The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-04-18

1 for promotion in the Navy as one of the finest
families in Virginia. He would have judges
who believe in higher law, and an anti-sla-
| very constitution, an anti-slavery P:hle, and
an anti-slavery God'
The Legislature Of Massachusetts, = carr
ing this doctrine into practical effect. Negro
children are admitted with white children in
| to their public schools; negroes are allowed
the elective franchise to testify in courts Of
Justice, and to act as arhiters upon the pro-
perty and the lives Of white men and by the
laws of that State, revolving as it may appear,
the two races are allowed to intermarry.
Mr. Giddings said:
81 would not be understood as desiring a
seryile instruction but l say to southern
gentlemen that there are hundreds ofthousands
of honest and patriotic men who will laugh at
your calamity, and mock when your fear
cometh.' If blood and massacre should mark
the struggle for the liberty of those who for
ages have been oppressed and degraded, my
PRAYER to the God of Heaven shall be that
justice, stern, unyielding justice, may be awar-
ded to both master and slave. / desire that
every human being may enjoy the rights with
which the God of nature has endowed him.
If those rights can be regained by the down
trodden sons of Africa in our southern States
by quiet and peaceful means, hope they will
pursue such peace measures. But, if they
cannot regain these God given rights by peace
| full measures, !, nevertheless, hope they will
regain them and if blood be shed, l should
certainly hope that it might be the blood of
those who stand between them and their free
DOM and not the blood of those who have
long been robbed Of their wives and children,
and, all they hold dear in life.
Thus have shown that the boldest of the
Opposition leaders do not undertake to disguise
the fact that their ultimate design is to over
throw slavery in the States where it exists,
and that that must be the inevitable result of
the doctrines they inculcate
Mr. Corwin, Tin his seat) No. sir.
Mr.. Barksdale. l give the gentleman from
Ohio credit for his denial; you, perhaps, would
not do It, but you inhame the minds of the
Northern people you have taught them that
slavery is q sin; you have aroused this
storm, and if you would, you cannot control
it. In the course Of few years you must
pass away, and others will take your place,
more determined than you, who, disregarding
all constitutional obligations, will strike at
slavery IN the States where it exists, and COM
mence the 'irrepressibe conflict" between the
North and South. When the anti-slayery
party in England commenced agitating the
policy of prohibiting the African slave trade,
they indignantly denied that their Interior de-
sign was to abolish slavery in the British col
onies. The great powers of Europe united in
destroying this trade, and the very next step
in the programme was the emancipation of the
slaves in all the British colonies.
~ l. IL
of the gentleman to the Journals ofthe Thirty
Fourth Congress; in reference to the appoint
ment Of the committees of that Congress.
Mr.. Barksdale. | have passed from that
point long since.
Mr. Gooch. l call his attention to it now,
as am about to leave the hall, and might not
have another opportunity. l understood the
gentleman, to say that there was but one gen.
tleman from the South appointed as chairman
of committee, and that was General Quit
man. l find, upon an examination of the
Journals, that there were six Southern gen.
men appointed to the chairmanshipo of commit
| tees Gilchrist Porter, of Missouri, chairman
| of the Committee of Private Land Claims,
John A. Quitman, Of Mississippi, chairman of
committee on Military Affairs w. II. Sneed,
of Tennessee, chairman of the committee on
/ Aucdg0 DIOOhS, VI C0utA SdIO-
lima, chairman of the committee on Expendi-
lures in the State Department Fayette Nc
Mullin, of Virginia, chairman Of the Commit
tee on Public Buildings and Grounds and
William Aiken, Of South Carolina on the Lii
brary.
Mr.. Barksdale. prefer not to be diverted
from my subject by matter to which l do
not attach any very great importance.
/ II. Ii Al
ton to it now, because not being member Of
the House at the time, did not desire to do
so until l had an. opportunity to consult the
Journals.
Mr. Barksdale. Those committees never
meet. My point was that the commit
| tees were organized so as to give the power Of
the House to the Republican party.
| Mr.. Gooch. desire to say in reference to
this matter
Mr.. Barksdale. The gentleman will par
don me. do not choose to be diverted from
my purpose. l was remarking when inter-
rupted by the gentleman from Massachusetts,,
that the next step in the programme, after the
prohibition of the African slave trade, was the
abolition of slavery in the British colonies
And, sir, when the Republican party shall
succeed in prohibiting slavery in the Terrific
4
it in the States But what effect did the alb
clifton of slavery have upon the British colo
MES / take the island of Jamaica, for in.
stance. When slavery existed in that island,
the sun of heaven never cast his beams upon
a more prosperous people. Now, under the
] false philanthropy of England, it presents one
vast scene of decay and desOlation I read
from the report of New York editor, in
1850:
at is difficult to exaggerate, and yet more
| difficult to define, the poverty and industrial
prostration of Jamaica. The natural wealth
and spontaneous productiveness of the island
are so great that no one can starve, and yet it
seems as if the faculty of accumulation was
suspended. All the productive power of the
soil is running to waste. The finest land in
the world may be had at any price, and al
most for asking. Labor received no compen-
sation; and the product of labor does not
seem to know the way to market. Families
accustomed to every wealth and luxury have
witnessed the declines of their incomes until
now, with undiminished estates, they find
themselves wrestling with poverty for the
commonest necessaries of life. There are.no
public amusements here of any kind; for
amusements are purchased with the surplus
wealth Of the people, and here there is no sur
plus. There was not theatre or museum,
or circus, or any other place of entertain
ment involving expense, open during my stay
on the island. The corporation of Kingston
owns building which has been used as the
atre, and in the suburbs of the city is q plain
once famous as race-course; but of the first,
rats and spiders are the only tenants, and
weeds and underwood have overgrown the
other.-BigeLeso's Jamaica, in 1850, page So.
That was the effect of the emancipation of
slavery in Jamaica and the same result has
followed wherever it has been abolished BY
the British Government
Slavery, in some form, has existed in all
ages of the world, and it is sanctioned by Di-
vine authority. We believe it to be right. It
is interviewer with our whole social Organize
ton, with our very existence as people; and
we are determined, at all hazards to maintain
it And now, what is the aspect of the anti
slavery sentiment in this country. At first, it
was mere speck upon the political horizon
now it oyerspreads the whole political skies
Then the anti-slavery party was small in
numbers and powerless for evil; but it has
continued to swell and increase until it is now
one of the great parties of the country, and
is to-day grasping for the supremacy in the
Government.
Let me read you an extract showing how
rapid and alarming has been its progress:
It first made its appearance in national
politics in the presidential contest of 1910,
when its ticket, with j. G. Birney, of Michi-
gan, its candidate for the Presidency, and
Francis ]. Lemagne, Of Pennsylvania, as its
vice-presidential candidate, polled 1000 votes.
In 1874, with Birney again as its candidate, it
polled 62,140. In 1848 it polled 296,232
votes. In 1852 it polled III. 296, and in 1856
the candidate for the Republican party, John
c. Fremont supported BY the entire Abolition
party, polled ], 341 ,812 votes.
These figures show that one million three
hundred and forty lone thousand eight hum
dred and twelve votes were cast at the last
Presidential election for John G. Fremont, and
that the black banner of Abolitionism fioated
in triumph over eleven northern States. It
has upon this floor one hundred and twelve
members, and twenty -four upon the floor of
the Senate and at each recurring election in
the northern States some true man goes down
before the anti-slayery storm, and we are to-
day almost IN the midst of . revolution and
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