Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-01-09

cy to say the least that extends itself to the wols
/ nation. We propose a course OF policy which vii
deal with it as a wrong
After the lapse of more than year, in a speech
delivered at Columbus, Ohio. in September, $50, hs
said " From the adoption of the Constitution doyr
to 1926 the precise period of our history when WI
had comparative peace on this subject the precise
period of time when we came nearer having peac.
about il than any other time OF that entire one hun
/ dred and sixty years in which it began or of til,
eighty years of our own Constitution this was tn,
precise period of time in which our forefather
| adopted a policy of restricting slavery. and til,
whole Union was acquiescing in it the whole coun
try looked forward to its extinction, watching it a
1 it expiredp
If these facts are looked at. that this matter ha
been an element of discord for one hundred am
sixty years among the people, and that the only com
paratiye peace we have had about it was when tina
policy prevailed in this Government, he douglas
might have been brought to more just appreciation
OF what said fifteen months agO--that hous
divided against itself cannot stand l believe thi
Government can endure permanently, half slave
| and hall free; do not expect this house TO fall
do not expect the Union to be dissolved. But d.
! expectit will cease to be divided-it viii become
al the one thing or all the other Either the oppo
rents Of slavery will arrest the further spread of
and place it where the public mind will rest in thC
belief that it is in the of ultimate extinction
! or its advocates will push it forward till it shall
become alike lawful in all the States old wei
as new, North well as South.
That was may sentiment at the time.
say it to yoa now, here, that we are advanced far
| into the sixth year since the policy of PopulaI'
Sovereignty COMPLEMENTARY adopted for the
purpose Of quieting the slavery question was made
the national policy and call upon all right minded
men to say whether that fifteen months has behed
or corroborated my words
While upon this subject, can not but express
gratitude that this true view of the subject-this
element of dscord amongts us believe it isis at
tracing and more attention. / do not believe
Gov. Seward uttered that sentiment because had
done so before, but because he reflected on the sub
jeet and the truth Of it. Nor do believe because
Gov. Seward uttered it, that Mr. Hickman of Penn
syyania, in different language since that time has
declared his belief in the utter antagonism which
exists between the principles oflbery and slavery
You multiplying
Now, while l am speaking of Hickman, let me
say know but little of him, but will say this
much for him, of all the Leccmpton Democracy
that has been brought to my notice, he alone has
| the true genuine ring of the metal and now with
out endorsing anything else he has said, will ask
this audience to give three cheers for Hickman.
The audience responded in three rousing cheers for
Hickman.'D
On the Sth day of October, 1858, the President
elect stated that sit had been said that all Of this
difficulty and agitation in regard to the institution
of slavery, sprung from the ambition of poll
ticians. Is that the truth
There never has been party in the history of the
country, and there probably will be- of sufi-
Gent strength to disturb the general peace of the
| country. Parties may be divided and quarrel on
minor questions, yet such divisions extend not be-
yOnd the parties themselves. Does not this question
make a disturbance outside of political circles
Does it not enter into the churches and rend them
asunder? What divided the great Methodist Church
into TWO parts, North and South? What has raised
this constant disturbance in every Presbyterian
General Assembly that meets? What disturbed the
Unitarian Church in this very city two years ago
What has Jared and shaken the great American tract
Society-n yet splitting it. but to divide it in
the end Is this the work of politicians! Is that
irresistible power which for fifty years has agitated
the people and shaken the Government to be settled
and subdued by pretending that it is an exceedingly
simple thing and we ought not to talk about it, Is
it not false craftsmanship that undertakes to build
up system Of policy upon the basis of caring nothing
about the very thing every body does care most
about"
1t was the strenuous assertion of this alleged in
herent antagonism that made his competitor, Mr..
Douglas, declare that he advocated boldly and
clearly war OfsectiO1s, of the North against
the South of the free states against the slave states
a of eXtermina.iOn-to be continued relentless
y I'm til the other shall be subdued and all
the states shall become either free slave" When
we connect all these facts with the declaration that
he regarded the Southern people holGing one sixth
of the entire population Of the United States in
state Of oppression and tyranny unequalled in the
world will he not be impeled by every principle OF
National honor, by every regard for National safety
by every sentiment of moral and religious obliga-
ton, to prosecute on this institution during
his Presidential term, by every means which he
can use, which would not dissolve the Union OF
involve US in the horrors of civil war?
