origin of this government and its true character. 
 It is, sir, the people's Constitution, the people's govern- 
 ment; made for the people, made by the people, and 
 answerable to the people. The people of the United States 
 have declared that this Constitution shall be the supreme 
 law. We must either admit the propositioo, or dispute 
 
240 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 their authority. The States are, unquestionably, sover- 
 eign, so far as their sovereignty is not afEected by this su- 
 preme law. But the State Legislatures, as political bodies, 
 however sovereign, are yet not sovereign over the people. 
 So far as the people have given power to the general gov- 
 ernment, so far the grant is unquestionably good, and the 
 government holds of the people, and not of the State 
 governments. "We are all agents of the same supreme 
 power, the people. The general government and the State 
 governments derive their authority from the same source. 
 Neither can, in relation to the other, be called primary, 
 though one is definite and restricted and the other general 
 and residuary. The national government possesses those 
 powers which it can be shown the people have conferred 
 on it, and no more. All the rest belong to the State gov- 
 ernments or to the people themselves. So far as the people 
 have restrained State sovereignty, by the expression of 
 their will, in the Constitution of the United States, so far, 
 it must be admitted. State sovereignty is effectually con- 
 trolled. I do not contend that it is, or ought to be, con- 
 trolled further. The sentiment to which I have referred 
 propounds that State sovereignty is only to be controlled 
 by its own "feeling of justice"; that is to say, it is not to 
 be controlled at all ; for one who is to follow his own feel- 
 ings is under no legal control. Now, however men may 
 think this ought to be, the fact is that the people of the 
 United States have chosen to impose control on State 
 sovereignties. There are those, doubtless, who wish they 
 had been left without restraint; but the Constitution has 
 ordered the matter differently. To make war, for instance, 
 is an exercise of sovereignty ; but the Constitution declares 
 that no State shall make war. To coin money is another 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 241 
 
 exercise of sovereign power; but no State is at liberty to 
 coin money. Again, the Constitution says that no sover- 
 eign State shall be so sovereign as to make a treaty. These 
 prohibitions, it must be confessed, are a control on the State 
 sovereignty of South Carolina, as well as of the other States, 
 which does not arise "from her own feelings of honorable 
 justice." Such an opinion, therefore, is in defiance of the 
 plainest provisions of the Constitution. 
 
 There are other proceedings of public bodies which have 
 already been alluded to, and to which I refer again for the 
 purpose of ascertaining more fully what is the length and 
 breadth of that doctrine, denominated the Carolina doctrine, 
 which the honorable member has now stood upon this floor 
 to maintain. In one of them I find it resolved that "the 
 tariff of 1828, and every other tariff designed to promote 
 one branch of industry at the expense of others, is con- 
 trary to the meaning and intention of the Federal com- 
 pact; and is such a dangerous, palpable and deliberate 
 usurpation of power, by a determined majority, wielding 
 the general government beyond the limits of its delegated 
 powers, as calls upon the States which compose the suffer- 
 ing minority, in their sovereign capacity, to exercise the 
 powers which, as sovereigns, necessarily devolve upon them 
 when their compact is violated." 
 
 Observe, sir, that this resolution holds the tariff of 1828, 
 and every other tariff, designed to promote one branch of 
 industry at the expense of another, to be such a dangerous, 
 palpable and deliberate usurpation of power, as calls upon 
 the States, in their sovereign capacity, to interfere by their 
 own authority. This denunciation, Mr. President, you will 
 please to observe, includes our old tariff of 1816, as well as 
 all others; because that was established to promote the in- 
 
 Vol. 5-16 
 
242 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 terest of the manufactures of cotton, to ttie manifest and 
 admitted injury of the Calcutta cotton trade. Observe, 
 again, that all the qualifications are here rehearsed and 
 charged upon the tariff, which are necessary to bring the 
 case within the gentleman's proposition. The tariff is a 
 usurpation; it is a dangerous usurpation; it is a palpable 
 usurpation; it is a deliberate usurpation. It is such a 
 usurpation, therefore, as calls upon the States to exercise 
 their right of interference. Here is a case, then, within 
 the gentleman's principles, and all his qualifications of 
 his principles. It is a case for action. The Constitutioa 
 is plainly, dangerously, palpably and deliberately violated; 
 and the States must interpose their own authority to arrest 
 the law. Let us suppose the State of South Carolina to 
 express this same opinion by the voice of her Legislature. 
 That would be very imposing; but what then? Is the 
 voice of one State conclusive ? It so happens that at the 
 very moment when South Carolina resolves that the tariff 
 laws are unconstitutional, Pennsylvania and Kentucky re- 
 solve exactly the reverse. They hold those laws to be 
 both highly proper and strictly constitutional. And now, 
 sir, how does the honorable member propose to deal with 
 this case? How does he relieve us from this difficulty 
 upon any principle of his? His construction gets us 
 into it; how does he propose to get us out? 
 
 In Carolina the tariff is a palpable, deliberate usurpa- 
 tion; Carolina, therefore, may nullify it, and refuse to pay 
 the duties. In Pennsylvania it is both clearly constitu- 
 tional and highly expedient; and there the duties are to 
 be paid. And yet we live under a government of uni- 
 form laws, and under a Constitution, too, which con- 
 tains an express provision, as it happens, that all duties 
 
THE REPLY TO IIAYNE 
 
 243 
 
 shall be equal in all the States. Does not this approach 
 absurdity ? 
 
 If there be no power to settle such questions, independ- 
 ent of either of the States, is not the whole Union a rope of 
 pand? Are we not thrown back again precisely upon the 
 dd confederation? 
 
 It is too plain to be argued. Four-and-twenty interpre- 
 ters of constitutional law, each with a power to decide for 
 itself, and none with authority to bind anybody else, and 
 this constitutional law the only bond of their union! What 
 is such a state of things but a mere connection during pleas- 
 ure, or, to use the phraseology of the times, during feeling? 
 And that feeling, too, not the feeling of the people, who 
 established the Constitution, but the feeling of the State 
 governments. 
 
 In another of the South Carolina addresses, having 
 premised that the crisis requires "all the concentrated 
 energy of passion," an attitude of open resistance to the 
 laws of the Union is advised. Open resistance to the laws, 
 then, is the constitutional remedy, the conservative power 
 of the State, which the South Carolina doctrines teach for 
 the redress of political evils, real or imaginary. And its 
 authors further say that, appealing with confidence to the 
 Constitution itself to justify their opinions, they cannot 
 consent to try their accuracy by the courts of justice. In 
 one sense, indeed, sir, this is assuming an attitude of 
 open resistance in favor of liberty. But what sort of 
 liberty? The liberty of establishing their own opinions, 
 in defiance of the opinions of all others ; the liberty of 
 judging and of deciding exclusively themselves, in a mat- 
 ter in which others have as much right to judge and decide 
 as they ; the liberty of placing their own opinions above the 
 
244 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 judgment of all others, above the laws, and above the Con- 
 stitution. This is their liberty, and this is the fair result ot 
 the proposition contended for by the honorable gentleman. 
 Or it may be more properly said, it is identical with it, 
 rather than a result from it. 
 
 In the same publication we find the following: 
 ''Previously to our Revolution, when the arm of oppres- 
 sion was stretched over New England, where did our North- 
 ern brethren meet with a braver sympathy than that which 
 sprang from the bosoms of Carolinians? We had no extor- 
 tion, no oppression, no collision with the king's ministers, 
 no navigation interests springing up in envious rivalry of 
 England/' 
 
 This seems extraordinary language. South Carolina 
 no collision with the king's ministers in 1775! No extor- 
 tion! No oppression ! But, sir, it is also most significant 
 language. Does any man doubt the purpose for which it 
 was penned ? Can any one fail to see that it was designed 
 to raise io the reader's mind the question whether, at this 
 time — that is to say, in 1828 — South Carolina has any col- 
 lision with the king's ministers, any oppression, or extor- 
 tion to fear from England? Whether, in short, England 
 is not as naturally the friend of South Carolina, as New 
 England with her navigation interests springing up in en- 
 vious rivalry of England ? 
 
 Is it not strange, sir, that an intelligent man in South 
 Carolina in 1828 should thus labor to prove that in 1775 
 there was no hostility, no cause of war between South 
 Carolina and England? That she had no occasion in 
 reference to her own interest, or from a regard to her 
 own welfare, to take up arms in the Eevolutionary con 
 test? Can any one account for the expression of such 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 245 
 
 strange sentiments and their circulation through the State, 
 otherwise than by supposing the object to be what I have 
 already intimated, to raise the question if they had no "col- 
 lision'' (mark the expression) with the ministers of King 
 George III., in 1775, what collision have they in 1828 with 
 the ministers of King George IV. ? What is there now in 
 the existing state of things to separate Carolina from Old 
 more, or rather, than from New England ? 
 
 Eesolutions, sir, have been recently passed by the Legis- 
 lature of South Carolina. I need not refer to them; they go 
 no further than the honorable gentleman himself has gone — 
 and I hope not so far. I content myself, therefore, with 
 debating the matter with him. 
 
 And now, sir, what I have first to say on this subject is 
 that at no time and under no circumstances has New Eng- 
 land or any State in New England, or any respectable body 
 of persons in New England, or any public man of standing 
 in New England, put forth such a doctrine as this Carolina 
 doctrine. 
 
 The gentleman has found no case, he can find none, to 
 support his own opinions by New England authority. New 
 England has studied the Constitution in other schools and 
 under other teachers. She looks upon it with other regards, 
 and deems more highly and reverently both of its just au- 
 thority and its utility and excellence. The history of her 
 legislative proceedings may be traced — the ephemeral effu- 
 sions of temporary bodies, called together by the excite- 
 ment of the occasion, may be hunted up — they have been 
 hunted up. The opinions and votes of her public men, 
 in and out of Congress, may be explored — it will all be 
 in vain. The Carolina doctrine can derive from her neither 
 countenance nor support. She rejects it now; she always 
 
246 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 did reject it; and till she loses her senses, she ahyays will 
 reject it. The honorable member has referred to expres- 
 sions on the subject of the Embargo law made in this place 
 by an honorable and venerable gentleman [Mr. Hillhouse] 
 now favoring us with his presence. He quotes that dis- 
 tinguished Senator as saying that, in his judgment, the 
 J^mbargo law was unconstitutional, and that, therefore, in 
 his opinion the people were not bound to obey it. That, 
 sir, is perfectly constitutional language. An unconstitu- 
 tional law is not binding; but then it does not rest with 
 a resolution or a law of a State Legislature to decide 
 whether an act of Congress be or be not constitutional. 
 An unconstitutional act of Congress would not bind the 
 people of this district, although they have no Legislature 
 to interfere in their behalf; and, on the other hand, a 
 constitutional law of Congress does bind the citizens of 
 every State, although all their Legislatures should under- 
 take to annul it by act or resolution. The venerable Con- 
 necticut Senator is a constitutional lawyer of sound prin- 
 ciples and enlarged knowledge; a statesman practiced and 
 experienced, bred in the company of Washington, and 
 holding just views upon the nature of our governments, 
 fie believed the Embargo unconstitutional, and so did 
 others; but what then? Who did he suppose was to de- 
 cide that question ? The State Legislatures ? Certainly 
 not. No such sentiment ever escaped his lips. Let us 
 follow up, sir, this New England opposition to the Em- 
 bargo laws; let us trace it till we discern the principle 
 which controlled and governed New England throughout 
 the whole course of that opposition. We shall then see 
 what similarity there is between the New England school 
 of constitutional opinions and this modern Carolina school. 
 
THE REPLY TO llAYNE 
 
 247 
 
 The gentleman, I think, read a petition from some single 
 individual, addressed to the Legislature of Massachusetts, 
 asserting the Carolina doctrine — that is, the right of State 
 interference to arrest the laws of the Union. The fate of 
 that petition shows the sentiment of the Legislature. It 
 met no favor. The opinions of Massachusetts were other- 
 wise. They had been expressed in 1798 in answer to the 
 resolutions of Virginia, and she did not depart from them, 
 nor bend them to the times. Misgoverned, wronged, op- 
 pressed as she felt herself to be, she still held fast her in- 
 tegrity to the Union. The gentleman may find in her 
 proceedings much evidence of dissatisfaction with the 
 measures of government, and great and deep dislike to 
 the Embargo ; all this makes the case so much the stronger 
 for her ; for notwithstanding all this dissatisfaction and dis- 
 like, she claimed no right, still, to sever asunder the bonds 
 of the Union. There was heat and there was anger in her 
 political feeling. Be it so ! Her heat or her anger did not, 
 nevertheless, betray her into infidelity to the government. 
 The gentleman labors to prove that she disliked the Em- 
 bargo as much as South Carolina dislikes the tariff, and 
 expressed her dislike as strongly. Be it so ; but did she 
 propose the Carolina remedy? — did she threaten to inter- 
 fere, by State authority, to annul the laws of the Union? 
 That is the question for the gentleman's consideration. 
 
 ISTo doubt, sir, a great majority of the people of 'New 
 England conscientiously believed the Embargo law of 1807 
 unconstitutional; as conscientiously, certainly, as the peo- 
 ple of South Carolina hold that opinion of the tariff. They 
 reasoned thus: Congress has power to regulate commerce; 
 but here is a law, they said, stopping all commerce, and 
 stopping it indefinitely. The law is perpetual; that is, it 
 
248 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 is not limited in point of time, and must, of course, con- 
 tinue until it shall be repealed by some other law. It is 
 as perpetual, therefore, as the law against treason or mur- 
 der. Now, is this regulating commerce or destroying it? 
 Is it guiding, controlling, giving the rule to commerce, as 
 a subsisting thing; or is it putting an end to it altogether? 
 Nothing is more certain than that a majority in New Eng- 
 land deemed this law a violation of the Constitution. The 
 very case required by the gentleman to justify State inter- 
 ference had then arisen. Massachusetts believed this law 
 to be "a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of a 
 power not granted by the Constitution." Deliberate it was, 
 for it was long continued; palpable she thought it, as no 
 words in the Constitution gave the power, and only a con- 
 struction, in her opinion most violent, raised it; dangerous 
 it was, since it threatened utter ruin to her most important 
 interests. Here, then, was a Carolina case. How did Mas- 
 sachusetts deal with it? It was, as she thought, a plain, 
 manifest, palpable violation of the Constitution, and it 
 brought ruin to her doors. Thousands of families, and 
 hundreds of thousands of individuals were beggared by 
 it. While she saw and felt all this, she saw and felt also 
 that, as a measure of national policy, it was perfectly futile; 
 that the country was no way benefited by that which caused 
 so much individual distress; that it was efficient only for 
 the production of evil, and all that evil inflicted on our- 
 selves. In such a case, under such circumstances, how did 
 Massachusetts demean herself? Sir, she remonstrated, she 
 memorialized, she addressed herself to the general govern- 
 ment, not exactly '*with the concentrated energy of pas- 
 sion,'* but with her own strong sense and the energy of 
 sober conviction. But she did not interpose the arm of her 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 249 
 
 own power to arrest the law and break the Embargo. Far 
 from it. Her principles bound her to two things; and she 
 followed her principles, lead where they might. First, to 
 submit to every constitutional law of Congress, and, sec- 
 ondly, if the constitutional validity of the law be doubted, 
 to refer that question to the decision of the proper tribunals. 
 The first principle is vain and ineffectual without the sec- 
 ond. A majority of us in New England believed the Em- 
 bargo law unconstitutional; but the great question was, 
 and always will be, in such cases: Who is to decide this? 
 Who is to judge between the people and the government? 
 And, sir, it is quite plain that the Constitution of the 
 United States confers on the government itself, to be ex- 
 ercised by its appropriate department, and under its own 
 responsibility to the people, this power of deciding ulti- 
 mately and conclusively upon the just extent of its own 
 authority. If this had not been done, we should not have 
 advanced a single step beyond the old Confederation. 
 
 Being fully of opinion that the Embargo law was uncon- 
 stitutional, the people of New England were yet equally 
 clear in the opinion — it was a matter they did not doubt 
 upon — that the question, after all, must be decided by the 
 judicial tribunals of the United States. Before those tri- 
 bunals, therefore, they brought the question. Under the 
 provisions of the law they had given bonds to millions in 
 amount, and which were alleged to be forfeited. They suf- 
 fered the bonds to be sued, and thus raised the question. 
 In the old-fashioned way of settling disputes, they went to 
 law. The case came to hearing and solemn argument; and 
 he who espoused their cause and stood up for them against 
 the validity of the Embargo Act was none other than that 
 great man of whom the gentleman has made honorable men- 
 
250 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 tion, Samuel Dexter. He was then, sir, in the fulness of 
 his knowledge and the maturity of his strength. He had 
 retired from long and distinguished public service here, to 
 the renewed pursuit of professional duties, carrying with 
 him all that enlargement and expansion, all the new 
 strength and force, which an acquaintance with the more 
 general subjects discussed in the national councils is capable 
 of adding to professional attainment in a mind of true great- 
 ness and comprehension. He was a lawyer and he was also 
 a statesman. He had studied the Constitution, when he 
 filled public station, that he might defend it; he had ex- 
 amined its principles that he might maintain them. More 
 than all men, or at least as much as any man, he was at- 
 tached to the general government and to the union of the 
 States. His feelings and opinions all ran in that direction. 
 A question of constitutional law, too, was, of all subjects, 
 that one which was best suited to his talents and learning. 
 Aloof from technicality, and unfettered by artificial rule, 
 such a question gave opportunity for that deep and clear 
 analysis, that mighty grasp of principle, which so much 
 distinguished his higher efforts. His very statement was 
 argument; his inference seemed demonstration. The ear- 
 nestness of his own conviction wrought conviction in others. 
 One was convinced, and believed, and assented, because it 
 was gratifying, delightful, to think and feel and believe 
 in unison with an intellect of such evident superiority. 
 
 Mr. Dexter, sir, such as I have described him, argued 
 the New England cause. He put into his effort his whole 
 heart, as well as all the powers of his understanding; for 
 he had avowed, in the most public manner, his entire con- 
 currence with his neighbors on the point in dispute. He 
 argued the cause; it was lost, and New England submitted. 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 251 
 
 The established tribunals pronounced the law constitutional, 
 and New England acquiesced. Mow, sir, is not this the ex- 
 act opposite of the doctrine of the gentleman from South 
 Carolina? According to him, instead of referring to the 
 judicial tribunals, we should have broken up the Embargo 
 by laws of our own; we should have repealed it quoad JNew 
 England; for we had a strong, palpable, and oppressive case. 
 Sir, we believed the Embargo unconstitutional; but still 
 that was matter of opinion, and who was to decide it ? We 
 ttiought it a clear case; but, nevertheless, we did not take 
 the law into our own hands because we did not wish to 
 bring about a revolution, nor to break up the Union; for 
 I maintain that, between submission to the decision of the 
 constituted tribunals and revolution, or disunion, there is 
 no middle ground — there is no ambiguous condition, half 
 allegiance and half rebellion. And, sir, how futile, how 
 very futile it is to admit the right of State interference, and 
 then attempt to save it from the character of unlawful resist- 
 ance by adding terms of qualification to the causes and oc- 
 casions, leaving all these qualifications, like the case itself, 
 in the discretion of the State governments. It must be a 
 clear case, it is said, a deliberate case; a palpable case; 
 a dangerous case. But then the State is still left at liberty 
 to decide for herself what is clear, what is deliberate, what 
 is palpable, what is dangerous. Do adjectives and epithets 
 avail anything ? Sir, the human mind is so constituted that 
 the merits of both sides of a controversy appear very clear 
 and very palpable to those who respectively espouse them; 
 and both sides usually grow clearer as the controversy ad- 
 vances. South Carolina sees unconstitutionality in the tariff; 
 she sees oppression there also; and she sees danger. Penn- 
 sylvania, with a vision not less sharp, looks at the same 
 
252 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 tariff, and sees no such thing in it — she sees it all constitu- 
 tional, all useful, all safe. The faith of South Carolina is 
 strengthened by opposition, and she now not only sees, but 
 resolves, that the tariff is palpably unconstitutional, oppres- 
 sive, and dangerous; but Pennsylvania, not to be behind 
 her neighbors, and equally willing to strengthen her own 
 faith by a confident asseveration, resolves, also, and gives 
 to every warm affirmative of South Carolina a plain, down- 
 right Pennsylvania negative. South Carolina, to show the 
 strength and unity of her opinion, brings her assembly to 
 a unanimity within seven voices; Pennsylvania, not to be 
 outdone in this respect more than others, reduces her dis- 
 sentient fraction to a single vote. Now, sir, again 1 ask the 
 gentleman what is to be done? Are these States both 
 right ? Is he bound to consider them both right ? If not, 
 which is in the wrong ? or rather, which has the best right 
 to decide ? And if he and if I are not to know what the 
 Constitution means and what it is till those two State Legis- 
 latures and the twenty-two others shall agree in its construc- 
 tion, what have we sworn to when we have sworn to main- 
 tain it? I was forcibly struck, sir, with one reflection as 
 the gentleman went on in his speech. He quoted Mr. Madi- 
 son's resolutions, to prove that a State may interfere, in a 
 case of deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of a 
 power not granted. The honorable member supposes the 
 tariff law to be such an exercise of power; and that, con- 
 sequently, a case has arisen in which the State may, if it 
 see fit, interfere by its own law. Kow it so happens, never- 
 theless, that Mr. Madison deems this same tariff law quite 
 constitutional. Instead of a clear and palpable violation, 
 it is, in his judgment, no violation at all. So that, while 
 they use his authority for a hypothetical case, they reject 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 253 
 
 it in the very case before them. All this, sir, shows the 
 inherent futility — I had almost used a stronger word — of 
 conceding this power of interference to the States, and then 
 attempting to secure it from abuse by imposing qualifica- 
 tions, of which the States themselves are to judge. One of 
 two things is true: either the laws of the Union are beyond 
 the discretion and beyond the control of the States, or else 
 we have no Constitution of general government, and are 
 thrust back again to the days of the Confederacy, 
 
 Let me here say, sir, that if the gentleman's doctrine had 
 been received and acted upon in New England, in the times 
 of the Embargo and Non-intercourse, we should probably 
 not now have been here. The government would very 
 likely have gone to pieces, and crumbled into dust. No 
 stronger case can ever arise than existed under those laws; 
 no States can ever entertain a clearer conviction than the 
 New England States then entertained; and if they had been 
 under the influence of that heresy of opinion, as I must call 
 it, which the honorable member espouses, this Union would, 
 in all probability, have been scattered to the four winds. I 
 ask the gentleman, therefore, to apply his principles to that 
 case; I ask him to come forth and declare whether, in his 
 opinion, the New England States would have been justified 
 in interfering to break up the Embargo system under the 
 conscientious opinions which they held upon it? Had they 
 a right to annul that law? Does he admit, or deny? If 
 that which is thought palpably unconstitutional in South 
 Carolina justifies that State in arresting the progress of the 
 law, tell me whether that which was thought palpably un- 
 constitutional also in Massachusetts would have justified her 
 in doing the same thing ? Sir, I deny the whole doctrine. 
 It has not a foot of ground in the Constitution to stand on. 
 
254 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 No public maa cf repatation ever advaoced it in Massachu- 
 setts, in the warmest times, or could maintaio himself upon 
 it there at any time. 
 
 I wish now, sir, to make a remark upon the Virginia 
 Eesolutions of 1798. I cannot undertake to say how these 
 resolutions were understood by those who passed them. 
 Their language is not a little indefinite. In the case of 
 the exercise by Congress of a dangerous power not granted 
 to them, the resolutions assert the right, on the part of the 
 State, to interfere and arrest the progress of the evil. This 
 is susceptible of more than one interpretation. It may mean 
 no more than that the States may interfere by complaint and 
 remonstrance, or by proposing to the people an alteration of 
 the Federal Constitution. This would all be quite unob- 
 jectionable; or, it may be, that no more is meant than to 
 assert the general right of revolution, as against all govern- 
 ments, in cases of intolerable oppression. This no one 
 doubts; and this, in my opinion, is all that he who framed 
 the resolutions could have meant by it; for I shall not 
 readily believe that he was ever of opinion that a State, 
 under the Constitution, and in conformity with it, could, 
 upon the ground of her own opinion of its unconstitution- 
 ality, however clear and palpable she might think the case, 
 annul a law of Congress, so far as it should operate on her 
 self, by her own legislative power. 
 
 I must now beg to ask, sir, whence is this supposed right 
 of the States derived ? — where do they find the power to in- 
 terfere with the laws of the Union ? Sir, the opinion which 
 the honorable gentleman maintains is a notion, founded in a 
 total misapprehension, in my judgment, of the origin of this 
 government and of the foundation on which it stands. I 
 hold it to be a popular government, erected by the people; 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 255 
 
 those who administer it, responsible to the people; and it- 
 self capable of being amended and modified, just as the 
 people may choose it should be. It is as popular, just as 
 truly emanating from the people, as the State governments. 
 It is created for one purpose; the State governments for an- 
 other. It has its own powers; they have theirs. There is 
 no more authority with them to arrest the operation of a law 
 of Congress than with Congress to arrest the operation of 
 their laws. We are here to administer a Constitution ema- 
 nating immediately from the people, and trusted by them 
 to our administration. It is not the creature of the State 
 governments. It is of no moment to the argument, that cer- 
 tain acts of the State Legislatures are necessary to fill our 
 seats in this body. That is not one of their original State 
 powers, a part of the sovereignty of the State. It is a duty 
 which the people, by the Constitution itself, have imposed 
 on the State Legislatures, and which they might have left 
 to be performed elsewhere, if they had seen fit. So they 
 have left the choice of President with electors; but all this 
 does not affect the proposition, that this whole government, 
 President, Senate and House of Eepresentatives, is a popu- 
 lar government. It leaves it still all its popular character. 
 The governor of a State (in some of the States) is chosen, 
 not directly by the people, but by those who are chosen by 
 the people, for the purpose of performing, among other du- 
 ties, that of electing a governor. Is the government of the 
 State, on that account, not a popular government? This 
 government, sir, is the independent offspring of the popu- 
 lar will. It is not the creature of State Legislatures; nay, 
 more, if the whole truth must be told, the people brought it 
 into existence, established it, and have hitherto supported 
 it, for the very purpose, among others, of imposing certaia 
 
256 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 salutary restraints on State sovereignties. The States can- 
 not now make war; they cannot contract alliances; they 
 cannot make, each for itself, separate regulations of com- 
 merce; they cannot lay imposts; they cannot coin money. 
 If this Constitution, sir, be the creature of State Legisla 
 tures, it must be admitted that it has obtained a strange 
 control over the volitions of its creators. 
 
 The people, then, sir, erected this government. They 
 gave it a Constitution, and in that Constitution they have 
 enumerated the powers which they bestow on it. They 
 have made it a limited government. They have defined 
 its authority. They have restrained it to the exercise of 
 such powers as are granted; and all others, they declare, 
 are reserved to the States or the people. But, sir, they 
 have not stopped here. If they had, they would have ac- 
 complished but half their work. No definition can be so 
 clear as to avoid possibility of doubt ; no limitation so pre- 
 cise as. to exclude all uncertainty. Who, then, shall con- 
 strue this grant of the people? Who shall interpret their 
 will, where it may be supposed they have left it doubtful ? 
 With whom do they repose this ultimate right of deciding 
 on the powers of the government? Sir, they have settled 
 all this in the fullest manner. They have left it with the 
 government itself, in its appropriate branches. Sir, the very 
 chief end, the main design, for which the whole Constitution 
 was framed and adopted, was to establish a government that 
 should not be obliged to act through State agency, or de- 
 pend on State opinion and State discretion. The people 
 had had quite enough of that kind of government under 
 the Confederacy. Under that system the legal action — the 
 application of law to individuals — belonged exclusively to 
 the States. Congress could only recommend — their acts 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYxVE 
 
 257 
 
 were not of binding force till the States had adopted and 
 sanctioned them. Are we in that condition still ? Are we 
 yet at the mercy of State discretion and State construction ? 
 Sir, if we are, then vain will be our attempt to maintain the 
 Constitution under which we sit. 
 
 But, sir, the people have wisely provided, in the Consti- 
 tution itself, a proper suitable mode and tribunal for settling 
 questions of constitutional law. There are, in the Constitu- 
 tion, grants of powers to Congress, and restrictions on these 
 powers. There are also prohibitions on the States. Some 
 authority must therefore necessarily exist, having the ulti- 
 mate jurisdiction to fix and ascertain the interpretation of 
 these grants, restrictions, and prohibitions. The Constitu- 
 tion has itself pointed out, ordained, and established that 
 authority. How has it accomplished this great and essen- 
 tial end? By declaring, sir, that "the Constitution and the 
 laws of the United States, made in pursuance thereof, shall 
 be the supreme law of the land, anything in the Constitu- 
 tion or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." 
 
 This, sir, was the first great step. By this the su- 
 premacy of the Constitution and laws of the United States 
 is declared. The people so will it. No State law is to be 
 valid, which comes in conflict with the Constitution, or any 
 law of the United States passed in pursuance of it. But 
 who shall decide this question of interference ? To whom 
 lies the last appeal? This, sir, the Constitution itself de- 
 cides also by declaring '*that the judicial power shall ex- 
 tend to all cases arising under the Constitution and laws 
 of the United States." These two provisions, sir, cover 
 the whole ground. They are, in truth, the keystone of 
 the arch. With these it is a Constitution; without them 
 it is a Confederacy. In pursuance of these clear and ex- 
 
 Vol. 5-17 
 
258 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 press provisions, Congress established at its very first ses- 
 sion in the judicial act a mode for carrying them into full 
 elfect and for bringing all questions of constitutional power 
 to the final decision of the JSupreme Court. It then, sir, 
 became a government. It then had the means of self-pro- 
 tection; and but for this it wouid, in all probability, have 
 been now among things which are past. Having consti- 
 tuted the government, and declared its powers, the people 
 have further said, that since somebody must decide on the 
 extent of these powers, the government shall itself decide; 
 subject always, like other popular governments, to its re- 
 sponsibility to the people. And now, sir, I repeat, how is 
 it that a State Legislature acquires any power to interfere ? 
 Who, or what, gives them the right to say to the people: 
 *'We, who are your agents and servants for one purpose, 
 will undertake to decide that your other agents and ser- 
 vants, appointed by you for another purpose, have tran- 
 scended the authority you gave them!" The reply would 
 be, I think, not impertinent — "Who made you a judge 
 over another's servants? To their own masters they 
 stand or fall." 
 
 Sir, I deny this power of State Legislatures altogether. 
 It cannot stand the test of examination. Gentlemen may 
 say that in an extreme case a State government might pro- 
 tect the people from intolerable oppression. Sir, in such a 
 case, the people might protect themselves without the aid 
 of the State governments. Such a case warrants revolution. 
 It must make, when it comes, a law for itselfo A nullify- 
 ing act of a State Legislature cannot alter the case, nor 
 make resistance any more lawful. In maintaining these 
 sentiments, sir, I am but asserting the rights of the people. 
 I state what they have declared, and insist on their right to 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 259 
 
 declare it. They have chosen to repose this power in the 
 general government, and I think it mj duty to support it, 
 like other constitutional powers. 
 
 For myself, sir, I do not admit the jurisdiction of South 
 Carolina, or any other State, to prescribe my constitutional 
 duty; or to settle, between me and the people, the validity 
 of laws of Congress for which I have voted. I decline her 
 umpirage. I have not sworn to support the Constitution ac- 
 cording to her construction of its clauses. I have not stipu- 
 lated by my oath of office, or otherwise, to come under any 
 responsibility except to the people and those whom they 
 have appointed to pass upon the question, whether laws, 
 supported by my votes, conform to the Constitution of the 
 country. And, sir, if we look to the general nature of 
 the case, could anything have been more preposterous 
 than to make a government for the whole Union, and 
 yet leave its powers subject, not to one interpretation, but 
 to thirteen or twenty-four interpretations? Instead of one 
 tribunal, established by all, responsible to all, with power to 
 decide for all, shall constitutional questions be left to four- 
 and-twenty popular bodies, each at liberty to decide for it- 
 self, and none bound to respect the decisions of others; and 
 each at liberty, too, to give a new construction on every new 
 election of its own members? Would anything with such a 
 principle in it, or rather with such a destitution of all prin- 
 ciple, be fit to be called a government ? No, sir. It should 
 not be denominated a Constitution. It should be called rather 
 a collection of topics for everlasting controversy ; heads of 
 debate for a disputatious people. It would not be a govern- 
 ment. It would not be adequate to any practical good, nor 
 fit for any country to live under. To avoid all possibility 
 of being misunderstood, allow me to repeat again in the 
 
260 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 fullest manner that I claim no powers for the government 
 bj forced or unfair construction. I admit that it is a gov- 
 ernment of strictly limited powers; of enumerated, speci- 
 fied, and particularized powers; and that whatsoever is 
 not granted is withheld. But notwithstanding all this, 
 and however the grant of powers may be expressed, its 
 limit and extent may yet, in some cases, admit of doubt; 
 and the general government would be good for nothing, it 
 would be incapable of long existing, if some mode had not 
 been provided in which those doubts, as they should arise, 
 might be peaceably but authoritatively solved. 
 
 And now, Mr. President, let me run the honorable gen- 
 tleman's doctrine a little into its practical application. Let 
 us look at his probable modus operandi. If a thing can be 
 done, an ingenious man can tell how it is to be done. N"ow 
 1 wish to be informed how this State interference is to be 
 put in practice without violence, bloodshed, and rebellion. 
 We will take the existing case of the tariff law. South 
 Carolina is said to have made up her opinion upon it. If 
 we do not repeal it (as we probably shall not), she will then 
 apply to the case the remedy of her doctrine. She will, we 
 must suppose, pass a law of her Legislature declaring the 
 several acts of Congress, usually called the tariff laws, null 
 and void, so far as they respect South Carolina or the citi- 
 zens thereof. So far all is a paper transaction, and easy 
 enough. But the collector at Charleston is collecting the 
 duties imposed by these tariff laws — he, therefore, must be 
 stopped. The collector will seize the goods if the tariff 
 duties are not paid. The State authorities will undertake 
 their rescue; the marshal with his posse will come to the 
 collector's aid, and here the contest begins. The militia 
 of the State will be called out to sustain the nullifying 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 act. They will march, sir, under a very gallant leader, 
 for I believe the honorable member himself commands tb^ 
 militia of that part of the State. He will raise the nullify- 
 ing act on his standard, and spread it out as his banner! 
 It will have a preamble bearing: ''That the tariff laws ara 
 palpable, deliberate, and dangerous violations of the Con- 
 stitution!" He will proceed, with this banner flying, to 
 the custom house in Charleston: 
 
 All the while 
 Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds." 
 
 Arrived at the custom house, he will tell the collector 
 that he must collect no more duties under any of the tariff 
 laws. This he will be somewhat puzzled to say, by the 
 way, with a grave countenance, considering what hand 
 South Carolina herself had in that of 1816. But, sir, the 
 collector would probably not desist at his bidding. He 
 would show him the law of Congress, the Treasury in- 
 struction, and his own oath of office. He would say he 
 should perform his duty, come what might. Here would 
 ensue a pause: for they say that a certain stillness pre- 
 cedes the tempest. The trumpeter would hold his breath 
 a while, and before all this military array should fall on the 
 custom house, collector, clerks and all, it is very probable 
 some of those composing it would request of their gallant 
 commander-in-chief to be informed a little upon the point 
 of law; for they have doubtless a just respect for his opin- 
 ions as a lawyer, as well as for his bravery as a soldier. 
 They know he has read Blackstone and the Constitution, 
 as well as Turenne and Vauban. They would ask him, 
 therefore, something concerning their rights in this mat- 
 ter. They would inquire whether it was not somewhat 
 dangerous to resist a law of the CJnited States. What 
 
262 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 would be the nature of their offence, they would wish to 
 learn, if they by military force and array resisted the exe- 
 cution in Carolina of a law of the United States, and it 
 should turn out, after all, that the law was constitutional? 
 He would answer, of course, treason. No lawyer could 
 give any other answer. Jolin l^'ries, he would tell them, 
 had learned that some years ago. How, then, they would 
 ask, do you propose to defend us ? We are not afraid of 
 bullets, but treason has a way of taking people off that we 
 do not much relish. How do you propose to defend us ? 
 *'Look at my floating banner," he would reply; "see there 
 the nullifying law!" Is it your opinion, gallant com- 
 mander, they would then say, that if we should be in- 
 dicted for treason, that same floating banner of yours 
 would make a good plea in bar? "South Carolina is a 
 sovereign State," he would reply. That is true — but 
 would the judge admit our plea? "These tariff laws," 
 he would repeat, "are unconstitutional, palpably, delib- 
 erately, dangerously." That all may be so; but if the 
 tribunal should not happen to be of that opinion, shall we 
 swing for it? We are ready to die for our country, but it 
 is rather an awkward business, this dying without touching 
 the ground! After all, that is a sort of hemp tax worse 
 than any part of the tariff. 
 
 Mr. President, the honorable gentleman would be in a 
 dilemma like that of another great general. He would 
 have a knot before him which he could not untie. He 
 must cut it with his sword. He must say to his followers, 
 Defend yourselves with your bayonets; and this is war — 
 civil war. 
 
 Direct collision, therefore, between force and force is 
 the unavoidable result of that remedy for the revision of 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 263 
 
 unconstitutional laws which the gentleman contends for. 
 It must happen in the very first case to which it is ap- 
 plied. Is not this the plain result? To resist, by force, 
 the execution of a law generally is treason. Can the 
 courts of the United States take notice of the' indulgence 
 of a State to commit treason ? The common saying that a 
 State cannot commit treason herself is nothing to the pur- 
 pose. Can she authorize others to do it? If John Fries 
 had produced an act of Pennsylvania annulling the law of 
 Congress, would it have helped his case? Talk about it 
 as we will, these doctrines go the length of revolution. 
 They are incompatible with any peaceable administration 
 of the government. They lead directly to disunion and 
 civil commotion; and, therefore, it is, that at their com- 
 mencement, when they are first found to be maintained 
 by respectable men, and in a tangible form, I enter my 
 public protest against them all. 
 
 The honorable gentleman argues that if this government 
 be the sole judge of the extent of its own powers, whether 
 that right of judging be in Congress, or the Supreme Court, 
 it equally subverts State sovereignty. This the gentleman 
 sees, or thinks he sees, although he cannot perceive how 
 the right of judging, in this matter, if left to the exercise 
 of State Legislatures, has any tendency to subvert the gov- 
 ernment of the Union. The gentleman's opinion may be, 
 that the right ought not to have been lodged with the gen- 
 eral government; he may like better such a Constitution 
 as we should have under the right of State interference; 
 but I ask him to meet me on the plain matter of fact; I 
 ask him to meet me on the Constitution itself; I ask him 
 if the power is not found there — clearly and visibly found 
 there. 
 
264 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 But, sir, what is this danger, and what the grounds of 
 it! Let it be remembered that the Constitution of the 
 United States is not unalterable. It is to continue in its 
 present form no longer than the people who established it 
 shall choose to continue it. If they shall become convinced 
 that they have made an injudicious or inexpedient partition 
 and distribution of power, between the State governments 
 and the general government, they can alter that distribu- 
 tion at will. 
 
 If anything be found in the national Constitution, either 
 by original provision, or subsequent interpretation, which 
 ought not to be in it, the people know how to get rid of it. 
 If any construction be established, unacceptable to them, so 
 as to become, practically, a part of the Constitution, they 
 will amend it, at their own sovereign pleasure; but while 
 the people choose to maintain it, as it is; while they are 
 satisfied with it, and refuse to change it, who has given, or 
 who can give, to the State Legislatures a right to alter it, 
 either by interference, construction, or otherwise? Gentle- 
 men do not seem to recollect that the people have any 
 power to do anything for themselves; they imagine there 
 is no safety for them any longer than they are under the 
 close guardianship of the State Legislatures. Sir, the peo- 
 ple have not trusted their safety, in regard to the general 
 Constitution, to these hands. They have required other 
 security, and taken other bonds. They have chosen to 
 trust themselves, first, to the plain words of the instru- 
 ment, and to such construction as the government itself, 
 in doubtful cases, should put on its own powers, under 
 their oaths of office, and subject to their responsibility to 
 them, just as the people of a State trust their own State 
 governments with a similar power. Secondly, they havo 
 
V 
 
 THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 265 
 
 reposed their trust in the efficacy of frequent elections, and 
 in their own power to remove their own servants and 
 agents, whenever they see cause. Thirdly, they have re- 
 posed trust in the judicial power, which, in order that it 
 might be trustworthy, they have made as respectable, 
 as disinterested, and as independent as was practicable. 
 Fourthly, they have seen fit to rely, in case of necessity, 
 or high expediency, on their known and admitted power, 
 to alter or amend the Constitution, peaceably and quietly, 
 whenever experience shall point out defects or imperfec- 
 tions. And, finally, the people of the United States have, 
 at no time, in no way, directly or indirectly, authorized 
 any State Legislature to construe or interpret their high 
 instrument of government; much less to interfere, by their 
 own power, to arrest its course and operation. 
 
 If, sir, the people, in these respects, had done otherwise 
 than they have done, their Constitution could neither have 
 been preserved, nor would it have been worth preserving. 
 And, if its plain provisions shall now be disregarded, and 
 these new doctrines interpolated in it, it will become as 
 feeble and helpless a being as its enemies, whether early or 
 more recent, could possibly desire. It will exist in every 
 State, but as a poor dependent on State permission. It 
 must borrow leave to be and it will be no longer than 
 State pleasure or State discretion sees fit to grant the in- 
 dulgence and to prolong its poor existence. 
 
 But, sir, although there are fears, there are hopes also. 
 The people have preserved this, their own chosen Constitu- 
 tion, for forty years and have seen their happiness, pros- 
 perity and renown grow with its growth, and strengthen 
 with its strength. They are now, generally, strongly at- 
 tached to it. Overthrown by direct assault, it cannot be; 
 
266 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 evaded, undermined, nullified, it will not be, if we, and 
 those who shall succeed us here, as agents and representa- 
 tives of the people, shall conscientiously and vigilantly 
 discharge the two great branches of cur public trust — faith- 
 fully to preserve and wisely to administer it. 
 
 Mr. President, I have thus stated the reasons of my dis- 
 sent to the doctrines which have been advanced and main- 
 tained. I am conscious of having detained you and the 
 Senate much too long. I was drawn into the debate with 
 no previous deliberation such as is suited to the discussion 
 of so grave and important a subject. But it is a subject of 
 which my heart is full, and I have not been willing to sup- 
 press the utterance of its spontaneous sentiments. I cannot, 
 even now, persuade myself to relinquish it without express- 
 ing once more, my deep conviction, that since it respects 
 nothing less than the Union of the States, it is of most 
 vital and essential importance to the public happiness. I 
 profess, sir, in my career, hitherto, to have kept steadily 
 in view the prosperity and honor of the whole country, and 
 the preservation of our Federal Union. It is to that Union 
 we owe our safety at home and our consideration and dig- 
 nity abroad o It is to that Union that we are chiefly in- 
 debted for whatever makes us most proud of our country. 
 That Union we reached only by the discipline of our vir- 
 tues in the severe school of adversity. It had its origin in 
 the necessities of disordered finance, prostrate commerce and 
 ruined credits Under its benign influence, these great in- 
 terests immediately awoke as from the dead and sprang 
 forth with newness of life. Every year of its duration has 
 teemed with fresh proofs of its utility and its blessings; 
 and, although our territory has stretched out wider and 
 wider, and our population spread further and further, they 
 
THE REPLY TO HAYNE 
 
 267 
 
 have not outrun its protection or its benefits. It has been 
 to us all a copious fountain of national, social and personal 
 happiness. I have not allowed myself, sir, to look beyond 
 the Union to see what might lie hidden in the dark recess 
 behind. I have not coolly weighed the chances of preserv- 
 ing liberty when the bonds that unite us together shall be 
 broken asunder. I have not accustomed myself to hang 
 over the precipice of disunion to see whether, with my 
 short sight, I can fathom the depth of the abyss below; 
 nor could I regard him as a safe counsellor in the affairs of 
 this government, whose thoughts should be mainly bent on 
 considering not how the Union should be best preserved, 
 but how tolerable might be the condition of the people 
 when it shall be broken up and destroyed. While the 
 Union lasts we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects 
 spread out before us, for us and our children. Beyond 
 that I seek not to penetrate the veil. God grant that in 
 my day, at least, that curtain may not rise. God grant 
 that, on my vision, never may be opened what lies behind. 
 When my eyes shall be turned to behold, for the last time, 
 the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken 
 and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union; on 
 States dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent 
 with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood! 
 Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the 
 gorgeous ensign of the Eepublic, now known and honored 
 throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and 
 trophies streaming in their original lustre, not a stripe 
 erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for 
 its motto no such miserable interrogatory as, '*What is all 
 this worth?" nor those other words of delusion and folly, 
 **Liberty first and union afterward"; but everywhere, 
 
268 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all 
 its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, 
 and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other 
 sentiment, dear to every true American heart — Liberty and 
 Union, now and forever one and inseparable! 
 
 BUNKER HILL MONUMENT ORATION 
 
 DELIVERED ON THE SEVENTEENTH OF JUNE, 1825 
 
 THIS uncounted multitude before me, and around me, 
 proves the feeling which the occasion has excited. 
 These thousands of human faces, glowing with sym- 
 pathy and joy, and, from the impulses of a common grati- 
 tude, turned reverently to heaven, in this spacious temple 
 of the firmament, proclaim that the day, the place, and the 
 purpose of our assembling have made a deep impression on 
 our hearts. 
 
 If, indeed, there be anything in local association fit to 
 afl'ect the mind of man, we need not strive to repress the 
 emotions which agitate us here. We are among the sepul- 
 chres of our fathers. We are on ground distinguished by 
 their valor, their constancy, and the shedding of their 
 blood. We are here, not to fix an uncertain date in our 
 annals, nor to draw into notice an obscure and unknown 
 spot. If our humble purpose had never been conceived, if 
 we ourselves had never been born, the seventeenth of June, 
 1775, would have been a day on which all subsequent his- 
 tory would have poured its light, and the eminence where 
 we stand, a point of attraction to the eyes of successive 
 generations. But we are Americans. We live in what 
 may be called the early age of this great continent; and 
 
BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 
 
 209 
 
 we know that our posterity, through all time, are here to 
 suffer and enjoy the allotments of humanity. We see be- 
 fore us a probable train of great events; we know that our 
 own fortunes have been happily *cast; and it is natural, 
 therefore, that we should be moved by the contemplation 
 of occurrences which have guided our destiny before many 
 of us were born, and settled the condition in which we 
 should pass that portion of our existence which God allows 
 to men on earth. 
 
 We do not read even of the discovery of this continent 
 without feeling something of a personal interest in the 
 event; without being reminded how much it has affected 
 our own fortunes and our own existence. It is more im- 
 possible for "US, therefore, than for others, to contemplate 
 with unaffected minds that interesting, I may say, that 
 most touching and pathetic scene, when the great discov- 
 erer of America stood on the deck of his shattered bark, 
 the shades of night falling on the sea, yet no man sleeping; 
 tossed on the billows of an unknown ocean, yet the stronger 
 billows of alternate hope and despair tossing his own 
 troubled thoughts; extending forward his harassed frame, 
 straining westward his anxious and eager eyes, till Heaven 
 at last granted him a moment of rapture and ecstasy, in 
 blessing his vision with the sight of the unknown world. 
 
 Nearer to our times, more closely connected with our 
 fates, and therefore still more interesting to our feelings 
 and affections, is the settlement of our own country by 
 colonists from England. We cherish every memorial of 
 these worthy ancestors; we celebrate their patience and 
 fortitude; we admire their daring enterprise; we teach oar 
 children to venerate their piety; and we arc justly proud 
 of being descended from men who have set the world an 
 
270 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 example of founding civil institutions on the great and 
 united principles of human freedom and human knowl- 
 edge. To us, their children, the story of their labors and 
 sufferings can never be without its interest. We shall not 
 stand unmoved on the shore of Plymouth, while the sea 
 continues to wash it; nor will our brethren, in another 
 early and ancient colony, forget the place of its first estab- 
 lishment, till their river shall cease to flow by it. No vigor 
 of youth, no maturity of manhood, will lead the nation to 
 forget the spots where its infancy was cradled and defended. 
 
 But the great event, in the history of the continent, 
 which we are now met here to commemorate; that prodigy 
 of modern times, at once the wonder and the blessing of the 
 world, is the American Kevolution. In a day of extraordi- 
 nary prosperity and happiness, of high national honor, dis- 
 tinction, and power, we are brought together, in this place, 
 by our love of country, by our admiration of exalted char- 
 acter, by our gratitude for signal services and patriotic 
 devotion. 
 
 The society, whose organ I am, was formed for the pur- 
 pose of rearing some honorable and durable monument to 
 the memory of the early friends of American Independence. 
 They have thought that for this object no time could be 
 more propitious than the present prosperous and peaceful 
 period; that no place could claim preference over this mem- 
 orable spot; and that no day could be more auspicious to 
 the undertaking than the anniversary of the battle which 
 was here fought. The foundation of that monument we 
 have now laid. With solemnities suited to the occasiorfci, 
 with prayers to Almighty God for his blessing, and in the 
 midst of this cloud of witnesses, we have begun the work. 
 We trust it will be prosecuted, and that springing from a 
 
BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 
 
 271 
 
 broad foundation rising high in massive solidity and un- 
 adorned grandeur it may remain as long as Heaven permits 
 the works of man to last, a fit emblem, both of the events 
 in memory of which it is raised and of the gratitude of those 
 who have reared it. 
 
