Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-04-08


The Lecomptou constitution is the result Of tho
Kansas and Nebraska act; how strange to see those
who stood by the parent measure in all its days Of
doubt, vicissitude, and final glorious triumph, now
turn their backs upon the legitimate offspring Il
is but another one Of those unmstaksble signs that
appear periodically but with shorter Intervals up
on ournorthern political horizon, which admonishes
the South of her rapidly impending fate.
The right Of the people 10 govern themselves, re-
strained only by the Federal Constitution whether
in State or Territory, though not formally, is yet
nraetiealtv denied The great truth was the watch
word that flashed along the lines Of the Democratic
army Of 1856. Did not the Republican party plant
themselves as distinctly upon the principle that no
more Slave States should ever be admitted into this
Confederaey2 These were the banners, with their
inscriptions under which the two principal parties
of this country rallied in the last presidential strug-
gle The contest in the South it's true, was mixed
up with the effete dogmas of Know Nothingsm-the
most of that party, with here and there disgrace
full exception, maintaining the same principles in
common with the Democracy, touching the slavery
issue But how was it in the North Il was the
blOodies battle in the history Of American political
warfare. Only two years before that the national
men Of the North, with but very few exceptions,
we're overpoWered and crushed out beneath the
tramp of that mighty army with its myriads Of ia
naGes who marched in uRbroken columns under that
black banner, upon which was written in letters Of
blood, the memorable motto: "Anti-Kansas-no
more slave States"
The admission or rejection of Kansas grows in
importance and significance when We realize the
fact that with large majority Of those who oppose
i-Rud that majority constitutes the larger moiety
Of the northern people-there is settled determin
stion not 10 admit any more slave States into this
Union. This sentiment is growing at the North,
and the southern people should know it. am aware
that the followers Of the Illinois Senator contend
that slavery is but abstraction merely in Kansas
An admission do not make; but even if it we're,
so much the stronger evidence that you do not in
tend ever that another slave State shall enter the
door of this COnfedersey. If you will not admit a
State because it has the abstraction Of slavery without
the institution practically, by what sort of logic
we to conclude that you would vote TO admit State
that was clearly and unequivocay and practically in
favor of slavery If you are alarmed and fee at
the approach Of shadows, how can we expect you to
stand when the substance itself shall appear before
you?
Whether Kansas shall be a free State or slave
State, will not affect my coUrse"hie l would pre-
fer, asst to me every true southern should,
that she should come in as slave State in view Of
the effect which her olosa proximity may have upon
Missouri, by whom the South should sand as one
man. and never desert her though they had to march
through fire and blood; nevertheless, am here to-
day. ready to assume the responsibility TO vote to
admit Kansas free State, provided she applied
in that capacity. 1t is principle that contend for;
the right Of the people to govern themselves and
the equality of the States; is there nothing in that
doctrine though slavery be disconnected altogher
with it, for which We of the South as sovereign
! States, and as freemen, should contend? Should
| gentleman submit to an insult any sooner than he
would to q blow from an antagonist? The Boston
merchants threw the into the ocean for the sake
of principle, which caused the first gun of the
Revolution to be fired. II was difference about
political principalple abstraction that brought
about the war of 1872. Principle is everything;
deeds are only significant where they result from
principle
The leading idea of South Carolinas greatest
statesman, Of preserving an equilibrium Of the
strength and power of the free and slave States is
now gone forever. The admission of California
| threw the balance into the northern SCALE
and the admission of Oregon and Minnesota will
forever preclude all hope of its djusment But
was any prepared suppose that the day was so
near at hand, that the sectional majority in either
| House Of Congress would forever close the doors
against the admission of any more States tOeratng
slavery? Truly will the South feel that the evil
day is near if Kansas is rejected. No matter what
the motive may be, let me say to you that the con-
servatiVe men of the South will feel that as their
| rights are trenched upon inch by inch they must
begin 10 look 10 and within the South for succor and
relief. That principle once established and imbed-
