Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1850-03-13
PLAQUEMINE:
WEDNESDAY, MARCH IS, 1850.
MIR. Clay's Speech.

Mr.. Clay's Speech.
The following is the conclusion of Mr. Clsy's
speech on the Compromise Resolutions offered
by him in the United States Senate:
And, sir, | must take occasion here to say
that, in my opinion, there is no right on the
part of any one or more Of the States to secede
from the Union War and dissolution of the
Union are identical and inevitable, in my opin-
ion. There can be dissolution of the Union
only by consent or by war. Consent no oge
can anticipate, from any existing state of things,
is likely to be given and war is the only alterna
tive by which dissolution could be accom-
plished If consent were given-if it were
possible that we were to be separated by one
great line-in less than sixty DAYS after such
consent was given, war would break out be-
tween the slaveholding and non-slaveholding
portions of this Union-between the two inde-
pendent parts into which it would be erected in
virtue of the act of separation. In less than
sixty days, believe, our slaves from Kentucky,
flocking over in numbers to the other side OF
the river, would be pursued by their owners
Our hot and ardent spirits would be restrained
by no sense of the right which appertains to the
independence of the other side of the river,
should that be the line of separation. They
would pursue their slaves into the adjacent free
States; they would be repelled, and the conse-
quence would be that, in less than sixty days,
war would be blazing in every part Of this now
happy and peaceful land. @
And, sir, are you going to separate the States
of this Confederacy! In my humble opinion,
Mr.. President, we should begin with at least
ho
confederacy Of the Southern Atlantic slave
holding States and Confederacy Of the valley
of the Mississippi. My life upon it that the
vast population which has already concentrated
and will concentrate on the head-waters and
tributaries of the Mississippi, will never give
their consent that the mouth of that river shall
be held subject to the power of any foreign
State or community whatever. Such, believe,
would be the consequence Of a dissolution of
the Union Immediately ensuing; but other
confederacies would spring up from time to
time, as dissatisfaction and discomfort were
disseminated throughout the country-the
Confederacy Of the Lakes, perhaps, the Con-
federacy Of New England, or OF the Middle
States. All, sir, the veil which covers these
sad and disastrous events, that lie beyond it, is
too thick to be penetrated or lifted by any
mortal eye or hand III" s2'i ii5@s i715@& Ts@
Mr.. President, ! am directly opposedto any
purpose of succession or separation. am for
staying within the union and defyng any portion
of this confederacy to expel me or drive me out
ofthe Union. am for staying in the Union and
fighting for my rights, if necessary, with the
sword, within the bounds and under the safe
guard Of the Union. / am for vindicating those
rights, not by being driven out of the Union
harshly and unceremoniously by any portion Of
the confederacy Here am within ii, and here
I meanto stand and die, as far as nay individual
wishes or purposes can go-wthin it to protect
my property and defend myself, defying all the
power on earth to expel me or drive me from
the situation in which am placed. And would
there not be more safety in fighting within the
Union than out of it! Suppose our rights to be
violated, suppose wrong to be done you, gagg-
pressions to be perpetrated upon you, can you
not better vindicate them--if you have occasion
to resort to the last necessity, the sword, for
restoration Of those rights--within, and with
the sympathies Of alarge portion Of the popula-
ton Of the Union, than by being without the
Union, when large portion OF the population
have sympathies adverse to your own! You can
ayindicate your rights within the Union better
than il expelled from the Union, and driven
from it without ceremony and without au- ]
thority. aa .saga H - 5&asEs ssts s5sf !
az Sir, I have raid .thatI thought there was no
right ont part of one OF more States to secede
from the Union. ] think so. The constitution
of the United States was made not merely for
the generation that then existed, but for pos
terity-unlimited, underlined, endless, perpetual
postenty. And every State that has since come
into the Union, came into it binding itself by
indissOlubIe hands to remain within the Union