The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-04-11


its prosaic vulgarities, domesticated and dis
ciplined, has been by that same wave borne NJ
higher and higher, until now it furnishes in
spiration for northern song, heroes and hero
ines for northern romances, and is invited by
! northern statesmen into their charmed circle
of political and social equality. Not Just yet
gentlemen, if you please. HE'S not your equal
and history proves that even when he has
reached this point of CIVILIZATION, if you take
from under him the institution which has
borne him up to it. he relapses into his pris-
tine barbarism. ! intended to show this by
detailed references to the French islands, the
English Antilles, and other countries in which
slavery has been abolished. l could have
shown that in Hayti, where the negro was
left with all the endowments Of q civilization
which We'd that of Rome in gorgeous magni-
fcence, you see now nothing but poverty, vice
Incidence, and all the other signs of rapidly
approaching barbarism. / intended to show
from anti-slayery authority that the British
Antilles, have disappointed every promise and
frustrated every hope that accompanied the
act of emancipation. | intended to show the
condition of the free colored population in
Peri, as exhibited by most intelligent Ger
man traveller, Won Tschudi, whose work was
published among the "Choice Reading of the
anti-slavery publishing house of Wiley & Put
nam, in New York.
| need not refer to Liberia The gentleman
formerly from Missouri, Mr.. Blair, has demon
strated on this floor that Liberia is failure,
and Africa still the ''house of bondage" The
distinguished gentleman from Ohio Mr.. Cor.
win, has expressed some doubt about that
matter, but he can certainly point to no sign
ofan advance beyond the original moral status OF
the colony and, sir, lift does not show signs
of decay and dissolution, it is because the en-
igration Of our freed negroes pours constantly
into the shrunken veins of its sickly civiliza-
ton fresh tides of moral and mental life.
| need not refer to the condition of the free ne
gro r .;: ,rth ts Ststeshess & s.T' that
| the census returns show that his moral and
physical condition is superior in the South to
/ what is it at the North. And if freedom to the
| individual be such boon and blessing to the
| African, southern slavery has done more in
| this respect for the race than northern aboli-
tionism. There have been one hundred thou
sand more emancipated by the southern States
than have been emancipated by the northern
States and there are forty thousand free ne
groes living in the South now more than are
resident in the northern States.
II, then, we show that the condition of the
negro at the South is superior to his condition
in any other country, and that the abolition
of slavery has always been followed by imme-
date retroression, ask of what has humani-
ty to complain against the institution?
Sir, another argument that has been ad-
vanced by northern gentlemen, and by the
leader of their party is, that the interests of
the white race require the exclusion of this
institution from new territory; that it should
be dedicated to free soil, and to the freemen of
the North. Now, want to say, in passing,
that that puts out of view every consideration
of humanity which these gentlemen have made
the instrument of the fanaticism that has hith-
erto been waged against US. But l will pass
on. How do the interests of the white race
require the restriction of slavery? They say
that free laboris dishonored by its contact with
slave labor. How? The twosystems cock
list under our Republic Look at labor as it
exists at the North-the' mighty North-the
seat of coml zee, manufactures, mechanic
arts, accumulated wealth, and common schools
Look at the-mighty population that fills that
vast territory with the hum of its free indus
try. The toiling millions that constitute the
sub-stratum on which this splendid fabric of
free society rears its aspiring head Are they
not all freemen Is not each one of them the
equal of the proudest and richest in the land
tenacious of his rights and proud of his posi-
ton? What, tho he is often compelled to toll in
midday while the very earth is melting with
feryent heat, and while the negro slave is res
ting from his work, still his labor is dignifed
and honorable, because it is free and although
commerce may anguish, and manufactures
60 into decay, and the wages of labor fall, and
the price of provisions increase, yet he can
hush the mutterings of discomfort and still the
cravings of hunger by the one proud, glori-
Gus thought-tbe dignity of labor. Now, how
is this labor contaminated by the existence of
southern slave labor Sir, our negroes are
working under, and for your free laborers at
the North. They furnish them with the raw
material on which this free labor exercises its
skill and industry; the raw material which
is the very basis Of your commerce and manu-
featuring enterprise.
But you say it becomes dishonored by COM
ing IN contact with slave labor in the common
South and IS labor dish0nofsd there ! w6y.
according to the estimate Of these gentlemen,
there are only three hundred and twenty
thousand shareholders in the South all the
balance are non-slaveholding laborers. Mark
that. Now, gentlemen, universal suffrage !
exists in the South. Each one of these three |
hundred and twenty thousand shareholders |
has one vote, and no more. Each one of the |
five million shareholders has one vote, |
and no less. These latter, then, have the |
overwhelming majority. Sir, the institution |
is IN the hollow of the hand of the non-slave- |
holder Of the South. He has but to close his |
hand, and the institution is crushed He sees
its effects on the slave he feels its effects on |
himself Sir, if these effects were degrading,
why not throw it off, when he could do it by |
simply depositing ballot in senseless urn |
I will tell you why he does not do it. Twill |
show you why it is that, from that vast body |
of independent voting freemen, there comes
up not one whisper Of disapprobation, not one /
murInur Of discomfort, not one protest against |
its morality, its justice, and its expedieney. It
is because there is no class among whom me-
gro slavery secures such widespread blessings
as the non-slaveholders of the South. There
has never been race of men more mailgned
and lied about than that very class of freemen
in the South. l know them. have lived
among them, and have felt the heart-warm
grasp of their strong hands and tell you,
Mr.. Chairman, that Gods sun does not shine
on nobler, prouder, happier, more prosper
Gus, and elevated class of people, than the nom
shareholders Of the South. 1t is impossible,
lIOA1 very I6tuIC OF SOQLQ-
ern society, that it should be otherwise.
have time to mention only one fact among
others, that shows you its advantages in their
view Mr.. Webster, in one of his speeches,
spoke Of the ownership of land as constituting
he basis of free government, and said that
suffrage should be restricted to those whose
property gave them an interest in the preser-
Tation of the State. Now, do not think that.
[ think that an honest, intelligent laboring
nan is as much entitled to participation in
he government as the member of any other
lass of society.
But there are certain moral advantages in
ayor of land-owning community. Sir, in
,very country, and in every age, the proprie-
'orship of the soil has been regarded as po-
;ition Of the non-slayeholding laborers of the
South. They are a nation of landowners.
IF the South. Each of them feels in himself
pride Of character, and elevation of position 4
and, sir, he feels that he is not merely free
man, he is freeholder more than that, he is
, gentleman. You talk about free labor at the
North and free SOIL as if it did not exist in great
er purity IN the South than everywhere else.
w hat you call operatives" have to share the
profits OF their labor with capital, and get their
return only In food, raiment, shelter. and pro-
tecting care. But, sir, true free labor is that
which the Southern farmer, with his own free
arm, applies to his own soil, allowing neither
master, capitalist nor employer, to have any
participation in its profits. And, sir, what are
hose profits Not alone the crop Of cotton.
,orn, and potatoes something more than
hat When the strong, brave man drives his
,lowshare through the hllow ground, the up
urned sod reveals to his eye that which is
icher than the golden sands of California
otis the sparkle Of liberty" II
nd personal Independence. Sir, at the end
f the year, he has other gains, too, that his
abor brings him the industry and honesty
the father, the household virtues of the ,,
mother, the intelligence Of the sons. the chas- 2
ity Of the daughters-t sir, is a harvest I
which we would not barter for this wide {
Forids's commerce, and all its honors besides
But, slr, let us see what this institution has
lone for the progress Of mankind; and this
rings me to the third class of men in The
south who have been subject to misresenta