The Placer herald., 1861-04-27
ELOQUENT Extract.

taking leave of the Senate. his State having with
drawn from the Union. For beauty of sentiment
and language the subjoined extract is unsur
passed:
Mr.. PresidenE-If we were engaged in the
performance of accustomed legislative duties,
might well rest content with the simple state
ment of my concurrence in the remarks just made
by my colleague, (Mr. Slidell.) Profoundly i'm
pressed however, with the solemnity OF the occa-
sion. cannot be insensible Of the duty of leaving
among the authentic reports of your proceedings
the recorded expression Of my conviction that
the State OF Louisiana has judged and acted well
and wisely in the crisis Of her destiny. Sir. in
the course of the discussions here and elsewhere.
ii has been urged on more than one occasion that
Louisiana stan Is on exceptional footing. 1t has
been said that whatever may be the rights OF the
States that were orig ginal parties to the Consitu-
ton, that even granting their ri eh to resume. for
sufficient cause, those restricted powers which
they delegated t. the federal government in trust
for their own use and benefit. still Louisiana can
have such right, because ''shc was acquired by
purchase" Gentlemen have not hesitate to
speak of the sovereign States, f rmcd out of the
Territory ccdel by France. as property bought
with the money OF the United States, belonging
to them as purchasers; and, although they have
not carried out their doctrine to its legitimate
result, | must conclude that they also mean, on
the same principle, to assert the right of "sellng
for price, what was bought for price ]
pause not to comment on the repuisue dogmas
of party ,rhicA thus asserts q right Of proper
ty IN tree-born uhite men in ordey 10 reach its
cherished object Of destroying the right Of pro-
perty an siare-6orn black men. Nor shall de-
tain the Senate by demonstrating how shadowy
| the distinction between the condition of the SER
vile Africans and that to which the white free
men of my State would be reduced, if it indeed
be true that they are bound to this federal GOV
ernment by ties that cannot legitimately be sever
ed without the consent OF that very majority
| which wields its powers for their oppression. !
simply deny the fact which the argument is
| founded. deny that the province Of Louisiana
| or the people of Louisiana. were ever conveyed
| TO the United States for price as property that
could be bought or sold at will. Without enter
ing into The details Of the negotiation, the
chves of your State department demonstrate the
simple fact to be that although the domain, the
public lands and other property of France in the
coded province, were conveyed by absolute title
to the government of the United States. this SOW
ereignty was not conveyed otherwise than in
trust. hundred fold, sir, has the government
been reimbursed by the sales OF property, Of pub
lie land. for price of its acquisitions; but not
with the fidelity Of the honest trustee has it dis
charged its cations as regards the sovereignty.
Mr. Benjamin went on TO say that the people who
cmg:utcd into Louisiana territory owned the soil,
and when they applied for admission into the
Union, it came in as any other sovereign State.
He continued: The rights of Louisiana as SOW
ercign State are those of Virginia--no more, no
less Let those who deny her right to resume
delegated powers successfully refute the claim to
like right in Virginia, i'll spite OF her express
reservation made and no flied to her sister States
when she consented to enter the Union; and, sir,
Of all the causes which justify the action of the
Southern States, know of none Of greater gra-
vity and more alarming magnitude than that now
developed, Of the denial of the right of secession
IA pretension so moHstrous as that which per- !
verts restricted agency, constituted by sovcr
egn States for common purposes, into the un-
limited despotism Of II majority, which denies all
legitimate escape from such deSpotism. even
though powers not delegated are usurped. con
vcrts the whole fabric of constitutional liber,y
into the secure abode of lawlcss tyranny, md de
grades sovereign States into provincial dependen
ccs Sir, it has been said, that the right Of Sc
cession, if conceded, makes our government a
mere rope Of sand that to assert its existence
imputes to the trainers of the Constitution the
folly of sowing the seeds OF alh in that which
was destined for perpetual existence 1t the i'm
putation were true, sir, it would merely prove
that their offspring was not exempt from that
mortality which is the common lot of all that is |
not created by higher than human power. But it
is not true. Let facts answer theory. For two
thirds Of "a century this right has been known by
many OF the States to be 1T all times within their
power, yet up to the present period, when its cX-
ercise has become Indispensable to a people mem
aced with absolute eXtermnntlon, there have been
Dlt TWO INSTANCES Ill WHICH IL WIS ever tnipulenPu
seriously; the first, when Massachusetts led the
New England States in an attempt to escape from
| the dangers of our last war with Great Britain
! and the second, when the same State pt opposed to
| sccede on account of the admission of Texas rs
a new State in the Union. Sir, in the language
of our declaration OF secession from Great Br-
| tain, it is stated rs an established truth that 'al
experience hath shown that mankind are more dis
posed TO suffer while Ills a'e suIfcrable than to
right themselves by abOlishiDg the forms to which
they are accustomed" And nothing can be more
! obvious to the calm and candid observer of pas
sing events, than that the disruption of the con-
fedcracy has been due in great measure not TO
| the existence but the denial of this right. Few
candid men would refuse to admit that the repub
| licans of the North would have been checked in
the mad career which has brought destruction 10
the Union, had they been convinced Of the eX
istence of this right and the intention TO assert
it, The very knowledge o! its existence. by
preventing occurrences which alone could prompt
its exercise. would have rendered it II most eff
cient instrument in the preservation OF the Union
But sir, ii the fact were otherwise. If all the
teachings of experience were reversed, better, II
thousand times BETTER q rope Of sand, ay, the
himsicst gossamer that glittered in the morn
ing dew, than the chains of iron or shacklcs OF
steel. Better the widest anarchy with the hope,
| the chance, Of one hours inspiration of the glo
rous breath OF freedom, than ages of the hope
less bondage of oppression to which our enemies
would reduce us. we are tolu tlat INC laws husI
be enforced, and the revenue collected; that the
South is in rebellion, and her ctize are traitors
Rebellion! The uery UOrd is q confession, an
avo,cal of tyranny outrage and oppress'on 1t
is taken from the despot's code, and has no ter
rors for other than slavish souls. Where. sir, did
millions of people, rs single man. rise in Or
ganized, deliberate. unimpassioned rebellion
against justice, truth and honoH Well did
great English statesman eXclaim on q similar oc
cusion: ''Yon ight as well tell me that they Ie-
bclled against the light OF Heaven, that they re-
jcced the fruits of the earth that they refused to
breathe the air." Men do not war against their
benefactors. They are not mad enough to repel