 We know, indeed, that the record of illustrious actions 
 is most safely deposited in the universal remembrance of 
 mankind. We know that if we could cause this structure 
 to ascend, not only till it reached the skies, but till it pierced 
 them, its broad surfaces could still contain but part of that 
 which, in an age of knowledge, hath already been spread 
 over the earth, and which history charges itself with making 
 known to all future times. We know that no inscription on 
 entablatures less broad than the earth itself can carry informa- 
 tion of the events we commemorate where it has not already 
 gone; and that no structure which shall not outlive the du- 
 ration of letters and knowledge among men, can prolong the 
 memorial. But our object is by this edifice to show our 
 own deep sense of the value and importance of the achieve- 
 ments of our ancestors; and by presenting this work of grat- 
 itude to the eye to keep alive similar sentiments and to fos- 
 ter a constant regard for the principles of the Eevolution. 
 Human beings are composed not of reason only, but of im- 
 agination also, and sentiment; and that is neither wasted nor 
 misapplied which is appropriated to the purpose of giving 
 right direction to sentiments and opening proper springs of 
 feeling in the heart. Let it not be supposed that our object 
 is to perpetuate national hostility, or even to cherish a mere 
 military spirit. It is higher, purer, nobler. We consecrate 
 our work to the spirit of national independence, and we 
 wish that the light of peace may rest upon it forever. We 
 rear a memorial of our conviction of that unmeasured bcn<- 
 
272 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 efit which has been conferred on our own land, and of the 
 happy influences which have been produced by the same 
 events on the general interests of mankind. We come as 
 Americans to mark a spot which must forever be dear to 
 us and our posterity. We wish that whosoever, in all com- 
 ing time, shall turn his eye hither, may behold that the 
 place is not undistinguished where the first great battle of 
 the Kevolution was fought. We wish that this structure 
 may proclaim the magnitude and importance of that event 
 to every class and every age. We wish that infancy may 
 learn the purpose of its erection from maternal lips and that 
 weary and withered age may behold it and be solaced by the 
 recollections which it suggests. We wish that labor may 
 look up here and be proud in the midst of its toil. We 
 wish that in those days of disaster which, as they come on 
 all nations, must be expected to come on us also, despond- 
 ing patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward and be assured 
 that the foundations of our national power still stand strong. 
 We wish that this column rising toward heaven among the 
 pointed spires of so many temples dedicated to God may 
 contribute also to produce in all minds a pious feeling of 
 dependence and gratitude. We wish, finally, that the last 
 object on the sight of him who leaves his native shore, and 
 the first to gladden his who revisits it, may be something 
 which shall remind him of the liberty and the glory of his 
 country. Let it rise till it meet the sun in his coming; let 
 the earlier light of the morning gild it, and parting day 
 linger and play on its summit. 
 
 We live in a most extraordinary age. Events so vari- 
 ous and so important that they might crowd and distinguish 
 centuries are in our times compressed within the compass 
 of a single life. When has it happened that history has 
 
BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 
 
 273 
 
 had so much to record in the same term of years as since 
 the seventeenth of June, 1775 ? Our own Kevolution, which 
 under other circumstances might itself have been expected 
 to occasion a war of half a century, has been achieved; 
 twenty-four sovereign and independent States erected; and 
 a general government established over them, so safe, so 
 wise, so free, so practical, that we might well wonder its 
 establishment should have been accomplished so soon were 
 it not for the greater wonder that it should have been es- 
 tablished at all. Two or three millions 8f people have been 
 augmented to twelve; and the great forests of the West 
 prostrated beneath the arm of successful industry; and the 
 dwellers on the banks of the Ohio and the Mississippi be- 
 come the fellow-citizens and neighbors of tliose who culti- 
 vate the hills of New England. We have a commerce that 
 leaves no sea unexplored; navies which take no law from 
 superior force; revenues adequate to all the exigencies of 
 government, almost without taxation; and peace with all 
 nations, founded on equal rights and mutual respect. 
 
 Europe, within the same period, has been agitated by a 
 mighty revolution, which, while it has been felt in the indi- 
 vidual condition and happiness of almost every man, has 
 shaken to the centre her political fabric, and dashed against 
 one another thrones which had stood tranquil for ages. On 
 this, our continent, our own example has been followed; 
 and colonies have sprung up to be nations. Unaccustomed 
 sounds of liberty and free government have reached us 
 from beyond the track of the sun; and at this moment 
 the dominion of European power in this continent, from 
 the place where we stand to the South Pole, is annihilated 
 forever. 
 
 In the meantime, both in Europe and America, such has 
 
 Vol. 5— iS 
 
274 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 been the general progress of knowledge; such the improve- 
 ments in legislation, in commerce, in the arts, in letters, 
 and, above all, in liberal ideas and the general spirit of the 
 age, that the whole world seems changed. 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding that this is but a faint abstract of 
 the things which have happened since the day of the battle 
 of Bunker Hill, we are but fifty years removed from it; and 
 we now stand here to enjoy all the blessings of our own con- 
 dition, and to look abroad on the brightened prospects of the 
 world, while we hold still among us some of those who were 
 active agents in the scenes of 1775, and who are now here 
 from every quarter of New England to visit once more, 
 and under circumstances so affecting, I had almost said so 
 overwhelming, this renowned theatre of their courage and 
 patriotism. 
 
 Venerable men, you have come down to us from a former 
 generation. Heaven has bounteously lengthened out your 
 lives that you might behold this joyous day. You are now 
 where you stood fifty years ago this very hour, with your 
 brothers and your neighbors, shoulder to shoulder, in the 
 strife for your country. Behold, how altered I The same 
 heavens are, indeed, over your heads; the same ocean rolls 
 at your feet; but all else, how changed! You hear now no 
 roar of hostile cannon, you see no mixed volumes of smoke 
 and flame rising from burning Charlestown. The ground 
 strewed with the dead and the dying; the impetuous charge; 
 the steady and successful repulse; the loud call to repeated 
 assault; the summoning of all that is manly to repeated re- 
 sistance; a thousand bosoms freely and fearlessly bared in 
 an instant to whatever of terror there may be in war and 
 death; all these you have witnessed, but you witness them 
 no more. All is peace. The heights of yonder metropolis, 
 
BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 
 
 275 
 
 its towers and roofs which you then saw filled with wives 
 and children and countrymen in distress and terror, and 
 looJiing with unutterable emotions for the issue of the com- 
 bat, have presented you to-day with the sight of its whole 
 happy population come out to welcome and greet you with * 
 a universal jubilee. Yonder proud ships by a felicity of 
 position appropriately lying at the foot of this mount, and 
 seeming fondly to cling around it, are not means of annoy- 
 ance to you, but your country's own means of distinction 
 and defence. All is peace; and God has granted you this 
 sight of your country's happiness ere you slumber in the 
 grave forever. He has allowed you to behold and to par- 
 take the reward of your patriotic toils; and he has allowed 
 us, your sons and countrymen, to meet you here, and in the 
 name of the present generation, in the name of your coun- 
 try, in the "name of liberty, to thank you! 
 
 But, alas! you are not all here! Time and the sword 
 have thinned your ranks. Prescott, Putnam, Stark, Brooks, 
 Read, Pomeroy, Bridge! our eyes seek for you in vain amid 
 this broken band. You are gathered to your fathers, and 
 live only to your country in her grateful remembrance and 
 your own bright example. But let us not too much grieve 
 that you have met the common fate of men. You lived at 
 least long enough to know that your work had been nobly 
 and successfully accomplished. You lived to see your coun- 
 try's independence established and to sheathe your swords 
 from war. On the light of Liberty you saw arise the light 
 of Peace, like 
 
 "Another mom, 
 Risen on mid-noon," 
 
 and the sky on which you closed your eyes was cloudless. 
 But — ah! — Him I the first great martyr in this great 
 
276 
 
 DAmEL WEBSTER 
 
 caase! Himli the premature victim of his own self -devot- 
 ing heart! Him! the head of our civil councils and the des- 
 tined leader of our military bands, whom nothing brought 
 hither but the unquenchable fire of his own spirit; him I 
 cut off by Providence in the hour of overwhelming anxiety 
 and thick gloom ; falling ere he saw the star of his country 
 rise; pouring out his generous blood like water before he 
 knew whether it would fertilize a land of freedom or of 
 bondage! how shall 1 struggle with the emotions that stifle 
 the utterance of thy name! Our poor work may perish, but 
 thine shall endure! This monument may moulder away; 
 the solid ground it rests upon may sink down to a level 
 with the sea, but thy memory shall not fail ! Wheresoever 
 among men a heart shall be found that beats to the trans- 
 ports of patriotism and liberty, its aspirations shall be to 
 claim kindred with thy spirit! 
 
 But the scene amid which we stand does not permit us 
 to confine our thoughts or our sympathies to those fearless 
 spirits who hazarded or lost their lives on this consecrated 
 spot. We have the happiness to rejoice here in the pres- 
 ence of a most worthy representation of the survivors of the 
 whole Kevolutionary army. 
 
 Veterans, you are the remnant of many a well-fought 
 field. You bring with you marks of honor from Trenton 
 and Monmouth, from Yorktown, Camden, Bennington, and 
 Saratoga. Veterans of half a century, when in your youth- 
 ful days you put everything at hazard in your country's 
 cause, good as that cause was, and sanguine as youth is, 
 still your fondest hopes did not stretch onward to an hour 
 like this! At a period to which you could not reasonably 
 have expected to arrive; at a moment of national prosperity, 
 such as you could never have foreseen, you are now met 
 
BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 
 
 277 
 
 here to enjoy the fellowship of old soldiers and to receive 
 the overflowings of a universal gratitude. 
 
 But your agitated countenances and your heaving breasts 
 inform me that even this is not an unmixed joy. I perceive 
 that a tumult of contending feelings rushes upon you. The 
 images of the dead, as well as the persons of the living, 
 throng to your embraces. Tlie scene overwhelms you, and 
 I turn from it. May the Father of all mercies smile upon 
 your declining years and bless them! And when you shall 
 here have exchanged your embraces; when you shall once 
 more have pressed the hands which have been so often ex- 
 tended to give succor in adversity, or grasped in the exul- 
 tation of victory; then look abroad into this lovely land, 
 which your young valor defended, and mark the happiness 
 with which it is filled; yea, look abroad into the whole 
 earth and see what a name you have contributed to give to 
 your country, and what a praise you have added to free- 
 dom, and then rejoice in tlae sympathy and gratitude which 
 beam upon your last days from the improved condition of 
 mankind. 
 
 The occasion does not require of me any particular ac- 
 count of the battle of the seventeenth of June, nor any 
 detailed narrative of the events which immediately pre- 
 ceded it. These are familiarly known to all. In the prog- 
 ress of the great and interesting controversy, Massachusetts 
 and the town of Boston had become early and marked 
 objects of the displeasure of the British Parliament. This 
 had been manifested in the act for altering the government 
 of the Province, and in that for shutting up the port of 
 Boston. Kothing sheds more honor on our early history, 
 and nothing better shows how little the feelings and senti- 
 ments of the Colonies were known or regarded in England, 
 
278 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 than the impression which these measures everywhere pro- 
 duced in America. It had been anticipated that while the 
 other Colonies would be terrified by the severity of the 
 punishment inflicted on Massachusetts, the other seaports 
 would be governed by a m^re spirit of gain; and that, as 
 Boston was now cut off fror i all commerce, the unexpected 
 advantage which this blow on her was calculated to confer 
 on other towns would be greedily enjoyed. How miserably 
 such reasoners deceived themselves I How little they knew 
 of the depth, and the strength, and the intenseness of that 
 feeling of resistance to illegal acts of power which possessed 
 the whole American people! Everywhere the unworthy 
 boon was rejected with scorn. The fortunate occasion was 
 seized everywhere to show to the whole world that the 
 Colonies were swayed by no local interest, no partial inter- 
 est, no selfish interest. The temptation to profit by the 
 punishment of Boston was strongest to our neighbors of 
 Salem. Yet Salem was precisely the place where this 
 miserable proffer was spurned in a tone of the most lofty 
 self-respect and the most indignant patriotism. "We are 
 deeply affected," said its inhabitants, "with the sense of 
 our public calamities; but the miseries that are now rapidly 
 hastening on our brethren in the capital of the Province 
 greatly excite our commiseration. By shutting up the port 
 of Boston some imagine that the course of trade might be 
 turned hither, and to our benefit; but we must be dead to 
 every idea of justice, lost to all feelings of humanity, could 
 we indulge a thought to seize on wealth and raise our for- 
 tunes on the ruin of our suffering neighbors." These noble 
 sentiments were not confined to our immediate vicinity. In 
 that day of general affection and brotherhood, the blow 
 given to Boston smote on every patriotic heart, from one 
 
BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 
 
 279 
 
 end of the country to the other. Virginia and the Caro- 
 linas, as well as Connecticut and New Hampshire, felt and 
 proclaimed the cause to be their own. The Continental 
 Congress, then holding its first session in Philadelphia, 
 expressed its sympathy for .'.he suffering inhabitants of 
 Boston, and addresses were received from all quarters as- 
 suring them that the cause was a common one, and should 
 be met by common efforts and common sacrifices. The 
 Congress of Massachusetts responded to these assurances; 
 and in an address to the Congress at Philadelphia, bearing 
 the official signature, perhaps among the last of the im- 
 mortal Warren, notwithstanding the severity of its suffer- 
 ing and the magnitude of the dangers which threatened it, 
 it was declared that this Colony "is ready, at all times, to 
 spend and to be spent in the cause of America." 
 
 But the hour drew nigh which was to put professions 
 to the proof and to determine whether the authors of these 
 mutual pledges were ready to seal them in blood. The 
 tidings of Lexington and Concord had no sooner spread 
 than it was universally felt that the time was at last come 
 for action. A spirit pervaded all ranks, not trc-nsient, not 
 boisterous, but deep, solemn, determined — 
 
 "Totamque infusa per artus 
 Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet." 
 
 War, on their own soil and at their own doors, was, indeed, 
 a strange work to the yeomanry of New England; but their 
 consciences were convinced of its necessity, their country 
 called them to it and they did not withhold themselves from 
 the perilous trial. The ordinary occupations of life were 
 abandoned; the plow was stayed in the unfinished furrow; 
 wives gave up their husbands, and mothers gave up their 
 sons to the battles of a civil war. Death might come, in 
 
280 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 honor, on the field; it might come, in disgrace, on the 
 scaffold. For either and for both they were prepared. 
 The sentiment of Quincy was full in their hearts. "Bland- 
 ishments," said that distinguished son of genius and patri- 
 otism, "will not fascinate us, nor will threats of a halter 
 intimidate; for, under God, we are determined that where- 
 soever, whensoever, or howsoever we shall be called to 
 make our exit, we will die free men." 
 
 The seventeenth of June saw the four Kew England 
 Colonies standing here, side by side, to triumph or to fall 
 together; and there was with them from that moment to 
 the end of the war, what I hope will remain with them for- 
 ever — one cause, one country, one heart. 
 
 The battle of Bunker Hill was attended with the most 
 important effects beyond its immediate result as a military 
 engagement. It created at once a state of open, public 
 war. There could now be no longer a question of proceed- 
 ing against individuals as guilty of treason or rebellion. 
 That fearful crisis was past. The appeal now lay to the 
 sword, and the only question was whether the spirit and 
 the resources of the people would hold out till the object 
 should be accomplished. Kor were its general consequences 
 confined to our own country. The previous proceedings of 
 the Colonies, their appeals, resolutions, and addresses had 
 made their cause known to Europe. Without boasting, we 
 may say that in no age or country has the public cause been 
 maintained with more force of argument, more power of 
 illustration, or more of that persuasion which excited feel- 
 ing and elevated principle can alone bestow, than the Revo- 
 lutionary State papers exhibit. These papers will forever 
 deserve to be studied, not only for the spirit which they 
 breathe, but for the ability with which they were written. 
 
BUNKER HILL MOXUMENT 
 
 281 
 
 To this able vindication of their caase, the Colonies had 
 now added a practical and severe proof of their own true 
 devotion to it, and evidence also of the power which they 
 could bring to its support. All now saw that if America 
 fell, she would not fall without a struggle. Men felt sym- 
 pathy and regard as well as surprise when they beheld these 
 infant States, remote, unknown, unaided, encounter the 
 power of England, and in the first considerable battle leave 
 more of their enemies dead on the field, in proportion to 
 the number of combatants, than they had recently known 
 in the wars of Europe. 
 
 Information of these events circulating through Europe 
 at length reached the ears of one who now hears me. He 
 has not forgotten the emotion which the fame of Bunker 
 Hill and the name of Warren excited in his youthful breast. 
 
 Sir, we are assembled to commemorate the establishment 
 of great public principles of liberty, and to do honor to the 
 distinguished dead. The occasion is too severe for eulogy 
 to the living. But, sir, your interesting relation to this 
 country, the peculiar circumstances which surround you 
 and surround us, call on me to express the happiness which 
 we derive from your presence and aid in this solemn com- 
 memoration. 
 
 Fortunate, fortunate man! with what measure of devo- 
 tion will you not thank God for the circumstances of your 
 extraordinary life! You are connected with both hemi- 
 spheres and with two generations. Heaven saw fit to 
 ordain that the electric spark of liberty should be con- 
 ducted, through you, from the New World to the Old; 
 and we, who are now here to perform this duty of patriot- 
 ism, have all of us long ago received it in charge from our 
 fathers to cherish your name and your virtues. You will 
 
282 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 account it an instance of your good fortune, sir, that you 
 crossed the seas to visit us at a time which enables you to 
 be present at this solemnity. You now behold the field, 
 the renown of which reached you in the heart of France, 
 and caused a thrill in your ardent bosom. You see the 
 lines of the little redoubt thrown up by the incredible 
 diligence of Prescott; defended to the last extremity, by 
 his lion-hearted valor; and within which the cornerstone 
 of our monument has now taken its position. You see 
 where Warren fell, and where Parker, Gardner, McCleary, 
 Moore, and other early patriots fell with him. Those who 
 survived that day, and whose lives have been prolonged to 
 the present hour, are now around you. Some of them you 
 have known in the trying scenes of the war. Behold! they 
 now stretch forth their feeble arms to embrace you. Be- 
 hold! they raise their trembling voices to invoke the bless- 
 ing of God on you and yours forever. 
 
 Sir, you have assisted us in laying the foundation of 
 this edifice. You have heard us rehearse, with our feeble 
 commendation, the names of departed patriots. Sir, monu- 
 ments and eulogy belong to the dead. We give them this 
 day to Warren and his associates. On other occasions they 
 have been given to your more immediate companions in 
 arms, to Washington, to Greene, to Gates, Sullivan, and 
 Lincoln. Sir, we have become reluctant to grant these, 
 our highest and last honors, further. We would gladly 
 hold them yet back from the little remnant of that im- 
 mortal band. ^^Serus in caelum redeas.'^ Illustrious as are 
 your merits, yet far, oh, very far distant be the day when 
 any inscription shall bear your name, or any tongue pro- 
 nounce its eulogy! 
 
 The leading reflection to which this occasion seems to 
 
BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 
 
 283 
 
 invite us respects the great changes which have happened 
 in the fifty years since the battle of Bunker Hill was fought. 
 And it peculiarly marks the character of the present age 
 that, in looking at these changes and in estimating their 
 effect on our condition, we are obliged to consider, not 
 what has been done in our own country only, bat in others 
 also. In these interesting times, while nations are making 
 separate and individual advances in improvement, they 
 make, too, a common progress; like vessels on a common 
 tide, propelled by the gales at different rates, according to 
 their several structure and management, but all moved for- 
 ward by one mighty current beneath, strong enough to bear 
 onward whatever does not sink beneath it. 
 
 A chief distinction of the present day is a community 
 of opinions and knowledge among men, in different nations, 
 existing in a degree heretofore unknown. Knowledge has, 
 in our time, triumphed, and is triumphing over distance, 
 over difference of languages, over diversity of habits, over 
 prejudice, and over bigotry. The civilized and Christian 
 world is fast learning the great lesson, that difference of 
 nation does not imply necessary hostility, and that all con- 
 tact need not be war. The whole world is becoming a com- 
 mon field for intellect to act in. Energy of mind, genius, 
 power, wheresoever it exists, may speak out in any tongue, 
 and the world will hear it. A great chord of sentiment 
 and feeling runs through two continents, and vibrates 
 over both. Every breeze wafts intelligence from country 
 to country; every wave rolls it; all give it forth, and all in 
 turn receive it. There is a vast commerce of ideas; there 
 are marts and exchanges for intellectual discoveries, and 
 a wonderful fellowship of those individual intelligences 
 which make up the mind and opinion of the ago. Mind is 
 
284 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 the great lever of all things; human thought is the proc- 
 ess by which human ends are ultimately answered; and 
 the diffusion of knowledge, so astonishing in the last half 
 century, has rendered innumerable minds, variously gifted 
 by nature, competent to be competitors, or fellow-workers, 
 on the theatre of intellectual operation. 
 
 From these causes, important improvements have taken 
 place in the personal condition of individuals. Generally 
 speaking, mankind are not only better fed and better 
 clothed, but they are able also to enjoy more leisure; 
 they possess more refinement and more self-respect. A 
 superior tone of education, manners, and habits prevails. 
 This remark, most true in its application to our own 
 country, is also partly true when applied elsewhere. It 
 is proved by the vastly augmented consumption of those 
 articles of manufacture and of commerce which contrib- 
 ute to the comforts and the decencies of life — an augmen- 
 tation which has far outrun the progress of population. 
 And while the unexampled and almost incredible use of 
 machinery would seem to supply the place of labor, labor 
 still finds its occupation and its reward; so wisely has 
 Providence adjusted men's wants and desires to their 
 condition and their capacity. 
 
 Any adequate survey, however, of the progress made 
 in the last half century, in the polite and the mechanic 
 arts, in machinery and manufactures, in commerce and 
 agriculture, in letters and in science, would require vol- 
 umes. 1 must abstain wholly from these subjects, and 
 turn, for a moment, to the contemplation of what has 
 been done on the great question of politics and govern- 
 ment. This is the master topic of the age; and during 
 the whole fifty years, it has intensely occupied the thoughts 
 
BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 
 
 285 
 
 of men. The nature of civil government, its ends and uses, 
 have been canvassed and investigated ; ancient opinions at- 
 tacked and defended; new ideas recommended and resisted 
 by whatever power the mind of man could bring to the con- 
 troversy. From the closet and the public halls the debate 
 has been transferred to the field; and the world has been 
 shaken by wars of unexampled magnitude, and the greatest 
 variety of fortune. A day of peace has at length succeeded; 
 and now that the strife has subsided, and the smoke cleared 
 away, we may begin to see what has actually been done, 
 permanently changing the state and condition of human 
 society. And without dwelling on particular circum- 
 stances, it is most apparent that, from the before-men- 
 tioned causes of augmented knowledge and improved 
 individual condition, a real, substantial, and important 
 change has taken place, and is taking place, greatly bene- 
 ficial, on the whole, to human liberty and human happiness. 
 
 The great wheel of political revolution began to move in 
 America. Here its rotation was guarded, regular, and safe. 
 Transferred to the other continent, from unfortunate but 
 natural causes, it received an irregular and violent im- 
 pulse; it whirled along with a fearful celerity, till at 
 length, like the chariot wheels in the races of antiquity, 
 it took fire from the rapidity of its own motion, and blazed 
 onward, spreading conflagration and terror around. 
 
 We learn from the result of this experiment how fortu- 
 nate was our own condition, and how admirably the char- 
 acter of our people was calculated for making the great 
 example of popular governments. The possession of 
 power did not turn the heads of the American people, 
 for they had long been in the habit of exercising a great 
 portion of self-control. Although the paramount author- 
 
286 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 itj of the parent State existed over them, yet a large field 
 of legislation had always been open to our Colonial assem- 
 blies. They were accustomed to representative bodies and 
 the forms of free government; they understood the doctrine 
 of the division of power among different branches and the 
 necessity of checks on each. The character of our country- 
 men, moreover, was sober, moral, and religious; and there 
 was little in the change to shock their feelings of justice 
 and humanity, or even to disturb an honest prejudice. 
 We had no domestic throne to overturn, no privileged 
 orders to cast down, no violent changes of property to 
 encounter. In the American Kevolution, no man sought 
 or wished for more than to defend and enjoy his own. 
 None hoped for plunder or for spoil. Kapacity was un- 
 known to it; the axe was not among the instruments of its 
 accomplishment; and we all know that it could not have 
 lived a single day under any well-founded imputation of 
 possessing a tendency adverse to the Christian religion. 
 
 It need not surprise us that, under circumstances less 
 auspicious, political revolutions elsewhere, even when well 
 intended, have terminated differently. It is, indeed, a great 
 achievement, it is the master-work of the world, to establish 
 governments entirely popular, on lasting foundations; nor 
 is it easy, indeed, to introduce the popular principle at all 
 into governments to which it has been altogether a stranger. 
 It cannot be doubted, however, that Europe has come out 
 of the contest, in which she has been so long engaged, with 
 greatly superior knowledge, and, in many respects, a highly 
 improved condition. Whatever benefit has been acquired 
 is likely to be retained, for it consists mainly in the acquisi- 
 tion of more enlightened ideas. And although kingdoms 
 and provinces may be wrested from the hands that hold 
 
BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 
 
 287 
 
 them, in the same manner they were obtained; although 
 ordinary and vulgar power may, in human affairs, be lost 
 as it has been won, yet it is the glorious prerogative of the 
 empire of knowledge, that what it gains it never loses. On 
 the contrary, it increases by the multiple of its own power; 
 all its ends become means; all its attainments help to new 
 conquests. Its whole abundant harvest is but so much seed 
 wheat, and nothing has ascertained, and nothing can ascer- 
 tain, the amount of ultimate product. 
 
 Under the influence of this rapidly increasing knowledge, 
 the people have begun, in all forms of government, to think 
 and to reason on affairs of state. Regarding government as 
 an institution for the public good, they demand a knowledge 
 of its operations and a participation in its exercise. A call 
 for the representative system, wherever it is not enjoyed, 
 and where there is already intelligence enough to estimate 
 its value, is perseveringly made. Where men may speak 
 out, they demand it; where the bayonet is at their throats, 
 they pray for it. 
 
 When Louis XIV. said: "1 am the State," he expressed 
 the essence of the doctrine of unlimited power. By the rules 
 of that system, the people are disconnected from the State; 
 they are its subjects; it is their lord. These ideas, founded 
 in the love of power, and long supported by the excess and 
 the abuse of it, are yielding in our age to other opinions; 
 and the civilized world seems at last to be proceeding to 
 the conviction of that fundamental and manifest truth, that 
 the powers of government are but a trust, and that they 
 cannot be lawfully exercised but for the good of the com- 
 munityo As knowledge is more and more extended, this 
 conviction becomes more and more general. Knowledge, 
 in truth, is the great sun in the firmament. Life and 
 
288 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 power are scattered with all its beams. The prayer of 
 the Grecian combatant, when enveloped in unnatural 
 «louds and darkness, is the appropriate political suppli- 
 cation for the people of every country not yet blessed 
 with free institutions: 
 
 "Dispel this cloud, the h'ght of heaven restore; 
 Give me to see — and Ajax asks no more." 
 
 We may hope that the growing influence of enlightened 
 sentiments will promote the permanent peace of the world. 
 Wars, to maintain family alliances, to uphold or to cast 
 down dynasties, to regulate successions to thrones, which 
 have occupied so much room in the history of modern 
 times, if not less likely to happen at all, will be less likely 
 to become general and involve many nations, as the great 
 principle shall be more and more established, that the in- 
 terest of the world is peace, and its first great statute, that 
 every nation possesses the power of establishing a govern- 
 ment for itself. But public opinion has attained also an 
 influence over governments which do not admit the popu- 
 lar principle into their organization. A necessary respect 
 for the judgment of the world operates, in some measure, 
 as a control over the most unlimited forms of authority. It 
 is owing, perhaps, to this truth, that the interesting struggle 
 of the Greeks has been suffered to go on so long, without a 
 direct interference, either to wrest that country from its 
 present masters, and add it to other powers, or to execute 
 the system of pacification by force, and, with united strength, 
 lay the neck of Christian and civilized Greece at the foot of 
 the barbarian Turk. Let us thank God that we live in an 
 age when something has influence besides the bayonet, and 
 when the sternest authority does not venture to encounter 
 
BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 
 
 289 
 
 the scorching power of public reproach. Any attempt of 
 the kind I have mentioned should be met by one universal 
 burst of indignation; the air of the civilized world ought to 
 be made too warm to be comfortably breathed by any who 
 would hazard it. 
 
 It is, indeed a touching reflection, that while, in the 
 fulness of our country's happiness, we rear this monument 
 to her honor, we look for instruction in our undertaking, to 
 a country which is now in fearful contest, not for works of 
 art or memorials of glory, but for her own existence. Let 
 her be assured that she is not forgotten in the world; that 
 her efforts are applauded, and that constant prayers ascend 
 for her success. And let us cherish a confident hope for 
 her final triumph. If the true spark of religious and civil 
 liberty be kindled, it will burn. Human agency cannot 
 extinguish it. Like the earth's central fire, it may be 
 smothered for a time; the ocean may overwhelm it; 
 mountains may press it down; but its inherent and un- 
 conquerable force will heave both the ocean and the land, 
 and at some time or another, in some place or another, the 
 volcano will break out and flame up to heaven. 
 
 Among the great events of the half-century, we must 
 reckon, certainly, the revolution of South America; and 
 we are not likely to overrate the importance of that revo- 
 lution, either to the people of the country itself or to the 
 rest of the world. The late Spanish Colonies, now inde- 
 pendent States, under circumstances less favorable, doubt- 
 less, than attended our own Eevolution, liave yet successfully 
 commenced their national existence. They have accom- 
 plished the great object of establishing their independence; 
 they are known and acknowledged in the world; and, al- 
 though in regard to their systems of government, their sen- 
 
 Vol. 5—19 
 
290 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 timents on religious toleration, and their provisions for pub- 
 lic instruction, they may have yet much to learn, it must be 
 admitted that they have risen to the condition of settled and 
 established States more rapidly than could have been rea- 
 sonably anticipated. They already furnish an exhilarating 
 example of the difference between free governments and 
 despotic misrule. Their commerce at this moment creates 
 a new activity in all the great marts of the world. They 
 show themselves able by an exchange of commodities to 
 bear a useful part in the intercourse of nations. A new 
 spirit of enterprise and industry begins to prevail; all the 
 great interests of society receive a salutary impulse; and the 
 progress of information not only testifies to an improved 
 condition, but constitutes itself the highest and most essen- 
 tial improvement. 
 
 When the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, the exist- 
 ence of South America was scarcely felt in the civilized 
 world. The thirteen little Colonies of North America ha- 
 bitually called themselves the "Continent." Borne down 
 by Colonial subjugation, monopoly, and bigotry, these vast 
 regions of the South were hardly visible above the horizon. 
 But in our day there hath been, as it were, a new creation. 
 The Southern Hemisphere emerges from the sea. Its lofty 
 mountains begin to lift themselves into the light of heaven; 
 its broad and fertile plains stretch out in beauty to the eye 
 of civilized man and at the mighty being of the voice of 
 political liberty, the waters of darkness retire. 
 
 And now let us indulge an honest exultation in the con- 
 viction of the benefit which the example of our country has 
 produced and is likely to produce on human freedom and 
 human happiness. And let us endeavor to comprehend in 
 all its magnitude and to feel in all its importance the part 
 
BUNKER HILL MONUMENT 
 
 291 
 
 assigned to us in the great drama of human affairs. We are 
 placed at the head of the system of representative and popu- 
 lar governments. Thus far our example shows that such 
 governments are compatible, not only with respectability 
 and power, but with repose, with peace, with security of 
 personal rights, with good laws and a just administration. 
 
 We are not propagandists. Wherever other systems are 
 preferred, either as being thought better in themselves or as 
 better suited to existing conditions, we leave the preference 
 to be enjoyed. Our history hitherto proves, however, that 
 the popular form is practicable and that, with wisdom and 
 knowledge, men may govern themselves; and the duty in- 
 cumbent on us is to preserve the consistency of this cheer- 
 ing example and take care that nothing may weaken its 
 authority with the world. If in our case the representative 
 system ultimately fail, popular governments must be pro- 
 nounced impossible. No combination of circumstances more 
 favorable to the experiment can ever be expected to occur. 
 The last hopes of mankind, therefore, rest with us; and if 
 it should be proclaimed that our example had become an 
 argument against the experiment, the knell of popular lib- 
 ert}^ would be sounded throughout the earth. 
 
 These are incitements to duty; but they are not sugges- 
 tions of doubt. Our history and our condition, all that is 
 gone before us and all that surrounds us, authorize the be- 
 lief that popular governments, though subject to occasional 
 variations, perhaps not always for the better in form, may 
 yet in their general character be as durable and permanent 
 as other systems. We know, indeed, that' in our country 
 any other is impossible. The principle of free governments 
 adheres to the American soil. It is bedded in it — immova- 
 ble as its mountains. 
 
292 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 And let the sacred obligations which have devolved on 
 this generation and on us sink deep into our hearts. Those 
 are daily dropping from among us who established our lib- 
 erty and our government. The great trust now descends to 
 new hands. Let us apply ourselves to that which is pre- 
 sented to us as our appropriate object. We can win no lau- 
 rels in a war for independence. Earlier and worthier hands 
 have gathered them all. Nor are there places for us by the 
 side of Solon, and Alfred, and other founders of States. 
 Our fathers have filled them. But there remains to us a 
 great duty of defence and preservation; and there is opened 
 to us also a noble pursuit to which the spirit of the times 
 strongly invites us. Our proper business is improvement. 
 Let our age be the age of improvement. In a day of peace 
 let us advance the arts of peace and the works of peace. 
 Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its 
 powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great in- 
 terests, and see whether we also, in our day and genera- 
 tion, may not perform something worthy to be remembered. 
 Let us cultivate a true spirit of union and harmony. In 
 pursuing the great objects which our condition points out 
 to us, let us act under a settled conviction, and a habitual 
 feeling that these twenty-four States are one country. Let 
 our conceptions be enlarged to the circle of our duties. 
 Let as extend our ideas over the whole of the vast field 
 in which we are called to act. Let our object be our coun- 
 try, our whole country, and nothing but our country. And 
 by the blessing of God may that country itself become a 
 vast and splendid monument, not of oppression and terror, 
 but of wisdom, of peace, and of liberty, upon which the 
 world may gaze with admirtution, forever. 
 
AT PLYMOUTH IN 1820 
 
 293 
 
 AT PLYMOUTH IN 1820 
 
 FROM THE DISCOURSE IN COMMEMORATION OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT 
 OF NEW ENGLAND, DELIVERED AT PLYMOUTH, DECEMBER 22, 1820 
 
 THERE may be, and there often is, indeed, a regard 
 for ancestry, which nourishes only a weak pride; 
 as there is also a care for posterity, which only 
 disguises a habitual avarice, or hides the workings of a 
 low and grovelling vanity. But there is also a moral and 
 philosophical respect for our ancestors, which elevates the 
 character and improves th.e heart. Next to the sense of re- 
 ligious duty and moral feeling, I hardly know what should 
 bear with stronger obligation on a liberal and enlightened 
 mind than a consciousness of alliance with excellence which 
 is departed; and a consciousness, too, that in its acts and 
 conduct, and even in its sentiments and thoughts, it may 
 be actively operating on the happiness of those who come 
 after it. Poetry is found to have few stronger conceptions, 
 by which it would affect or overwhelm the mind, than those 
 in which it presents the moving and speaking image of the 
 departed dead to the senses of the living. This belongs to 
 poetry, only because it is congenial to our nature. Poetry 
 is, in this respect, but the handmaid of true philosophy 
 and morality; it deals with us as human beings, naturally 
 reverencing those whose visible connection with this state 
 of existence is severed, and who may yet exercise we know 
 not what sympathy with ourselves; and when it carries us 
 forward also, and shows us the long-continued result of all 
 the good we do, in the prosperity of those who follow us, 
 
294 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 till it bears us from ourselves, and absorbs us in an intense 
 interest for what sball happen to the generations after us — 
 it speaks only in the language of our nature, and affects 
 us with sentiments which belong to us as human beings. 
 
 Standing in this relation to our ancestors and our pos- 
 terity, we are assembled on this memorable spot, to perform 
 the duties which that relation and the present occasion im- 
 pose upon us. We have come to this Eock, to record here 
 our homage for our Pilgrim Fathers; our sympathy in their 
 sufferings; our gratitude for their labors; our admiration of 
 their virtues; our veneration for their piety; and our attach- 
 ment to those principles of civil and religious liberty which 
 they encountered the dangers of the ocean, the storms of 
 heaven, the violence of savages, disease, exile, and famine, 
 to enjoy and establish. And we would leave here also, for 
 the generations which are rising up rapidly to fill our places, 
 some proof that we have endeavored to transmit the greater 
 inheritance unimpaired ; that in our estimate of public prin- 
 ciples and private virtue, in our veneration of religion and 
 piety, in our devotion to religious and civil liberty, in our 
 regard to whatever advances human knowledge or improves 
 happiness, we are not altogether unworthy of our origin. . . . 
 
 The hours of this day are rapidly flying, and this occa- 
 sion will soon be passed. Neither we nor our children can 
 expect to behold its return. They are in the distant regions 
 of futurity; they exist only in the all-creating power of 
 God, who shall stand here a hundred years hence, to trace, 
 through us, their descent from the Pilgrims, and to survey, 
 as we have now surveyed, the progress of their country dur- 
 ing the lapse of a century. We would anticipate their con- 
 currence with us in our sentiments of deep regard for our 
 common ancestors. We would anticipate and partake the 
 
AT PLYMOUTH IN 1820 
 
 295 
 
 pleasure with which they will then recount the steps of 
 New England's advancement. On the morning of that day, 
 although it will not disturb us in our repose, the voice of 
 acclamation and gratitude, commencing on the Eock of Ply- 
 mouth, shall be transmitted through millions of the sons of 
 the Pilgrims, till it lose itself in the murmurs of the Pacific 
 seas. 
 
 We would leave for the consideration of those who shall 
 then occupy our places some proof that we hold the bless- 
 ings transmitted from our fathers in just estimation; some 
 proof of our attachment to the cause of good government 
 and of civil and religious liberty; some proof of a sincere 
 and ardent desire to promote everything which may enlarge 
 the understandings and im.prove the hearts of men. And 
 when, from the long distance of a hundred years, they shall 
 look back upon us, they shall know at least that we pos- 
 sessed affections, which, running backward and warming 
 with gratitude for what our ancestors have done for our 
 happiness, run forward also to our posterity, and meet them 
 with cordial salutation, ere yet they have arrived on the 
 shore of being. 
 
 Advance, then, ye future generations! We would hail 
 you, as you rise in your long succession, to fill the places 
 which we now fill, and to taste the blessings of existence 
 where we are now passing, and soon shall have passed, our 
 own human duration. We bid you welcome to this pleas- 
 ant land of the fathers. We bid you welcome to the health- 
 ful skies and the verdant fields of New England. We greet 
 your accession to the great inheritance which we have en- 
 joyed. We welcome you to the blessings of good govern- 
 ment and religious liberty. We welcome you to the treas- 
 ures of science and the delights of learning. We welcome 
 
296 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 you to the traascendeat sweets of domestic life, to the hap- 
 piness of kindred, and parents, and children. "We welcome 
 you to the immeasurable blessings of rational existence, the 
 immortal hope of Christianity, and the light of everlasting 
 truth! 
 
 JOHN ADAMS 
 
 FROM A DISCOURSE IN COMMEMORATION OF THE LIVES AND SERVICES OF 
 JOHN ADAMS AND THOMAS JEFFERSON. FANEUIL HALL. 
 BOSTON. AUGUST 2. 1826 
 
 THE eloquence of Mr. Adams resembled his general 
 character, and formed, indeed, a part of it. It was 
 bold, manly, and energetic ; and such the crisis re- 
 quired. When public bodies are to be addressed on momen- 
 tous occasions, when great interests are at stake, and strong 
 passions excited, nothing is valuable in speech further than as 
 it is connected with high intellectual and moral endowments. 
 Clearness, force, and earnestness are the qualities which 
 produce conviction. True eloquence, indeed, does not 
 consist in speech. It cannot be brought from far. Labor * 
 and learning may toil for it, but they will toil in vain. 
 Words and phrases may be marshalled in every way, but 
 they cannot compass it. It must exist in the man, in the 
 subject, and in the occasion. Affected passion, intense ex* 
 pression, the pomp of declamation, all may aspire to it ; they 
 cannot reach it. It comes, if it come at all, like the out- 
 breaking of a fountain from the earth, or the bursting forth 
 of volcanic fires, with spontaneous, original, native force. 
 The graces taught in the schools, the costly ornaments and 
 studied contrivances of speech, shock and disgust men. 
 
JOHN ADAMS 297 
 
 when their own lives, and the fate of their wives, their 
 children, and their country, hang on the decision of the 
 hour. Then words have lost their power, rhetoric is vain, 
 and all elaborate oratory coDtemptible. Even genius itself 
 then feels rebuked and subdued, as in the presence of higher 
 qualities. Then patriotism is eloquent; then self-devotion 
 is eloquent. The clear conception, outrunning the deduc- 
 tions of logic, the high purpose, the firm resolve, the daunt- 
 less spirit, speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, 
 informing every feature, and urging the whole man on- 
 ward, right onward to his object — this, this is eloquence; 
 or rather, it is something greater and higher than all elo- 
 quence — it is action, noble, sublime, godlike action. 
 
 In July, 1776, the controversy had passed the stage of 
 argument. An appeal had been made to force, and oppos- 
 ing armies were in the field. Congress, then, was to decide 
 whether the tie which had so long bound us to the parent 
 State was to be severed at once, and severed forever. All 
 the Colonies had signified their resolution to abide by this 
 decision, and the people looked for it with the most intense 
 anxiety. And surely, fellow citizens, never, never were 
 men called to a more important political deliberation. If 
 we contemplate it from the point where they then stood, 
 no question could be more full of interest; if we look at it 
 now, and judge of its importance by its effects, it appears 
 of still greater magnitude. 
 
 Let us, then, bring before us the assembly, which was 
 about to decide a question thus big with the fate of empire. 
 Let us open their doors and look in upon their deliberations. 
 Let us survey the anxious and careworn countenances, let us 
 hear the firm-toned voices, of this band of patriots. 
 
 Hancock presides over the solemn sitting; and one of 
 
298 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 those not yet prepared to pronounce for absolute indepen- 
 dence is on the floor, and is urging his reasons for dissenting 
 from the Declaration. 
 
 "Let us pause! This step, once taken, cannot be re- 
 traced. This resolution, once passed, will cue off all hope 
 of reconciliation, if success attend the arms of England, 
 we shall then be no longer Colonies, with charters and with 
 privileges; these will all be forfeited by this act; and we 
 shall be in the condition of other conquered people, at the 
 mercy of the conquerors. For ourselves, we may be ready 
 to run the hazard; but are we ready to carry the country 
 to that length ? Is success so probable as to justify it ? 
 Where is the military, where the naval power, by which 
 we are to resist the whole strength of the arm of England 
 — for she will exert that strength to the utmost ? Can we 
 rely on the constancy and perseverance of the people ? or 
 will they not act as the people of other countries have acted, 
 and, wearied with a long war, submit, in the end, to a worse 
 oppression ? While we stand on our old ground, and insist 
 on redress of grievances, we know we are right, and are not 
 answerable for consequences. Nothing, then, can be im- 
 puted to us. But if we now change our object, carry our 
 pretensions further, and set up for absolute independence, 
 we shall lose the sympathy of mankind. We shall no 
 longer be defending what we possess, but struggling for 
 something which we never did possess, and which we have 
 solemnly and uniformly disclaimed all intention of pursu- 
 ing, from the very outset of the troubles. Abandoning 
 thus our old ground, of resistance only to arbitrary acts of 
 oppression, the nations will believe the whole to have been 
 mere pretence, and they will look on us, not as injured, but 
 as ambitious subjects. I shudder before this responsibility. 
 
JOHN ADAMS 
 
 299 
 
 It will be on us, if, relinquishing the ground on which we 
 have stood so long, and stood so safely, we now proclaim 
 independence, and carry on the war for that object, while 
 these cities burn, these pleasant fields whiten and bleach 
 with the bones of their owners, and these streams run 
 blood. It will be upon us, it will be upon us, if, failing 
 to maintain this unseasonable and ill-judged Declaration, a 
 sterner despotism, maintained by military power, shall be 
 established over our posterity, when we ourselves, given 
 up by an exhausted, a harassed, a misled people, shall 
 have expiated our rashness and atoned for our presump- 
 tion on the scaffold." 
 
 It was for Mr. Adams to reply to arguments like these. 
 We know his opinions, and we know his character. He 
 would commence with his accustomed directness and ear- 
 nestness. 
 
 **Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, 1 give my 
 hand and my heart to this vote. It is true, indeed, that in 
 the beginning we aimed not at independence. But there's a 
 Divinity which shapes our ends. The injustice of England 
 has driven us to arms; and, blinded to her own interest for 
 our good, she has obstinately persisted, till independence is 
 now within our grasp. We have but to reach forth to it, 
 and it is ours. Why, then, should we defer the Declara- 
 tion ? Is any man so weak as now to hope for a reconcili- 
 ation with England, which shall leave either safety to the 
 country and its liberties, or safety to his own life and his 
 own honor ? Are not you, sir, who sit in that chair — is not 
 he, our venerable colleague near you — are you not both al- 
 ready the proscribed and predestined objects of punishment 
 and vengeance ? Cut off from all hope of royal clemency, 
 what are you, what can you be, while the power of England 
 
300 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 remains, but outlaws? If we postpone independence, do 
 we mean to carry on, or to give up, the war? Do we 
 mean to submit to the measures of Parliament, Boston 
 Port Bill and all? Do we mean to submit, and consent 
 that we ourselves shall be ground to powder, and our 
 country and its right trodden down in the dust? 1 know 
 we do not mean to submit. We never shall submit. Do 
 we intend to violate that most solemn obligation ever 
 entered into by men, that plighting, before God, of our 
 sacred honor to Washington, when, putting him forth to 
 incur the dangers of war, as well as the political hazards 
 of the times, we promised to adhere to him, in every ex- 
 tremity, with our fortunes and our lives? 1 know there is 
 not a man here who would not rather see a general confla- 
 gration sweep over the land, or an earthquake sink it, than 
 one jot or tittle of that plighted faith fall to the ground. 
 For myself, having, twelve months ago, in this place, 
 moved you, that George Washington be appointed com- 
 mander of the forces raised, or to be raised, for defence 
 of American liberty, may my right hand forget her cun- 
 ning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I 
 hesitate or waver in the support I give him. 
 
 "The war, then, must go on. We must fight it through. 
 And if the war must go on, why put off longer the Declara- 
 tion of Independence? That measure will strengthen us. 
 It will give us character abroad. The nations will then 
 treat with us, which they never can do while we acknowl- 
 edge ourselves subjects, in arms against our sovereign. 
 Kay, I maintain that England herself will sooner treat 
 for peace with us on the footing of independence, than 
 consent, by repealing her acts, to acknowledge that her 
 whole conduct toward us has been a course of injustice 
 
JOHN ADAMS 
 
 301 
 
 and oppression. Her pride will be less wounded by sub- 
 mitting to that course of things which now predestinates 
 our independence, than by yielding the points in contro- 
 versy to her rebellious subjects. The former she would re- 
 gard as the result of fortune; the latter she would feel as 
 her own deep disgrace. Why then, why then, sir, do we 
 not as soon as possible change this from a civil to a 
 national war? And since we must fight it through, why 
 not put ourselves in a state to enjoy all the benefits of vic- 
 tory, if we gain the victory? 
 
 *'If we fail it can be no worse for us. But we shall not 
 fail. The cause will raise up armies; the cause will create 
 navies. The people, the people, if we are true to them, will 
 carry us, and will carry themselves, gloriously, through this 
 struggle. I care not how fickle other people have been 
 found. I know the people of these Colonies, and I know 
 that resistance to British aggression is deep and settled in 
 their hearts and cannot be eradicated. Every Colony, in- 
 deed, has expressed its willingness to follow, if we but take 
 the lead. Sir, the Declaration will inspire the people with 
 increased courage. Instead of a long and bloody war for the 
 restoration of privileges, for redress of grievances, for char- 
 tered immunities, held under a British king, set before them 
 the glorious object of entire independence, and it will breathe 
 into them anew the breath of life. Eead this Declaration at 
 the head of the army; every sword will be drawn from its 
 scabbard, and the solemn vow uttered, to maintain it, or to 
 perish on the bed of honor. Publish it from the pulpit; 
 religion will approve it, and the love of religious liberty 
 will cling round it, resolved to stand with it, or fall with 
 it. Send it to the public halls; proclaim it there; let them 
 hear it who heard the first roar of the enemy's cannon; let 
 
302 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 them see it who saw their brothers and their sons fall 
 
 on the field of Bunker Hill, and in the streets of Lex- 
 ington and Concord, and the very walls will cry out in its 
 support. 
 
 "Sir, I know the uncertainty of human affairs, but I see, 
 I see clearly, through this day's business. You and 1, in- 
 deed, may rue it. We may not live to the time when this 
 Declaration shall be made good. We may die; die Colo- 
 nists; die slaves; die, it may be, ignominiously and on the 
 scaffold. Be it so. Be it so. If it be the pleasure of 
 Heaven that my country shall require the poor offering 
 of my life, the victim shall be ready, at the appointed liour 
 of sacrifice, come when that hour may. But while I do live, 
 let me have a country, or at least the hope of a country, and 
 that a free country. 
 
 "But whatever maybe our fate, be assured, be assured 
 that this Declaration will stand. It may cost treasure, and it 
 may cost blood; but it will stand, and it will richly compen- 
 sate for both. Through the thick gloom of the present, I see 
 the brightness of the future, as the sun in heaven. We shall 
 make this a glorious, an immortal day. When we are in 
 our graves, our children will honor it. They will celebrate 
 it with thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires, and illu- 
 minations. On its annual return they will shed tears, copi- 
 ous, gushing tears, not of subjection and slavery, not of 
 agony and distress, but of exultation, of gratitude, and 
 of joy. Sir, before God, 1 believe the hour is come. My 
 judgment approves this measure, and my whole heart is in 
 it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope, 
 in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it; and I 
 leave off as I began, that live or die, survive or perish, 
 I am for the Declaration. It is my living sentiment, and 
 
JOHN ADAMS 
 
 303 
 
 by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment, 
 Independence now, and Independence forever/* 
 
 And so that day shall be honored, illustrious prophet 
 and patriot I so that day shall be honored, and as often as 
 it returns, thy renown shall come along with it, and the 
 glory of thy life, like the day of thy death, shall not fail 
 from the remembrance of men. 
 
