The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-01-22
.y7l- } Pow ER b THE E0RTH-THE
syUTH PRESCRIBED.

There is a passage in the speech Of Senator
Downs of Louisiana, delivered few days
since which shows how terribly the North has
oppressed the South. He says
proceed now to his arguments on secess on
He opens this branch of his subject by de-
nunciaton of Soithern pusllanimity, of which
he speaks as fippantly and rs coolly as if he
had the sole right TO rule in questions of honor
and propriety for our portion Of the Union.
and as if his doctrines had not been repudated
by all the most patriotic and distinguished
men of the South, and in his own State, and
then proceeds to the argument by an assump-
ton as little sustained by our past history as
any that was ever made, perhaps, on this floor
He said:
THE policy of the Union is under the con.
troll of Northern sentiments and Northern in
terestS'
Let us see how few facts in our history
will show the incOrrectnoss of this assumption
The commander-in-chiefo of the army of the Rev.
0lut,On was from the South; the permanent
scat of Government was established in the
South an extent of scacoast has been acquired
in the South embracing too the great outlet
of the valley of the Mississippi greater than
our whole extent of coast at the close of the
! Revolution, while none has been acquired in
| the North, on the Atlantic OF the eleven
| Presidents elected seven were from the South
and four from the North five from the South
served two termH-not one from the North
| The South has had the Presidency nearly fifty
rout of Sixty-four years that the present Govern
, ..-s... 4.}f haze - 10 close of the
,,.>J-n. ,erm. IT,. ,.,sa' = Uuocl I,.ss.,Sss ot
the Supreme Court ha. been held by two South
ern men for more than half century cOntinu-
ously As it was in the past, No it is Mt present ;
Southern man presdes here, and in the 9th
ar House, and did during the last Congress
the chalrmen of the most important committees
| ia this and the other House are Southern men ::
the commander in-chief Of the army is u ma
tive of the South ali three of the commanders
| in the war with Mexico were natives and two
of them residents of the South
! notice these things in no bOastful spirit ;
| they WERE know, brought about without
design, i'll the natural course of events, but
they certainly go far to show that the South
are not that oppressed people which some
would represent them to be.
For the double purpose of illustrating the
opinion | have here advanced and to show
that Mr.. Jefferson rejected with horror such
violent remedies for injuries to the South az
the Senator has been propagating, beg leave
to read an extract from speech delivered by
me in June last
More than a quarter of century since
(l825,) Mr.. Jefferson Il need apply no epithets
to him. his name is enough thought there was
mt least as much reason to complain of the
action ofthe General Government as any South
ern men can think now exists; yot he, in the
most decided terms, dsapproved Of the remedy
| proposed by South Carolina and those who
concur with her, He said, in his letter to Mr..
Giles:
al see as you do, and with the greatest af-
fiction, the rapid strides with which the Fed
eral branch of our Government is advancing
towards the usurpaton of all the rights rcserv-
ed to the States and the consolidation in itself
of all powers foreign and domestic and that
too, by constructions which, if legitimate, leave
no limits to their power
And what is our resource for the prcserva-
ton OF the Constitution Reason and argu-
mcnt! Iou might as we'll reason and argue to
the marble columns Gncirclng them -
e. Are we, then, TO stand to or arms with
the hot-headed Georgian! Mo- This must be
the last resource, not to be thought of until much
longer and greater sutertHgs. If any intracton
OF compact OF so many parties is to be resist
cd ut once, rs II dissolution Of it. none could
ever be formed which could last one year. We
must hare patience and longer endurance with
our brothers while under deluson; give them
time for reflection and experience Of cOnse-
qucnces; keep ourselves IN q situation 10 profit
by the chapter Of accidents, and separate from
our companions only when the sole alternatives
left are the dissolution of the Union with them,
or submission to a Government without limta-
ton of powers
Never came from his pen wiser or more
patriotic words than these With what fore
sight his philosophic mind dwelt on events IA
vorable to the South that have already come to
pass 1t seems like prophecy! Little more
than quarter of II century has elapsed; yet
what IN that short space in the life OF nation,
have been the chapter of accidents already re-
corded in our history favorable to State rights
aud Southern interests Five Presidents have
since been elected, and two acting Presidents
three of the Presidents were from the South, as
was also one of the acting Presidents; and one
of the Presidents from the North was a native
Of the South The Office of President has been
actually held seventeen out of the last twenty
five years by Southern Presidents, and only
eight years by Northern Presidents
Daring the administration of three of these
Southern Prosidents-one of them so by acci-
dent-threc of the greatest limitations ever i'm
raj Government have been adopted in two
cases by the Executive power alone. President
Jackson restrained by the Maysyille veto the
power claimed for general system of internal
mprovements-the one at which Mr.. jefferson
was mere alarmed than any other-and Mr.
Polk confirmed it in the veto of the harbor bill
in 1916. Mr.. Tyler vetoed Bank of the Uni
ted States. and made it an obsolete idea for.
ever; and the high tariff which drove South
Carolina to notification, in 1892 was so much
reduced under the advice of Mr. Polk and hi.
Southern Secretary of the Treasury ~ to leav,
no cause OF complaint ON that score even on
the part OF South Carolina. Since 1928, sever
; new States have been admitted into the In
, lon-iour free and three slave States hut tn,
slave States thus admitted contain an are,
greater than the four free States and there il ,
clause III the act admitting Texas providing
, for tor additional States within her bounda
RES There are, too, ahead some accidents 70
the acquisition and admission of new States o
the South which are not unworthy of considera
ton. think, then, after all, we have stoo,
our ground pretty well for the last quarter o
, n century, and have no great reason to despair
Yes, we OF the South have prospered great,
during that time The North has also prosper
ed greatly perhaps more than we have, bu
we onght not to envy them, or quarrel will
them for their good fortune IL they hav,
made more money than we have, We have had
rs has been the case through the whole histo
ry of the Government at least our share of tn,
honor and power"
MIR RANT0UL'S SPEECH,
IN THE HOUSE or REPRESENTATIVES, UPON TIL
RESOLUTION OF WELCOME TO KossUTH