The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-09-05

ment Was organized under the Constitution.
Their purpose has been pursued steadily and with
out deviation or faltering, with the view to attain
their cherished object. One slave State after
another has been formed and admitted into the
Union and at this moment the slave States
equal in number the free States, and with a
population less than onethird, they have an equal
representation in the Senate of the United
States and this is not all Their thirst for po-
litical power, which seems TO be their besetting
sin, and the great object of their ambition and
pursuit, has been gratifed to the fullest extent.
They have had the President for fifty years out
Of The sixty, since the Government was organized,
anc of the nineteen Secretaries of State, four
ter have been Shareholders; and the other Cabi-
net officers in about the same proportion. A ma
jority Of the Judges Of the Supreme Court has
always been Shareholders and out Of twenty
SPEAKERS Of this House, the South has had twelve,
ane the North only eight. The foreign missions
have also been filled by a majority of Southern
mel, and to-day there is a much larger number
of flicial functionaries in the different bureaus
Of the Departments from the slaveholding than
fron the free States Sir, 1 do not mention these
facs by way Of complaint, but TO repel accusa-
tiois, and to show how generous the majority has
been to the minority-bow kindly the North has
treated the South. II is n matter Of boast, by
distinguished member ofthis House, Mr.. MEADE,
that though in a minority for the last half GEN.
tury, the South has managed during the greater
a-.in1 "e-rat period TO control the destinies of
~, Eationr gt, - ---;i-1 ~h;Ll-nn mined by
kivdDess sd Indulgence they still erumble aud
oonpaln. they nnu Iaml, not 80 muen WIN
what has been done, as with what has been said,
and what they seem to fear may be done hereaf-
ter and opinions are more offensive to them than
actions. And they declare war against the for
mer, in advance IF the effects which they fancy
may hereafter flow from them. Some gentlemen
have ventured TO talk in this debate Of Northern
aggressons upon Southern rights, as if it was a
reality instead Of mere phantom Of the imagi-
nation. And among the most prominent offences
complained Of, we find the differences of opinion
between the North and South On the question of
slavery. This is, politically, the objectionable
SIM and the safety of the institution demands its
rigorous punishment
But, sir, it is perversion of language to charge
Northern men with committing aggressions upon
the South because they happen to differ from them
upon the propriety of continuing and extending
human slavery II is not even r just ground of
complaint. The free and manly expression Of
opinion is no cause of offence to those who may
disagree with you and it is act Of hostility in
any proper sense of the word If it he otherwise,
then has the language Of Magma Charta of the
Bill az Rights, Of the RsclArsaon OF Ipdapsnd-
ence, and the Constitution of the United States,
become justly offensive; and instead of deserving
The historical renew sSica thejNdguep, of man
kind has awarded to them, they are nothing more
than declaration Of war against all the world
who do not subscribe to the theory Of human
rights which they announce; and the authors of
them, whose names have become famous among the |
nations of the earth, are no better than pirates
and outlaws. To such extremiies, Mr.. Chair
man, are the advocates Of slavery driven in their
unayailing exertons to shield the institution from |
the inevitable doom that awaits it. In no correct
sense Of the word has the North ever committed |
any aggressions upon the South. The citizens of
the free States love not only theoretical but prac
teal liberty, and wherever slavery exists they de-
sire its extinction. But maintain, Mr.. Chairman
that it is the South that has committed aggres-
sons, and not the North and in committing ag-
gressions it is obvious to remark slavery only fol-
lows its instincts and obeys the laws Of its nature
And for this opinion We have authority, if any
were needed beyond the reflections and observa-
ton Of every one, that Southern men will not re-
pudiate or attempt to deny. That slavery also
debauches the minds and deteriorates the morals of
men, will appear evident from the same author.
ity. Colonel Mason, Of Virginia, in the Consti-
tutional Convention, when the subject Of slavery
was under discussion, said: Slavery Encourages
arts and manufactures The poor despise labor
when performed by slaves. They prevent the
emigration of whites, WHO really enrich and
strengthen a countR They produce the most
pernicous effects manners. Every master of
slaves is born petty tyrant They bring the
Judgment Of Heaven on country. As nations
cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world,
they must be in this BY an inevitable chain Of
causes and effects, Providence Furnishes national
sins by national calamites and Jefferson the great
apostle Of Democracy, whose teachings it must be
81 - H. - 70
followers, were sadly at fault with his practice,
has described the relation as perpetual exercise
of the most boisterous passions-the most unre-
hitting despotsm on the one part, and degrading
submission on tho other"
IL is not surprising that the minds Of men liv-
ing under the influence Of such an institution
should become perverted without being con-
scious of it, and their moral sense bunted and
rendered incapable of performing its appropriate
functions. Why, sir, you claim the right TO en-.
slave the African race because Africans are hea-
thens that, believe, is the argument advanced in
the Mississippi address il that elaborate but silt
ed and inflated production is susceptible Of any
definite meaning; but, as Legislators, understand
you TO repudiate the obligations and refuse to per-
form the duties which Christian ethics impose on
you in prescribing rules of conduct for your
fellow men You claim the rights but refuse to
perform the duties of Christians With the moral
bearings of question, it has been said, you have
nothing to do in your legislative capacity and
this no doubt furnishes the explanation why we
find such signal departures from the wholesome
principles of the natural and the revealed law in
the legislation of the slave States This doctrine
seeks to oblterate at once the distinction between
right and wrong in human sctions-a distinction
which is not dependent upon legislative enact
ments, but exists anterior to them.
Sir, we have heard much said in our time, In
the political discussions of the day, about mon
eyed arst0cracy and bank influence in national
affairs Southern gentlemen were not backward
in sounding the alarm. heard the notes, listen
ed to the discussion with attention, and hope
not without profit, and the recollection of il has
not faded from my memory. am suspicious of as
sociated wealth. especially when enlisted as it too
often is, in opposition to popular rights. And
hold it to be the dictate Of prudence to watch,
with sleepless vigilance and a jealous eye, the
operations Of men welding large amounts Of cap
ital when in pursuit Of political objects. They
are not always over scrupulous in regard to the
means which they employ to accomplish the de-
sired end. For this reason ! am jealous Of the
institution of slavery, and Of the schemes and
movements of its friends and advocates IL Is
now in the field and it's influence pervades and
must be allowed to say controls, to great extent,
both branches Of Congress And ! should be
gratihPd TO know that the Executive Department
was wholly emancipated from its influence. II 1t
is not now, | hope the day is not distant when it
will be.
Mr. Chairman, the old Bank Of the United
States, with all its branches, and officers and de-
pendents, together with the immense wealth Of
the Rotbschilds, would be an adversary quite in
significant and harmless, compared with the one
which the friends Of Free Soil now have to en-
counter. Some two hundred and fifty or three
hundred thousand Shareholders have taken the
field, controlling and welding a capital which, it
is said amounts to sixteen hundred millions of dol
lars in PERSONAL property, aud probably much more
IN real estate, animated by common spirit and
pursuing common object, and that object, poiti-
cal power and influence