The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-03-06
were barbarians Their saves therefore had no place

were heir slaves, therefore had no place
10 flee TO, where better institutions and uster laws
prevailed. So il was with Rome. Whittier could
her slaves fly, but to barbarous Spain or more bar
barous Ganl or to some nation whose language they
did not understand. Ignorance Of language Is
a more insuperable barrier than mountains or
oceans. II is just the reverse here. The English
language is spoken on all sides; and slave
land is encircled by free land, free ocean-Ja.
maica, the Bermudas, and two thousand miles of
| northern frontier. And have lately esti-
mate from credible source, that If an inter oceanic
canal should be opened across the lsthmus OF
twelve hundred ships would annually pass through
il; and, they sail TO and fro, they Will skirt the
whole Of your Guf coast, and the whole OF your At
antic COAST great part Of the voyage being within
the ignorant slave knows little of geography, but
he would know Of these avenues to freedom, and no
| thing but death could extinguish such knowledge
| and the hopes il would inspire. say, sir, under
such circumstances, slavery would melt away upon
your borders like iceberg in the tropics. The
particles, that is, the individuals of the exposed sur
face, would disappear; and you might well at
tempt stop solar evaporation by statutory laws,
| to prevent their escape. Perhaps dissolution of
the Union is the means forcordained by God for the
extinction OF slavery; and did not foresee its doom
before any very long period shall have elapsed with
out the unspeakable horrors of civil and servie
war, cannot say to what conclusions the above
considerations would lead my own mind.
/ Having shown how the sredress" of disunion will
operate upon one Of the grievances alleged its
motive and excuse, let Us look at another of those
''hazards," whose list Of indefinite length the
Il
or secession, to whom will the territories be-
long? 1t is the rule of political well of mun-
cipal law, that whoever retires from community
leaves its common property behind him. have
direct interest and propretorshp in the church in
my parish, in the schoolhouse in my town, and in
the stated house and other public property belong
ing to my State But if expatriatc myself, leave
all that interest and proprietorship behind me. If
the county of Brooke, in Virginia, should secede
| from the State of Virginia, and should annex itself
| to Ohio Pennsylvania, one doubts that il
would forfeit all its rights to whatever public prop
erty the State of Virginia possesses. In like man
| ner, if the United States Souh,'' the
federacy has already been named by the Richmond
Enquirer, should secede, they would, by the very
act of secession, surrender and abandon all right,
title, and interest, in the Territories BY such
secession, all their citizens become foreigners.
They have no rights under the treaty with Mexico.
| The new Spanish citizen, whose allegiance was
| transferred by the treaty with Mexico, and whose
citizenship is not yet two years old, would have
| right to expel them. The "Unted States South
| il is true, may declare and attempt the con-
quest of the Territories by force but in such
test, the army, and navy, and military stores of the
Government, which, also they have lost by seces-
sion, will be turned against them. But, venture
| TO prophecy, that If the slave States shall pass
through one war. single handed, they will after
| wards be the most peaceable nation the world ever
saw. To every frontier country, and to every
naval power, they have given three millions of hos
tages for their good behavior.
Let us look NJ a third grievance they mean to
| redress and a third I" hazard they ready to
encounter They complain of northern agitation
on the subject of slavery, and northern nstigation
of the slaves themselves. On the subject of " agi
tation /" deny that the North has overstepped
the limits Of their constitutional rights They have
never agtaed the question of slavery IN the States.
II has been only in regard to slavery in this Dis
trct the annexation of Texas, or the acquisition
of territory for the extension OF slavery, the inn
prisonment of her own citizens in southern ports.
or a denial Of the nvolable right OF petton;-it has
been only such subjects that the North has hfetd
up the voice of expostulaton and remonstrance.
Even these constitutional rights she has used for
bearingly. She has never exerted force nor threat
ened force either TO maintain the right of petition
TO liberate her own citizens imprisoned in south
srn jsils.
In regard 10 instigating slaves to escape, I ac-
knowledge there have been some instances of IL !;
been tried and severely punished, and the North
has acquiesced; for they acknowledge that if man
will go into slave State and violate its laws, he
must be Judged by them. But have never known
OF a single case,-I believe there is no we'll authen-
ticstcd case record where n northern man has
instgstcd the slaves TO rise in rebellion and TO
taliate upon their masters for the wrongs which
they and their have suffered. As dread in
discriminate massacre and confiagration, should
abhor the perpetrator Of such a crime. But will
separation bring relief or security No. sir; will
enhance the danger n myriad fold Thousands
will start up, who will think il much duty and
an honor 10 assist the slaves in any contest with
their masters, 10 assist Greeks, Poles Hun
earians, in resisting their tyrants. Two things
ist at the North which the South does duly ap-
ate,-the depth and intensity ofour adherence
Of slavery, and that reverence for the law which
keeps IL in check. The latter counerpoiscs the for
mer. We are law-abiding people. But release
us from oblgations, tear of from the bond
with your own hands the signatures which bind
our consciences and repress feelings, destroy
those compensatons which the world and which
posterity would derive from this Union, and well
may you trembe for the result. ! have seen fugi-
tive slaves at the North, and heard from their
lips the dreadful recital Of their wrongs; and IL
am any Judge Of the natural language OF men i'll
can divine from the outward expression what pas
] sions arc burning within each one Of them had n
1 hundred conhagrations and a hundred mas&cres
in his bosom. They felt you and | should feel
IL we had been subjected 10 Algerinc bondage. And
do you doubt, sir; does any southern gentleman
this floor doubt, for one moment; that IL he were
seized by Barbary corsair and sold into Algerine
bondage, and carried hundred miles into The In.
terror, that he would improve the first opportunity
10 escape, though at every step In his flight he
should crush out human life, and should leave an
ever widening expanse Of confis grafton behind him.
| II agitation and instgston are evils now Voc 10
those who would seek 70 mitigate or 10 repress tbem
| by the remedies Of disunion and civil war Let
men who live in a powder mill beware how they
madden pyrotechnists.
But Il is said that IL dissolution occurs the 'sUni-
ted States South" can form alliance with Great
| Britain. And arc there no instgators and abo
tonists in Englandl Yes. sir,-ten in England
where there II at the North Frederick Doug
las has just returned from England, where he has
| enjoyed the bonors Of au ovation William wclls
| England His journeys from place to place are like
| the Progresses" Of one Of the magnates Of that
nd--psssing wherever he win with free tickets,
| and enjoying the hospitalties Of the most refined
and educated men. The very last steamer brvoeht
out account OF his public reception Newcastle
| An entertainment was given him, which at
| tended by four hundred ladies and gentlemen.
Men Of high distinction and character adorned ID
| by their presence The ladies made up purse OF
| twenty sovereigns. which they gave him. II
presented in a beautiful purse, that Of their
number the successful competitor foe the honor N
| had wrought with her own hands. All their genes
| rosity and kindness they considered repaid by
hearing from his lips the pathetic story Of his
| captivity, and the herosm Of his escape. Sir,
| every man who has travelled in England knows
that there large, wealthy, and refined circles
| there, member Of whom would allow slave
holder 10 sit at their table enter their doors Not
only churches. bot moral and religious men, the
| world over, have begun TO read slaveholders out
Of their communion and companionship. II the
South expects TO rid itself Of agitation and abo-
litionism by rupturing its bonds with the North,
and substituting an alliance with Great Britain for
our present Constitution, they may envy the wis.
dom Of the geese who invited the fox stand sen