The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-03-06

revolutions follow each other in quicker and quicker
succession. These revolutions arc only gigantic
struggles Of the popular will 10 escape from oppres
sion and. at each struggle, the giant snaps chain.
Great Britain, which la former times sent more
vessels to the coast Of Africa ca kidnap and Ia trans
port its natives than all the other nations OF the
earth together, now maintains fleet upon that
same coast To suppress the trade she 80 lately en-
couraged. Three times, during the present CEN
fury, has that government escaped civil commo-
ton by making large concessions 10 popular rights
Since the year ls4 written constitutions have been
extorted by the people from more than three-iours
OF all the sovereigns OF Europe what TEN.
pest now beats upon Austria, from all points OF
the compass, because, during the last season, she
attempted only 10 halfenslaye the Hungarians,-
because she attempted 10 do what, during the last
century, she might have done without rcinon-
STRANGE. The rights OF individuals not less than the
rights of communities, have emerged from oblivion
Into recognition, and have become law. Penal
codes have been amelorated and bArbarous customs
abolished. There now but two places on the
globe where woman can be publicly whipped
in Hungary and in the southern States, And
the universal scorn and Kissing with which the
rulers OF the former country have been visited for
their women whipping, and their execution OF those
whose sole crime their love Of freedom, only
iorctokens that hercer scorn and louder hissiag
with which, from all sides Of the civilized world,
the latter will soon be visited. Let the high toned
and chivalrous OF the South, those 'swho feel
a stain upon their honor like a wound, think Of
all this. AS one In the long catalogue Of "hazards"
upon which they are rushing.
Sir, the leading minds in n community ARE
mainly responsible for the fortunes Of that coinmu
nifty. Under God, the men Of education, Of talent,
and Of attainment turn the tides Of human affairs.
Where great social distinctions exist, the intel-
gcnce and the wealth Of few stimulate or suppress
the voltion Of the masses. They are the sensorium
OF the body polite and their social interiors the
mighty limbs which, for good for evil. they wicld.
| Such Is the relation In which the three hundred
| thousand, less than three hundred thosfand
save-owners Of the South, hold Ia their fellow-ciu
zens. They can light the torch Of civil war they
can quench il. But If civil war once blaxes forth,
1t ia not given TO mortal wisdom 20 extnguish or
control it. Ii comes under other and mghicr laws,
under other and mightier agencies. Human pas.
sions feed the combustion; and the flame which the
breath of man has kndlcd, tho passions OF the null
ttude,-strongert than the breath of the hurricane.
viii spread. Among these passions, one Of the
strongest and boldest is the love OF liberty which
dwes in every bosom. In the educated and civil
ized this love of liberty is regulated but para
mount desire in the ignorant and debased, IL Ia a
wild, vehement instinct Ii is an ndesructible part
| Of the nature of man. Weakened il may be- but 1t
cannot be destroyed. II is thread of asbestos in
the web OF the soul, which all the fires of oppression
cannot consume.
| With the creation of every human being God
creates this love of liberty The slave shares
il with his master, and it has descended into his
| bosom from the same high source. Whether dor
nant or wakeful, 1t only awaits an opportunity TO
become the mastering impulse of the soul Civil
war Is that opportunity. Under oppression, il
bides its time. Civil is the fulness Of time. II
|
homes three millions of latent rebellions. Embedded
in material spontaneously combustible, ii laughs
| at fire.. Has il any barriers to keep the spirit of
| liberty, which has electrified the old world from
crossing its own borders, and quickening its bond
men into mutinous life?-not all of them; but one in
ten thousand, one in hundred thousand of them.
lfthere is no Spartacus among them, with his lofty
heroism and his mastery skill for attack and de-
fence, is the race Of Nat Turner's extinct, who,
| in their religious musings, and their dumb melan-
choly, take the impulses of their passions for
the inspiration of God, and, after prayer and the
eucharist, proceed to massacre and conflagration?
| In ignorant and imbruted minds, thousand mo-
! tives work, which we cannot divine. thousand
excitements madden them, which we cannot control
II may be text of Scripture it may be the contents
of a wine vault; but the result will be the same
havoc wherever there is wealth, murder wherever
there is life, violation wherever there is chastity.
