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diff --git a/5205-h/5205-h.htm b/5205-h/5205-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ac3e4b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/5205-h/5205-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4467 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Speeches of the Honorable Jefferson Davis</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.center {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.right {text-align: right; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Speeches of the Honorable Jefferson Davis</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Speeches of the Honorable Jefferson Davis</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Jefferson Davis</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: June 5, 2002 [eBook #5205]<br /> +[Most recently updated: December 25, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Dave Maddock and Curtis Weyant</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPEECHES OF THE HONORABLE JEFFERSON DAVIS ***</div> + +<h1>Speeches of the Honorable Jefferson Davis,</h1> + +<h4>of Mississippi,</h4> + +<h3>Delivered During the Summer of 1858:</h3> + +<p class="center"> +On Fourth of July, 1858, at Sea.<br /> +At Serenade, at Portland, Maine.<br /> +At Portland Convention, Maine.<br /> +At Belfast Encampment, Maine.<br /> +At Belfast Banquet, Maine.<br /> +At Portland Meeting, Maine.<br /> +At Fair at Augusta, Maine.<br /> +At Faneuil Hall, Boston.<br /> +At New York Meeting.<br /> +Before Mississippi Legislature.<br /> +&c. &c. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +BALTIMORE . . . PRINTED BY JOHN MURPHY & CO.<br /> +MARBLE BUILDING, 182 BALTIMORE STREET.<br /> +1859. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto"> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">Extracts From Speeches in U.S. Senate</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">On Fourth of July, 1858, At Sea</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">Speech at the Portland Serenade</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">Speech at the Portland Convention</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">Speech at Belfast Encampment</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">Banquet After Encampment at Belfast</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">Speech at the Portland Meeting</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">Speech at State Fair at Augusta, ME</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">Speech at the Grand Ratification Meeting, Faneuil Hall</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">Speech in the City of New York</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">Speech Before the Mississippi Legislature</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p class="center"> +To the People of Mississippi. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +I have been induced by the persistent misrepresentation of popular Addresses +made by me at the North and the South during the year 1858, to collect them, +and with extracts from speeches made by me in the Senate in 1850, to present +the whole in this connected form; to the end that the case may be fairly before +those by whose judgment I am willing to stand or fall. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +Jefferson Davis. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>Extracts From Speeches in U.S. Senate.</h2> + +<p> +In the Senate of the United States, May 8, 1850, in presenting the Resolutions +of the Legislature of Mississippi: +</p> + +<p> +It is my opinion that justice will not be done to the South, unless from other +promptings than are about us here—that we shall have no substantial +consideration offered to us for the surrender of an equal claim to California. +No security against future harassment by Congress will probably be given. The +rain-bow which some have seen, I fear was set before the termination of the +storm. If this be so, those who have been first to hope, to relax their +energies, to trust in compromise promises, will often be the first to sound the +alarm when danger again approaches. Therefore I say, if a reckless and +self-sustaining majority shall trample upon her rights, if the Constitutional +equality of the States is to be overthrown by force, private and political +rights to be borne down by force of numbers, then, sir, when that victory over +Constitutional rights is achieved, the shout of triumph which announces it, +before it is half uttered, will be checked by the united, the determined action +of the South, and every breeze will bring to the marauding destroyers of those +rights, the warning: woe, woe to the riders who trample them down! I submit the +report and resolutions, and ask that they may be read and printed for the use +of the Senate.—(<i>Cong. Globe</i>, p. 943-4.) +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +In the Senate of the United States, June 27, 1850, on the Compromise Bill: +</p> + +<p> +If I have a superstition, sir, which governs my mind and holds it captive, it +is a superstitious reverence for the Union. If one can inherit a sentiment, I +may be said to have inherited this from my revolutionary father. And if +education can develop a sentiment in the heart and mind of man, surely mine has +been such as would most develop feelings of attachment for the Union. But, sir, +I have an allegiance to the State which I represent here. I have an allegiance +to those who have entrusted their interests to me, which every consideration of +faith and of duty, which every feeling of honor, tells me is above all other +political considerations. I trust I shall never find my allegiance there and +here in conflict. God forbid that the day should ever come when to be true to +my constituents is to be hostile to the Union. If, sir, we have reached that +hour in the progress of our institutions, it is past the age to which the Union +should have lived. If we have got to the point when it is treason to the United +States to protect the rights and interests of our constituents, I ask why +should they longer be represented here? why longer remain a part of the Union? +If there is a dominant party in this Union which can deny to us equality, and +the rights we derive through the Constitution; if we are no longer the freemen +our fathers left us; if we are to be crushed by the power of an unrestrained +majority, this is not the Union for which the blood of the Revolution was shed; +this is not the Union I was taught from my cradle to revere; this is not the +Union in the service of which a large portion of my life has been passed; this +is not the Union for which our fathers pledged their property, their lives, and +sacred honor. No, sir, this would be a central Government, raised on the +destruction of all the principles of the Constitution, and the first, the +highest obligation of every man who has sworn to support that Constitution +would be resistance to such usurpation. This is my position. +</p> + +<p> +My colleague has truly represented the people of Mississippi as ardently +attached to the Union. I think he has not gone beyond the truth when he has +placed Mississippi one of the first, if not the first, of the States of the +Confederation in attachment to it. But, sir, even that deep attachment and +habitual reverence for the Union, common to us all—even that, it may +become necessary to try by the touchstone of reason. It is not impossible that +they should unfurl the flag of disunion. It is not impossible that violations +of the Constitution and of their rights, should drive them to that dread +extremity. I feel well assured that they will never reach it until it has been +twice and three times justified. If, when thus fully warranted, they want a +standard bearer, in default of a better, I am at their command.—(<i>Cong. +Globe</i>, p. 995-6) +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>On Fourth of July, 1858, At Sea.</h2> + +<p class="center"> +[From the Boston Post.] +</p> + +<p> +The fine ship <i>Joseph Whitney</i>, from Baltimore, Captain S. Howes, was +making for this port on the day of the celebration of the nation’s birth, +and among an unusually brilliant array of passengers from different parts of +the country, was the distinguished Senator, Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi. +The patriotic suggestion of the captain, to celebrate the day in a manner +befitting the great anniversary, met with a hearty response from the company, +among whom were zealous republicans, democrats and Americans. A committee was +appointed to invite the Senator to make an address, and he consented. +</p> + +<p> +First, the Declaration of Independence was read by Sebastian F. Streeter, Esq., +of Baltimore, when Senator Davis made an address of singular felicity of +diction and impassioned eloquence, and of such a character as to command the +admiration of those who listened to it. He commenced by happy allusions to the +array of beauty and intelligence that stood before him from all parts of our +common country; he then passed in review the condition of the feeble and +separate colonies of 1776, and contrasted with it the country now—the +only proper republic on earth, as it stood before the world in its wonderful +progress in art, and agriculture, and commerce, and all the elements that +constitute a great nation. When thus sailing on the Atlantic, looking to the +coast of the United States, he was reminded of those bold refugees from the +British and French oppression who crosses these water to found a home in what +was then a wilderness. The memory, too, arose of the many sorrowing hearts and +oppressed spirits since born over these waves to that refuge from political +oppression which our fathers founded as the home of liberty and the asylum of +mankind. Her terrtiory {sic}, which now stretches from ocean to ocean, contains +a vast interior yet unpeopled; and, with a destiny of still further and +continued expansion of area, why should the gate of the temple be now shut upon +sorrowing mankind? Rather let it be that the gate should be forever open, and +an emblematic flag, hereafter as heretofore, wave a welcome to all to come to +the modern Abdella—fugitives from political oppression. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Davis dwelt at some length on the right of search question—on the +insulting claim which Great Britain made to a peace-right to visit our ships. +Under the pretence of stopping the slave trade—a trade against which the +United States was the first nation to raise its voice—she had interrupted +and destroyed a lucrative commerce we had enjoyed in ivory and other products +on the coast of Africa. The late outrages in the Gulf found us, as a people, +with domestic quarrels on our hands; but if this power counted on existing +divisions and on making them wider, the result showed how great was her error. +The insult was resented by a united people; the Senate, as one man, leaped up +against British pretensions; while England, as suddenly, astonished, withdrew +her pretensions. The claim she so long preferred is given up—entirely +abandoned. The same spirit that resented insult in the past will resent it in +the future. I stand, said the Senator, substantially on the deck of an American +vessel; it is American soil; the American flag floats over it; its right to +course the ocean pathway is perfect. When the blue firmament reflected its own +color in the sea, it was the unappropriated property of mankind; and it was +arrogant and idle for any nation to deny to the United States her full +enjoyment of this common property. It was for the full and undisturbed +enjoyment of this right that out fathers, when much less prepared for war than +we are now, engaged in the conflict of 1812; and for this right we were ready +to strike in 1858. Let a feign power, under any pretence whatever, insult the +American flag, and it will find that we are not a divided people, but that a +mighty arm will be raised to smite down the insulter, and this great country +will continue united. +</p> + +<p> +Trifling politicians in the South, or in the North, or in the West, may +continue to talk otherwise, but it will be of no avail. They are like the +mosquitoes around the ox: they annoy, but they cannot wound, and never kill. +There was a common interest which run through all the diversified occupations +and various products of these sovereign States; there was a common sentiment of +nationality which beat in every American bosom; there were common memories +sweet to us all, and, though clouds had occasionally darkened our political +sky, the good sense and the good feeling of the people had thus far averted any +catastrophe destructive of our constitution and the Union. It was in fraternity +and an elevation of principle which rose superior to sectional or individual +aggrandizement that the foundations of our Union were laid; and if we, the +present generation, be worthy of our ancestry, we shall not only protect those +foundations from destruction, but build higher and wider this temple of +liberty, and inscribe perpetuity upon its tablet. +</p> + +<p> +In the course of his beautiful speech, senator Davis passed a noble eulogium on +our mother country; and dwelt on the many reasons why the most cordial +friendship should be maintained with her; and he concluded by a tribute to the +fair sex—the women—beautiful woman; to the wondrous educational +influence as the mother which she exercised over the minds of men. It is ever, +at all times, felt and operative—upon the dreary waste of ocean, on the +lonely prairie, in the troublous contests at the national halls. And when the +arm is moved in the deadly conflicts of the battle-field, and the foe is +vanquished, then the gentle influences instilled by women do their work, and +the heart melts into tears of pity and prompts to deeds of mercy. +</p> + +<p> +After this intellectual repast, then succeeded congratulations; the air was +made vocal with song; while, through the foresight of the gallant captain, at +the evening hour, the sky about the good ship Joseph Whitney was brilliant with +those various pyrotechnic displays which must be so grateful to the spirit of +patriotic John Adams, of bonfire and illumination-memory. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>Speech at the Portland Serenade,</h2> + +<p class="center"> +July 9th, 1858. +</p> + +<p> +After the music had ceased, Mr. Davis appeared upon the steps, and as soon as +the prolonged applause with which he was greeted had subsided, he spoke in +substance as follows: +</p> + +<p> +Fellow Countrymen:—Accept my sincere thanks for this manifestation of +your kindness. Vanity does not lead me so far to misconceive your purpose as to +appropriate the demonstration to myself; but it is not less gratifying to me to +be made the medium through which Maine tenders an expression of regard to her +sister Mississippi. It is moreover, with feelings of profound gratification +that I witness this indication of that national sentiment and fraternity which +made us, and which alone can keep us, one people. At a period, but as yesterday +when compared with the life of nations, these States were separate, and in +sorts respects opposing colonies; their only relation to each other was that of +a common allegiance to the government of Great Britain. So separate, indeed +almost hostile, was their attitude, that when Gen. Stark, of Bennington memory, +was captured by savages on the head waters of the Kennebec, he was subsequently +taken by them to Albnny {sic} where they went to sell furs, and again led away +a captive, without interference on the part of the inhabitants of that +neighboring colony to demand or obtain his release. United as we now are, were +a citizen of the United States, as an act of hostility to our country, +imprisoned or slain in any quarter of the world, whether on land or sea, the +people of each and every State of the Union, with one heart, and with one +voice, would demand redress, and woe be to him against whom a brother’s +blood cried to us from the ground. Such is the fruit of the wisdom and the +justice with which our fathers bound contending colonies into confederation and +blended different habits and rival interests into a harmonious whole, so that +shoulder to shoulder they entered on the trial of the revolution, step with +step trod its thorny paths until they reached the height of national +independence and founded the constitutional representative liberty, which is +our birthright. +</p> + +<p> +When the mother country entered upon her career of oppression, in disregard of +chartered and constitutional rights, our forefathers did not stop to measure +the exact weight of the burden, or to ask whether the pressure bore most upon +this colony or upon that, but saw in it the infraction of a great principle, +the denial of a common right, in defence of which they made common cause; +Massachusetts, Virginia and South Carolina vieing with each other as to who +should be foremost in the struggle, where the penalty of failure would be a +dishonorable grave. +</p> + +<p> +Tempered by the trials and sacrifices of the revolution, dignified by its noble +purposes, elevated by its brilliant triumphs, endeared to each other by its +glorious memories, they abandoned the confederacy, not to fly apart when the +outward pressure of hostile fleets and armies were removed, but to draw closer +their embrace in the formation of a more perfect union. By such men, thus +trained and ennobled, our Constitution was formed. It stands a monument of +principle, of forecast, and, above all, of that liberality which made each +willing to sacrifice local interest, individual prejudice or temporary good to +the general welfare, and the perpetuity of the Republican institutions which +they had passed through fire and blood to secure. The grants were as broad as +were necessary for the functions of the general agent, and the mutual +concessions were twice blessed, blessing both him who gave and him who +received. Whatever was necessary for domestic government, requisite in the +social organization of each community, was retained by the States and the +people thereof; and these it was made the duty of all to defend and maintain. +</p> + +<p> +Such, in very general terms, is the rich political legacy our fathers +bequeathed to us. Shall we preserve and transmit it to posterity? Yes, yes, the +heart responds, and the judgment answers, the task is easily performed. It but +requires that each should attend to that which most concerns him, and on which +alone he has rightful power to decide and to act. That each should adhere to +the terms of a written compact and that all should cooperate for that which +interest, duty and honor demand. For the general affairs of our country, both +foreign and domestic, we have a national executive and a national legislature. +Representatives and Senators are chosen by districts and by States, but their +acts affect the whole country, and their obligations are to the whole people. +He who holding either seat would confine his investigations to the mere +interests of his immediate constituents would be derelict to his plain duty; +and he who would legislate in hostility to any section would be morally unfit +for the station, and surely an unsafe depositary if not a treacherous guardian +of the inheritance with which we are blessed. +</p> + +<p> +No one, more than myself; recognizes the binding force of the allegiance which +the citizen owes to the State of his citizenship, but that State being a party +to our compact, a member of our union, fealty to the federal Constitution is +not in opposition to, but flows from the allegiance due to one of the United +States. Washington was not less a Virginian when he commanded at Boston; nor +did Gates or Greene weaken the bonds which bound them to their several States, +by their campaigns in the South. In proportion as a citizen loves his own +State, will he strive to honor by preserving her name and her fame free from +the tarnish of having failed to observe her obligations, and to fulfil her +duties to her sister States. Each page of our history is illustrated by the +names and the deeds of those who have well understood, and discharged the +obligation. Have we so degenerated, that we can no longer emulate their +virtues? Have the purposes for which our Union was formed, lost their value? +Has patriotism ceased to be a virtue, and is narrow sectionalism no longer to +be counted a crime? Shall the North not rejoice that the progress of +agriculture in the South has given to her great staple the controlling +influence of the commerce of the world, and put manufacturing nations under +bond to keep the peace with the United States? Shall the South not exult in the +fact, that the industry and persevering intelligence of the North, has placed +her mechanical skill in the front ranks of the civilized world—that our +mother country, whose haughty minister some eighty odd years ago declared that +not a hob-nail should be made in the colonies, which are now the United States, +was brought some four years ago to recognize our pre-eminence by sending a +commission to examine our work shops, and our machinery, to perfect their own +manufacture of the arms requisite for their defence? Do not our whole people, +interior and seaboard, North, South, East, and West, alike feel proud of the +hardihood, the enterprise, the skill, and the courage of the Yankee sailor, who +has borne our flag far as the ocean bears its foam, and caused the name and the +character of the United States to be known and respected wherever there is +wealth enough to woo commerce, and intelligence enough to honor merit? So long +as we preserve, and appreciate the achievements of Jefferson and Adams, of +Franklin and Madison, of Hamilton, of Hancock, and of Rutledge, men who labored +for the whole country, and lived for mankind, we cannot sink to the petty +strife which would sap the foundations, and destroy the political fabric our +fathers erected, and bequeathed as an inheritance to our posterity forever. +</p> + +<p> +Since the formation of the Constitution, a vast extension of territory, and the +varied relations arising there from, have presented problems which could not +have been foreseen. It is just cause for admiration—even wonder, that the +provisions of the fundamental law should have been found so fully adequate to +all the wants of government, new in its organization, and new in many of the +principles on which it was founded. Whatever fears may have once existed as to +the consequences of territorial expansion, must give way before the evidence +which the past affords. The general government, strictly confined to its +delegated functions, and the States left in the undisturbed exercise of all +else, we have a theory and practice which fits our government for immeasurable +domain, and might, under a millennium of