 It would be unjust, fellow citizens, on this occasion, 
 while we express our veneration for him who is the immediate 
 subject of these remarks, were we to omit a most respectful, 
 affectionate, and grateful mention of those other great men, 
 his colleagues, who stood with him, and with the same spirit, 
 the same devotion, took part in the interesting transaction. 
 Hancock, the proscribed Hancock, exiled from his home 
 by a military governor, cut off by proclamation from the 
 mercy of the crown — Heaven reserved for him the distin- 
 guished honor of putting this great question to the vote, 
 and of writing his ow:i name first, and most conspicuously, 
 on that parchment which spoke defiance to the power of the 
 crown of England. There, too, is the name of that other 
 proscribed patriot, Samuel Adams, a man who hungered 
 and thirsted for the independence of his country, who 
 thought the Declaration halted and lingered, being him- 
 self not only ready, but eager, for it, long before it was 
 proposed; a man of the deepest sagacity, the clearest fore- 
 sight, and the profoundest judgment in men. And there is 
 Gerry, himself among the earliest and the foremost of the 
 patriots, found, when the battle of Lexington summoned 
 them to common counsels, by the side of Warren; a man 
 who lived to serve his country at home and abroad, and 
 to die in the second place in the government. There, too, 
 
304 
 
 WEBSTER 
 
 IS the inflexible, the upright, the Spartan character, Eoberi 
 Treat Faine. He also lived to serve his country through 
 the struggle, and then withdrew from her councils, only that 
 he might give his labors and his life to his native State, 
 in another relation. These names, fellow citizens, are the 
 treasures of the Commonwealth; and they are treasures 
 which grow brighter by time. 
 
 ON THE MURDER OF JOSEPH WHITE 
 
 IVEEY much regret that it should have been thought 
 necessary to suggest to you that I am brought here 
 to ''hurry you against the law and beyond the evi- 
 dence." I hope I have too much regard for justice, and 
 too much respect for my own character, to attempt either ; 
 and were I to make such an attempt, I am sure that in this 
 court nothing can be carried against the law, and that 
 gentlemen, intelligent and just as you are, are not, by 
 any power, to be hurried beyond the evidence. Though 
 I could well have wished to shun this occasion, I have not 
 felt at liberty to withhold my professional assistance, when 
 it is. supposed that I may be in some degree useful in inves- 
 tigating and discovering the truth respecting this most ex- 
 traordinary murder. It has seemed to be a duty incumbent 
 on me, as on every other citizen, to do my best and my 
 utmost to bring to light the perpetrators of this crime. 
 Against the prisoner at the bar, as an individual, I can- 
 not have the slightest prejudice. I would not do him the 
 smallest injury or injustice. But I do not affect to be in- 
 
THE MURDER OF JOSEPH WHITE 
 
 305 
 
 different to the discovery and the punishment of this deep 
 guilt, i cheerfully share in the opprobrium, how great so- 
 ever it may be, which is cast on those who feel and manifest 
 an anxious concern that all who had a part in planning, or a 
 hand in executing, this deed of midnight assassination, may 
 be brought to answer for their enormous crime at the bar of 
 public justice. 
 
 Gentlemen, it is a most extraordinary case. In some re- 
 spects, it has hardly a precedent anywhere; certainly none 
 in our New England history. This bloody drama exhib- 
 ited no suddenly excited, ungovernable rage. The actors 
 in it were not surprised by any lion -like temptation spring- 
 ing upon their virtue, and overcoming it, before resistance 
 could begin. Nor did they do the deed to glut savage 
 vengeance, or satiate long-settled and deadly hate. It was 
 a cool, calculating, money-making murder. It was all "hire 
 and salary, not revenge. ' ' It was the weighing of money 
 against life; the counting out of so many pieces of silver 
 against so many ounces of blood. 
 
 An aged man, without an enemy in the world, in his 
 own house, and in his own bed, is made the victim of a 
 butcherly murder, for mere pay. Truly, here is a new 
 lesson for painters and poets. Whoever shall hereafter 
 draw the portrait of murder, if he will show it as it has 
 been exhibited, where such example was last to have been 
 looked for, in the very bosom of our New England society, 
 let him not give it the grim visage of Moloch, the brow 
 knitted by revenge, the face black with settled hate, and 
 the bloodshot eye emitting livid fires of malice. Let him 
 draw, rather, a decorous, smooth-faced, bloodless demon; a 
 picture in repose, rather than in action; not so much an 
 example of human nature in its depravity, and in its par- 
 
 Vol. 5—20 
 
306 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 oxysms of crime, as an infernal being, a fiend, in the or- 
 dinary display and development of his character. 
 
 The deed was executed with a degree of self-possession 
 and steadiness equal to the wickedness with which it was 
 planned. The circumstances now clearly in evidence spread 
 out the whole scene before us. Deep sleep had fallen on the 
 destined victim, and on all beneath his roof. A healthful 
 old man, to whom sleep was sweet, the first sound slumbers ' 
 of the night held him in their soft but strong embrace. The 
 assassin enters, through the window already prepared, into 
 an unoccupied apartment. With noiseless foot he paces 
 the lonely hall, half lighted by the moon; he winds up 
 the ascent of the stairs, and reaches the door of the cham- 
 ber. Of this, he moves the lock, by soft and continued 
 pressure, till it turns on its hinges without noise; and he 
 enters, and beholds his victim before him. The room is 
 uncommonly open to the admission of light. The face of 
 the innocent sleeper is turned from the murderer, and the 
 beams of the moon, resting on the gray locks of his aged 
 temple, show him where to strike. The fatal blow is 
 given I and the victim passes, without a struggle or a 
 motion, from the repose of sleep to the repose of death! 
 It is the assassin's purpose to make sure work; and he 
 plies the dagger, though it is obvious that life has been 
 destroyed by the blow of the bludgeon. He even raises 
 the aged arm, that he may not fail in his aim at the heart, 
 and replaces it again over the wounds of the poniard I To 
 finish the picture, he explores the wrist for the pulse I He 
 feels for it, and ascertains that it beats no longer I It is 
 accomplished. The deed is done. He retreats, retraces his 
 steps to the window, passes out through it as he came in, 
 and escapes. He has done the murder. No eye has seen 
 
THE MURDER OF JOSEPH WHITE 
 
 307 
 
 him, no ear has heard him. The secret is his own, and it 
 is safe! 
 
 Ah I gentlemen, that was a dreadful mistake. Such a 
 secret can be safe nowhere. The whole creation of God 
 has neither nook nor corner where the guilty can bestow 
 it, and say it is safe. Not to speak of that Eye which 
 pierces through all disguises, and beholds everything as 
 in the splendor of noon, such secrets of guilt are never 
 safe from detection, even by men. True it is, generally 
 speaking, that "murder will out." True it is, that Provi- 
 dence hath so ordained, and doth so govern things, that 
 those who break the great law of Heaven by shedding 
 man's blood seldom succeed in avoiding discovery. Es- 
 pecially, in a case exciting so much attention as this, dis- 
 covery must come, and will come, sooner or later, A 
 thousand eyes turn at once to explore every man, every- 
 thing, every circumstance, connected with the time and 
 place; a thousand ears catch every v]vhisper; a thousand 
 excited minds intensely dwell on the scene, shedding all 
 their light, and ready to kindle the slightest circumstance 
 into a blaze of discovery. Meantime the guilty soul can- 
 not keep its own secret. It is false to itself; or rather it 
 feels an irresistible impulse of conscience to be true to it- 
 self. It labors under its guilty possession, and knows not 
 what to do with it. The human heart was not made for 
 the residence of such an inhabitant. It finds itself preyed 
 on by a torment, which it dares not acknowledge to God 
 or man. A vulture is devouring it, and it can ask no sym- 
 pathy or assistance, either from heaven or earth. The se- 
 cret which the murderer possesses soon comes to possess him; 
 and, like the evil spirits of which we read, it overcomes 
 him, and leads him whithersoever it will. He feels it beat- 
 
308 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 ing at his heart, rising to his throat, and demanding dis- 
 closure. He thinks the whole world sees it in his face, 
 reads it in his eyes, and almost hears its workings in the 
 very silence of his thoughts. It has become his master. 
 It betrays his discretion, it breaks down his courage, it 
 conquers his prudence. AYhen suspicions from without 
 begin to embarrass him, and the net of circumstance to 
 entangle him, the fatal secret struggles with still greater 
 violence to burst forth. It must be confessed, it will be 
 confessed; there is no refuge from confession but suicide, 
 and suicide is confession. 
 
JOHN C. CALHOUN 
 
JOHJ^ C. CALHOUN 
 
 fOHN Caldwell Calhoun, LL. D., a notable American statesman, author, 
 and with Webster and Clay one of the foremost of the three great de- 
 
 I baters of his time, was born in Abbeville Co., S. C, March 18, 1782, 
 and died at Washington, D. C, March 31, 1850. After graduating with 
 
 high honors at Yale College, he studied law, and presently found the opportunity 
 to enter political life by denouncing England's right of search on the high seas and 
 urging war with that country in the State general assembly of 1809, and later in 
 the Federal Congress, to which, in 1811, he was elected. In the latter body he led 
 the War Democrats of the time, and in 1817 became Secretary of War in Monroe's 
 administration. From 1825 to 1832, he was Vice-president of the United States, 
 meanwhile becoming a free-trader, a stout defender of slavery and the institutions 
 of the South, and took strong ground in defence of State sovereignty and State 
 rights. In his advocacy of the latter and of the doctrine of Nullification, he took 
 part in preparing the document known as the "South Carolina Exposition," issued 
 in 1829, and which had the endorsement also of Virginia, Georgia, and Alabama. 
 This document declared that any State can annul and make void such Federal laws 
 as it may deem unconstitutional. This doctrine he afterward defended in the Sen- 
 ate, of which body he was a member from 1832 to 1843. South Carolina, moreover, 
 practically made use of the principle enunciated by Calhoun in its action regarding 
 the tariff laws of the period, though Jackson, by his firmness and patriotism, doomed 
 it to miscarriage. In 1844-45, he became Secretary of State in President Tyler's 
 Cabinet, and was instrumental in bringing about the annexation of Texas. After 
 this he resumed his seat in the Senate, remaining a member of it until his death, 
 and holding the first place among its debaters. His writings, which include a "Dis- 
 quisition on Government," and an essay "On the Constitution and Government of 
 .the United States," were collected and published in 1854. See also a monograph in 
 the American Statesmen Series, by H. Von Hoist. 
 
 (309) 
 
310 
 
 JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN 
 
 SPEECH ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, MARCH 4, 1850 
 
 I HA YE, Senators, believed from tlie first that the agita- 
 tion of the subject of slavery would, if not prevented 
 by some timely and effective measure, end in disunion. 
 Entertaining this opinion, I have, on all proper occasions, 
 endeavored to call the attention of both the two great parties 
 which divide the country to adopt some measure to prevent 
 so great a disaster, but without success. The agitation has 
 been permitted to proceed with almost no attempt to resist it, 
 until it has reached a point when it can no longer be dis- 
 guised or denied that the Union is in danger. You have 
 thus had forced upon you the greatest and the gravest ques- 
 tion that can ever come under your consideration — How 
 can the Union be preserved? 
 
 To give a satisfactory answer to this mighty question, it 
 is indispensable to have an accurate and thorough knowledge 
 of the nature and the character of the cause by which the 
 Union is endangered. Without such knowledge it is impos- 
 sible to pronounce with any certainty by what measure it can 
 be saved; just as it would be impossible for a physician to 
 pronounce in the case of some dangerous disease, with any 
 certainty, by what remedy the patient could be saved, with- 
 out similar knowledge of the nature and character of the 
 cause which produced it. The first question, then, presented 
 for consideration in the investigation I propose to make in 
 order to obtain such knowledge is — What is it that has 
 endangered the Union? 
 
ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION 
 
 311 
 
 To this question there can be but one answer, — that the 
 immediate cause is the almost universal discontent which 
 pervades all the States composing the southern section of the 
 Union. This widely extended discontent is not of recent 
 origin. It commenced with the agitation of the slavery ques- 
 tion and has been increasing ever since. The next question, 
 going one step further back, is — What has caused this widely 
 diffused and almost universal discontent? 
 
 It is a great mistake to suppose, as is by some, that it 
 originated with demagogues who excited the discontent with 
 the intention of aiding their personal advancement, or with 
 the disappointed ambition of certain politicians who resorted 
 to it as the means of retrieving their fortunes. On the 
 contrary, all the great political influences of the section were 
 arrayed against excitement, and exerted to the utmost to keep 
 the people quiet. The great mass of the people of the South 
 were divided, as in the other section, into Whigs and Demo- 
 cracts. The leaders and the presses of both parties in the 
 South were very solicitous to prevent excitement and to pre- 
 serve quiet; because it was seen that the effects of the former 
 would necessarily tend to weaken, if not destroy, the political 
 ties which united them with their respective parties in the 
 other section. 
 
 Those who know the strength of party ties will readily 
 appreciate the immense force which this cause exerted against 
 agitation and in favor of preserving quiet. But, great as 
 it was, it was not sufficient to prevent the widespread dis- 
 content which now pervades the section. 
 
 'No; some cause far deeper and more powerful than the 
 one supposed must exist, to account for discontent so wide 
 and deep. The question then recurs — What is the cause of 
 this discontent ? It will be found in the belief of the people 
 
312 
 
 JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN 
 
 of the southern States, as prevalent as the discontent itself, 
 that they cannot remain, as things now are, consistently with 
 honor and safety, in the Union. The next question to be 
 considered is — What has caused this belief? 
 
 One of the causes is, undoubtedly, to be traced to the long- 
 continued agitation of the slave question on the part of the 
 E'orth, and the many aggressions which they have made on 
 the rights of the South during the time. I will not enumer- 
 ate them at present, as it will be done hereafter in its proper 
 place. 
 
 There is another lying back of it — with which this is 
 intimately oonnected — that may be regarded as the great and 
 primary cause. This is to be found in the fact that the 
 equilibrium between the two sections in the government as 
 it stood when the constitution was ratified and the govern- 
 ment put in action has been destroyed. At that time there 
 was nearly a perfect equilibrium between the two, which 
 afforded ample means to each to protect itself against the 
 aggression of the other; but, as it now stands, one section has 
 the exclusive power of controlling the government, which 
 leaves the other without any adequate means of protecting 
 itself against its encroachment and oppression. To place this 
 subject distinctly before you, I have. Senators, prepared a 
 brief statistical statement showing the relative weight of the 
 two sections in the government under the first census of 1790 
 and the last census of 1840. 
 
 According to the former, the population of the United 
 States — including Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee, which 
 then were in their incipient condition of becoming States, but 
 were not actually admitted — amounted to 3,929,827. Of 
 this number the northern States had 1,997,899, and the 
 southern 1,952,072, making a difference of only 45,827 in 
 
ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION 
 
 313 
 
 favor of the former States. The number of States, mcluding 
 Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee, was sixteen; of which 
 eight, including Vermont, belonging to the northern section, 
 and eight, including Kentucky and Tennessee, to the south- 
 ern, — making an equal division of the States between the 
 two sections under the first census. There was a small pre- 
 ponderance in the House of Representatives and in the 
 Electoral College in favor of the northern, owing to the 
 fact that, according to the provisions of the constitution, in 
 estimating federal numbers five slaves count but three ; but it 
 was too small to affect sensibly the perfect equilibrium which, 
 with that exception, existed at the time. Such was the 
 equality of the two sections when the States composing them 
 agreed to enter into a federal union. Since then the equi- 
 librium between them has been greatly disturbed. 
 
 According to the last census the aggregate population of 
 the United States amounted to 17,063,357, of which the 
 northern section contained 9,728,920, and the southern 
 7,334,437, making a difference in round numbers of 
 2,400,000. The number of States had increased from sixteen 
 to twenty-six, making an addition of ten States. In the mean- 
 time the position of Delaware had become doubtful as to the 
 section to which she properly belonged. Considering her as 
 neutral, the northern States will have thirteen and the south- 
 ern States twelve, making a difference in the Senate of two 
 senators in favor of the former. According to the apportion- 
 ment under the census of 1840, there were two hundred and 
 twenty-three members of the House of Representatives, of 
 which the northern States had one hundred and thirty-five, 
 and the southern States (considering Delaware as neutral) 
 eighty-seven, making a difference in favor of the former in 
 the House of Representatives of forty-eight. The difference 
 
314 
 
 JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN 
 
 in the Senate of two members, added to this, gives to the 
 l^orth in the Electoral College a majority of fifty. Since 
 the census of 1840, four States have been added to the Union, 
 — Iowa, Wisconsin, Florida, and Texas. They leave the 
 difference in the Senate as it was when the census was taken ; 
 but add two to the side of the JSTorth in the House, making the 
 present majority in the House in its favor fifty, and in the 
 Electoral College fifty-two. 
 
 The result of the whole is to give the northern section a 
 predominance in every department of the government, and 
 thereby concentrate in it the two elements which constitute 
 the federal government : a majority of States, and a major- 
 ity of their population, estimated in federal numbers. What- 
 ever section concentrates the two in itself possesses the con- 
 trol of the entire government. 
 
 But we are just at the close of the sixth decade and the 
 commencement of the seventh. The census is to be taken this 
 year, which must add greatly to the decided preponderance 
 of the I^orth in the House of Representatives and in the 
 Electoral College. The prospect is, also, that a great increase 
 will be added to its present preponderance in the Senate, dur- 
 ing the period of the decade, by the addition of new States. 
 Two territories, Oregon and Minnesota, are already in pro- 
 gress, and strenuous efforts are making to bring in three addi- 
 tional States from the territory recently conquered from 
 Mexico ; which, if successful, will add three other States in a 
 short time to the northern section, making five States, and 
 increasing the present number of its States from fifteen to 
 twenty, and of its senators from thirty to forty. 
 
 On the contrary, there is not a single territory in progress 
 in the southern section, and no certainty that any additional 
 State will be added to it during the decade. • The prospect 
 
ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION 
 
 315 
 
 then is, that the two sections in the Senate, should the efforts 
 now made to exclude the South from the newly acquired 
 territories succeed, will stand, before the end of the decade, 
 twenty northern States to fourteen southern (considering 
 Delaware as neutral), and forty northern senators to twenty- 
 eight southern. This great increase of senators, added to 
 the great increase of members of the House of Representa- 
 tives and the Electoral College on the part of the North, 
 which must take place under the next decade, will effectually 
 and irretrievably destroy the equilibrium which existed when 
 the government commenced. 
 
 Had this destruction been the operation of time without 
 the interference of government, the South would have had 
 no reason to complain; but such was not the fact. It was 
 caused by the legislation of this government, which was 
 appointed as the common agent of all and charged with the 
 protection of the interests and security of all. 
 
 The legislation by which it has been effected may be classed 
 under three heads. 
 
 The first is that series of acts by which the South has been 
 excluded from the common territory belonging to all the 
 States as members of the federal Union — which have had 
 the effect of extending vastly the portion allotted to the 
 northern section, and restricting within narrow limits the 
 portion left the South. 
 
 The next consists in adopting a system of revenue and dis- 
 bursements by which an undue proportion of the burden 
 of taxation has been imposed upon the South, and an undue 
 proportion of its proceeds appropriated to the North; and 
 the last is a system of political measures by which the origi- 
 nal character of the government has been radically changed. 
 I propose to bestow upon each of these, in the order they 
 
316 
 
 JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN 
 
 stand, a few remarks, with the view of showing that it is 
 owing to the action of this government that the equilibrimn 
 between the two sections has been destroyed, and the whole 
 powers of the system centred in a sectional majority. 
 
 The first of the series of acts by which the South was 
 deprived of its due share of the Territories originated with 
 the confederacy which preceded the existence of this govern- 
 ment. It is to be found in the provision of the Ordinance of 
 1787. Its effect was to exclude the South entirely from that 
 vast and fertile region which lies between the Ohio and the 
 Mississippi rivers, now embracing five States and one Terri- 
 tory. The next of the series is the Missouri Compromise, 
 which excluded the South from that large portion of Louisi- 
 ana which lies north of 36° 30', excepting what is included 
 in the State of Missouri. The last of the series excluded the 
 South from the whole of the Oregon Territory. All these, 
 in the slang of the day, were what are called slave Territories, 
 and not free soil ; that is, Territories belonging to slavehold- 
 ing powers and open to the immigration of masters with their 
 slaves. 
 
 By these several acts the South was excluded from 
 1,238,025 square miles — an extent of country considerably 
 exceeding the ent^'re valley of the Mississippi. To the South 
 was left the portion of the Territory of Louisiana lying south 
 of 36° 30', and the portion north of it included in the State 
 of Missouri, with the portion lying south of 36° 30', includ- 
 ing the States of Louisiana and Arkansas, and the territory 
 lying west of the latter and south of 36° 30', called the Indian 
 country. These, with the Territory of Florida, now the 
 State, make, in the whole, 283,503 square miles. To this 
 must be added the territory acquired with Texas. If the 
 whole should be added to the southern section it would make 
 
ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION 
 
 317 
 
 an increase of 325,520, which would make the whole left to 
 the South G09,023. But a large part of Texas is still in con- 
 test between the two sections, which leaves it uncertain what 
 will be the real extent of the portion of territory that may be 
 left to the South. 
 
 I have not included the territory recently acquired by the 
 treaty with Mexico. The ISTorth is making the most strenuous 
 efforts to appropriate the whole to herself, by excluding the 
 South from every foot of it. If she should succeed, it will 
 add to that from which the South has already been excluded 
 526,078 square miles, and would increase the whole which 
 the I^orth has appropriated to herself to 1,764,023, not in- 
 cluding the portion that she may succeed in excluding us 
 from in Texas. To sum up the whole, the United States, 
 since they declared their independence, have acquired 
 2,373,046 square miles of territory, from which the ISTorth 
 will have excluded the South, if she should succeed in monop- 
 olizing the newly acquired territories, about three fourths of 
 the whole, leaving to the South but about one fourth. 
 
 Such is the first and great cause that has destroyed the 
 equilibrium between the two sections in the government. 
 
 The next is the system of revenue and disbursements which 
 has been adopted by the government. It is well known that 
 the government has derived its revenue mainly from duties 
 on imports. I shall not undertake to show that such duties 
 must necessarily fall mainly on the exporting States, and 
 that the South, as the great exporting portion of the Union, 
 has in reality paid vastly more than her due proportion of 
 the revenue; because I deem it unnecessary, as the subject 
 has on so many occasions been fully discussed. ISTor shall I, 
 for the same reason, undertake to show that a far greater 
 portion of the revenue has been disbursed at the ISTorth, than 
 
318 
 
 JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN 
 
 its due share; and that the joint effect of these causes has 
 been to transfer a vast amount from South to ITorth, which, 
 under an equal system of revenue and disbursements, would 
 not have been lost to her. If to this be added that many of 
 the duties were imposed, not for revenue, but for protection, 
 — that is, intended to put money, not in the treasury, but 
 directly into the pocket of the manufacturers, — some con- 
 ception may be formed of the immense amount which in the 
 long course of sixty years has been transferred from South 
 to ISTorth. There are no data by which it can be estimated 
 with any certainty; but it is safe to say that it amounts to 
 hundreds of millions of dollars. Under the most moderate 
 estimate it would be sufficient to add greatly to the wealth of 
 the N^orth, and thus greatly increase her population by 
 attracting immigration from all quarters to that section. 
 
 This, combined with the great primary cause, amply 
 explains why the l^orth has acquired a preponderance in 
 every department of the government by its disproportionate 
 increase of population and States. The former, as has been 
 shown, has increased, in fifty years, 2,400,000 over that of 
 the South. This increase of population during so long a 
 period is satisfactorily accounted for by the number of immi- 
 grants, and the increase of their descendants, which have been 
 attracted to the northern section from Europe and the South, 
 in consequence of the advantages derived from the causes 
 assigned. If they had not existed — if the South had 
 retained all the capital which has been extracted from her 
 by the fiscal action of the government ; and if it had not been 
 excluded by the Ordinance of 1787 and the Missouri Com- 
 promise, from the region lying between the Ohio and the 
 Mississippi rivers, and between the Mississippi and the 
 Kocky Mountains north of 36° 30' — it scarcely admits of 
 
ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION 
 
 319 
 
 a doubt that it would have divided the immigration with the 
 North, and by retaining her own people would have at least 
 equalled the North in population under the census of 1840, 
 and probably under that about to be taken. She would also, 
 if she had retained her equal rights in those territories, have 
 maintained an equality in the number of States with the 
 North, and have preserved the equilibrium between the two 
 sections that existed at the commencement of the govern- 
 ment. The loss, then, of the equilibrium is to be attributed 
 to the action of this government. 
 
 But while these measures were destroying the equilibrium 
 between the two sections, the action of the government was 
 leading to a radical change in its character, by concentrating 
 all the power of the system in itself. The occasion will not 
 permit me to trace the measures by which this great change 
 has been consummated. If it did, it would not be difficult to 
 show that the process commenced at an early period of the 
 government; and that it proceeded almost without interrup- 
 tion, step by step, until it absorbed virtually its entire pow- 
 ers ; but without going through the whole process to establish 
 the fact it may be done satisfactorily by a very short 
 statement. 
 
 That the government claims, and practically maintains, 
 the right to decide in the last resort as to the extent of its 
 powers, will scarcely be denied by any one conversant with 
 the political history of the country. That it also claims the 
 right to resort to force to maintain whatever power it claims, 
 against all opposition, is equally certain. Indeed it is appa- 
 rent, from what we daily hear, that this has become the pre- 
 vailing and fixed opinion of a great majority of the com- 
 munity. Now, I ask, what limitation can possibly be placed 
 upon the powers of a government claiming and exercising 
 
320 
 
 JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN 
 
 such rights ? And, if none can be, how can the separate gov- 
 ernments of the States maintain and protect the powers 
 reserved to them by 'the constitution — or the people of the 
 several States maintain those which are reserved to them, and 
 among others, the sovereign powers by which they ordained 
 and established, not only their separate State constitutions 
 and governments, but also the constitution and government 
 of the United States ? But, if they have no constitutional 
 means of maintaining them against the right claimed by this 
 government, it necessarily follows that they hold them at its 
 pleasure and discretion, and that all the powers of the system 
 are in reality concentrated in it. It also follows that the 
 character of the government has been changed in conse- 
 quence, from a federal republic, as it originally came from 
 the hands of its framers, into a great national consolidated 
 democracy. It has indeed, at present, all the characteristics 
 of the latter, and not one of the former, although it still 
 retains its outward form. 
 
 The result of the whole of those causes combined is that 
 the North has acquired a decided ascendancy over every 
 department of this government, and through it a control over 
 all the powers of the system. A single section governed by 
 the will of the numerical majority has now, in fact, the con- 
 trol of the government and the entire powers of the system. 
 What was once a constitutional federal republic is now con- 
 verted, in reality, into one as absolute as that of the autocrat 
 of Kussia, and as despotic in its tendency as any absolute 
 government that ever existed. 
 
 As, then, the E'orth has the absolute control over the gov- 
 ernment, it is manifest that on all questions between it and 
 the South, where there is a diversity of interests, the inter- 
 est of the latter will be sacrificed to the former, however 
 
ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION 
 
 321 
 
 oppressive the effects may be; as the South possesses no 
 means by which it can resist, through the action of the gov- 
 ernment. But if there was no question of vital importance 
 to the South;, in reference to which there was a diversity of 
 views between the two sections, this state of things might be 
 endured without the hazard of destruction to the South. 
 But such is not the fact. There is a question of vital 
 importance to the southern section, in reference to which 
 the views and feelings of the two sections are as opposite and 
 hostile as they can possibly be. 
 
 I refer to the relation between the two races in the south- 
 ern section, which constitutes a vital portion of her social 
 organization. Every portion of the ITorth entertains views 
 and feelings more or less hostile to it. Those most opposed 
 and hostile regard it as a sin, and consider themselves under 
 the most sacred obligation to use every effort to destroy it. 
 
 Indeed, to the extent that they conceive that they have 
 power, they regard themselves as implicated in the sin, and 
 responsible for not suppressing it by the use of all and every 
 means. Those less opposed and hostile regard it as a crime 
 — an offence against humanity, as they call it ; and, although 
 not so fanatical, feel themselves bound to use all efforts to 
 effect the same object; while those who are least opposed and 
 hostile regard it as a blot and a stain on the character of what 
 they call the nation," and feel themselves accordingly bound 
 to give it no countenance or support. On the contrary, the 
 southern section regards the relation as one which cannot be 
 destroyed without subjecting the two races to the greatest 
 calamity, and the section to poverty, desolation, and wretch- 
 edness ; and accordingly they feel bound by every considera- 
 tion of interest and safety to defend it. 
 
 This hostile feeling on the part of the i^orth towards the 
 
 Vol. 5—21 
 
322 
 
 JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN 
 
 social organization of the South long lay dormant, but it only 
 required some cause to act on those who felt most intensely 
 that they were responsible for its continuance, to call it into 
 action. The increasing power of this government, and of the 
 control of the ^sTorthern section over all its departments, fur- 
 nished the cause. It was this which made an impression on 
 the minds of many that there was little or no restraint to 
 prevent the government from doing whatever it might choose 
 to do. This was sufficient of itself to put the most fanatical 
 portion of the [N'orth in action, for the purpose of destroying 
 the existing relation between the two races in the South. 
 
 The first organized movement towards it commenced in 
 1835. Then^ for the first time, societies were organized, 
 presses established, lecturers sent forth to excite the people 
 of the North, and incendiary publications scattered over the 
 whole South, through the mail. The South was thoroughly 
 aroused. Meetings were held everywhere, and resolutions 
 adopted, calling upon the North to apply a remedy to arrest 
 the threatened evil, and pledging themselves to adopt meas- 
 ures for their own protection if it was not arrested. At the 
 meeting of Congress, petitions poured in from the North, call- 
 ing upon Congress to abolish slavery in the District of 
 Columbia, and to prohibit what they called the internal slave- 
 trade between the States — announcing at the same time that 
 their ultimate object was to abolish slavery, not only in the 
 District, but in the States and throughout the Union. 'At 
 this period the number engaged in the agitation was small, 
 and possessed little or no personal influence. 
 
 Neither party in Congress had at that time any sympathy 
 with them or their cause. The members of each party pre- 
 sented their petitions with great reluctance. Nevertheless, 
 small and contemptible as the party then was, both of the 
 
ON THE SLAVFiRY QUESTION 
 
 323 
 
 great parties of the North dreaded them. They felt that, 
 though small, they were organized in reference to a subject 
 which had a great and a commanding influence over the 
 Northern mind. Each party, on that account, feared to 
 oppose their petitions, lest the opposite party should take 
 advantage of the one that might do so, by favoring them. 
 The effect was that both united in insisting that the petitions 
 should be received, and that Congress should take jurisdiction 
 over the subject. 
 
 To justify their course, they took the extraordinary ground 
 that Congress was bound to receive petitions on every subject, 
 however objectionable they might be, and whether they had, 
 or had not, jurisdiction over the subject. These views pre- 
 vailed in the House of Representatives and partially in the 
 Senate; and thus the party succeeded in their first movements, 
 in gaining what they proposed — a position in Congress from 
 which agitation could be extended over the whole Union. 
 This was the commencement of the agitation which has ever 
 since continued, and which, as is now acknowledged, has 
 endangered the Union itself. 
 
 As for myself, I believed at that early period, if the party 
 that got up the petitions should succeed in getting Congress 
 to take jurisdiction, that agitation would follow, and that it 
 would in the end, if not arrested, destroy the Unioi;i. I then 
 so expressed myself in debate, and called upon both parties 
 to take grounds against assuming jurisdiction; but in vain. 
 Had my voice been heeded, and had Congress refused to take 
 jurisdiction, by the united votes of all parties, the agitation 
 which followed would have been prevented, and the fanatical 
 zeal that gives impulse to the agitation, and which has 
 brought us to our present perilous condition, would have 
 become extinguished from the want of fuel to feed the flame. 
 
324 
 
 JOHN CALDWELX CALHOUN 
 
 That was the time for the is^ortli to -have shown her devo- 
 tion to the Union; but, unfortunately, both of the great parties 
 of that section were so intent on obtaining or retaining party 
 ascendancy that all other considerations were overlooked or 
 forgotten. 
 
 What has since followed are but natural consequences. 
 With the success of their first movement this small fanatical 
 party began to acquire strength, and with that to become 
 an object of courtship to both the great parties. The neces- 
 sary consequence was a further increase of power, and a 
 gradual tainting of the opinions of both of the other parties 
 with their doctrines until the infection has extended over 
 both; and the great mass of the population of the ISTorth, who, 
 whatever may be their opinion of the original abolition party, 
 which still preserves its distinctive organization, hardly ever 
 fail, when it comes to acting, to co-operate in carrying out 
 their measures. 
 
 With the increase of their influence they extended the 
 sphere of their action. In a short time after the commence- 
 ment of their first movement they had acquired sufficient 
 influence to induce the legislatures of most of the northern 
 States to pass acts which in effect abrogated the clause of the 
 constitution that provides for the delivery up of fugitive 
 slaves. ISTot long after, petitions followed to abolish slavery 
 in forts, magazines, and dockyards, and all other places where 
 Congress had exclusive power of legislation. This was fol' 
 lowed by petitions and resolutions of legislatures of the 
 northern States, and popular meetings, to exclude the south- 
 ern States from all territories acquired, or to be acquired, and 
 to prevent the admission of any State hereafter into the 
 Union, which, by its constitution, does not prohibit slavery. 
 And Congress is invoked to do all this expressly with the 
 
ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION 
 
 325 
 
 view to the final abolition of slavery in the States. That has 
 been avowed to be the ultimate object from the beginning of 
 the agitation until the present time; and yet the great body 
 of both parties of the North, with the full knowledge of the 
 fact, although disavowing the abolitionists, have co-operated 
 with them in almost all their measures. 
 
 Such is a brief history of the agitation as far as it has yet 
 advanced. ^N^ow I ask, Senators, what is there to prevent its 
 further progress until it fulfills the ultimate end proposed, 
 unless some decisive measure should be adopted to prevent it? 
 
 Has any one of the causes, which has added to its increase 
 from its original small and contemptible beginning until it 
 has attained its present magnitude, diminished in force? 
 
 Is the original cause of the movement — that slavery is a 
 sin, and ought to be suppressed — weaker now than at the 
 commencement? Or is the abolition party less numerous or 
 influential, or have they less influence with, or control over, 
 the two great parties of the North in elections? Or has the 
 South greater means of influencing or controlling the move- 
 ments of this government now than it had when the agitation 
 commenced. 
 
 To all these questions but one answer can be given : No — 
 j\o — no. The very reverse is true. Instead of being 
 weaker, all the elements in favor of agitation are stronger 
 now than they were in 1835, when it first commenced, while 
 all the elements of influence on the part of the South are 
 weaker. 
 
 Unless something decisive is done, I again ask, what is to 
 stop this agitation before the great and final object at which 
 it aims — the abolition of slavery in the States — is consum- 
 mated? Is it, then, not certain that if something is not done 
 to arrest it, the South will be forced to choose between aboli- 
 
326 
 
 JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN 
 
 tion and secession? Indeed, as events are now moving, it 
 will not require the South to secede in order to dissolve the 
 Union. Agitation will of itself effect it, of which its past 
 history furnishes abundant proof — as I shall next proceed to 
 show. 
 
 It is a great mistake to suppose that disunion can be 
 effected by a single blow. The cords which bind these States 
 together in one common Union are far too numerous and 
 powerful for that. Disunion must be the work of time. It 
 is only through a long process, and successively, that the 
 cords can be snapped until the whole fabric falls asunder. 
 Already the agitation of the slavery question has snapped 
 some of the most important, and has greatly weakened all the 
 others, as I shall proceed to show. 
 
 The cords that bind the States together are not only many, 
 but various in character. Some are spiritual or ecclesiasti- 
 cal; some political; others social. Some appertain to the 
 benefit conferred by the Union, and others to the feeling of 
 duty and obligation. 
 
 The strongest of those of a spiritual and ecclesiastical 
 nature consisted in the unity of the great religious denomina- 
 tions, all of which originally embraced the whole Union. All 
 these denominations, with the exception, perhaps, of the 
 Catholics, were organized very much upon the principle of 
 our political institutions. Beginning with smaller meetings 
 corresponding with the political divisions of the country, 
 their organization terminated in one great central assemblage 
 corresponding very much with the character of Congress. 
 
 At these meetings the principal clergymen and lay mem- 
 bers of the respective denominations from all parts of the 
 Union met to transact business relating to their common con- 
 cerns. It was not confined to what appertained to the doc- 
 
ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION 
 
 327 
 
 trines and discipline of the respective denominations, but 
 extended to plans for disseminating tlie Bible, establishing 
 missions, distributing tracts — and of establishing presses 
 for the publication of tracts, newspapers, and periodicals, 
 with a view of diffusing religious information — and for the 
 support of their respective doctrines and creeds. All this 
 combined contributed greatly to strengthen the bonds of the 
 Union. The ties w^hich held each denomination together 
 formed a strong cord to hold the whole Union together, but, 
 powerful as they were, they have not been able to resist the 
 explosive effect of slavery agitation. 
 
 The first of these cords which snapped under its explosive 
 force was that of the powerful Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 The numerous and strong ties which held it together are all 
 broken, and its unity is gone. They now form separate 
 churches ; and, instead of that feeling of attachment and 
 devotion to the interests of the whole church which was for- 
 merly felt, they are now arrayed into two hostile bodies, 
 engaged in litigation about what was formerly their common 
 property. 
 
 The next cord that snapped was that of the Baptists — 
 one of the largest and most respectable of the denominations. 
 That of the Presbyterian is not entirely snapped, but some 
 of its strands have given way. That of the Episcopal Church 
 is the only one of the four great Protestant denominations 
 which remains unbroken and entire. 
 
 The strongest cord of a political character consists of the 
 many and powerful ties that have held together the two great 
 parties which have, with some modifications, existed from 
 the beginning of the government. They both extended to 
 every portion of the Union, and strongly contributed to hold 
 all its parts together. But this powerful cord has fared no 
 
328 
 
 JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN 
 
 better than the spiritual. It resisted for a long time the 
 explosive tendency of the agitation, but has finally snapped 
 under its force — if not entirely, iri a great measure. I^or 
 is there one of the remaining cords which has not been greatly 
 weakened. To this extent the Union has already been de- 
 stroyed by agitation, in the only way it can be, by sundering 
 and weakening the cords which bind it together. 
 
 If the agitation goes on, the same force, acting with 
 increased intensity, as has been shown, will finally snap 
 every cord, when nothing will be left to hold the States 
 together except force. But surely that can with no pro- 
 priety of language be called a Union when the only means 
 by which the weaker is held connected with the stronger por- 
 tion is force. It may, indeed, keep them connected ; but the 
 connection will partake much more of the character of sub- 
 jugation on the part of the weaker to the stronger than the 
 union of free, independent, and sovereign States in one con- 
 federation, as they stood in the early stages of the govern- 
 ment, and which only is worthy of the sacred name of Union. 
 
 Having now. Senators, explained what it is that endangers 
 the Union, and traced it to its cause, and explained its nature 
 and character, the question again recurs — How can the 
 Union be saved ? To this I answer, there is but one way by 
 which it can be, and that is by adopting such measures as 
 will satisfy the States belonging to the Southern section that 
 they can remain in the Union consistently with their honor 
 and their safety. There is, again, only one way by which this 
 can be effected, and that is by removing the causes by which 
 this belief has been produced. Do this, and discontent will 
 cease, harmony and kind feelings between the sections be 
 restored, and every apprehension of danger to the Union 
 removed. The question, then, is — How can this be done ? 
 
ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION 
 
 329 
 
 But, before I undertake to answer this question, 1 propose 
 to show by what the Union cannot be saved. 
 
 It cannot, then, be saved by eulogies on the Union, how- 
 ever splendid or numerous. The cry of Union, Union, the 
 glorious Union ! " can no more prevent disunion than the cry 
 of Health, health, glorious health ! " on ihe part of the 
 physician, can save a patient lying dangerously ill. So long 
 as the Union, instead of being regarded as a protector, is 
 regarded in the opposite character by not much less than a 
 majority of the States, it will be in vain to attempt to con- 
 ciliate them by pronouncing eulogies on it. 
 
 Besides, this cry of Union comes commonly from those 
 whom we cannot believe to be sincere. It usually comes from 
 our assailants. But we cannot believe them to be sincere; 
 for, if they loved the Union, they would necessarily be 
 devoted to the constitution. It made the Union, — and to 
 destroy the constitution would be to destroy the Union' But 
 the only reliable and certain evidence of devotion to the con- 
 stitution is to abstain, on the one hand, from violating it, and 
 to repel, on the other, all attempts to violate it. It is only by 
 faithfully performing these high duties that the constitution 
 can be preserved, and with it the Union. 
 
 But how stands the profession of devotion to the Union 
 by our assailants, when brought to this test ? Have they 
 abstained from violating the constitution? Let the many 
 acts passed by the northern States to set aside and annul the 
 clause of the constitution providing for the delivery up of 
 fugitive slaves answer. I cite this, not that it is the only 
 instance (for there are many others), but because the viola- 
 tion in this particular is too notorious and palpable to be 
 denied ? 
 
 Again: Have they stood forth faithfully to repel viola- 
 
330 
 
 JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN 
 
 tions of the constitution? Let their course in reference to 
 the agitation of the slavery question, which was commenced 
 and has been carried on for fifteen years, avowedly for the 
 purpose of abolishing slavery in the States — an object all 
 acknowledged to be unconstitutional — answer. Let them 
 show a single instance, during this long period, in which 
 they have denounced the agitators or their attempts to effect 
 what is admitted to be unconstitutional, or a single measure 
 which they have brought forward for that purpose. How can 
 we, with all these facts before us, believe that they are sin- 
 cere in their profession of devotion to the Union, or avoid 
 believing their profession is but intended to increase the 
 vigor of their assaults and to weaken the force of our 
 resistance ? 
 
 I^OY can we regard the profession of devotion to the 
 Union, on the part of those who are not our assailants, 
 as sincere, when they pronounce eulogies upon the Union, 
 evidently with the intent of charging us with disunion, 
 without uttering one word of denunciation against our assail- 
 ants. If friends of the Union, their course should be to unite 
 with us in repelling these assaults and denouncing the authors 
 as enemies of the Union. Why they avoid this and pursue 
 the course they do, it is for them to explain. 
 
 'Nor can the Union be saved by invoking the name of 
 the illustrious Southerner whose mortal remains repose on 
 the western bank of the Potomac. He was one of us — a 
 slaveholder and a planter. We have studied his history 
 and find nothing in it to justify submission to wrong. On the 
 contrary, his great fame rests on the solid foundation that, 
 while he was careful to avoid doing wrong to others, he was 
 prompt and decided in repelling wrong. I trust that in this 
 respect we profited by his example. 
 
ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION 33 1 
 
 'Not can we find anything in his history to deter us from 
 seceding from the Union should it fail to fulfil the objects 
 for which it was instituted, by being permanently and hope- 
 lessly converted into the means of oppressing instead of pro- 
 tecting us. On the contrary, we find much in his example 
 to encourage us should we be forced to the extremity of 
 deciding between submission and disunion 
 
 There existed then, as well as now, a union — that between 
 the parent country and her then colonies. It was a union 
 that had much to endear it to the people of the colonies. 
 Under its protecting and superintending care the colonies 
 were planted and grew up and prospered through a long 
 course of years, until they became populous and wealthy. Its 
 benefits were not limited to them. Their extensive agricul- 
 tural and other productions gave birth to a flourishing com- 
 merce which richly rewarded the parent country for the 
 trouble and expense of establishing and protecting them. 
 Washington was born and grew up to manhood under that 
 union. He acquired his early distinction in its service, and 
 there is every reason to believe that he was devotedly attached 
 to it. But his devotion was a rational one. He was attached 
 to it, not as an end, but as a means to an end. "When it 
 failed to fulfil its end, and, instead of affording protection, 
 was converted into the means of oppressing the colonies, he 
 did not hesitate to draw his sword and head the great move- 
 ment by which that union was forever severed and the inde- 
 pendence of these States established. This was the great and 
 crowning glory of his life, which has spread his fame over the 
 whole globe and will transmit it to the latest posterity. 
 
 Nor can the plan proposed by the distinguished senator 
 from Kentucky, nor that of the administration, save the 
 Union. I shall pass by, without remark, the plan proposed 
 
332 
 
 JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN 
 
 by the senator, and proceed directly to the consideration of 
 that of the administration. I, however, assure the distin- 
 guished and able senator that in taking this course no dis- 
 respect whatever is intended to him or his plan. I have 
 adopted it because so many senators of distinguished abilities, 
 who were present when he delivered his speech and explained 
 his plan, and who were fully capable to do justice to the side 
 they support, have replied to him. 
 
 The plan of the administration cannot save the Union, 
 because it can have no effect whatever towards satisfying 
 the States composing the southern section of the Union that 
 they can, consistently with safety and honor, remain in the 
 Union. It is, in fact, but a modification of the Wilmot 
 Proviso. It proposes to effect the same object, — to exclude 
 the South from all the territory acquired by the Mexican 
 treaty. It is well known that the South is united against 
 the Wilmot Proviso, and has committed itself by solemn 
 resolutions to resist should it be adopted. Its opposition is 
 not to the name, but that which it proposes to effect. That, 
 the southern States hold to be unconstitutional, unjust, incon- 
 sistent with their equality as members of the common Union, 
 and calculated to destroy irretrievably the equilibrium 
 between the two sections. 
 
 These objections equally apply to what, for brevity, I will 
 call the Executive Proviso. There is no difference between 
 it and the "VVilmot except in the mode of effecting the object; 
 and in that respect I must say that the latter is much the 
 least objectionable. It goes to its object openly, boldly, and 
 distinctly. It claims for Congress unlimited power over the 
 Territories, and proposes to assert it over Territories acquired 
 from Mexico, by a positive prohibition of slavery. 
 
 Not so the Executive Proviso. It takes an indirect course, 
 
ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION 
 
 383 
 
 and in order to elude the Wilmot Proviso, and thereby avoid 
 encountering the united and determined resistance of the 
 South, it denies, by implication, the authority of Congress 
 to legislate for the Territories, and claims the right as belong- 
 ing exclusively to the inhabitants of the Territories. But to 
 effect the object of excluding the South, it takes care, in the 
 meantime, to let in immigrants freely from the northern 
 States and all other quarters except from the South, which it 
 takes special care to exclude by holding up to them the danger 
 of having their slaves liberated under the Mexican laws. The 
 necessary consequence is to exclude the South from the Terri- 
 tory just as effectually as would the Wilmot Proviso. The 
 only difference in this respect is, that what one proposes to 
 effect directly and openly, the other proposes to effect indi- 
 rectly and covertly. . . . 
 
 Having now shown what cannot save the Union, I return 
 to the question with which I commenced, — How can the 
 Union be saved? There is but one way by which it can with 
 any certainty; and that is by a full and final settlement, on 
 the principle of justice, of all the questions at issue between 
 the two sections. The South asks for justice, simple justice, 
 and less she ought not to take. She has no compromise to 
 offer but the constitution, and no concession or surrender 
 to make. She has already surrendered so much that she has 
 little left to surrender. Such a settlement would go to the 
 root of the evil, and remove all cause of discontent, by satis- 
 fying the South that she could remain honorably and safely 
 in the Union, and thereby restore the harmony and fraternal 
 feelings between the sections which existed anterior to the 
 Missouri agitation. I^othing else can, with any certainty, 
 finally and forever settle the question at issue, terminate agi- 
 tation, and save the Union. 
 
334 
 
 JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN 
 
 But can this be done? Yes, easily; not by the weaker 
 party, for it can of itself do nothing — not even protect itself 
 — but by the stronger. The i^orth has only to will it to 
 accomplish it — to do justice by conceding to the South an 
 equal right in the acquired territory, and to do her duty by 
 causing the stipulations relative to fugitive slaves to be faith- 
 fully fulfilled — to cease the agitation of the slave question, 
 and to provide for the insertion of a provision in the consti- 
 tution, by an amendment, which will restore to the South, in 
 substance, the power she possessed of protecting herself 
 before the equilibrium between the sections was destroyed 
 by the action of this government. There will be no diffi- 
 culty in devising such a provision — one that will protect the 
 South, and which at the same time will improve and 
 strengthen the government instead of impairing and weak- 
 ening it. 
 
 But will the jN^orth agree to this? It is for her to answer 
 the question. But, I will say, she cannot refuse if she has 
 half the love of the Union which she professes to have, or 
 without justly exposing herself to the charge that her love of 
 power and aggrandizement is far greater than her love of the 
 Union. At all events, the responsibility of saving the Union 
 rests on the i^orth, and not on the South. The South cannot 
 save it by any act of hers, and the North may save it without 
 any sacrifice whatever, unless to do justice and to perform 
 her duties under the constitution should be regarded by her 
 as a sacrifice. 
 
 It is time. Senators, that there should be an open and 
 manly avowal on all sides as to what is intended to be done. 
 If the question is not now settled, it is uncertain whether it 
 ever can hereafter be; and we, as the representatives of the 
 States of this Union regarded as governments, should come to 
 
ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION 
 
 335 
 
 a distinct understanding as to our respective views, in order 
 to ascertain whether the great questions at issue can be set- 
 tled or not. If you, who represent the stronger portion, 
 cannot agree to settle them on the broad principle of justice 
 and duty, say so; and let the States we both represent agree 
 to separate and part in peace. 
 
 If you are unwilling we should part in peace, tell us so: 
 and we shall know what to do when you reduce the question 
 to submission or resistance. If you remain silent, you will 
 compel us to infer by your acts what you intend. In that 
 case California will become the test question. If you admit 
 her under all the difficulties that oppose her admission, you 
 compel us to infer that you intend to exclude us from the 
 whole of the acquired Territories, with the intention of 
 destroying irretrievably the equilibrium between the two sec- 
 tions. We should be blind not to perceive in that case that 
 your real objects are power and aggrandizement, and infatu- 
 ated, not to act accordingly. 
 
 I have now. Senators, done my duty in expressing my opin- 
 ions fully, freely, and candidly on this solemn occasion. In 
 doing so I have been governed b}^ the motives which have 
 governed me in all the stages of the agitation of the slavery 
 question since its commencement. I have exerted myself 
 during the whole period to arrest it, with the intention of 
 saving the Union if it could be done; and if it could not, to 
 save the section where it has pleased Providence to cast my 
 lot, and which I sincerely believe has justice and the consti- 
 tution on its side. Having faithfully done my duty to the 
 best of my ability, both to the Union and my section, through- 
 out this agitation, I shall have the consolation, let what will 
 come, that I am free from all responsibility. 
 
