The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1862-01-16
THE CORNERSTONE OF THE SOUTHERN CON-
~FEDERAcY.

the conspiracy. Now, let me ask, on VIVA
ground does this usurping Confederacy ask {,
be recognized rs independent, and admitte,
to the family of nations7
In the convention of South Carolina, II
reply to an objection that the declaration re
ported by the committee dwelt too much OF
the iugiive-slave law and PERSONAL---VERY.
bills, as giving 1T the appearance of srecIa
Pleading, DIR. Memminger said +. Allow IN
TO say TO the honorable gentleman, that when
you lake the position that you have a right
to break your faith. to destroy an agreement
that you have made, to tear off your sea-
IRON the document TO which it is affixed. you
are bound to Justify yourself fully to all the
nations of the world, for there is nothing that
casts such a stain upon the escutcheon of a
nation as a breach Of faith"
In this MIR. Memminger was clearly right,
and the alleged breach of faith by the North,
touching the execution of the fugitive-sIave
law, was resorted 70 Is affording n plausible
pretext for seeding from the Union. But
the debates show that this prctext was a sham,
and Mr.. Rhett frankly declared that he re-
garded the fugitive-slave law as unconstitu-
honaI, and that Mr. Webster and Mr.. Keitt
had expressed the same opinion.
You have seen, too, from Mr.. Stephens,
that all the constitutional rights of the South
were protected within the Union-and that
the South was indebted to the Union for her
safety, prosperity, and happiness.
What then Is the real ground on which the
breach OF faith committed by the seeding
states IS to be justified, if it can be justified at
allf on what ground is it recommended to
the prejudices of the South and to the i'm
partial judgment of the world?
Alter secession was an accomplished fact
SO lar as their conventions could manage it
by usurped authority and fictitious maiorit,es,
and Mr.. Stephens had become not only a
member but n prominent leader OF the con-
sPiracy, he said at Atlanta =
1.-The foundations of our new Government
are land, ITS cornerstone rests upon the great
truth that the negro is not equal to the white
man; that slavery, subordination to the SUI
Perior race, Is his natural and moral condition.
This or new Government is the first in the
history of the world based upon this great
physical. philosophical, and moral truth"
Mr.. Stephens enlarged upon this distin-
gushing characteristic of the Government,
10 establish which the Union was to be dis
solved, sneered at the principle that all men
are equal, enunciated by our fathers in the
Declaration of Independence, "as the pes
tilent heresy of fancy politicians"-declared
that AFRICAN inequality and the equality of
white men were the chief cornerstone of the
Southern Republic" and claimed that with a
government so founded "the world would
recognize in theirs the model nation of
history"
Here we have their only apology for this
rebellion, stripped of all shams and DISCUSSES,
and thus at length in the latter half of the
-,ine:eenth century, stand face to face in
deadly conflict the antagonist systems of the
New World. q 80
"All men," said the founders of the Amer
lean republic, "are created free and equal,
and endowed with certain ,nalienabIe rights.
among which are life, liberty, and the pur.
suit Of happiness LET it ever be remem-
said the Continental Congress, " that
rights Tor which we have commended were
The rights of human %nature,' and on that
foundation arose the fair fabric of our liber-
lies.
The dark shadow arises Of another confed-
eracy which Davis and Keitt and Floyd
md Toombs are striving to establish on the
ruins OF the republic erected by Washington
ind franklin and Hamilton and Jefferson,
ind the one great plea with which this new
bower seeks to recommend itself to the
world, Is the assumption that the
white man was born to be the master, and
he black man was created to be his slave.
THE REBELS OF rs AND THOSE OF 81.
The attempt Of the slavery Instructions
sts 20 bring into contempt the grea. princi-
BE OF the Declaration Of Independence, and
heir characterizing the men who uttered it
nd the men who believe in it as "fancy
shows how absolutely antag-
in their principles were those who re-
elled in '76 against unconstitutional acts of
'arliament, and those who in 81 are rebel
ing against the Constitution OF the United
Even in the august year which we
re met TO celebrate, the principles and rea-
DniDgS OF OH fathers commanded the adj
of Europe, and called forth in the
louise OF Lords that magnificent eulogv of
when he said that for himself he
declare that he had studied and adj
'Bed the free states of antiquity, the mas
r states OF the world but that for solidity /.
reasoning, force OF sagacity, and wisdom
conclusion, no body Of men could stand in :
to the Congress of Philadelphia. :
Whatever may be the future of America,
e past is safe. :
The confederates of the slave republic. !
as may be their skill in robbing I
OF material wealth and power, cannot rob {
e founders of our Union of their glory Il
mot f!ch from us the treasures we possess a
their great principles, cannot lessen by =
e tithe of a hair the truth of and force Of 2
cir example. {
On the contrary, the formation of the ;
'uthem Confederacy adds new proof to q
far-sighted and prophetic sagacity. =
at the rebel states, plunged into an Z
Thy and war by Jefferson Davis, with a I
tered press, free speech siIenced. forced q.
ms, and an army enlarged by consumption y
"A then listen I'm n Stprta u
iiliam Pinckney, the great orator OF Mary u
I'd, which occurs in a speech made in the IL
House of Delegates, in 1850; and
as you listen to it the proof I have ~
eady given you that the so-called South q
!, ConfederacY Is a military desnotism er- g