Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-01-26
REMARKS or
HON. R. G. PAYNE,
AZ THE SENATE. JANnARr i'll 1ss1-

| VIZ
HON. R. G. PAYNE,
THE SENATE, JANUARY II, 1861.
q Mr.. spEsKER: I propose 10 discuss somewhat
deliberately subject of deep interest 10 all but Il
is a discussion would gladly have adjourned to
another and far distant day. take occasion to
say that However humble may be, yet feel
proud consciousness that have in no wise contrib
uted to The troubles that BOW kfiios our country
have been loyal ct all times teethe Constitution
formed by our Fathers, and the Government estab.
u lished under it. The North, the South, the East
and the West claimed IN the past. my patriotic at
4 tachment and each section With me, was bull
the constituent part of one great country. l. sir
have fondly hoped, and believed that the Constels
ton of States which shone above my cradle and
4 directed the steps Of my manhood, would continue
to hold it's position in our political heavens, long
Il after you and l. Mr. Speaker, should have passed
from the stage of action. The common altar whose
fires were lighted up by our ancestors l believed
would leng continue to be surrounded by worship
ing millions from all sections, that the magnificent
temple of civil liberty reared by their labors would
continue to endure in all its massive proportions
when the eentury-halowed despotisms of the earth.
should have been consigned to oblivion or lost in
the worthless of Revolution. a sir, never expected,
hoped or desired 10 see a common flag, marred by
sacrilegious hsnds,-is stripes obliterated, or one
of lis stars efaced. For one, had not supposed
that ifthe Father Of his country could reburst the
cement of the tomb, ,and appear sgain in his own
peerless glory upon the stage of mortal life,-that
even he could succeed in destroying the mighty
3 fabric Of Government, which he contributed
SO much to establish and build up. But
sir the bright pictures Of the future his
tory Of this confederacy have passed away in the
hour of faneied security, and fanatiosm has aeeg
! ed triumph which world in arms never could
have obtained. We awake from our pleasing
dreams to behold the destruction of our political
constellation; it's great centred orb has al
most entirely disappeared. and the bright stars that
once moved around it, in SO much harmony and
| grandeur are seeking othev and centres of at
traction Our glorious temple that once rose up in
the simple majesty and grandeur of truth is but q
crumblisg mass of ruins, whilst the scattered wor-
shippers are seeking other affairs upon which to Of
| fer their oblations. The flag that we loved SO
much is now being furled for the first, and the last
time. --.s .--..
May not, standing as do amidst the wreck and
ruin of the noblest confederacy ever formed by man,
blessed by Heaven, be permitted to inquire into
| the causes which produced the calamity, and ex-
pose if l csn, to the seorn of mankind, the worse
than Vandal-destroyers of common heritage. l
not here, cir to speak Of parties that existed in
the past; for the storm of revolution has uprooted
party organizations and obliterated party lines.
But the friends Of freedom in other lands and an
interested posterity, will seek aye demand know
| who they are that controlled the mighty agencies
of our country's rain. Before the civilized world,
before Poserity, our actions must be scrutinized
and the guilty conepirators receive the measure of
| condemnation proportioRate to their msdeeds. ,e-
Some people say that South Carolina has dis
| Iupted the Union; others charge that it was the
1 repeal Of the Missouri Compromise that produced
it, while others ascribe it to the general policy Of
he Democratic party. I will not insult the mem
cries of good men by supposing that the work of
| their hands could be destroyed by mere impolitic
legislation, nor yet pay poor compliment to the
! good sense of the American people, as to suppose
| that any portion of them would incur the dangers
| and sacrifices of a revolution, such now have
because Of such blunders No, sir-no; TIE disease
which has preyed upon and destroyed the Republic
! is to be ascribed to other causes than the mere
plumbers of legislation, the precpitate action Of
| o particular State. -.