LEWIS CASS 
 
 EWis Cass, American statesman and soldier, was born at Exeter, N. H., 
 Oct. 29, 1782, and died at Detroit, Mich., June 17, 1866. Studying law 
 he began, in 1802, the practice of his profession at Zanesville, O. 
 Entering the army at the opening of the second war with England, he 
 served in Canada under General Hull and was taken prisoner. After his release he 
 was raised to the rank of brigadier-general, and settled in what was then called 
 Michigan Territory, and in 1814 became its Governor for a period of sixteen years. 
 In 1831, he was appointed Secretary of War, was sent as minister to France in 1836, 
 and while abroad was instrumental in preventing France from joining the "quintuple 
 alliance," designed to enforce English claims to right of search on the high seas. 
 Resigning his post in 1842, he returned home, and from 1844 to 1857 was Senator 
 from Michigan, and in 1848 an unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency. He en- 
 tered Buchanan's cabinet in 1857 as Secretary of State, but resigned that position 
 in 1860, owing to the President's refusal to re-inforce the garrison of Fort Sumter. 
 His political career was marked alike by success and popularity. He inclined strongly 
 toward the pro-slavery party until the outbreak of the Civil War, in 1861, but after 
 that he warmly supported the Union cause. He was the author of "An Inquiry 
 respecting the History, Traditions, and Languages of the Indians in the United 
 States" (1826); and "France, Its King, Court, and Government" (1840). His life 
 has been written by at least three biographers. 
 
 ON THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE ASSOCIATION OF THE ALUMNI OF 
 HAMILTON COLLEGE. AUGUST 25. 1830 
 
 THIS is not an age of speculation, but of action. Knowl- 
 edge is spreading from nation to nation, bringing 
 all within the sphere of its operation. Its immedi- 
 ate tendency is to reduce the artificial distinctions which 
 time and power have created, and to establish a common 
 standard of virtue and intelligence. By this standard 
 princes and people must be judged. We cannot be idle spec- 
 tators of these efforts and their effects. We are connected 
 with other nations by ties of intercourse not easily severed ; 
 and we are ourselves deeply interested in the operation of 
 (836) 
 
ON THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE 
 
 337 
 
 those causes which can meliorate the condition of mankind, 
 either in their social, political, or moral relations ; which can 
 add stability to our institutions, prosperity to our country, 
 contentment to our citizens. And of all these causes the 
 progress of knowledge is the life-preserving principle; 
 not its advancement merely in the various branches of 
 human investigation, whether active or speculative, but 
 still more its general diffusion among all classes of all 
 nations. 
 
 And it may not be unprofitable in itself, nor unsuitable to 
 the present occasion, briefly to examine the consequences 
 which have resulted, and are yet to result, from the applica- 
 tion of this great moral power. We shall find that it is 
 operating with resistless energy upon the political institu- 
 tions, the social state, and the intellectual condition of 
 mankind. 
 
 And I propose succinctly to review the effects it has already 
 produced upon these great departments of life, and to survey 
 the prospect which it offers for the future ; and then to con- 
 sider the duty and importance of promoting its operations 
 by all the means in our power, and particularly by an 
 enlarged and vigorous system of education. If any observa- 
 tions can place in bolder relief the value of education or the 
 consequence of the establishments devoted to its acquisition, 
 imperfectly as the task may be executed they may not be 
 wholly uninteresting to you. 
 
 Upon this foimdation the great fabric of freedom must 
 rest ; and more fortunate than those who erected a monument 
 of folly upon the plains of Shinar, we may hope that it will 
 be a tower of refuge for our country should the fountains of 
 power be broken up and descend upon us. 
 
 The golden age of the poets is the iron age of govern- 
 
 Vol. 5—22 
 
338 LEWIS CASS 
 
 ments. The relative duties of protection and submission are 
 slowly learned, and it was not until after the lapse of ages 
 and the progress of society that rulers and people perceived, 
 if power in the hands of a few were the means, the benefit of 
 all was the object. 
 
 An ancient historian, who wrote when the fortunes and 
 intellect of Rome were the brightest, while speaking of the 
 ascendency gained by Egyptian priests, an ascendency which 
 held the monarch in captivity without granting freedom to 
 the people, remarks that it was indeed strange that the 
 king should not be left at liberty in regard to his daily food ; 
 but it was still more extraordinary that he could not punish 
 any man to gratify his humor or passion.'' Such sentiments 
 indicate but too clearly the notions then entertained of the 
 kingly office. 
 
 But as the great mass of mankind is instructed, and public 
 opinion enlightened, a moral force is exerted which govern- 
 ments dare not resist. The schoolmaster is a more powerful 
 antagonist than the soldier, and the alphabet a more effi- 
 cient weapon than the bayonet. The nations of Christendom 
 are members of one great family. Such is the intercourse of 
 commerce and science that the proceedings of every govern- 
 ment are observed, discussed, and judged throughout the 
 civilized world. If a hostile gun is fired upon the Danube, 
 the echo is heard upon the Mississippi. If the Egyptian, 
 reversing the tide of ancient conquest, plant the crescent upon 
 the Parthenon, sweeping over the land of Miltiades and Aris- 
 tides with a spirit of ruthless barbarism which leaves to 
 Greece neither the evidence of her past civilization nor the 
 hopes of her future, neither her monuments nor her chil- 
 dren, her sufferings are felt and deplored wherever our coun- 
 trymen have subdued the forest or reclaimed the prairie. 
 
ON THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE 
 
 339 
 
 Where is the man so elevated as not to quail before this 
 universal gaze ? Even the wayward child of fortune who 
 was insulated in his career and fate no less than in the 
 scenes of his birth and death fell before the public opinion of 
 Europe which he had despised and provoked. The banners 
 of the Continental princes would never have crossed the 
 Rhine had not the spirit of their people been roused ; and 
 among the remarkable events of that portentous era, when 
 Europe armed itself against France, there was nothing which 
 marked the aspect of the times more strongly than the zeal 
 everywhere displayed by the people. They marched in the 
 van of their governments, and actually forced their way to 
 war. 
 
 A higher standard of public and political morals has been 
 established by this general censorship. And if the hereditary 
 rulers of the eastern hemisphere are not more virtuous than 
 their predecessors, their conduct is more guarded; nor is 
 public sentiment any longer outraged by scenes rivalling the 
 profligacy of Tiberius in tlie island of Caprea. 
 
 In the diffusion of political information the periodical press 
 is the great instrument of modem times. The wish of 
 Archimedes is realized, and a place is found where the world 
 can be moved. Only a century and a half has passed away 
 since the introduction of newspapers, and during many years 
 their progress was slow and doubtful. In their infancy there 
 was little to commend them to public regard. They were 
 mere chronicles of passing events, recording everything with 
 equal gravity, whether trifling or important. There were no 
 enlarged views, no interesting speculations, no elaborate dis- 
 cussions, political or statistical. But as they attained matu- 
 rity their character gradually changed, and they became, 
 what they now are, the repositories of all that is important in 
 
340 
 
 LEWIS CASS 
 
 the progress of human affairs, and of much that is valuable 
 in science and literature. 
 
 Their duration is now be^^ond the reach of fraud or force. 
 In India, in Iceland, in Australasia, at the Cape of Good 
 Hope, in regions first known to history, and in those which 
 history has yet to visit, these periodical messengers are sent 
 abroad to instruct, to restrain, and to punish. Knowledge 
 is diffused with certainty, promptness, and economy. The 
 conduct of rulers is scrutinized, the course of their policy is 
 investigated, a moving map of the world is spread before the 
 community, and literature, science, and the arts are carried 
 to the remotest verge of civilization. In republics they are 
 the safeguards of freedom; in monarchies they are jealous 
 sentinels, prompt to discern and fearless to announce 
 approaching danger; and in all governments they are the 
 nerves which convey sensation through the political body. 
 
 Benefits, when common, are rarely appreciated, and the 
 natural elements around us are among the choicest blessings 
 of life, which we enjoy without reflection, but which we could 
 not lose without destruction. If the periodical press, with its 
 rich treasures of intelligence and science, were struck from 
 existence, we should then know how much we had possessed 
 by feeling how much we had lost. 
 
 Had this great source of public instruction and information 
 existed in the Old World, how different might have been its 
 destiny and how rich the lessons of experience transmitted to 
 us! How precious would be a newspaper printed at the 
 epoch, of some of those memorable events which have come 
 down to us in " thoughts that breathe and words that burn." 
 A gazette of Sparta or of Athens, when Xerxes was upon the 
 Hellespont or Leonidas at Thermopylae, would be a treasure 
 far beyond the marble monuments which yet look out upon 
 
ON THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE 
 
 341 
 
 the ruins around them. The hopes, the fears, the efforts, the 
 sacrifices of Greece would be before us, not disguised in the 
 impassioned strains of her poets, nor in the eloquent but 
 partial narratives of her historians, but as they marked the 
 approaching danger and the alterations of popular feeling. 
 And with equal interest should we gaze upon a similar monu- 
 ment of the literature and fortunes of Rome when domestic 
 discord or foreign armies shook her power but not her reso- 
 lution ; when her citizens retreated to the sacred mount or her 
 great Carthaginian enemy swept her eagles from the field of 
 Cannae. 
 
 It is impossible to look upon those great events, familiar to 
 us from infancy, but seen through a mirage which distorts 
 while it magnifies, without being sensible of the absence of 
 many of those peculiar traits which give life to the picture 
 of modern times. The orators, statesmen, and philosophers, 
 are actors upon a stage, dressed in theatrical costume, and 
 performing the parts assigned them. But of their private 
 lives, of their peculiar opinions and feelings, of the general 
 state of society, and of the moving incidents which appealed 
 to all and swayed all, little has been recorded and little can 
 be known. 
 
 Of general facts we have enough, and more than enough. 
 Armies and battles and victories are forever before us, as 
 though we had nothing to learn but the splendor of conquest 
 and the utter disregard in which human life was held. All 
 that is wanting to complete our knowledge of antiquity, these 
 publications would have furnished. We should have entered 
 the private dwellings of those who, twenty centuries ago, 
 were as anxious about the cares of this life as we are. Their 
 domestic circles would have been open to us, their conjugal, 
 and parental, and filial relations disclosed, and the whole 
 
342 
 
 LEWIS CASS 
 
 constitution of their society revealed. The meagre details 
 of manners and customs now gleaned from the comic writers 
 would be disregarded in the general view presented to us. 
 Time would be annihilated, as the steam-engine is annihilat- 
 ing space; and nations as remote in age as in position would 
 be brought together. 
 
 But these are advantages peculiar to the age in which we 
 live. The invention of Cadmus still retains all its value, but 
 it is almost the only debt whi<?h the diffusion of modem 
 knowledge owes to the genius of antiquity. And when we 
 recall the circumstances which formerly retarded the progress 
 of letters we may well be surprised that so much was done for 
 the great cause of literature; and that in history, in poetry, 
 in elocution, the works which have descended to us yet excite 
 the admiration of mankind. They are models for imitation 
 rather than efforts to be equalled. The slow and expensive 
 process by which alone manuscripts could be multiplied 
 necessarily limited the circulation of works to the wealthier 
 portion of society; and it is recorded that for three small 
 treatises Plato paid a sum equal to sixteen hundred dollars 
 of our money. When the field of fame was thus limited, 
 only an ardent devotion to literature could stimulate to exer- 
 tion. Greece indeed offered, in one of her institutions, a 
 noble theatre for display; and when all that was wise, and 
 learned, and venerable, through her confederated States, 
 assembled at the Olympic games and listened to the poets 
 and historians who recited their admirable productions, life 
 could afford no reward more grateful or enduring. 
 
 In our own country we may attribute the general progress 
 of political information to the introduction of periodical pub- 
 lications and to the admirable system of posts by which they 
 are distributed to every portion of the republic. Our country 
 
ON THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE 
 
 343 
 
 is intersected in all directions by routes along which the 
 depositaries of intelligence are conveyed. From the Lakes to 
 the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Penobscot to the Missouri, 
 these avenues of knowledge are pouring out their rich treas- 
 ures before the community. 
 
 The tenant of the remotest log cabin upon the very verge 
 of civilization is within the reach of newspapers recording the 
 passing history of the world. The able debate which at 
 the last session of Congress fixed the eyes of the nation upon 
 the Senate was watched with equal anxiety in every part 
 of the land. The talents and opinions of those who mingled 
 in the controversy were as well known upon the frontiers as 
 at the capitol. The grave questions of constitutional law, so 
 elaborately discussed, furnished topics of conversation and 
 argument throughout the confederacy. This general spirit 
 of inquiry, co-operating with the facility afforded for its 
 indulgence, renders the whole body of our citizens spectators 
 of the proceedings of the government. The walls of the 
 capitol are in effect broken down, and the national represen- 
 tatives perform their duties upon a vast arena where their 
 measures are all visible to those who gave, and can take from 
 them, their political life. It is difficult to estimate too highly 
 the effect of this surveillance upon the character and dura- 
 tion of the institutions of our country. 
 
 But through the great commonwealth of nations these 
 causes are everywhere in operation. Representative bodies 
 are gaining strength where they exist, and they are coming 
 into existence where they have heretofore been unknown. 
 With the knowledge of their rights comes the feeling of their 
 strength. The uses and abuses of governments are now 
 freely investigated, and men begin to wonder that they have 
 so long submitted to unjust pretensions founded neither in 
 
344 
 
 LEWIS CASS 
 
 reason nor utility, neither in tlie good they promise nor in 
 that which they perform. 
 
 Time and opinion sanctify many errors, and the "pomp 
 and circumstance'' of a throne have often preserved the 
 authority, if not the life, of the occupant. But he who raised 
 thrones and demolished them as easily as he fought battles 
 and gained them said — and the lesson is now spreading 
 through the world — that they were wooden seats covered 
 with velvet.'' Their splendid drapery cannot much longer 
 conceal the truth. 
 
 It would be arrogant for us to judge what forms of govern- 
 ment are best suited to the condition of the European states ; 
 and we should contradict many of the lessons which history 
 has furnished were we to affirm that monarchies, properly 
 administered, cannot protect the rights and promote the hap- 
 piness of their people. But we may well look forward to 
 the time when such governments, restrained by limitations 
 they cannot pass, and acknowledging the influence of public 
 opinion, shall exercise their powers in a spirit of justice and 
 forbearance. And that time must come, and come speedily. 
 
 It has been said, and with some truth, that the affairs of 
 no nation can be very badly administered where a body of 
 men, no matter how constituted or by whom elected, have the 
 right to assemble, and freely and publicly investigate the pro- 
 ceedings of the government. But how much more efficacious 
 are the general extension of education, and the productions of 
 the press ? Instead of receiving impressions from those who 
 are too often interested in the prevalence of erroneous ones, 
 an enlightened community forms impressions for itself. For 
 a time the ramparts erected in many countries against this 
 great enemy of arbitrary power may prevent the approach 
 of instruction and information. But these defences must 
 
ON THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE 
 
 345 
 
 give way. They will fall, as many prouder monuments have 
 fallen ; and knowledge, freedom, and science will march over 
 them ; not as the northern nations entered the capital of the 
 world, to enslave and destroy, but to redeem, to enlighten, 
 and to protect. Even the great Russian Iceberg, which is 
 already the terror of Europe, has felt the genial influence of 
 knowledge and science, and let us hope it will dissolve beneath 
 their power before it reaches the plains of France and Italy. 
 
 Signs of approaching change begin to be visible among the 
 votaries of Islamism, and happy will it be for the nations 
 professing that faith if they can be brought to perceive their 
 moral and political degradation; to exchange the pilgrimage 
 to Mecca for excursions into the regions of knowledge and 
 science. We might then hope that the stern character of 
 Mahmoud would regenerate the descendants of those mighty 
 warriors who subdued the Empire of the East, and carried 
 their horsetails to the capital of the West. 
 
 JSTor can we be indifferent to the progress of the fortunate 
 soldier who sits upon the throne of the Pharaohs. Centuries 
 of darkness and servitude have rested upon the land of the 
 Nile ; the cradle of the arts and sciences, it has long been 
 their tomb. Its history, like the source of the mighty rivei* 
 which gives it fertility, eludes our research, and its monu- 
 ments have survived the memory of their founders and the 
 objects of their construction. Even here the light of knowl- 
 edge is penetrating; and its pyramids may yet be gilded by 
 the setting rays of the sun of science, as in the infancy of the 
 world they were gilded by its rising beams. 
 
 And Greece, too, is awakening from the slumber of ages. 
 She has cast from her the incubus of Turkish despotism, and 
 is again displaying that standard which triumphed at Mara- 
 thon and Salamis. And who has not deplored her sufferings 
 
346 
 
 LEWIS CASS 
 
 and rejoiced at her emancipation? And what prouder tri- 
 umph have knowledge and science ever gained than the 
 imperishable fame which the deeds of her statesmen and war- 
 riors, the works of her artists, and the productions of her 
 poets and historians and philosophers, have conferred upon 
 the land of Homer, of Aristides, and of Epaminondas? A 
 region of country not larger than some of our counties has 
 rivetted the attention of the world for twenty centuries. To 
 this day our earliest recollections are given to her history, 
 our earliest associations to her fame and fortune. In boy- 
 hood we study the story of her rise and fall ; in manhood we 
 deduce from it lessons of practical wisdom; and in age we 
 revert to it as an interesting chapter in the general history of 
 the human family. 
 
 And in our own hemisphere this great moral agent is pro- 
 claiming from the summit of the Andes the value of free 
 institutions, and is teaching the descendants of Montezuma 
 and the Incas that where political knowledge begins political 
 servitude ends. The pillars of Castile and Leon have been 
 broken, and although the agitations of the storm have not yet 
 subsided, we may still hope that the progress of knowledge 
 will be sufficiently rapid and general to prevent its return. 
 The human mind does not suddenly yield to new impressions. 
 Opinions and moral habits engrafted upon society and 
 transmitted through a long succession of ages become a part 
 of the social constitution. 
 
 When they are injurious or dangerous, rash empiricism 
 may prescribe violent remedies, but the prudent physician 
 will leave much to time and nature. From the Rio del ]N"orte 
 to the Straits of Magellan, during three centuries of religious 
 intolerance and civil misgovernment, political knowledge has 
 been excluded, with jealous care, from the Spanish colonies. 
 
ON THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE 
 
 347 
 
 And now, when like the strong man of Israel they have 
 shaken off the fetters which bound them, and are reorganizing 
 their institutions and laying the foundations of information 
 and instruction, let us not reproach them that their progress 
 is slow and doubtful. 
 
 Our fathers resisted the approach rather than the presence 
 of oppression. It was not what they suffered that drove 
 them to arms, so much as the apprehension of what they 
 might suffer if the plans of the mother country were matured 
 and accomplished. But the cannon of Hidalgo broke the 
 silence of despotism. It roused a people who had long slum- 
 bered in ignorance and oppression; who, knowing neither 
 their rights nor their strength, were suddenly called to expel 
 their rulers and to reconstruct their political edifice. Well 
 might they seek in vain for artists to plan and for mechanics 
 to build. Knowledge comes with time, generally with labor, 
 frequently with suffering. Of labor and suffering they 
 have had enough; may time bring with it their reward. But 
 if in all the elements of knowledge we were more fortunate 
 than our southern brethren, we were not less fortunate in him 
 who first led our armies in war and then guided our councils 
 in peace. He was admirably suited to the circumstances of 
 his age and country, and they to him. His fame is com- 
 mitted to time, his example to mankind, and himself, we 
 humbly hope, to the reward of the righteous. Let no man 
 whose career and fate have not been sealed by death claim 
 or receive the title of Washington. 
 
LORD PALMERSTON 
 
 ENRY John Temple, Viscount Palmerston, a popular English staten- 
 man and prime minister, was born at Broadlands, Hants, Oct. 20, 
 1784, and died near Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Oct. 18, 1865. Edu- 
 cated at Harrow, Edinburgh, and Cambridge, he entered Parliament 
 in 1807, and in the Tory administration of the Duke of Portland he became a 
 junior lord of the admiralty, and from 1809 to 1828 filled the office, in succes- 
 sive ministries, of secretary of war. Though allied with the Tories he advo- 
 cated Catholic Emancipation and gave the measure his warmest support. Later 
 on, he espoused Liberal opinions, and after accepting the post of foreign sec- 
 retary in Earl Grey's cabinet he became one of the acknowledged leaders of the 
 progressive party, an imperialist (as we should say to-day), in his policy toward 
 foreign governments, yet a statesman of advanced and enlightened views. In Lord 
 Aberdeen's coalition ministry he became home secretary, and when the Crimean 
 War broke out, he urged alliance with France against Russia and the immediate 
 siege of Sebastopol. When the Aberdeen government fell, Palmerston became Pre- 
 mier, and with a short interlude he held the reigns of government until his death 
 in his eighty-first year. His administration was singularly able, and on the whole 
 just, especially in its attitude of strict neutrality toward this country in the crisis 
 of the Civil War. He had great tact in his management of the House of Com- 
 mons, his pleasantries, good temper, and jauntiness smoothing the path of govern- 
 ment, and earning for him a well-deserved popularity. He possessed at the same 
 time much firmness and was known as a strict disciplinarian. 
 
 ON THE AFFAIRS OF GREECE 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. JUNE 25. 1850 
 
 SIR, — Anxious as many members are to deliver their sen- 
 timents upon this most important question, yet I am 
 sure they will feel that it is due to myself, that it is due 
 to this House, that it is due to the country, that I should not 
 permit the second night of this debate to close without having 
 stated to the House my views upon the matters in question 
 and my explanation of that part of my conduct for which I 
 have been called to account. 
 
 Wlien I say that this is an important question I say it in 
 (348) 
 
LORD PALMERSTON 
 
ON THE AFFAIRS OF GREECE 
 
 349 
 
 the fullest expressioii of the term. It is a matter which con- 
 cerns not merely the tenure of office by one individual, or even 
 by a government; it is a question that involves principles of 
 national policy and the deepest interests as well as the honor 
 and dignity of England. I cannot think that the course which 
 has been pursued, and by which this question has assumed its 
 present shape^ is becoming those by whose act it has been 
 brought under the discussion of Parliament, or such as fitting 
 the gravity and the importance of the matters which they have 
 thus led this House and the other House of Parliament to 
 discuss. 
 
 For if that party in this country imagine that they are 
 strong enough to carry the government by storm, and to take 
 possession of the citadel of office; or if, without intending to 
 measure their strength with that of their opponents, they con- 
 ceive that there are matters of such gravity connected with the 
 conduct of the government that it becomes their duty to call 
 upon Parliament solemnly to record its disapprobation of what 
 has passed, I think that either in the one case or in the other 
 that party ought not to have been contented with obtaining 
 the expression of the opinion of the House of Lords, but they 
 ought to have sent down their resolution for the consent and 
 concurrence of this House; or, at least, those who act Avith 
 them in political co-operation here should themselves have 
 proposed to this House to come to a similar resolution. 
 
 But, be the road what it may, we have come to the same 
 end; and the 'House is substantially consideiing whether they 
 will adopt the resolution of the House of Lords, or the resolu- 
 tion which has been submitted to them by my honorable and 
 learned friend the member for Sheffield [Mr. Roebuck]. 
 
 'Now, the resolution of the House of Lords involves the 
 future as well as the past. It lays down for the future a prin- 
 
350 
 
 LORD PALMERSTON 
 
 ciple of national policy which I consider totally incompatible 
 with the interests, with the rights, with the honor, and with 
 the dignity of the country; and at variance with the practice, 
 not only of this, but of all other civilized countries in the 
 world. Even the person who moved it was obliged essentially 
 to modify it in his speech. But none of the modifications con- 
 tained in the speech were introduced into the resolution 
 adopted by the other House. 
 
 The country is told that British subjects in foreign lands arc 
 entitled — for that is the meaning of the resolution — to noth- 
 ing but the protection of the laws and the tribunals of the land 
 in which they happen to reside. The country is told that 
 British subjects abroad must not look to their own country for 
 protection, but must trust to that indifferent justice which 
 they may happen to receive at the hands of the government 
 and tribunals of the country in which they may be. 
 
 The House of Lords has not said that this proposition is 
 limited to constitutional countries. The House of Lords has 
 not said that the proposition is inapplicable, not only to arbi- 
 trary and despotic countries, but even to constitutional coun- 
 tries where the courts of justice are not free; although these 
 limitations were stated in the speech. The country is simply 
 informed by the resolution, as it was adopted, that, so far as 
 foreign nations are concerned, the future rule of the govern- 
 ment of England is to be that in all cases and under all cir- 
 cumstances British subjects are to have that protection only 
 which the law and the tribunals of the land in which they 
 happen to be may give them. 
 
 Now, I deny that proposition; and I say it is a doctrine on 
 which no British minister ever yet has acted, and on which 
 the people of England never will suffer any British minister 
 to act. Do I mean to say that British subjects abroad are to 
 
ON THE AFFAIRS OF GREECE 
 
 351 
 
 be above the law, or are to be taken out of the scope of the 
 laws of the land in which they live? I mean no such thing; 
 I contend for no such principle. Undoubtedly, in the first 
 instance, British subjects are bound to have recourse for 
 redress to the means which the law of the land affords them, 
 when that law is available for such purpose. That is the 
 opinion which the legal advisers of the Ctown have given in 
 numerous cases; and it is the opinion on which we have 
 founded our replies to many applications for our interposition 
 in favor of British subjects abroad. 
 
 And allow me, at the first moment when I have occasion to 
 mention the legal advisers of the Crown, to say that I heard 
 with pain aspersions cast from a quarter from which they 
 ought not to have come, upon the person who is the legal 
 adviser of the ofiice which I have the honor to hold. I should 
 have thought that a person who by his own experience must 
 have known, not only the learning, but the independence of 
 mind and the sense of justice that characterize the distin- 
 guished individual who holds the ofiice of Queen's Advocate 
 would have abstained from those aspersions which have been 
 cast upon that meritorious officer. 
 
 Perhaps I may have deviated from the strict orders of the 
 House in what I have said; but I felt it due to an honorable- 
 minded man to give my testimony, on the earliest occasion that 
 presented itself, to the independence and integrity of his 
 character. 
 
 I say, then, that if our subjects abroad have complaints 
 against individuals, or against the government of a foreign 
 country, if the courts of law of that country can afford them 
 redress, then, no doubt, to those courts of justice the British 
 subject ought in the first instance to apply; and it is only on a 
 denial of justice, or upon decisions manifestly unjust, that the 
 
352 
 
 LORD PALMERSTOl^ 
 
 Britisli government should be called upon to interfere. But 
 there may be cases in which no confidence can be placed in the 
 tribunals, those tribunals being, from their composition and 
 nature, not of a character to inspire any hope of obtaining jus- 
 tice from them. 
 
 It has been said, ^' We do not apply this rule to countries 
 whose governments are arbitrary or despotic, because there the 
 tribunals are under the control of the government, and justice 
 cannot be had; and, moreover, it is not meant to be applied 
 to nominal constitutional governments, where the tribunals 
 are corrupt.'^ 
 
 But who is to be the judge, in such a case, whether the 
 tribunals are corrupt or not, — the British government, or the 
 government of the State from which you demand justice ? 
 
 I will take a transaction that occurred not long ago, as an 
 instance of a case in which, I say, the people of England would 
 not permit a British subject to be simply amenable to the law 
 of the foreign country in which he happened to be. I am not 
 going to talk of the power of sending a man arbitrarily to 
 Siberia; nor of a country the constitution of which vests des- 
 potic power in the hands of the sovereign. I will take a case 
 which happened in Sicily, where not long ago a decree was 
 passed that any man who was found with concealed arms in 
 his possession should be brought before a court-martial, and, if 
 found guilty, should be shot. 
 
 'Now, this happened. An innkeeper of Catania was brought 
 before a court-martial, accused under this law by some police 
 officers, who stated that they had discovered in an open bin, in 
 an open stable in his inn yard, a knife, which they denounced 
 as a concealed weapon. Witnesses having been examined, 
 the counsel for the prosecution stated that he gave up the 
 case, as it was evident there was no proof that the knife 
 
ON THE AFFAIRS OF GREECE 
 
 353 
 
 belonged to the man or that he was aware it was in the place 
 where it was found. 
 
 The counsel for the defendant said that, such being the 
 opinion of the counsel for the prosecution, it was unnecessary 
 for him to go into the defence, and he left his client in the 
 hands of the court. The court, however, nevertheless pro- 
 nounced the man guilty of the charge brought against him, and 
 the next morning the man was shot. 
 
 i^ow, what would the English people have said if this had 
 been done to a British subject? and yet everything done was 
 the result of a law, and the man was found guilty of an offence 
 by a tribunal of the country. 
 
 I say, then, that our doctrine is that in the first instance 
 redress should be sought from the law courts of the country; 
 but that in cases where redress cannot be so had — and those 
 cases are many — to confine a British subject to that remedy 
 only would be to deprive him of the protection which he is 
 entitled to receive. 
 
 Then the (question arises, how does this rule apply to the 
 demands we have made upon G-reece? And here I must 
 shortly remind the House of the origin of our relations with 
 Greece, and of the condition of Greece ; because those circum- 
 stances are elements that must enter into the consideration of 
 the course we have pursued. 
 
 It is well known that Greece revolted from Turkey in 1820. 
 In 1827, England, France, and Bussia determined upon inter- 
 posing, and ultimately, in 1828, they resolved to employ 
 forcible means in order to bring Turkey to acknowledge the 
 independence of Greece. Greece, by protocol in 1830, and 
 by treaty in 1832, was erected into a separate and independent 
 State. And whereas nearly from the year 1820 up to the 
 time of that treaty of 1832, when its independence was finally 
 
 Vol. 5—23 
 
354 
 
 LORD PALMERSTON 
 
 acknowledged, Greece had been under a republican form of 
 government, with an Assembly and a Pl-esident, the three 
 Powers determined that Greece should thenceforth be a 
 monarchy. 
 
 But while England assented to that arrangement, and con- 
 sidered that it was better that Greece should assume a mon- 
 archical form of government, yet we attached to that assent an 
 indispensable condition that Greece should be a constitutional 
 monarchy. The British government could not consent to 
 place the people of Greece, in their independent political exist- 
 ence, under as arbitrary a government as that from which 
 they had revolted. 
 
 Consequently, when the three Powers, in the exercise of 
 that function which had been devolved upon them by the 
 authority of the General Assembly of Greece, chose a sovereign 
 for Greece (for that choice was made in consequence of 
 and by virtue of the authority given to them by the General 
 Assembly of Greece), and when Prince Otho of Bavaria, then 
 a minor, was chosen, the three Powers, on announcing the 
 choice they had made, at the same time declared that King 
 Otho would, in concert with his people, give to Greece con- 
 stitutional institutions. 
 
 The choice and that announcement were ratified by the 
 king of Bavaria in the name and on behalf of his son. It was, 
 however, understood that during the minority of King Otho 
 the establishment of the constitution should be suspended ; but 
 that when he came of age he should enter into communication 
 with his people and together with them arrange the form 
 of constitution to be adopted. King Otho came of age, but 
 no constitution was given. There was a disinclination on the 
 part of his advisers to counsel him to fulfill that engagement. 
 
 The government of England expressed an opinion, through 
 
ON THE AFFAIRS OF GREECE 
 
 355 
 
 various channels, that that engagement ought to be fulfilled. 
 But opinions of a different kind reached the royal ear from 
 other quarters. Other governments naturally — I say it without 
 implying any imputation — are attached to their own forms. 
 Each government thinks its own form and nature the best, 
 and wishes to see that form, if possible, extended elsewhere. 
 Therefore I do not mention this with any intention of casting 
 the least reproach upon Russia, or Prussia, or Austria. Those 
 three governments at that time were despotic. Their advice 
 was given and their influence was exerted to prevent the king 
 of Greece from granting a constitution to his people. We 
 thought, however, that in France we might find sympathy 
 with our political opinions and support in the advice which 
 we wished to give. 
 
 But we were unfortunate. The then government of 
 France, not at all undervaluing constitutional institutions, 
 thought that the time was not yet come when Greece could 
 be ripe for representative government. The king of Bavaria 
 leaned also to the same side. Therefore, from the time when 
 the king came of age, and for several years afterward, the 
 English government stood in this position in Greece with 
 regard to its government — that we alone were anxious for 
 the fulfilment of the engagement of the king, while all the 
 other Powers who were represented at Athens were averse to 
 its being made good, or at least were not equally desirous of 
 urging it upon the king of Greece. 
 
 This necessarily placed us in a situation, to say the least 
 of it, of disfavor on the part of the agents of those Powers 
 and on the part of the government of Greece. I was sorry 
 for it; at the same time I don't think the people of this coun- 
 try will be of opinion that we ought, for the sake of obtaining 
 the mere good will of the Greek government, to nave departed 
 
356 
 
 LORD PALMERSTON 
 
 from the principle whicli we had laid down from the begin- 
 ning. But it was so ; and when people talk of the antagonistic 
 influences which were in conflict at the Greek court; and 
 when people say, as I have heard it said, that our ministers 
 and the ministers of foreign governments were disputing 
 about the appointment of mirarchs and nomarchs, and God 
 knows what petty ofiicers of State, I say that, as far as our 
 minister was concerned, that is a statement entirely at vari- 
 ance with the fact. 
 
 Our minister, Sir Edmund Lyons, never, during the whole 
 time he was in Greece, asked any favor of any sort or kind 
 for himself or for any friend. No' conduct of that mean, 
 and low, and petty description was carried on by any person 
 connected with the English government. It was known that 
 we wished the Greek nation should have representative insti- 
 tutions, while, on the other hand, other influences were ex- 
 erted the other way; and that, and that only, was the ground 
 of the differences which existed. 
 
 One of the evils of the absence of constitutional institu- 
 tions was that the whole system of government grew to be 
 full of every kind of abuse. Justice could not be expected 
 where the judges of the tribunals were at the mercy of the 
 advisers of the Crown. The finances could not be in any order 
 where there was no^ public responsibility on the part of those 
 who were to collect or to spend the revenue. Every sort of 
 abuse was practised. 
 
 In all times in Greece, as is well known, there has pre- 
 vailed, from the daring habits of the people, a system of 
 compulsory appropriation — ^forcible appropriation by one 
 man of that which belonged to another; which, of course, 
 is very disagreeable to those who are the victims of the sys- 
 tem, and exceedingly injurious to the social condition, im- 
 
ON THE AFFAIRS OF GREECE 
 
 357 
 
 provement, and prosperity of the country. In short, what 
 foreigners call brigandage, which prevailed under the Turkish 
 rule, has not, I am sorry to say, diminished under the Greek 
 sovereignty. 
 
 Moreover, the police of the Greek government have prac- 
 tised abuses of the grossest description; and if I wanted evi- 
 dence on that subject I could appeal to the honorable gentle- 
 man who has just sat down, who, in a pamphlet which all 
 must have read or ought to read, has detailed instances of 
 barbarity of the most revolting kind practised by the police. 
 I have here depositions of persons who have been subjected 
 to the most abominable tortures which human ingenuity could 
 devise — tortures inflicted upon both sexes, most revolting and 
 disgusting. 
 
 One of the ofiicers, a man of the name of Tzino, at the 
 head of the police, was himself in the habit of inflicting the 
 most diabolical tortures upon Greeks, and upon foreigners, 
 Turks, and others. This man Tzino, instead of being pun- 
 ished as he ought to have been, and as he deserved to be, not 
 only by the laws of nature, but by the laws of Greece — this 
 person, I am sorry to say, is held in great favor in quarters 
 w^here he ought to have received nothing but marks of indig- 
 nation. 
 
 Well, this being the state of things in Greece, there have 
 always been in every town in Greece a great number of per- 
 sons whom we are bound to protect — Maltese, lonians, and a 
 certain number of British subjects. It became the practice 
 of this Greek police to make no distinction between th^ 
 Maltese and lonians and their own fellow subjects. 
 
 "We shall be told, perhaps, as we have already been told, 
 that if the people of the country are liable to have heavy 
 stones placed upon their breasts, and police oflicers to dance 
 
358 
 
 LORD PALMERSTON 
 
 upon them; if they are liable to have their heads tied to tneir 
 knees, and to be left for hours in that state; or to be swung 
 like a pendulum, and to be bastinadoed as they swing, for- 
 eigners have no right to be better treated than the natives, 
 and have no business to complain if the same things are 
 practised upon them. We may be told this, but that is not 
 my opinion, nor do I believe it is the opinion of any reason- 
 able man. Then, I say, that in considering the cases of the 
 lonians, for whom we demanded reparation, the House must 
 look at and consider what was the state of things in this re- 
 spect in Greece; they must consider the practices that were 
 going on, and the necessity of putting a stop to the extension 
 of these abuses to British and Ionian subjects by demanding 
 compensation, scarcely, indeed, more than nominal in some 
 cases, but the granting of which would be an acknowledg- 
 ment that such things should not be done towards us in future. 
 
 In discussing these cases I am concerned to have to say 
 that they appear to me to have been dealt with elsewhere in 
 a spirit and in a tone which I think was neither befitting 
 the persons concerning whom, nor the persons by whom, nor 
 the persons before whom, the discussion took place. It is 
 often more convenient to treat matters with ridicule than 
 with grave argument; and we have had serious things treated 
 jocosely; and grave men kept in a roar of laughter for an 
 hour together at the poverty of one sufferer or at the miser- 
 able habitation of another, at the nationality of one injured 
 man or the religion of another ; as if because a man was poor 
 he might be bastinadoed and tortured with impunity; as if a 
 man who was born in Scotland might be robbed without re- 
 dress; or, because a man is of the Jewish persuasion, he is 
 fair game for any outrage. 
 
 It is a true saying, and has often been repeated, that a 
 
ON THE AFFAIRS OF GREECE 
 
 359 
 
 very moderate share of human wisdom is sufficient for the 
 guidance of human affairs. But there is another truth, 
 equally indisputable, which is that a man who aspires to 
 govern mankind ought to bring to the task generous senti- 
 ments, compassionate sympathies, and noble and elevated 
 thoughts. . . . 
 
 I do not complain of the conduct of those who have made 
 these matters the means of attack upon her Majesty's minis- 
 ters. The government of a great country like this is un- 
 doubtedly an object of fair and legitimate ambition to men 
 of a!l shades of opinion. It is a noble thing to be allowed 
 to guide the policy and to influence the destinies of such a 
 country; and, if ever it was an object of honorable ambition, 
 more than ever must it be so at the moment at which I am 
 speaking. For while we have seen, as stated by the right 
 honorable baronet the member for Ripon [Sir James Gra- 
 ham], the political earthquake rocking Europe from side to 
 side; while we have seen thrones shaken, shattered, levelled; 
 institutions overthrown and destroyed; while in almost every 
 country of Europe the conflict of civil war has deluged the 
 land with blood from the Atlantic to the Black Sea, from 
 the Baltic to the Mediterranean, — this country has presented 
 a spectacle honorable to the people of England and worthy 
 of the admiration of mankind. 
 
 We have shown that liberty is compatible with order; that 
 individual freedom is reconcilable with obedience to the law. 
 We have shown the example of a nation in which every class 
 of society accepts with cheerfulness the lot which Providence 
 has assigned to it; while at the same time every individual 
 of each class is constantly striving to raise himself in the 
 social scale — not by injustice and wrong, not by violence and 
 illegality, but by persevering good conduct and by the steady 
 and energetic exertion of the moral and intellectual faculties 
 
360 
 
 LORD PALMEESTON 
 
 with which his Creator has endowed him. To govern such a 
 people as this is indeed an object worthy of the ambition of 
 the noblest man who lives in the land; and therefore I find 
 no fault w^ith those who may think any opportunity a fair 
 one for endeavoring to place themselves in so distinguished 
 and honorable a position. But I contend that we have not 
 in our foreign policy done anything to forfeit the confidence 
 of the country. We may not, perhaps, in this matter or in 
 that, have acted precisely up to the opinions of one person or 
 of another — and hard indeed it is, as we all know by our in- 
 dividual and private experience, to find any number of men 
 agreeing entirely in any matter, on which they may not be 
 equally possessed of the details of the facts, and circum- 
 stances, and reasons, and conditions which led them to action. 
 But, making allowance for those differences of opinion which 
 may fairly and honorably arise among those who concur in 
 general views, I maintain that the principles which can be 
 traced through all our foreign transactions, as the guiding 
 rule and directing spirit of our proceedings, are such as de- 
 serve approbation. I therefore fearlessly challenge the ver- 
 dict which this House, as representing a political, a com- 
 mercial, a constitutional country, is to give on the question 
 now brought before it; whether the principles on which the 
 foreign policy of her Majesty's govermuent has been con- 
 ducted, and the sense of duty which has led us to think our- 
 selves bound to afford protection to our fellow subjects 
 abroad, are proper and fitting guides for those who are 
 charged with the government of England; and whether as 
 the Roman, in days of old, held himself free from indignity 
 when he could say Civis Romanus sum, so also' a British sub- 
 ject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the 
 watchful eye and the strong arm of England will protect him 
 against injustice and wrong. 
 
CHARLES PHILLIPS 
 
 HARLES Phillips, an Irish lawyer and miscellaneous writer, was born at 
 Sligo, Ireland, about 1789, and died at London, Feb. 1, 1859. He was 
 educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and in law at the Middle Temple, 
 London. Called, in 1812, to the Irish Bar, he there became widely known 
 for his flowery and declamatory oratory. On account of his activity in behalf of Cath- 
 olic Emancipation he was presented with a national testimonial in 1813. In 1821, he 
 was called to the English Bar, and speedily assumed the leadership of the Bar at the 
 Old Bailey. He possessed not a little eloquence, but marred the effect of his addresses 
 and speeches by habitual over-statement. Among his more important publications are : 
 "The Loves of Celestine and St. Aubert" (1811); "Recollections of Curran and His 
 Contemporaries" (1818); "Specimens of Irish Eloquence" (1819); "The Emerald 
 Isle"; and " Vacation Thoughts on Capital Punishments" (1857), a work afterward 
 reprinted by the Quakers. His own speeches he collected and edited, and were pub- 
 lished in 1817, together with some fugitive pieces. 
 
 SPEECH AT AN AGGREGATE MEETING OF ROMAN 
 CATHOLICS AT CORK 
 
 IT IS with no small degree of self-congratulation that I at 
 length find myself in a province which every glance of 
 the eye and every throb of the heart tell me is truly 
 Irish; and that congratulation is not a little enhanced by find- 
 ing that you receive me not quite as a stranger. 
 
 Indeed, if to respect the Christian without regard to his 
 creed, if to love the country but the more for its calamities, 
 if to hate oppression though it be robed in power, if to ven- 
 erate integrity though it pine under persecution, give a man 
 any claim to your recognition, then, indeed, I am not a 
 stranger amongst you. There is a bond of union between 
 brethren, however distant; there is a sympathy between the 
 virtuous, however separated; there is a heaven-bom instinct 
 
 by which the associates of the heart become at once ac- 
 (361) 
 
362 
 
 CHARLES PHILLIPS 
 
 quainted, and kindred natures, as it were, by magic see in 
 the face of a stranger the features of a friend. 
 
 Thus it is, that, though we never met, you hail in me the 
 sweet association, and I feel myself amongst you even as if 
 I were in the home of my nativity. But this my knowledge 
 of you was not left to chance; nor was it left to the records 
 of your charity, the memorials of your patriotism, your muni- 
 cipal magnificence, or your commercial splendor; it came to 
 me hallowed by the accents of that tongue on which Ireland 
 has so often hung with ecstacy, heightened by the eloquence 
 and endeared by the sincerity of, I hope, our mutual friend. 
 Let me congratulate him on having become in some degree 
 naturalized in a province where the spirit of the elder day 
 seems to have lingered; and let me congratulate you on the 
 acquisition of a man who is at once the zealous advocate of 
 your cause and a practical instance of the injustice of your 
 oppressions. Surely, surely if merit had fair play, if splendid 
 talents, if indefatigable industry, if great research, if unsul- 
 lied principle, if a heart full of the finest affections, if a mind 
 matured in every manly accomplishment — in short, if every 
 noble public quality, mellowed and reflected in the pure mir- 
 ror of domestic virtue, could entitle a subject to distinction 
 in a state, Mr. O'Connell should be distinguished; but it is 
 his crime to be a Catholic and his curse to be an Irishman. 
 
 Simpleton! he prefers his conscience to a place, and the 
 love of his country to a participation in her plunder! Indeed 
 he will never rise. If he joined the bigots of my sect he 
 might be a sergeant; if he joined the infidels of your sect he 
 might enjoy a pension, and there is no knowing whether some 
 Orange corporator, at an Orange anniversary, might not mod- 
 estly yield him the precedence of giving " the glorious and 
 immortal memory." 
 
AT MEETING OF CATHOLICS AT CORK 
 
 363 
 
 Oh, yes; he might be privileged to get drunk in gratitude 
 to the man who colonized ignorance in his native land and 
 left to his creed the legacy of legalized persecution. Nor 
 would he stand alone, no matter what might be the measure 
 of his disgrace or the degree of his dereliction. You well 
 know there are many of your own community who would 
 leave him at the distance-post. In contemplating their recre- 
 ancy I should be almost tempted to smile at the exhibition of 
 their pretensions if there was not a kind of moral melancholy 
 intermingled that changed satire into pity and ridicule into 
 contempt. 
 
 For my part, I behold them in the apathy of their servitude 
 as I would some miserable maniac in the contentment of his 
 captivity. Poor creature! when all that raised him from the 
 brute is levelled, and his glorious intellect is moldering in 
 ruins, you may see him with his song of triumph and his 
 crown of straw, a fancied freeman amid the clanking of his 
 chains and an imaginary monarch beneath the inflictions of 
 his keeper. 
 
 Merciful God ! is it not almost an argument for the sceptic 
 and the disbeliever, when we see the human shape almost 
 without an aspiration of the human soul, separated by no 
 boundary from the beasts that perish, beholding with indif- 
 ference the captivity of their country, the persecution of their 
 creed, and the helpless, hopeless destiny of their children? 
 But they have no creed nor consciences nor country; their 
 god is gold, their gospel is a contract, their church a counting- 
 house, their characters a commodity; they never pray but for 
 the opportunities of corruption, and hold their consciences, 
 as they do their government debentures, at a price propor- 
 tioned to the misfortunes of their country. 
 
 But let us turn from these mendicants of disgrace ; though 
 
364 
 
 CHARLES PHILLIPS 
 
 Ireland is doomed to the stain of their birth, her mind need 
 not be sullied by their contemplation. I turn from them 
 with pleasure to the contemplation of your cause, which, as 
 far as argument can effect it, stands on a sublime and splen- 
 did elevation. Every obstacle has vanished into air; every 
 favorable circumstance has hardened into adamant. 
 
 The Pope, whom childhood was taught to lisp as the enemy 
 of religion, and age shuddered at as a prescriptive calamity, 
 has by his example put the princes of Christendom to shame. 
 This day of miracles, in which the human heart has been 
 strung to its extremest point of energy; this day, tO' which 
 posterity will look for instances of every crime and every 
 virtue, holds not in its page of wonders a more sublime 
 phenomenon than that calumniated pontiif. Placed at the 
 very pinnacle of human elevation, surrounded by the pomp of 
 the Vatican and the splendors of the court, pouring the man- 
 dates of Christ from the throne of the Caesars, nations were 
 his subjects, kings were his companions, religion was his hand- 
 maid; he went forth gorgeous with the accumulated dignity 
 of ages, every knee bending and every eye blessing the prince 
 of one world and the prophet of another. Have we not seen 
 him in one moment, his crown crumbled, his sceptre a reed, 
 his throne a shadow, his home a dungeon? 
 
 But if we have. Catholics, it was. only tO' show how ines- 
 timable is human virtue compared with human grandeur; it 
 was only to show those whose faith was failing and whose 
 fears were strengthening that the simplicity of the patriarchs, 
 the piety of the saints, and the patience of the martyrs had not 
 wholly vanished. 
 
 Perhaps it was also ordained to show the bigot at home, 
 as well as the tyrant abroad, that though the person might 
 be chained, and the motive calumniated, religion was still 
 
AT MEETING OF CATHOLICS AT CORK 
 
 365 
 
 strong enough to support her sons and to confound if she 
 could not reclaim her enemies. 'No threats could awe, no 
 promises could tempt, no sufferings could appal him; amid the 
 damps of his dungeon he dashed away the cup in which the 
 pearl of his liberty was to be dissolved. 
 
 Only reflect on the state of the world at that moment. All 
 around him was convulsed, the very foundations of the earth 
 seemed giving way; the comet was let loose, that " from its 
 fiery hair shook pestilence and death;" the twilight was 
 gathering, the tempest was roaring, the darkness was at hand; 
 but he towered sublime, like the last mountain in the deluge, 
 majestic, not less in his elevation than in his solitude, im- 
 mutable amid change, magnificent amid ruin, the last rem- 
 nant of earth's beauty, the last resting-place of heaven's light ! 
 Thus have the terrors of the Vatican retreated; thus has that 
 cloud which hovered o'er your cause brightened at once into 
 a sign of your faith and an assurance of your victory. 
 
 Another obstacle, the omnipotence of France; I know it 
 was a pretence, but it was made an obstacle. What has be- 
 come of it? The spell of her invincibility destroyed, the 
 spirit of her armies broken, her immense boundary dismem- 
 bered, and the lord of her empire become the exile of a rock. 
 She allows fancy no fear, and bigotry no speciousness; and, 
 as if in the very operation of the change to point the purpose 
 of your redemption, the hand that replanted the rejected lily 
 was that of an Irish Catholic. 
 
 Perhaps it is not also unworthy of remark that the last day 
 of her triumph and the first of her decline was that on which 
 her insatiable chieftain smote the holy head of your religion. 
 You will hardly suspect I am, imbued with the follies of super- 
 stition; but when the man now unborn shall trace the story 
 of that eventful day he will see the adopted child of fortune 
 
366 
 
 CHARLES PHILLIPS 
 
 borne on the wings of victory from clime to clime, marking 
 every movement with a triumph and every pause with a 
 crown, till time, space, and seasons, nay, even nature herself, 
 seeming to vanish from before him — in the blasphemy of his 
 ambition he smote the apostle of his God and dared to raise the 
 everlasting Cross amid his perishable trophies! 
 
 I am no fanatic; but is it not remarkable? May it not be 
 one of those sig-ns which the Deity has sometimes given in 
 compassion to our infirmity? signs which, in the punishment 
 of one nation, not infrequently denote the warning to 
 another — 
 
 " Signs sent by God to mark the will of Heaven: 
 Signs which bid nations weep and be forgiven." 
 