nations, embrace mankind. +</p> + +<p> +From the slope of the Atlantic our population with ceaseless tide has poured +into the wide and fertile valley of the Mississippi, with eddying whirl has +passed to the coast of the Pacific, from the West and the East the tides are +rushing towards each other—and the mind is carried to the day when all +the cultivable and will be inhabited, and the American people will sign for +more wildernesses to conquer. But there is here a physico-political problem +presented for our solution. Were it was purely physical—your past +triumphs would leave but little doubt of your capacity to solve it. +</p> + +<p> +A community, which, when less than twenty thousand, conceived the grand project +of crossing the White Mountains, and, unaided, save by the stimulus which jeers +and prophecies of failure gave, successfully executed the herculean work, might +well be impatient, if it were suggested that a physical problem was before us, +too difficult for their mastery. The history of man teaches that high mountains +and wide deserts have resisted the permanent extension of empire, and have +formed the immutable boundaries of States. From time to time, under some able +leader, have the hordes of the upper plains of Asia swept over the adjacent +country, and rolled their conquering columns over Southern Europe. Yet, after +the lapse of a few generations, the physical law to which I have referred, has +asserted its supremacy, and the boundaries of those States differ little now +from those which obtained three thousand years ago. Rome flew her conquering +eagles over the then known world, and has now subsided into the little +territory on which her great city was originally built. The Alps and the +Pyrenees have been unable to restrain imperial France; but her expansion was a +leverish action; her advance and her retreat were tracked with blood, and those +mountain ridges are the re-established limits of her empire. Shall the Rocky +Mountains prove a dividing barrier to us? Were ours a central consolidated +government, instead of a Union of sovereign States, our fate might be learned +from the history of other nations. Thanks to the wisdom and independent spirit +of our forefathers, this is not our case. Each State having sole charge of its +local interests and domestic affairs, the problem which to others has been +insoluble, to us is made easy. Rapid, safe, and easy communication and +co-operation among all parts of our continent-wide republic. The network of +railroads which bind the North and the South, the slope of the Atlantic and the +valley of the Mississippi, together testify that our people have the power to +perform, in that regard, whatever it is their will to do. +</p> + +<p> +We require a railroad to the States of the Pacific for present uses; the time +no doubt will come when we shall have need of two or three; it may be more. +Because of the desert character of the interior country the work will be +difficult and expensive. It will require the efforts of an united people. The +bickerings of little politicians, the jealousies of sections, must give way to +dignity of purpose and zeal for the common good. If the object be obstructed by +contention and division as to whether the route to be selected shall be +northern, southern or central, the handwriting is on the wall, and it requires +little skill to see that failure is the interpretation of the inscription. You +are a practical people and may ask, how is that contest to be avoided? By +taking the question out of the hands of politicians altogether. Let the +Government give such aid as it is proper for it to render to the Company which +shall propose the most feasible and advantageous plan; then leave to +capitalists with judgment sharpened by interest, the selection of the route, +and the difficulties will diminish as did those which you overcame when you +connected your harbor with the Canadian Provinces. +</p> + +<p> +It would be to trespass on your kindness and to violate the proprieties of the +occasion, were I to detain the vast concourse which stands before me, by +entering on the discussion of controverted topics, or by further indulging in +the expression of such reflections as circumstances suggest. +</p> + +<p> +I came to your city in quest of health and repose. From the moment I entered it +you have showered upon me kindness and hospitality. Though my experience has +taught me to anticipate good rather than evil from my fellow man, it had not +prepared me to expect such unremitting attention as has here been bestowed. I +have been jocularly asked in relation to my coming here, whether I had secured +a guaranty {sic} for my safety, and lo, I have found it. I stand in the midst +of thousands of my fellow citizens. But my friend, I came neither distrusting, +not apprehensive, of which you have proof in the fact that I brought with me +the objects of tenderest affection and solicitude—my wife and my +children; they have shared with me your hospitality, and will alike remain your +debtors. If at some future time, when I am mingled with the dust, and the arm +of my infant son has been nerved for deeds of manhood, the storm of war should +burst upon your city, I feel that, relying upon his inheriting the instincts of +his ancestors and mine, I may pledge him in that perilous hour to stand by your +side in the defence of your hearth stones, and in maintaining the honor of a +flag whose constellation though torn and smoked in many a battle, by sea and +land, has never been stained with dishonor, and will I trust forever fly as +free as the breeze which unfolds it. +</p> + +<p> +A stranger to you, the salubrity of your location and the beauty of its scenery +were not wholly unknown to me, nor were there wanting associations which bust +memory connected with your people. You will pardon me for alluding to one whose +genius shed a lustre upon all it touched, and whose qualities gathered about +him hosts of friends, wherever he was known. Prentiss, a native of Portland, +lived from youth to middle age in the county of my residence, and the inquiries +which have been made, show me that the youth excited the interest which the +greatness of the man justified, and that his memory thus remains a link to +connect your home with mine. +</p> + +<p> +A cursory view, when passing through your town on former occasions, had +impressed me with the great advantages of your harbor, its easy entrance, its +depth, and its extensive accommodation for shipping. But its advantages, and if +facilities as they have been developed by closer inspection, have grown upon me +until I realize that it is no boast, but the language of sober truth which in +the present state of commerce pronounces them unequaled in any harbor of our +country. +</p> + +<p> +And surely no place could be more inviting to an invalid who sought a refuge +from the heat of a southern summer. Here waving elms offer him shared walks, +and magnificent residences surrounded by flowers, fill the mind with ideas of +comfort and of rest. If weary of constant contact with his fellow men, he seeks +a deeper seclusion, there, in the back ground of this grand amphitheatre, lie +the eternal mountains, frowning with brow of rock and cap of snow upon the +smiling fields beneath, and there in its recesses may be found as much of +wildness, and as much of solitude, as the pilgrim weary of the cares of life +can desire. If he turn to the front, your capacious harbor, studded with green +islands of ever varying light and shade, and enlivened by all the stirring +evidences of commercial activity, offer him the mingled charms of busy life and +nature’s calm repose. A few miles further, and he may site upon the quiet +shore to listen to the murmuring wave until the troubled spirit sinks to rest, +and in the little sail that vanishes on the illimitable sea, we may find the +type of the voyage which he is so soon to take, when, his ephemeral existence +closed, he embarks for that better state which lies beyond the grave. +</p> + +<p> +Richly endowed as you are by nature in all which contributes to pleasure and to +usefulness, the stranger cannot pass without paying a tribute to the much which +your energy has achieved for yourselves. Where else will one find a more happy +union of magnificence and comfort, where better arrangements to facilitate +commerce? Where so much of industry, with so little noise and bustle? Where, in +a phrase, so much effected in proportion to the means employed? We hear the +puff of the engine, the roll of the wheel, the ring of the axe, and the saw, +but the stormy, passionate exclamations so often mingled with the sounds, are +no where heard. Yet, neither these nor other things which I have mentioned; +attractive though they be, have been to me the chief charm which I have found +among you. For above all these I place the gentle kindness, the cordial +welcome, the hearty grasp, which made me feel truly and at once, though +wandering far, that I was still at home. +</p> + +<p> +My friends, I thank you for this additional manifestation of your good will. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>Speech at the Portland Convention.</h2> + +<p> +On Thursday, August 24th, 1858, when the Democratic Convention had nearly +concluded its business, a committee was appointed to wait on Mr. Davis, and +request him to gratify them by his presence in the Convention. He expressed his +willingness to comply with the wishes of his countrymen, and accordingly +repaired to the City Hall. On entering he was greeted in the most cordial and +enthusiastic manner. After business was finished, he proceeded to the rostrum, +and, addressing the Convention, said: +</p> + +<p> +Friends, fellow-citizens, and brethren in Democracy, he thanked them for the +honor conferred by their invitation to be present at their deliberations, and +expressed the pleasure he felt in standing in the midst of the Democracy of +Maine—amidst so many manifestations of the important and gratifying fact +that the Democratic is, in truth, a national party. He did not fail to remember +that the principles of the party declaring for the largest amount of personal +liberty consistent with good government, and to the greatest possible extent of +community and municipal independence, would render it in their view, as in his +own, improper for him to speak of those subjects which were local in their +character, and he would endeavor not so far to trespass upon their kindness as +to refer to anything which bore such connection, direct or indirect—and +he hoped that those of their opponents who, having the control of type, fancied +themselves licensed to manufacture facts, would not hold them responsible for +what he did not say. He said he should carry with him, as one of the pleasant +memories of his brief sojourn in Maine, the additional assurance, which +intercourse with the people had given him, that there still lives a National +Party, struggling and resolved bravely to struggle for the maintenance of the +Constitution, the abatement of sectional hostility, and the preservation of the +fraternal compact made by the Fathers of the Republic. He said, rocked in the +cradle of Democracy, having learned its precepts from his father,—who was +a Revolutionary Soldier—and in later years having been led forward in the +same doctrine by the patriot statesman—of whom such honorable mention was +made in their resolutions—Andrew Jackson, he had always felt that he had +in his own heart a standard by which to measure the sentiments of a Democrat. +When, therefore, he had seen evidences of a narrow sectionalism, which sought +not the good of the whole, not even the benefit of a part, but aimed at the +injury of a particular section, the pulsations of his own heart told him such +cannot be the purpose, the aim, or the wish of any American Democrat—and +he saw around him to-day evidence that his opinion in this respect had here its +verification. As he looked upon the weather-beaten faces of the veterans and +upon the flushed cheek and flashing eye of the youth, which told of the fixed +resolve of the one, and the ardent, noble hopes of the other, strengthened hope +and bright anticipations filled his mind, and he feared not to ask the +questions shall narrow interests, shall local jealousies, shall disregard of +the high purposes for which our Union was ordained, continue to distract our +people and impede the progress of our government toward the high consummation +which prophetic statesmen have so often indicated as her +destiny?—[Voices, no, no, no! Much applause.] +</p> + +<p> +Thanks for that answer; let every American heart respond no; let every American +head, let every American hand unite in the great object of National +development. Let our progress be across the land and over the sea, let our flag +as stated in your resolutions, continue to wave its welcome to the oppressed, +who flee from the despotism of other lands, until the constellation which marks +the number of our States which have already increased from thirteen to thirty +two, shall go on multiplying into a bright galaxy covering the field on which +we now display the revered stripes, which record the original size of our +political family, and shall shed its benign light over all mankind, to point +them to the paths of self-government and constitutional liberty. +</p> + +<p> +He here referred to the history of the Democratic party, and numbered among its +glories the various acts of territorial acquisition and triumphs through its +foreign intercourse in the march of civilization and National amity, as well as +in the glories which from time to time had been shed by the success of our arms +upon the name and character of the American people. He alluded to the recent +attempt by some of the governments of Europe, to engraft upon National law a +prohibition against privateering. He said whenever other governments were +willing to declare that private property should be exempt from the rigors of +war, on sea as it is on land, our government might meet them more than half +way, but to a proposition which would leave private property the prey of +national vessels and thus give the whole privateering to those governments +which maintained a large naval establishment in time of peace, he would +unhesitatingly answer no. Our merchant marine constituted the militia of the +sea—how effective it had been in our last struggle with a maritime power, +he need not say to the sons of those who had figured so conspicuously in that +species of warfare. The policy of our government was peace. We could not +consent to bear the useless expense of a naval establishment larger than was +necessary for its proper uses in a time of peace. Relying as we had and must +hereafter upon the merchant marine to man whatever additional vessels we should +require, and upon the bold and hardy Yankee sailor, when he could no longer get +freight for his craft, to receive a proper armament, and go forth like a knight +errant of the sea in quest of adventure against the enemies of his +country’s flag. +</p> + +<p> +He said our country was powerful for all military purposes, and if asked to +compare her armies and her navy with those of the great powers of Europe, he +would answer, that is not our standard. History teaches that our strength is in +the courage and patriotism, the skill and intelligence of our people. A part of +the American army was before him, and a part of the American navy was lying in +the harbor of their city. That army and that navy had fought the battles of the +Revolution, of the “war of 1812” and of the war with Mexico, and +would never be found wanting, whilst the patriotism of the earlier days of the +Republic, proved a sufficient cement to hold the different parts of our wide +spread and extending country together. He said that everything around him spoke +eloquently of the wisdom of the men who founded these colonies-their +descendants, who sat before him, contrasted strongly, as did their history and +present power, stand out in bold relief, when compared with those of the +inhabitants of Central and Southern America. Chief among the reasons for this, +he believed to be the self-reliant hardihood of their forefathers who, when but +a handful, found themselves confronted by hordes of savages, yet proudly +maintained the integrity of their race and asserted its supremacy over the +descendants of Shem, in whose tents they had come to dwell. They preferred to +encounter toil, privation and carnage, rather than debase their lineage and +race. Their descendants of that pure and heroic blood have advanced to the high +standard of civilization attainable by that type of mankind. Stability and +progress, wealth and comfort, art and science, have followed their footsteps. +</p> + +<p> +Among our neighbors of Central and Southern America, we see the Caucasian +mingled with the Indian and the African. They have the forms of free +government, because they have copied them. To its benefits they have not +attained, because that standard of civilization is above their race. Revolution +succeeds Revolution, and the country mourns that some petty chief may triumph, +and through a sixty days’ government ape the rulers of the earth. Even +now the nearest and strongest of these American Republics, which were fashioned +after the model of our own, seems to be tottering to a fall, and the world is +inquiring as to who will take possession; or, as protector, raise and lead a +people who have shown themselves incompetent to govern themselves. +</p> + +<p> +He said our fathers laid the foundation of Empire, and declared its purposes; +to their sons it remained to complete their superstructure. The means by which +this end was to be secured were simple and easy. It involved no harder task +than that each man should attend to his own business, that no community should +arrogantly assume to interfere with the affairs of another—and that all +by the honorable obligation of fulfiling that compact which their fathers had +made. +</p> + +<p> +He then referred to the commercial position of Maine, and spoke of her brightly +unfolding prospects of prosperity and greatness. Many considered her wealth to +consist of her forests, and that her prosperity would decline when her timber +was exhausted—he held to a different opinion, and thought they might +welcome the day, when the sombre shadows of the Pine gave place to verdant +pastures and fruitful fields. Was he asked, what then was to become of the +interest of ship-building? He would answer—let it be changed from wood to +iron. The skill to be aquired be a few years’ experience, would at a fair +price for iron, enable our ship builders to construct iron ships, which, taking +into account their greater capacity for freight and greater durability, would +be cheaper than vessels of wood, even whilst timber was as abundant as +now;—at least such was the information he had derived from persons well +informed upon those subjects. +</p> + +<p> +He expressed the gratification he felt for the courtesy of the Democracy in +Maine, and doubted not that the Democracy of Mississippi would receive it, with +grateful recognition, as evincing fraternal sentiment by kindness done to one +of her sons, not the less a representative, because a humble member of her +Democracy. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>Speech at Belfast Encampment.</h2> + +<p> +About the o’clock the troops at the encampment being under arms, Col. +Davis was escorted to the ground and reviewed them. He was then introduced to +the troops by Gen. Cushman, as follows— +</p> + +<p> +Officers and fellow soldiers, I introduce to you Col. Jefferson Davis, an +eminent citizen of Mississippi,—a man, and I say a hero, who has, in the +service of his country, been among and faced hostile guns. +</p> + +<p> +Col. Davis replied as follows— +</p> + +<p> +Citizen Soldiers:—I feel pleased and gratified at the exhibition I have +witnessed of the military spirit and instruction of the volunteer militia of +Maine. I acknowledge the compliment which has been paid to me, and I welcome it +as the indication of the liberality and national sentiment which makes the +militia of each State the effective, as they are the constitutional defenders +of our whole country. +</p> + +<p> +To one who loves his country in all its parts, it is natural to rejoice in +whatever contributes to the prosperity and honor, and marks the stability and +progress of any portion of its people. I therefore look upon the evidence +presented to me of the soldierly enthusiasm and military acquirements displayed +on this occasion, with none the less pleasure because I am the citizen of +another and distant State. It was not the policy of our government to maintain +large armies of navies in time of peace. The history of our past wars +established the fact that it was not needful to do so. The militia had bee +found equal to all the emergencies of war. Their patriotism, their +intelligence, their knowledge of the use of arms, had given to then all the +efficiency of veterans, and on many bloody fields they have shown their +superiority over the disciplined troops of their enemies. A people morally and +intellectually equal to self-government, must also be equal in self-defence. My +friends, your worthy General has alluded to my connection with the military +service of the country. The memory arose to myself when the troops this day +marched past me, and when I looked upon their manly bearing and firm step. I +thought could I have seen them thus approaching the last field of battle on +which I served, where the changing tide several times threatened disaster to +the American flag, with what joy I would have welcomed those striped and +starred banners, the emblem and the guide of the free and the brave, and with +what pride would the heart have beaten when welcoming the danger’s hour, +brethren from so remote an extremity of our expanded territory. +</p> + +<p> +One of the evidences of the fraternal confidence and mutual reliance of our +fathers was to be found in their compact or mutual protection and common +defence. So long as their sons preserve the spirit and appreciate the purpose +of their fathers, the United States will remain invincible, their power will +grow with the lapse of time, and their example show brighter and brighter as +revolving ages roll over the temple our fathers dedicated to constitutional +liberty, and founded upon truths announced to their sons, but intended for +mankind. I thank you, citizen soldiers, for this act of courtesy. It will long +and gratefully be remembered, as a token of respect to the distant State of +which I am a citizen, and I trust will be noted by others, as indicating that +national sentiment which made, and which alone can preserve us a nation. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>Banquet After Encampment at Belfast.