ded in the Southern mind, it will not require q
prophet to fOresee the decline, and, unless there
should be areturning sense Of justice in the North
the end Of this, the model Republic that has
been recorded in the annals of time To quietly
submit longer, would only encourage and invite
continued aggression and wrong, and serve to de-
prve US, IN the estimation OF the enlightened Pow
ers of earth of the respect which resistance would
at least sntitle Us TO-
| Oh! but the Republican party say tn at they are
opposed to the extension of slavery. Southern ex-
pansiOn is their climacteric of political woe Why
are you opposed! It's domestic institutions it
/ any of your business? Not if there is any truth
in fha at
! men upon the consent Of the governed. That the
! people have right TO govern themselves, is IN
denable truth-and if they desire slavery, why op-
pose it? You cannot be opposed to slavery because
/ he number will be increased thereby. Not slave
will be born by extending slavery into Kansas that
would not be born by prohibiting the institution from
that Territory 1t cannot, then, be through motives
| Of philanthropy and sympathy for the negro. Do
you oppose its extension because you l5ok forward
| 20 the day when you hope that the South may be
oyerrun with black population, with but few whites
! to control them-thus endangering the safety and
! supremacy Of our race Do you forget that we
descended from common stock? The Baptists Of
Virginia the HuguenOts of South Carolina and the
! Puritsns Of New England, were all Anglo Saxon
They were the nursery Of this proud natiOR-the
germ from which sprung this mighty people who
now control the Northern hemisphere of this con-
inent, stretching from the icy North to the balmy
South, and from ocean TO ocean, shedding light upon
the nations, Offering shelter to the down trodden
and oppressed Of the world. And is it that our
Northern countrymen, with the same blood
coUrsing their veins that auimates ours, are willing
10 force US into a war of races that would end in
The extinction of the while desOlation and ruin
would surround the other? Is this the heritage
that you would bequeath pOsterity
Sir it cannot be concealed that the object of Alb
oIitionsm-and Black Repubicanismis its synonym
has been in opposing the extension of slavery to
strike at its very existence in the States They wish
I
densome and profless, account of its increased
numbers within a limited area They would dam
up the stream until it OVerfoWs its banks spreading
devastation around.
% Sir, the Northern people who have been deluded
ami deceived by demagOgues; who are made to be-
ieve that beautiful South is land of stripes
and blood, are culpable for not having torn from
their eyes the veil Of misrepresentation and false
hood with which they have been hoodwinked. | had
hoped since the nation, North and South, is be-
coming cheGkered all over with network Of rail
ways making the travel from the extreme limits of
one section TO the other cheap, comfortable, and
expeditions, that the northern people would visit
more partake Of our hospitable boards and see for
/ themselves.
Itis a remarkable fact, that our northern com
/ merCial men entertain soUnder and more cOnserva-
live views with reference to the institutions of the
South than any other class as class of their popU
/ ailOn. That is a fact worthy of reflection Why
is it so? Simply because they know more about the
South from their commercial intercourse and social
relations with the southern people. They know that
all this sentimental philanthrOphy that would decoy
aud sbduct a slave from his master-from a home of
! protection and plenty-and then permit them TO
starve IN some miserable garnet or cellar in some
northern city,s as cruel false, andinhuman towards
The deluded slave, it is mean, dishonest, and an
outrage upon the rights of the master. They know
eryWe that slavery is the normal condition of the
African negro and that he has never attained to one
half the degree of civilization in his native land
or in this country, as free negro as he has under
the guidance and control Of his southern master.
Commercial men, and they have been styled the
factors of the agriouluralsts of the South and
West ought TO make still greater effort to correct
northern sentiment and to put down ali this fsnstioal
cry against the southern people. But for the pro-
ducts of slave labor cotton, rice, sugar. hemp and
tobacco, which seek an exchange for other products
in foreign markets. and thus constitute the commerce
of our northern cities; and but for direct trade
with those cities pouring into their laps annually
many hundred millions of dollars the result Of our
slave labor, what would become Of that commerce!
What would become of the many millions who now
swell the great cities of the North, and whose handy
craft labor is enriching that people?