Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1858-04-23

olCA4 ciEs nave stated NudI ali tue great AA
Z ference between the people Of the North an
{ the people Of the South, vas in the mode
F; looking at the sfdius Of the negro, whether,
7 hiring slave, he is not to be regarded as
person.
/ / am aware that anything might say upo
; this point would probably be attributed 10 u
E heat Of argument, 70 the force Of this partieI
lar occasion, IL it did not expose me to insinJ
atisns equally ungenerons and unfouhded-
hold in my hand a legal decision made not Ion
. ago BY one of the best Of men, slaveholdf
I though be be, man candid and conscientiou
, in his convictions, cool, calm and deliberate
his udgment-Nathan Green made when }
! adorned the bench of the Supreme Court q
Tennessee, and announcing the opinion OF ID
entire court. The question presented to thei
consideration was this-exactly the enc | az
now considering; whether a slave be persoT
and as such can be a legatse and take unde
will? Hear what he says on the snbject, an
nouncing, so far as the highest legal authOrit
Of my own State is concerned, the view that
entertained on this identical question
" But we are met with the objection thatnon
but free persons have right TO sue, and TIA
The persons Of color in this case are still slaves
A slave is not 10 the condition Of horse or a
OK. His liberty is restrained, It is true, an
his owner controls his actions and claims ht
services. But be is made after the image o
the Creator. He has mental capacities, and al
immortal principle in bis nature, that eOnsti
tute him equal to his owner, but for the acci
dental position in which fortune has place.
him. The owner has acquired conventions
right to him, but the laws under which he I
/ held as a slave, have not and cannot eXtinguisl
his high born nature, nor deprive him Of many
/ rights inherent in man. Thus while he is
slave, be can make a contract for his freedom
which our laws recognize, and be can take q
bequest Of his freedom, and by the same vii
he can take personal OF real estate" ."-FOrd rs
Ford, 7 Hump 81.
Sir, 1 drop that portion of the argument
Such, have attempted to show, is the effect Of
this provision in the Constitution OF the United
States; and that WITH the continual cry OF
8 slavs power" properly representation y
This argument, predicated upon the " slave
power idea. was thrown in my teeth at the
very outset Of my remarks By the gentleman
from Ohio, Mr. Gddings, as though it was
wholly unanswerable. And just ia this con-
neetion, sir, for may be permitted to refer TO
a speech which the venerable gentleman-ven-
cradle from his age, | mean-nade on this sub
iect a few days ago. ; commend il to his
further consideration and | ask him to say
whether he would cOOllY and deliberately
for / know be is almost to the verge Of the
other world, repeat it. / ask him to say
whether, as be expects the solemn court, which
hope may be still remOte-fOr | mean some
thing more than mere compliment when / say
to him, or to any other aged man, seTEs IN
ca um rsdsas-I ask him 10 say whether be
would ratify or approve il? He is denouneing
the idea OF property IN man as rank inf ielity,
and saws:
- Could I hope that my remarks would meet
the eve Of British ministers, I would In an
especial manner invoke their official influence
against this inhielity. beseeeh them no more
to sanction, by their action, that blasphemy
which seeks to transform the image Of God
into property; which degrades man, with his
undying aspirations, his eternal destiny, to the
level of the brute"
Ny God has it come to this, that the Oldest
member honored with a place in this House,
from which the lightest whisper is carried on
the wings Of the wind to that sutoeratic, over
powering, uBfseling domination, should utter
such language 2-sueh fearful invocation upon
the most determined foe we have ever had?
Does he in this place call on the British
power to crush out aud put down the sons Of
the men who fought for his cOuntry's deliver
anee from the same power, at Yorktown, at
Camden. at Eutaw, al Kings Mountain, and
who resisted that same British power at New
Orleans, az, the sons OF the men who in for
mer times, when the gebteman's own Western
Reserve was in peril and in trouble, went from
their distant homes, resisted the same British
power, aided, as 1t was, by the savage foe, to
protect the settlements of bis own aOuriEhing
State? Has it cone to this?
Mr.. GIDDINGs. viii the gentleman allow
Mr.. MAYNARD. ! prefer that the gentleman
should hear me little further, before he un-
deTtakes to answer. Sir, is this all? Not
only does be commend US 10 the tender meTcies
Of that hateful Power-and I regret that be
should have had some little pretsxt for the ut
teranee Of such sentiment, 10 something said
few days since, as I would hope in the excite
ment Of debate, by gentleman on the other
side of the Hall Mr.. Shorterl-but he goes
further, and says:
al would also warn the Spanish Crown and
other continental powers, that our present
Executive is seeking by all the various means
and arts Of diplomacy, to detach Cuba from its
allegiance, to annex it TO the United States, in
order to increase the influence Of the slave
power, and add strength to this American in
fidelity.