 The argument, however, is taken from the bigot; and those 
 whose consciousness taught them to expect what your loyalty 
 should have taught them to repel can no longer oppose you 
 from the terrors of invasion. Thus, then, the papal phantom 
 and the French threat have vanished into nothing. 
 
 Another obstacle, the tenets of your creed. Has England 
 still to learn them? I will tell her where. Let her ask 
 Canada, the last plank of her American shipwreck. Let her 
 ask Portugal, the first omen of her European splendor. Let 
 her ask Spain, the most Catholic country in the universe, her 
 Catholic friends, her Catholic allies, her rivals in the triumph, 
 her reliance in the retreat, her last stay when the world had 
 deserted her. They must have told her on the field of blood 
 whether it was true that they kept no faith with heretics." 
 
 Alas, alas! how miserable a thing is bigotry, when every 
 friend puts it to blush and every triumph but rebukes its 
 weakness! If England continued still to accredit this 
 calumny, I would direct her for conviction to the hero^ for 
 whose gift alone she owes us an eteniity of gratitude; whom 
 
AT MEETING OP CATHOLICS AT CORK 
 
 867 
 
 we have seen leading the van of universal emancipation, deck- 
 ing his wreath with the flowers of every soil and filling his 
 army with the soldiers of every sect; before whose splendid 
 dawn, every tear exhaling and every vapor vanishing, the 
 colors of the European world have revived and the spirit of 
 European liberty (may no crimic avert the omen!) seems to 
 have risen! Suppose he was a Catholic, could this have been? 
 Suppose Catholics did not follow him, could this have been? 
 Did the Catholic Cbrtes inquire his faith when they gave 
 him. the supreme command? Did the regent of Portugal 
 withhold from his creed the reward of his valor? Did the 
 Catholic soldier pause at Salamanca to dispute upon polemics? 
 Did the Catholic chieftain prove upon Barossa that he had 
 kept no faith with heretics? or did the creed of Spain, the 
 same with that of France, the opposite of that of England, 
 prevent their association in the field of liberty ? 
 
 Oh, no, no, no! the citizen of every clime, the friend of 
 every color, and the child of every creed, liberty walks abroad 
 in the ubiquity of her benevolence, alike to her the varieties 
 of faith and the vicissitudes of country; she has no object 
 but the happiness of man, no bounds but the extremities of 
 creation. Yes, yes, it was reserved for Wellington to redeem 
 his own country when he was regenerating every other. It 
 was reserved for him to show how vile were the aspersions on 
 your creed, how generous were the glowings of your grati- 
 tude. 
 
 He was a Protestant, yet Catholics trusted him; he was a 
 Protestant, yet Catholics advanced him. He is a Protestant 
 Knight in Catholic Portugal; he is a Protestant Duke in 
 Catholic Spain; he is a Protestant commander of Catholic 
 armies: he is more; he is the living proof of the Catholic's 
 liberality and the undeniable refutation of the Protestant's 
 
368 
 
 CHARLES PHILLIPS 
 
 injustice. Gentlemen, as a Protestant, though I may blush 
 for the bigotry of many of my creed who continue obstinate, 
 in the teeth of this conviction, still, were I a Catholic, I 
 should feel little triumph in the victory. I should only hang 
 my head at the distresses which this warfare occasioned to 
 my country. I should only think how long she had withered 
 in the agony of her disunion; how long she had bent, fettered 
 by slaves, cajoled by blockheads, and plundered by adven- 
 turers; the proverb of the fool, the prey of the politician, the 
 dupe of the designing, the experiment of the desperate; 
 struggling as it were between her own fanatical and in- 
 fatuated parties, those hell-engendered serpents which enfold 
 her, like the Trojan seer, even at the worship of her altars, 
 and crush her to death in the very embraces of her children! 
 It is time (is it not?) that she should be extricated. 
 
 The act would be proud, the means would be Christian; 
 mutual forbearance, mutual indulgence, mutual concession: I 
 would say to the Protestant, " Cbncede;" I would say to the 
 Catholic, Forgive;" I would say to both, ^' Though you bend 
 not at the same shrine^ you have a common God and a com- 
 mon country; the one has commanded love, the other kneels 
 to you for peace," 
 
 This hostility of her sects has been the disgrace, the pe- 
 culiar disgrace of Christianity. The Gentoo loves his caste; 
 so does the Mahometan; so does the Hindoo, whom England, 
 out of the abundance of her charity, is about to teach her 
 creed: — I hope she may not teach her practice. 
 
 But Christianity — Christianity alone, exhibits her thou- 
 sand sects, each denouncing his neighbor here, in the name 
 of God; and damning hereafter, out of pure devotion! 
 "You're a heretic," says the Catholic: "You're a Papist," 
 says the Protestant. " I appeal to Saini Peter," exclaims 
 
AT MEETING OF CATHOLICS AT CORK 
 
 B69 
 
 the Catholic : " I appeal to Saint Athanasius/' cries the Pro- 
 testant: " and if it goes to damning he's as good at it as any 
 saint in the calendar." You'll all be damned eternally," 
 moans out the Methodist; " I'm the elect! " 
 
 Thus it is^ you see, each has his anathema, his accusation, 
 and his retort; and in the end religion is the victim! The 
 victory of each is the overthrow of all; and infidelity, laugh- 
 ing at the contest, writes the refutation of their creed in the 
 blood of the combatants! I wonder if this reflection has 
 ever struck any of those reverend dignitaries who rear their 
 mitres against Catholic emancipation. Has it ever glanced 
 across their Christian zeal, if the story of our country should 
 have casually reached the valleys of Hindostan, with what 
 an argument they are furnishing the heathen world against 
 their sacred missionary? In what terms could the Christian 
 ecclesiastic answer the Eastern Bramin, when he replied to 
 his exhortations in language such as this? 
 
 " Father, we have heard your doctrine ; it is splendid in 
 theory, specious in promise, sublime in prospect; like the 
 world to which it leads, it is rich in the miracles of light. 
 But, Father, we have heard that there are times when its 
 rays vanish and leave your sphere in darkness, or when your 
 only lustre arises from meteors of fire and moons of blood; 
 we have heard of the verdant island which the Great Spirit 
 has raised in the bosom of the waters with such a bloom of 
 beauty that the very wave she has usurped worships the love- 
 liness of her intrusion. The sovereign of our forests is not 
 more generous in his anger than her sons; the snow-flake, 
 ere it falls on the mountain, is not purer than her daughters; 
 little inland seas reflect the splendors of her landscape, and 
 her valleys smile at the story of the serpent! Father, is it 
 true that this isle of the sun, this people of the morning, find 
 
 Vol. 5—24 
 
370 
 
 CHARLES PHILLIPS 
 
 the fury of the ocean in your creed and more than the venom 
 of the viper in your policy? Is it true that for six hundred 
 years her peasant has not tasted peace nor her piety rested 
 from persecution? Oh, Brama! defend us from the God of 
 the Christian! Father, Father, return to your brethren, re- 
 trace the waters; we may live in ignorance, but we live in 
 love; and we will not taste the tree that gives us evil when 
 Lt gives us wisdom. The heart is our guide, nature is our 
 gospel; in the imitation of our fathers we found our hope; 
 and, if we err, on the virtue of our motives we rely for our 
 redemption." 
 
 How would the missionaries of the mitre answer him? 
 How will they answer that insulted Being of whose creed 
 their conduct carries the refutation? 
 
 But to what end do I argue with the bigot? — a wretch 
 whom no philosophy can humanize, no charity soften, no re- 
 ligion reclaim, no miracle convert: a monster who, red with 
 the fires of hell and bending under the crimes of earth, erects 
 his murderous divinity upon a throne of skulls, and would 
 gladly feed, even with a brother's blood, the cannibal appetite 
 of his rejected altar! His very interest cannot soften him 
 into humanity. Surely if it could, no man would be found 
 mad enough to advocate a system which cankers the very 
 heart of society and undermines the natural resources of 
 government; which takes away the strongest excitement to 
 industry by closing up every avenue to laudable ambition; 
 which administers to the vanity or the vice of a party when 
 it should only study the advantage of a people; and holds 
 out the perquisites of state as an impious bounty on the perse- 
 cution of religion. 
 
 I have already shown that the power of the Pope, that the 
 power of France, and that the tenets of your creed, were but 
 
AT MEETING OF CATHOLICS AT CORK 
 
 371 
 
 imaginarv auxiliaries to this system. Another pretended 
 obstacle has, however, been opposed to your emancipation. 
 I allude to the danger arising from a foreign influence. 
 What a triumphant answer can you give to that! Methinks, 
 as lately, I see the assemblage of your hallowed hierarchy, 
 surrounded by the priesthood, and followed by the people, 
 waving aloft the crucifix of Christ alike against the seduc- 
 tions of the court and the commands of the conclave! Was 
 it not a delightful, a heart-cheering spectacle, to see that holy 
 band of brothers preferring the chance of martyrdom to the 
 certainty of promotion, and postponing all the gratifications 
 of worldly pride to the severe but heaven-gaining glories of 
 their poverty? They acted honestly, and they acted wisely 
 also; for I say here, before the largest assembly I ever saw 
 in any country — and I believe you are almost all Catholics — I 
 say here that if the see of Rome presumed to impose any 
 temporal mandate directly or indirectly on the Irish people, 
 the Irish bishops should at once abandon it; or the flocks, 
 one and all, would abjure and banish them both together. 
 History affords us too fatal an example of the perfidious, 
 arrogant, and venal interference of a papal usurper of former 
 days, in the temporal jurisdiction of this country; an inter- 
 ference assumed without right, exercised without principle, 
 and followed by calamities apparently without end. • 
 
 Thus, then, has every obstacle vanished: but it has done 
 more — every obstacle has, as it were by miracle, produced a 
 powerful argument in your favor. How do I prove it? Fol- 
 low me in my proofs, and you will see by what links the chain 
 is united. The power of ^^^apoleon was the grand and lead- 
 ing obstacle to your emancipation. That power led him to 
 the menace of an Irish invasion. What did that prove? 
 Only the sincerity of Irish allegiance. On the very threat, 
 
372 
 
 CHARLES PHILLTfS 
 
 we poured forth our volunteers, our yeomen, and our militia; 
 and the country became encircled with an armed and a loyal 
 population. Thus then the calumny of your disaffection 
 vanished. 
 
 That power next led him to the invasion of Portugal. 
 What did it prove? Only the good faith of Catholic alle- 
 giance. Every field in the Peninsula saw the Catholic Por- 
 tuguese hail the English Protestant as a brother and a friend, 
 joined in the same pride and the same peril. Thus, then, 
 vanished the slander that you could not keep faith with 
 heretics. That power next led him to the imprisonment of 
 the Pontiff, so long suspected of being quite ready to sacrifice 
 everything to his interest and his dominion. What did that 
 prove? The strength of his principles, the purity of his 
 faith, the disinterestedness of his practice. It proved a life 
 spent in the study of the saints and ready to be closed by an 
 imitation of the martyrs. Thus, also, was the head of your 
 religion vindicated to Europe. 
 
 There remained behind but one impediment — ^your lia- 
 bility to a foreign influence. 'Now mark! The Pontiff's cap- 
 tivity led to the transmission of Quarantotti's rescript; and, 
 on its arrival, from the priest to the peasant, there was not 
 a Catholic in the land who did not spurn the document of 
 Italian audacity! Thus, then, vanished also the phantom of 
 a foreign influence! Is this conviction? Is not the hand of 
 God in it? Oh yes! for observe what followed. The very 
 moment that power which was the first and last leading argu- 
 ment against you had, by its special operation, banished every 
 obstacle, that power itself, as it were by enchantment, evap- 
 orated at once; and peace with Europe took away the last pre- 
 tence for your exclusion. 
 
 Peace with Europe ! alas, alas, there is no peace for Ireland ! 
 
AT MEETING OF CATHOLICS AT CORK 
 
 373 
 
 The universal pacification was but the signal for renewed 
 hostility to us; and the mockery of its preliminaries were 
 tolled through our provinces by the knell of the curfew. I 
 ask, is it not time that this hostility should cease? If ever 
 there was a day when it w^as necessary, that day undoubtedly 
 exists no longer. 
 
 The Continent is triumphant, the Peninsula is free, France 
 is our ally. The hapless house which gave birth to Jacobin- 
 ism is extinct forever. The Pope has been found not only 
 not hostile, but complying. Indeed, if England would recol- 
 lect the share you had in these sublime events, the very recol- 
 lection should subsidize her into gratitude. But should 
 she not — should she, with a baseness monstrous and unparal- 
 leled, forget our services, she has still to study a tremendous 
 lesson. 
 
 The ancient order of Europe, it is true, is restored; but 
 what restored it? Coalition after coalition had crumbled 
 away before the might of the conqueror; crowns were but 
 ephemeral; monarchs only the tenants of an hour; the descend- 
 ant of Frederick dwindled into a vassal; the heir of Peter 
 shrunk into the recesses of his frozen desert; the successor 
 of Charles roamed a vagabond, not only throneless, but house- 
 less; every evening sun set upon a change; every morning 
 dawned upon some new convulsion; in short, the whole 
 political globe quivered as with an earthquake ; and who could 
 tell what venerable monument was next to shiver beneath 
 the splendid, frightful, and reposeless heavings of the French 
 volcano? What gave Europe peace, and England safety, 
 amid this palsy of her princes? Was it not the Landwekr 
 and the I/andsturm and the Levy en Masse ? Was it not the 
 people — that first and last and best and noblest, as well as 
 safest, security of a virtuous government? It is a glorious 
 
374 
 
 CHARLES PHILLIPS 
 
 lesson; she ought to study it in this hour of safety; but should 
 she not 
 
 " Oh, woe be to the Prince who rules by fear, 
 When danger comes upon him! " 
 
 She will adopt it. I hope it from her wisdom; I expect 
 it from her policy; I claim it from her justice; I demand it 
 from her gratitude. She must at length see that there is a 
 gross mistake in the management of Ireland. 'No wise man 
 ever yet imagined injustice to be his interest; and the minister 
 who thinks he serves a state by upholding the most irritating 
 and the most impious of all monopolies will one day or other 
 find himself miserably mistaken. 
 
 This system of persecution is not the way to govern this 
 country; at least to govern it with any happiness to itself or 
 advantage to its rulers. Centuries have proved its total in- 
 efficiency; and if it be continued for centuries the proofs 
 will be but multiplied. Why, however, should I blame the 
 English people when I see our own representatives so shame- 
 fully negligent of our interest? 
 
 The other day, for instance, when Mr. Peel introduced, — 
 aye, and passed, too, — his three newly invented penal bills, to 
 the necessity of which every assizes in Ireland and as honest 
 a judge as ever dignified or redeemed the ermine has given, 
 the refutation, why was it that no Irish member rose in his 
 place to vindicate his country? Where were the nominal 
 representatives of Ireland? Where were the renegade re- 
 vilers of the demagogue? Where were the noisy proclaimers 
 of the board? What! was there not one voice to own the 
 country? Was the patriot of 1782 an assenting auditor? 
 Were our hundred itinerants mute and motionless — " quite 
 chop-fallen — or is it only when Ireland is slandered, and 
 her motives misrepresented, and her oppressions are basely 
 
AT MEETING OF CATHOLICS AT CORK 
 
 375 
 
 and falsely denied, that their venal throats are ready to echo 
 the chorus of ministerial calumny? 
 
 Oh, I should not have to ask those questions if in the late 
 contest for this city you had prevailed and sent Hutchinson 
 into Parliament ; he would have risen, though alone, as I have 
 often seen him — richer not less in hereditary fame than in 
 personal accomplishments, the ornament of Ireland as she is, 
 the solitary remnant of what she was. If slander dared asperse 
 her, it would not have done so with impunity. He would 
 have encouraged the timid; he would have shamed the recre- 
 ant; and though he could not save us from chains he would 
 at least have shielded us from calumny. 
 
 Let me hope that his absence shall be but of short dura- 
 tion, and that this city will earn an additional claim to the 
 gratitude of the country by electing him her representative. 
 I scarcely know him but as a public man ; and considering the 
 state to which we are reduced by the apostacy of some, and 
 the ingratitude of others, and venality of more, I say you 
 should inscribe the conduct of such a man in the manuals of 
 your devotion and in the primers of your children; but above 
 all you should act on it yourselves. 
 
 My friends, farewell! This has been a most unexpected 
 meeting to me; it has been our first — it may be our last. I 
 can never forget the enthusiasm of this reception. I am too 
 much affected by it to make professions; but, believe me, no 
 matter where I may be driven by the whim of my destiny, 
 you shall find me one in whom change of place shall create 
 no change of principle, on© whose memory must perish ere 
 he forgets his country, whose heart must be cold when it beats 
 not for her happiness. 
 
JOHN J. CRITTENDEN 
 
 OHN Jordan Crittenden, American publicist, senator, and Attorney- 
 General of the United States in two administrations, was born in Wood- 
 ford Co., Ky., Sept. 10, 1787, and died near Frankfort, Ky., July 26, 
 1863. He was educated at William and Mary College, from which he 
 graduated in 1807, and later on was admitted to the Bar. He saw military service 
 in the War of 1812, and four years later became a member of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives in his own State, and in 1817-19, and again in 1835-41, represented Ken- 
 tucky in the United States Senate. In 1819, he removed to Frankfort, Ky., where 
 he attained distinction in his profession, and became a friend and political ally of 
 Henry Clay. For a few months in 1841, he was Attorney-General of the United 
 States in the Harrison-Tyler administration, after which he reentered the United 
 States Senate in 1842, and was a member of that body until he became, in 1848, 
 Governor of Kentucky. In President Fillmore's Cabinet he was Attorney-General, 
 and again United States Senator from 1855 to 1861, where he opposed secession and 
 strove by his speeches and resolutions, known as the "Crittenden Compromise," 
 (which, however, did not pass in the Chamber), to reestablish the slave line between 
 the opposing sections of the country and to enforce the fugitive slave laws. In seek- 
 ing to conciliate contending sections and interests and, if possible, avert secession, 
 he delivered in the Senate the appended speech. From 1861 until his death (1863) 
 he was a Unionist member of Congress. 
 
 ON THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE 
 
 UNITED STATES SENATE, DECEMBER i8, i860 
 
 I AM gratified, Mr. President, to see in the various propo- 
 sitions which have been made, such a universal anxiety 
 to save the country from the dangerous dissensions 
 which now prevail ; and I have, under a very serious view and 
 without the least ambitious feeling whatever connected with 
 it, prepared a series of constitutional amendments, which I 
 desire to offer to the Senate, hoping that they may form, in 
 part at least, some basis for measures that may settle the 
 controverted questions which now so much agitate our coun- 
 (376) 
 
ON THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE 
 
 377 
 
 try. Certainly, sir, I do not propose now any elaborate dis- 
 cussion of the subject. Before presenting these resolutions, 
 however, to the Senate, I desire to make a few remarks ex- 
 planatory of them, that the Senate may understand their 
 general scope. 
 
 The questions of an alarming character are those which 
 have grown out of the controversy between the northern 
 and southern sections of our country in relation to the 
 rights of the slave-holding States in the Territories of 
 the United States, and in relation to the rights of the citi- 
 zens of the latter in their slaves. I have endeavored by 
 these resolutions to meet all these questions and causes of 
 discontent, and by amendments to the Constitution of the 
 United States, so that the settlement, if we happily agree 
 on any, may be permanent, and leave no cause for fuure 
 controversy. These resolutions propose, then, in the first 
 place, in substance, the restoration of the Missouri Com- 
 promise, extending the line throughout the Territories of 
 the United States to the eastern border of California, rec- 
 ognizing slavery in all the territory south of that line, and 
 prohibiting slavery in all the territory north of it; with a 
 provision, however, that vv^hen any of those Territories, 
 north or south, are formed into States^ they shall then be 
 at liberty to exclude or admit slavery as they please ; and 
 that, in* the one case or the other, it shall be no objection 
 to their admission into the Union. In this way, sir, I pro- 
 pose to settle the question, both as to territory and slavery, 
 so far as it regards the Territories of the United States. 
 
 I propose, sir, also, that the Constitution be so amended 
 as to declare that Congress shall have no power to abolish 
 slavery in the District of Columbia so long as slavery exists 
 in the States of Maryland and Virginia ; and that they shall 
 
378 
 
 JOHN JORDAN CRITTENDEN 
 
 have no power to abolish slavery in any of the places under 
 their special jurisdiction within the Southern States. 
 
 These are the constitutional amendments which I pro- 
 pose, and embrace the whole of them in regard to the 
 questions of territory and slavery. There are other 
 propositions in relation to grievances, and in relation to 
 controversies which I suppose are within the jurisdiction 
 of Congress, and may be removed by the action of Con- 
 gress. I propose, in regard to legislative action, that the 
 fugitive slave law, as it is commonly called, shall be de- 
 clared by the Senate to be a constitutional act, in strict 
 pursuance of the Constitution. I propose to declare that 
 it has been decided by the Supreme Court of the United 
 States to be constitutional, and that the Southern States 
 are entitled to a faithful and complete execution of that 
 law, and that no amendment shall be made hereafter to it 
 which will impair its efficiency. But, thinking that it would 
 not impair its efficiency, I have proposed amendments to it 
 in two particulars. I have understood from gentlemen of 
 the N^orth that there is objection to the provision giving a 
 different fee where the commissioner decides to deliver 
 the slave to the claimant, from that which is given where 
 he decides to discharge the alleged slave; the law declares 
 that in the latter case he shall have but five dollars, while 
 in the other he shall have ten dollars — twice the amount in 
 one case than in the other. The reason for this was very 
 obvious. In case he delivers the servant to his claimant 
 he is required to draw out a lengthy certificate, stating the 
 principal and substantial grounds on which his decision 
 rests, and to return him either to the marshal or to the 
 claimant to remove him to the State from which he es- 
 caped. It was for that reason that a larger fee was giver 
 
ON THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE 
 
 379 
 
 to the commissioner, where he had the largest service to 
 perform. But, sir, the act being viewed unfavorably and 
 with great prejudice, in a certain portion of the country, 
 this was regarded as very obnoxious, because it seemed to 
 give an inducement to the commissioner to return the 
 slave to the master, as he thereby obtained the larger 
 fee of ten dollars instead of the smaller one of five dol- 
 lars. I have said, let the fee be the same in both cases. 
 
 I have understood, furthermore, sir, that inasmuch as 
 the fifth section of that law was worded somewhat vaguely, 
 its general terms had admitted of the construction in the 
 N^orthern States that all the citizens were required, upon 
 the summons of the marshal, to go with him to hunt up, 
 as they express it, and arrest the slave ; and this is re- 
 garded as obnoxious. They have said, ^'in the Southern 
 States you make no such requisition on the citizen" ; nor 
 do we sir. The section, construed according to the inten- 
 tion of the framers of it, I suppose, only intended that the 
 marshal should have the same right in the execution of pro- 
 cess for the arrest of a slave that he has in all other cases of 
 process that he is required to execute — to call on the posse 
 comitatus for assistance where he is resisted in the execution 
 of his duty, or where, having executed his duty by the ar- 
 rest, an attempt is made to rescue the slave. I propose 
 such an amendment as will obviate this difficulty and limit 
 the right of the master and the duty of the citizen to cases 
 where, as in regard to all other process, persons may be 
 called upon to assist in resisting opposition to the execu- 
 tion of the laws. 
 
 I have provided further, sir, that the amendment to the 
 Constitution which I here propose, and certain other pro- 
 visions of the Constitution itself, shall be unalterable, there- 
 
380 JOHN JORDAN CRITTENDEN 
 
 by forming a permanent and imchangeable basis for peace 
 and tranquillity among the people. Among the provisions 
 in the present Constitution, which I have by amendment 
 proposed to render unalterable, is that provision in the 
 first article of the Constitution which provides the rule for 
 representation, including in the computation three-fifths of 
 the slaves. That is to be rendered unchangeable. Another 
 is the provision for the delivery of fugitive slaves. That is 
 to be rendered unchangeable. 
 
 And with these provisions, Mr. President, it seems to 
 me we have a solid foundation upon which we may rest 
 our hopes for the restoration of peace and goodwill among 
 all the States of this Union, and all the people. I propose, 
 sir, to enter into no particular discussion. I have explained 
 the general scope and object of my proposition. I have pro- 
 vided further, which I ought to mention, that, there having 
 been some difiiculties experienced in the courts of the United 
 States in the South in carrying into execution the laws pro- 
 hibiting the African slave trade, all additions and amend- 
 ments which may be necessary to those laws to render them 
 effectual should be immediately adopted by Congress, and 
 especially the provision of those laws which prohibit the im- 
 portation of African slaves into the United States. I have 
 further provided it as a recommendation to all the States of 
 this Union, that whereas laws have been passed of an un- 
 constitutional character (and all laws are of that character 
 which either conflict with the constitutional acts of Con- 
 gress, or which in their operation hinder or delay, the 
 proper execution of the acts of Congress), which laws are 
 null and void, and yet, though null and void, they have 
 been the source of mischief and discontent in the country, 
 under the extraordinary circumstances in which we are 
 
ON THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE 
 
 381 
 
 placed; I have supposed that it would not be improper 
 or unbecoming in Congress to recommend to the States, 
 both ]^orth and South, the repeal of all such acts of theirs 
 as were intended to control, or intended to obstruct the 
 operation of the acts of Congress, or which in their opera- 
 tion and in their application have been made use of for the 
 purpose of such hindrance and opposition, and that they will 
 repeal these laws or make such explanations or corrections 
 of them as to prevent their being used for any such mis- 
 chievous purpose. 
 
 I have endeavored to look with impartiality from one 
 end of our country to the other; I have endeavored to 
 search up what appeared to me to be the causes of discon- 
 tent pervading the land; and, as far as I am capable of 
 doing so, I have endeavored to propose a remedy for them. 
 I am far from believing that, in the shape in which I pre- 
 sent these measures, they will meet with the acceptance of 
 the Senate. It will be sufficiently gratifying if, with all the 
 amendments that the superior knowledge of the Senate may 
 make to them, they shall, to any effectual extent, quiet the 
 country. 
 
 Mr. President, great dangers surround us. The Union 
 of these States is dear to the people of the United States. 
 The long experience of its blessings, the mighty hopes of 
 the future, have made it dear to the hearts of the American 
 people. Whatever politicians may say, whatever of dissen* 
 sion may, in the heat of party politics, be created among our 
 people, when you come down to the question of the exist- 
 ence of the Constitution, that is a question beyond all poli- 
 tics ; that is a question of life and death. The Constitution 
 and the Union are the life of this great people — yes, sir, 
 the life of life. We all desire to preserve them, [N'orth 
 
382 
 
 JOHN JORDAN CRITTENDEN 
 
 and South; that is the universal desire. But some of the 
 Southern States, smarting under what they conceive to be 
 aggressions of their ^Torthern brethren and of the IN'orthem 
 States, are not contented to continue this Union, and are 
 taking steps, formidable steps, tov^ard a dissolution of the 
 Union, and toward the anarchy and the bloodshed, I fear, 
 that are to follow. I say, sir, we are in the presence of 
 great events. We must elevate ourselves to the level 
 of the great occasion. 'No party warfare about mere 
 party questions or party measures ought now to engage 
 our attention. They are left behind; they are as dust in 
 the balance. The life, the existence of our country, of 
 our Union, is the mighty question ; and we must elevate 
 ourselves to all those considerations wh'ch belong to this 
 high subject. 
 
 I hope, therefore, gentlemen will be disposed to bring 
 the sincere spirit of conciliation, the sincerest spirit and 
 desire to adjust all these difficulties, and to think nothing 
 of any little concessions of opinions that they may make, if 
 thereby the Constitution and the country can be preserved. 
 
 The great difficulty here, sir, — I know it; I recognize it 
 as the difficult question, particularly with the gentlemen 
 from the J^orth — is the admission of this line of division 
 for the territory, and the recognition of slavery on the one 
 side, and the prohibition of it on the other. The recogni- 
 tion of slavery on the southern side of that line is the great 
 difficulty, the great question with them. Now, I beseech 
 you to think, and you, Mr. President, and all, to think 
 whether, for such a comparative trifle as that, the Union of 
 this country is to be sacrificed. Have we realized to our- 
 selves the momentous consequences of such an event? 
 When has the world seen such an event? This is a 
 
ON THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE 
 
 383 
 
 mighty empire. Its existence spreads its influence through- 
 out the civilized world. Its overthrow will be the greatest 
 shock that civilization and free government have received; 
 more extensive in its consequences; more fatal to mankind 
 and to the great principles upon which the liberty of man- 
 kind depends, than the French Revolution with all its blood 
 and with all its war and violence. And all for what ? Upon 
 questions concerning this line of division between slavery 
 and freedom. Why, Mr. President, suppose this day all the 
 Southern States, being refused this right ; being refused this 
 partition ; being denied this privilege, were to separate from 
 the ^sTorthern States, and do it peacefully, and then were to 
 come to you peacefully and say, ^'Let there be no war be- 
 tween us; let us divide fairly the Territories of the United 
 States" ; could the northern section of the country refuse so 
 just a demand? What would you then give them? What 
 would be the fair proportion? If you allowed them their 
 fair relative proportion, would you not give them as much 
 as is now proposed to be assigned on the southern side of 
 that line, and would they not be at liberty to carry their 
 slaves there, if they pleased? You would give them the 
 whole of that; and then what would be its fate? 
 
 It is upon the general principle of humanity, then, that 
 you (addressing Republican Senators) wish to put an end to 
 slavery, or is it to be urged by you as a mere topic and 
 point of party controversy to sustain party poAver ? Surely 
 I give you credit for looking at it upon broader and more 
 generous principles. Then, in the worst event, after you 
 have encountered disunion, that greatest of all political ca- 
 lamities to the people of this country, and the disunionists 
 come, the separating States come, and demand or take their 
 portion of the Territories, they can take, and will be entitled 
 
384 
 
 JOHN JORDAN CRITTENDEN 
 
 to take, all that will now lie on the southern side of the line 
 which I have proposed. Then they will have a right to per- 
 mit slavery to exist in it; and what do you gain for the 
 cause of anti-slavery? E'othing whatever. Suppose you 
 should refuse their demand, and claim the whole for your- 
 selves, that would be a flagrant injustice which you would 
 not be willing that T should suppose would occur. But if 
 you did, what would be the consequence? A State north 
 and a State south, and all the States, north and south, 
 would be attempting to grasp at and seize this territory, 
 and to get all of it that they could. That would be the 
 struggle, and you would have war; and not only disunion, 
 but all these fatal consequences would follow^ from your 
 refusal now to permit slavery to exist, to recognize it as 
 existing, on the southern side of the proposed line, while 
 you give to the people there the right to exclude it when 
 they come to form a State government, if such should be 
 their will and pleasure. 
 
 1^0 w, gentlemen, in view of this subject, in view of the 
 mighty consequences, in view of the great events which 
 are present before you, and of the mighty consequences 
 which are just now to take effect, is it not better to settle 
 the question by a division upon the line of the Missouri 
 Compromise ? For thirty years v/e lived quietly and peace- 
 fully under it. Our people, ISTorth and South, were accus- 
 tomed to look at it as a proper and just line. Can we not 
 do so again? We did it then to preserve the peace of the 
 country, l^ow you see this Union in the most imminent 
 danger. I declare to you that it is my solenm conviction 
 that unless something be done, and something equivalent 
 to this proposition, we shall be a separated and divided 
 people in six months from this time. That is my firm con- 
 
ON THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE 
 
 385 
 
 viction. There is no man here who deplores it more than 
 I do; but it is my sad and melancholy conviction that that 
 will be the consequence. I wish you to realize fully the 
 danger. I wish you to realize fully the consequences which 
 are to follow. You can give increased stability to this 
 Union; you can give it an existence, a glorious existence, 
 for great and glorious centuries to come, by now setting it 
 upon a permanent basis, recognizing what the South con- 
 siders as its rights ; and this is the greatest of them all ; it 
 is that you should divide the territory by this line, and 
 allow the people south of it to have slavery when they are 
 admitted into the Union as States and to have it during 
 the existence of the territorial government. That is all. Is 
 it not the cheapest price at which such a blessing as this 
 Union was ever purchased? You think, perhaps, or some 
 of you, that there is no danger, that it will but thunder 
 and pass away. Do not entertain such a fatal delusion. I 
 tell you it is not so. I tell you that as sure as we stand 
 here disunion will progress. I fear it may swallow up even 
 old Kentucky in its vortex — as true a State to the Union as 
 yet exists in the whole confederacy — unless something be 
 done ; but that you will have disunion, that anarchy and 
 war will follow it, that all this will take place in six 
 months, I believe as confidently as I believe in your pres- 
 ence. I want to satisfy you of the fact. . . . 
 
 The present exasperation, the present feeling of dis- 
 union, is the result of a long-continued controversy on 
 the subject of slavery and of territory. I shall not attempt 
 to trace that controversy; it is unnecessary to the occasion, 
 and might be harmful. In relation to such controversies, 
 I will say, though, that all the Avrong is never on one side, 
 or all the right on the other. Eight and wrong, in this 
 
 Vol. 5—25 
 
386 
 
 JOHN JORDAN CRITTENDEN 
 
 world, and in all such controversies, are mingled together. 
 I forbear now any discussion or any reference to the right 
 or wrong of the controversy, the mere party controversy; 
 but in the progress of party, we now come to a point where 
 party ceases to deserve consideration, and the preservation 
 of the Union demands our highest and our greatest exer- 
 tions. To preserve the Constitution of the country is the 
 highest duty of the Senate, the highest duty of Congress — 
 to preserve it and to perpetuate it, that we may hand down 
 the glories which we have received to our children and to 
 our posterity, and to generations far beyond us. We are, 
 Senators, in positions where history is to take notice of the 
 course we pursue. 
 
 History is to record us. Is it to record that when the 
 destruction of the Union was imminent; when we saw it 
 tottering to its fall; when we saw brothers arming their 
 hands for hostility with one another, we stood quarreling 
 about points of party politics; about questions which we 
 attempted to sanctify and to consecrate by appealing to our 
 conscience as the source of them? Are we to allow such 
 fearful catastrophes to occur while we stand trifling away 
 our time? While we stand thus, showing our inferiority 
 to the great and almighty dead, showing our inferiority to 
 the high positions which we occupy, the country may be 
 destroyed and ruined; and to the amazement of all the 
 world, the great Eepublic may fall prostrate and in ruins, 
 carrying with it the very hope of that liberty which we 
 have heretofore enjoyed; carrying with it, in place of the 
 peace we have enjoyed, nothing but revolution and havoc 
 and anarchy. Shall it be said that we have allowed all 
 these evils to come upon our country, while we were en- 
 gaged in the petty and small disputes and debates to which 
 
ON THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE 
 
 387 
 
 I have referred? Can it be that our name is to rest in his- 
 tory with this everlasting stigma and blot upon it? 
 
 Sir, I wish to God it was in my power to preserve this 
 Union by renouncing or agreeing to give up every consci- 
 entious and other opinion. I might not be able to discard 
 it from my mind; I am under no obligation to do that. I 
 may retain the opinion, but if I can do so great a good a^ 
 to preserve my country and give it peace, and its institu- 
 tions and its Union stability, I will forego any action upon 
 my opinions. Well, now, my friends (addressing the Ke- 
 publican Senators), that is all that is asked of you. Con- 
 sider it well, and I do not distrust the result. As to the 
 rest of this body, the gentlemen from the South, I would 
 say to them, can you ask more than this? Are you bent 
 on revolution, bent on disunion? God forbid it. I cannot 
 believe that such madness possesses the American people. 
 This gives reasonable satisfaction. I can speak with confi- 
 dence only of my own State. Old Kentucky will be satis- 
 fied vdth it, and she will stand by the Union and die by 
 the Union if this satisfaction be given. E'othing shall se- 
 duce her. The clamor of no revolution, the seductions and 
 temptations of no revolution, will tempt her to move one 
 step. She has stood always by the side of the Constitution ; 
 she has always been devoted to it, and is this day. Give 
 her this satisfaction, and I believe all the States of the 
 South that are not desirous of disunion as a better thing 
 than the Union and the Constitution, will be satisfied and 
 will adhere to the Union, and we shall go on again in our 
 great career of national prosperity and national glory. 
 
 But, sir, it is not necessary for me to speak to you of 
 the consequences that will follow disunion. Who of us is 
 not proud of the greatness we have achieved? Disunion 
 
38b 
 
 JOHN JORDAN CRITTENDEN 
 
 and separation destroy that greatness. Once disunited, we 
 are no longer great. The nations of the earth who have 
 looked upon you as a formidable Power, and rising to un- 
 told and immeasurable greatness in the future, will scoff at 
 you. Your flag, that now claims the respect of the world, 
 that protects American property in every port and harbor 
 of the world, that protects the rights of your citizens every- 
 where, what will become of it? What becomes of its glor- 
 ious influence ? It is gone ; and with it the protection of 
 American citizens and property. To say nothing of the na- 
 tional honor which is displayed to all the world, the protec- 
 tion of your rights, the protection of your property abroad 
 is gone with that national flag, and we are hereafter to con- 
 jure and contrive different flags for our different republics 
 according to the feverish fancies of revolutionary patriots 
 and disturbers of the peace of the world. 'Noj sir; I want 
 to follow no such flag. I want to preserve the union of 
 my country. We have it in our power to do so, and we 
 are responsible if we do not do it. 
 
 I do not despair of the Kepublic. When I see before 
 me Senators of so much intelligence and so much patriot- 
 ism, who have been so honored by their country, sent here 
 as the guardians of that very Union which is now in ques- 
 tion, sent here as the guardians of our national rights, and 
 as guardians of that national flag, I cannot despair: I can- 
 not despond. I cannot but believe that they will find some 
 means of reconciling and adjusting the rights of all parties, 
 by concessions, if necessary, so as to preserve and give more 
 stability to the country and to its institutions. 
 
FRANCOIS PIERRE GUILEAUME GUIZOT 
 
GUIZOT 
 
 BSHK^RANCOis Pierre Guillaume Guizot, an eminent French historian, 
 ^^HJ^ statesman, and constitutional royalist, was born at Nimes, France, Oct. 
 ffibB&-(ow 4, 1787, where his family, who were Protestants, had long occupied a 
 high place among the burghers of that city, and died at Val-Richer, 
 Normandy, Oct. 12, 1874. Educated at Geneva, he proceeded in 1805 to Paris to pre- 
 pare for the Bar, but for some years devoted himself entirely to literary pursuits. In 
 1812, he was appointed professor of Modern History at the Sorbonne, Paris, and, after 
 the restoration of the Bourbons, became Secretary-General of the Interior. In 1816, 
 he was promoted to the Council of State and to the general directorship of the depart- 
 mental and communal administration of the kingdom. Having become, with Royer- 
 Collard, one of the founders of the Liberal party, styled "doctrinaires," he became 
 obnoxious to the friends of reaction, and in 1821 was deprived of his offices ; four 
 years later, he was even prohibited from delivering lectures. The following five years, 
 during which he acted as one of the leaders of the Liberal Opposition, constituted the 
 period of his greatest literary activity. He published during this period and subse- 
 quently a "History of Representative Government," a "History of the Revolution in 
 England," "Meditations and Moral Studies," and "On the Essence of Religion," with 
 a "Life of Washington" and a translation of Shakespeare. Permitted in 1828 to 
 resume the duties of his professorial chair, he delivered a course of lectures which 
 raised his reputation as a historian to a great height, and formed the basis of his gen- 
 eral "History of Civilization in Europe," and "History of Civilization in France." 
 When Louis Philippe became King of the French, the Ministry of the Interior Tvas 
 given to Guizot. Subsequently, he became Minister of Public Instruction, and to a 
 large extent must be regarded as the creator of the existing educational establishmenta 
 in France. In 1840, he accepted the post of Ambassador at London, but in October of 
 the same year became Minister of Foreign Affairs, to which, subsequently, he added 
 the post of Premier. His administration lasted for eight years, being the longest 
 which existed under the constitutional monarchy. When the government of Louis 
 Philippe was overthrown, in 1848, he took refuge in impoverished circumstances in 
 London, There, relate« an authority, "the society of England received the fallen 
 statesman with as much distinction and respect as they had shown eight years before 
 to the King's ambassador, though many disapproved of much of his recent policy. 
 Sums of money were placed at his disposal, which he declined. A professorship at 
 Oxford was spoken of, which he was unable to accept. His old friends resumed their 
 relations with him. For himself, serene and undisturbed by a catastrophe which 
 had shaken Europe, he immediately collected a few books and resumed the narrative 
 of the British Commonwealth, until he brought it down to Monk and Richard 
 Cromwell." Guizot survived the fall of the monarchy twenty-six years, and in his 
 later years wrote the "Memoirs of My Own Time" and a "History of France, 
 related^ to My Grandchildren." 
 
 (389) 
 
390 GUI20T 
 
 CIVILIZATION AND THE INDIVIDUAL MAN 
 
 BEIi^G called upon to give a course of lectures, and 
 having considered what subject would be most 
 agreeable and convenient to fill up the short space 
 allowed us from now to the close of the year, it has oc- 
 curred to me that a general sketch of the history of modem 
 Europe, considered more especially with regard to the 
 progress of civilization — that a general survey of the his- 
 tory of European civilization, of its origin, its progress, 
 its end, its character, would be the most profitable subject 
 upon which I could engage your attention. . . . 
 
 I shall commence this investigation by placing before 
 you a series of hypotheses. I shall describe society in 
 various conditions, and shall then ask if the state in which 
 I so describe it is, in the general opinion of mankind, the 
 state of a people advancing in civilization — if it answer to 
 the signification which mankind generally attaches to this 
 word. 
 
 First, imagine a people whose outward circumstances 
 are easy and agreeable : few taxes, few hardships ; justice 
 is fairly administered; in a word, physical existence, taken 
 altogether, is satisfactorily and happily, regulated. But 
 with all this, the moral and intellectual energies of this 
 people are studiously kept in a state of torpor and inert- 
 ness. It can hardly be called oppression; its tendency is 
 not of that character — it is rather compression. We are 
 not without examples of this state of society. There have 
 been a great number of little aristocratic republics in which 
 the people have been thus treated, like so many flocks of 
 
CIVILIZATION AND THE INDIVIDUAL MAN 
 
 391 
 
 sheep, carefully tended, physically happy, but without 
 the least intellectual and moral activity. Is this civiliza- 
 tion? Do we recognize here a people in a state of moral 
 and social advancement? 
 
 Let us take another hypothesis. Let us imagine a peo- 
 ple whose outward circumstances are less favorable and 
 agreeable; still, however, supportable. As a set-off, its 
 intellectual and moral cravings have not here been en- 
 tirely neglected. A certain range has been allowed them 
 — some few pure and elevated sentiments have been here 
 distributed; religious and moral notions have reached a 
 certain degree of improvement; but the greatest care has 
 been taken to stifle every principle of liberty. The moral 
 and intellectual wants of this people are provided for in 
 the way that, among some nations, the physical wants have 
 been provided for; a certain portion of truth is doled out 
 to each, but no one is permitted to help himself — to seek 
 for truth on his own account. Immobility is the character 
 of its moral life; and to this condition are fallen most of 
 the populations of Asia, in which theocratic government 
 restrains the advance of man: such, for example, is the 
 state of the Hindus. I again put the same question as 
 before: Is this a people among whom civilization is 
 going on? 
 
 I will change entirely the nature of the hypothesis: 
 Suppose a people among whom there reigns a very large 
 stretch of personal liberty, but among whom also disorder 
 and inequality almost everywhere abound. The weak are 
 oppressed, afflicted, destroyed; violence is the ruling char- 
 acter of the social condition. Every one knows that such 
 has been the state of Europe. Is this a civilized state? 
 It may, without doubt, contain germs of civilization which 
 
392 
 
 GUIZOT 
 
 may progressively shoot up; but the actual state of things 
 which prevails in this society is not, we may rest assured, 
 what the common -sense of mankind would call civilization. 
 
 1 pass on to a fourth and last hypothesis, livery indi- 
 vidual here enjoys the widest extent of liberty; inequality 
 is rare, or, at least, of a very slight character. Every one 
 does as he likes, and scarcely differs in power from his 
 neighbor. But then here scarcely such a thing is known 
 as a general interest; here exist but few public ideas; 
 hardly any public feeling; but little society; in short, the 
 life and faculties of individuals are put forth and spent 
 in an isolated state, with but little regard to society, and 
 with scarcely a sentiment of its influence. Men here exer- 
 cise no influence upon one another; they leave no traces 
 of their existence. Generation after generation pass away, 
 leaving society just as they found it. Such is the condi- 
 tion of the various tribes of savages; liberty and equality 
 dwell among them, but no touch of *' civilization. 
 
 I could easily multiply these hypotheses, but I presume 
 that I have gone far enough to show what is the popular 
 and natural signification of the word "civilization." 
 
 It is evident that none of the states which I have just 
 described will correspond with the common notion of man- 
 kind respecting this term. It seems to me that the first 
 idea comprised in the word "civilization" (and this may 
 be gathered from the various examples which I have placed 
 before you) is the notion of progress, of development. It 
 calls up within us the notion of a people advancing, of 
 a people in a course of improvement and melioration. 
 
 Now, what is this progress? What is this develop- 
 ment? In this is the great difficulty. The etymology of 
 the word seems sufficiently obvious — it points at once to 
 
CIVILIZATION AND THE INDIVIDUAL MAN 
 
 393 
 
 the improvement of civil life. The first notion which 
 strikes us in pronouncing it is the progress of society ; the 
 melioration of the social state; the carrying to higher per- 
 fection the relations between man and man. It awakens 
 within us at once the notion of an increase of national 
 prosperity, of a greater activity and better organization 
 of the social relations. On one hand there is a manifest 
 increase in the power and well-being of society at large; 
 and on the other a more equitable distribution of this 
 power and this well-being among the individuals of which 
 society is composed. 
 
 But the word "civilization" has a more extensive sig- 
 nification than this, which seems to confine it to the mere 
 outward, physical organization of society. Kow, if this 
 were all, the human race would be little better than the 
 inhabitants of an ant-hill or beehive; a society in which 
 nothing was sought for beyond order and well-being — in 
 which the highest, the sole aim, would be the production 
 of the means of life, and their equitable distribution. 
 
 But our nature at once rejects this definition as too 
 narrowo It tells us that man is formed for a higher des- 
 tiny than this. That this is not the full development of 
 his character — that civilization comprehends something more 
 extensive, something more complex, something superior to 
 the perfection of social relations, of social power and well- 
 being. 
 
 That this is so, we have not merely the evidence of our 
 nature, and that derived from the signification which the 
 common-sense of mankind has attached to the word, but 
 we have likewise the evidence of facts. 
 
 No one, for example, will deny that there are commu- 
 nities in which the social state of man is better — in which 
 
394 
 
 GUIZOT 
 
 the means of life are better supplied, are more rapidly pro- 
 duced, are better distributed than in others, which yet will 
 be pronounced by the unanimous voice of mankind to be 
 superior in point of civilization. 
 
 Take Rome, for example, in the splendid days of the 
 Republic, at the close of the second Punic War; the mo- 
 ment of her greatest virtues, when she was rapidly ad- 
 vancing to the empire of the world — when her social con- 
 dition was evidently improving. Take Rome again under 
 Augustus, at the commencement of her decline, when, to 
 say the least, the progressive movement of society halted, 
 when bad priaciples seemed ready to prevail; but is there 
 any person who would not say that Rome was more civil- 
 ized under Augustus than in the days of Fabricius or 
 Cincinnatus? 
 
 Let us look further; let us look at France in the seven- 
 teenth and eighteenth centuries. In a merely social point 
 of view, as respects the quantity and the distribution of 
 well-being among individuals, France, in the seventeenth 
 and eighteenth centuries, was decidedly inferior to several 
 of the other States of Europe; to Holland and England in 
 particular. Social activity, in these countries, was greater, 
 increased more rapidly, and distributed its fruits more 
 equitably among individuals. Yet consult the general 
 opinion of mankind, and it will tell you that France in 
 the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was the most 
 civilized country of Europe. Europe has not hesitated to 
 acknowledge this fact, and evidence of its truth will be 
 found in all the great works of European literature. 
 
 It appears evident, then, that all that we understand 
 by this term is not comprised in the simple idea of social 
 well-being and happiness; and, if we look a little deeper, 
 
CIVILIZATION AND THE INDIVIDUAL MAN 
 
 395 
 
 we discover that, besides the progress and melioratiou of 
 social iiie, another development is comprised in our notion 
 of civilization: namely, the development of individual life, 
 the development of the human mind and its faculties — the 
 development of man himself. 
 
 It is this development which so strikingly manifested 
 itself in France and Rome at these epochs; it is this ex- 
 pansion of human intelligence which gave to them so great 
 a degree of superiority in civilization. In these countries 
 the godlike principle which distinguishes man from the 
 brute exhibited itself with peculiar graudeur and power, 
 and compensated in the eyes of the world for the defects 
 of their social system. These communities had still many 
 social conquests to make, but they had already glorified 
 themselves by the intellectual and moral victories they 
 had achieved. Many of the conveniences of life were here 
 wanting; from a considerable portion of the community 
 were still withheld their natural ris^hts and political privi- 
 leges; but see the number of illustrious individuals who 
 lived and earned the applause and approbation of their 
 fellowmen. Here, too, literature, science, and art attained 
 extraordinary perfection, and shone in more splendor than 
 perhaps they had ever done before. Now, wherever this 
 takes place, wherever man sees these glorious idols of his 
 worship displayed in their full lustre — wherever he sees 
 this fund of rational and refined enjoyment for the godlike 
 part of his nature called into existence, there he recognizes 
 and adores civilization. 
 
 Two elements, then, seem to be comprised in the great 
 fact which we call civilization; two circumstances are nec- 
 essary to its existence — it lives upon two conditions — it re- 
 veals itself by two symptoms: the progress of society, the 
 
396 
 
 GUIZOT 
 
 progress of individuals; the melioration of the social sys- 
 tem, and the expansion of the mind and faculties of man. 
 Wherever the exterior condition of man becomes enlarged, 
 quickened, and improved; wherever the intellectual nature 
 of man distinguishes itself by its energy, brilliancy, and its 
 grandeur; wherever these two signs concur, and they often 
 do so, notwithstanding the gravest imperfections in the 
 social system, there man proclaims and applauds civili- 
 zation. 
 
