Arkansas true Democrat., 1858-03-30
A Great Speech bv a ere,. Nn,,

A Great Speech by a Great Man.
 A new star has burst upon the political hori
 zon' says the Memphis Avalanche, shedding
 orlShs and fadeless effulgence upon the nation
 olnce the death of Clay. Calhoun and Webster
 we have often heard the question asked. "Wb,
 VIII take their places?" Of their cotempora
 rIes, MT Buchanan and Gen. Cass are the onl,
 remaining distinguished representatives; bu
 thelr councils have been transferred to differ
 ent theatre, and the councils of the nation have
 needed statesmen who could roll back the tide of fanaticiSm and still the troubled waters. The south has at last found an arm on which sbe can lean-a statesman that can grapple with the great question of the day. We alude to ex. uovernor Hammond of South Carolina. The mantle of the ilustrious Calhoun has fallen m. on one every way worthy. The recent speech ot Governor Hammond in the Senate of the United States, is said to be the most brilliant and powerful effort made during the present sesslon. It represented as equal to the efforts of Clay, Webster or Calhoun. The whole Se. nate was entranced and the breathless interest manifested reminded the vast assemblage of the days when giants wrestled in an intellectual combat and shed fadeless lustre mon tbo Senate. To fire voice. musical and fuIl of compass, Governor Hammond is represented as possessing manner at once graceful and faci- nating lis speech is a calm, dgnifed, power- tul reVlew of the entire question, interspersed with flashes of burning and patriotic eloouence Wepubllsh below synopsis of this great speech "oV' Hammond has remained in secluson for many long years, but it will be seen that he has thought much, as he dwells upon the mo- mentous issue, with all the splendor of hi, stored imagination. His words are as anples of cold in pltchers or sliver-wordS burthened with truth and prophecy. Reader read the folowino sketch of his speech, and rejoice with us that the south has the brightest intellect and the most lofty statesman in the councils of the nation.
 From the Washington Union, March 4. speech of MT. Hammond, of South Caro-
 lima.
 In the Senate, and in the presence of denso auditory thronging the galleries, Mir. Hammond of South Carolina, delivered an eloquent sneecb on Kansas and the future destiny of the soutb whether m the Union or out of the Unionn
 He commenced by adverting to remark of Mr. Douglas, who said that. his one paramount objection to the Lecompton constitution was found in the fact that it did not embodv the popular will of Kansas. How, said Mir. il is this will to be ascertained? This seemed the cardinal question upon which the whole contro- versy turns, and formed the real point of differ ence between that Senator and himself Tn his judgment it was erroneous to say that the consti tutional convention of Kansas was creature of the territorial legislature, which, being a mere mUnicipal corporation authorized by Congress had not particle Of sovereignty to imlmrt.- The sovereignty of Kansas resided, if anywhere with the sovereign States of the Union. and could not be delegated by Congress to a territo. rial legislature, becauseit was not competent for Congress to grant sovereignty which it did not possess. Neither Congress nor any power on earth was entitled to inquire whether the Le compton constitution represented the will of the people of Kansas. In the case of territory like Kansas. in the process of population by daily emigration, it might indeed be true that lhe pending instrument did not represent the wishes of the present majority in that territory; but for this it did not deserve rejection at the hands of Congress. The constitution reflected the views of those who had framed it, and if these were not majority it nevertheless did not implir their work; and in view of the political security designed to be guaranteed by written consttu- tons, being made for the minority, should also be made by the minority.
 The cry of ''pQpalar sovereignty' had been raised in the pending discussion. There is, said Mr. H., pop,1lar sovereignty; but it also has counterfeit which might be called pQpulace sov- ereigntv Our revolutionary fathers had illus trated the former based as it was upon two great fundamental princp ples-representa and the ballot-box By the one they provided for the details If their civil administration, and by the other they retained the means of always asserting and vindicating their sovereignty Ex- pressed through the ballot box the voice of the people became indeed for political ends, the voice of God; but without these forms and re- straints 1t was rather the voice of a demon.
 The history of Kansas had illustrated the work of pop,t1ace sovereignty. With its disgust ing details he was nfamiliar-purposelys so be- cause of the disgust inspired by perusal of in teligence from that quarter. He had heard much from republican Senators of gigantic and stupendous frauds,' all laid at the door of the pro-slavery party, as though, fOrsooth, the free eState emissarics. gathered from the purlieus of northern cities, were incapable of committing fraud or violence.
 He though it not unlikely that the free-Sae men composed majority of the people of Kan sas; hut their refusal to assert that majority through the ballot-bOX sul1iced to indicate that they desired to keep open a perennial contro- versy in that territory, and he did not doubt that the republican party secretly desired the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton con- believing, as they do that it will re- suit in the disruption and overthrow of the de- mocratc party. It was sought to foment and preserve the antl-slavery agitation for political purposes
 With him the slavery question was no abstrac- tion and he should therefore proceed to discuss it as practical thng--as a thing that is a,a must be. MT. Seward had announced that the battle against the south was fought and won.-- What may have seemed at first and to some an unguarded utterance of that Senator, had since been repeated and confirmed in an elaborate ar gument before the Senate. It was assumed that the south must henceforth consent to be treated as a conquered province. The Senator had announced that the north would take the government in its hands, would construct the supreme court and control the whole foreign and domestic policy of the country He was thankful for the statement, as it concurred with his own convictions of what was impending.
 In that event what guarantees had the south that it would not be plundered by protective tariffs bounties on fish, banking acts or even that their slaves would not be emancipated?-- The people of the south would have only the faith of the north upon which to rely, and that had always been broken. In view of this contin- gency he therefore wished to bring the two sec tions face to face for the purpose of attaining a final and conclusive settlement of the slavery question, now and forever, or of measuring the respective resources and capability of the two in the event of a separation.
 The South possessed eight hundred and fifty