</h2> + +<p> +The Mayor then gave: +</p> + +<p> +The heroes who have fought our country’s battles: may their services be +appreciated by a grateful people. +</p> + +<p> +Loud calls being made for Col. Jefferson Davis, that gentleman arose and said: +</p> + +<p> +The sentiment to which he was called to respond excited memories which called +up proud emotions, though their associations were sad. He could not reply to a +compliment paid to the gallantry of his comrades in the war with Mexico, +without remembering how many of them now mingle with the dust of a foreign +land, and how many of them have sunk after the day of toil was done by reason +of the exposure endured in the service of their country. The land has mourned, +and still mourns, the fall of its bravest and best, and truly are our laurels +mingled with the cypress, ’tis well, and ’tis wise, ’tis +natural and ’tis proper, that in looking on the laurels of our glory we +should pause to pay a tribute to the cypress which weeps over them, and having +paid this tribute to the gallant dead, the memory of whose service can never +die, we pass to the consideration of their acts, and the beneficial results +which their sacrifices have secured. When that war begun, our history recorded +evidence only of the power of our people for defence. The Fabian policy of +Washington, admirably adapted to the condition of the Colonies, achieved so +much in proportion to the means, that he would be rash indeed who should +attempt to criticise it. The prudent, though daring course of Jackson, fruitful +as it was of the end to be attained, did not yet serve to illustrate the +capacity of our people for the trials and the struggles attendant on the +operations of an invasive war. Hence it was commonly asserted that the American +people, though they might resist attack, were powerless to redress aggression +which was not connected with the invasion of their territory. The idea of +reliance upon undisciplined militia was treated with contempt and derision. To +borrow a simile from the pit, we were regarded as dung-hill soldiers, who would +only fight at home. In the war with Mexico our armies carried their banners +over routes hitherto unknown, through mountain passes where nature had almost +completed the work of defence, and penetrated further into the enemy’s +country than any European army has ever marched from the source of its +supplies. Not to prolong the comparison by a reference to events of a remote +period, he would only refer to the last campaign in European war. The combined +armies of France and England, after preparation worthy of their great military +power, advanced through friendly territory to the outer verge of the country, +against which they directed a war of invasion, and after a prolonged siege by +sea and by land, finally captured a seaport town which they could not hold. +Before them lay the country they had come to invade, but there, at the outer +gate, their march was arrested, and in sight of the ships which brought them +supplies and reinforcements, they terminated a campaign, the scale and +proclaimed objects of which had caused the world to look on in expectation of +achievements the like of which man had not seen. Why was it so? was it not that +they were unable to move from the depot of supplies, though a distance less +than half of that over which our army passed before reaching a productive +region would have brought the allied forces to a country filled with all the +supplies necessary for the support of an army. Is it boastful to say that +American troops, and an American treasury, would have encountered and have +overcome such an obstacle? He did not forget the complaints which had been made +on account of the vast expenditures which had been made in the prosecution of +the war with Mexico; but he remembered with pride the capacity which the +country had exhibited to bear such expenditure, and believed that our people +had no money standard by which to measure the duty of their government, and the +honor of their flag. We bear with us from the wars in which we have been +engaged no other memory of their cost than the loss of the gallant dead. To the +printed reports and tabular statements we must go when we desire to know how +many dollars were expended. The successful soldier when he returns from the +field is met by a welcome proportionate to the leaves which he has added to the +wreath of his country’s glory. Each has his reward; to one, the admiring +listener at the hearthstone; to another, the triumphal reception; to all, the +respect which patriotism renders to patriotic service. To the soldier who, in +the early part of the Mexican war, set the seal of invincibility upon American +arms, and subsequently by a signal victory dispersed and disorganized the +regular army of Mexico, his countrymen voted the highest reward known to our +government. Twice before have the people in like manner manifested their +approbation and esteem. Thus has the military spirit of the country been +nursed; to-day it needs not the monarchial bundles of ribbons, orders and +titles to sustain it. Thus has the American citizen been made to realize that +it is sweet and honorable to die for one’s country; and to feel proudest +among his family memories of the names of those who successfully fought or +bravely died in defence of the national flag. Often he had had occasion to +feel, and to mark the mingled sensation of pride and of sorrow with which +friends revert to those who gallantly died in the field. Even at this now +remote day he could not travel in Mississippi without having the recollection +of his fallen comrades painfully revived by meeting a mother who mourns her son +with the agony of a mother’s grief; a father, whose stern nature vainly +struggles to conceal the involuntary pang, or tender children who know not the +extent of their deprivation, though it is indeed the sorest of all. Let none +then be surprised that he could not see thee laurel save through the solemn +shade of the cypress. Time, however, softened the shadow long before it withers +the leaf. On his way to this place he learned that it was possible, and he +seized the occasion to visit the residence of Gen. Knox, of revolutionary +memory. His own desire to see something which had been identified with a +patriot soldier who had so largely contributed to the success of the +revolution, and the establishment of the institutions we inherited, was but an +indication of the military sentiment which lives in the American heart. It +turns the step of the traveller from his direct path, it attracts the boy in +his first reading, it fires the ambition of the youth, and encircles the +veteran with the kindness of his neighbors, and swells the train which follows +his bier when, his duty to his country performed, he answers the summons of his +God, and is translated to a better sphere. It is that same military enthusiasm +which calls you from the avocations and the pleasures of home to the duties and +discomforts of the camp, that you may prepare yourselves whenever your country +needs it to render her efficient service. On the militia of the country the +rights of its citizens, and the honor of its flag, must mainly depend in the +event of a war; they only need to be organized and instructed to render them a +secure reliance. Mingled with the great body of the people, identified with +their feelings and their interests, proud of the prowess of their fathers and +jealousy careful of the country’s honor, if properly instructed and +prepared, the first trumpet call should bring from plain and from mountain a +citizen soldiery who would encircle the land and check the invader with a wall +of fire. Your plan of encampment seems best suited to the purposes of practical +instruction. A pilgrim in search of health, his steps had been fortunately +directed to Maine, the courtesy of the commander of this encampment had induced +him to visit it and to review the troops. In all respects it had been to him +most gratifying. The appointments, the movements, the stern faces, and stalwart +forms of the men, spoke of the power to do, and the will to dare whatever it +was needful and proper to perform. This day to manifest respect to a citizen of +a distant State, whose only claim upon them is that he has been an American +soldier, and is an American citizen, they had cheerfully marched through heavy +mire. So much had they given to so small a demand on their natural sentiment, +he could not doubt they would with equal alacrity, and with the same firm step, +march over a field miry with the blood of comrade and of foe, where opposing +causes make to men a common fate. +</p> + +<p> +Among the objects which were of interest to him and which he had hoped to +visit, was the fortification at the narrows of the Penobscot. During the last +session of congress he had endeavored to obtain an appropriation for the +completion of the work which had advanced to the point which made it effective +against shipping, but left still liable to be carried by land attack. He was +not of those who thought it necessary to raise walls wherever an enemy might +land and march, for he would say that henceforward there would remain to an +invading army but to choose between captivity and a grave. To protect +commercial ports against naval assault forts are needful and should be +completed so as to render them defensible by small garrisons, and to save those +garrisons as far as possible from the sacrifice of life. Our people require no +wall to separate them from other countries, unless it be needful for our own +restraint. Our policy is peace, and the fact shines brightly on the pages of +our history that not one acre of its extensive acquisitions have been claimed +as the spoil of the sword. Unpeopled deserts have been purchased, and on its +own application a community has been admitted to our family of states. But we +have offered to the world the singular example of conquered territory returned +to the vanquished. +</p> + +<p> +Permit me in this connection, whilst ever mindful of the just relation and +necessity for concurrent action between the civil and military departments of +government, to bear testimony to the value of the militia for the purposes of +peace. The principle of self-government and the spirit of independence are so +deep rooted in the American mind that our people would illy brook the +enforcement of law by any extraneous power, and it is to be hoped we never will +see a case in which the people of a State will not be able to maintain the +civil authority, and vindicate offended law against all opposers whomsoever. To +give energy and activity to such popular action the organization of the militia +will be most convenient whenever force shall be needful. It is not a little +remarkable that though the first Presidents in emphatic language from time to +time recommended a thorough organization of the militia as one of the most +important duties of the government, but little more has yet been done than to +make provisions for supplying them with arms, and for calling them out when +required for federal purposes. There is a moral effect arising from the +spectacle of each State possessed of a body of instructed militia, ready not +only to maintain its government at home, but to unite with the militia of other +States and to form an army upon which all can rely whenever a common danger +calls for a common defence. It has been thus that from time to time the +fraternity of our revolutionary fathers has been renewed among their sons, and +additional assurance has been given that the sentiment of nationality on which +our Union was founded could never die. That the expansion of the circle did not +weaken its cohesive power, nor the piling of arch upon arch endanger the +foundation on which our political temple was built. It was not a structure of +expediency; master workmen cleared away the surface where the errors and +prejudices of ages had accumulated, dug deep down to the unmutable rock of +truth, and with unchanging principles constructed the walls to stand till time +should become eternity. Who is there, then, forgetful of his revolutionary +descent, insensible to the pride which the name of the United States justly +inspires, faithless to the duty which the bond of his fathers imposes, and +reckless of all which the honorable discharge of that duty ensures, would unite +with impious purpose to destroy that foundation, and strive, with sacrilegious +hand to tear the flag under which we had marched from colonial dependence to +our present national greatness. Away with speculative theories, and false +philanthropy of abstractions, which tend to destroy one half, one third, aye, +or a single star of that bright constellation which lights the pathway of our +future career, and sends a hopeful ray through the clouds of despotism which +hang over less favored lands. +</p> + +<p> +Our mission is not that of propagandists—our principles forbid +interference with the institutions of other countries; but we may hope that our +example will be imitated, and should so live that this model of representative +liberty, community independence, and government derived from the consent of the +governed, and limited by a written compact, should commend itself to the +adoption of others. We now stand isolated among the great nations of the earth; +the opposition of monarchial governments to the theory on which ours is +founded, points to the possibility of an alliance against us, by which what is +termed national law may be modified and warped to our prejudice if not to our +assailment. It needs the united power, harmonious action and concentrated will +of the people of all these States to roll the wheel of progress to the end +which our fathers contemplated, and which their sons, if they are wise and +true, may behold. May the kindness and courtesy which have characterized the +present occasion on which Mississippi has been greeted by Maine, be a type of +the feeling which shall ever exist between the extremes of our common country. +From Florida to California, from Oregon to Maine, from the centre to the +remotest border, may the possessors of our constitutional heritage appreciate +its value, and faithfully, fraternally labor for its thorough development, +looking back to the original compact for the purposes for which the Union was +established, and forward to the blessing which such union was designed and is +competent to confer. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>Speech at the Portland Meeting.</h2> + +<p> +When it became known that Mr. Davis had arrived at the Hall, he was loudly +called for. Hon. Joseph Howard, chairman of the meeting, then introduced Mr. +Davis, who, on coming forward, was greeted with cheer upon cheer from the vast +audience. As soon as the prolonged and enthusiastic applause with which he was +welcomed had subsided, Mr. Davis, addressing the audience as fellow citizens +and Democratic brethren, said that the invitation with which he had been +favored to address them, evinced a purpose to confer together for the common +good—for the maintenance of the constitution, the bond of union. He would +not be expected to discuss local questions; he would not in this imitate the +mischievous agitators who inflame the Northern mind against the Southern +States. He came among them, an invalid, advised by his physician to resort to +this clime for the restoration of his health; as an American citizen, he had +not expected that his right to come here would be questioned; as a stranger, or +if not entirely so, known mainly by the detraction which the ardent advocacy of +the rights of the South had brought upon him, he had supposed that neither his +coming nor his going would attract attention. But his anticipations had proved +erroneous. The polite, the manly, elevated men, lifted above the barbarism +which makes stranger and enemy convertible terms, had chosen, without political +distinction, to welcome his coming, and by constant acts of generous +hospitality to make his sojourn as pleasant as his physical condition would +permit. +</p> + +<p> +On the other hand, men who make a trade of politics, and whose capital consists +in the denunciation of the institutions of other States, had erroneously judged +him by themselves, and had regarded his coming as a political mission; +wherefore it was, he was led to suppose, that the scavengers of that party had +been employed in the publication of falsehoods, both in relation to himself and +his political friends at the South. +</p> + +<p> +So far as it affected him personally their attacks were no more than the +barking of a cur, which, by its clamor, indicates the inhospitable character of +the master who keeps him. If his friends and himself were, as had been falsely +charged, Disunionists and Nullifiers, they might naturally have looked for +kinder considerations from a party which circulates petitions for a +“prompt and peaceful dissolution of the Union” on account of the +incompatibility of the sections—from a party, which, having proved +faithless to the obligation of the constitution in relation to the fugitive +from service or labor, then declares null and void the law which their +dereliction made it necessary for Congress to enact. The fealty of himself and +friends to the constitution, and their honorable discharge of its obligations +was their rebuke to this party, in whose hostility he found the highest +commendation in their power to bestow. +</p> + +<p> +By reckless fabrication, by garbling and inserting new words into extracts, +they had attempted to deceive the people here as to his opinions, and had +crowned the fraud by the absurd announcement that his was the creed on which +the people of Maine must vote next Monday. +</p> + +<p> +It was due to the hospitality which he had received at their hands that he +should not interfere in their domestic affairs, and he had not failed to +remember the obligation; when republicans had introduced the subject of African +slavery he had defended it, and answered pharisaical pretensions by citing the +Bible, the constitution of the United States and the good of society in +justification of the institutions of the State of which he was a citizen; in +this he but exercised the right of a freeman and discharged the duty of a +Southern citizen. Was it for this cause that he had been signalized as a +slavery propagandists? He admitted in all its length and breadth the right of +the people of Maine to decide the question for themselves; he held that it +would be an indecent interference, on the part of a citizen of another State, +if he should arraign the propriety of the judgment they had rendered, and that +there was no rightful power in the federal government or in all the States +combined, to set aside the decision which the community had made in relation to +their domestic institutions. Should any attempt be made thus to disturb their +sovereign right, he would pledge himself in advance, as a State-rights man, +with his head, his heart and his hand, if need be, to aid them in the defence +of this right of community independence, which the Union was formed to protect, +and which it was the duty of every American citizen to preserve and to guard as +the peculiar and prominent feature of our government. +</p> + +<p> +Why, then, this accusation? Do they fear to allow Southern men to converse with +their philosophers, and seek thus to silence or exclude them? He trusted others +would contemn them as he did, and that many of our brethren of the South would, +like himself, learn by sojourn here, to appreciate the true men of Maine, and +to know how little are the political abolitionists and the abolition papers the +exponents of the character and the purposes of the Democracy of this State. +</p> + +<p> +And now having brushed away the cob-webs which lay in his path, he would +proceed to the consideration of subjects worthy of the audience he had the +honor to address. +</p> + +<p> +Democrats, patriots, by whatever political name any of you may be known, you +have a sacred duty to perform to your ancestry and to posterity. The time is at +hand when for good or for evil, the questions which have agitated the public +mind are to be solved. Is it true as asserted by northern agitators that there +is such contrariety between the North and the South that they cannot remain +united! Or rather, is it not true as our fathers deemed it, that diversity in +the character of the population, in the products and in the institutions of the +several States formed a reason for their union and tended to secure to their +posterity the liberty which was the common object of their love, and by +cultivating untrammeled intercourse and free trade between the States, to +duplicate the comforts of all? +</p> + +<p> +There was a time when the test of patriotism was the readiness to sever the +bond which bound the colonies to the mother country. Recently our people with +joyous acclamation have welcomed the connection of the United States with Great +Britain, by the Atlantic cable. The one is not inconsistent with the other. +When the home government violated the charters of the colonies, and assumed to +control the private interests of individuals, the love of political liberty, +the determination at whatever hazard to maintain their rights, led our fathers +to enter on the trial of revolution. Having achieved the separation, they did +what was in their power for the development of commerce. They secured free +trade between the States, without surrendering State independence. Their sons, +not only free, but beyond the possibility of future interference in their +domestic affairs, now seek the closest commercial connection with the country +from which their fathers achieved a political separation. +</p> + +<p> +Had the proposition been made to consolidate the States after their +independence had been achieved, all must know it would have been +rejected—yet there are those who now instigate you to sectional strife +for the purpose of sectional dominion and the destruction of the rights of the +minority. Do they mean treason to the Constitution and the destruction of the +Union? Or do they vilely practice on credulity and passion for personal gain? +The latter is suggested by the contradictory course they pursue. At the same +time they proclaim war upon the slave property of the South, they ask for +protection to the manufactures of the staple which could not be produced if +that property did not exist. And while they assert themselves to be the +peculiar friends of commerce and navigation, they vaunt their purpose to +destroy the labor which gives vitality to both; whilst they proclaim themselves +the peculiar friends of laboring men at the North, they insist that the negroes +are their equals; and if they are sincere they would, by emancipation of the +blacks, bring them together and degrade the white man to the negro level. They +seek to influence the northern mind by sectional issues and sectional +organization, yet they profess to be the friends of the Union. The Union +voluntarily formed by free, equal, independent States. +</p> + +<p> +We of the South, on a sectional division, are in the minority; and if +legislation is to be directed by geographical tests—if the constitution +is to be trampled in the dust, and the unbridled will of the majority in +Congress is to be supreme over the States; we should have the problem which was +presented to our Fathers when the Colonies declined to be content with a mere +representation in parliament. +</p> + +<p> +If the constitution is to be sacredly observed, why should there be a struggle +for sectional ascendency? The instrument is the same in all latitudes, and does +not vary with the domestic institutions of the several States. Hence it is that +the Democracy, the party of the constitution, have preserved their integrity, +and are to-day the only national party and the only hope for the preservation +and perpetuation of the Union of the States. