Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1859-12-17

and Southwestern States. in small groups. in
cities, towns, villages. and in larger bodies on
isolated plantations; in the house, the fac
tory, and the field; mingled together with
the dominant race in the pursuits of life,
the latter amounting in the aggregate to
eight or nine millions, If rightly recollect
the numbers Upon this community, thus
composed, it was the design of Brown to let
loose the elI-hounds of n serviie ins1Frec-
tion and to bring struggle which, for
magnitude. atrocify and horror, would have
stood alone in the history of the world
And these eight or nine millions, against
whom this frighiful war was levied, are our
fellow-citizens entitled with US TO the pro-
lection of that compact OF Government,
which recognizes their relation TO the colored
race-a compact which every sworn officer
of the Union or of the States is bound by
his oath to support Among them, Sir, is a
fair proportion of men aud women of educa-
ton and culture-of moral and religious
lives and Observation-Disclosures fathers, moth
ers. sons and daughters, persons who would
adorn any station in society in any country
men who read the same Bible that We do,
and in the name of the same master kneel at
the throne of the same Conforming class
of men from which have gone forth some of
the greatest and purest characters which
adorn our history Washington. Jefferson,
Madison, Monroe, Marshall. These are the
men. the women, for whose bosoms pixies
and rifles are manufactured in New England,
to be placed in the hands of an ignorant
subject race, supposed, most wrongfully. as
recent events have shown, to be waiting only
for an opportunity 10 use themi ae-
Sir. | have on three or four different occa-
sions in early life and more recently, visited
all the Southern and Southwestern States,
with the exception of Arkansas and Ala
bama. l have enjoyed the hospitality of the
I Ill
before crowded and favOring audiences to
hold up the character of the Father of his
Country, and to inculcate the blessings of the
Union, in the same precise terms in which |
have done il here at home, and in the other
portions of the land. | have been admitted
to the confidence of the domes ic circle and
have seen there touching manifestations of
the kindest feelings by which. that circle, in
all its members, high and low master and
servant. can be bound together; and when |
contemplate the horrors that would have en-
sued had the tragedy on which the curtain
rose at Harpers Ferry, been acted out,
through all lis scenes of fire and sword, OF
lust and murder. of rapine and dissolution to
The final catastrophe, L am fill, d with emo
tons to which no words can do justice.
There could OF course be but one result, and
that well deserving the thoughtful MT DIT ,tion
OF those, If any such there be, who think
that The welfare of the coIored race could by
any possibility be promoted by the success
OF such a movement and who are willing TO
purchase that result by so costly a sacrifice.
The cOlored population of St. Domingo
amounted to but little short of half a mil
lion, while the whites amounted to only 3d.
OOO The white population of the Southern
States alone. in the aggregate. outnumbcrs
the colOred race in the ratio of two 10 one;
in the Union ut large at the ratio of seven to
one, and f(which Heaven avert) they should
be brought into conflict, il could end only in
the determination OF the latter after scenes
OF woe for which language is too faint; and
Tor which the liveliest fancy has no adequate
images of horror.
Such being the case, some one may ask.
why does not the South fortify herself against
the possible occurrence of such a catas-
trophc. by doing away with the one great
source from which alone II can spring? This
Is question easily asked, and | am not
aware that il Is our duty at the North to an
swer 1t but it may be observed that great
and radical changes in the framework Of So
cety, involving the relations OF twelve mil
lions Of men, viii not wait on the bidding of
An impatient philanthropy. They can only
be brought about in the lapse of time. by the
steady operation of physical. economical and
moral causes Have those, who rebuke the
81 IL h for the continuance of sla, cry, consi-
dered that neither the present generation nor
the preceding one is responsible for It's ex
istence! The African slave-trade was pro-
hibitcd by Act of Congress, fiity-one years
ago. and many years earlier by the separate
Southern States. The entire colored pOpula-
ton, with tue exception, perhaps, of few
hundreds surreptiiiOusy introduced, is native
to the soil. Their ancestors were conveyed
from Africa in the ships of old England and
New England. They now number between
three and four millions. Has any person. of
any party or opinion, proposed, in sober
earnest, practical method of Wholesale
emancipation? believe most persons in all
parts of the country, are of opinion that free
labor is steadily gaining ground. 1t would,
in my judgment, have already prevailed in
the two northern tiers of the slavehOding
States, had its advances not been unhappily
retarded by the irritating agitations of the
day. But has any person. whose opinion is
entitled to the slightest respect, ever under
taken to sketch out the details of a plan for
cilectIug the change at once, by any lcgisla-
tive measure that could be adopted? Consider
only. pray you, that il would be to ask the
South to give up one thousand millions of
property, which she holds by II title satsfac-
tory to herself. as the first step. Then esti-
mate the cost of an adequate outfit for the
set-suppOrt of the emancpated millions;
then reflect on the arrangement of the entire
industrial system of the South, and all the
branches ofcommerce and manufactures that
depend on its great staples; then the necessity
OF comforting equa! political privileges on
the cmancipat race, who. being free, would
be content with nothing else If anything less
were consistent with our political system;
then the consequent organization of two
great political parties on the basis Of color,
and the eternal feud which would rage be-
tween them; aud finally the overflow into the
free States of vast multitude of needy and
helpless cmigrapts. who. being exclude IRON
many Of them (and among others from Kan
sas) would prove d0uhly burdenseme where
they are admitted. Should nee. Sir. with all
our sympathy for the colored race. give
very cordial reception TO two or three hundred
thousand destitute emancipated slavesY Does
not every candid man see, that every one of
these steps presents difficulties of the most
formidable Observation-Disclosures for which,
as lar as | know, no man and no party hiss
proposed solution. And is it, Sir for the
attainment OF objects so manifesily imprac-
hcable, pursued, too, by the bloody pathways
OF treason aud murder. that we will allow
the stupendous evil which now threatens u,
to come upon the country: Shall we per-
nit this curiously compact body polite,
the nicrst adjustment OF human wisdom, 10
go To pieces! Will We blast this beautiful
symmetric form; paralyze this powerful arm
of public strengths: smite with mbeclity this
great national intellect! Where, Sir q where
will BE- The flag Of the United States! Where
our rapidly increasing influence in the family
OF nations Already they are rejoicing in
our divisions. The last foreign journal which
lbave read, in commenting upon the event
at Harper's Ferry, dwells upon il some
thing that will compel as TO keep the peace
with the powers OF Europe" aud that means
to take the law from them 10 oar Information
al relations. .e-t
| meant to have spoken of the wreck OF
that magnificent aud mutually beneficial COM
meTcial intercourse which now exists be-
tween the producing and manufacturing
States--on the hostile tariffs in the time OF
peace and The hAbitually recurring border