 Such, if I mistake not, would be the notion mankind in 
 general would form of civilization from a simple and ra- 
 tional inquiry into the meaning of the term. This view 
 of it is confirmed by history. If we ask of her what has 
 been the character of every great crisis favorable to civ- 
 ilization, if we examine those great events which all ac- 
 knowledge to have carried it forward, we shall always 
 find one or other of the two elements which I have just 
 described. They have all been epochs of individual or 
 social improvement — events which have either wrought a 
 change in individual man, in his opinions, his manners; 
 or, in his exterior condition, his situation as regards his 
 relations with his fellowmen. Christianity, for example 
 — I allude not merely to the first moment of its appear- 
 ance, but to the first centuries of its existence — Christi- 
 anity was in no way addressed to the social condition of 
 man; it distinctly disclaimed all interference with it. It 
 commanded the slave to obey his master. It attacked 
 none of the great evils, none of the gross acts of injus- 
 tice by which the social system of that day was disfigured; 
 yet who but will acknowledge that Christianity has been 
 one of the greatest promoters of civilization? And where- 
 fore? Because it has changed the interior condition of 
 
CIVILIZATION AND THE INDIVIDUAL MAN 
 
 897 
 
 man, hie opinions, his sentiments; because it has regen- 
 erated his moral, his intellectual character. 
 
 We have seen a crisis of an opposite nature; a crisis 
 affecting not the intellectual, but the outward condition of 
 man, which has changed and regenerated society. This 
 also, we may rest assured, is a decisive crisis of civiliza- 
 tion. If we search history through, we shall everywhere 
 find the same result; we shall meet with no important 
 event, which had a direct influence in the advancement 
 of civilization, which has not exercised it in one of the 
 two ways I have just mentioned. . . . 
 
 When any great change takes place in the state of a 
 country — when any great development of social prosperity 
 is accomplished within it — any revolution or reform in the 
 powers and privileges of society, this new event naturally 
 has its adversaries. It is necessarily contested and op- 
 posed. Now what are the objections which the adver- 
 saries of such revolutions bring against them? 
 
 They assert that this progress of the social condition 
 is attended with no advantage; that it does not improve 
 in a corresponding degree the moral state — the intellectual 
 powers of man ; that it is a false, deceitful progress, which 
 proves detrimental to his moral character, to the true inter- 
 ests of his better nature. On the other hand, this attack is 
 repulsed with much force by the friends of the movement. 
 They maintain that the progress of society necessarily leads 
 to the progress of intelligence and morality; that, in pro- 
 portion as the social life is better regulated, individual 
 life becomes more refined and virtuous. Thus the ques- 
 tion rests in abeyance between the opposers and partisans 
 of the change. 
 
 But reverse this hypothesis: suppose the moral devel- 
 
398 
 
 QUIZOT 
 
 opment in progress. What do the men who labor for it 
 generally hope for? What, at the origin of societies, have 
 the founders of religion, the sages, poets, and philoso- 
 phers, who have labored to regulate and refine the manners 
 of mankind, promised themselves? What but the melio- 
 ration of the social condition; the more equitable distri- 
 bution of the blessings of life? What, now, let me ask, 
 should be inferred from this dispute and from those hopes 
 and promises? It may, I think, be fairly inferred that it 
 is the spontaneous, intuitive conviction of mankind; that 
 the two elements of civilization — the social and moral de- 
 velopment — are intimately connected; that, at the approach 
 of one, man looks for the other. It is to this natural con- 
 viction we appeal when, to second or combat either one or 
 the other of the two elements, we deny or attest its union 
 with the other. We know that if men were persuaded 
 that the melioration of the social condition would operate 
 against the expansion of the intellect, they would almost 
 oppose and cry out against the advancement of society. 
 On the other hand, when we speak to mankind of im- 
 proving society by improving its individual members, 
 we find them willing to believe us, and to adopt the prin- 
 ciple. Hence, we may affirm that it is the intuitive be- 
 lief of man that these two elements of civilization are 
 intimately connected, and that they reciprocally produce 
 one another. 
 
 If we now examine the history of the world, we shall 
 have the same result. We shall find that every expansion 
 of human intelligence has proved of advantage to society; 
 and that all the great advances in the social condition have 
 turned to the profit of humanity. One or other of these 
 facts may predominate, may shine forth with greater splen- 
 
CIVILIZATION AND THE INDIVIDUAL MAN 
 
 399 
 
 der for a season, and impress upon the movement its own 
 particular character. At times, it may not be till after the 
 lapse of a long interval, after a thousand transformations, a 
 thousand obstacles, that the second shows itself and comes, 
 as it were, to complete the civilization which the first had 
 begun; but when we look closely, we easily recognize the 
 link by which they are connected. The movements of 
 Providence are not restricted to narrow bounds; it is not 
 anxious to deduce to-day the consequences of the premises 
 it laid down yesterday. It may defer this for ages, till the 
 fulness of time shall come. Its logic will not be less con- 
 clusive for reasoning slowly. Providence moves through 
 time, as the gods of Homer through space — it makes a 
 step, and ages have rolled away! How long a time, how 
 many circumstances intervened, before the regeneration of 
 the moral powers of man by Christianity exercised its 
 great, its legitimate influence upon his social condition ? Yet 
 who can doubt or mistake its power ? 
 
 If we pass from history to the nature itself of the two 
 facts which constitute civilization, we are infallibly led 
 to the same result. We have all experienced this. If a 
 man make a mental advance^ some mental discovery, if he 
 acquire some new idea, or some new faculty, what is the 
 desire that takes possession of him at the very moment he 
 makes it? It is the desire to promulgate his sentiment to 
 the exterior world — to publish and reialize his thought. 
 When a man acquires a new truth — when his being in 
 his own eyes has made an advance, has acquired a new 
 gift, immediately there becomes joined to this acquirement 
 the notion of a mission. He feels obliged, impelled, as it 
 were, by a secret interest, to extend, to carry out of himself 
 the change, the melioration which has been accomplished 
 
400 
 
 GUIZOT 
 
 within him. To what but this do we owe the exertions 
 of great reformers? The exertions of those great bene- 
 factors of the human race, who have changed the face of 
 the world, after having first been changed themselves, 
 have been stimulated and governed by no other impulse 
 than this. 
 
 So much for the change which takes place in the in- 
 tellectual man. Let us now consider him in a social 
 state. A revolution is made in the condition of society. 
 Rights and property are more equitably distributed among 
 individuals; this is as much as to say, the appearance of 
 the world is purer — is more beautiful. The state of things, 
 both as respects governments, and as respects men in their 
 relations with each other, is improved. And can there be a 
 question whether the sight of this goodly spectacle, whether 
 the melioration of this external condition of man, will have 
 a corresponding influence upon his moral, his individual 
 character — upon humanity ? Such a doubt would belie all 
 that is said of the authority of example and of the power 
 of habit, which is founded upon nothing but the convic- 
 tion that exterior facts and circumstances, if good, reason- 
 able, well-regulated, are followed, sooner or later, more or 
 less completely, b}^ intellectual results of the same nature, 
 of the same beauty; that a world better governed, better 
 regulated, a world in which justice more fully prevails, 
 renders man himself more just; that the intellectual man, 
 then, is instructed and improved by the superior condition 
 of society, and his social condition, his external well-being, 
 meliorated and refined by increase of intelligence in indi- 
 viduals; that the two elements of civilization are strictly 
 connected; that ages, that obstacles of all kinds, may in- 
 terpose between them; that it is possible they may un- 
 
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PAEIS 
 
 401 
 
 dergo a thousand transformations before they meet to- 
 gether; but that sooner or later this union will take place 
 is certain, for it is a law of their nature that they should 
 do so — the great facts of history bear witness that such is 
 really the case — the instinctive belief of man proclaims the 
 same truth. 
 
 ADDRESS AT THE DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES AT THE 
 UNIVERSITY OF PARIS 
 
 DELIVERED AUGUST lo, 1833 
 
 YOUNG STUDENTS —It would be impossible for any 
 one here present to say for whom this occasion has 
 the most charm, — for you who come here to receive 
 the crowns which you have won, for your friends who see 
 them placed upon your heads, or for your instructors who 
 have taught you how to deserve them. 
 
 Teachers, friends, pupils, enjoy to the utmost this festival, 
 for it is the worthy reward of a yearns regular and assiduous 
 labor. Discipline has everywhere maintained order, which is 
 the only guarantee of effectual work and legitimate success. 
 Ideas foreign to the acquisition of knowledge have not been 
 allowed to divert the attention or weaken the mind. Youth 
 animated, as it should be, by enthusiasm, fervid yet controlled, 
 has applied itself to the achievement of victories which to-day 
 we proclaim. The course of study itself has experienced the 
 effect of this salutary influence. More varied than at any 
 other epoch, it is no less solid, which is the only condition 
 under which the extension of instruction can be called pro- 
 gress. Without doubt, just in proportion as the human mind 
 explores new fields, public instruction should follow and in- 
 crease with it. But if it should lose its force, if understand- 
 
 Vol. 5—26 
 
402 
 
 GUIZOT 
 
 ing and appreciation of the enduring standards of truth and 
 beauty were to become less, then there would be in its place 
 only decadence. 
 
 It is possible for intellects, like empires, to decline and be- 
 come enfeebled through excess of pride and acquisition. 
 Taken by itself the amount of knowledge acquired at your 
 age is of small account, but to come from our schools with 
 minds sound, active, discriminating, well-trained, that makes 
 you worthy of your country's pride. 
 
 It is in maintaining the intimate alliance of letters, of phi- 
 losophy, and of science that we obtain the best results. What 
 time, what circumstances, were ever more propitious for it 
 than our own? It is the honor of the government that 
 France has at last established that there is no reason to 
 doubt the most brilliant progress in civilization, nor the freest 
 development of the human mind exempt from all cowardly 
 distrust as well as from all self-interested prejudice; it can, 
 it will, it must be wise enough to honor and encourage litera- 
 ture, which is civilization itself; philosophy, which elevates 
 and emancipates the soul; and the sciences, which set right 
 the ideas of man and extend his power. What future have 
 they not the right to hope under this reign of reason, for 
 which every improvement, every truth is a force and a 
 guarantee. This future will not fail us; we shall see litera- 
 ture, philosophy, and science working together ; soon the in- 
 fluence of practical instruction will be felt in the humblest 
 dwelling, and higher education even more advanced. The 
 State will lend its power, liberty its impulsion, and in this 
 unity of effort the public schools will be ever the first to 
 recognize and to serve the legitimate needs of society. 
 
 Let us not forget that the greatest destinies have their trials, 
 and the happiest conditions their perils. Freed from the im- 
 
AT THE UNIVERSITY OP PAEI8 
 
 403 
 
 pediments which have so long weighed upon human intel- 
 ligence and borne it down, too many people have been in- 
 duced to believe that instruction should be, above all, apt 
 and easy, education unexacting, and that prolonged study 
 and severe regulations should henceforth be out of date. 
 The studies in our schools, also the knowledge commonly dis- 
 played in society, show quickly the error of this presumption. 
 
 But I look about me, gentlemen, and I am reassured. This 
 corps of teachers recognizes and avoids that danger. It is its 
 mission to separate with care, and to combat whatever there 
 may be false and dangerous in the ideas of the moment and 
 the thoughtless impulses of youth. Already, and on more 
 than one occasion, it has shown its comprehension of, and ful- 
 filled this necessary mission. It has protected by turns re- 
 ligion, higher education, and popular instruction against 
 frivolous indifference or powerful enmity. Protected by the 
 morality and the independence of their task, these instructors, 
 far from truckling to the spirit which seemed to prevail, have 
 ever labored to preserve the growing generations from the 
 errors and misfortunes into which their unguided inclinations 
 might lead them. It will persevere in this difficult but salu- 
 tary effort. 
 
 And you yourselves, young students, despite the inexpe- 
 rience and wilfulness natural to your age, you will compre- 
 hend the regulations of which you are the object; you will ac- 
 quiesce in their severity; you yourselves vdll aid your mas- 
 ters in giving you that training which is in accord with reason 
 and the laws of divine Providence. Do not beguile your- 
 selves with vain illusions ; do not flatter yourselves that in the 
 labors which will follow that of our schools you will en- 
 counter the same support, or that the same friendly interest 
 will surround you at the moment of success! 
 
404 
 
 GUIZOT 
 
 The world awaits you with its engrossing interests, its in- 
 difference, its heartless rivalries, its hasty judgments! Upon 
 the world^s stage, life is always laborious, oftentimes arduous! 
 May your education have prepared you for its trials instead 
 of concealing them! 
 
 Congratulate yourselves upon finding in our schools this 
 discipline, these habits of order and respect, these great prin- 
 ciples that fortify the soul, that will enable you to triumph 
 in the formidable struggles of real life as you have come 
 forth victorious in the pleasurable contests of youth. 
 
 May your friends be congratulated also with you; may 
 they second your instructors and yourselves in your efforts 
 to imprint upon national education a stamp strong in morality 
 and wisdom. It is our duty to move ever toward this end; 
 it mil one day be your happiness that we have devoted our- 
 selves to its attainment. 
 
 AT THE UNVEILING OF THE STATUE OF WILLIAM 
 THE CONQUEROR 
 
 DELIVERED AT FALAISE, OCTOBER 36, 1851 
 
 YOU afford to-day, gentlemen, a rare example, an example 
 of memory faithful, enduring, and reaching back- 
 ward through the centuries! 
 ISTearly eight hundred years ago William the Conqueror died, 
 abandoned and alone, in this Normandy which owes to him 
 its greatness. With great difficulty attendants were found 
 at Rouen to guard his body and escort his bier; at Caen it 
 was hard to obtain the few feet of earth for his burial. You 
 atone to-day for this indifference on the part of his contem- 
 poraries; by your persevering efforts and by the talent of an 
 eminent artist King William is reinstated in his native city; 
 
AT STATUE OF WILLIAM THE COJS UUJSEOP 
 
 405 
 
 Falaise gives back to him, after eight centuries, the glory 
 which from him she received. 
 
 It is honorable to do justice to a great man! He should 
 no more be flattered after death than during life; his errors, 
 his misdeeds, his vices, and the crimes he committed should 
 be brought to light and severely judged. But this just severity 
 once shown, the wrong once recognized and treated as it 
 deserved, when the man has been really great, he remains 
 great, despite his imperfections thus disclosed; and then it 
 becomes also a duty to extol his merits, and honor his memory 
 with pomp and ceremony: for great men make the glory of 
 a people, even though they may have been harsh masters and 
 their glory dearly bought. 
 
 William of IN'ormandy was truly a great man; and if the 
 greatness of princes is estimated, as it should be, by the dif- 
 ficulty of their undertakings and the importance of the re- 
 sults, there are few that are superior to liim. 
 
 Call to mind, gentlemen, an enterprise accomplished in our 
 days, under our very eyes — the expedition to Algiers in 1830. 
 The case in question was the embarkation and transportation 
 of an army of thirty thousand men to the farther shore of 
 the Mediterranean to demand of a barbarian just satisfaction. 
 "What immense preparations! What care! What effort! 
 What mighty resources displayed by our all-powerful civiliza- 
 tion! And all this was judged necessary in proportion as the 
 enterprise was considered difiicult! And when the day of 
 trial came nothing was found to be superfluous for success; 
 and the success of the enterprise made the fame of its leaders. 
 
 In the eleventh century, society hardly emerged from bar- 
 barism, without any of the resources civilization and science 
 give to us, Duke William gathered together, embarked, trans- 
 ported across the Channel, and landed upon an enemy's soil 
 
406 
 
 OUIZOT 
 
 more than thirty thousand men, and, scarcely landed, won 
 victories and conquered a kingdom. So much for the diffi- 
 culty of the undertaking! So much for the grandeur of the 
 result ! 
 
 ^sTot only did William cross the sea with his army upon 
 frail barks ; not only did he conquer a kingdom ; he did 
 much more than that; he founded a State. He established 
 with strength and solidity on foreign soil his power and his 
 race; he framed new laws; he introduced a new language, and 
 his work, lasting through centuries, still endures, and it is 
 still in the language of King William that England's noble 
 Queen is addressed in her Parliament, and that in which she 
 responds. 
 
 We have seen, gentlemen, conquests equally vast, equally 
 brilliant, as those of King William. Their duration has been 
 hardly longer than their accomplishment. It is a rare phe- 
 nomenon when invasions result in the foundation of govern- 
 ments. William achieved this work. He was in complete 
 accord with the spirit and permanent interests of his time; 
 he had the good sense to preserve, as well as the genius to 
 conquer. 
 
 We have certainly the right, gentlemen, to render him 
 this justice, for his glory cost us very dear. It had its origin 
 in that national struggle which endured for more than three 
 centuries between France and England, each being anxious 
 to subjugate and possess the other. William, in establishing 
 but partial and precarious bonds between the two nations, 
 was the cause of that era of implacable hostility and of all 
 the wars waged between them, until finally each became inde- 
 pendent of the other. 
 
 We have come forth victors from this great conquest. We 
 have reconquered, one after the other, all portions of our own 
 
AT STATUE OF WILLIAM THE COIiQUJUiQE 
 
 407 
 
 territory and gloriously assured our national independence. 
 That figure without parallel in the history of the world, hav- 
 ing the nature of both angel and hero, Joan of Arc, made 
 of no avail what the successors of William wished to do to 
 France; and in this same land, in this same city of Rouen, 
 where King William died, the virgin warrior sealed with her 
 martyrdom the deliverance of her country. 
 
 I pass from these memories of the past, both sad and glori- 
 ous ! • I no longer give heed save to ourselves and the history 
 of our own time. In our days, also, numerous vessels crowd 
 our shores and take on board thousands of persons for trans- 
 portation to England. Is it a new war which there they go 
 to carry and to find ? 'Noy gentlemen, it is peace which they 
 carry and which draws them thither; they go in search 
 neither of adventure nor of conquest ; they go to offer and to 
 receive the pledges of reciprocal prosperity. The relations 
 of the two nations are now as peaceful as frequent and active. 
 A palace of crystal where they assemble together, a cord in- 
 visible, a light flashing under the waves, which transmits from 
 one to the other the announcement of their needs and of their 
 mutual service; there you behold the bonds which to-day re- 
 place those that William the Conqueror wished to form ! 
 
 Which of the two epochs, gentlemen, i^ the happier? 
 Which of the two spectacles the more beautiful ? Assuredly, 
 even in the midst of the trials and uncertainties weighing 
 upon us in our agitated and precarious state, we have reason 
 to be, in our time, proud and full of anticipation, provided 
 that our hope and our pride do not cause our indulgence in 
 the pretensions and chimeras of foolish self-satisfaction. 
 
408 
 
 GUIZOT 
 
 and of which one ia not obliged to say, in the language of a 
 great poet given by Normandy to France — 
 
 "And as it has the brilliancy of glass. 
 Has likewise its fragility." 
 
 I do not wish, in the midst of this time of rejoicing, to utter 
 words of sadness, but you will pardon me, gentlemen, the 
 expression of a sentiment shared by all sensible and all worthy 
 people. 
 
 When tossed about in mid-ocean and by violent tempests, 
 it is of small moment that the vessel be fine, well-armed, 
 thoroughly provided and manned with sailors intelligent and 
 brave; it is necessary, it is more necessary than aught else, 
 that the crew be united and that the ship have strong anchors, 
 for therein depends her safety. Let us bind ourselves firmly 
 together, gentlemen, and unitedly lay hold of the strong 
 anchor of Society! God will give us the strength if we do 
 what is requisite to deserve it! 
 
 [Specially translated by Mary Emerson Adams.] 
 
SIR ROBERT PEEL 
 
SIR ROBERT PEEL 
 
 IK Robert Peel, an eminent English statesman, administrator, financier, 
 and parliamentary debater, was born near Bury, Lancashire, Feb. 5, 1788, 
 and died at London, July 2, 1850. After an education at Harrow and at 
 Oxford, he entered Parliament in 1809, and two years afterward became 
 under-secretary for the Colonies. In 1812, he was appointed Secretary for Ireland, a 
 post he held for six years, earning Irish hatred by his strict administration and bias 
 against Catholics. His aptitude for finance made him useful in the Commons on his 
 return to England, and led him to take interest in fiscal matters and in questions con- 
 cerning the currency. At this period, he introduced resolutions in the House providing 
 for resumption, in May, 1822, of specie payments, after which he withdrew from Can- 
 ning's Cabinet, but as Home Secretary joined that of the Duke of Wellington, in which 
 he showed his growing liberalism by introducing and triumphantly carrying the Cath- 
 olic Emancipation measure. This unlooked-for change of policy in Peel for the time 
 estranged from him many of his old friends : but his liberalism, so far, was not very 
 deep, for he resisted the passing by Lord Grey's "Whig administration of the Re- 
 form Act of 1832, which among other benefits popularized the representation in Parlia- 
 ment. For some months in 1834-35 he attained the premiership, but the task was an 
 arduous one to govern with a minority, and he presently resigned office and for some 
 years led the Conservative opposition. In 1841, he was, however, returned to power, 
 and for five years remained at the head of a memorable administration. It was during 
 this period of his career that Peel became a convert to free trade and practically aban- 
 doned Toryism and adopted the views of the Whigs. His measure for the repeal of the 
 Corn laws in 1846, however, led to his defeat and brought upon him the bitter attacks 
 of Disraeli. His life unhappily ended a few years afterward, as the result of a 
 fall from his horse, on which he was riding in Hyde Park, London (June 29, 1850), 
 and three days later he died of the injuries sustained. Peel was a perfect master of 
 the House of Commons, and it was there that his real genius and character displayed 
 themselves. His style as a speaker was ''clear, strong, and stately; full of various 
 argument and apt illustration drawn from books and from the world of politics and 
 commerce." 
 
 ON THE REPEAL OF THE CORN LAWS 
 DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. MAY 15. 1846 
 
 SIR, — I believe it is now nearly three months since I first 
 proposed, as the organ of her Majesty's government, 
 the measure which I trust is about to receive to-night 
 the sanction of the House of Commons; and, considering the 
 lapse of time — considering the frequent discussions — con- 
 (4886) (409) 
 
410 
 
 SIR ROBERT PEEL 
 
 sidering the anxiety of the people of this country that these 
 debates should be brought to a close, I feel that I should be 
 offering an insult to the House — I should be offering an in- 
 sult to the country, if I were to condescend to bandy per- 
 sonalities upon such an occasion. 
 
 Sir, I foresaw that the course which I have taken from a 
 sense of public duty would expose me to serious sacrifices. 
 I foresaw, as its inevitable result, that I must forfeit friend- 
 ships which I most highly valued — that I must interrupt 
 political relations in which I felt a sincere pride; but the 
 smallest of all the penalties which I anticipated were the con- 
 tinued venomous attacks of the member for Shrewsbury 
 [Mr. Disraeli]. Sir, I will only say of that honorable gentle- 
 man, that if he, after reviewing the whole of my public life — 
 a life extending over thirty years previously to my accession 
 to office in 1841 — if he then entertained the opinion of me 
 which he now professes; if he thought I was guilty of these 
 petty larcenies from Mr. Horner and others, it is a little sur- 
 prising that in the spring of 1841, after his long experience 
 of my public career, he should have been prepared to give 
 me his confidence. 
 
 It is still more surprising that he should have been ready — 
 as I think he was — to unite his fortunes with mine in office, 
 thus implying the strongest proof which any public man can 
 give of confidence in the honor and integrity of a minister 
 of the Crown. 
 
 Sir, I have explained more than once what were the cir- 
 stances under which I felt it my duty to take this course. I 
 did feel in IsTovember last that there was just cause for ap- 
 prehension of scarcity and famine in Ireland. I am stating 
 what were the apprehensions I felt at that time, what were 
 the motives from which I acted; and those apprehensions, 
 
ON THE REPEAL OF THE CORN LAWS 
 
 411 
 
 though they may be denied now, were at least shared then by 
 those honorable gentlemen who sit below the gangway 
 [the protectionists]. The honorable member for Somerset- 
 shire [Sir T. A. Acland] expressly declared that at the period 
 to which I referred he was prepared to acquiesce in the suspen- 
 sion of the corn laws. An honorable member also, a recent 
 addition to this House, who spoke with great ability the other 
 night, the honorable member for Dorsetshire [Mr. Seymer], 
 distinctly declared that he thought I should have abandoned 
 my duty if I had not advised that, considering the circum- 
 stances of Ireland, the restrictions on the importation of 
 foreign corn should be temporarily removed. 
 
 I may have been wrong, but my impression was, first, that 
 my duty toward a country threatened with famine required 
 that that w^hich had been the ordinary remedy under all simi- 
 lar circumstances should be resorted to — namely, that there 
 should be free access to the food of man from whatever 
 quarter it might come. I was prepared to give the best proof 
 which public men generally can give of the sincerity of their 
 opinions, by tendering my resignation of office and devolving 
 upon others the duty of proposing this measure; and, sir, I 
 felt this — that if these laws were once suspended, and there 
 was unlimited access to food the produce of other countries, 
 I, and those with whom I acted, felt the strongest conviction 
 that it was not for the public interest, that it was not for the 
 interest of the agricultural party, that an attempt should be 
 made permanently to reimpose restrictions on the importation 
 of food. 
 
 I could not propose the re-establishment of the existing 
 law with any guarantee for its permanence. As the noble 
 lord says, I had acted with Mr. Huskisson in 1822, 1825, and 
 1S26, in revising the commercial system and applying to that 
 
412 
 
 SIR ROBERT PEEL 
 
 system tlie principles of free trade. In 1842, after my ac- 
 cession to office, I proposed a revision of the corn laws. Had 
 anything taken place at the election of 1844 which precluded 
 that revision? Was there a public assurance given to the 
 people of this country, at the election of 1841, that the exist- 
 ing amount of protection to agriculture should be retained? 
 [" Yes, yes ! "] There was, was there ? Then, if there was, 
 you were as guilty as I. What was the assurance given? If 
 it was that the amount of protection to agriculture which ex- 
 isted in 1843 ^and 1841 should be retained, opposition ought 
 to have been made by you to the revision of that system in 
 1842. 
 
 Why was the removal of the prohibition on the importa- 
 tion of foreign meat and foreign cattle assented to? That 
 removal must have been utterly at variance with any assur- 
 ance that the protection to agriculture which existed in 1840 
 and 1841 should be retained. Yet that removal was voted 
 by the House by large majorities; and after the bill of 1842 
 was I not repeatedly asked this question, " !N"ow that you have 
 passed this bill establishing a new corn law, will you give a 
 public assurance that to that you will at all times adhere? " 
 
 Did I not uniformly decline to give any such assurance? 
 I said I had no intention of proposing an alteration of that 
 law at the time when the question was put to me; but I dis- 
 tinctly declared that I would not fetter forever my discretion 
 by giving such a pledge. These things are on record. It 
 was quite impossible for me, consistently with my own con- 
 victions, after a suspension of import duties, to propose the 
 re-establialiment of the existing law with any security for its 
 continuance. Well, then, the question which naturally arose 
 was this — Shall we propose some diminished protection to 
 agriculture, or, in the state of public feeling which will exist 
 
ON THE REPEAL OF THE CORN LAWS 
 
 413 
 
 after the suspension of restriction, shall we propose a per- 
 manent and ultimate settlement of the question? To be of 
 any avail, it must have been diminished greatly below its 
 present standard, and that diminution, I believe, would have 
 met with as much opposition from the agricultural body as 
 the attempt finally to settle the question. 
 
 And now, after all these debates, I am firmly convinced 
 that it is better for the agricultural interest to contemplate 
 the final settlement of this question, rather than to attempt 
 the introduction of a law giving a diminished protection. My 
 belief is that a diminished protection would in no respect 
 conciliate agricultural feeling; and this I must say, nothing 
 could be so disadvantageous as to give an ineffectual protec- 
 tion and yet incur all the odium of giving an adequate one. 
 What have we been told during this discussion? 
 
 With scarcely an exception I have listened attentively to 
 every speech that has been made on this side of the House; 
 and, admitting the talent that has been displayed, I confess 
 they have in no respect altered the conviction upon which I 
 have acted. You tell me it would have been possible, with 
 such support as I should have received, to have continued the 
 existing law; I believe it might have been. As far as 
 the gratification of any pei*sonal object of ambition is con- 
 cerned 
 
 [Interruption.] 
 
 I am perfectly ready to listen to ai.y reply that may be 
 made to my observations, and I think it is hardly fair to at- 
 tempt to interrupt me by such exclamations, but it has so far 
 succeeded. 
 
 I am told that it would have been possible to continue this 
 protection; but after the suspension of it — for I now as- 
 sume that the suspension would have been assented to on ac- 
 
414 
 
 SIE ROBERT PEEL 
 
 count of the necessities of Ireland — the difficulty of main- 
 taining it would have been greatly increased; because it would 
 have been shown, after the lapse of three years, that, al- 
 though it had worked tolerably well during the continuance 
 of abundance, or at least of average harvests, yet at the 
 moment it was exposed to the severe trial of scarcity it then 
 iieased to effect the object for which it was enacted, and that, 
 in addition to the state of public feeling with reference to 
 restrictions on imports generally, would have greatly added 
 to the difficulty of maintaining the law. There would have 
 been public proof of its inefficiency for one of the great ob- 
 jects for which it was enacted. 
 
 But let me say, although it has not been brought prom- 
 inently under consideration, that, without any reference to 
 the case of Ireland, the working of the law, as far as Great 
 Britain is concerned, during the present year has not been 
 satisfactory. You would have had to contend not merely with 
 difficulties arising from suspension on account of the case of 
 Ireland, but it would have been shown to you that the rate 
 of duty has been high on account of the apparent lowness in 
 the price of com; while that lovmess of price has arisen not 
 from abundance in quantity, but from deficient quality. It 
 would have been shown, and conclusively, that there are 
 greater disparities of price in most of the principal markets 
 of this country — between corn of the highest quality and of 
 the lowest — than have ever existed in former periods. It 
 would have been proved that there never was a greater de- 
 mand than there has been during the present year for wheat 
 of fine quality for the purpose of mixing with wheat of in- 
 ferior quality, which forms the chief article brought for sale 
 into our domestic markets. It would have been shown you 
 that had there been free access to wheat of higher quality 
 
ON THE KEPEAL OF THE CORN LAWS 
 
 415 
 
 than they have assumed, the whole population of this country 
 would for the last four months have been consimiing bread 
 of a better quality. 
 
 My belief, therefore, is that in seeking the re-enactment 
 of the existing law after its suspension you would have had to 
 contend with greater difficulties than you anticipate. Still 
 I am told, You would have had a majority." I think a 
 majority might have been obtained. I think you could have 
 continued this law, notwithstanding these increased difficul- 
 ties, for a short time longer; but I believe that the interval of 
 its maintenance would have been but short, and that there 
 would have been, during the period of its continuance, a des- 
 perate conflict between different classes of society; that your 
 arguments in favor of it would have been weak; that you 
 might have had no alternative at an early period, had the 
 cycle of unfavorable harvests returned — and who can give an 
 assurance that they would not? — that you might at an early 
 period have had no alternative but to concede an alteration 
 of this law under circumstances infinitely less favorable than 
 the present to a final settlement of the question. 
 
 The honorable gentleman the member for Dorsetshire 
 said: We can fight the league with their own weapons;" 
 that is to say, finding that we cannot control by law those 
 measures resorted to by the Anti-Corn-Law League, which I 
 cannot defend, and which I very sincerely regret were ever 
 resorted to — the establishment of voters in counties, not being 
 naturally voters in those counties — the honorable gentleman 
 said: 
 
 "We can make faggot votes as well as they;" and the 
 landed interest, he said, by the greater facilities which they 
 possess, would be able to beat the league. Well, but what 
 a sad alternative is this! What a sad conflict to be carrying 
 
416 
 
 SIR ROBERT PEEL 
 
 on! Even admitting that it would be necessary, and might 
 be done from honest convictions of that necessity, could you 
 do it without destroying the county constituencies? Surely 
 it is wise to consider the alternative; and, believe me, you 
 who are anxious for the maintenance of the aristocratic sys- 
 tem, you who desire wisely, and justly desire, to discourage 
 the infusion of too much of the democratic principle into the 
 constitution of the country, although you might for a time 
 have relied on the faggot votes you created in a moment of 
 excitement, yet the interval would not be long before that 
 weapon would break short in your hands! You would find 
 that those additional votes created for the purpose of com- 
 bating the votes of the league, though when brought up at 
 the first election, under the influence of an excitement con- 
 nected with the com laws, they might have been true to your 
 side, yet, after the lapse of a short time, some exciting ques- 
 tion connected with democratic feelings would arise, and then 
 your votes and the votes of the league, not being subjected 
 to legitimate influence, would unite, and you would find you 
 had entailed on the country permanent evils, destroying the 
 constitution for the purpose of providing a temporary rem- 
 edy. ' 
 
 It was the foresight of these consequences — it was the belief 
 that you were about to enter into a bitter and, ultimately, 
 an unsuccessful struggle, that has induced me to think that 
 for the benefit of all classes, for the benefit of the agricultural 
 class itself, it was desirable to come to a permanent and equit- 
 able settlement of this question. 
 
 These are the motives on which I acted. I know the pen- 
 alty to which I must be subject for having so acted; but 
 I declare, even after the continuance of these debates, that I 
 am only the more impressed with the conviction that the policy 
 we advise is correct. , . 
 
ON THE REPEAL OF THE CORN LAWS 
 
 417 
 
 I will next come to a more important point — the state of 
 crime. You have now an official record, presented within a 
 few days, of what has been the state of crime in this country 
 during the last thirty years. Now, what was the state of crime 
 during the first period of twenty-seven years? From the first 
 record in 1815 down to 1842, when the commitments attained 
 the maximum number hitherto recorded, the increase in crime 
 progressed from year to year until it had extended to above 
 600 per cent. 
 
 In 1843 a change commenced. In that year the number of 
 commitments decreased. Within the last six years, three 
 years of great increase of crime have been followed by three 
 years during which the decrease was so considerable that the 
 number of commitments in 1845 has been reduced to what it 
 was seven years ago. In the three years of high prices this 
 was the state of crime in each year : The number of commit- 
 ments in the first year was 27,187 ; in the second, 27,760; and 
 in the third, 31,309. During the last three years the number 
 of commitments has been — in the first year, 29,591; in the 
 second, 26,542; and in the third, 24,303. 
 
 Well, then, I take this other test of criminality and the 
 extension of morality; and I ask whether we can resist the 
 legitimate inference tliat the comparative cheapness and 
 plenty which have existed during the last three years have 
 had their effect in producing this diminished criminality? 
 
 The gentleman who drew up this return says: " The 
 decrease of commitments in England " for the last three 
 years " has therefore been general, continued, and extensive, 
 to a degree of which there is no recorded example in this 
 kingdom." He says again: " In the sixth class, containing 
 those offences which do not fall within the definitions of the 
 foregoing classes " — violence to the person and offences 
 
 Vol. 5—27 
 
418 SIR ROBERT PEEL 
 
 against property — " there is a total absence of commitments 
 for seditious riots or sedition." 
 
 A total absence of commitments for tbese offences! Why, 
 can you have a stronger proof of the improvement of a coun- 
 try, apart from the command of comforts, than the fact that 
 there should have been this progressive diminution in com- 
 mitments and a total absence of any commitments for sedi- 
 tion or seditious riots? I say, therefore, comparing the result 
 of the three years when we have had diminished protection to 
 agriculture and a reduced price of provisions with the twenty- 
 seven preceding years, the inference is just that the diminu- 
 tion of crime is attributable to an increased command over 
 those articles which constitute the food of the people. 
 
 But you say, " As this happy state of things has arisen dur- 
 ing the existence of the present com laws — as the present com 
 laws have been coexistent with cheapness and plenty, on what 
 principle do you seek to disturb this happy arrangement? You 
 have proved that, coexistent with the com laws, there have 
 been cheapness and happiness; why, then, do you now come 
 forward to propose their alteration? " 
 
 Why, if you can show me that those laws were the cause of 
 this happiness and plenty, that would no doubt be a strong 
 and powerful reason for their continuance. But it cannot be 
 denied that, simultaneously with a reduced protection to agri- 
 culture, there has been not only no diminution in agricultural 
 improvement, but increased exertions, an increased demand 
 for agricultural products, and increased comfort for the people. 
 
 As you have proceeded downwards from 1815 to 1842, 
 there has been a corresponding benefit from the abatement of 
 protection. If we could anticipate that the law of 1842 would 
 continue to produce all the advantages to which I have 
 referred, that might be a conclusive reason for adhering to it. 
 
ON THE REPEAL OF THE CORN LAWS 
 
 419 
 
 But you assert that favorable harvests have occasioned these 
 advantages. Why, what guarantee have you for the con- 
 tinuance of favorable harvests? You have had comparatively 
 favorable harvests for the last three years; and you say then, 
 as a matter of necessity, that we ought to continue this law. 
 Continue the law, say I too, if you can prove that this particu- 
 lar law has been the cause of these benefits. If, however, you 
 say that favorable harvests have been the cause, I say, then, 
 that that does not constitute any reason for continuing the 
 law. 
 
 Those who have observed attentively the vicissitudes of the 
 seasons have remarked that there are cycles of favorable and 
 unfavorable years. There was an unfavorable cycle of years 
 in 1839, 1840, and 1841, during which time there was great 
 distress. There has been since a favorable cycle of years, 
 during which there has been comparative abundance. But 
 supposing that this cycle of years in which we have had unfa- 
 vorable harvests should again return, have we, I ask, any 
 security that the law of 1842 will enable us to obtain an ample 
 supply of food? 
 
 Suppose, also, that, coexistent with those unfavorable har- 
 vests, we had also a depressed state of manufactures^ — shall 
 we then be in a favorable position for making any alteration 
 in the law? Remember how short a time has elapsed since 
 we had the state of Paisley, of Sheffield, and of Stockport, 
 brought under our special notice. 'Now, if these times should 
 again return, after this interval of comparative happiness, 
 when the contrast of our misery will be considerably height- 
 ened by the preceding period of happiness which has pre- 
 vailed, do you believe it would be possible to maintain in 
 existence a law which leaves a duty of 16s. a quarter upon 
 •wheat when it had arrived at the price of 56s.? 
 
420 
 
 SIR ROBERT PEEL 
 
 You may say, " Disregard the progress of public opinion ; 
 defy the League; enter into a combination against it; de- 
 termine to fight the battle of protection, and you will suc- 
 ceed." 
 
 My firm belief is — without yielding to the dictation of the 
 League, or any other body — Oh, oh! — yes, subjecting 
 myself to that imputation, I will not hesitate to say my firm 
 belief is that it is most consistent with prudence and good 
 policy, most consistent with the real interests of the landed 
 proprietors themselves, most consistent with the maintenance 
 of a territorial aristocracy, seeing by how precarious a tenure, 
 namely, the vicissitudes of seasons, you hold your present pro- 
 tective system — I say, it is my firm belief that it is for the 
 advantage of all classes, in these times of comparative comfort 
 and comparative calm, to anticipate the angry discussions 
 which might arise, by proposing at once a final adjustment of 
 this question. 
 
 I have stated the reasons which have induced me to take the 
 present course. You may no doubt say that I am only going 
 on the experience of three years and am acting contrary to the 
 principles of my whole life. Well, I admit that charge — I 
 admit that I have defended the existence of the com laws — 
 yes, and that up to the present period I have refused to 
 acquiesce in the proposition to destroy them. I candidly 
 admit all this; but when I am told that I am acting inconsist- 
 ently with the principles of my whole life by advocating free 
 trade, I give this statement a peremptory denial. During the 
 last three years I have subjected myself to many taunts on 
 this question, and you have often said to me that Earl Grey ' 
 had found out something indicating a change in my opinions. 
 
 Did I not say I thought that we ought not hastily to dis- 
 turb vested interests by any rash legislation? Did I not 
 
ON THE REPEAL OF THE CORN LAWS 
 
 421 
 
 declare that the principle of political economy Buggested the 
 purchasing in the cheapest market, and the selling in the dear- 
 est market? Did I not say that I thought there was nothing 
 so special in the produce of agriculture that should exempt it 
 from the application of this principle whch we have applied 
 already to other articles? You have a right, I admit, to taunt 
 me with any change of opinion upon the com laws; but when 
 you say that by my adoption of the principle of free trade I 
 have acted in contradiction to those principles which I have 
 always avowed during my whole life, that charge, at least, I 
 say, is destitute of foundation. 
 
 Sir, I will not enter at this late hour into the discussion of 
 any other topic. I foresaw the consequences that have 
 resulted from the measures which I thought it my duty to pro- 
 pose. We were charged with the heavy responsibility of tak- 
 ing security against a great calamity in Ireland. We did not 
 act lightly. We did not form our opinion upon merely local 
 information — the information of local authorities likely to be 
 influenced by an undue alarm. Before I and those who 
 agreed with me came to that conclusion, we had adopted every 
 means — by local inquiry and by sending perfectly disinter- 
 ested persons of authority to Ireland — to form a just and coi^ 
 rect opinion. Whether we were mistaken or not — I believe 
 we were not mistaken, but even if we were mistaken — a gener- 
 ous construction should be put upon the motives and conduct 
 of those who are charged with the responsibility of protecting 
 millions of the subjects of the Queen from the consequences of 
 scarcity and famine. 
 
 Sir, whatever may be the result of these discussions, I feel 
 severely the loss of the confidence of those from whom I here- 
 tofore received a most generous support. So far from expect- 
 ing them, as some have said, to adopt my opinions, I perfectly 
 
422 
 
 SIR EGBERT PEEL 
 
 recognize the sincerity with which they adhere to their own. 
 I recognize their perfect right, on account of the admitted 
 failure of my speculation, to withdraw from me their 
 confidence. 
 
 I honor their motives, but I claim, and I always will claim, 
 while entrusted with such powers and subject to such responsi- 
 bility as the minister of this great country is entrusted with 
 and is subject to — I always will assert the right to give that 
 advice which I conscientiously believe to be conducive to the 
 general well-being. I was not considering, according to the 
 language of the honorable member for Shrewsbury, what was 
 the best bargain to make for a party. I was considering first 
 what were the best measures to avert a great calamity, and, as 
 a secondary consideration, to relieve that interest which I was 
 bound to protect from the odium of refusing to acquiesce in 
 measures which I thought to be necessary for the purpose of 
 averting that calamity. Sir, I cannot charge myself or my 
 colleagues with having been unfaithful to the trust committed 
 to us. I do not believe that the great institutions of this 
 country have suffered during our administration of power. 
 The noble lord [Lord John Russell] says he hopes that the disr 
 cussions which have threatened the maintenance of amicable 
 relations with the United States will be brought to a fortunate 
 close. 
 
 Sir, I think I can appeal to the course which we have pur- 
 sued against some obloquy, some misconstruction, some insinu- 
 ations that we were abandoning the honor of this country — I 
 think I can appeal to the past experience of this government 
 that it has been our earnest desire, by every effort consistent 
 with the national honor, to maintain friendly relations with 
 every country on the face of the globe. 
 
 This principle, so long as we are entrusted with the man- 
 
ON THE REPEAL OF THE CORN LAWS 
 
 428 
 
 agement of public affairs, will continue to influence U3 in 
 respect to the settlement of our unfortunate differences with 
 the United States. 
 
 Sir, if I look to the prerogative of the Ctown — if I look to 
 the position of the Church — if I look to the influence of the 
 aristocracy — I cannot charge myself with having taken any 
 course inconsistent with conservative principles, calculated to 
 endanger the privileges of any branch of the legislature or of 
 any institutions of the country. My earnest wish has been, 
 during my tenure of power, to impress the people of this coun- 
 try with a belief that the legislature was animated by a sincere 
 desire to frame its legislation upon the principles of equity 
 and justice. 
 
 I have a strong belief that the greatest object which we or 
 any other government can contemplate should be to elevate 
 the social condition of that class of the people with whom we 
 are brought into no direct relationship by the exercise of the 
 elective franchise. I wish to convince them that our object 
 has been to apportion taxation, that we shall relieve industry 
 and labor from any undue burden, and transfer it, so far as is 
 consistent with the public good, to those who are better 
 enabled to bear it. 
 
 I look to the present peace of this country; I look to the 
 absence of all disturbance — to the non-existence of any com- 
 mitment for a seditious offence; I look to the calm that pre- 
 vails in the public mind ; I look to the absence of all disaffec- 
 tion ; I look to the increased and growing public confidence on 
 account of the course you have taken in relieving trade from 
 restrictions, and industry from unjust burdens; and where 
 there was dissatisfaction I see contentment; where there was 
 turbulence I see there is peace; where there was disloyalty I 
 see there is loyalty; I see a disposition to confide in you, and 
 
424 
 
 SIR ROBERT PEEL 
 
 not to agitate questions that are at the foundations of your 
 institutions. 
 
 Deprive me of power to-morrow, you can never deprive me 
 of the consciousness that I have exercised the powers com- 
 mitted to me from no corrupt or interested motives^ — ^from no 
 desire to gratify ambition or attain any personal object; that 
 I have labored to maintain peace abroad consistently with the 
 national honor and defending every public right — to increase 
 the confidence of the great body of the people in the justice 
 of your decisions, and by the means of equal law to dispense 
 with all coercive powers — to maintain loyalty to the Throne 
 and attachment to the constitution, from a conviction of the 
 benefit that will accrue to the great body of the people. 
 
LAMARTINK 
 
LAMARTINE 
 
 LPHONSE Marie Louis Lamartine, distinguished French poet, historian, 
 and statesman, was born at Macon, on the Saone, France, Oct. 21, 1790, 
 and died at Paris, March 1, 1869. He was educated at Milly and at 
 the College de Lyon, and besides being a great student of books, read- 
 ing omniverously, he travelled considerably, especially in Italy, Savoy, and Switzer- 
 land, falling for a time in love, as he idyllically tells us in his "Confidences." In 
 1820, appeared his "Meditations Poetiques," a work which at once made his repu- 
 tation as an author, and became extremely popular among the higher devout and 
 cultured classes for its stimulus to religious aspiration and the author's dreamy 
 enthusiasm for nature . This was followed by his entrance into the diplomatic service 
 of France, and gained him membership in the French Academy. In 1834, he became 
 a member of the Chamber of Deputies, where he gained the reputation of an orator, 
 leading the progressive conservative party and making telling speeches on the Eastern 
 Question, then the absorbing topic of the hour. Just prior to the revolution of 
 1848, Guizot published his notable "History of the Girondists," in which the revo- 
 lutionary epoch of France and the era of the Reign of Terror are depicted not only 
 with truth, but in an attractive literary style. He now became a member of the 
 provisional government of 1848 and foreign minister of the Republic. After the 
 coup d'etat of 1851, Lamartine retired from politics and spent the remainder of his 
 life toiling with his pen. Besides the works of his we have mentioned, he wrote a 
 "History of the Restoration" and his delightful "Voyage in the Orient," full of 
 magnificent descriptive passages. 
 
 REPLY TO THE POLISH DEPUTATION 
 
 [Delivered in response to the demand for the assistance of the government in 
 re-establishing Polish nationality.] 
 
 FEA^^CE not only owes you good wishes and tears, but 
 she owes you a moral and eventual assistance in re- 
 turn for the Polish blood w^ith which you have be- 
 dewed every battle-field in Europe during our great w^ars. 
 
 France will pay her debt, rely on it; trust to the hearts 
 of thirty-six millions of Frenchmen. Only leave to France 
 that which exclusively pertains to her — the season, the mo- 
 ment, and the form, of which Providence shall determine the 
 
 (425) 
 
426 
 
 LAMARTINK 
 
 choice and suitability, to restore you, without aggression or 
 bloodshed, that place which is your due in the face of day 
 and in the catalogue of nations. 
 
 You are acquainted with the principles which the Provi- 
 sional Government of the republic has universally adopted 
 in its foreign policy. In case you do not know them I will 
 recapitulate them. 
 
 The republic is undoubtedly republican and she openly pro- 
 claims it to the world; but the republic is not at open or 
 secret war with any nation or existing government so long 
 as these nations and governments do not declare themselves 
 at war with her. 
 
 She will not, therefore, commit or voluntarily suffer to be 
 committed any act of violence or aggression against the Ger- 
 manic nations. They, at this moment, are occupied in modi- 
 fying their internal system of confederation and in assuring 
 the security and right of those peoples who can claim a place 
 amongst them. We should be either mad or traitors to the 
 liberty of the world were we to interrupt this labor by warlike 
 demonstrations and change into hostility, apprehension, or 
 hatred the tendency to freedom that now makes them lean 
 toward us and toward yourselves. 
 
 What a moment do you bid us choose for this measure, so 
 utterly opposed to right policy and liberty ! Is the treaty of 
 Pilnitz being revived against us? Does the coalition of the 
 despot monarchs now threaten our frontiers and yours ? No. 
 You see each courier brings us tidings of the victorious accla- 
 mation with which people adopt our principles, and 
 strengthen our cause, precisely because we have declared that 
 these principles were those of respect for the rights, the 
 wishes, the forms, the government and territories, of nations. 
 Are the results of the external policy of the government so 
 
EEPLY TO POLISH DEPUTATION 
 
 427 
 
 discouraging that we must compel them to change it by force 
 and present ourselves on the frontiers with a sword instead 
 of freedom and peace? 
 
 'No ; this policy, alike firm and pacific, answers the expec- 
 tations of the republic too well for us to change it before the 
 hour when the Powers shall change it of themselves. Look 
 at Belgium; look at Switzerland, Italy, all the south of Ger- 
 many; look at Vienna, Berlin; what more do you need? The 
 very possessors of your territories open a path for you to 
 your country and call on you to reconstitute them peacefully. 
 Be not unjust toward God, toward the republic, or toward us. 
 The nations sympathizing with Germany, the king of Prussia 
 opening the gates of his fortresses to your martyrs, the gates 
 of Poland opened, Cracow freed, the grand duchy of Posen 
 again becomes a Polish province; such are the weapons with 
 which one month of our policy has supplied you. 
 
 Ask no others at our hands. The Provisional Government 
 will not suffer its policy to be changed by a foreign nation, 
 however great the sympathy it may inspire. Poland is dear 
 to us; Italy is dear to us; all oppressed peoples are dear to 
 us; but France is dearer than all, and the responsibility of 
 her destinies, and possibly those of Europe, rests with us, 
 and we will surrender this responsibility to the nation alone. 
 Trust to the nation; trust to the future; trust to those last 
 thirty days which have already gained the cause of French 
 democracy more ground than thirty pitched battles, and do 
 not disturb by force of arms, or by an agitation which would 
 only injure our common cause, the work which Providence 
 accomplishes without other arms than its ideas for the re- 
 generation of the people and the fraternity of the human 
 race. 
 