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Jefferson denominated the Democracy of the North, the natural allies of the +South. It is in our generation doubly true; they are still the party with whom +labor is capital, and they are now the party which stands by the barriers of +the constitution, to protect them from the waves of fanatical and sectional +aggression. The use of the word aggression reminded him that the people here +have been daily harangued about the aggressions of the slave power, and he had +been curious to learn what was so described. It is, if he had learned +correctly, the assertion of the right to migrate with slaves into the +territories of the United States. Is this aggression? If so, upon what? Not +upon those who desire close association with the negro; not upon territorial +rights, unless these self-styled lovers of the Union have already dissolved it +and have taken the territories to themselves. The territory being the common +property of States, equals in the Union, and bound by the constitution which +recognizes property in slaves, it is an abuse of terms to call aggression the +migration into that territory of one of its joint owners, because carrying with +him any species of property recognized by the constitution of the United +States. The Federal government has no power to declare what is property +anywhere. The power of each State cannot extend beyond its own limits. As a +consequence, therefore, whatever is property in any of the States must be so +considered in any of the territories of the United States until they reach to +the dignity of community independence, when the subject matter will be entirely +under the control of the people and be determined by their fundamental law. If +the inhabitants of any territory should refuse to enact such laws and police +regulations as would give security to their property or to his, it would be +rendered more or less valueless, in proportion to the difficulty of holding it +without such protection. In the case of property in the labor of man, or what +is usually called slave property, the insecurity would be so great that the +owner could not ordinarily retain it. Therefore, though the right would remain, +the remedy being withheld, it would follow that the owner would be practically +debarred by the circumstances of the case, from taking slave property into a +territory where the sense of the inhabitants was opposed to its introduction. +So much for the oft repeated fallacy of forcing slavery upon any community. +</p> + +<p> +If Congress had the power to prohibit the introduction of slave property into +the territories, what would be the purpose? Would it be to promote +emancipation? That could not be the effect. In the first settlement of a +territory the want of population and the consequent difficulty of procuring +hired labor, would induce emigrants to take slaves with them; but if the +climate and products of the country were unsuited to African labor—as +soon as white labor flowed in, the owners of slaves would as a matter of +interest, desire to get rid of them and emancipation would result. The number +would usually be so small that this would be effected without injury to society +or industrial pursuits. Thus it was in Wisconsin, notwithstanding the ordinance +of ’87; and other examples might be cited to show that this is not mere +theory. +</p> + +<p> +Would it be to promote the civilization and progress of the negro race? The +tendency must be otherwise. By the dispersion of the slaves, their labor would +be rendered more productive and their comforts increased. The number of owners +would be multiplied, and by more immediate contact and personal relation +greater care and kindness would be engendered. In every way it would conduce to +the advancement and happiness of the servile caste. +</p> + +<p> +No—no—it is not these, but the same answer which comes to every +inquiry as to the cause of fanatical agitation. ’Tis for sectional power, +and political ascendency; to fan a sectional hostility, which must be, as it +has been, injurious to all, and beneficial to none. For what patriotic purpose +can the Northern mind be agitated in relation to domestic institutions, for +which they have no legal or moral responsibility, and from the interference +with which they are restrained by their obligations as American citizens? +</p> + +<p> +Is it in this mode that the spirit of mutual support and common effort for the +common good, is to be cultivated? Is it thus that confidence is to be developed +and the sense of security to grow with the growing power of each and every +State? Is it thus that we are to exemplify the blessings of self-government by +the free exercise in each independent community of the power to regulate their +domestic institutions as soil, climate, and population may determine? +</p> + +<p> +Among the questions which have been made the basis of recent agitation, and has +contributed as much, perhaps, as any other to popular delusion, was the act +known as the Missouri Compromise. It will be remembered that the agitation of +1819 on the subject of slavery, was not masked as it has been since, by +pretensions of philanthropy—it was an avowed opposition to the admission +of a slave-holding State. A long and bitter controversy was terminated by the +admission of the State of Missouri, and the prohibition of slavery north of the +parallel of 36 deg. 30 minutes. He, and those with whom he most concurred, had +always contended that Congress had no constitutional power to make the +interdiction. But the people having generally acquiesced, the matter was +considered settled; and when Texas, a slave-holding State, was admitted into +the Union, Southern men, regarding the Missouri Act as a compact, assented to +the extension of the line through the territory of Texas, with a provision that +any State formed out of the territory north of 36: 30: should be +non-slaveholding. But when, at a subsequent period, we made extensive +acquisitions from Mexico, and it was proposed to divide the territory by the +same parallel, the North generally opposed it, and after a long discussion, the +controversy was settled on the principle of non-intervention by Congress in +relation to property in the territories. The line of the Missouri Compromise +was repudiated. And a Senator who had been most prominent in denouncing the +repeal of the Missouri Compromise as a violation of good faith on the part of +the South, in 1850, described it as a measure which had been the grave of every +Northern man who supported it, and objected to the boundary of 36: 30: for the +territory of Utah, because of the political implication which its adoption +would contain. +</p> + +<p> +The act having been thus signally repudiated by the denial in every form of the +power of Congress to fix geographical limits within which slavery might or +might not exist; when it became necessary to organize the territories of Kansas +and Nebraska, it was but the corollary of the proposition which had been +maintained in 1850 to repeal the act which had fixed the parallel of 36: 30: as +the future limit of slavery in the territory of Louisiana. +</p> + +<p> +Consistency demanded so much; fairness and manhood could not have granted less. +He was not then a member of Congress; but if he had been, he should have voted +for that repeal; for although in 1850 he had favored the extension of the +Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific Ocean, and believed that it would most +conduce to the harmony of the States, he had yielded to the action of the +Government, and considered the position then taken as conclusive against the +retention of the line in Louisiana and Texas, which its beneficiaries had +refused to extend through the territories acquired from Mexico. As a general +principle, he thought it was best to leave the territories all open. Equality +of right demanded it, and the federal government had no power to withhold it. +Whatever validity the Missouri Compromise act had, it derived from the +acquiescence of the people. After 1850 then it had none. The South had not +asked Congress to extend slavery into the territories, and he in common with +most Southern statesmen, denied the existence of any power to do so. He held it +to be the creed of the Democracy, both in the North and the South, that the +General Government had no constitutional power either to establish or prohibit +slavery anywhere; a grant of power to do the one must necessarily have involved +the power to do the other. Hence it is their policy not to interfere on the one +side or the other, but protecting each individual in his constitutional rights, +to leave every independent community to determine and adjust all domestic +questions as in their wisdom may seem best. +</p> + +<p> +Politicians of the opposite school seemed to forget the relation of the General +Government to the States; even so far as to argue as though the General +Government had been the creator instead of the creature of the States. He had +learned that attempts had been made to impress upon the people of Maine the +belief that they were in danger of having slavery established among them by +decree of the Supreme Court of the United States. He scarcely knew how to +answer so palpable an absurdity. The court was established, among other +purposes, to protect the people from unconstitutional legislation; and if +Congress, in the extreme of madness, should attempt thus to invade the +sovereignty of a State, it would be within the power, and would be the duty of +the court, to check the aggression by declaring such law void. The court have, +on more than one occasion, asserted the right of transit as a consequence of +the guarantees of the Constitution, but it would require much ingenuity to +torture the protection of a traveller or sojourner into an assertion of a right +to become resident and introduce property in contravention of the fundamental +law of the State, or of a citizen to hold property within a State in violation +of its constitution and its policy. The error of the proposition was so +palpable that, like the truth of an axiom, it could not be rendered plainer by +demonstration. +</p> + +<p> +It is not within the scope of human foresight to see the embarrassments which +may arise in the execution of any policy. When it was declared that soil, +climate, and unrestrained migration should be left to fix the <i>status</i> of +the territories, and institutions of the States to be formed out of them, no +one probably anticipated that companies would be incorporated to transport +colonists into a territory with a view to decide its political condition. +Congress, as he believed, yielding too far to the popular idea, had surrendered +its right of revision and thus had recently lost its power to restrain improper +legislation in the territories. From these joint causes had arisen the unhappy +strife in Kansas, which at one time threatened to terminate in civil war. The +Government had been denounced for the employment of United States troops. Very +briefly he would state the case. +</p> + +<p> +The movement of the Emigrant Aid Societies of the North was met by +counteracting movements in Missouri and other Southern States. Thus opposing +tides of emigration met on the plains of Kansas. The land was a scene of +confusion and violence. Fortunately the murders which for a time filled the +newspapers, existed nowhere else; and the men who were reported slain, usually +turned up after a short period to enjoy the eulogies which their martyrdom had +elicited. But arson, theft and disgraceful scenes of disorder did really exist, +and bands of armed men indicated the approach of actual hostilities. What was +the Government to do? Perhaps you will say, call out the militia. But that +would have been to feed and arm one of the parties for the destruction of the +other. To call out the militia of neighboring States would have been but little +better. The sectional excitement then ran so high, that they would probably +have met upon the fields of Kansas as combatants, the government in the +meantime furnishing the supplies for both armies. It was necessary to have a +force—one which would be free from sectional excitement or partisan zeal +and under executive control. The army fulfiled these conditions. It was +therefore employed. It dispersed marauding parties, disarmed organized +invaders, arrested disturbers of the peace, gave comparative quiet and repose +to the territory, without taking a single life, aye, or shedding one drop of +blood. The end justified the means, and the result equaled all that could have +been anticipated. +</p> + +<p> +The anomalous condition of a territory possessing full legislative power, but +not invested with the sovereignty of a State, justified the anxiety exhibited +by Congress to be relieved from the embarrassment which the case of Kansas +presented. The Senate passed a bill to authorize a convention for the +preparation of a constitution for the admission of Kansas as a State. It +however failed in the House of Representatives, and the legislature of Kansas, +availing themselves of the plenary power conferred upon them by the organic +act, proceeded to provide for the assembling of a convention, and the formation +of a constitution. The law was minute and fair in its provisions, so nearly +resembling the bill of the Senate that the one was probably copied from the +other. It seemed to secure to every legal voter every desirable opportunity to +exercise his right. One of the parties of the territory, however, denying the +legal existence of the legislature, chose to abstain from voting. The other +elected the delegates who formed the constitution. The validity of the +instrument he has been denied, because it was not submitted for popular +ratification. He held this position to be wholly untenable, and could but +regard it as a gross departure from the principle of popular sovereignty. A +people—he used the word in its strict political sense—having the +right to make for themselves their fundamental law, may either assemble in mass +convention for that purpose, or may select delegates and limit their power to +the preparation of an instrument to be submitted to a popular decision; or they +may appoint delegates with full powers to frame the fundamental law of the +land. Whether they adopt one mode or the other is a question with which others +have no right to interfere, and he who claims for Congress the power to sit in +judgment on the manner in which a people may form a constitution, is outside of +the barrier which would restrain him from claiming for Congress the right to +dictate the instrument itself. If the right existed to form a constitution at +all, the power of Congress in relation to the instrument was limited to the +simple inquiry: is it republican? In this view of the case it would not matter +to him the ninety-ninth part of a hair whether a people should chose to admit +or exclude slave property. Their right to enter the Union would be a thing +apart from that consideration. +</p> + +<p> +He had felt great doubt as to the propriety of admitting Kansas, and had only +yielded those doubts to the peculiar necessities which seemed to make the case +exceptional. The inhabitants of the territory had however decided not to enter +the Union upon the terms proposed, and he thought their decision was fortunate. +They had not the requisite population; their resources were too limited to give +assurance that they would be able to bear the expenses of their government and +properly to perform the duties of a State. But more than this, their +legislative history shows that they are wanting in the essential +characteristics of a community; whichever party has had the control of the +legislature, has manifested by its acts not a desire to promote the public +good, and protect individual rights, but a purpose to war upon their political +opponents as a hostile power. The political party with which he most +sympathized had marked its legislation by requiring test oaths, offensive to +all our notions of political freedom; and the other party had assumed to take +from the territorial executive the control of the militia and to place it in +irresponsible hands, where, it reports speak truly, it has been employed in the +most wanton outrages and disgraceful persecution of citizens of the opposite +political party. He held, therefore, that the decision of the inhabitants was +fortunate and wise. It was well, that before they assume the responsibilities +of a State, they should gather population, develop the natural resources of the +country, and above all acquire the homogeneous character which would give +security to person and property, and fit them to be justly denominated a +community. +</p> + +<p> +A stranger, and but a passing observer of events in Maine, he had nevertheless +seen indications of a reaction in popular opinion, which promised hopefully for +the future of Democracy, <i>hopefully</i>, it might be permitted for one to say +who believed that the success of the Democracy was the only hope for the +maintenance of the constitution and the perpetuation of the Union which sprung +from and cannot outlive it. If the language of his friend who preceded him +should prove prophetic, the waving of the banner he described would be the +dawning of a day which would bring gladness and confidence to many a heart now +clouded with distrust, and loud would be the cheers which, on distant plain and +mountain, would welcome Maine again to her position on the top of the +Democratic pyramid. He saw a brighter sky above him; he felt a firmer +foundation beneath his feet, and hoped ere long through a triumph achieved by +the declaration of principles, suited to every latitude and longitude of the +United Slates, to receive the assurance that we have passed the breakers +—that our ship may henceforth float freely on—that our flag, no +longer threatened with mutilation or destruction, shall throw its broad stripes +to the breeze and gather stars until its constellation shines a galaxy, and +records a family of States embracing the new world and its adjacent islands. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>Speech at State Fair at Augusta, ME.</h2> + +<p class="center"> +[From the Eastern Argus, Sept 29,1858.] +</p> + +<p> +On Thursday evening a large and brilliant audience assembled in the +Representatives’ Hall, in the Capitol, to listen to the distinguished +statesman from Mississippi, who, upon brief notice and without a moment’s +leisure for preparation, had kindly consented to address the Agricultural +Society. We have already spoken of the gratifying character of what he termed +his desultory remarks and of the cordially enthusiastic manner in which both +the orator and his address were received. As the occasion, as well as the +character of the remarks, will make them interesting to the whole people of our +State, we are gratified in being able to lay before our readers a more extended +and accurate report of them than has before appeared. +</p> + +<p> +At about half-past eight o’clock, the Society came into the Hall, already +crowded in every part, and its President, Hon. Samuel F. Perley, in brief and +complimentary terms, introduced Col. Davis, who advanced to the speaker’s +stand, and was received with loud and prolonged applause. He said: +</p> + +<p> +Ladies and gentlemen, friends and countrymen: To the many acts of kindness +received from the people of Maine, I have to add the welcome reception this +evening. The invitation of the Agricultural Society, with the attendant +circumstances, serve further to impress me with the hospitality of ray fellow +citizens of this State. Coming here, an invalid, seeking the benefits which +your clime would afford, and preceded by a reputation which was expected to +prejudice you unfavorably towards me, I have everywhere met courtesy and +considerate attention, from the hour I landed on your coast to the present +time. It was natural to ask, whence come these manifestations? Is it because +the opinion which had been formed has been found to be unjust, and the reaction +has been in proportion to the previous impulse? Or is it the exhibition of your +regard for loyalty to one’s friends, and devotion by a citizen to the +community to which he belongs? Either the one or the other is honorable to you; +but there is a broader and more beneficent motive—the prompting of that +sentiment which would cause you to recognize in every American citizen a +brother. That feeling which Daniel Webster indicated when he met me in company +with your distinguished townsman, ex-Senator Bradbury, and taking us with the +right hand and with the left, said in the peculiarly impressive manner which +belonged to him, “My brethren of the North and of the South, how are +ye?” +</p> + +<p> +It is usual to offer to an Agricultural Society nothing less than a prepared +address, and had I come with an intention to speak to you, I should not have +failed to make that preparation which is evidence of due regard for the +audience. The invitation under which I now speak, having been given and +accepted this evening, I have no power to do more than to offer you desultory +remarks on such subjects as my visit to the Fair have suggested, and which may +occur to me as I progress. +</p> + +<p> +With great pleasure I have witnessed evidences of much attention and deep +interest in agriculture. It is the basis of all wealth. It is the +producer—brings all new contributions to the general store. The mechanic +arts are essential to its success, and they serve by changing the form, to +multiply the value of agricultural products. And commerce too, by exchanging +the products of individuals and of countries, enhances the value of labor, and +increases the comfort of man. They are all essential to each other. I have no +disposition to magnify or depreciate either, but my proposition is, that the +soil is the source from which human wealth springs. In addition to these +pursuits, society requires what are termed liberal professions. They are not +producers, though they may contribute, by diffusing knowledge, to increase +production. They may be necessary to give security to property and to take care +of some physical wants. For instance you have lawyers and doctors; and the less +need you have of them the better; for though necessary, like government, it is +evil which makes them so. As to another class—those who have the cure of +souls—their mission is so sacred, their function so high as to place them +beyond comment; and of them I have nothing to say, except that I propose to say +nothing. +</p> + +<p> +Among the products of agriculture I of course intended to include the +farmer’s stock, and I must here bear my tribute of admiration to the fine +display which has been made of horned cattle; particularly of work oxen, +remarkable for their size, their adaptation to the purposes for which they are +kept and the docility and yet the unflagging spirit which they manifested in +the trials of strength and of deep ploughing. I have not before seen such fine +specimens of the Devon cattle,—of course I speak of them as they present +themselves to the eye—not pretending to judge of their relative value to +other stock exhibited. Improvement in the breed of domestic animals goes hand +in hand with agricultural mechanism, to give the ability to make two blades of +grass to grow where but one grew before, and thus to render you indeed +benefactors. Skill in the use, and ingenuity in devising and constructing +implements, serve to render labor productive, and relieve it of its most dreary +drudgery. It is this mechanical ingenuity which has compensated for the high +price of labor among us, and aided in the development of resources which makes +our country the greatest of the earth. Blest by soil, climate and government, +if we are, as claimed, pre-eminent among nations, it is because we have added +to other advantages a more general cultivation of the mind. The superiority is +attributable not so much to physical energy, activity and perseverance, as to +the improvement of that portion of the man which lies above the eyes. +</p> + +<p> +Though you have done much for the improvement of agricultural implements, your +work is far from being completed. It is not a little surprising that we should, +to this day, have no reliable rule by which to make a plough, and though the +model has been improved, certainly it is yet not unlike, and so far as exact +science is concerned, is on a par with that implement as used by the Romans, +and as it appeared in ancient architecture; the form, proportion and angular +relation of the parts, and the adjustment of the whole to the power to be +applied, offer problems alike interesting to the mechanic, and useful to the +cultivator. In your ploughing matches sufficient evidence was afforded of the +fitness of the implements employed to turn deep and wide furrows; but should we +be content with such result as is obtained by trying different models, and then +copying one which is found to be good? +</p> + +<p> +Maine was so richly endowed with harbors and forests of ship timber that it was +naturally to be expected, as it has fallen out, that the pursuits of navigation +would most occupy the attention of her people. But let not her sons look to the +period when her forests have disappeared as that beyond which her prosperity +may not continue. There are large tracts of land which when labor is no longer +directed to lumber, will become, in the hands of the farmer, what the valley of +the Kennebec now is. The land may not offer soil so deep as alluvial districts, +nor be at first as productive as those on which a deep vegetable mould has +accumulated, yet its productiveness may not be less permanent than those. In +them the elements which support the farmer’s crop may be exhausted by +cultivation or carried down into substrata of gravel or sand. In the remote +West to which so many are pressing, the emigrant will encounter an arid climate +in which irrigation is necessary to ensure a return for the labor of husbandry, +and this involves an original expenditure which it will usually require large +capital to bear. In this climate the sun, like a mighty pump, is daily raising +the water which the currents of cold air from the mountains, or from the sea, +precipitate in the form of genial showers during the period of your growing +crops; and the granite of the mountains slowly, but steadily disintegrating, +gives up its fertilizing property to be scattered by unseen hands over plain +and over valley. With care and with skill in its use I can see no end to the +productiveness of that portion of your land which is fit for cultivation. +</p> + +<p> +Your crops, and your mode of tillage are different from that to which I am +accustomed, and the result is that each supplies a different segment in the +circle of man’s wants. I am glad that it is so, that it must necessarily +be so. Glad, because it is an everlasting bond between us; one which, whilst it +binds, renders both doubly prosperous. Blessed is our lot in this, that our +fathers linked us together, and established free trade between us. In the +diversity of climate, and of crops, there is an assurance that entire failure +cannot occur. If disaster and blight should fall upon one section, it need not +go to a foreign land in search of bread. Famine, gaunt famine, with its +skeleton step, can never pass our borders whilst the free trade of the Union +continues. +</p> + +<p> +But difference in pursuits, in population, and domestic institutions, have been +made the basis of hostile agitation, and urged as a cause of separation. To my +mind the reverse would be the rational conclusion. Each exchanging, the surplus +of that which it can best produce for the surplus of another which it most +requires, the benefit must be mutual, and the advantage common. Here is a +commercial, a selfish bond to hold us together. But I will stop here, because +the current of my thought is carrying me beyond the limit of topics proper to +the occasion, and I must offer as an apology the fact, that though myself a +cultivator of the soil, my mind has for several years been given so much to +political subjects, that in speaking without having previously arranged what to +say, the thought inadvertently runs from the matter I wished to present, into +collateral questions of governmental concern. Before turning back, however, +into the original channel, permit me to say that the diversity of which I have +been speaking, formed no small inducement to the union of the States, and that +it has been through that union that we have attained to our present position, +and stand to-day, all things considered, the happiest, and among the greatest +in the family of nations. +</p> + +<p> +In looking around upon the evidences you have brought of mechanical and +agricultural improvement, I have viewed it not with the curiosity of a +stranger, but with the interest of one who felt that he had a part in it, as an +exhibition of the prosperity of his country. The whole confederacy is my +country, and to the innermost fibres of my heart I love it all, and every part. +I could not if I would, and would not if I could, dwarf myself to mere +sectionality. My first allegiance is to the State of which I am a citizen, and +to which by affection and association I am personally bound; but this does not +obstruct the perception of your greatness, or admiration for much which I have +found admirable among you. +</p> + +<p> +Yankee is a word once applied to you as a term of reproach, but you have made +it honorable and renowned. You have borne the flag of your country from the +time when it was ridiculed as a piece of striped bunting, until it has come to +be known and respected wherever the ray of civilization has reached; and your +canvass-winged birds of commerce have borne civilization into regions, where it +is not boasting to say, but for your prowess it would not have gone. You have a +right to be proud of your achievements as well on the land as the sea. Well may +you point as you do with satisfaction, to your school houses and your +work-shops, and to the fruits they have borne on the forum and in the council +chamber, and in the manufactures which have increased the comforts of our own +people, and have encircled the globe to find exchangeable products required at +home. Those are the greatest and most beneficent triumphs—the triumph of +mind over matter. These are the monuments of greatness, which resist both time +and circumstance. +</p> + +<p> +I have spoken of diversity among the people of the United States; yet there is +probably greater similitude than is to be found elsewhere over the same extent +of country, and in the same number of people. In language, especially, our +people are one; surely much more so than those of any other country. The +diversity between the people of the different States, even those most remote +from each other, is not as great as that between inhabitants of adjoining +countries of England, or departments of France or Spain, where provinces have +their separate dialects. And chief among the causes for this I would place the +primary book, in which children of my day learned their letters, and took their +first lessons in spelling and reading. I refer to the good old spelling book of +Noah Webster, on which I doubt if there has been any improvement, and which had +the singular advantage of being used over the whole country. To this unity of +language and general similitude, is to be added a community of sentiment +wherever the American is brought into contrast or opposition to any other +people. +</p> + +<p> +If shadows float over our disc and threaten an eclipse; if there be those who +would not avert, but desire to precipitate catastrophe to the Union, these are +not the sentiments of the American heart; they are rather the exceptions and +should not disturb our confidence in that deep-seated sentiment of nationality +which aided our fathers when they entered into the compact of union, and which +has preserved it to us. You manifest that sentiment to-day in the courtesy +which you have extended to me. In what other land could a countryman go so far +from his home and receive among strangers the attention which could only be +expected from friends? But it is not your kindness only, which has caused me +here to feel at home; I have been brought in contact with men of my own +pursuit, the tillers of the ground and the breeders of stock; and in my +intercourse with this class of your citizens, I have been further confirmed in +the high estimate heretofore placed upon that portion of our population. +Happily for our country and its institutions, extensive territory and favorable +climate, have attracted a large part of our population to agricultural +pursuits. It is in the individuality, the sobriety, and self reliance of the +rural population that I look for the highest development of those qualities +essential to self-government, and the brightest illustration of patriotic +devotion. They may not be the best informed, but learning and wisdom are by no +means equivalent terms. Isolation and entire dependence upon himself; give +independence of character and favor that self-inquiry which best enables man to +comprehend and measure the motives of his fellow. Crowded together in cities +originality is lost, mind becomes as it were acadamized; and though the +intercourse is favorable to the acquisition of knowledge, it is most unfriendly +to that individuality, independence, and purity, without which republican +governments rapidly sink into decay. It was probably in this view that Mr. +Jefferson said, great cities were sores upon the body politic. Needful for the +purposes of commerce, required for the exchanges on which agricultural and +manufacturing industry depend for their prosperity,—they are not evils +which we could desire to see abated. My desire, however, is, that the rural +districts shall not lose their relative importance or cease to control in +public affairs. Misled and deceived they may be, interested in a public wrong +they cannot be, and theirs is the sober thought upon which reliance must be +placed for the correction of errors and delusions, which may temporarily +prevail. +</p> + +<p> +In societies like this the farmers have the opportunity of comparing opinions +and results, and thus increasing the amount of their knowledge. The spirit of +emulation which is excited must lead to improvement, by better directing energy +in their pursuit. The publication of the results and the comparisons thus +instituted with what is done in other States, encourages State pride and +developes community feeling. Whatever tends to the cultivation of the idea of +State sovereignty and community independence, strengthens the foundation on +which rests our federal government—the fruition of that principle which +led our fathers into the war of the revolution, where they purchased with their +blood the rich inheritance transmitted to us. +</p> + +<p> +Man once received the title of Domitor Equi, he being proud of the achievement +of taming the horse, and then, so far as we can learn, gentler woman sat like +Penelope handling the distaff. Subsequently there arose a race of Amazons, who, +aspiring to the feats of man, lost the gentleness of woman; but in our happy +land and day, rising above the one without running to the excess of the other, +lovely woman, with all the gentle charms which graced a Penelope, musters her +energy when occasion requires, and displays her prowess in commanding the +horse. Among the interesting features of the exhibition I shall remember the +equestrianism of the ladies. Though it was beautiful in every sense of the +word, it was not regarded as mere sport, but the rather looked upon as part of +that mental and physical training which makes a woman more than the mere +ornament of the drawing-room—fits her usefully to act her appropriate +part in the trying scenes to which the most favored may be subjected—to +become the mother of heroes, and live in the admiration of posterity. +</p> + +<p> +Fears had once been entertained and much opposition was formerly made to an +extension of the area of the United States. A wiser policy, however, prevailed, +and the introduction of new regions, increasing the variety of our productions, +have magnified the advantages of free trade between the States, and made us +almost independent of other countries for the supply of every object whether of +necessity or of luxury. I would be glad to extend our boundary and make the +circle of our products complete, so that, whilst we would encourage commerce +with christendom we should be, commercially as we are politically, absolutely +independent, whenever it should be proper or necessary to terminate intercourse +with any or every other country. A statesman of former days wished that the +Atlantic was a sea of fire, that it might be a barrier to shut out European +contamination. Whatever fear was once justifiable, no apprehension now need to +exist, that our people will imitate or seek to adopt the political theories of +Europe. We have recently rejoiced in the success of the attempt to establish +telegraphic communication with England; because in closer commercial ties we +saw no danger of political influence. I was happy this evening to receive +assurances that the success of that enterprise was at last complete. I have not +been of those whose doubts were stronger than their hopes—thanks to a +sanguine temperament. I have from the beginning anticipated success, and have +heretofore said that if the present attempt riled I was sure that Yankee +enterprise and skill could make a cable and lay it across the Atlantic. And we +look forward to the result with hope, not doubting, that the closest commercial +connexion with other countries can only bring to us benefits. We are not, and +have not been, political propagandists, yet believing our form of government +the best, we properly desire its extension and invite the world to scrutinize +our example of representative liberty. +</p> + +<p> +The stars on our flag, recording the number of the States united, have already +been more than doubled; and I hopefully look forward to the day when the +constellation shall become a galaxy covering the stripes, which record the +original number of our political family, and shall shed over the nations of the +earth the light of regeneration to mankind. It has sometimes been said to he +our manifest destiny that we should possess the whole of this continent. +Whether it shall ever all be part of the United States is doubtful, and may +never be desirable; but that in some form or other, it should come under the +protectorate or control of the United States, is a result which seems to me, in +the remote future, certain. It waits as the consequence upon intellectual +vigor, upon physical energy, upon the capacity to govern, and can only be +defeated by a suicidal madness, of which it does not belong to the occasion to +treat. +</p> + +<p> +I would not be understood to advocate what is called fillibustering. Our +country has never obtained territory except fairly, honorably and peaceably. We +have conquered territory, but have asserted no title as the right of conquest, +returning to Mexico all except the part she agreed to sell and for which we +paid a liberal price. England having fillibustered around the world, has +reproached us for aggrandizement, and we point to history and invite a +comparison. There is no stain upon our escutcheon, no smoke upon our garments, +and thus may they remain pure forever! The acquisitions of which I spoke, the +protectorate which was contemplated, were such as the necessities of the future +should demand, and the good of others as much as our own require, and this step +by step, faster or slower, will, I believe, finally embrace the continent of +America and its adjacent islands. +</p> + +<p> +I am not among those who desire to incorporate into our Union, countries +densely populated with a different race. Deserts, ’tis the province of +our people to subdue. A mere handful of inhabitants, such as existed in +Louisiana, are soon enveloped in the tide of immigration; of this character of +acquisition I have no fear; but the mingling of races is a different thing. I +have looked with interest and pleasure upon the crosses of your cattle and +horses, and saw in it the evidence of improvement. Let your Messengers, your +Morgans, your Drews, and your Eatons be mingled with each other and with new +inportations; so with your Durhams, Devons, Ayreshires and your Jerseys. The +limit to these experiments will be where experience shows deterioration. There +is one cross which it is to be hoped you will avoid: ’tis that which your +Puritan fathers would not adopt or even entertain. They kept pure the Caucasian +blood which flowed in their veins, and therein is the cause of your present +high civilization, your progress, your dignity and your strength. We are one, +let us remain unmixed. In our neighbors of Southern and Central America we have +a sufficient warning; and may it never be our ill-fortune to learn by +experience the lessons taught by their example. +</p> + +<p> +It is due to the hospitality and kind consideration with which I have been +treated since I first came among you that I should not leave you under any +doubt in relation to the accusations which have been busily circulated against +me. And this, it is to be hoped, will not be mistaken for egotism, since the +greatest interest I have in doing so is to justify you to yourselves. I know of +no selfish purpose, unless a proper desire for esteem he such, which would lead +me to attempt to undeceive you, so far as any of you may have been imposed +upon. I certainly do not expect to change my residence from the State in which +I was reared; and I long since avowed the intention never again to receive +official trust from any other authority than that of the people of the State of +which I am a citizen. It has been represented to you that you were showering +attentions upon one who was hostile to your interests, and regardless of your +rights. I am grateful to you for the constant evidence you have given that you +discredited the statement, and I am therefore the more anxious that you should +not remain in doubt. The public record contains all I have said and done, and +in it nothing can be found to sustain the statement. Of this I am quite sure, +because it has always been with me a principle to exercise public functions in +the spirit of the Constitution and the purposes of the Union. If I know myself, +I have never given a vote from a feeling of hostility to any portion of our +common country; but have always kept in view the common obligation for the +common welfare, and desired by maintaining the constitution in each and every +particular, to perpetuate the blessings it was designed to secure, and to +transmit the inheritance received from our fathers unmutilated and +uncontaminated to remotest posterity. In some positions it has devolved upon me +to study interests in Maine, with a view to secure for them proper provision, +and I feel that I am justified in saying they were considered as became one who +had sworn to protect the Constitution, and who had a function to perform in +relation to a sovereign State of the Union. Heretofore I have been prompted +merely by what I believed to be duty to you from me as an officer under the +Constitution. Hereafter, though the principles on which I will act cannot vary, +I should be less than a man if I did not feel deeper interest in whatever +concerns you. I shall always bear with me most pleasurable recollections of my +sojourn among you, and hope it may be my good fortune some day to meet some of +you in Mississippi, and thus have it in my power to reciprocate, imperfectly it +may be, the kindness which you bestowed upon me. I thank you for your polite +attention, and cordially wish for you, one and all, present and future +prosperity. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>Speech at the Grand Ratification Meeting, Faneuil Hall,</h2> + +<p class="center"> +<i>Monday evening, Oct. 11th, 1858.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Countrymen, Brethren, Democrats—Most happy am I to meet you, and to have +received here renewed assurance—of that which I have so long +believed—that the pulsation of the democratic heart is the same in every +parallel of latitude, on every meridian of longitude throughout the United +States. But it required not this to confirm me in a belief so long and so +happily enjoyed.