I do not belong, said Mr. C., to the school which holds that aggression
is to be met by concession. Mine is the opposite creed, which teaches
that encroachments must be met at the beginning, and that those who act
on the opposite principle are prepared to become slaves. In this case,
in particular. I hold concession or compromise to be fatal. If we
concede an inch, concession would follow concession - compromise would
follow compromise, until our ranks would be so broken that effectual
resistance would be impossible. We must meet the enemy on the frontier,
with a fixed determination of maintaining our position at every hazard.
Consent to receive these insulting petitions, and the next demand will
be that they be referred to a committee in order that they may be
deliberated and acted upon. At the last session we were modestly asked
to receive them, simply to lay them on the table, without any view to
ulterior action...I then said, that the next step would be to refer
the petition to a committee, and I already see indications that such is
now the intention. If we yield, that will be followed by another, and we
will thus proceed, step by step, to the final consummation of the object
of these petitions. We are now told that the most effectual mode of
arresting the progress of abolition is, to reason it down; and with this
view it is urged that the petitions ought to be referred to a committee.
That is the very ground which was taken at the last session in the other
House, but instead of arresting its progress it has since advanced more
rapidly than ever. The most unquestionable right may be rendered
doubtful, if once admitted to be a subject of controversy, and that
would be the case in the present instance. The subject is beyond the
jurisdiction of Congress - they have no right to touch it in any shape
or form, or to make it the subject of deliberation or discussion...
As widely as this incendiary spirit has spread, it has not yet
infected this body, or the great mass of the intelligent and business
portion of the North; but unless it be speedily stopped, it will spread
and work upwards till it brings the two great sections of the Union into
deadly conflict. This is not a new impression with me. Several years
since, in a discussion with one of the Senators from Massachusetts (Mr.
Webster), before this fell spirit had showed itself, I then predicted
that the doctrine of the proclamation and the Force Bill - that this
Government had a right, in the last resort, to determine the extent of
its own powers, and enforce its decision at the point of the bayonet,
which was so warmly maintained by that Senator, would at no distant day
arouse the dormant spirit of abolitionism. I told him that the doctrine
was tantamount to the assumption of unlimited power on the part of the
Government, and that such would be the impression on the public mind in
a large portion of the Union. The consequence would be inevitable. A
large portion of the Northern States believed slavery to be a sin, and
would consider it as an obligation of conscience to abolish it if they
should feel themselves in any degree responsible for its continuance,
and that this doctrine would necessarily lead to the belief of such
responsibility. I then predicted that it would commence as it has with
this fanatical portion of society, and that they would begin their
operations on the ignorant, the weak, the young, and the thoughtless, -
and gradually extend upwards till they would become strong enough to
obtain political control, when he and others holding the highest
stations in society, would, however reluctant, be compelled to yield to
their doctrines, or be driven into obscurity. But four years have since
elapsed, and all this is already in a course of regular fulfilment.
Standing at the point of time at which we have now arrived, it
will not be more difficult to trace the course of future events now than
it was then. They who imagine that the spirit now abroad in the North,
will die away of itself without a shock or convulsion, have formed a
very inadequate conception of its real character; it will continue to
rise and spread, unless prompt and efficient measures to stay its
progress be adopted. Already it has taken possession of the pulpit, of
the schools, and, to a considerable extent, of the press; those great
instruments by which the mind of the rising generation will be formed.
However sound the great body of the non-slaveholding States are at
present, in the course of a few years they will be succeeded by those
who will have been taught to hate the people and institutions of nearly
one-half of this Union, with a hatred more deadly than one hostile
nation ever entertained towards another. It is easy to see the end. By
the necessary course of events, if left to themselves, we must become,
finally, two people. It is impossible under the deadly hatred which must
spring up between the two great nations, if the present causes are
permitted to operate unchecked, that we should continue under the same
political system. The conflicting elements would burst the Union
asunder, powerful as are the links which hold it together. Abolition and
the Union cannot coexist. As the friend of the Union I openly proclaim
it, - and the sooner it is known the better. The former may now be
controlled, but in a short time it will be beyond the power of man to
arrest the course of events. We of the South will not, cannot, surrender
our institutions. To maintain the existing relations between the two
races, inhabiting that section of the Union, is indispensable to the
peace and happiness of both. It cannot be subverted without drenching
the country or the other of the races...But let me not be
understood as admitting, even by implication, that the existing
relations between the two races in the slaveholding States is an evil: -
far otherwise; I hold it to be a good, as it has thus far proved itself
to be to both, and will continue to prove so if not disturbed by the
fell spirit of abolition. I appeal to facts. Never before has the black
race of Central Africa, from the dawn of history to the present day,
attained a condition so civilized and so improved, not only physically,
but morally and intellectually.
In the meantime, the white or European race, has not degenerated.
It has kept pace with its brethren in other sections of the Union where
slavery does not exist. It is odious to make comparison; but I appeal to
all sides whether the South is not equal in virtue, intelligence,
patriotism, courage, disinterestedness, and all the high qualities which
adorn our nature.
But I take higher ground. I hold that in the present state of
civilization, where two races of different origin, and distinguished by
color, and other physical differences, as well as intellectual, are
brought together, the relation now existing in the slaveholding States
between the two, is, instead of an evil, a good - a positive good. I
feel myself called upon to speak freely upon the subject where the honor
and interests of those I represent are involved. I hold then, that there
never has yet existed a wealthy and civilized society in which one
portion of the community did not, in point of fact, live on the labor of
the other. Broad and general as is this assertion, it is fully borne out
by history. This is not the proper occasion, but, if it were, it would
not be difficult to trace the various devices by which the wealth of all
civilized communities has been so unequally divided, and to show by what
means so small a share has been allotted to those by whose labor it was
produced, and so large a share given to the non-producing classes. The
devices are almost innumerable, from the brute force and gross
superstition of ancient times, to the subtle and artful fiscal
contrivances of modern. I might well challenge a comparison between them
and the more direct, simple, and patriarchal mode by which the labor of
the African race is, among us, commanded by the European. I may say with
truth, that in few countries so much is left to the share of the
laborer, and so little exacted from him, or where there is more kind
attention paid to him in sickness or infirmities of age. Compare his
condition with the tenants of the poor houses in the more civilized
portions of Europe - look at the sick, and the old and infirm slave, on
one hand, in the midst of his family and friends, under the kind
superintending care of his master and mistress, and compare it with the
forlorn and wretched condition of the pauper in the poorhouse. But I
will not dwell on this aspect of the question; I turn to the political;
and here I fearlessly assert that the existing relation between the two
races in the South, against which these blind fanatics are waging war,
forms the most solid and durable foundation on which to rear free and
stable political institutions. It is useless to disguise the fact. There
is and always has been in an advanced stage of wealth and civilization,
a conflict between labor and capital. The condition of society in the
South exempts us from the disorders and dangers resulting from this
conflict; and which explains why it is that the political condition of
the slaveholding States has been so much more stable and quiet than that
of the North...Surrounded as the slaveholding States are with such
imminent perils, I rejoice to think that our means of defense are ample,
if we shall prove to have the intelligence and spirit to see and apply
them before it is too late. All we want is concert, to lay aside all
party differences and unite with zeal and energy in repelling
approaching dangers. Let there be concert of action, and we shall find
ample means of security without resorting to secession or disunion. I
speak with full knowledge and a thorough examination of the subject, and
for one see my way clearly...I dare not hope that anything I can
say will arouse the South to a due sense of danger; I fear it is beyond
the power of mortal voice to awaken it in time from the fatal security
into which it has fallen.
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