Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1851-06-14
PLAQUEMINE. PARISH OF IBERV1ILE, La JUNE IT, 1851

much of me, or Of my course Of pubIic coz;
duct for the last fourteen months YOU hav
heard of my attending Union meetings, and o
my tervent demonstrations At Union meetings
: Well, what was the object OF that What wa
the purpose of that! The object and purpos,
were designedly or though.!essly msrepres On
ted had an invitation to 90 to Unior
n meeting in the county of Westchcster; | Icoull
n not go, but wrotea letter. Well, some wist
man Of the East said he did not think it was
uery necessary to hold Union meetings. He
= did not think there were many dsunionists
about Tarrytown And so here, and in every
part of New York, there is total misappre.
, hcnson of the purpose and object of these I'm
ion meetings. Every one knows there is no:
! county or, city, Or hamlet, in the State OF
New York, that is ready to 60 out of the Un-
ION. There is no man so insane in The whole
State, outside lunatc asylum, as to wish it.
But that is not it. We all know that every
man and every neghborhood, and all corpora
tons, in the State ofNew York, are attached to
the Union, and have no idea OF withdrawing
from it. But that is not the pont-that is not
the point
The question: fellow -ctizens-and | put it
to you now as the real question-the ques-
ton is, whether you and the rest of the people
| ofthe great State Of New York, and of all the
/ States, will SO administer the Constitution
will SO enact and maintain laws to preserve
that instrument, that you will not only remain
IN the Union yourselves, but permit your
brethren to remain init and carry it on! That
is the question. WIN you concur in measures
| necessarysto maintain the Union? or will you
| oppose such measures ? That is the whole
| point of the case. You have thirty or forty
members Of Congress from New York-vou
| have your proportion in the United States
Senate. We have many members of Congress
from New England. Well, they maintain
| the laws that are passed for the admins
tration of the Constitution. and respect the
rights of the South, so that the Uniou may be
held together; and not only that we may not
60 out oft ourselves, which we are not inclined
to do, but that by ascertaining and maintain
ing the rights of others, they may also remain
in the Union. Now, gentlemen, permit me to
say that speak of no concessions. If the
South wish any concession from me, they
won't get tlnot a hairs breadth Of it. If they
come to my house for it, they will not find it if
they do. concede nothing But say that |
will maintain for them, as will maintain for
you, to the utmost of my power, and in the
face of all danger, their rights under the Con-
stitution, and your rights under the Constitu-
ton. (Cries of sGood, Good" &c) And |
God forsake me and my children, if ever be
found to fater in one or the other. (Fremen-
dous applause.
Itisobv;ous TO every one, and we all know
it, that the origin of the great disturbance
which agitates the country, is the existence OF
slavery in some of the States; but we must
consider it; we must deal With earnestly,
honestly, and justly. From the mouth of the
St .1ohp' g 10 tho ,-rb b,,r1raSe nd i
yenty-tiye, thirteen colonies, of English origin,
planted at different times, and coming from
different parts Of England, bringing with them
various habits, and establishing, each for ITSELF,
institutions entirely variant from the institu-
tions which they left But they were of En-
glish origin. The English language was theirs;
Shakespeare and Milton were theirs, and the
Christian religion was theirs, and these things
constituted them together. The aggressions
of the parent State compelled them to set up
for independence. They declared indepen-
dence, and that immortal act, pronounced on
the fourth OF July, seventeen hundred and Sc
yenty-slx, made them independent That was
an act Of Union by the United States. in. Con-
gress assembled. But this act of itself did
nothingt to establish over them general go-
vernment. They had articles of confederation !.
before to carry on the war. They had q Con- .
gress. They had articles Decentralization af- |
forwards to prosecute the war But thus far
they were Independent, each Of the other They
entered into simple confederacy, and nothing :
more. No State was bound by whatit did
notsitself agree to-. That was the state Of
things, gentlemen, at that time. The war
went on-victory perched on the American ea-
gle--our independence was acknowledged {
The States were then united together under a {
confederacy of very limited powers It could $
levy 40 taxes. Itcould not enforce its own t
decrees. 1t was confederacy, instead Of be- I
ing united government Experienced show t
I'd tfas this was insufficient and inefficient. c
And therefore, beginning as far back almost r
IS the close Of the war, measures were taken t
or the forn1ation#of the united government c
i lgovernfnentin the strict sense of the term {
government that could pass laws binding up- Q
ons the citizens Of all the States and which b
,ould enforce those laws by its executive pow {
RS, having them interpreted BY judicial pow $
i beionglngfo the government Well, gem Q
lemen. this led TO the formation Of the Con- v
titution of the United States, and the Consti- {
ution was framed on the ideaof a limited 90 c
'ernlnent. It proposed to leave, and did
cave, the different institutions Of the several 6
States 70 themselves It did not propose con- i
Itdid not propose that the laws 2
# Virginia should be the laws of New York, B
4 that the laws Of New York should be the T
avs Of Massachusetts. IT proposed only that y
or certain purposes, and to certain extent, I
hat there should be united government, 4
nd that government should have the pow e
r of executing its own laws. All the rest 4
vas left to the several States. We now come q
Gentlemen, to the very point Of the case. At y
hat time slavery existed #in the Southern. 8
states, entailed upon then, in the time of the h
upremacy of British laws over us. There its| g
vas It was obnoxious to the Middle States, II
nd disliked; and honestly and seriously dis b
liked, ,as the records of the country will show,
y the Southern States themselves. Now, q