 As Poles you have spoken admirably. As for us it is our 
 
428 
 
 LAMAETINE 
 
 duty to speak as Frenchmen. We must both of us fulfil our 
 respective duties. As Poles you are justly impatient to fly 
 to the land of your fathers and to respond to the appeal which 
 the already liberated portion of Poland has made to her 
 generous sons. We can but applaud this sentiment and fur- 
 nish, as you desire, all those pacific means which will aid the 
 Poles in returning to their country, and rejoice at the com- 
 mencement of independence at Posen. 
 
 We, as Frenchmen, have not to consider the interests of 
 Poland alone; we have to consider the universality of that 
 European policy which corresponds to all the horizons of 
 France and all those interests of liberty of which the French 
 republic is the second, and we trust the most glorious and the 
 last, outbreak in Europe. The importance of these interests, 
 the gravity of these resolutions, render it impossible for the 
 Provisional Government of the republic to surrender into the 
 hands of any partial nationality — any party in a nation, how- 
 ever sacred its cause be — the responsibility and freedom of 
 its resolutions. 
 
 If the policy toward Poland, forced upon us under the 
 monarchy, be no longer the line of policy dictated by the 
 republic, the latter at least has spoken to the world in terms 
 to which we will adhere : she will suffer no Power on the 
 face of the earth to say to her, Your words are different 
 from your actions.'' The republic must and wall not act 
 in contradiction to her word; the respect paid it is purchased 
 at this price, and she will never suffer it to fall into disrepute 
 by falsifying it. What were her expressions in her manifesto 
 to the Powers? Her thoughts were with you when she said, 
 
 The day when it shall seem to us that the moment has 
 arrived for the resurrection of a nation unjustly effaced from 
 the map, we will hasten to its assistance." But we have 
 
REPLY TO POLISH DEPUTATION 
 
 429 
 
 reserved to ourselves that which pertains to France alone, — 
 the choice of the time, justice, cause, and reasons which 
 would make it our duty to interfere. 
 
 Well, up to this moment we have chosen and resolved that 
 these means should be pacification. See yourselves, and let 
 France and Europe see, if these pacific means have deceived 
 us or deceived you. 
 
 In thirty-one days the natural and peaceful results of this 
 system of peace and fraternity which we have declared we 
 would adopt toward people and governments have proved of 
 more avail to the cause of France, liberty, and Poland her- 
 self than ten battles and torrents of human blood. 
 
 Vienna, Berlin, Italy, Milan, Genoa, Southern Germany, 
 Munich, all these constitutions, all these spontaneous outbreaks 
 of the people, your own frontiers opened to you amid the 
 acclamations of Germany, who reconstitutes herself amid the 
 inviolability with which we invest her territories and govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Such is the progress of the republic, thanks to this system 
 of respect for the freedom of the land and the blood of man- 
 kind. We shall never retreat into another system. The 
 straight path, rest assured, will lead us to that disinterested 
 object we seek to attain far better than the tortuous paths 
 of diplomacy. Do not seek to induce us to deviate from it 
 even through the fraternal sentiments we entertain toward 
 you. Our reason restrains and guides our feelings toward 
 Poland. Suffer us to listen to the promptings of this senti- 
 ment in the full freedom of our thoughts, and learn that 
 these thoughts do not separate two people whose blood has so 
 often mingled on the battle plain. Our care for you, like our 
 hospitality, shall extend to your own frontiers ; our eyes shall 
 follow you into your own country. Bear thither with you 
 
430 
 
 LAMARTINE 
 
 the hope of that regeneration which commences for you in 
 Prussia, where jour banner floats at Berlin. France asks 
 no other return for the asylum she has afforded you than 
 the amelioration of your national destinies and the recollec- 
 tions you will carry with you of the French name. 
 
 CONGRATULATORY SPEECH 
 
 [The following was a reply to the deputation of democrats from London, 
 expressing the joy felt by all the English nation on learning that France 
 had overthrown the monarchical government in order to found the republic 
 on the basis of liberty, equality, and fraternity.] 
 
 AS Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Govern- 
 ment of the E.epublic, and in the absence of our vener- 
 able president, I am charged to reply to your honor- 
 able deputation. But I do not need this title, for after the 
 magnificent and pious language we have just heard there is 
 no longer any other minister of foreign affairs than the sym- 
 pathy between the two nations. 
 
 They will be for the future governed by their own feeling; 
 and it is because they are governed by their own prudence and 
 love for the human race that the peace of the world is assured. 
 Royalty, which the people have abolished with so much glory 
 and courage, has crushed in its fall all the prejudices which 
 separated the nations. 
 
 Among this number — that which caused France and Eng- 
 land the most regret, that which grieved the most all those 
 sentiments of religion and humanity which will for the future 
 be the policy of nations — ^was this international prejudice 
 w^hich forced us, as it were officially, to hate men for whom 
 in our hearts we felt the strongest and warmest sympathy. 
 This prejudice, will not exist under the new republic. 
 
CONGRATULATORY SPEECH 
 
 431 
 
 Kings have jealousies and ambitions. Kings dispute and 
 shed the blood of their subjects in disputing a fragment of 
 territory to increase the lustre of their crowns ; but the people 
 have another ambition which does not cost mankind one drop 
 of blood or a. tear, and this is the ambition of the two people 
 whom we have the glory of representing. From this day, 
 when the republic receives from the English nation the most 
 touching and spontaneous recognition, nothing prevents the 
 fulfilment of the great idea of the French Revolution at its 
 origin, that idea which sprang to light in France at the same 
 moment with political liberty; nothing prevents its fulfilment. 
 This idea is, as you well know, the honorable, indissoluble 
 alliance of the two most civilized nations of the globe, for the 
 purpose of assuring the peace of the C^ontinent and putting an 
 end to that bloodshed which has made a few men celebrated, 
 but which is a disgrace to humanity. 
 
 I thank you, not only in the name of the French nation, but 
 in the name of humanity, for the sentiments that pervade this 
 address. We will have it translated and made known to all 
 the citizens of the universe, and preserve it carefully in the 
 archives of the republic amongst those titles which she will 
 feel most pride in exhibiting to her descendants. 
 
 The names of the delegates of the great towns of England 
 who have signed this address are a guarantee of the sympathy 
 of the English people. 
 
 We should have felt that we had only acquired a selfish 
 freedom if we had reserved its benefits for ourselves alone ; we 
 therefore hastened to proclaim liberty for all our brethren, 
 and we rejoice to be in harmony on this occasion with the 
 noble sentiments of England, who so long since freed all the 
 blacks in her colonies. As soon as the Assembly meets she 
 will confirm the principles proclaimed by us on the morrow of 
 
432 
 
 LAMARTINB 
 
 OUT glorious revolution. We have only reserved one question 
 — tihat of indemnity. 
 
 REPLY TO CLUB DELEGATES 
 
 [In the following speech Lamartine demands, in the name of the people, 
 the withdrawal of the troops, the postponement of the elections of the 
 National Guard, and the postponement of the elections of the National 
 Assembly.] 
 
 GEN^TLEMEISr, — I have been called upon by my 
 name, and I respond to the call and demand to be 
 heard. 
 
 I shall add nothing to what our colleague, M. Louis Blanc, 
 has just said with as much dignity as truth. You feel like 
 us in whom the people have reposed their confidence and 
 impersonified themselves on the day of their contest and vic- 
 tory, that there can be no government except on the condition 
 of your possessing sufficient confidence and sufficient sense to 
 invest this government with a moral authority. What is the 
 moral authority of this government — not only in its own eyes, 
 in those of the people, of the departments, of Europe — but its 
 entire freedom from external influence and pressure ? This is 
 the independence of the government, its dignity, its sole 
 moral force. Why are we here? Look around. Behold our 
 venerable president, bowed down with the weight and glory 
 of eighty years, and who has yet devoted his last years of life 
 to establish a free, independent, dignified republic; and when 
 we speak of liberty and independence who dare impugn the 
 name of Dupont (de PEure)? Around us what do you 
 behold? A small group of men, without arms, support, sol- 
 
REPLY TO CLUB DELEGATES 
 
 433 
 
 diers, or guards, who possess no other authority than what the 
 people accord by respecting them, who seek no other, who 
 mingle with the people from whom they have sprung, and 
 who have only assumed so energetic and perilous a position in 
 the republic to guarantee those popular interests which have 
 hitherto been sacrificed beneath the monarchies, aristocracies, 
 and oligarchies through which we have passed. But in order 
 that this feeling may have its proper effect, in order that 
 these popular principles may be usefully applied in promoting 
 the happiness of people, what is needed? The peaceable con- 
 tinuation of this confidence you have given us. With what 
 can we oppose you? With but one thing only — your own 
 reason : that power of general reason which alone interposes 
 between you and ourselves, which inspires us and restrains 
 you. It is this invisible and yet all-powerful force 
 which renders us calm and composed, independent and 
 dignified, in the presence of the multitude that surrounds 
 this palace of the people, which is only protected by its 
 inviolability. 
 
 We will defend this last barrier of our inviolability with our 
 lives, both as a government and as men, should the multitude 
 seek to break it down ; and it is not for ourselves, but for you, 
 we would do so; for what would become of the people without 
 a government, of what avail to the people would be a degraded 
 government ? 
 
 I come to the three demands you have made, a delay of ten 
 days more in the Sections of the ^Tational Guard. 
 
 We have already at a previous meeting felt it our duty to 
 forestall alike the legitimate wishes of the people and your 
 own request. It was represented to us that the imposing, 
 solid, patriotic, and republican mass of the population which 
 forms the immense popular element of Paris had not possiblv 
 
 Vol. 5-28 
 
434 
 
 LAMABTINB 
 
 had sufficient time to enroll their names, and thus form a part 
 of that large patriotic frame in which we desire to consolidate 
 and fix the republic for the future. We had first adjourned 
 the elections for a week, we have now done so until the 25th 
 of March. I cannot give my unsupported opinion on the 
 result of the fresh deliberation that may take place with 
 respect to these measures; but you have a fortnight to enroll 
 yourselves. As to the troops, I have already told one of the 
 patriotic associations to which you belong, there are no troops 
 at Paris except 1,500 or 2,000 men dispersed at the outposts 
 for the protection of the gates and railroads; and it is utterly 
 untrue that the government ever had the least design of sum- 
 moning any to Paris. We must be mad, after what had 
 passed, — after fallen royalty beheld 80,000 men fraternize 
 with the people, did we dream of forcing on the people, with 
 only a few scattered corps d^armee animated by the same 
 republican spirit, measures at variance with your wishes and 
 your independence. We never have entertained such an idea, 
 we do not, we never shall. Such is the truth, — repeat it to 
 the people; their liberty belongs to them because they have 
 won it ; it belongs to them because they will protect it from all 
 outrage. The republic at home needs no other defenders than 
 the armed people. But whatever may be the truth to-day — 
 and although we declare that we only need the armed people 
 to protect our institutions — do not conclude that we would 
 ever consent to the humiliation of the French soldiers; do 
 not conclude that we suspect our brave am§^ or that we resign 
 the right of summoning them to the interior, or even to 
 Paris, did circumstances require such a disposition of our 
 forces to ensure the safety of the country. 
 
 The soldier who yesterday was but a soldier is to-day a 
 citizen like ourselves; and we have given him the privilege of 
 
REPLY TO CLUB DELEGATES 
 
 435 
 
 voting for the order and liberty which he will defend as 
 effectually as any other member of the people. 
 
 Kespecting the third and principal question — ^the proroga- 
 tion to a remote period of the convocation of the National 
 Assembly — I will not pledge the opinion of my colleagues, 
 more especially my own, as to a measure which I think 
 involves the interest of the country too deeply. Out of 
 respect for our independence I will say nothing beforehand on 
 a measure which would declare to the whole nation that Paris 
 affects to monopolize liberty and the republic, and which would 
 make us assume in the name of the capital alone and under the 
 influence of a mass, well-intentioned but formidable from their 
 very number, the dictatorship of that republic which was won 
 by every one, but won for the whole of France and not for a 
 few citizens. 
 
 If you bid me deliberate under menace, and declare beyond 
 the pale of the law all the districts not at Paris, — declare them, 
 during three or six months, deprived of their representative 
 rights and their constitution, — I will say to you, as I did to 
 another government, " You shall only tear this vote from my 
 heart with the balls that have pierced it." 'No: deprive us a 
 thousand times of our titles rather than of our unfettered 
 opinions, cur dignity, our unquestionable inviolability, as 
 unquestionable abroad as at home. See your power in ours, 
 your dignity in ours, your independence in ours, and suffer us 
 for the very interest of the people to reflect and deliberate with 
 calmness — to adopt or throw out those measures which you lay 
 before us. We only — I only — promise to weigh them impar- 
 tially in our conscience and to decide upon that which seems 
 to us not only the desire of the Parisians, but the right and 
 desire of the whole republic. 
 
RICHARD LALOR SHEIL 
 
 ICHARD Lalor Sheil, Irish orator, dramatist, and politician, Styled 
 "O'Connell's impassioned lieutenant," was born at Drumdowney, Water- 
 ford, Ireland, Aug. 17, 1791, and died at Florence, Italy, May 25, 1851. 
 He was educated at the Jesuit College, Stoneyhurst, and at Trinity Col- 
 lege, Dublin, and, studying law, was in 1814 called to the Irish Bar. Clients at 
 first, however, were scarce, and he supported himself by writing six dramas and 
 contributing to a magazine his brilliant " Sketches of the Irish Bar." Among his 
 plays, some of which were highly successful and were produced both at a Dublin 
 theatre and later at Covent Garden, London, the best are, "Adelaide, or the Emi- 
 grants" (1814), "The Apostate" (1817), "Bellamira" (1818), "Evadne" (1819), 
 "The Huguenot" (1819), and "Montoni" (1820). Meanwhile, he had become one 
 of the founders of the Catholic Association, and took part with Daniel O'Connell 
 in the movement which resulted in Catholic Emancipation. In 1829, he received his 
 silk gown as king's counsel, and in the following year entered the imperial Parlia- 
 ment, where he won fame as an orator, his eloquence often electrifying the Com- 
 mons, especially where his theme bore on Irish questions and touched his patriot 
 heart. In 1838, he become a commissioner of Greenwich Hospital, and in the fol« 
 lowing year, in Lord Melbourne's administration, he was appointed vice-president ot 
 the Board of Trade, and on Lord John Russell's accession to power he became 
 Master of the Mint. For a time, also, he held the office of judge-advocate-general, 
 and in 1850 he was sent as British Minister to Florence, where he died in his six- 
 tieth year. 
 
 IN DEFENCE OF IRISH CATHOLICS 
 
 FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED IN 1838 
 
 CALUMNIATOKS of Catholicism, have you read 
 the history of your country? Of the charges 
 against the religion of Ireland, the annals of Eng- 
 land afford the confutation. The body of your common 
 law was given by the Catholic Alfred. He gave you yout 
 
 judges, your magistrates, your high sheriffs, your court? 
 (436) 
 
IN DEFENCE OF IRISH CATHOLICS 
 
 487 
 
 of justice, your elective system, and, the great bulwark 
 of your liberties, the trial by jury. Who conferred upon 
 the people the right of self-taxation, and fixed, if he did 
 not create, their representation? The Catholic Edward I.; 
 while, in the reign of Edward III., perfection was given 
 to the representative system, parliaments were annually 
 called, and the statute against constructive treason was 
 enacted. It is false — foully, infamously false — that the 
 Catholic religion, the religion of your forefathers, the re- 
 ligion of seven millions of your fellow-subjects, has been 
 the auxiliary of debasement, and that to its influence the 
 suppression of British freedom can, in a single instance, 
 be referred. I am loth to say that which can give you 
 cause to take offence; but, when the faith of my country 
 is made the object of imputation, I cannot help, I cannot 
 refrain, from breaking into a retaliatory interrogation, and 
 from asking whether the overthrow of the old religion of 
 England was not effected by a tyrant, with a hand of iron 
 and a heart of stone — whether Henry did not trample upon 
 freedom, while upon Catholicism he set his foot; and 
 whether Elizabeth herself, the virgin of the Reformation, 
 did not inherit her despotism with her creed; whether in 
 her reign the most barbarous atrocities were not committed 
 — whether torture, in violation of the Catholic common 
 law of England, was not politically inflicted, and with the 
 shrieks of agony the Towers of Julius, in the dead of 
 night, did not reecho. 
 
 You may suggest to me that in the larger portion of 
 Catholic Europe freedom does not exist; but you should 
 bear in mind that, at a period wben the Catholic religion 
 was in its most palmy state, freedom flourished in the 
 countries in which it is now extinct. False — I repeat it. 
 
438 
 
 RICHARD LALOR SHEIL 
 
 witL. all tlie vehemence of indignant asseveration — utterly 
 false is the charge habitually preferred against the religion 
 which Englishmen have laden with penalties and have 
 marked with degradation. I can bear with any other 
 charge but this — to any other charge I can listen with 
 endurance. Tell me that I prostrate myself before a sculp- 
 tured marble; tell me that to a canvas glowing with the 
 imagery of heaven I bend my knee; tell me that my faith 
 is my perdition — and, as you traverse the churchyards in 
 which your forefathers are buried, pronounce upon those 
 who have lain there for many hundred years a fearful and 
 appalling sentence — yes, call what I regard as the truth, 
 not only an error, but a sin, to which mercy shall not be 
 extended — all this I will bear — to all this I will submit — 
 nay, at all this I will but smile — but do not tell me that 
 I am in heart and creed a slave! — That, my countrymen 
 cannot brook! In their own bosoms they carry the high 
 consciousness that never was imputation more foully false, 
 or more detestably calumnious ! 
 
 ON THE JEWISH DISABILITIES BILL 
 
 [From the time of Mr. Robert Grant's motion for the admission of Jews 
 to Parliament, April 5, 1830, bills to this end were repeatedly brought in 
 and occasionally passed by the Commons but always thrown out by the 
 Lords. The election of Baron Rothschild for the city of London in 1847 
 added a new zest to Jewish Emancipation. It was not, however, until 
 1858 that the Jewish Disabilities were entirely removed. The following 
 speech was delivered in the House of Commons February 7, 1848.] 
 
 SIR, — If the honorable the learned and exceedingly able 
 gentleman who has just sat down [Mr. Walpole] had 
 been a member of the House of Commons when the 
 member for Tamworth brought forward the measure of Eman- 
 cipation, the speech which he has this night pronounced 
 
ON THF] JEWISH DISABILITIES BILL 
 
 439 
 
 against the Jews would have been fully as apposite upon that 
 great historical occasion. With all his habits of fine forensic 
 discrimination I do not think that he can distinguish between 
 the objections urged against the Catholic and against the Jew. 
 He has, for example, strenuously insisted that in the writ by 
 which the sheriff is commanded to hold an election a reference 
 is made to the maintenance of the Anglican Church. That 
 objection is nearly as strong when applied to the Unitarian, 
 the Baptist, the Independent, and, above all, to the professors 
 of the religion to which it is my good fortune to belong. That 
 men subject to all the duties should be deemed unworthy of 
 the rights of Englishmen appears to me to be a remarkable 
 anomaly. The enjoyment of rights ought not to be dissociated 
 from the liabilities to duties. A British subject ought in every 
 regard to be considered a British citizen ; and inasmuch as the 
 professors of the most ancient religion in the world, which, as 
 far as it goes, we not only admit to be true, but hold to be the 
 foundation of our own, are bound to the performance of every 
 duty which attaches to a British subject, to a full fruition of 
 every right which belongs to a British citizen, they have, I 
 think, an irrefragable title. A Jew born in England cannot 
 transfer his allegiance from his sovereign and his country; if 
 he were to enter the ser^dce of a foreign power engaged in hos- 
 tilities with England and were taken in arms he would be 
 accounted a traitor. Is a Jew an Englishman for no other 
 purposes than those of condemnation? I am not aware of a 
 single obligation to which other Englishmen are liable from 
 which a Jew is exempt ; and if his religion confers on him no 
 sort of immunity it ought not to affect him with any kind of 
 disqualification. 
 
 It has been said in the course of these discussions that a 
 Jew is not subject to penalties, but to privations. But what is 
 
440 
 
 RICHARD LALOR SHEIL 
 
 privation but a synonym for penalty ? Privation of life, priva- 
 tion of liberty, privation of property, privation of country, pri- 
 vation of right, privation of privilege — these are degrees 
 widely distant indeed, but still degrees in the graduated scale 
 of persecution. The parliamentary disability that affects the 
 Jew has been designated in the course of these debates by the 
 mollified expressions to which men who impart euphemism to 
 severity are in the habit of resorting; but most assuredly an 
 exclusion from the House of Commons ought in the House of 
 Commons itself to be regarded as a most grievous detriment. 
 With the dignity and the greatness and the pofver of this, the 
 first assembly in the world, the hardship of exclusion is com- 
 mensurate. Some of the most prominent opponents of this 
 measure are among the last by whom a seat in Parliament 
 ought to be held in little account. On this branch of the case 
 — the hardship of an exclusion from this House — I can speak 
 as a witness as well as an advocate. I belong to that great 
 and powerful community which was a few years ago subject to 
 the same disqualification that affects the Jew, and I felt that 
 disqualification to be most degrading. Of myself I will not 
 speak, because I can speak of the most illustrious person by 
 whom that community was adorned. I have sat under the gal- 
 lery of the Plouse of Commons by the side of Mr. O'C'onnell 
 during a great discussion on which the destiny of Ireland was 
 dependent. I was with him when Plunket convinced, and 
 Brougham surprised, and Canning charmed, and Peel 
 instructed, and Russell exalted and improved. How have I 
 seen him repine at his exclusion from the field of high intel- 
 lectual encounter in those lists in which so many competitors 
 for glory were engaged, and into which, with an injurious ti- 
 diness, he was afterwards admitted! How have I seen him 
 chafe the chain which bound him down, but which, with an 
 
ON THE JEWISH DISABILITIES BILL 
 
 441 
 
 effort of gigantic prowess, he burst at last to pieces! lie was 
 at the head of millions of an organized and indissoluble people. 
 The Jew comes here with no other arguments than those which 
 reason and truth supply; but reason and truth are of counsel 
 with him; and in this assembly, which I believe to represent 
 not only the high intelligence but the high-mindedness of Eng- 
 land, reason will not long be baffled, and truth, in fufilment of 
 its great aphorism, will at last prevail. 
 
 I will assume that the exclusion from this House is a great 
 privation, and I proceed to consider whether it be not a great 
 wrong, l^othing but necessity could afford its justification; 
 and of this plea we should be taught, by a phrase v\^hich has 
 almost grown proverbial, to beware. Cardinal Caraffa relied 
 upon necessity when he founded that celebrated tribunal whose 
 practices are denounced by you, but upon whose maxims have 
 a care lest you should unconsciously proceed. The sophisti- 
 cations of intolerance are refuted by their inconsistencies. If 
 a Jew can choose, wherefore should he not be chosen? If a 
 Jew can vote for a Christian, why should not a Christian vote 
 for a Jew? Again, the Jew is admissible to the highest 
 municipal employments; a Jew can be high sheriffs — in other 
 words, he can impanel the jury by which the first Christian 
 commoner in England may be tried for his life. But if neces- 
 sity is to be pleaded as a justification for the exclusion of the 
 Jew it must be founded on some great peril which would arise 
 from his admission. What is it you fear? ^Hiat is the origin 
 of this Hebrewphobia ? Do you tremble for the Church ? The 
 Church has something perhaps to fear from eight millions of 
 Catholics and from three millions of Methodists and more than 
 a million of Scotch seceders. The Church may have some- 
 thing to fear from the assault of sectaries from without, and 
 still more to fear from a sort of spurious Popery and the 
 
442 
 
 RICHARD LALOR SHEIL 
 
 machinations of mitred mutiny from within; but from the 
 Synagogue — the neutral, impartial, apathetic, and unprose- 
 lytizing Synagogue — the Church has nothing to apprehend. 
 But it is said that the House will become unchristianized. The 
 Christianity of the Parliament depends on the Christianity of 
 the country ; and the Christianity of the country is fixed in the 
 faith and inseparably intertwined with the affections of the 
 people. It is as stable as England herself, and as long as Par- 
 liament shall endure, while the constitution shall stand, until 
 the great mirror of the nation's mind shall have been shat- 
 tered to pieces, the religious feelings of the country will be 
 faithfully reflected here. This is a security far better than 
 can be supplied by a test which presents a barrier to an honest 
 Jew, but which a scornful skeptic can so readily and so disdain- 
 fully overleap. 
 
 Reference has been made in the course of these discussions 
 to the author of " The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.'* 
 A name still more illustrious might have been cited. Was 
 not the famous St. John — was not Bolingbroke, the fatally 
 accomplished, the admiration of the admirable, to whom 
 genius paid an almost idolatrous homage, and by whom a sort 
 of fascination was exercised over all those who had the mis- 
 fortune to approach him — was not the unhappy skeptic, by 
 whom far more mischief to religion and morality must have 
 been done than could be effected by half a hundred of the 
 men' by whom the Old Testament is exclusively received, a 
 member of this House? Was he stopped by the test that 
 arrests the Jew; or did he not trample upon it and ascend 
 through this House to a sort of masterdom in England and 
 become the confidential and favorite adviser of his sovereign? 
 He was not only an avowed and ostentatious infidel, but he 
 was swayed by a distempered and almost insane solicitude for 
 
ON THE JEWISH DISABILITIES BILL 
 
 443 
 
 the dissemination of his disastrous disbelief. Is it not then 
 preposterous that a man by whom all revealed religion is repu- 
 diated, who doubts the immortality of the soul, doubts a future 
 state of rewards and punishments, doubts in a superintending 
 Providence, believes in nothing, fears nothing, and hopes for 
 nothing, without any incentive to virtue, and without any 
 restraint upon depravity excepting such as a sense of conven- 
 tional honor or the promptings of a natural good.ness may have 
 given him — is it not, I say, preposterous, and almost mon- 
 strous, that such a man, for whom a crown of deadly night- 
 shade should be woven, should be enabled, by playing the 
 imposture of a moment and uttering a valueless formula at 
 the table of the House, to climb to the pinnacle of power ; and 
 that you should slap the doors of this House with indignity 
 upon a conscientious man who adheres to the faith in which 
 he was bom and bred; who believes in the great facts that 
 constitute the foundation of Christianity ; who believes in the 
 perpetual existence of the nobler portion of our being; who 
 believes in future retribution and in recompense to come; who 
 believes that the world is taken care of by its almighty and 
 everlasting Author; who believes in the mercy of Grod and prac- 
 tises humanity to man; who fulfils the ten great injunctions 
 in which all morality is comprised; whose ear was never deaf 
 to the supplications of the suffering; whose hand is as open 
 as day to charity; and whose life presents an exemplification 
 of the precepts of the Gospel far more faithful than that of 
 many a man by whom, in the name of the Gospel, his dishonor- 
 ing and unchristian disabilities are most wantonly, most inju- 
 riously, and most opprobriously maintained? But where in 
 the Scripture — in what chapter, in what text, in what single 
 phrase — ^will you find an authority for resorting to the inflic- 
 tion of temporal penalty, or of temporal privation of any kind. 
 
444 
 
 EICHAED LALOR SHEIL 
 
 as a means of propagating heavenly trutk? You may find an 
 authority, indeed, in the writings of jurists and of divines, and 
 in the stern theology of those austere and haughty churchmen 
 by whom the Pharisaical succession, far better than the Apos- 
 tolical, is personally and demonstratively proved. But you 
 mil not find it in the IsTew Testament"; you will not find it in 
 Matthew, nor in Mark, nor in Luke, nor in John, nor in the 
 epistles of the meek and humble men to whom the teaching of 
 all nations was given in charge ; above all, you will not find in 
 it anything that was ever said, or anything that was ever done, 
 or anything that was ever suffered, by the Divine Author of 
 the Christian religion, who spoke the Sermon on the Mountain, 
 who said that the merciful should be blessed, and who, instead 
 of ratifying the anathema which the people of Jerusalem had 
 invoked upon themselves, prayed for forgiveness for those who 
 knew not what they did in consummating the Sacrifice that 
 was offered up for the transgressions of the world. 
 
 It was not by persecution, but despite of it — despite of 
 imprisonment, and exile, and spoliation, and shame, and death, 
 despite the dungeon, the wheel, the bed of steel, and the 
 couch of fire — ^that the Christian religion made its irresistible 
 and superhuman way. And is it not repugnant to common 
 reason, as well as to the elementary principles of Christianity 
 itself, to hold that it is to be maintained by means diametric- 
 ally the reverse of those by which it was propagated and dif- 
 fused? But, alas! for our frail and fragile nature, no sooner 
 had the professors of Christianity become the copartners of 
 secular authority than the severities were resorted to which 
 their persecuted predecessors had endured. The Jew was 
 selected as an object of special and peculiar infliction. The 
 history of that most unhappy people is, for century after cen- 
 tury, a trail of chains and a track of blood. Men of mercy 
 
ON THE JEWISH DISABILITIES BILL 
 
 445 
 
 occasionally arose to interpose in their behalf. St. Bernard — • 
 the Great St. Bernard, the last of the Latin Fathers — with a 
 most pathetic eloquence took their part. But the light that 
 gleamed from the ancient turrets of the Abbey of Clairvaux 
 was transitory and evanescent. New centuries of persecution 
 followed; the Reformation did nothing for the Jew. The 
 infallibility of Geneva was sterner than the infallibility of 
 Rome. But all of us, — C'alvinists, Protestants, Catholics, — 
 all of us who have torn the seamless garment into pieces have 
 sinned most fearfully in this terrible regard. 
 
 It is, however, some consolation to know that in Roman 
 Catholic countries expiation of this guilt has commenced. In 
 France and in Belgium all civil distinction between the Prot- 
 estant and the J ew is at an end. To this Protestant country 
 a great example will not have been vainly given. There did 
 exist in England a vast mass of prejudice upon this question, 
 which is, however, rapidly giving way. London, the point of 
 imperial centralization, has made a noble manifestation of its 
 will. London has advisedly, deliberately, and with benevo- 
 lence aforethought selected the most prominent member of the 
 Jewish community as its representative and united him with 
 the first minister of the Crown. Is the Parliament prepared 
 to fling back the Jew upon the people in order that the people 
 should fling back the Jew upon the Parliament ? That will bo 
 a dismal game, in the deprecation of whose folly and whose 
 
 evils the Christian and the statesman should concur. But not 
 
 ■* 
 
 only are the disabilities which it is the object of this measure 
 to repeal at variance with genuine Christianity, but I do not 
 hesitate to assert that they operate as impediments to the con- 
 version of the J ews and are productive of consequences directly 
 the reverse of those for which they were originally designed. 
 Those disabilities are not sufficiently onerous to be compal- 
 
446 
 
 EICHARD LALOR SHEIL 
 
 sory, but they are sufficiently vexatious to make conversion 
 a synonym for apostacy and to affix a stigma to an interested 
 conformity with the religion of the State. We have relieved 
 the Jew from the ponderous mass of fetters that bound him 
 by the neck and by the feet ; but the lines which we have left, 
 apparently light, are strong enough to attach him to his creed 
 and make it a point of honor that he should not desert it. 
 
 There exists in this country a most laudable anxiety for 
 the conversion of the Jews. Meetings are held and money 
 is largely subscribed for the purpose; but all these creditable 
 endeavors will be ineffectual unless we make a restitution of 
 his birthright to every Englishman who professes the Jewish 
 religion. I know that there are those who think that there 
 is no such thing as an English, or a French, or a Spanish Jew. 
 A Jew is but a Jew ; his nationality, it is said, is engrossed by 
 the hand of recollection and of hope, and the house of Jacob 
 must remain forever in a state of isolation among the strange 
 people by whom it is encompassed. In answer to these sophis- 
 tries I appeal to human nature. It is not wonderful that 
 when the Jew was oppressed and pillaged and branded in a 
 captivity worse than Babylonian, he should have felt upon 
 the banks of the Thames, or of the Seine, or the Danube, as 
 his forefathers felt by the waters of the Euphrates, and that 
 the psalm of exile should have found an echo in his heart. 
 This is not strange ; it would have been strange if it had been 
 otherwise; but justice — even partial justice — has already oper- 
 ated a salutary change. 
 
 In the same manner in which we have relaxed the laws 
 against the Jews, that patriot instinct by which we are taught 
 to love the land of our birth has been revived. British feel- 
 ing has already taken root in the heart of the Jew, and for its 
 perfect development nothing but perfect justice is required. 
 
ON THE JEWISH DISABILITIES BILL 
 
 447 
 
 To the fallacies of fanaticism give no heed. Emancipate the 
 Jew — from the statute-book of England be the last remnant 
 of intolerance erased forever; abolish all civil discriminations 
 between the Christian and the Jew, fill his whole heart with 
 the consciousness of country. Do this, and we dare be sworn 
 that he will think and feel and fear and hope as you do ; 
 his sorrow and his exultation will be the same; at the tidings 
 of English glory his heart will beat with a kindred palpitation; 
 and whenever there shall be need, in the defence of his 
 sovereign and of his country, his best blood, at your bidding, 
 will be poured out with the same heroic prodigality as your 
 own. 
 
JAMES BUCHANAN 
 
 AMES Buchanan, fifteenth President of the United States, the son of 
 an Irishman who had emigrated to this country in 1783, was born 
 in Franklin Co., Pa., April 23, 1791, and died near Lancaster, Pa., 
 June 1, 1868. Educated at Dickinson College, Carlisle, in 1809, he 
 took a course in law and in 1812 was admitted to the Bar, at which he soon 
 gained a lucrative practice. Turning to politics and having some experience as 
 a legislator in the Pennsylvania legislature, he entered Congress in 1821 and 
 remained in the House for ten years, taking a useful part in the councils of 
 the judiciary committee, and advocating (1828) General Jackson's election to the 
 Presidency. Retiring from the House in 1831, Jackson gave him the minister- 
 ship of the United States at the Court of Russia, where he secured a commer- 
 cial treaty of advantage to this country. Returning to America in 1833, he 
 entered the Cnited States Senate, and in 1845 was appointed by Polk Secretary 
 of State. In the Senate he was a strong supporter of the measures and acts of the 
 Democratic party and a staunch upholder of slavery and the rights of the indi- 
 vidual States. In Pierce's administration he was appointed United States minister 
 to England after a brief period of retirement. He took part in the Ostend Con- 
 ference and sought to bring about the acquisition of Cuba. With Fremont and 
 Fillmore, he contested the Presidency, and in 1857 gained the prize, becoming 
 while in office a partisan of the South, tolerating the secession from the Union of 
 South Carolina, which, with the troubles in Kansas, the John Brown raid, and the 
 agitation of the time on the fugitive slave law, fomented disruption and precipi- 
 tated the Civil War. This ended his public career in eclipse, and he withdrew to 
 his home in Pennsylvania and died in his seventy-eighth year. Buchanan, though 
 a Northern man, who, during the crisis of the Civil War, ought to have been 
 with his own section of the country, seems at this period to have fallen completely 
 under the influence of the South and of its chief leaders. While he deemed Secession 
 illegal, he nevertheless believed that a State could not be coerced, and though 
 he in his attitude toward slavery would not release fugitive slaves, he wished to 
 secure slavery in the states where it existed as well as in the territories. 
 
 INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
 
 Fellow-Citizens : 
 
 I APPEAR before 3^011 this clay to take the solemn oath 
 ''that I will faithfully execute the office of President 
 of the United States and will to the best of my ability 
 preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United 
 States." 
 (448) 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
 
 449 
 
 In entering upon this great office I must humbly invoke 
 the God of our fathers for wisdom and firmness to execute 
 its high and responsible duties in such a manner as to re- 
 store harmony and ancient friendship among the people of 
 the several States, and to preserve our free institutions 
 throughout many generations. Convinced that I owe my 
 election to the inherent love for the Constitution and the 
 Union which still animates the hearts of the American 
 people, let me earnestly ask their powerful support in sus- 
 taining all just measures calculated to perpetuate these, the 
 richest politic'al blessings which Heaven has ever bestowed 
 upon any nation. Having determined not to become a can- 
 didate for re-election, I shall have no motive to influence 
 my conduct in administering the government, except the 
 desire ably and faithfully to serve my country and to live in 
 the grateful memory of my countrymen. 
 
 We have recently passed through a Presidential contest 
 in which the passions of our fellow-citizens were excited to 
 the highest degree by questions of deep and vital impor- 
 tance ; but when the people proclaimed their will the tempest 
 at once subsided and all was calm. 
 
 The voice of the majority, speaking in the manner pre- 
 scribed by the Constitution, was heard, and instant sub- 
 mission followed. Our own country could alone have 
 exhibited so grand and striking a spectacle of the capacity of 
 man for self-government. 
 
 What a happy conception, then, was it for Congress to 
 apply this simple rule, that the will of the majority shall 
 govern, to the settlement of the question of domestic 
 slavery in the Territories ! Congress is neither '^to legis- 
 late slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it 
 
 therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to 
 Vol. 5—29 
 
450 
 
 JAMES BUCHANAN 
 
 form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own 
 way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." 
 
 As a natural consequence, Congress has also prescribed 
 that when the Territory of Kansas shall be admitted as a 
 State it "shall be received into the Union with or without 
 slavery, as their Constitution may prescribe at the time of 
 their admission.'' 
 
 A difference of opinion has arisen in regard to the point 
 of time when the people of a Territory shall decide this ques- 
 tion for themselves. 
 
 This is, happily, a matter of but little practical impor- 
 tance. Besides, it is a judicial question, which legitimately 
 belongs to the Supreme Court of the United States, before 
 whom it is now pending, and will, it is understood, be 
 speedily and finally settled. To their decision, in common 
 with all good citizens, I shall cheerfully submit, whatever 
 this may be, though it has ever been my individual opinion 
 that under the I^ebra ska-Kansas act the appropriate period 
 will be when the number of actual residents in the Territory 
 shall justify the formation of a Constitution with a view to 
 its admission as a State into the Union. But be this as it 
 may, it is the imperative and indispensable duty of the 
 government of the United States to secure to every resident 
 inhabitant the free and independent expression of his opin- 
 ion by his vote. This sacred right of each individual must 
 be preserved. That being accomplished, nothing can be 
 fairer than to leave the people of a Territory free from all 
 foreign interference, to decide their own destiny for them- 
 selves, subject only to the Constitution of the United 
 States. 
 
 The whole Territorial question being settled upon the 
 principle of popular sovereignty — a principle as ancient as 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
 
 451 
 
 free government itself — everything of a practical nature has 
 been decided. No other question remains for adjustment, 
 because all agree that under the Constitution slavery in the 
 States is beyond any human power except that of the re- 
 spective States themselves v^herein it exists. May we not, 
 then, hope that the long agitation on this subject is ap- 
 proaching its end, and that the geographical parties to 
 which it has given birth, so much dreaded by the Father 
 of his Country, will speedily become extinct? Most happy 
 will it be for the country when the public mind shall be 
 diverted from this question to others of more pressing and 
 practical importance. Throughout the whole progress of 
 this agitation, which has scarcely known any intermission 
 for more than twenty years, while it has been productive 
 of no positive good to any human being, it has been the 
 prolific source of great evils to the master, to the slave, and 
 to the whole country. It has alienated and estranged the 
 people of the sister States from each other, and has even 
 seriously endangered the very existence of the Union, ^or 
 has the danger yet entirely ceased. Under our system there 
 is a remedy for all mere political evils in the sound sense 
 and sober judgment of the people. Time is a great correc- 
 tive. Political subjects which but a few years ago excited 
 and exasperated the public mind have passed away and 
 are now entirely forgotten. But this question of domestic 
 slavery is of far graver importance than any mere political 
 question, because, should the agitation continue, it may 
 eventually endanger the personal safety of a large portion 
 of our countrymen where the institution exists. In that 
 event no form of government, however admirable in itself, 
 and however productive of material benefits, can compen- 
 sate for the loss of peace and domestic securit;^ around the 
 
452 
 
 JAMES BUCHANAN 
 
 family altar. Let every Union-loving man, therefore, exert 
 his best influence to suppress this agitation, which, since 
 the recent legislation of Congress, is without any legitimate 
 object. 
 
 It is an evil omen of the times that men have undertaken 
 to calculate the mere material value of the Union. Reasoned 
 estimates have been presented of the pecuniarv profits and 
 local advantages which would result to the different States 
 and sections from its dissolution, and of the comparative 
 injuries which such an event would inflict on other States 
 and sections. Even descending to this low and narrow view 
 of the mighty question, all such calculations are at fault. 
 The bare reference to a single consideration will be con- 
 clusive on this point. We at present enjoy a free trade 
 throughout our extensive and expanding country such as 
 the world has never witnessed. This trade is conducted on 
 railroads and canals, on noble rivers and arms of the sea, 
 which bind together the i^orth and South, the East and 
 West, of our confederacy. Annihilate this trade, arrest its 
 free progress by the geographical lines of jealous and hostile 
 States, and you destroy the prosperity and onward march 
 of the whole and every part, and involve all in a common 
 ruin. But such considerations, important as they are in 
 themselves, sink into insignificance when we reflect upon 
 the terrifie evils which would result from disunion to every 
 portion of the confederacy — to the ^N'orth not more than to 
 the South, to the East not more than to the West. These 
 I shall not attempt to portray, because I feel a humble con- 
 fidence that the kind Providence which inspired our fathers 
 with wisdom to frame the most perfect form of government 
 and union ever devised by man, will not suffer it to perish 
 until it shall have been peacefully instrumental, b;^ its 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
 
 453 
 
 example, in the extension of civil and religious liberty 
 throughout the world. 
 
 ^^ext in importance to the maintenance of the Constitu- 
 tion and the Union, is the duty of preserving the govern- 
 ment free from the taint or even the suspicion of corruption. 
 Public virtue is the vital spirit of republics, and history 
 proves that v^^hen this has decayed and the love of money 
 has usurped its place, although the forms of free govern- 
 ment may remain for a season, the substance has departed 
 forever. 
 
 Our present financial condition is without parallel in 
 history. 'No nation has ever before been embarrassed from 
 too large a surplus in its treasury. This almost necessarily 
 gives birth to extravagant legislation. It produces wild 
 schemes of expenditure, and begets a race of speculators 
 and jobbers, whose ingenuity is exerted in contriving and 
 promoting expedients to obtain public money. The purity 
 of official agents, whether rightfully or wrongfully, is sus- 
 pected, and the character of the government suffers in the 
 estimation of the people. This is in itself a very great 
 evil. 
 
 The natural mode of relief from this embarrassment is 
 to appropriate the surplus in the Treasury to great national 
 objects for which a clear warrant can be found in the Con- 
 stitution. Among these I might mention the extinguish- 
 ment of the public debt, a reasonable increase of the navy, 
 which is at present inadequate to the protection of our vast 
 tonnage afloat, now greater than any other nation, as well as 
 the defense of our extended seacoast. 
 
 It is beyond all question the true principle that no more 
 revenue ought to be collected from the people than the 
 amount necessary to defray the expense of a wise, econom- 
 
454 
 
 JAMES BUCHANAN 
 
 ical, and efficient administration of the government. To 
 reach this point it was necessary to resort to a modification 
 of the tariff, and this has, I trust, been accomplished in 
 such a manner as to do as little injury as may have been 
 practicable to our domestic manufactures, especially those 
 necessary for the defence of the country. Any discrimina- 
 tion against a particular branch for the purpose of benefit- 
 ing favored corporations, individuals, or interests, would 
 have been un,just to the rest of the community and incon- 
 sistent with that spirit of fairness and equality which ought 
 to govern in the adjustment of a revenue tariff. 
 
 But the squandering of the public money sinks into com- 
 parative insignificance as a temptation to corruption when 
 compared with the squandering of the public lands. 
 
 ]^o nation in the tide of time has ever been blessed with 
 so rich and noble an inheritance as we enjoy in the public 
 lands. In administering this important trust, while it may 
 be wise to grant portions of them for the improvement of 
 the remainder, yet we should never forget that it is our 
 cardinal policy to reserve these lands, as much as may be, 
 for actual settlers, and this at moderate prices. We 
 shall thus not only best promote the prosperity of the new 
 States and Territories, by furnishing them a hardy and 
 independent race of honest and industrious citizens, but 
 shall secure homes for our children and our children's chil- 
 dren, as well as for those exiles from foreign shores who 
 may seek in this country to improve their condition and to 
 enjoy the blessings of civil and religious liberty. Such 
 immigrants have done much to promote the growth and 
 prosperity of the country. They have proved faithful both 
 in peace and in war. After becoming citizens they are en- 
 titled, under the Constitution and laws, to be placed on 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
 
 455 
 
 a perfect equality with native-born citizens, and in this char- 
 acter they should ever be kindly recognized. 
 
 The Federal Constitution is a grant from the States 
 to Congress of certain specific powers, and the question 
 whether this grant should be liberally or strictly construed 
 has more or less divided political parties from the begin- 
 ning. Without entering into the argument, I desire to 
 state at the commencement of my administration that long 
 experience and observation have convinced me that a strict 
 construction of the powers of the government is the only, 
 true, as well as the only safe, theory of the Constitution. 
 Whenever in our past history doubtful powers have been 
 exercised by Congress, these have never failed to produce 
 injurious anl unhappy consequences. Many such instances 
 might be adduced if this were the proper occasion. ISTeither 
 is it necessary for the public service to strain the language 
 of the Constitution, because all the great and useful powers 
 required for a successful administration of the government, 
 both in peace and in war, have been granted, either in ex- 
 press terms or by the plainest implication. 
 
 While deeply convinced of these truths, I yet consider 
 it clear that under the war-making power Congress may 
 appropriate money toward the construction of a military 
 road when this is absolutely necessary for the defence of 
 any State or Territory of the Union against foreign inva- 
 sion. Under the Constitution Congress has powder "to de- 
 clare war," "to raise and support armies,'' "to provide and 
 maintain a navy," and to call forth the militia to "repel in- 
 vasions." Thus endowed, in an ample manner, with the 
 Avar-making power, the corresponding duty is required that 
 "the United States shall protect each of them [the States] 
 against invasion." I^ow, how is it possible to afford this 
 
456 
 
 JAMES BUCHANAN 
 
 protection to California and our Pacific possessions, except 
 by means of a military road through the territories of the 
 United States, over which men and munitions of war may 
 be speedily transported from the Atlantic States to meet 
 and to repel the invader ? In the event of a war with a naval 
 power much stronger than our own, we should then have no 
 other available access to the Pacific coast, because such a 
 23ower would instantly close the route across the isthmus of 
 Central America. It is impossible to conceive that while 
 the Constitution has expressly required Congress to defend 
 all the States, it should yet deny to them, by any fair con- 
 struction, the only possible means by which one of these 
 States can be defended. Besides, the government, ever 
 since its origin, has been in the constant practice of con- 
 structing military roads. It might also be wise to consider 
 whether the love for the Union which now animates our 
 fellow-citizens on the Pacific coast may not be impaired by 
 our neglect or refusal to provide for them, in their remote 
 and isolated condition, the only means by which the power 
 of the States on this side of the Rocky Mountains can reach 
 them in sufficient time to ^^protect" them ^'against inva- 
 sion.'' I forbear for the present from expressing an opinion 
 as to the wisest and most economical mode in which the 
 government can lend its aid in accomplishing this great and 
 necessary work. I believe that many of the difficulties in 
 the way, which now appear formidable, will in a great de- 
 gree vanish as soon as the nearest and best route shall have 
 been satisfactorily ascertained. 
 
 It may be proper that on this occasion I should make 
 some brief remark in regard to our rights and duties as a 
 member of the great family of nations. In our intercourse 
 with them there are some plain principles, approved by our 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
 
 457 
 
 own experience, from which we should never depart. We 
 ought to cultivate peace, commerce, and friendship with all 
 nations, and this not merely as the best means of promoting 
 our own material interests, but in a spirit of Christian be- 
 nevolence toward our fellow-men, wherever their lot may 
 be cast. Our diplomacy should be direct and frank, neither 
 seeking to obtain more nor accepting less than is due. We 
 ought to cherish a sacred regard for the independence of 
 all nations, and never attempt to interfere in the domestic 
 concerns of any unless this shall be imperatively required 
 by the great law of self-preservation. To avoid entangling 
 alliances has been a maxim of our policy ever since the days 
 of Washington, and its wisdom no one will attempt to dis- 
 pute. In short, we ought to do justice in a kindly spirit to 
 all nations, and require justice from them in return. 
 
 It is our glory that while other nations have extended 
 their dominions by the sword, w^e have never acquired any 
 territory except by fair purchase or, in the case of Texas, 
 by the voluntary determination of a brave, kindred, and 
 independent people to blend their destinies with our own. 
 Even our acquisitions from Mexico form no exception. 
 Unwilling to take advantage of the fortune of war against 
 a sister republic, we purchased these possessions under the 
 treaty of peace for a sum which was considered at the time 
 a fair equivalent. Our past history forbids that we shall in 
 the future acquire territory unless this be sanctioned by the 
 laws of justice and honor. Acting on this principle, no 
 nation will have a right to interfere or to complain if, in 
 the progress of events, we shall still further extend our 
 possessions. Hitherto in all our acquisitions the people, 
 under the protection of the American flag, have enjoyed 
 civil and religious liberty as well as equal and just laws. 
 
458 
 
 JAMES BUCHANAN 
 
 and have been contented, prosperous, and happy. Their 
 
 trade with the rest of the world has rapidly increased, and 
 
 thus every commercial nation has shared largely in their 
 
 successful progress. 
 
 I shall now proceed to take the oath prescribed by the 
 
 Constitution, while humbly invoking the blessing of Divine 
 
 Providence on this great people. 
 March 4, 1857. 
 
ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE 
 
 OBERT Young Hayne, American politician and orator, prominent as the 
 leader of the South Carolina " iJullifiers, " was born in Colleton District, 
 S. C, Nov. 10, 1791, and died at Asheville, N. C, Sept. 24, 1839. 
 Choosing law as a profession, he studied for it, and in 1812 was admitted 
 to the Bar, after which for a time he served in one of the State regiments during the 
 War of 1812. He then entered the State legislature, became Speaker of the House, 
 and in 1822 was appointed Attorney-General of South Carolina. From 1823 to 1832 
 he was a member of the United States Senate, where he opposed a protective tariff, 
 4eclaring such unconstitutional; and in 1830 he crossed swords with Daniel Webster in 
 X famous debate on Senator Foote of Connecticut's resolution, a debate which led Hayne 
 practically to affirm the constitutional right of secession on the part of any individual 
 State — an argument which Webster trenchantly demolished, while at the same time 
 demonstrating the true "national" theory of the government. Hayne's attitude on 
 this vital subject was further shown, when as chairman of a committee in the South 
 Carolina State convention, in 1832, that body adopted an "ordinance of nullification." 
 In the same year he was elected governor of his State. The gravity of the position 
 taken by South Carolina in regard to nullification elicited an answer from President 
 Jackson, to which Governor Hayne made a defiant rejoinder and threatened resistance 
 to Federal authority. Clay's compromise measure, however, averted trouble for the 
 time and the ordinance was repealed by South Carolina in a subsequent convention. 
 See Hayne's " Life and Speeches," issued in 1845. 
 