But il may be told that the President accompanied
many of these declarations of opinion with most dl
rect and positive denial of any power in the Govern
ment to interfere with he made such dec
arations from time to time is freely conceded. In
weighing the value of such declarations as guarRn-
tees of the future safety of the rights of the southern
people, L am content to lay aside the state
ment of his competitor that he made different
declarations amongst the kentuckians, Tennessee
ans and Virginians, of Southern Illinois, and in the
Abolition portions of the State but | must insist
that such declarations are Invested of all their
force and weight, as guarantees by his lOrgCOntin
ued and oft-repeated opinion, that this Government
could not long endure half free and half slave; and
that controversy OF fifty years standing could only
be subdued by the ultimate abolition of slavery in all
the States. must also insist that his declarations in
regard to the South being entitled TO a fugitive
slave law, as he understood the Constitution. with
right to trial by jury, in direct contradiction
of the settled construction of the Constitution and
Invested of its force by his labOred arguments to
sustain the application of the Declaration of indie
pendence to the slaves of the United States. We
must also consider in estimating the value of such
declarations, that they have been made by a large
portion of the most violent and determined Adolf
tiOnlsts the United States at all times. Some of
them have said slavery founded in dishOnor-
able compromise in the formation of the Constitu-
ton others that the Constitution was a compact
with hell and others that they were bound by
higher law, proclaimed the Declaration of indie
pendence, and engraven on the cOnSciences of all
men. l must ask here if the rights of the Southern
people can be trusted in the hands Of man who does
not scruple to denounce them as tyrants and op-
preSsors unequalled in the world? Does the expe-
rence of the past demonstrate that chartered rights
of property withstand the fiery assaults of IA
natcism? Let the fate of the British West India
planters answer this question. Eight hundred
thousand slaves were discharged by act of British
Parliament and the owners compensated by pay
ment about one hundred and twenty-five dollars for
each, by tax levied upon colonial produce. l do
not condemn the President elect for the expression
Of opinions which may be honestly entertained but
cannot avoid expressing the opinion delivered by
Mr.. Clay, in the House of Representatives, many
years ago to New York Abolitionist that his pro-
testations of interference were contradiced by
his deadly assault uPyn the character of the slave
holder and the justice and policy of the institution
With one breath he declares that he has no power
to interfere with slavery in the States, and with
other that the States cannot permanently exist un
der one Government half slave and half free With
one breath he declares that he has inclination to
interfere with the institution in the States, with
other that it is the most stupendOus system of OPP
preston and tyranny in the world, and that it af-
fects not only the individuals and States which hold
it. but it extends to the whole nation and that the
house will fall if 1t is not abolished in all the States
and that it must be put in a course of extinction.
With one breath he declares that he has no molina
ton to establish negro equality, yet he proclaims on
all occasions that the Declaration of independence
applies TO the four millions of slaves in the United
States and maintains in substance, the doctrine of
negro equality and attacks with violence the deci
sion of the Supreme Court, which constitutes the
bar to negro citizenship of the United States, and
negro admission to Federal Offices With breath
he saws he will maintain all the constitutional rights
of the Southern people; with another he boots down
with scorn and contempt the decision OF the Supreme
Court which establishes the right of the Southern
people to go with their slaves to the Territories.
Mr. Madison declared this constitutional right in
1919 If the Supreme Court had decided that Con-
gress had the power to prohibit slavery in the Ter
ritories the President might properly have vetoed
such act of Congress, acting on his own opinion
that such law was unconstitutional and every
member of Congress might have voted against such
prohibtory act on the grounds, for they would
be defeating thereby the dddged rights Of no citizen
Yet how can Congress deprive a citizen of const-
tutional right to 60 with his slaves to the Terrific
ries when adjudged to him the supreme law of
the land The President elect boasts that he voted
for the Wilmot Proviso forty-two times. lie char |
res that there was a conspiracy between Buchanan,
Douglas Pierce and the Supreme Court to establish |
slavery in all the States and Territories, North and
South: and declares that he will disregard that de-
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