Washington sentinel., 1854-03-10

| surrenuer. mat IS the principle winch would
be philanthropists are inculcating.
No man in private life would dare to make
such proposition to crcumscrbe, CONTROL and
persecute me. Would | submit to govern
ment which would do any such thing? Mod
crate man as am, loving this government as
| do, having an affectionate regard for the
Union, so help me God, | would not submit to
be hedged in and degraded in this way. /
would rebel in order to protect my inalienable
and natural rights like man, rather than be
crushed out by such power. Now am speak
ing the sentiment OF a man who you all know
loves this Union almost without limitation
But there should be moderation in all cases.
Kindness, and sensibity, and propriety, and
justice, and magnanimity should never be aban-
doned for any political considerations, and
especially not for the purpose of gratifying
| fanaticism.
Look at the intolerant proceeding Of Eng
land. Look at the conflict between churches
there, arising out of similar feeling; see how
much pure, generous blood has been spilled,
merely to CRAFTY similar fanatcism. am to
| be the victim of such proceedings, because it
IS SAID am southern man. And so / am.
am attached to the place which gave me birth.
| am attached to the institutions under which
was reared, and which have protected me
IL
single right of northern man. would never
incroach on a single privilege guaranteed to the
north by the Constitution. In all my legisla-
tive course, where is the vote which have ever
given to restrict the right, the prosperity, the
interests OF any one section of this country :?
Where is the act of generosity or magnanimity
| in which have failed ? Yet, fellow-senators
the idea is pressed upon you that Gordon Of
free States shall be thrown around US of the
SOUTH either to restrict reproduction, or to
drive the people into emancipation. Now, ]
ask the Senate Of the United States, and / ask
| the American people, where can Congress get
the power to abridge the rights which belong to
us OF the south Nowhere! Is it expedient
for you, if yon could, to attempt to dishonor me
as an individual, to destroy the happiness of
my own family, and to make my slaves miser,
able around me, merely to CRAFTY the feelings of
fnnaticiSm and mistaken notions of philau-
thropy?
| question whether gentlemen who speak
thus about our slave institutions have ever been
among them. The senior Senator from New
York, Mr.. SEWARD, has been in our midst.
lie has been in my own house, and was re-
ceived as friendly as any other man in the
world would be. He knows the relation exist
ing between me and my slaves. He travelled
from one end Of my State to the other, and his
ewes were offended by no inhumanity; he saw
no wretched poverty among the blacks; he saw
no desolated, miserable looking human beings,
not knowing in the morning, when they awoke,
where to get bread. He saw nothing of that !;
but relation which has sprung up among US
without any control of the present age and
generation. 1t has come to us from our an
cestors. has become incorporated into our
civil polity and social system. And it is beau
tiful to contemplate, although the relation Of
master and slave exists. Why is it beautiful
Because the kindness Of human nature has an
opportunity Of displaying ITSELF Because all
the benevoence ofmy nature can be manifested
by relieving the sick who are dependent upon
me; by feeding the hungry, and clothing the
naked We have among US a population of
Africans more wise than all their ancestors be-
fore them. Where is the man who calls him.
self a religionist, who says he is pure and unde-
filed in heart, and desires to obey the mandates
1 OF his Creator, that can say that the blacks who
now reside in the slaveholding States would, if
they had been born in Africa, have known ns
much Of their Creator as they do now? Where
is the man who says that if they had remained
in the home of their fathers, they would have
had as much intelligence and civilization as
they have now? Are they not doing much to
convert their nation from barbarism to human
society, in any part of the world done so
much for them as we have in bringing them
over to this land Of intelligence. civilization,
and christianity? The old Puritans knew Of
what benefit it was, and they brought the
Africans over and sold them to us, that we
might act as missionaries to them, giving them
a knowledge of their Creator, knowledge of
the necessity of selfgovernment and learning
how to guide themselves. Look at the slaves
in your various hotels, and on your carriage
boxes, and compare them with the natives Of
Africa.
When look into this matter, it seems to me
that men so intelligent as some whom / see,
ought to be ashamed to tell me that our fore
fathers were guilty of a monstrous error in
bringing up these negroes and improving them,
until they have reachedt to present condition
of mind and Christianity. Why they were per-
mitted to be brought here cannot say. can
not tell why was born. / cannot compre-
hend why man was sent here at all, and why
he. is subjected to all sorts of woes and sorrows
and afiiictions Why these people from Africa
were permitted to be brought here ! do not
undertake to say. Where is there man out
of all these philanthropbists who could alter
the condition of the negroes of the south for
the better? What could he do? He might
possibly render unhappy, not merely all con-
nected with this institution, but every human
being connected with the government, for you
cannot stab constitutional right of the south
without its reacting and furnishing the north.
There is q harmony in the mode of our gov.
ernment and in the control of our institutions
which leads to prosperity in every part and
section of the Union; and whenever you dis
turb it. it is like disturbing the body. Prick
the eye, and you irritate the whole.
| But gentlemen tell me that this agitation
will never stop. There was nothing in the
speech Of the senator from New York which
fell upon me so appalingly as that declara.
tion; and why? Because it seemed that he
wanted to continue his agitation. For what
purpose? Is he sincere in the belief that it
will improve the condition of the slave, or will
drive the master into manumission Certainly
not. Why then does he urge it? Because Of
the distempered condition of the public mind.
However intelligent country may be, dis
tempers Of this kind, which we usually call