 ON FOOTE'S RESOLUTION^ 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. JANUARY 21, 18302 
 
 MR. President, — When I took occasion, two days ago, 
 to throw out some ideas with respect to the policy 
 of the government in relation to the public lands, 
 nothing certainly could have been further from my thoughts 
 than that I should have been compelled again to throw myself 
 
 1 The following is the resolution of Mr. Foote: " Resolved that the Committee on 
 Public Lands be instructed to inquire and report the quantity of the public lands re- 
 maining unsold within each State and Territory, and whether it be expedient to limit, 
 for a certain period, the sales of the public lands to such lands only as have heretofore 
 been offered for sale, and are now subject to entry at the minimum price. And, also, 
 whether the office of surveyor-general, and some of the land offices, may not be abol- 
 ished without detriment to the public interest ; or whether it be expedient to adopt 
 measures to hasten the sales and extend more rapidly the surveys of the public lands." 
 
 2 See Mr. Webster's answer to this speech at page 171 ante. 
 
 (459) 
 
460 
 
 ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE 
 
 upon the indulgence of the Senate. Little did I expect to be 
 called upon to meet such an argument as was yesterday urged 
 by the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Webster]. 
 
 Sir, I questioned no man's opinions ; I impeached no man's 
 motives ; I charged no party or State or section of country 
 with hostility to any other, but ventured, as I thought in a 
 becoming spirit, to put forth my own sentiments in relation 
 to a great national question of public policy. 
 
 Such was my course. The gentleman from Missouri [Mr. 
 Benton], it is true, had charged upon the Eastern States an 
 early and continued hostility toward the West, and referred 
 to a number of historical facts and documents in support of 
 that charge. 'Now, sir, how have these different arguments 
 been met? The honorable gentleman from Massachusetts, 
 after deliberating a whole night upon his course, comes into 
 this chamber to vindicate I^ew England, and instead of mak- 
 ing up his issue with the gentleman from Missouri on the 
 charges which he had preferred, chooses to consider me as 
 the author of those charges, and, losing sight entirely of that 
 gentleman, selects me as his adversary and pours out all the 
 vials of his mighty wrath upon my devoted head. Not is 
 he willing to stop there. 
 
 He goes on to assail the institutions and policy of the 
 South, and calls in question the principles and conduct of 
 the State which I have the honor to represent. When I find 
 a gentleman of mature age and experience, of acknowledged 
 talents and profound sagacity, pursuing a course like this, 
 declining the contest olfered from the West, and making war 
 upon the unoffending South, I must believe, I am bound to 
 believe, he has some object in view which he has not ventured 
 to disclose. 
 
 Mr. President, why is this ? Has the gentleman discovered 
 
ON FOOTE'8 resolution 
 
 461 
 
 in former controversies with the gentleman from Missouri 
 that he is overmatched by that senator? And does he hope 
 for an easy victory over a more feeble adversary? Has the 
 gentleman's distempered fancy been disturbed by gloomy fore- 
 bodings of new alliances to be formed " at which he hinted? 
 Has the ghost of the murdered Coalition come back, like the 
 ghost of Banquo, to ^' sear the eyeballs of the gentleman/' 
 and will it not " down at his bidding? " Are dark visions of 
 broken hopes, and honors lost forever, still floating before his 
 heated imagination? Sir, if it be his object to thrust me be- 
 tween the gentleman from Missouri and himself, in order to 
 rescue the East from the contest it has provoked with the 
 West, he shall not be gratified. Sir, I will not be dragged 
 into the defence of my friend from Missouri. The South 
 shall not be forced into a conflict not its own. The gentle- 
 man from Missouri is able to fight his own battles. The gal- 
 lant West needs no aid from the South to repel any attack 
 which may be made on them from any quarter. Let the gen- 
 tleman from Massachusetts controvert the facts and argu- 
 ments of the gentleman from Missouri if he can, and if he 
 win the victory let him wear the honors ; I shall not deprive 
 him of his laurels. 
 
 The gentleman from Massachusetts, in reply to my remarks 
 on the injurious operations of our land system on the pros- 
 perity of the West, pronounced an extravagant eulogium on 
 the paternal care which the government had extended toward 
 the West, to which he attributed all that was great and ex- 
 cellent in the present condition of the new States. 
 
 The language of the gentleman on this topic fell upon my 
 ears like the almost forgotten tones of the Tory leaders of the 
 British Parliament at the commencement of the American 
 revolution. They, too, discovered that the colonies had 
 
462 
 
 ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE 
 
 grown great under the fostering care of the mother country; 
 and I must confess, while listening to the gentleman, I 
 thought the appropriate reply to his argument was to be 
 found in the remark of a celebrated orator made on that oc- 
 casion: " They have grown great in spite of your protection." 
 
 The gentleman, in commenting on the policy of the govern- 
 ment in relation to the new States, has introduced to our 
 notice a certain Nathan Dane, of Massachusetts, to whom he 
 attributes the celebrated Ordinance of 1787, by which, he tells 
 us, " slavery was forever excluded from the new States north 
 of the Ohio." After eulogizing the wisdom of this provision 
 in terms of the most extravagant praise he breaks forth in 
 admiration of the greatness of Nathan Dane — and great in- 
 deed he must be if it be true, as stated by the senator from 
 Massachusetts, that " he was greater than Solon and Lycurgus, 
 Minos, Numa Pompilius, and all the legislators and philoso- 
 phers of the world," ancient and modern. 
 
 Sir, to such high authority it is certainly my duty, in a 
 becoming spirit of humility, to submit. And yet the gentle- 
 man will pardon me when I say that it is a little unfortunate 
 for the fame of this great legislator that the gentleman from 
 Missouri should have proved that he was not the author of 
 the Ordinance of 1787, on which the senator from Massachu- 
 setts has reared so glorious a monument to his name. 
 
 Sir, I doubt not the senator will feel some compassion for 
 our ignorance when I tell him that, so little are we acquainted 
 with the modern great men of jSTew England, that until he 
 informed us yesterday that we possessed a Solon and a Lycur- 
 gus in the person of Nathan Dane he was only known to the 
 South as a member of a celebrated assembly called and known 
 by the name of " the Hartford Convention." In the proceed- 
 ings of that assembly, which I hold in my hand (at page 19), 
 
ON foote's resolution 
 
 463 
 
 will be found, in a few lines, the history of ISTathan Dane; 
 and a little farther on there is conclusive evidence of that 
 ardent devotion to the interests of the new States which it 
 seems has given him a just claim to the title of " Father of 
 the West." By the second resolution of the Hartford Con- 
 vention it is declared that it is expedient to attempt to make 
 provision for restraining Congress in the exercise of an un- 
 limited power to make new States and admitting them to the 
 Union." So much for i^athan Dane, of Beverly, Massachu- 
 setts. 
 
 In commenting upon my views in relation to the public 
 lands the gentleman insists that, it being one of the conditions 
 of the grants that these lands should be applied to " the com- 
 mon benefit of all the States, they must always remain a fund 
 for revenue; " and adds, they must be treated as so much 
 treasure." 
 
 Sir, the gentleman could hardly find language strong 
 enough to convey his disapprobation of the policy which I had 
 ventured to recommend to the favorable consideration of the 
 country. And what, sir, was that policy, and what is the 
 difference between that gentleman and myself on this subject? 
 
 I threw out the idea that the public lands ought not to be 
 reserved forever as a great fund of revenue ; " that they 
 ought not to be " treated as a great treasure ; " but, that the 
 course of our policy should rather be directed toward the 
 creation of new States and building up great and flourishing 
 communities. 
 
 Now, sir, will it be believed by those who now hear me, 
 and who listened to the gentleman^s denunciation of my doc- 
 trines yesterday, that a' book then lay open before him — nay, 
 that he held it in his hand and read from it certain passages 
 of his own speech delivered to the House of Kepresentatives 
 
464 
 
 ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE 
 
 in 1825, in which speech he himself contended for the very 
 doctrines I had advocated and almost in the same terms. 
 Here is the speech of the Hon. Daniel Webster, contained in 
 the first volume of Gales & Seaton's " Kegister of Debates 
 (p. 251), delivered in the House of Representatives on the 
 18th of January, 1825, in a debate on the Cumberland Road 
 — the very debate from which the senator read yesterday. 
 
 I shall read from the celebrated speech two passages, from 
 which it will appear that both as to the past and the future 
 policy of the government in relation to the public lands the 
 gentleman from Massachusetts maintained in 1825 substan- 
 tially the same opinions which I have advanced, but which he 
 now so strongly reprobates. I said, sir, that the system of 
 credit sales by which the West had been kept constantly in 
 debt to the United States, and by which their wealth was 
 drained off to be expended elsewhere, had operated injuriously 
 on their prosperity. On this point the gentleman from Mas- 
 sachusetts, in January, 1825, expressed himself thus: 
 
 " There could be no doubt if gentlemen looked at the 
 money received into the treasury from the sale of the public 
 lands to the West, and then looked to the whole amount ex- 
 pended by the government (even including the whole amount 
 of what was laid out for the army) the latter must be allowed 
 to be very inconsiderable, and there must be a constant drain 
 of money from the West to pay for the public lands. It might 
 indeed be said that this was no more than the refluence of 
 capital which had previously gone over the mountains. Be 
 it so. Still its practical effect was to produce inconvenience, 
 if not distress, by absorbing the money of the people." 
 
 I contended that the public lands ought not to be treated 
 merely as " a fund for revenue," that they ought not to be 
 hoarded " as a great treasure." 
 
 On this point the senator expressed himself thus: 
 
ON foote's resolution 
 
 405 
 
 Government, he believed, had received eighteen or twenty 
 millions of dollars from the public lands, and it was with the 
 greatest satisfaction he adverted to the change which had been 
 introduced in the mode of paying for them ; yet he could never 
 think the national domain was to be regarded as any great 
 source of revenue. The great object of the government in 
 respect of these lands was not so much the money derived 
 from their sale as it was the getting them settled. What 
 he meant to say was, he did not think they ought to hug that 
 domain as a great treasure which was to enrich the 
 exchequer." 
 
 E'ow, Mr. President, it will be seen that the very doctrines 
 which the gentleman so indignantly abandons were urged 
 by him in 1825; and if I had actually borrowed my senti- 
 ments from those which he then avowed I could not have fol- 
 lowed more closely in his footsteps. Sir, it is only since the 
 gentleman quoted this book yesterday that my attention has 
 been turned to the sentiments he expressed in 1825, and, if 
 I had remembered them, I might possibly have been deterred 
 from uttering sentiments here which it might well be sup- 
 posed I had borrowed from that gentleman. 
 
 In 1825 the gentleman told the world that the public lands 
 " ought not to be treated as a treasure." He now tells us 
 that " they must be treated as so much treasure." 
 
 What the deliberate opinion of the gentleman on this sub- 
 ject may be belongs not to me to determine; but I do not 
 think he can, with the shadow of justice or propriety, impugn 
 my sentiments while his own recorded opinions are identical 
 with my own. When the gentleman refers to the conditions 
 of the grants under which the United States have acquired 
 these lands, and insists that, as they are declared to be " for 
 the common benefit of all the States," they can only be 
 treated as so much treasure, I think he has applied a rule of 
 construction too narrow for the case. If in the deeds of 
 
 Vol. 6—30 
 
466 
 
 EGBERT YOUNG HAYNE 
 
 cession it has been declared that the grants were intended 
 for " the common benefit of all the States," it is clear from 
 other provisions that thej were not intended merely as so 
 much property; for it is expressly declared that the object of 
 the grants is the erection of new States ; and the United States, 
 in accepting this trust, bind themselves to f aciliate the founda- 
 tion of these States to be admitted into the Union with all 
 the rights and privileges of the original States. 
 
 This, sir, was the great end to which all parties looked, 
 and it is by the fulfillment of this high trust that " the com- 
 mon benefit of all the States " is to be best promoted. Sir, 
 let me tell the gentleman that in the part of the country in 
 which I live we do not measure political benefits by the money 
 standard. We consider as more valuable than gold — liberty, 
 principle, and justice. But, sir, if we are bound to act on the 
 narrow principles contended for by the gentleman, I am 
 wholly at a loss to conceive how he can reconcile his principles 
 with his own practice. The lands are, it seems, to be treated 
 " as so much treasure," and must be applied to the " common 
 benefit of all the States." 
 
 Now, if this be so, whence does he derive the right to 
 appropriate them for partial and local objects? How can the 
 gentleman consent to vote away immense bodies of these lands 
 for canals in Indiana and Illinois, to the Louisville and 
 Portland canal, to Kenyon College in Ohio, to schools 
 for the deaf and dumb, and other objects of a similar de- 
 scription ? 
 
 If grants of this character can fairly be considered as made 
 for the common benefit of all the States," it can only be 
 because all the States are interested in the welfare of each — 
 a principle which, carried to the full extent, destroys all dis- 
 tinction between local and national objects, and is certainly 
 
ON foote'^s resolution 
 
 467 
 
 broad enough to embrace the principles for which I have 
 ventured to contend. 
 
 Sir, the true difference betv^een us I take to be this: the 
 gentleman wishes to treat the public lands as a great treasure, 
 just as so much money in the treasury, to be applied to all 
 objects, constitutional and unconstitutional, to which the 
 public money is constantly applied. I consider it as a sacred 
 trust, w^hich we ought to fulfil, on the principles for which 
 I have contended. 
 
 The senator from Massachusetts has thought proper to 
 present in strong contrast the friendly feelings of the East 
 towards the West, with sentiments of an opposite character 
 displayed by the South in relation to appropriations for in- 
 ternal improvements. Kow^, sir, let it be recollected that 
 the South have made no professions; I have certainly made 
 none in their behalf of regard for the West. It has been 
 reserved for the gentleman from Massachusetts, while he 
 vaunts over his own personal devotion to Western interests, 
 to claim for the entire section of country to which he belongs 
 an ardent friendship for the West as manifested by their 
 support of the system of internal improvement, while he 
 casts in our teeth the reproach that the South has manifested 
 hostility to Western interests in opposing appropriations for 
 such objects. That gentleman at the same time acknowl- 
 edged that the South entertains constitutional scruples on this 
 subject. 
 
 Are we then, sir, to understand that the gentleman con- 
 siders it a just subject of reproach that we respect our oaths 
 by which we are bound " to preserve, protect, and defend 
 the constitution of the United States?" Would the gentle- 
 man have us manifest our love to the West by trampling 
 under foot our constitutional scruples? Does he not per- 
 
468 
 
 ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE 
 
 ceive, if the South is to be reproached with unkindness to the 
 West in voting against appropriations which the gentleman 
 admits they could not vote for without doing violence to 
 their constitutional opinions, that he exposes himself to the 
 question whether, if he was in our situation, he could not 
 vote for these appropriations regardless of his scruples? 
 
 No, sir, I will not do the gentleman so great injustice. 
 He has fallen into this error from not having duly weighed 
 the force and effect of the reproach which he was endeavor- 
 ing to cast upon the South. In relation to the other point, 
 the friendship manifested by New England towards the West 
 in their support of the system of internal improvement, the 
 gentleman will pardon me for saying that I think he is 
 equally unfortunate in having introduced that topic. 
 
 As that gentleman has forced it upon us, however, I cannot 
 suffer it to pass unnoticed. When the gentleman tells us 
 that the appropriations for internal improvement in the West 
 would in almost every instance have failed but for New Eng- 
 land votes, he has forgotten to tell us the when, the how, and 
 the wherefore this new-born zeal for the West sprang up in 
 the bosom of New England. 
 
 If we look back only a few years we will find in both 
 Houses of Congress a uniform and steady opposition on the 
 part of the members from the eastern States generally to all 
 appropriations of this character. At the time I became a 
 member of this House, and for some time afterward, a de- 
 cided majority of the New England senators were opposed 
 to the very measures which the senator from Massachusetts 
 tells us they now cordially support. Sir, the journals are 
 before me, and an examination of them will satisfy every 
 gentleman of that fact. 
 
 It must be well known to every one whose experience dates 
 
ON foote's resolution 
 
 469 
 
 back as far as 1825 that up to a certain period New England 
 was generally opposed to appropriations for internal improve- 
 ments in the West. The gentleman from Massachusetts may 
 be himself an exception, but if he went for the system before 
 1825 it is certain that his colleagues did not go with him. 
 In the session of 1824 and 1825, however (a memorable era in 
 the history of this country), a wonderful change took place 
 in IsTew England in relation to Western interests. 
 
 Sir, an extraordinary union of sympathies and of interests 
 was then effected which brought the East and the West into 
 close alliance. The book from which I have before read con- 
 tains the first public annunciation of that happy reconcilia- 
 tion of conflicting interests, personal and political, which 
 brought the East and West together and locked in a fraternal 
 embrace the two great orators of the East and the West. 
 
 Sir, it was on the 18th of January, 1825, while the result 
 of the presidential election in the House of Representatives 
 was still doubtful, while the whole country was looking with 
 intense anxiety to that legislative hall where the mighty 
 drama was so soon to be acted, that we saw the leaders of two 
 great parties in the House and in the nation taking sweet 
 counsel together," and in a celebrated debate on the Cumber- 
 land Road fighting side by side for Western interests. 
 
 It was on that memorable occasion that the senator from 
 Massachusetts held out the white flag to the West and uttered 
 those liberal sentiments which he yesterday so indignantly 
 repudiated. Tben it was that that happy union between the 
 members of the celebrated coalition was consummated, whose 
 immediate issue was a president from one quarter of the 
 Union with the succession (as it was supposed) secured to 
 another. 
 
 The " American System," before a rude, disjointed, and 
 
470 
 
 ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE 
 
 misshapen mass, now assumed form and consistency: then it 
 was that it became the settled policy of the government 
 that this system should be so administered as to create a 
 reciprocity of interest and a reciprocal distribution of govern- 
 ment favors East and West (the tariff and internal improv- 
 ments), while the South — yes, sir, the impracticable South — 
 was to be " out of your protection." 
 
 The gentleman may boast as much as he pleases of the 
 friendship of 'New England for the West as displayed in their 
 support of internal improvement; but when he next intro- 
 duces that topic I trust that he will tell us when that friend- 
 ship commenced, how it was brought about, and why it was 
 established. 
 
 Before I leave this topic I must be permitted to say that 
 the true character of the policy now pursued by the gentle- 
 man from Massachusetts and his friends in relation to ap- 
 propriations of land and money for the benefit of the West 
 is in my estimation very similar to that pursued by Jacob of 
 old toward his brother Esau — it robs them of their birthright 
 for a mess of pottage. 
 
 The gentleman from Massachusetts, in alluding to a re- 
 mark of mine that before any disposition could be made of 
 the public lands the national debt (for which they stand 
 pledged) must be first paid, took occasion to intimate " that 
 the extraordinary fervor which seems to exist in a certain 
 quarter (meaning the South, sir) for the payment of the debt 
 arises from a disposition to weaken the ties which bind the 
 people to the Union." 
 
 While the gentleman deals us this blow he professes an 
 ardent desire to see the debt speedily extinguished. He must 
 excuse me, however, for feeling some distrust on that subject 
 until I find this disposition manifested by something stronger 
 
ON FOOTE'S RESOLUTION 
 
 471 
 
 than professions. I shall look for acts, decided and unequivo- 
 cal acts, for the performance of which an opportunity will 
 very soon (if I am not greatly mistaken) be afforded. 
 
 Sir, if I were at liberty to judge of the course which that 
 gentleman would pursue from the principles which he has laid 
 down in relation to this matter, I should be bound to conclude 
 that he will be found acting with those with whom it is a dar- 
 ling object to prevent the payment of the public debt. He 
 tells us he is desirous of paying the debt, because we are 
 under an obligation to discharge it." 
 
 'Now, sir, suppose it should happen that the public creditors 
 wdth whom we have contracted the obligation should release 
 us from it so far as to declare their willingness to wait for pay- 
 ment for fifty years to come, provided only that the interest 
 shall be punctually discharged. The gentleman from Massa- 
 chusetts will then be released from the obligation which now 
 makes him desirous of paying the debt; and let me tell the gen- 
 tleman the holders of the stock will not only release us from 
 this obligation, but thev will implore, nay, they will even pay 
 us not to pay them. 
 
 But, adds the gentleman, so iar as the debt may have an 
 effect in binding the debtors to the country, and thereby serv- 
 ing as a link to hold the States together, he would be glad 
 that it should exist forever. Surely then, sir, on the gentle- 
 man's own principles, he must be opposed to the payment of 
 the debt. 
 
 Sir, let me tell that gentleman that the South repudiates the 
 idea that a pecuniary dependence on the federal government 
 is one of the legitimate means of holding the States together. 
 A moneyed interest in the government is essentially a base in- 
 terest; and just so far as it operates to bind the feelings of 
 those who are subjected to it to the government, — just so far 
 
472 
 
 ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE 
 
 as it operates in creating sympathies and interests that would 
 not otherwise exist, — is it opposed to all the principles of free 
 government and at war with virtue and patriotism. 
 
 Sir, the link which binds the public creditors, as such, to 
 their country, binds them equally to all governments, whether 
 arbitrary or free. In a free government this principle of 
 abject dependence, if extended through all the ramifications 
 of society, must be fatal to liberty. 
 
 Already have we made alarming strides in that direction. 
 The entire class of manufacturers, the holders of stock, with 
 their hundreds of millions of capital, are held to the govern- 
 ment by the strong link of pecuniary interests; millions of peo- 
 ple — entire sections of country, interested, or believing them- 
 selves to be so, in the public lands and the public treasure, are 
 bound to the government by the expectation of pecuniary 
 favors. 
 
 If this system is carried much farther no man can fail to see 
 that every generous motive of attachment to the country will 
 be destroyed, and in its place will spring up those low, grovel- 
 ing, base, and selfish feelings which bind men to the footstool 
 of a despot by bonds as strong and enduring as those which 
 attach them to free institutions. Sir, I would lay the founda- 
 tion of this government in the affections of the people — 
 would teach them to cling to it by dispensing equal justice, 
 and, above all, by securing the blessings of liberty " to 
 " themselves and to their posterity." 
 
 The honorable gentleman from Massachusetts has gone out 
 of his way to pass a high eulogium on the State of Ohio'. In 
 the most impassioned tones of eloquence he described her 
 majestic march to greatness. He told us that, having already 
 left all the other States far behind, she was now passing by 
 Virginia and Pennsylvania and about to take her station by 
 
ON foote's resolution 
 
 473 
 
 the side of New York. To all this, sir, I was disposed most cor- 
 dially to respond. When, however, the gentleman proceeded 
 to contrast the State of Ohio with Kentucky, to the disadvan- 
 tage of the latter, I listened to him with regret ; and when he 
 proceeded further to attribute the great, and, as he supposed, 
 acknowledged superiority of the former in population, wealth, 
 and general prosperity, to the policy of Nathan Dane, of 
 Massachusetts, which had secured to the people of Ohio (by 
 the Ordinance of 1787) a population of freemen,! will confess 
 that my feelings suffered a revulsion which I am now unable 
 to describe in any language sufficiently respectful toward the 
 gentleman from Massachusetts. In contrasting the State of 
 Ohio with Kentucky for the purpose of pointing out the supe- 
 riority of the former and of attributing that superiority to the 
 existence of slavery in the one State and its absence in the 
 other, I thought I could discern the very spirit of the Missouri 
 question intruded into this debate for objects best known to 
 the gentleman himself. 
 
 Did that gentleman, sir, when he formed the determination 
 to cross the Southern border in order to invade the State of 
 South Carolina, deem it prudent or necessary to enlist under 
 his banners the prejudices of the world, which, like Swiss 
 troops, may be engaged in any cause and are prepared to serve 
 under any leader? 
 
 Did he desire to avail himself of those remorseless allies, the 
 passions of mankind, of which it may be more truly said than 
 of the savage tribes of the wilderness, " that their known rule 
 of warfare is an indiscriminate slaughter of all ages, sexes, 
 and conditions ? " 
 
 Or was it supposed, sir, that in a premeditated and unpro- 
 voked attack upon the South it was advisable to begin by a 
 gentle admonition of our supposed weakness in order to pre- 
 
474 
 
 ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE 
 
 vent US from making that firm and manly resistance due to our 
 own character and our dearest interest? Was the significant 
 I hint of the weakness of slaveholding States when contrasted 
 with the superior strength of free States, like the glare of the 
 weapon half drawn from its scabbard, intended to enforce the 
 lessons of prudence and patriotism which the gentleman had 
 resolved, out of his abundant generosity, gratuitously to bestow 
 upon us? 
 
 Mr. President, the impression which has gone abroad of the 
 weakness of the South as connected with the slave question 
 exposes us to such constant attacks, has done us so much in- 
 jury, and is calculated to produce such infinite mischiefs, that 
 I embrace the occasion presented by the remarks of the gentle- 
 man from Massachusetts to declare that w^e are ready to meet 
 the question promptly and fearlessly. It is one from which 
 we are not disposed to shrink in whatever form or imder 
 whatever circumstances it may be pressed upon us. 
 
 We are ready to make up the issue with the gentleman as to 
 the influence of slavery on individual and national character, 
 on the prosperity and greatness either of the United States or 
 of particular States. Sir, when arraigned before the bar of 
 public opinion on this charge of slavery we can stand up with 
 conscious rectitude, plead not guilty, and put ourselves upon 
 God and our country. Sir, we will not consent to look at 
 slavery in the abstract. We will not stop to inquire whether 
 the black man, as some philosophers have contended, is of an 
 inferior race, nor whether his color and condition are effects of 
 a curse inflicted for the offences of his ancestors? We deal in 
 no abstractions. We will not look back to inquire whether 
 our fathers were guiltless in introducing slaves into this coun- 
 try? If an inquiry should ever be instituted in these matters, 
 liowever, it will be found that the profits of the slave-trade 
 
ON foote's resolution 
 
 475 
 
 were not confined to the South. Southern ships and Southern 
 sailors were not the instruments of bringing slaves to the 
 shores of America, nor did our merchants reap the profits of 
 that accursed traffic." 
 
 But, sir, we will pass over all this. If slavery, as it now 
 exists in this country^ be an evil, we of the present day found 
 it ready made to our hands. Finding our lot cast among a 
 people whom God had manifestly committed to our care we 
 did not sit down to speculate on abstract questions of theoreti- 
 cal liberty. We met it as a practical question of obligation 
 and duty. We resolved to make the best of the situation in 
 which Providence had placed us, and to fulfill the high trusts 
 which had devolved upon us as the owners of slaves in the only 
 way in which such a trust could be fulfilled without spreading 
 misery and ruin throughout the land. 
 
 We found that we had to deal with a people whose physical, 
 moral, and intellectual habits and character totally disqualified 
 them from the enjoyment of the blessings of freedom. We 
 could not send them back to the shores from whence their 
 fathers had been taken; their numbers forbade the thought, 
 even if we did not know that their condition here is infinitely 
 preferable to what it possibly could be among the barren 
 sands and savage tribes of Africa; and it was wholly irrecon- 
 cilable with all our notions of humanity to tear asunder the ten- 
 der ties which they had formed among us to gratify the feel- 
 ings of a false philanthropy. 
 
 What a commentary on the vdsdom, justice, and humanity 
 of the Southern slave-owner is presented by the example of 
 certain benevolent associations and charitable individuals else- 
 where ! Shedding weak tears over sufferings which had exist- 
 ence only in their own sickly imaginations, these " friends of 
 humanity " set themselves systematically to work to seduce the 
 
476 
 
 ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE 
 
 slaves of the South from their masters. By means of mission- 
 aries and political tracts the scheme was in a great measure 
 successful. Thousands of these deluded victims of fanaticism 
 were seduced into the enjoyment of freedom in our northern 
 cities. 
 
 And what has been the consequence? Go to these cities 
 now and ask the question. Visit the dark and narrow lanes 
 and obscure recesses which have been assigned by common con- 
 sent as the abodes of those outcasts of the world — the free peo- 
 |)le of color. Sir, there does not exist on the face of the whole 
 earth a population so poor, so wretched, so vile, so loathsome, 
 so utterly destitute of all the comforts, conveniences, and 
 decencies of life as the unfortunate blacks of Philadelphia, 
 New York, and Boston. Liberty has been to them the great- 
 est of calamities, the heaviest of curses. 
 
 Sir, I have had some opportunities of making comparison 
 betwejen the condition of the free negroes of the north and the 
 slaves of the south, and the comparison has left not only an 
 indelible impression of the superior advantages of the latter, 
 but has gone far to reconcile me to slavery itself. ITever have 
 I felt so forcibly that touching description, " The foxes have 
 holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man 
 hath not where to lay his head," as when I have seen this 
 unhappy race, naked and houseless, almost starving in the 
 streets, and abandoned by all the world. Sir, I have seen, in 
 the neighborhood of one of the most moral, religious, and 
 refined cities of the north, a family of free blacks driven to 
 the caves of the rocks, and there obtaining a precarious sub- 
 sistence from charity and plunder. 
 
 "When the gentleman from Massachusetts adopts and reiter- 
 ates the old charge of weakness as resulting from slavery I 
 must be permitted to call for the proof of those blighting 
 
ON FOOTP: S RESOLUTION 
 
 477 
 
 effects which he ascribes to its influence. I suspect that when 
 the subject is closely examined it will be found that there 
 is not much force even on the plausible objection of the want 
 of physical power in slave-holding States. The power of a 
 country is compounded of its population and its wealth, and in 
 modem times, where, from the very form and structure of 
 society, by far the greater portion of the people must, even 
 during the continuance of the most desolating wars, be em- 
 ployed in the cultivation of the soil and other peaceful pur- 
 suits, it may be well doubted whether slave-holding States, by 
 reason of a superior value of their productions are not able 
 to maintain a number of troops in the field fully equal to what 
 could be supported by States with a larger white population 
 but not possessed of equal resources. . . . 
 
 Mr. President, I wish it to be distinctly understood that all 
 the remarks I have made on this subject are intended to be 
 exclusively applied to a party which I have described as the 
 
 Peace Party of 'New England,'' embracing the political asso^ 
 ciates of the senator from Massachusetts! — a party which con- 
 trolled the operations of that State during the embargo and the 
 war, and who are justly chargeable with all the measures I 
 have reprobated. Sir, nothing has been further from my 
 thoughts than to impeach the character or conduct of the 
 people of ISTew England. For their steady habits and hardy 
 virtues I trust I entertain a becoming respect. I fully sub- 
 scribe to the truth of the description given before the Revolu- 
 tion by one whose praise is the highest eulogy, " that the perse- 
 verance of Holland, the activity of France, and the dexterous 
 and firm sagacity of English enterprise have been more than 
 equalled by this recent people." Hardy, enterprising, saga- 
 cious, industrious, and moral, the people of New England of 
 the present day are worthy of their ancestors. Still less, Mr. 
 
478 
 
 ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE 
 
 President, has it been my intention to say anything that could 
 be construed into a want of respect for that party who, tramp- 
 ling on all narrow, sectional feelings, have been tme to their 
 principles in the worst times, — I mean the Democracy of New 
 England. 
 
 Sir, I will declare that, highly as I appreciate the Democ- 
 racy of the South, I consider even higher praise to be due to 
 the Democracy of New England, who have maintained their 
 principles through good and through evil report,^' who at 
 every period of our national history have stood up manfully 
 for " their country, their whole country, and nothing but 
 their country/' In the great political revolution of '98 they 
 were found united with the Democracy of the South, march- 
 ing under the banner of the constitution, led on by the patri- 
 arch of liberty in search of the land of political promise which 
 they lived not only to behold but to possess and to enjoy. 
 
 Again, sir, in the darkest and most gloomy period of the 
 war, when our country stood single-handed against the con- 
 queror of the conquerors of the world," when all about and 
 around them was dark, and dreary, disastrous and discourag- 
 ing, they stood a Spartan band in that narrow pass where the 
 honor of their country was to be defended or to find its grave. 
 
 And in the last great struggle, involving, as we believe, the 
 very existence of the principle of popular sovereignty, where 
 were the Democracy of New England? Where they always 
 have been found, sir, struggling side by side with their breth- 
 ren of the South and the West for popular rights, and assist- 
 ing in that glorious triumph by which the man of the people 
 was elevated to the highest office in their gift. 
 
 Wlio, then, Mr. President, are the true friends of the 
 Union? Those who would confine the federal government 
 strictly within the limits prescribed by the constitution; who 
 
ON foote's resolution 
 
 479 
 
 would preserve to the States and the people all powers not 
 expressly delegated; who would make this a federal and not 
 a national union, and who, administering the government in 
 a spirit of equal justice, would make it a blessing and not a 
 curse. And who are its enemies? Those who are in favor 
 of consolidation, who are constantly stealing power from the 
 States and adding strength to the federal government. Who, 
 assuming an unwarrantable jurisdiction over the States and 
 the people, undertake to regulate the whole industry and cap- 
 ital of the country. But, sir, of all descriptions of men, I 
 consider those as the worst enemies of the Union who sacrifice 
 the equal rights which belong to every member of the confed- 
 eracy to combinations of interested majorities for personal or 
 political objects. 
 
 But the gentleman apprehends no evil from the dependence 
 of the States on the federal government; he can see no danger 
 of corruption from the influence of money or of patronage. 
 Sir, I know that it is supposed to be a wise saying that 
 patronage is a source of weakness," and in support of that 
 maxim it has been said that " every ten appointments made 
 a hundred enemies." 
 
 But I am rather inclined to think, with the eloquent and 
 sagacious orator now reposing on his laurels on the banks of 
 the Roanoke, that ^' the power of conferring favors creates 
 a crowd of dependents;" he gave a forcible illustration of the 
 truth of the remark, when he told us of the effect of holding 
 up the savory morsel to the eager eyes of the hungry hounds 
 gathered around his door. It mattered not whether the gift 
 was bestowed on Towser or Sweetlips, Tray, Blanche, or 
 Sweetheart;" while held in suspense they were all governed 
 by a nod, and when the morsel was bestowed the expectation 
 of the favors of to-morrow kept up the subjection of to-day. 
 
480 EGBERT YOUNG HAYNE 
 
 The senator from Massachusetts, in denouncing what he is 
 pleased to call the Carolina doctrine, has attempted to throw 
 ridicule upon the idea that a State has any constitutional rem- 
 edy, by the exercise of its sovereign authority, against " a 
 gross, palpable, and deliberate violation of the constitution." 
 He calls it " an idle or ^' ridiculous notion," or something 
 to that effect, and added that it would make the Union " a 
 mere rope of sand." 
 
 ISTow, sir, as the gentleman has not condescended to enter 
 into any examination of the question, and has been satisfied 
 with throwing the weight of his authority into the scale, I 
 do not deem it necessary to do more than to throw into the 
 opposite scale the authority on which South Carolina relies; 
 and there for the present I am perfectly willing to leave the 
 controversy. The South Carolina doctrine — that is to say, the 
 doctrine contained in an exposition reported by a committee 
 of the legislature in December, 1828, and published by their 
 authority — is the good old Republican doctrine of '98 — the 
 doctrine of the celebrated ^' Virginia Eesolutions " of that 
 year, and of " Madison's Report " of '99. 
 
 It will be recollected that the legislature of Virginia, in 
 December, 1898, took into consideration the Alien and Sedi- 
 tion Laws, then considered by all republicans as a gross viola- 
 tion of the constitution of the United States, and on that day 
 passed, among others, the following resolution : 
 
 " The General Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily 
 declare that it views the powers of the federal government 
 as resulting from the compact to which the States are parties, 
 as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument 
 constituting that compact, as no further valid than they are 
 authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact; and 
 that in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise 
 of other powers not granted by the said compact, the States 
 
ON foote's resolution 
 
 481 
 
 who are parties thereto have the right and are in duty bound 
 to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil, and for 
 maintaining within their respective limits the authorities, 
 rights, and liberties appertaining to them." 
 
 In addition to the above resolution the General Assembly 
 of Virginia appealed to the other States in the confidence 
 that they would concur with that commonwealth, that the 
 act aforesaid (the Alien and Sedition Laws) are unconstitu- 
 tional, and that the necessary and proper measures would 
 be taken by each for co-operating with Virginia in maintain- 
 ing unimpaired the authorities, rights, and liberties reserved 
 to the States respectively or to the people." 
 
 The legislatures of several of the New England States, hav- 
 ing, contrary to the expectation of the legislature of Virginia, 
 expressed their dissent from these doctrines; the subject came 
 up again for consideration during the session of 1799-1800 
 when it was referred to a select committee by whom was made 
 that celebrated report which is familiarly known as " Mad- 
 ison's Report," and which deserves to last as long as the con- 
 stitution itself. 
 
 In that report, which was subsequently adopted by the legis- 
 lature, the whole subject was deliberately re-examined, and 
 the objection urged against the Virginia doctrines carefully 
 considered. The result was that the legislature of Virginia 
 reaffirmed all the principles laid down in the resolutions of 
 1798, and issued to the world that admirable report which 
 has stamped the character of Mr. Madison as the preserver 
 of that constitution which he had contributed so largely to 
 create and establish. 
 
 I will here quote from Mr. Madison's report one or two 
 passages which bear more immediately on the point in con- 
 troverr^y : 
 
 Vol. 5—31 
 
482 EGBERT YOUNG HAYNE 
 
 " The resolution, having taken this view of the federal com- 
 pact, proceeds to infer ' that in case of a deliberate, palpable, 
 and dangerous exercise of other powers not granted by the 
 said compact, the States who are parties thereto have the 
 right, and are in duty bound, to interpose for arresting the 
 progress of the evil, and i^r maintaining within their respec- 
 tive limits the authorities, right, and liberties appertaining to 
 them.' 
 
 ^' It appears to your committee to be a plain principle, 
 founded in common sense, illustrated by common practice, 
 and essential to the nature of compacts, that, where resort 
 can be had to no tribunal superior to the authority of the 
 parties, the parties themselves must be the rightful judges 
 in the last resort whether the bargain made has been pursued 
 or violated. The constitution of the United States was 
 formed by the sanction of the States, given by each' in its 
 sovereign capacity. It adds to the stability and dignity as 
 well as to the authority of the constitution that it rests upon 
 this legitimate and solid foundation. Thfe States, then, being 
 the parties to the constitutional compact, and in their sov- 
 ereign capacity, it follows of necessity, that there can be no 
 tribunal above their authority to decide in the last resort 
 whether the compact made by them be violated; and, conse- 
 quently, that, as the parties to it they must themselves decide 
 in the last resort such questions as may be of sufficient mag- 
 nitude to require their interposition. 
 
 ^' The resolution has guarded against any misapprehension 
 of its object by expressly requiring for such an interposition 
 ^ the case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous breach of 
 the constitution by the exercise of powers not granted by it.' 
 It must be a case, not of a light and transient nature, but of 
 a nature dangerous to the great purposes for which the con- 
 stitution was established. 
 
 " But the resolution has done more than guard against mis- 
 construction by expressly referring to cases of a deliberate, 
 palpable, and dangerous nature. It specifies the object of 
 the interposition which it contemplates to be solely that of 
 arresting the progress of the evil of usurpation, and of main- 
 taining the authoritios. rights, and liberties appertaining to 
 the States as parties to the constitution. 
 
On footk's liEsoj.uTioN 
 
 483 
 
 ^' ]?rom this view of the resolution it would seem inconceiv- 
 able that it can incur any just disapprobation from those who, 
 laying aside all momentary impressions and recollecting the 
 genuine source and object of the federal constitution, shall 
 candidly and accurately interpret the meaning of the general 
 assembly. If the deliberate exercise of dangerous powers, 
 palpably withheld by the constitution, could not justify the 
 parties to it in interposing, even so far as to arrest the progress 
 of the evil and thereby to preserve the constitution itself as 
 well as to provide for the safety of the parties to it, there 
 would be an end to all relief from usurped power and a direct 
 subversion of the rights specified or recognized under all the 
 State constitutions, as well as a plain denial of the funda- 
 mental principles on which our independence itself was de- 
 clared/^ 
 
 But, sir, our authorities do not stop here. The State of 
 Kentucky responded to Virginia, and on the 10th of ITovem- 
 ber, 1798, adopted those celebrated resolutions well known 
 to have been penned by the author of the Declaration of 
 American Independence. In those resolutions the legislature 
 of Kentucky declare — 
 
 " That the government created by this compact was not 
 made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powders 
 delegated to itself, since that would have made its discretion 
 and not the constitution the measure of its powers ; but that, 
 as in all other cases of compact among parties having no 
 common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for 
 itself as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of 
 redress.'' 
 
 At the ensuing session of the legislature the subject was 
 re-examined, and on the 14th of November, 1799, the resolu- 
 tions of the preceding year were deliberately reaffirmed, and 
 it was among other things solemnly declared: 
 
 " That if those who administer the general government 
 be permitted to transgress the limits fixed by that compact, 
 by a total disregard to the special delegations of power therein 
 
484 
 
 ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE 
 
 contained, an annihilation of the State governments and the 
 erection upon their ruins of a general consolidated govern- 
 ment will be the inevitable consequence. That the principles 
 of construction contended for by sundry of the State legisla- 
 tures, that the general government is the exclusive judge of 
 the extent of the powers delegated to it, stop nothing short 
 of despotism ; since the discretion of those who administer the 
 government, and not the constitution, would be the measure 
 of their powers. That the several States who formed that 
 instrument, being sovereign and independent, have the un- 
 questionable right to judge of its infraction, and that a nulli- 
 fication, by those sovereignties, of all unauthorized acts done 
 under color of that instrument, is the rightful remedy.'* 
 
 Time and experience confirmed Mr. Jefferson's opinion on 
 this all-important point. In the year 1821 he expressed him- 
 self in this emphatic manner: 
 
 It is a fatal heresy to suppose that either our State gov- 
 ernments are superior to the federal or the federal to the 
 State; neither is authorized literally to decide which belongs 
 to itself or its copartner in government; in differences of 
 opinion between their different sets of public servants the 
 appeal is to neither, but to their employers peaceably assem- 
 bled by their representatives in convention." 
 
 The opinion of Mr. Jefferson on this subject has been so 
 repeatedly and so solemnly expressed that they may be said 
 to have been among the most fixed and settled convictions of 
 his mind. 
 
 In the protest prepared by him for the legislature of Vir- 
 ginia in December, 1825, in respect to the powers exercised 
 by the federal government in relation to the tariff and internal 
 improvements, which he declares to be ^' usurpations of the 
 powers retained by the States, mere interpolations into the 
 compact and direct infractions of it," he solemnly reasserts 
 all the principles of the Virginia resolutions of '98 — protests 
 against ^' these acts of the federal branch of the government 
 
ON FOOTE S RESOLUTION 
 
 485 
 
 as null and void, and declares that, although Virginia would 
 consider a dissolution of the Union as among the greatest 
 calamities that could befall them, yet it is not the greatest. 
 There is one yet greater — submission to a government of un- 
 limited powers. It is only when the hope of this shall be- 
 come absolutely desperate that further forbearance could not 
 be indulged." 
 
 In his letter to Mr. Giles, written about the same time, he 
 says: 
 
 I see, as you do, and with the deepest affliction, the rapid 
 strides with which the federal branch of our government is 
 advancing toward the usurpation of all the rights reserved 
 to the States, and the consolidation in itself of all powers, 
 foreign and domestic, and that too by constructions which 
 leave no limits to their powers, etc. Under the power to reg- 
 ulate commerce they assume indefinitely that also over agri- 
 culture and manufactures, etc. Under the authority to es- 
 tablish post-roads they claim that of cutting down mountains 
 for the construction of roads and digging canals, etc. And 
 what is our resource for the preservation of the constitution? 
 Reason and argument? You might as well reason and argue 
 with the marble columns encircling them, etc. Are we then 
 to stand to our arma with the hot-headed Georgian? ISTo 
 [and I say no, and South Carolina has said no], that must be 
 the last resource. We must have patience and long endur- 
 ance with our brethren, etc., and separate from our compan- 
 ions only when the sole alternatives left are a dissolution of 
 our union with them or submission to a government without 
 limitation of powers. Between these two evils, when we 
 must make a choice, there can be no hesitation." 
 
 Such, sir, are the high and imposing authorities in support 
 of " the Carolina doctrine," which is, in fact, the doctrine of 
 the Virginia resolutions of 1798. 
 
 Sir, at that day the whole country was divided on this very 
 question. It formed the line of demarcation between the 
 federal and republican parties; and the great political revolu- 
 
486 
 
 ROBERT YOU^"G HAYNE 
 
 tion which then took place turned upon the very question in- 
 volved in these resolutions. That question was decided by 
 the people, and by that decision the constitution was, in the 
 emphatic language of Mr. Jefferson, saved at its last gasp.'' 
 
 I should suppose, sir, it would require more self-respect 
 than any gentleman here would be willing to assume to treat 
 lightly doctrines derived from such high resources. Resting 
 on authority like this, I will ask gentlemen whether South 
 Carolina has not manifested a high regard for the Union, 
 when, under a tyranny ten times more grievous than the 
 Alien and Sedition Laws, she has hitherto gone no further 
 than to petition, remonstrate, and to solemnly protest against 
 a series of measures which she believes to be wholly uncon- 
 stitutional and utterly destructive of her interests. Sir, 
 South Carolina has not gone one step further than Mr. Jeffer- 
 son himself was disposed to go in relation to the present sub- 
 ject of our present complaints; not a step further than the 
 statesmen from New England were disposed to go under sim- 
 ilar circumstances; no further than the senator from Massa- 
 chusetts himself once considered as within the limits of a 
 constitutional opposition." The doctrine that it is the right 
 of a State to judge of the violations of the constitution on 
 the part of the federal government and to protect her citizens 
 from the operations of unconstitutional laws was held by the 
 enlightened citizens of Boston who assembled in Faneuil 
 Hall on the 25th of January, 1809. They state in that cele- 
 brated memorial that ^' they looked only to the State legis- 
 lature, who were competent to devise relief against the un- 
 constitutional acts of the general government. That your 
 power (say they) is adequate to that object is evident from 
 the organization of the confederacy." 
 
 A distinguished senator from one of the New England 
 
ON foote's resolution 
 
 487 
 
 States [Mr. Hillhouse], in a speech delivered here on a bill 
 for enforcing the embargo declared: 
 
 " I feel myself bound in conscience to declare (lest the 
 blood of those who shall fall in the execution of this measure 
 shall be on my head) that I consider this to be an act which 
 directs a mortal blow at the liberties of my country; an act 
 containing unconstitutional provisions to which the people 
 are not bound to submit, and to which in my opinion they 
 will not submit." 
 
 And the senator from Massachusetts himself, in a speech 
 delivered on the same subject in the other House, said: 
 
 This opposition is constitutional and legal; it is also con- 
 scientious. It rests on settled and sober conviction that such 
 policy is destructive to the interests of the people and danger- 
 ous to the being of government. The experience of every 
 day confirms these sentiments. Men who act from such 
 motives -are not to be discouraged by trifling obstacles nor 
 awed by any dangers. They know the limit of constitutional 
 opposition; up to that limit, at their own discretion, they 
 will walk, and walk fearlessly." 
 
 How the being of the government " was to be endan- 
 gered by " constitutional opposition " to the embargo I leave 
 to the gentleman to explain. 
 
 Thus it will be seen, Mr. President, that the South Carolina 
 doctrine is the republican doctrine of '98; that it was promul- 
 gated by the fathers of the faith; that it was maintained by 
 Virginia and Kentucky in the worst of times ; that it consti- 
 tuted the very pivot on which the political revolution of that 
 day turned; that it embraces the very principles the triumph 
 of which at that time saved the constitution at its last gasp, 
 and which New England statesmen were not unwilling to 
 adopt when they believed themselves to be the victims of 
 unconstitutional legislation. Sir, as to the doctrine that the 
 
488 
 
 ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE 
 
 federal government is the exclusive judge of the extent as 
 well as the limitations of its powers, it seems to me to be 
 utterly subversive of the sovereignty and independence of 
 the States. 
 
 It makes but little difference in my estimation whether 
 Congress or the Supreme Court are invested with this poTver. 
 If the federal government in all or any of its departments 
 is to prescribe the limits of its own authority, and the States 
 are bound to submit to the decision and are not allowed to 
 examine and decide for themselves when the barriers of the 
 constitution shall be overleaped, this is practically " a govern- 
 ment without limitation of powers." 
 
 The States are at once reduced to mere petty corporations 
 and the people are entirely at your mercy. I have but one 
 word more to add. In all the efforts that have been made 
 by South Carolina to resist the unconstitutional laws which 
 Congress has extended over them, she has kept steadily in 
 view the preservation of the Union by the only means by 
 which she believes it can be long preserved — a firm, manly, 
 and steady resistance against usurpation. 
 
 The measures of the federal government have, it is true, 
 prostrated her interests, and will soon involve the whole South 
 in irretrievable ruin. But even this evil, great as it is, is not 
 the chief ground of our complaints. It is the principle in- 
 volved in the contest, a principle which, substituting the dis- 
 cretion of Congress for the limitations of the constitution, 
 brings the States and the people to the feet of the federal 
 government and leaves them nothing they can call their own. 
 
 Sir, if the measures of the federal government were less 
 oppressive we should still strive against this usurpation. The 
 South is acting on a principle she has always held sacred — 
 resistance to unauthorized. taxation. 
 
ON footk's resolution 
 
 489 
 
 These, sir, are the principles which induced the immortal 
 Hampden to resist the payment of a tax of twenty shillings. 
 Would twenty shillings have ruined his fortune? No! but 
 the payment of half twenty shillings on the principle on which 
 it was demanded would have made him a slave. 
 
 Sir, if in acting on these high motives, if animated by that 
 ardent love of libei*ty which has always been the most prom- 
 inent trait in the Southern character, we should be hurried 
 beyond the bounds of a cold and calculating prudence, who 
 is there with one noble and generous sentiment in his bosom 
 that would not be disposed, in the language of Burke, to ex- 
 claim. You must pardon something to the spirit of liberty !" 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
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