New-York daily tribune., 1858-03-31
testimony of Governors Reedcr, Geary. Walker

"I W, HdJoTlt! oI the COMMITTEE 10y the Senator
from Missouri (Mr. Green) is specimen of skllfll
| and adrolt misrepresentation. which he had read
with mingled emotions of astonishment shame and
Indignation. If, as the rheOricans say, the ab-
stBce of truth IL the absence Of beauty this report
must be the most hideOus production of our times
| for there is hardly d sentence Of truth in it.
From the topic Of Kansas Mr. Wilson passed on
to the main purpose Of his speech, reply to Gov
| ernOr Hammond Of South Carolina. That Senator
hc sad, after cOnfessng his ignorance of the events
| which have eliminated in the Lecompton Consttu-
| tion, does not allow bis admitted want OF knowledge
to restrain him from the expression of the opinion
ttat " If there weIe frauds they were equally great
| on both sides" We should be charitable 10 con
| fesstd ignorance, but We are not required to be
charitable to the presumptuous expression OF opln
ions based upon confessed ignorance. The Senator
talks about regiments Of cIngrauts recruited IN the
purcus Of the great cities Of the North, and sent
| ont armed With Sharps rifles, and bowe-kniyes
and REVIEWERS to conquer reedOin tor Kansas. HAD
the Senator studied as Senator should have done.
the details Of the history Of Kansas he would never
| have given utterance to such language. lle Stna-
tor goes 10 charge the people of Kansas WITH re-
framing from going to the polls and making Kansas
Free State when they had the power, in order to
defeat and destroy the Democratic party. This a6-
sp,d declaration has Do foundation ia fact and every
intelligent man in America who understands the al
fairs of Ksnsas aud whose opinions are Vi any value,
| knows this to be 80.
After referring to tie $50, 900 square miles Of the
South. TO its fine soil and delightful climate, to It's
control Of the great valley of the Mississippi, the
seat of future empire, the Senator boasts that they
have on their muster rolls million of men-lnen
brought up horseback, with guns III their hands
every one of whom, in an emergency, would be
available as h soldier. These boasts are simply ri
diculous. They VIII excite a smile everywhere
among people who have any adequate conception of
hot 20 ia amhc,lV au1 for
few months large military force. They remind
one Of tie grand invention of Gov. McDuhe for
overcoming the armies of United States by arming
the heroes of Notification with bay0nets foot
longer than the ordinary standard
7 he Senator, filled with magnificent visions of
Southern power, crowns cotton King, and tells ns
that if they should stop supplying cotton for three
years, England would toppe headlong, and carry the
whole civilized world with her, save the South.
What presumption Doubtless the coffee planters
of Brazil, the tea-growers Of China, and the wheat
growers on the shores of the Black Sea indulge in the
same magnificent illusions. IheSenatOr should know
that the commercial world Is not governed by the
cOtton-planters of the South any more than BY the
coffee planters Of Brazil the growers Of China or
the wheat. growers of Eastern Europe. England,
France, Germany and the Northern States of this
Union are the commercial manufacturing and none
tary centers Ofthe world The cotton planters of the
South are simply their agents, and perform their
tasks very much as the black slaves of the South
perform the tasks set for them by their masters.
The Free States in 1850 produced SS50, 900 600
of Ofmanufactures, only SOP OOO, 900 of which was of
cotton. Our manufacturers now must exceed
$3.50 900, OO0, Otwhich cotton does not make
than S7O,OO0,COO. The productive industry Of
Massachusetts,, which State manufactures more than
onethird Of all the cotton used in the country, was,
in 1855, $3.50 600, 900, of which only 500 100000
was of cotton. These figures show the absurdity of
tL.c cla s.t m nm
of cotton. 1t is, however no great matter of sur
prise that gentlemen who live away of on cross
roads where the cotton blooms. should come to the
conclusion that cotton rules the world few
months intercourse with the world would cure that
dehIsiOn. '|YOu are factors. excialIns the
Senator from South Caropa,' ''you fetch ana
"carry for US. Suppose we were tO discharge you.
"Suppose we were to take our business out of your
"hands we should consign You to anarchy aud
"poyerty."
Support, when the Senator from South Carolips
returns from this cha nbcr to his cotton fields, hi
slaves should, in their simplicity say to him
Nassa YOU only sels de cotton: we plants, We
"hoes, We picks de cotton 'Spose We discharge
''you. Massa!" The unsOphistcated "mudsls
would be quite as reasonable as the Senator.
The Sela or from South CarOlins cOmpacently
tells the country that the marvellous strength OF the
South arises from the harmony OF her political aud
social nsiiutlOns-that her forms OF society are the
best in the world and that she has IN extent of
political freedom combined with entire security seen
no where else on earth. The South. he tells Us, is
satisfied, harmonious aud prosperous.
This self-conplacency is truly sublime Is that
society the best in the world where more than
three millions of men and women are held as chat
ties? Where manacles, chains and whips. prisons,
bloOdhOunds, scourgDg, lynchngs and burnngs at
the stake are peculiar institutions ls that land
of political freedom where to teach to read is u
crime; where women are put in jail fer teaching
title children to read Gods holy word: where Pro
fessors Of Colleges are banished for their political
opinions where public men are eXlled for quoting,
i'm National Convention, The words OF Jefferson;
where voters are mObbed for vOticg tor freedom;
and where booksellers are driven from the country
for selling a copy of a standard work Of genius
The Senator from South Carolina, with charm.
ing simplicity which reminds us OF some secluded
plantation far from the haunts of men, where unas-
piring boudmen dwell, and where the cotton blooms,
with the frankness worthy of cOmmendaiOn, unfolds
TO the world the social ideas and political problems
of that school of which he is an accepted teacher.
He tells Ills that the poor the men who live BY daily
labOr-our operatives ar We call them-are
slayes-white slaves. These statements derive their
Importance from the fact the well-known fact that
South Carolina has impressed her ideas and imposed
her policy upon the rest of the South upon the Ad-
minstratOn, and upon the Lecompton Democracy
The Senator utters her sentiments, the sentiments
che las imposed upon the Democracy which she now
leads These sentiments 90 unrebuked IN these halls
by the supporters of this Administration. No
Democratic Senator has Yet questioned these
assumptions or dissented from these views.
To listen to the Senator from South Carolina we
should suppose that the white men of the South
were all men Of wealth and culture and refinement
that they were all lords and masters-thst labor
was all performed by the bondmen-that all the
white men were leaders of progress. civilization
and refinement We should imagine that the South
was the seat of peace, the abode of commerce
manufactures and the mechanic arts-of literature