—Your own great statesman who has introduced me to this +assembly has been too long associated with me, too nearly connected, we have +labored too many hours, sometimes even until one day ran into another, in the +cause of our country, for me to than to understand that a Massachusetts +democrat has a heart comprehending the whole of our wide Union, and that its +pulsations always beat for the liberty and happiness of its country. Neither +could I be unaware such was the sentiment of the democracy of New England. For +it was lay fortune lately to serve under a President drawn from the +neighboring, State of New Hampshire, [applause,] and I know that he spoke the +language of his heart, for I learned it in tour years of intimate connection +with him, when he said he knew “no north, no south, no east, no west, but +sacred maintenance of the common bond and true devotion to the common +brotherhood.” Never, sir, in the past history of our country, never, I +add, in its future destiny, however bright it may be, did or will a man of +higher and purer patriotism, a man more devoted to the common weal of his +country, hold the helm of our great ship of State, than that same New +Englander, Franklin Pierce. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +I have heard the resolutions read and approved by this meeting; heard the +address of your candidate for Governor; and these added to the address of my +old and intimate friend, Gen. Cushing, bear to me fresh testimony, which I +shall be happy to carry away with me, that the democracy, in the language of +your own glorious Webster, “still lives,” lives not as his great +spirit did, when it hung ’twixt life and death, like a star upon the +horizon’s verge, but lives like the germ that is shooting upward, like +the sapling that is growing to a mighty tree, the branches of which will spread +over the commonwealth, and may redeem and restore Massachusetts to her once +glorious place in the Union. +</p> + +<p> +As I look around me and see this venerable hall thus thronged, it reminds me of +another meeting, when it was found too small to contain the assembly—that +great meeting which assembled here, when the people were called upon to decide +what should be done in relation to the tea-tax. Faneuil Hall, on that occasion, +was found too small, and the people went to the Old South Church, which still +stands—a monument of your early history. And I hope the day will soon +come when many Democratic meetings in Boston will be too large for Faneuil +Hall! [Applause.] I am welcomed to this hall, so venerable for its associations +with our early history; to this hall of which you are so justly proud, and the +memories of which are part of the inheritance of every American citizen; and +feel, as I remember how many voices of patriotic fervor have here been heard; +that in it originated the first movements from which the Revolution sprung; +that here began that system of town meetings and free discussion which is the +glory and safety of our country; that I had enough to warn me, that though my +theme was more humble than theirs, (as befitted my poorer ability,) that it was +a hazardous thing for me to attempt to speak in this sacred temple. But when I +heard your statesman (Gen. Cushing) say, that a word once here spoken never +dies, that it becomes a part of the circumambient air, I felt a reluctance to +speak which increases upon me as I recall his expression. But if those voices +which breathed the first instincts into the Colony of Massachusetts, and into +those colonies which formed the United States, to proclaim community +independence, and asserts it against the powerful mother country, —if +those voices live here still, how must they feel who come here to preach +treason to the Constitution, and assail the Union it ordained and established? +[Applause.] It would seem that their criminal hearts should fear that those +voices, so long slumbering, would break their silence, that the forms which +look down from these walls behind and around me, would walk forth. and that +their sabres would once more be drawn from their scabbards, to drive from this +sacred temple fanatical men, who desecrate it more than did the changers of +money and those who sold doves, the temple of the living God. [Loud cheers.] +</p> + +<p> +And here, too, you have, to remind you, and to remind all who enter this hall, +the portraits of those men who are dear to every lover of liberty, and part and +parcel of the memory of every American citizen. Highest among them all I see +you have placed Samuel Adams and John Hancock. [Applause.] You have placed them +the highest and properly; for they were the two, the only two, excepted from +the proclamation of mercy, when Governor Gage issued his anathema against them +and their fellow patriots. These men, thus excepted from the saving grace of +the crown, now occupy the highest place in Faneuil Hall, and thus are +consecrated highest in the reverence of the people of Boston. [Applause.] This +is one of the instances in which we find tradition more reliable than history; +for tradition has borne the name of Samuel Adams to the remotest corner of our +territory, placed it among the household words taught to the rising generation, +and there in the new States intertwined with our love of representative +liberty, it is a name as sacred among us as it is among you of New England. +[Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +We remember how early he saw the necessity of <i>community independence</i>. +How, through the dim mists of the future, and in advance of his day, he looked +forward to the proclamation of that independence by Massachusetts; how he +steadily strove, through good report and evil report, with the same unwavering +purpose, whether in the midst of his fellow citizens, cheered by their voices, +or whether isolated, a refugee, hunted as a criminal, and communing with his +own heart, now under all circumstances his eve was still fixed upon his first, +last hope, the community independence of Massachusetts! And when we see him, at +a later period, the leader in that correspondence which waked the feelings of +the other colonies and brought into fraternal association the people of +Massachusetts with the people of other colonies—when we see his letters +acknowledging the receipt of the rice of South Carolina, the flour, the pork, +the money of Virginia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and others, +contributions of affection to relieve Boston of the sufferings inflicted upon +her when her port was closed by the despotism of the British crown—we +there see the beginning of that sentiment which insured the co-operation of the +colonies throughout the desperate struggle of the Revolution, and which, if the +present generation be true to the compact of their sires, to the memory and to +the principles of the noble men from whom they descended, will perpetuate for +them that spirit of fraternity in which the Union began. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +But it is not here alone, nor in reminiscences connected with the objects which +present themselves within this hall, that the people of Boston have much to +excite their patriotism and carry them back to the great principles of the +revolutionary struggle. Where in this vicinity will you go and not meet some +monument to inspire such sentiments? On one side are Lexington and Concord, +where sixty brave countrymen came with their fowling pieces to oppose six +hundred veterans,—where peaceful citizens animated by the love of +independence and covered by the triple shield of a righteous cause, finally +forced those veterans back, and pursued them on the road, fighting from every +barn and bush, and stock, and stone, till they drove them to the shelters from +which they had gone forth! [Applause.] And there on another side of your city +stand those monuments of your early patriotism, Breed’s and +Bunker’s Hill whose soil drank the sacred blood of men who lived for +their country and died for mankind! Can it be that any of you tread that soil +and forget the great purposes for which those men bravely fought, or nobly +died?” [Applause.] While in yet another direction rise the Heights of +Dorchester, once the encampment of the great Virginian, the man who came here +in the cause of American independence, who did not ask “Is this a town of +Virginia?” but, “Is this a town of my brethren?” who pitched +his camp and commenced his operations with the steady courage and cautious +wisdom characteristic of Washington, hopefully, resolutely waiting and watching +for the day when he could drive the British troops out of your city. [Cheers.] +</p> + +<p> +Here, too, you find where once the Old Liberty Tree, connected with so many of +your memories, grew. You ask your legend, and learn that it was cut down for +firewood by the British soldiers, as some of your meeting houses were pulled +down. They burned the old tree, and it warmed the soldiers enough to enable +them to evacuate the city. [Laughter.] Had they been more slowly warmed into +motion, had it burned a little longer, it might have lighted Washington and his +followers to their enemies. +</p> + +<p> +But they were gone, and never again may a hostile foe tread your shore. Woe to +the enemy who shall set his footprint upon your soil; he comes to a prison or +he comes to a grave! [Applause.] American fortifications are not intended to +protect our country from invasion. They are constructed elsewhere as in your +harbor to guard points where marine attacks can he made; and for the rest, the +breasts of Americans are our parapets. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +But, my friends, it is not merely in these military associations, so honorably +connected with the pride of Massachusetts, that one who visits Boston finds +much for gratification. If I were selecting a place where the advocate of +strict construction of the Constitution, the extreme asserter of democratic +state rights doctrine should go for his text, I would send him into the +collections of your historical association. Instead of finding Boston a place +where the records would teach only federalism, he would find here, in bounteous +store, that sacred doctrine of state rights, which has been called the extreme +and ultra opinion of the South. He would find among your early records that at +the time when Massachusetts was under a colonial government, administered by a +man appointed by the British crown, guarded by British soldiers; the use of +this old Faneuil Hall was refused by the town authorities to a British +Governor, to hold a British festival, because he was going to bring with him +the agents for collecting, and naval officers sent here to enforce, an +unconstitutional tax upon your commonwealth. Such was the proud spirit of +independence manifested even in your colonial history. Such the great stone +your fathers hewed with sturdy hand, and left the fit foundation for a monument +to state rights! [Applause.] And so throughout the early period of our country +you find Massachusetts leading, most prominent of all the States, in the +assertion of that doctrine which has been recently so much decried. +</p> + +<p> +Having achieved your independence, having passed through the confederation, you +assented to the formation of our present constitutional Union. You did not +surrender your state sovereignty. Your fathers had sacrificed too much to claim +as the reward of their trials that they should merely have a change of masters. +And a change of masters it would have been had Massachusetts surrendered her +State sovereignty to the central government, and consented that that central +government should have the power to coerce a State. But if this power does not +exist, if this sovereignty has not been surrendered, then, I say, who can deny +the words of soberness and truth spoken by your candidate this evening, when he +has plead to you the cause of State independence, and the right of every +community to he the judge of its own domestic affairs? [Applause.] This is all +we have ever asked—we of the South, I mean,—for I stand before you +one of those who have been called the ultra men of the South, and I speak, +therefore, for that class; and tell you that your candidate for Governor has +asserted to-night everything which we have claimed as a right, and demanded as +a duty resulting from the guarantees of the Constitution, made for our mutual +protection. [Applause.] Nor is here alone in that such doctrine is asserted, +the like it has been my happiness to hear in your daughter, the neighboring +State of Maine. I have found that the democrats there asserted the same broad, +constitutional principle for which we have been contending, by which we are +willing to live, for which we are willing to die! [Loud cheers and cries of +“good!”] +</p> + +<p> +In this state of the case, my friends, why is the country agitated? What is +there practical or rational in the present excitement? Why, since the old +controversies, with all their lights and shadows, have passed away, is the +political firmament covered by one dark pall, the funeral shade of which +increases with every passing year? +</p> + +<p> +Why is it, I say, that you are thus agitated in relation to the domestic +affairs of other communities? Why is it that the peace of the country is +disturbed in order that one people may assume to judge of what another people +should do? Is there any political power to authorize such interference? If so, +where is it? You did not surrender your sovereignty. You gave to the federal +government certain functions. It was your agent, created for specified +purposes. It can do nothing save that which you have given it power to perform. +Where is the grant of the Constitution which confers on the federal government +a right to determine what shall be property? Surely none such exists; that +question it belongs to every community to settle for itself: you judge in your +case; every other State must judge in its case. The federal government has no +power to create or establish; more palpably still, it has no power to destroy +property. Do you pay taxes to an agent that he may destroy your property? Do +you support him for that purpose? It is an absurdity on the face of it. To ask +the question is to answer it. The government is instituted to protect, not to +destroy property. In abundance of caution, your fathers provided that the +federal government should not take private property, even for its own use, +unless by making due compensation therefore. One of its great purposes was to +increase the security of property, and by a more perfect union of forces, to +render more effective protection to the States. When that power for protection +becomes a source of danger, the purpose for which the government was formed +will have been defeated, and the government can no longer answer the ends for +which it was established. +</p> + +<p> +Why, then, in the absence of all control over the subject of African slavery, +are you agitated in relation to it? With Pharisaical pretension it is sometimes +said it is a moral obligation to agitate, and I suppose they are going through +a sort of vicarious repentance for other men’s sins. [Laughter.] Who gave +them a right to decide that it is a sin? By what standard do they measure it? +Not the Constitution; the Constitution recognizes the property in many forms, +and imposes obligations in connection with that recognition. Not the Bible; +that justifies it. Not the good of society; for if they go where it exists, +they find that society recognizes it as good. What, then, is their standard? +The good of mankind? Is that seen in the diminished resources of the country? +Is that seen in the diminished comfort of the world? Or is not the reverse +exhibited? Is it in the cause of Christianity? It cannot be, for servitude is +the only agency through which Christianity has reached that degraded race, the +only means by which they have been civilized and elevated. Or is their charity +manifested in denunciation of their brethren who are restrained from answering +by the contempt which they feel for a mere brawler, whose weapons are empty +words? [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +What, my friends, must be the consequences of this agitation? Good or evil? +They have been evil, and evil they must be only, to the end. Not one particle +of good has been done to any man, of any color, by this agitation. It has been +insidiously working the purpose of sedition, for the destruction of that Union +on which our hopes of future greatness depend. +</p> + +<p> +On the one side, then you see agitation, tending slowly and steadily to that +separation of the states, which, if you have any hope connected with the +liberty of mankind, if you have any national pride in making your country the +greatest of the earth, if you have any sacred regard for the obligation which +the acts of your fathers entailed upon you,—by each and all of these +motives you are prompted to united and earnest effort to promote the success of +that great experiment which your fathers left it to you to conclude. +[Applause.] On the other hand, if each community, in accordance with the +principles of our government, whilst controlling its own domestic institutions, +faithfully struggles as a part of the united whole, for the common benefit of +all, the future points us to fraternity, to unity, to co-operation, to the +increase of our own happiness, to the extension of our useful example over +mankind, and the covering of that flag, whose stars have already more than +doubled their original number, [applause,] with a galaxy to light the ample +folds which then shall wave either the recognized flag of every state, or the +recognized protector of every state upon the continent of America. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +In connection with the idea, which I have presented of the early sentiment of +community independence, I will add the very striking fact that one of the +colonies, about the time that they had resolved to unite for the purpose of +achieving their independence, addressed the colonial congress to know in what +condition they would be in the interval between their separation from the +government of Great Britain and the establishment of the government for the +colonies. The answer of the colonial congress was exactly that which might have +been expected—exactly that which state rights democracy would answer +to-day, to such an inquiry—that they must take care of their domestic +polity, that the congress “had nothing to do with it.” [Applause.] +If such sentiment continued—if it governed in every state—if +representatives were chosen upon it—then your halls of legislation would +not be disturbed about the question of the domestic concerns of the different +states. The peace of the country would not be hazarded by the arraignment of +the family relations of people over whom the government has no control. In +harmony working together, in co-intelligence for the conservation of the +interests of the country, in protection to the states and the development of +the great ends for which the government was established, what effects might not +be produced? As our government increased in expansion, it would increase in its +beneficent influence upon the people; we should increase in fraternity; and it +would be no longer a wonder to see a man coming from a southern state to +address a Democratic audience in Boston. [Applause, cries of “good, +good.”] +</p> + +<p> +But I have referred to the fact that, at an early period, Massachusetts stood +pre-eminently forward among those who asserted community independence. And this +reminds me of an incident, in illustration, which occurred when President +Washington visited Boston, and John Hancock was Governor. The latter is +reported to have declined to call upon the President, because he contended that +every man who came within the limits of Massachusetts must yield rank and +precedence to the Governor of the State; and only surrendered the point on +account of his personal regard and respect for the character of George +Washington. I honor him for it,—value it as one of the early testimonies +in favor of State Rights, and wish all our governors had the same high estimate +of the dignity of the office of Governor of a State as had that great and +glorious man. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +Thus it appears that the founders of this government were the true Democratic +States Rights men. That Democracy was States rights, and States rights was +Democracy, and it is to-day. Your resolutions breathe it. The Declaration of +Independence embodies the sentiment which had lived in the hearts of the people +for many years before its formal assertion. Our fathers asserted that great +principle—the right of the people to choose the government for +themselves—that government rested upon the consent of the governed. In +every form of expression it uttered the same idea, <i>community +independence</i>, and the dependence of the government upon the community over +which it existed. It was an American principle, the great spirit which animated +our country then, and it were well if more inspired us now. But I have said +that this State sovereignty—this community independence—has never +been surrendered, and that there is no power in the federal government to +coerce a State. Does any one ask, then, how it is that a State is to be held to +its obligations? My answer is: by <i>its honor</i>, and the obligation is the +more sacred to observe every feature of the compact, because there is no power +to force obedience. The great error of the confederation was that it attempted +to act upon the States. It was found impracticable, and our present form of +government was adopted, which acts upon individuals and does not attempt to act +upon States. +</p> + +<p> +The question was considered in the convention which framed the constitution, +and after discussion the proposition to give power to the general government to +enforce upon a resistant State obedience to the law was rejected. It was upon +this ground of exemption from compulsion that the compact of the States became +a sacred obligation; and it was upon this honorable fulfilment principally that +our fathers depended for the security of the rights which the Constitution was +designed to secure. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +The fugitive slave compact in the Constitution of the United States implied +that the States should fulfil it voluntarily. They expected the States to +legislate so as to secure the rendition of fugitives. +</p> + +<p> +And in 1788 it was a matter of complaint that the colony of Florida did not +restore fugitive negroes from the United States who escaped into that colony, +and a committee, composed of Hamilton, of New York, Sedgwick, of Massachusetts, +and Madison, of Virginia, reported resolutions in the Congress instructing the +committee for foreign affairs to address the <i>charge d’affaires</i> at +Madrid to apply to his majesty of Spain to issue orders to his governor to +compel them to secure the rendition of fugitive negroes to any one who should +go there entitled to receive them. This was the sentiment of the committee, and +they added, by way of example, as the States would return any slaves from +Florida who might escape into their limits. +</p> + +<p> +When the Constitutional requirement was imposed, who could have doubted that +every State faithful to its obligations would comply without raising questions +as to whether the institution should or should not exist in another community +over which they had no control. Congress was at last forced by the failures of +the States, to legislate on the subject, and this has been one of the causes by +which you have been disturbed. You have been called upon to make war against a +law which would never have been enacted, if each State had faithfully +discharged the obligation imposed by the compact of the Constitution. [Cheers.] +</p> + +<p> +There is another question connected with this negro agitation. It is in +relation to the right to hold slaves in the Territories. What power has +Congress to declare what shall be property? None, in the territory or +elsewhere. Have the States by separate legislation the power to prescribe the +condition upon which a citizen may enter on and enjoy the common property of +the United States? Clearly not. Shall those who first go into the territory, +deprive any citizen of the United States subsequently emigrating thither, of +those rights which belong to him as an equal owner of the soil? Certainly not. +Sovereignty jurisdiction can only pass to these inhabitants when the States, +the owners of that territory, shall recognize the inhabitants as an independent +community, and admit it to become an equal State of the Union. Until then the +Constitution and laws of the United States must be the rules governing within +the limits of a territory. The Constitution recognizes all property gives equal +privileges to every citizen of the States; and it would be a violation of its +fundamental principles to attempt any discrimination. [Applause.] Viewed in any +of its phases, political, moral, social, general, or local, what is there to +sustain this agitation in relation to other people’s negroes, unless it +be a bridge over which to pass into office—a ready capital in politics +available to missionaries staving at home-reformers of things which they do not +go to learn—preachers without and audience—overseers without +laborers and without wages—war-horses who snuff the battle afar off, and +cry: “ Aha! aha! I am afar off from the battle.” [Great laughter +and applause.] +</p> + +<p> +Thus it is that the peace of the Union is destroyed; thus it is that brother is +arrayed against brother; thus it is that the people come to consider—not +how they can promote each other’s interests, but how they may +successfully war upon them. And the political agitator like the vampire fans +the victim to which he clings but to destroy. +</p> + +<p> +Among culprits there is none more odious to my mind than a public officer who +takes an oath to support the Constitution—the compact between the States +binding each for the common defence and general welfare of the other—yet +retains to himself a mental reservation that he will war upon the principles he +has sworn to maintain, and upon the property rights the protection of which are +part of the compact of the Union. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +It is a crime too low to be named before this assembly: It is one which no man +with self-respect would ever commit. To swear that he will support the +Constitution—to take an office which belongs in many of its relations to +all the States; and to use it as a means of injuring a portion of the States of +whom he is thus the representative; is treason to every thing honorable in man. +It is the base and cowardly attack of him who gains the confidence of another, +in order that he may wound him. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +But we have heard it argued—have seen it published—a petition has +been circulated for signers, announcing that there was an incompatibility +between the sections; that the Union had been tried long enough, and that it +had proved to be necessary to separate from those sections of the Union in +which the curse of slavery existed. Ah! those modern saints, so much wiser than +our fathers, have discovered an incompatibility requiring separation in those +relations which existed when the Union was formed. They have found the remnants +only of a diversity which existed when South Carolina sent her rice to Boston, +and Maryland and Pennsylvania and New York brought in their funds for her +relief. +</p> + +<p> +They have found the remnants only; for from that day to this the difference +between the people has been constantly decreasing, and the necessity for union +which then arose in no small degree from the diversity of product, and soil and +climate, has gone on increasing, both by the extension of our own territory and +the introduction of new tropical products; so that whilst the difference +between the people has diminished, the diversity in the products has increased, +and that motive for union which your fathers found exists in a higher degree +than it did when they resolved to be united. +</p> + +<p> +Diversity there is of occupation, of habits, of education, of character. But it +is not of that extreme kind which proves incompatibility, or even incongruity; +for your Massachusetts man, when he comes to Mississippi, adopts our opinions +and our institutions, and frequently becomes the most extreme southern man +among us. [Great applause.] As our country has extended—as new products +have been introduced into it, the free trade which blesses our Union, has been +of increasing value. +</p> + +<p> +And it is not an unfortunate circumstance that this diversity of pursuit and +character has survived the condition which produced it. Originally it sprang in +no small degree from natural causes. Massachusetts became a manufacturing and a +commercial State because of the connection between her fine harbor and water +power, resulting from the fact that the streams make their last leap into the +sea, so that the ship of commerce brought the staple to the manufacturing +power. This made you a commercial and manufacturing people. In the Southern +States great plains interpose between the last leaps of the streams and the +sea. Those plains most proximate to navigation, were the first cultivated, and +the sea bore their products to the most approachable water power, there to be +manufactured. This was the first cause of the difference. Then your longer and +more severe winters—your soil not as favorable for agriculture, also +contributed to make you a manufacturing and commercial people. +</p> + +<p> +After the controlling cause had passed away—after railroads had been +built—after the steam engine had become a motive power for a large part +of machinery, the characteristics originally stamped by natural causes +continued the diversity of pursuit. Is it fortunate or otherwise? I say it is +fortunate. Your interest is to remain a manufacturing and ours to remain an +agricultural people. +</p> + +<p> +Your prosperity is to receive our staple and to manufacture it, and ours to +sell it to you and buy the manufactured goods. [Applause.] This is an +interweaving of interests, which makes us all the richer and all the happier. +</p> + +<p> +But this accursed agitation, this offensive, injurious intermeddling with the +affairs of other people, and this alone it is that will promote a desire in the +mind of any one to separate these great and growing States. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +The seeds of dissension may be sown by invidious reflections. Men may be goaded +by the constant attempt to infringe upon rights and to traduce community +character, and in the resentment which follows it is not possible to tell how +far the case may be driven. I therefore plead to you now to arrest a fanaticism +which has been evil in the beginning, and must be evil to the end. You may not +have the numerical power requisite; and those at a distance may not understand +how many of you there are desirous to put a stop to the course of this +agitation. But let your language and your acts teach them to appreciate a +faithful self-denying minority. I have learned since I have been in New England +the vast mass of true State Rights Democrats to be found within its +limits—though not represented in the halls of Congress. +</p> + +<p> +And if it comes to the worst; if, availing themselves of a majority in the two +Houses of Congress, our opponents should attempt to trample upon the +Constitution; to violate the rights of the States; to infringe upon our +equality in the Union, I believe that even in Massachusetts, though it has not +had a representative in Congress for many a day, the State Rights Democracy, in +whose breasts beats the spirit of the revolution, can and will whip the Black +Republicans. [Great applause.] I trust we shall never be thus purified, as it +were, by fire; but that the peaceful progressive revolution of the ballot box +will answer all the glorious purposes of the Constitutional Union. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +I marked that the distinguished orator and statesman who preceded me in +addressing you used the words <i>national</i> and <i>constitutional</i> in such +relations to each other as to show that in his mind the one was a synonym of +the other. And does he not do so with reason? We became a nation by the +constitution; whatever is national springs from the constitution; and national +and constitutional are convertible terms. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +Your candidate for the high office of governor—whom I have been once or +twice on the point of calling your governor, and whom I hope I may be able soon +to call so, [applause]—in his remarks to you has presented the same idea +in another form. And well may Massachusetts orators, without even perceiving +what they are saying, utter sentiments which lie at the foundation of your +colonial as well as your revolutionary history, which existed in Massachusetts +before the revolution, and have existed since, whenever the true spirit which +comes down from the revolutionary sires has been aroused into utterance within +her limits. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +It has been not only, my friends, in this increasing and mutual dependence of +interest that we have formed new bonds. Those bonds are both material and +mental. Every improvement in the navigation of a river, every construction of a +railroad, has added another link to the chain which encircles us, another +facility for interchange and new achievements, whether it has been in arts or +in science, in war or in manufactures, in commerce or agriculture, success, +unexampled success has constituted for us a common and proud memory, and has +offered to us new sentiments of nationality. +</p> + +<p> +Why, then, I would ask, do we see these lengthened shadows, which follow in the +course of our political day? is it because the sun is declining to the horizon? +Are they the shadows of evening; or are they, as I hopefully believe, but the +mists which are exhaled by the sun as it rises, but which are to be dispersed +by its meridian splendor? Are they but evanescent clouds that flit across but +cannot obscure the great purposes for which the Constitution was established? +</p> + +<p> +I hopefully look forward to the reaction which will establish the fact that our +sun is yet in the ascendant—that the cloud which has covered our +political prospect is but a mist of the morning—that we are again to be +amicably divided in opinion upon measures of expediency, upon questions of +relative interest, upon discussions as to the rights of the States, and the +powers of the federal government,—such discussion as is commemorated in +this historical picture [pointing to the painting.] There your own great +Statesman, Webster, addresses his argument to our brightest luminary, the +incorruptible Calhoun, who leans over to catch the accents of eloquence that +fall from his lips. [Loud applause.] +</p> + +<p> +They differed as Statesmen and philosophers; they railed not, warred not +against each other; they stood to each other in the relation of affection and +regard. And never did I see Mr. Webster so agitated, never did I hear his voice +so falter, as when he delivered his eulogy on John C. Calhoun. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +But allusion was made to my own connection with your favorite departed +Statesman. I will only say on this occasion, that very early in the +commencement of my congressional life, Mr. Webster was arraigned for an offence +which affected him most deeply. He was no accountant; all knew that there was +but little of mercantile exactness in his habits. He was arraigned on a +pecuniary charge—the misapplication of what is known as the secret +service fund; and I was one of the committee that had to investigate the +charge. I endeavored to do justice, to examine the evidence with a view to +ascertain the truth. As an American I hoped he would come out without stain or +smoke upon his garments. But however the fame of so distinguished an American +Statesman might claim such hopes, the duty was rigidly to inquire, and +rigorously to do justice. The result was that he was acquitted of every charge +that was made against him, and it was equally my pride and my pleasure to +vindicate him in every form which lay within my power. [Applause.] No man who +knew Daniel Webster, would have expected less of him. Had our position been +reversed, none such could have believed that he would with a view to a judgment +ask whether a charge was made against a Massachusetts man or a Mississippian. +No! it belonged to a lower, a later, and I trust a shorter lived race of +statesmen [“hear,” “hear,”] to measure all facts by +considerations of latitude and longitude. [Warm applause.] +</p> + +<p> +I honor that sentiment which makes us oftentimes too confident, and to despise +too much the danger of that agitation which disturbs the peace of the country. +I honor that feeling which believes the Constitutional Union too strong to be +shaken. But at the same time I say, in sober judgment, it will not do to treat +too lightly the danger which has beset and which still impends over us. Who has +not heard our Constitutional Union compared to the granite cliffs which line +the sea and dash back the foam of the waves, unmoved by their fury. Recently I +have stood upon New England’s shore, and have seen the waves of a +troubled sea dash upon the granite which frowns over the ocean, have seen the +spray thrown back from the cliff, and the receding wave fret like the impotent +rage of baffled malice. But when the tide had ebbed, I saw that the rock was +seamed and worn by the ceaseless beating of the sea, and fragments riven from +the rock were lying on the beach. +</p> + +<p> +Thus the waves of sectional agitation are dashing themselves against the +granite patriotism of the land. If long continued, that too must show the seams +and scars of the conflict. Sectional hostility must sooner or later produce +political fragments. The danger lies at your door, it is time to arrest it. It +is time that men should go back to the origin of our institutions. They should +drink the waters of the fountain, ascend to the source, of our colonial +history. +</p> + +<p> +You, men of Boston, go to the street where the massacre occurred in 1770. There +learn how your fathers unfaltering stood for community right. And near the same +spot mark how proudly the delegation of the democracy came to demand the +removal of the troops from Boston, and how the venerable Samuel Adams stood +asserting the rights of the people, dauntless as Hampden, clear and eloquent as +Sidney. +</p> + +<p> +All over our country these monuments, instructive to the present generation, of +what our fathers felt and said and did, are to be found. In the library of your +association for the collection of your early history, I found a letter +descriptive of the reading of the address to his army by Gen. Washington during +one of those winters when he sought shelter for the ill clad, unshod, but +victorious army with which he achieved the independence we enjoy; he had built +a log cabin for a meeting house, and there reading his address, his sight +failed him, he put on his glasses and with emotion which manifested the reality +of his feelings, said, “I have grown gray in the service of my country, +and now I am growing blind.” Who can measure the value of such incidents +in a people’s history? It is a privilege to have access to documents, +which cause us to realize the trials, the patient endurance, the hardy virtue +and moral grandeur of the men from whom we inherit our political institutions, +and to whose teachings it were well that the present generations should +constantly refer. +</p> + +<p> +If you choose still further to stretch your vision to South Carolina, you will +find a parallel to that devotion to their country’s cause which +illustrates the early history of the Democrats of Boston. The prisoners at +Charleston, when confined upon the hulks where they were exposed to the small +pox, and, wasted by the progress of the infection, were brought upon the shore +and assured that if they would enlist in his majesty’s service they +should be relieved from their present and prospective suffering, but if they +refused the rations would be taken from their families, and themselves sent to +the hulks and exposed to the infection. Emaciated as they were, distressed with +the prospect of their families being turned into the street to starve, the +spirit of independence, the devotion to liberty, was so warm within their +breasts that they gave one loud hurrah for General Washington, and chose death +rather than dishonor. [Loud applause.] And if from these glorious +recollections, from the emotions they excite, your eye is directed to your +present condition, and you mark the prosperity, the growth and honorable career +of your country, I envy not the heart of that man whose pulse does not beat +quicker, who does not feel within him the exultation of pride at the past glory +and the future prospects of his country. These prospects are to be realized if +we are only wise and true to the obligations of the compact of our fathers. For +all which can sow dissension can stop the progress of the American people, can +endanger the achievement of the high prospects we have before us is that +miserable spirit, which, disregarding duty and honor, makes war upon the +Constitution. Madness must rule the hour when American citizens, trampling as +well upon the great principles at the foundation of the Declaration of +Independence and the Constitution of the United States, as upon the honorable +obligations which their fathers imposed upon them, shall turn with internicine +hand to sacrifice themselves as well as their brethren, upon the altar of +sectional fanaticism. +</p> + +<p> +With these views, it will not be surprising to those who differ from me, that I +feel an ardent desire for the success of the State Rights Democracy, that +convinced of the destructive consequences of the heresies of their opponents, +and of the evils upon which they would precipitate the country, I do not +forbear to advocate, here and elsewhere, the success of that party which alone +is national, on which alone I rely for the preservation of the Constitution, to +perpetuate the Union, and to fulfil the purposes which it was ordained to +establish and secure. [Loud cheers.] +</p> + +<p> +My friends, my brethren, my countrymen—[applause]—I thank you for +the patient attention you have given me. It is the first time it has been my +fortune to address an audience here. It will probably be the last. Residing in +a remote section of the country, with private as well as public duties to +occupy the whole of my time, it would only be under some such necessity for a +restoration of health as has brought me here this season, that I could ever +expect to make more than a very hurried visit to any other portion of the Union +than that of which I am a citizen. +</p> + +<p> +I will say, then, on this occasion, that I am glad, truly glad, that it has +been my fortune to stay long enough among the New Englanders to obtain a better +acquaintance than one can who passes in the ordinary way through the country, +at the speed of the railroad tourist. I have stayed long enough to feel that +generous hospitality which evinces itself to-night, which has showed itself in +every town and village of New England where I have gone—long enough to +learn that though not represented in Congress, there is within the limits of +New England a large mass of as true Democrats as are to be found in any portion +of the Union. Their purposes, their construction of the Constitution, their +hopes for the future, their respect for the past, is the same as that which +exists among my beloved brethren in Mississippi. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +It is not a great while since one who was endeavoring to pursue me with +unfriendly criticism opened an article with my name and “gone to +Boston!”—He seemed to think it a damaging reflection to say of me +that I had gone to Boston—I wish he could have been here to look upon +these Democratic faces to-night, and to listen to your resolutions and the +words of your Massachusetts speakers, he might have been taught that a man +might go and stay at Boston and learn better Democracy than many have acquired +in other places. +</p> + +<p> +I shall gratefully carry with me the recollections of this and of other +meetings witnessed since I have been among you. In the hour of apprehension I +will hopefully turn back to my observations here—here in this consecrated +hall, where men so early devoted themselves to liberty and community +independence; and will endeavor to impress upon others who know you only as you +are misrepresented in the two Houses of Congress, [applause,] how true and how +many are the hearts that beat for constitutional liberty, and with high resolve +to respect every clause and guaranty which the Constitution contains, are +pledged to faithfully uphold the rights of any and every portion of the States, +and of the people. [Tremendous cheering.] +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>Speech in the City of New York,</h2> + +<p class="center"> +<i>Palace Garden Meeting, Oct. 19, 1858.