The Constitution was the result of concession and
| eompromise-saeh party to it gave up something of
| its peculiar notions, opinions, fOr the common
geod-that instrument did not reflect the precise
opinions Of any, and therefore was the more resdi
ly accepted, by all the parties engaged in its form.
| stiop. However ratified at the time, the various
| importsnt provisions of this instrument have Of
necessity been referred to the ballot-box for its
| sanction, as vital questions arose under them. A
sedition law was passed during the Administration
| of the elder Adams, but the enlightened Judgment
of the SupremS Court sustaining the act could not
| save it from the crushing decision of the ballot
box. The power of Congress to charter Bank
| was affirmed by the enlightened tribunal, but
after contest which tried the strength of the Re-
public, the decision practically reversed by the
| people and the question set at rest.
TIE rights Of the STAKEHOLDER under the Consti-
/ tuition, have been up for adjudication before the
American people in some shape other almost ever
| since the organization Of our Government. NJ any
| collateral questions have been either decided, or
adjourned over during that time, but the main issue
| as to whether saveholdiug States should be equal
sand millions of property should, or should not be
protected by the Government, has been pending for
generations. All knew that final action must come,
! and good men lsbored to proorastinate and delay,
we'll knowing that the safety Of the Republic hung
| upon the decision Of the question It is painfully
interesting trace the history of this anti-ssvery
movement of the North from its inception. and
to mark its widening and deepening current, till
are brought t. behold its present alarming dimen
siOns. 1t owes It's origin and its growth TO no ad
ventitous circumstances. neither have its strength
and power been increased by imprudent Legislation
! but its growth Is mainly attributable TO eauses
and influences over which Congressional legislation
| can have but little control, and which Constitu-
tlonql guarantees that obtain, in my humble
| Judgment, ever will or eradicate.
The anti-slavery crusade against the South, which
| has eliminated in the establishment of the I" IRE
| pressble conflict" doctrines of Lincoln, was COM
menced during the administration of the Father of
| his Country. At that early period there were
|
| complain Of no Missouri compromises repealed nor
Kansas bills enacted yet the learned, wealthy and
| influential men Of Massachusetts, and Connecticut
labOred assduously for dissolution of the Union,
and one Of the strong reasons for the measure
the moral degradation of the slaYebodng States of
! the South. Newspapers edited by learned and tai
ented men at that early day abounded in bels upon
the Southern character which in point of virulence
far 0utstrip the writings and speeches OF Sumner,
| Lincoln or Seward. The school books of that pc
| TiQl obpTn1a6 n INSTRUMENTATION of Southern
| character; and Jeddiah Morse, the author of the
first school geography published after the revolu-
ton eXerted himself in poisoning the youthful mind
by his unjust comparisons of Southern and Northe m
| society.
From the early period referred to- the Halls of Con-
gress have been the theatre of this antslaYery agta
| ton. Petitions for the abolition of slavery
| have been the more common method of IN
voking Federal power, but occasionally the nation
! has been startled by some legislative foray upon
| Southern rights. The fruits Of these early and
persistent attacks upon the character and domestic
institutions of the South, were abundsnty manifest
in the celebrated contests Of 1890, when Missouri
| applied for admission into the Union. That State
| knocked at the door of Congress with a double
| claim upOR the Government she held in one hand
a republican form of government, and in the other
| the solemn pledge to France that the rights and
property Of her citizens should be respected Every
man on the floor of that Congress was bound by his
oath of Office, with the superadded obligation of
hanons plghted latin, TO admit the applicant With
out delay. But the labors Of Massachusetts, with
her confederates in mischief, had pernieated the
| entire North, and constitutional guarantees and
pIghted honor of ne avail against the edict Of
Abolitonism. In the session Of 1920, after strug
| gle that both sgitated and alarmed the nation
| Missouri was admitted as State. But she took
| her place in the common family, despoed of her
sovereignty with her cropped snd the brand of
| inferiOrity marked upon her brow. Nor did this
outrage upon Missouri satisfy the demands of a
sectional msjority-for the degrading privileges
conceded, the South was compelled to resign all in
terest in mere than half the national domain and
in this act the equality of the States contemplated
by the wise trainers of the Constitution, was de-
stroyed, and from the secondary position given to
slsveholding States they never have recovered.
Since the period referred to- this distractiug ques
ton of slavery in some shape or other has been be-
fore the American people-each trial Of strength
betwizt the contending parties has scrvej to mar
row the question to whether slavery is to be
| L.. 4l~.4H o. sI,,gs.