Z" hope and trust that this conspiracy may
be defeated that all Christian governments
may exercise their power against the further
extension Of this scourge of our race"
Sir,, in history theye have been two aged men
who have been conspicuous. One, we are told,
sat day after day and year after year in the
Roman Senate, aud when called upon to speak,
all that be said was, {" "delsHia est Carthage I"
That is net the speech which my compeer
from Ohio INDUCES in. No, 10, 10 He is not
speaking Of a foreign power. He is not speak
ing of the enemies Of bis country. Il is not
Carthage, hated and feared, which be would
destroy. No, no, nol There was another ven
cradle man-venerable for his years-the lab
bering, iibing old inf lei of Terney, whose
one speech was aimed at the Holy One, under
whom we all hope for salvation" Crush the
wretehr - "Crush the wretch - And, sirs, /
fear, fear-i hope not, will not believe
that "crush the wretch p will ever be the ex-
Of sny one who NAV ever come to
nave a place here. Wretch '-Word of
baleful omen, which should include the loved
ones whom you and | have left in our far-awsy
homes. What mean these things ? | am
speaking TO grey bairs. bow down to age,
and DO It reverence. But let me appeal to the
gentleman. in a spirit OF kindness, and say to
him, " do not, although you bring your own
DeigaboTs, your own Black Republican hosts,
to make war upon us-dO not, do not, beg
you, invoke upon ,us British power or the
Spanish inquisitiOnw
Iwoul6 Be glad 70 have gone little into the
history Of the slavery agitation, to show how
1t spruRg up in this country, and TO show how
it had its origin in a faction IA the North I;
then, as now, sctuated by hatred to the South
AID everything So Ithern, from the time when,
plant Washington in his high command-how
it attempted to prevent toe formation and adop-
ton Of the American Constitution how, in
1903, when we acquired Louisiana, it stated In
this House that it was a cause sufficient to dis
solve the allegiance OF the state TO the Federal
Government; and that while it was the privI-
lege Of all, il was the duty Of some, to 90 ou',
peaeeaby if they could, forcibiy II they mEsf
how, when we were engaged In another war,
- Fharr nal in
vention at Hartford, in that odorous land Of
the nutmeg and the onion; and how, worse than
that, they hoisted blue lights at New London,
that this sane deadly enemy might know where
10 strike US f; bow, IN 1920, they resisted the
admission Of Missouri into the Union, for the
simple and sole reason that they resist tie ad-
mission OF Kansas how they flooded this door
With petition after petition for the most absurd
AID imPracticabe objects, apparently for the
purpose only Of aggravating aud annoying the
South ; how they continued this sggres ssiye and
annoying system OF po6cy, until 1850, when
We believed that the laws then passed were, in
the language of a gentleman then representing
a Southern state, a finality in their tOtslity.D
And then / would like to have reminded our
Democratic friends how, when we had got the
snake scotched but not killed, at the con-
mencemeHt Of the thirty-ihird Congress, now
four years ago, 10 every department Of the
NToFeEumeuL llcN utll Tue AtiHs IN Llttt Lal15s
welding a power deemed irresistible, they
committed what, in politics, is said TO be worse
than a cIime-a blunder-Ehich again brought
up the slavery agitation in a form more fierce
and rampant than ever before.
Mr.. Chairman, you know that one Of the in
stitutions peculiar to the South is the yellow
Jacket, very irritable little insect, whose
nest, with the boys, is a practical Hoii-Fas-taa-
gere. ST, the boy who would deliberately put
his finger into a yeilow-jaek cts nest might e
admired as a model Of prudence and sound dis
erection in comparison with The politician who
would stir up the abolition element in our po-
litical affairs.
But, sir, have not time TO dwell upon any
Of these matters. l would like, if bad time,
to follow that same element, this same aboli-
tiOR fury, for it is such, through all its ramifi-
cations in the Kansas troubles would like to
follow it in The form Of grave and learned pro
fessors, in the form Of reverend clergymen-ay,
sir, in he form OF lovely women; sending 10
that troubled land emiersnts from public meet
iBgs, armed Itb the rifle in one hand, and, fer