Let but this wild hre of servile instruction break
out in but one place in State; nay, ir but ten
places in i've places, in all the fifteen States
and then, in all their length and breadth, there will
| be quiet sleep. Not Macbeth, but the
Angel of Retribution will murder Sleep The
mother will clasp her infant to her breast, and,
while she clasps it, die double death. But, where
will the slaves find arms, "Fwor minstrdf -
Rage viii supply their weapons. Read the history
| of those slaves who have escaped from bondage
mark their endurance and their contrivance, and
let incredulty cease forever. They have hid them
selves under coyerts, dug holes and burrowed in
| the earth for concealment, sunk themselves in
ponds, and sustained life by breathing through a
|
themselves into boxes, but Of half coffin dimen-
sions TO be nailed up and transported hUndreds OF
miles, merchandise; and, in this horrible con-
dtion, have endured hunger and thirst, and stand
| ing upon the head without n groan or n sigh
/ have wandered abroad, almost fasting for forty
days and forty nights, like Christ in the wilder
ness ;-and, will men who devise such things, and
| endure such things, be baked in their purposes
| Of hope and Of revenge, when the angel of de-
| structon, in the form of the angel of liberty
descends into their breastsY
The state Of slavery Is always a state Of war. In
its deepest tranquility, il is but truce. Active
bosties liable any hour 10 be resumed. Civil
war between the North and Che South,-any thing
that brings the quickenins idea of freedom home
TO the mind OF the slave, that supplies him with ia
cilities Of escape, immunities for revenge-will
unleash the bloodhounds Of instruction. Can you
muster armies in secret, and march them in secret.
20 that the slave shall not know that they are mus
| tered and marched TO perpetuate his bondage and
20 extend the bondage Of his race? Was not Major
Dade's whole command supposed 10 be massacred
| through the treachery Of a slave, foray within
your Borders places you in such relation TO the
slave that you helpless without him, and in dan
ger Of ton with him He that defends slave
ry by war, against the eternal laws of God and
rusbes upon the thick bosses Of Jehovah's bucker
Such are some Of the "hazards'' which the leader.
Of public opinion at the South, the legislator,
and guides Of men in this dark and perlous hour
arc invoking upon themselves and their fellows; mo-
for the interests Of the whole, but for the fanciec
interests Of the Shareholders alone, and against tho
real interests Of vast majority Of the people May
God give that wisdom 20 the followers which b,
seems not yet 30 have impaired 10 the leaders.
Sir, in these remarks, have studousy abstainec
from every thing that seemed to me like retaliation
or unkindness ! certainly have suffered pur
posed word Of elimination 10 pass my lips. II
have uttered severe truths, have not sought fol
severe language in which to clotbe them. What
have said. have said TO brother sleeping OF
the brink Of precpice, where one motion Of biz
troubled sleeping, or Of his bewildcred awaking
might plunge him into remedies ruin.
Ia conclusion, have only 20 add, that such is my
solemn and abiding conviction Of the character o
slavery. that, under a full sense Of my responsibility
tony country and my God, ! deliberately say
better disunion better civil a servile war -
better any thing that God in his providence shall
send, than an extension Of the bounds Of slavery.
Upon the close Of Mr.. MANS's remarks,
Mr.. BURT, Of South Carolina, and said that
he had not interrupted the gentleman from Msssa-
chusetts during hs speech, but he presumed he die
not wish 10 have any go forth under the sane
ton Of his name and he therefore called upon hin
10 retract what he had seidin regard 10 slaves
being exempted from capital punishment 70
crimes for which the whites were executed III
called upon him also 10 withdraw the imputatior
that the pccuniary value Of the slave a motive
for any such difference in the laws rcspectinR them