The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1860-07-18

sylUdnia. Delivered in the u. )
House Of Representatives.. MAY
1860.
Mr.. HICKMAN said
MIR. CHAIRMAN l will answer to Coo
and my country much that has been saiG
on the Administration side Of this House
l speak Of sectionalism-a subject frequent
ly named here and throughout the country
but never examined or discussed, and con
sequently, but imperfectly comprehended
The word has long served the demagogue
for clap-trap. and has furnished the alarm
ist with all his stock in trade. More, doubt.
less, is to be heard of it in the future and
as We of the Democratic party, who are un.
willing to baptize the folly and corruption
Of the present Administration into wisdom
and propriety, are charged with fostering
and encouraging it. may, perhaps, be tol.
Grated for an hour in the statement of a
few plain facts. which strangely enough, in
this connection, seem to have been over
looked or forgotten.
SectiOnalism arises as we'll from the
omission of acts as the commission of acts
in Withholding from a portion of the people
what they properly demand, as we'll as in
aggression upon legal and well-defned
rights. Our Government was intended by
its founders to confer equal benefits, and to
impose equal responsibilities and when.
ever it shall fail in either of these objects.
complaints will necessarily and justly arise.
Then will it have lost that peculiar feature
which gives to it all its winning charm and
beauty. and there will be nothing left of it
to be especially desired
Sectionalism, as l understand it, is
inequality and injustice, and can have no
open defender. 1t ends where monarchy
and absolutism begin, and therefore can
never be tolerated or countenanced in a
land Of liberty. A tendency toward it is
the surest sign Of degeneracy and decay,
and. when once established, the end of our
republican experiment will be at hand
But if it lacks undisguised defence. it has
its patrons in all those who are laboring
for exclusive Legislation, who would build
up and fortify one portion Of our country
upon the ruins of another, and who would
forget that our Government secures to us
common destiny.
There is sectiOnalism in acts, if not in
advocacy. The North have long suffered
from tin their commerce, their manu-
factures, their agriculture, their mechanic
arts, their equality and their inherent po-
litical rights and powers We have long
borne wrongs and forborne complaints; we
have asked and been denied; we have
begged, and been spurned We have strug-
gled, and been overcome Through our
timidity, our subsurviency, and our strifes
have We failed in our claims, our petitions,
and our trials. We have solicited when
our rights were plain; we have implored
when We should have demanded, we have
divided when We should have been united
For this we should not blame the South,
but the North; and not SO much the peO-
pie of the North as the politicians of the
North. We have been cursed by breed
Of men who represented themselves, and not
their constituencies and at last, as was
right, their selfshness was unrewarded,
their ambition uncrowned, and their treach,
cry rebuked. They have granted boons
without returns have compromised and
lost ALL If We have not been utterly sac
rifced, it has not deserted US. If We have
grown and prospered, it has been because
Of Gods favor, and not Of mans help
Sir. if ninety Representatives in this
Hall can control one hundred and forty
seven, if thirtJ Senator'S yonder can gov
crn thirty-six; if fifteen feeble States car
rule over eighteen powerful ones, if mi
norities can overcome majorities and weak
ness strength, let us not further degrade
ourselves by whining complaints agalns
the former but let US, in as manly wa.
as We may be able to do 50. acknowledg
their superiority over US, and have it writ
ten down in the echives of the nation, tha
our children may understand it, and lear1
their plain duty from it. Ifany one suppO
ses entertain feeling of animoslty tow
ards my Southern brethren, let me her
and now disabuse him. Icommend them
), admire them for their boldness and sue
cess. But whilst l DO so. have an ur
speakable contempt for that pusillamit
which enables them to exercise the one an
to accomplish the other. would hay
: them initiated in their State pride an
: lack of gold -greediness in their zeal. the
8 energy, their frankness, and their skill
: we were moro like them, we would SUITE
. less, and they would respect us NOR
: They would not then secure all the powe
Of Government, and all the patronage
I" Office. Our Northern Presidents would |
= full-grown men, commanders-in-ch chief
the army and navy; executing the law
suppressing incipient treason, and maintai
y ing the spirit Of our institutions. .,
cringing Buchanans would be moulded
to inAexible Jacksons, and the times
honesty and confidence, Of quiet and go
e. feeling would be restored.
Instead of this order and harmon
which should characterize a common brot
, erkood, we have become discordant, a
:, oftentimes almost belligerent. For t
last ten years. at least, has this been {
rk unhappy condition of our country. y
. tionalism has been nursed and animate
until it has become the fruitful and co
8, manding parent Of all our national afil
tons; not a sectionalism from the Nor
. but from the South not springing fr'
l.zr .,-o11o A. lawn