The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-01-27

out Of as q man who happens to own slave in
Georgia has to insist On taking it into, the Ter
ritory? Has not the citizen of Georgia, who
owns no slaves, and who emigrates to a free
Territory, as good a right to insist that Slavery
shall not come there as the citizen who owns a
slave in Georgia has to take him there2 The
interests Of free white laboring men, North and
South, are affected by the existence of Slavery
in their midst; and after all, Slavery is partici
pated in but by a very small proportion of the
population of the United States.
There were, according to the census of 1850,
about twenty million free white people in the
United States. Thirteen million and more of
those people resided in the free States of the
North about six million white people resided in
the slaveholding States; and of those six million
white people, only about three hundred and fifty
thousand, something like one in twenty, of the
free white population of the South, owned ne
gres and yet our legislation here is to be con-
trolled and shaped for the benefit of these three
hundred and fifty thousand shareholders, or the
Union is to be dissolved. Sir, have the more
than five and a half million white people in the
South, and more than thirteen million white
people in the North no rights to be respected
Is Slavery to be forced upon them by the action
of the Federal Government or the Union be dis
solved2 Do we deny just rights to the South,
when we allow the man who owns slaves, and
the man who owns no slaves, the same rights
and the same privileges in going to our public
Territories
But the Senator from Georgia told us, that un-
less he could have a law that would protect
these three hundred and fifty thousand slave
holders in the holding of slaves in Kansas, he
was prepared to dissolve the Union. This is his
language
{" am free to declare here, that if / had the
control of the Southern people, would demand
this of Congress at the organization of every
Territorial Government as the terms upon which
the South should remain in the Union. would
hold out right in one hand, and separation
in the other, and leave the North to choose be-
tween them"
Who is going to do this Three hundred and
fifty thousand slaveholders2 Surely, the five and
a half million free white people in the South are
not going to hold out their hands in this way,
when they do not own a negro, and say, 4" if you
do not allow to go with our negroes into the
free Territories, we will dissolve the Union
They are not going to do it. Well, who is going
to do it Three hundred and fifty Thousand out
of twenty million people. Why, sir, ] think if
we legislate for the benefit and protection of the
nineteen twenteths of the people of the South,
the Senator has no right to complain that our
legislation is shaped against the policy the South
wants. But he is right, in some respects, in at
taching this Importance to the slave power of the
South. 1t is important, and although it is but
one in twenty of the white population of the
South | know it controls the legislation of the
South. The large planter, with his numerous
slaves around him, controls the labor of the
country, and mOnopolizes the land of the coun-
try and the white people Of the South owning
no slaves ale in measure his dependents.
The labor which would otherwise be performed
by the free hands of free men is there performed
by slaves; and that labor which every man should
be entitled to as his right, the capital on which
he is to live, is taken out of his hands, and given
to this servile race. Exercising that control over
the political Institutions of the South, and over
all the interests of the South, this power comes
here to Washington, and, am sorry to say, ex-
ercises control over this General Government.
Not only the FIVE and half million free white
people of the Southern States are controlled by
it, but the thirteen million people in the Northern
States, where no slaves exist, made subject to
it; and gravey told if this great population
shall attain control of the Government if they
shall elect President and obtain control of Con-
gress and the various departments of the Gov
eminent, then the Union is to be dissolved, and
for the benefit of three hundred and fifty thou
sand saveholdersl / suppose the Senator from
Georgia will hardly contend that the five and
half million people who own no slaves in the
South are benefited by Slavery.
In making this comparison, fairness would re-
quire me to say, and wish to speak with entire
candor, that although the number of slavehold-
ers is but three hundred and fifty thousand, yet
more persons probably interested in Slavery
than that because the slaves are generally
owned by the heads of families; and supposng
a family to consist of FIVE white persons which
suppose is fair estimate there would be five
times three hundred and fifty thousand, or some
one and three-quarters millions of the white
population of the South that might be directly
indirectly interested in Slavery. The only
interest the others could have would be to get
rid of it, and to elevate labor in that country to
a standard where it would be honorable for free
white men to perform it.
The Senator, in speaking further of the public
sentiment of the South, remarked:
al venture the opinion, that in my own State
so well convinced the great mass of the
people of all parties that the Anti Slavery agi-
tation is not to cease until the institution is
destroyed, if the question was now Rut,whether
the Southern States in body should separate
and form a Southern Confederacy, a majority
would vote for the proposition"
Well, sir, / can only regret that such is the
public sentiment of Georgia, but hope and trust
the Senator is mistaken and if such public
sentiment does exist there, apprehend it exists
upon false basis 1t has been brought about
by misunderstanding of the public sentiment
OF the North and will be corrected the moment |
the Republican party is in power and has an |
opportunity practically illustrate its principles
Sir, it is by the Misrepresentation of it's views
that this prejudice has been engendered against |
it in the Southern States The election of a |
President of the Republican party to dissolve this
Union Why, sir, what is the Union worth, what t
sort of a Union is it that we have, if, when a |
majority of the people of this country in con- |
sututlonal form, elect one of their number Presi-
dent of the United States that is to break up the
government Does the South remain in this |
Union only to control it? Has she no principle, |
further than the principle of obtaining the spoils
OF Office and the power and the patronage of the |
Government? Is she attached to it by no other |
ties than these2 Has she no love for this Union, |
under which the people in all parts of the coun-
try have prospered to such an unexampled de- |
gree since its formation Does she take no |
pride in this country, in its advancement in its |
greatness, in its power, and only remain a part /
of it merely to enjoy the spoils of Officer Sir, it
will be time enough for the South to talk about I
the Union, and forming a Southern
Confederacy, when the North or the Republican
party of the North makes any aggressions upon
its rights; and if it waits for that day, it will
wait eternally. No such aggression is meant
none is intended. The people of the North I'M
like the citizens of Georgia, are Union loving
people they will stand by the Union and stand |
by the Constitution; and ALI they ask is, that
they be not perverted and undermined by party
which is only willing to support them so long as
it can control.
Such party has no existence in the North |
We are submitting now to an administration of /
this Government which we believe to be very |
unjust and very wrong. We have submitted to /
many acts which we believed to be unconstitu- |
tonal, acts of usurpation, on the part of the |
Executive officers of the Federal Government |
We have seen the partial manner in which the |
laws OF the Unltod States executed. We |
have noticed, within few days, the fact that |