The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-01-25

men, have we Of bs;ng able to elect Presi-
dent or keep the control Of the Executive
branch of the Government?
Well, sir, there Is one other branch of the
dovernment-the judiciary. Not long since,
Seward, the great apostle of the Black Repub-
lean party, il am not mistaken, rose in his
| Jlace in the Senate, and said, in substance,
while we were rejoicing over the decision in
| he bred Scott case, Gentlemen, go on re-
| ioicing; YOU will have a short life of it. The
| lime IS not far distant when that court will
| 1e entirely changed" And we know it to be
true. The Judges of the Supreme Court are,
or the most part, aged, and their places must
soon become vacant These places must be
| Tiled by Executive appointment, and those
,nnointnents confirmed by the Senate. The
President being a Black Republican, will Sc
lect Black Republican nominees, and the Sem
ate will obey his behests. Thus, there is moth
ing to prevent their changing the character of
| the Supreme Court in the course Of the next
| few years.
/ Ali this we foresee. If you suppose we
IRE blind to your purposes, that we are not
| looking TO the future, and calculating the
chances of keeping the Union together under
the Constitution, and defending our own Pc
culiar institutions, you are most egregiously
| mistaken. The people of the South are fully
awake to all these facts, and are preparing to
meet them. With the masses Of the people
against us at the North, and with the whole
| Government against us in all its forms, what
future is there for slavery in this Union?-
What have we to look forward to as slave
| owners? We arc to have no expansion-no
legislation for the protection Of slavery in the
Territories. The fugitive slave law is to be
repealed or set at naught. Slavery in the
District of Columbia; in the dock-yards, the
arsenals, and all public places, is to be abol-
| ished.
Task, again, what will be the future of the
southern stakeholder? Ifslavery be confined
to its present limits, the institution will nee
essarily be oyerthrown. 1t is only ques-
ton Of time. We have now four million slaves
! in the fifteen Southern States That popua-
ton, doubling Itself, according to the census
returns, every twenty-five years, by natural
ncrease-to say nothing OF African importa-
tions-we will in fifty years from now have
| sixteen millions. What else is true? 1t is a
| fact known to ALL that in the border counties
| of Maryland Virginia, Kentucky, and Mis-
souri, slavery IS almost nominal thing Men
cannot afford to own slaves when, by crossing
an imaginary line, they fall into the hands Of
our enemies and their friends who aid them
in their flight Hence you find slave owners
in those counties selling of their slaves and
crowding them down into the States on the
Atlantic coast and Gulf OF Mexico. This op-
Grafton is going on daily, as every man knows.
Confine US within our present limits, and it
will not be long before tho institution will
sink of its own weight. We ought not to
wait for that time Do you think, gentlemen,
that we will remain quiet while this is being
done? Do you think that we will ever con-
sent to have our four million negroes placed
on a footing of equality with ourselves, our
wives and children? Ifyou do / tell you
that you reckon without your host. The
South will never submit to that state oftAings
1t matters not what evils come upon us it
matters not how deep we may have to wade
through blood; we are bound to keep our
slaves in their present position. And let me
ask you, what good would you bring to the
slaves by this process Of abolition? You may
possibly have the object in view of beneftiDg
the slave, or benefiting the white race, or both;
but suppose you could carry out your plans
and contne US to our present area; and sup
pose that the institution of slavery should
abolish itself, what would you have done?
You know it is impossible for us TO live on
terms of equality with them. 1t is not to be
The result would be war between the races,
which would perhaps involve the utter ami
hiIation of one or the other; and thus you see
that; instead of benefting either, you would
have brought disaster upon both.
But I tell you here, to-day, that the insti-
tuition of slavery must be sustained. The
South has made up its mind to keep the black
race in bondage. live are not permitted TO
do this inside of the Union, l tell you that it
viii be done outside Of it. Yes, sir; and we
will expand this institution; we do not intend
10 be confined to our present limits and there
are not men enough in all your borders to CO.
cree three million armed men in the South,
and prevent their going into the surrounding
territories. Well, sir, you ask me if we can
preserve this institution out of the Union?
That question is very frequently asked. do
not know what the result will be. | believe
that, although fanaticism is rampant at the
North; there is still good sense enough among
the people to hold abolitioniSm in check, and
prevent it from making personal war upon US
| whenever we make up our minds to secede
peaceably from this Confederacy.
The gentleman from Pennsylvania Mr.
Hiekman1 said the other day that they would
coerce US. would like to know if he will
head the force that comes down for that pur-
pose? lie will remember that Mississippi
acquired some character in the war with Mex
leo. lie will recollect that we had regiment
of riAemen there, headed by Jefferson Davis,
who still lives to lead, it may be, southern
army in defense Of her rights would remind
him, also, that there was Palmetto regiment
from South Carolina that did some good ser
vice in the Mexican war. Other Southern
States were represented there, and gained an
immortality of renown. Ifhe will but cast
bis eye back upon these things, and then re-
collect that everything we have, and every
thing that we hold dear and sacred on earth,
will be staked upon the issue, he must see at
once that any attempt upon the part of the
North to coerce us must result in bloodShed
Il might say knee-deep-upon our borders.
No, the North will never attempt to coerce
US. Whenever the South makes up her mind
to remain no longer in this confederation of
States, we will say to you, awe want no
blood shed; we have nothing agair st you, if you
will let us alone; we will shake hands with
you, and walk out of this Confederacy bidding |
you Gods blessing, and wishing that you may
prosper we will leave you in peace, and in |
tend to make no war upon you" But if you |
undertake to make war upon us, first look |
well to the consequences. | believe there is
still sufficient conservative feeling left in the
North to prevent this state Of things. Not only |
that, but believe there arc men upon this |
floor, from the North. over whose dead bodies |
you viii be compelled to walk before you /
ever reach the South. But you will not at |
tack US. You will not send down an army,
and expend millions Of dollars, for the purpose
of reducing us to condition worse than that
of our slaves. You will never undertake to
force us back into the Union, and compel us to
live in it, when you have forced Us out of it
by your intolerable conduct towards u.s. NY |
word for it, no such thing will be done. And
not only that, but we shall be able to take care
Of our slaves. You do not want them. Al
though your people would force them from us,
when we travel among you although they
seduce them from us at home, and give aid
md comfort to them when they escape, you
10 not want them in your States; they are /
lot fit elementfor society. It may be asked B
what evidence have of that fact? There is
carcely northwestern State that has not ,
aw upon its statute-book preventing the in
yress of free negroes into its borders Why,
'ir, l am told that in the very town where the I
Republican candidate for the SpeakerShip re- 1
'des, the town council, short timc since, |
passed an ordinance excluding negroes from |
he place, and they were absolutely stoned
tut Of the town. There is a gentleman now 5
n the House who informed me of the fact. /
md who was present When this occurred, or q
DON AFTER r
Do you want free colored population in '
,our midst? You would not feed and clothe h
hem as we do. have Travelled through | b
our section of the country, and, so far as my r
ecoilection goes, j have never seen a negro I
ngaged in agricultural pursuits within the