Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1858-11-10

might have avoided that specific occasion ant
August vote, by swallowing the land ordinance
and all, and asking no security for the remand.
er of the public lands; but still Kansas could
have refused to organize as State, and no pow
er under our constitution could have interfered
1t is all words and nothing more. Congress
was charged with bribing Kansas to become 6
slave State. But the bribe was by the confer.
ence bill four millions of acres of land, instead
of twenty-three millions. If We had given her
the whole twenty-three millions for her useless
slavery clause, there might have been some
ground f0r the charge. Yet it would have been
Of no avail, for Kansas could, under no bribe OF
coercion known to our government, have been
compelled to accept the constitution orordinance
or become State against her will at any period
whatever. will not presume that any one is
less proficient in constitutional lore, or is less
conversant with the history of congressional
proceedings in the admission of new States
than myself. But will say that I am incapa.
BILE of comprehendng them at all, if in this
conference bill there was any compromise" oi
southern principles or interests; any concession
whatever by the South; any departure from
the strictest construction of the constitution
or any material deviation from the usual prac.
tice Of the government.
The people of Kansas have, by an overwhelm-
ing majority, rejected the land ordinance as
modified by Congress, and refused to come into
the Union on such terms. cit so. 1t is what
I expected-what I rather desired. 1t sorts
precisely with what felt when saw Kansas
thrust herself into Congress and demand-reek.
ing with blood and fraud-to be enrolled among
the States. Let her stay out. I am opposed to
her coming in before she has the requisite pop
ulation: not because she will be q free State,
but because fully approved Of the prohibitory
clause of the conference bill. and for that reason
voted against the admission of Oregon. Unless
in exceptional cases, such as that Of Kansas was
last winter, do not Think that State should
be admitted with less population than would
entitle her to member OF the House. It Ia
not Just to the other States, and is not conso-
nant with the theory Of our government.
But will not detain you longer with what
belongs to the past. The present aid the tll-
ture are what CONCERNS US most. You desire 10
know my opinion of the course the South should
pursue under existing circumstances. | will
give You frankly and fully tue results of my OBJ
seryation and reflection on this ul-important
point. The first question is, do the people of
the South consider the present union Of these
States as an evil in ITSELF and thing that it is
desirable we should get rid Of under all circum-
stances2 There are some, know, who do.
But am satisfied that an overwhelming major
ity of the South would, if assured that this gov
ernment was hereafter to be conducted on the
true principles and construction of the constitu-
,tion, decidedly prefer to remainin the Union,
Istlerst thansilGur the nnknown costs apd haz.
ards of setting up separate government. l.
think state what is true when l say that, after
all the bitterness that has characterized our
long warfare, the great body of the southern
people do not seek disuniun, and will not seek
it as primary object, however promptly they
may accept it as an alternative, rather than
submit to unconstitutional abridgments Of their
rights. confess that, for many years Of my
life, believed that our only safety was the dis
solution Of the Union, and openly avowed it..
| should entertain and without hesitation ex-
press the same sentiments now, but that the
victories we have achieved and those that
think VIC are about to achieve, have inspired
me with the hope, I may say the belief, that
We can fully sustai in ourselves in the Union and
eontrQl its action in all great affairs. II may
be we'll asked hoy cap entertain such views
and expectations Yhen within these few years
the South has lost her equality n th. Senate
and the free States have at length decided
majority in both Houses of Congress, while
this unfortunate Kansas contest has swept into
their political graves so many Of our ancient
friends in those States, that it may be doubted
whether they have at this moment, after the
recent elections-the finale of tle disastrous
Kansas abortipn-a majority in any single one
re fbara fn ha OF M
prospect of our extending the area Of slavery
in any quarter.
These facts arc true and if you will bear with
me, will place them all in the strongest light l
can before you-for it is of the utmost impor.
tance that we should at least see clearly how we
stand, and what are our resources, In order to
form an idea of what we can do, and how avoid
wasting our strength on what cannot be accom-.
plished. The equality of the free and slaye
States has long been lost in the House; by the
admission of California it was lost in the Senate:
Since then another free State has been admitted,
and another yet has passed the Senate, and in
few years more we shall have Kansas, Nebraska,
Washington, New Mexico, and perhaps others on
our roll. The immigration from Europe to the
North is sufficient to form one or more new States
every year, 10 the South there is literally no
emigration. We have, since the closing Of the
slave trade, added to our population mainly by
the natural increase Of our people, and we haye
no surplus population, white or black, to colon
ize new States. We lost Kansas partly by our
inability to colonize it, and we are perhaps yet to
'have struggle for a portion of Texas The
idea, then, Of recovering the equality Of the two
sections, even in the Senate, seems remote in.
deed. We have it proposed to reopen the Afri.
can slave trade, and bring in hordes of slaves
from that prolific region to restore the balance.
once entertained that idea myself, but on turth.
or investigation abandoned it. will not now
90 into the discussion Of it, further than to soy
that the South is itself divided OH that policy,
and, from appearances, opposed to it by vast
majority, while The North is unanimously against
it. 1t would be impossible to get Congress to
reopen the trade. If could be done, then it
would be unnecessary, for that result could only
be brought about by such an entire abandon
ment by the North and the world of all opposi-
ton to our slave system, that we might safely
cease TO erect any defences for it. But if we
could introduce slaves, where could we lind sui
tal,e territory for new slave States? The In.
dian RasprYe, west of Arkansas, might make
one. But we have soemnly guaranteed that to
the remnants of the red race. Everywhere else,
I believe, the borders of oqr STATES have REACHED
the great desert which separates the Atlantic
from the Pacific States of this confederacy: No
where is African slavery likely to flourish l the
little oasis of that Sahara of America. 1t is
much more likely think to get the Pacific slope,
and to the north in the great valley, than any
where else outside of its present limits. Shall
we, as some suggest, take Mexico and Central
America to make slave States African slavery
appears to have failed there. Perhaps, and most
~, - xr;1l noyor cunpaad in thosp re0inuu