The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-08-12

| the shareholders OF the South, nave put
into the charity box for your magnificent
fnanciers, your G cotton lords" your
merchant princes"
But, sir, the greatest strength of the
South arises from the harmony of her
political and social institutions. This
harmony gives her frame of society
the best in the world, and an extent of
political freedom, combined with entire
security, such as no other people ever
enjoyed upon the face of the earth. So
ciety precedes Government creates it,
and ought to control it; but as far as
we can look back in historic times, we
find the case different; for Government
is no sooner created, than it becomes
too strong for society, and shapes and
moulds as well as controls it. In later
centuries, the progress of civilization
and of intelligence has made the diver
gence SO great as to produce civil wars
and revolutions and it is nothing now
but the want of harmony between Gov
ernments and Societies which occasions
all the uneasiness and trouble and terror
that we see abroad. 1t was this that
brought on the American Revolution.
| We threw off Government not adapted
to our social system, and made one for
ourselves. The question is, how far
have we succeeded? The South, so far
as that is concerned, is satisfied, harmo-
NOUS, and prosperous.
In all social systems, there must be
class to do the mental duties, to per-
form the drudgery of life-that is, a
class requiring but low order of intel
lect and but little skill. Its requisites
are vigor, dociity, fidelity. Such a
class you must have, or you would not
have that other class which leads pro-
gress, civilization, and refinement. 1t
constitutes the very mud-sill of society
and of political government and you
might as well attempt to build house
in the air, as to build either the one or
the other, except on this mud-sill. For
tunately for the South, she found race
adapted to that purpose to her hand
race inferior to her own, but emil
nently qualified, in temper, in vigor, in
dociity, in capacity, to stand the eli
mate, to answer all her purposes. We
use them for our purpose, and call them
slaves. We found them slaves by the
common consent of mankind" which,
according to Cicero, {" lea nature est p
the highest proof of what is Natures
law. We are ld-fashioned at the South
yet; it is a word discarded now by
sears polite;' y will not characterize
that class at the North with that term !;
but you have it; it is there; it is every
where; it is eternal. F..
The Senator from New York said yes
terday that the whole world had abolished
Slavery. Aye, the name, but not the
thing; all the powers of the earth can
not abolish that. God only can do it.,
when he repeats the fiat, C the poor We
always have with you;" for the man
who lives by daily labor, and scarcely
lives at that, and who has to put out
his labor in the market, and take the
best he can get for it; in short, your
whole hireling class of manual laborers,
and operatives" as you call them, are
essentially slaves The difference be-
tween us is, that our slaves are hired
for life, and well compensated; there is
no starvation, no begging, no want Of
employment, among our people; and not
too much employment, either. Yours
are hired by the day, not cared for, and
scantily compensated, which may be
proved in the most painful manner, at
any hour, in any street in any of your
large towns. Why, you meet more
beggars in one day, in any single street
of the city of New York, than you would
meet in a lifetime in the whole South.
We do not think that whites should be
slaves, either by law or necessity. Our
slaves are black, of another and inferior
race. The status in which we have
placed them is an elevation. They are
elevated from the condition in which
God first created them, by being made
our slaves. None of that race on the
whole face of the globe can be compared
with the slaves of the South. They are
happy, content, unaspiring, and utterly
incapable, from intellectual weakness,
ever to give us any trouble by their as
dirations. Yours are white, of your
own race; you are brothers Of one blood.
They are your equals in natural endow-
ment of intellect, and they feel CALLED
by their degradation. Our slaves do not
vote. We give them no political power.
Yours do vote, and, being the majority,
they are the depositaries of all your po-
litical power. If they knew the tire
mendous secret, that the ballot-bo is
stronger than an army with banners"
and could combine, where would you
be? Your society would be recon
structed, your Government overthrow,
your property divided, not as they have
mistakenly attempted to initiate such
proceedings by meetings in parks, with
arms in their hands, but by the quiet
process of the ballot-box. You have
been making war upon us to our very
hearthstones. How would you like for
us to send lecturers and agitators North,
to teach these people this, to aid in com
bining, and to lead them?
Mr.. WILSON and others. Send them
along.
Mr.. HAMMOND. You say send them
along. There is no need of that. Your
people are awaking. They are coming
here. They are laundering at our doors
for homesteads, one hundred and sixty
acres of land for nothing, and Southern
Senators are supporting them. Nay,
they are assembling, as | have said,
nth ormc IN thair hoDdO oDd douopd