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Countrymen, Democrats:—When I accepted this evening the invitation to +meet you here, it was to see and to hear, not to speak. I have listened with +pleasure to the language addressed to you by your candidate for the highest +office in the State. It is the language of patriotism; it is an appeal to the +common sense of the people in favor of that fraternity on which our Union was +founded, and on which alone it can long continue to exist. I have rejoiced to +hear the applause with which such sentiments, when he uttered them, have been +received by those here convened, and trust it is but an indication of that +onward progress of reaction which I believe has already commenced, and which is +to sink to the lowest depths of forgetfulness the struggle which has so long +agitated the country, and prompted an internecine war against your countrymen. +[Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +Truly has the distinguished gentleman pointed out to you the extreme absurdity +of attempting to excite you upon the ground of southern aggression upon the +north. We have nothing to aggress upon. We have not now, as he has told you, +the power, though once we had, to interfere with your domestic institutions. We +never had the will to do so. And if we had the power now, true to the instincts +and history of our fathers, we would abstain from intermeddling in your +domestic affairs. [Applause.] I have no purpose on this or any other occasion +to mingle in the consideration of those questions which are local to you. I am +not sufficiently learned in conchology to do it if I would, [laughter,] and I +have too great a respect for community independence to do it if I could. My +purpose then is, simply in answer to your call, to offer you a few reflections, +such as may occur to me, as I progress, upon those questions which are common +to us all, and which belong to the memories of our fathers, and are linked with +the hopes of our children. [Applause.] If; then, without preparation, I do it +in unvarnished phrase, if I cannot carry you along with me because of the want +of that flowing diction which might catch the ear, still I ask you to hear me +for my cause, for it is the cause of our country, it is the cause of democracy, +it is the cause of human liberty. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +Who now stand arrayed against the democratic party? The relations of parties +and the issues upon which we have been divided have changed. What now is the +basis of opposition to the democratic party? It is twofold—interference +with the negroes of other people, and interference with the rights now secured +to foreigners who expatriate themselves and come to our land. [“Hear, +hear,” and applause.] To each community belongs the right to decide for +itself what institutions it will have. To each people sovereign within their +own sphere, belongs, and to them only belongs, the right to decide what shall +be property. You have decided it for yourselves. Who shall gainsay your +decision? Mississippi has decided it for herself; who has the right to gainsay +her decision? The power of each people to rule over their domestic affairs lies +at the foundation of that Declaration of Independence to which you owe your +existence among the nations of the earth; that declaration which led your +fathers into and through the war of the revolution. <i>It is that which +constitutes to-day the doctrine of State-rights, upon which it is my pride and +pleasure to stand.</i> [Applause.] Congress has no power to determine what +shall be property anywhere. Congress has only such grants as are contained in +the Constitution. And the Constitution confers upon it no power to rule with +despotic hand over the inhabitants of the Territories. Within the limits of +those Territories, the common property of the Union, you and I are equal; we +are joint owners. Each of us has the right to go into those Territories, with +whatever property is recognized by the Constitution of the United States. +[Applause.] Congress has no power to limit or abridge that right. But the +inhabitants of a Territory when as a people they come to form a State +government, <i>when they possess the power and jurisdiction which belongs to +the people of New York, or any other State, have the right to decide that +question, and no power upon earth has the right to decide it before that +time.</i> [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +[At this point the Young Men’s Democratic National Club, with banners and +transparencies, entered the garden, and were received with enthusiastic +cheers.] +</p> + +<p> +The dull remarks, my friends, which I was in the course of making to you, have +been interrupted by a beautiful episode, which I am sure will more than exceed +the whole value of the poem, if I may thus characterize my dull speech. And I +am glad that foremost among all the transparencies and banners, comes this flag +which speaks of the “Young Men’s Democratic National +Club.”—[Three cheers for Davis.] It is on the young men we must +rely. I have found that in every severe political struggle, where the contest +on the one side was for principle, and on the other for spoils, it has been the +gray-haired father and the boy with the peach bloom upon his cheek upon whom +principles had to rely for support. My own generation—and I regret to say +it—seems too deeply steeped in the trickery of politics to be able to +rise above the influence of personal and political gain into the pure field of +patriotism. And I am therefore glad to see the “Young Men’s +Democratic National Club” leading this procession. +</p> + +<p> +But to return to the argument I was making. I said that Congress had no power +to legislate upon what should be property anywhere; that Congress had no power +to discriminate between the citizens of the different States who should go into +the Territories, the common property of all the States, but that those +Territories of right remained open to every citizen, and every species of +property recognized in the Constitution, until the inhabitants should become a +people, form a fundamental law for themselves, and, as authorized by the +Constitution, assume the powers, duties, and obligations of a State. And now, +my friends, I would ask you, further, of what value would a congressional +decision upon that subject be? If it be a constitutional right, as I contend it +is, then it is a matter for judicial decision. If Congress should assert that +such is not the right of each of our citizens, and the courts appointed as an +arbiter in such cases should decide that it is their right, the enactment +would, therefore, be void. It, on the other hand, it is not a right, but +Congress should assert it to be one, and the courts should declare that no such +right exists under the Constitution, then, Congress has no power to create it; +and it is in this sense that Congress has not the power to establish or +prohibit slavery anywhere. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +What, then, has been the foundation of all this controversy? Your candidate has +justly pointed out to you that unpatriotic struggle for sectional +aggrandizement which has brought about this contest—a contest, as it +were, between two contending powers for national predominance—a contest +upon the one side to enlarge the majority it now possesses, and a contest upon +the other side to recover the power it has lost, and become the majority. This +is the attitude of hostile nations, and not of States bound together in +fraternal unity. This is the feeling that one by one is cutting the strands +which originally held the States together. You have seen your churches divided; +you have seen trade turned aside from its accustomed channel; you have seen +jealousy and uncharitableness and bickering springing up and growing stronger +day by day, until at last, if it continue, the cord of union between the States +reduced simply to the political strand, may not suffice to hold them together. +Once united by every tie of fraternal feeling, shoulder to shoulder, step by +step, our fathers went through the revolution, prompted by a common desire for +the common good, and animated by devotion to the principle of popular liberty. +They struggled against the mother country, because that country endeavored to +legislate for the colonies, and the colonies claimed as a right that they must +not be taxed except by their own representatives, and refused to submit to +unconstitutional legislation. If now, in this struggle for the ascendency in +power, one action should gain such predominance as would enable it, by +modifying the Constitution and usurping new power, to legislate for the other, +<i>the exercise of that power would throw us back into the condition of the +colonies.</i> And if in the veins of the sons flows the blood of their sires, +<i>they would not fail to redeem themselves from tyranny even should they be +driven to resort to revolution.</i> [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +And what is the other question of difference now? It is the agitation, as a +national question, of the right of foreigners to suffrage within these States. +Now, I ask, what power has Congress over the question? Yet members to Congress +are elected upon that question. How would Congress legislate upon +it?—They say, by modifying the naturalization laws. What do those laws +confer? The right to hold real estate and the right to devise it by will; the +right to sue and be sued in the courts of the United States; and the rights to +receive passports and protection from the government of the United States. Who +wishes to withhold those privileges from foreigners? Nobody alleges it. But +they say that the ballot-box must be protected from foreign votes. Has Congress +the right to say that foreigners shall not vote within the limits of your +State? Are you willing to leave that to Congress? [Cries of “ No, no, +no,” and applause.] In some of the States, by State legislation, +foreigners are permitted to vote before they can become citizens under the +naturalization laws. The naturalization laws are not, therefore, controlling +over the question of suffrage. The power of Congress is limited to the +establishment of a uniform rule of naturalization throughout the States. But +what further do they couple with these demands which they make for +congressional legislation? They proclaim their purpose to be to exclude paupers +and criminals from abroad.—Do paupers and criminals come for the right of +suffrage? They come here for bread, or to fly from the laws which they have +violated. Whether they shall be entitled to vote or not, would neither increase +nor diminish the number of that class by a single individual. But, my friends, +who is a pauper, or who is a criminal? Is a man a pauper merely because he +comes here without property, without money in his purse? Go, look along your +lines of internal improvements, where every mile has mingled with it the bones +of some foreigner who labored to create it. Go to your battle fields, where +your flag has been borne triumphantly, and where fresh laurels have been added +to the brow of your country, and there you will find the sod dyed as deep by +the blood of the foreign born as by that of the native citizen. [Applause.] Is +the able-bodied man, who comes here to contribute to your national interests by +building up your public works, or aiding in the erection of your architectural +constructions, or who bears your flag in the hour of danger, and who bleeds and +dies for your country, is he the pauper you desire to exclude? And who is the +criminal? Is it he who, flying from the persecution of despotic governments, +seeks our land as the Huguenot did, as did Soule, the stern American orator, as +many others within your limits have done under more recent struggles for +liberty in Europe? [Applause.] Then, who are the paupers and criminals? Is that +to be decided by the ruling of other countries, by the laws of France, or of +England? Or is it to be decided by your own laws, by your own rules of +judicature? If by the latter, then there is no good ground for controversy. We +do not advocate that any country shall empty its poor houses, get rid of the +duty of supporting its paupers, and throw that charge upon us. We could not +permit any country to empty its prisons and penitentiaries to mingle that +portion of its population with ours. But we do war against the use of terms +that delude the people, and are intended to exclude the high-spirited and +hard-working men who contribute to the bone, the sinew, and the wealth of our +country. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +Such, then, my friends, is the opposition to the democracy, the only national +party. The opposition, I say, claims two things from the federal government, +neither of which it has the constitutional power to perform. It agitates this +section of the Union in relation to property which it has not, and of which, I +say, it knows literally nothing. For had the orator (Mr. Giddings) who was +quoted to-night, known anything of the relations between the master and the +slave, he would not have talked of the slave armed with the British bayonet. +Our doors are unlocked at night; we live among them with no more fear of them +than of our cows and oxen. We lie down to sleep trusting to them for our +defence, and the bond between the master and the slave is as near as that which +exists between capital and labor anywhere. Now, about the idea of British +bayonets in the hands of slaves: The delusion which has always excited my +surprise the most has been that which has led so many of the northern men to +strike hands with the British abolitionists to make war on their southern +brethren. If they could effect their ends, and Great Britain could insert the +wedge which should separate the States, what further use would she have for the +northern section? You are the competitors of Great Britain in the vast field of +manufacture, whom she most fears, and though she may be with you in the scheme +which would effect a separation of these States, yet the moment that separation +should be effected she would be under the promptings of interest your worst +enemy. [Applause.] Our fathers fought and bled to secure the common interests +of the country. They reclaimed us from colonial bondage to national +independence. They stamped upon it free trade in order that the interests of +all might be promoted, that each section might be interwoven with the +other—in order that there might be the strongest bond of mutual +dependence. And step by step, from that day to this, that common and mutual +dependence has been growing. +</p> + +<p> +From the seeds of narrow sectionality and purblind fanaticism, have sprung the +tares which threaten the principles of that declaration which made the Colonies +independent States, and of that compact by which the States were united by a +bond to-day far more valuable than when it was signed. You have among you +politicians of a philosophic turn, who preach a high morality; a system of +which they are the discoverers, and it is to be hoped will long remain the +exclusive possessors. They say, it is true the Constitution dictates this, the +Bible inculcates that; but there is a higher law than those, and call upon you +to obey that higher law, of which they are the inspired givers. [Laughter and +applause.] Men who are <i>traitors</i> to the compact of their +fathers—<i>men who have perjured the oaths they have themselves +taken</i>—they who wish to steep their hands in the blood of their +brothers; these are the moral law-givers who proclaim a higher law than the +Bible, the Constitution, and the laws of the land. This higher-law doctrine, it +strikes me, is the most convenient one I ever heard of for the <i>criminal</i>. +You, no doubt, have a law which punishes a man for stealing a horse or a bale +of goods. But the thief would find more convenient a higher law which would +justify him in keeping the stolen goods. The doctrine is now advanced to you +only in its relation to property of the Southern States, thus it is the pill +gilded, to conceal its bitterness; but it will re-act deeply upon yourselves if +you accept it. What security have you for your own safety if every man of vile +temper, of low instincts, of base purpose, can find in his own heart a higher +law than that which is the rule of society, the Constitution, and the Bible? +<i>These higher-law preachers should be tarred and feathered, and whipped by +those they have thus instigated. This, my friends, is what was called in good +old revolutionary times. Lynch Law.</i> It is sometimes the very best law, +because it deals summary justice upon those who would otherwise escape from all +other kinds of punishment. The man who with sycophantic face and studied +phrase, and with assumed philosophic morality, preaches treason to the +Constitution and the dictates of all human society, is a fit object for a Lynch +law that would be higher than any he could urge. [Applause.] +</p> + +<p> +My democratic friends, I am deeply gratified by the exhibition which is before +me. I see here a field of faces, assembled in the name of Democracy, and over +it high, bright and multiplied for the occasion, as stars have been added by +Democracy to the flag of our country, blaze the lights which typify democratic +principles, pointing upward, to guide our country to that haven of prosperity +which our fathers saw in the distant future, and which they left it for their +sons to attain. It we are true to ourselves, true to the obligations which the +Constitution imposes upon us, and if we are wise and energetic in the struggles +which lie before us, our path is onward to more of national greatness than ever +people before possessed. We are held together by that two-fold government, +which is susceptible of being made perfect in the small spheres of State +limits, and capable of the greatest imperial power, by the combination of these +municipal powers into one for foreign action. It is a form of government such +as the wit of man never devised until our fathers, with a wisdom that +approached inspiration, framed the Constitution, and transmitted it as a legacy +to us. It devolves upon every one of you, to see that each provision of that +Constitution is cordially and faithfully observed. If cordially and faithfully +observed, the powers of hell and of earth combined can never shake the +happiness and prosperity of the people of the United States. [Applause.] With +every revolving year there will arise new motives for holding tenaciously to +each other. With every revolving cycle there will come new sources of pride and +national sentiment to the people. Year after your flag will grow more +brilliant, by the addition of fresh stars, recording the growth of our +political family, and onward, over land and over sea, the progress of American +principles, of human liberty illustrated, and protected by the power of the +United States, will hold its way to a triumph such as the earth has never +witnessed. [Applause.] On the other hand, what do we see? A picture so black +that if I could unveil it, I would not in this cheery moment expose a scene so +chilling to your enthusiasm, and revolting to your patriotic hearts. My +friends, feeling that I have already detained you too long, I now return to you +my cordial thanks for the kindness with which you have received me to-night. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>Speech Before the Mississippi Legislature.</h2> + +<p> +Mississippians: Again it is my privilege and good fortune to be among you, to +stand before those whom I have loved, for whom I have labored, by whom I have +been trusted and honored, and here to answer for myself. Time and disease have +frosted my hair, impaired my physical energies, and furrowed my brow, but my +heart remains unchanged, and its every pulsation is as quick, as strong, and as +true to your interests, your honor, and fair fame, as in the period of my +earlier years. +</p> + +<p> +It is known to many of you, that at the close of the last session of Congress, +wasted by protracted, violent disease, I went, in accordance with medical +advice, to the Northeastern coast of the United States. Against the opinion of +my physician, I had remained at Washington until my public duties were closed, +and then adopted the only course which it was believed gave reasonable hope for +a final restoration to health—that is, sought a region where I should be +exempt from the heat of summer, and from political excitement. +</p> + +<p> +In one respect at least, this accorded with my own feelings, for physically and +mentally depressed, fearful that I should never again be able to perform my +part in the trials to which Mississippi might be subjected, I turned away from +my fellows with such feelings as the wounded elk leaves his herd, and seeks the +covert, to die alone. Misrepresentation and calumny followed me even to the +brink of the grave, and with hyena instinct would have pursued me beyond it. +</p> + +<p> +The political positions which I had always occupied, justified the expectation +that in New England I should be left in loneliness. In this I was disappointed; +courtesy and kindness met me on my first landing, and attended me to the time +of my departure. The manifestations of comity and hospitality, given by the +generous and the noble, aroused the petty hostility of the more extreme of the +Black Republicans, and their newspapers assailed me with the low abuse which +for years I had been accustomed to receive at their hands. I had always +despised their malice and defied their enmity; their assaults did not surprise +me, but when I found them echoed in Southern papers, it did astonish, I will +confess, it did pain me, not for any injury apprehended to myself, but for its +evil effect upon the cause with which I was identified. +</p> + +<p> +Was it expected that to public and private manifestations of kindness by the +people of Maine, I should return denunciation and repel their generous +approaches with epithets of abuse? If they had deserved such reproach, they +could not merit it at my hands. A guest hospitably attended, it would have been +inconsistent with the character of a gentleman, to have done less than +acknowledge their kindness, and it was not in my nature to feel otherwise than +grateful to them for the many manifestations of a desire to render pleasant and +beneficial the sojourn of an invalid among them. But they did not deserve it, +and I am happy to state as the result of my acquaintance with them, that we +have a large body of true friends among them, men who maintain our +constitutional rights as explicitly and as broadly as we assert them, and who +have performed this service with the foreknowledge that they were thereby to +sacrifice their political prospects, at least, until through years of patient +exertion they should correct error, suppress fanaticism, and build for +themselves a structure on the basis of truth, which had long been unwelcome and +might not soon be understood. +</p> + +<p> +But there were other evidences of regard more valuable to me than exhibitions +of personal kindness. Regard for the people of Mississippi, founded on a +special attention to their history; the gallant services of your sons in the +field, were publicly claimed as property which Mississippi could not +appropriate to herself; but which were part of the common wealth of the nation, +and belonged equally to the people of Maine. Could I be insensible to such +recognition of the honorable fame of Mississippi? No, the memory of the gallant +dead, who died at Monterey and Buena Vista, forbade it. +</p> + +<p> +At a subsequent period, when in Massachusetts, one of her distinguished sons, +(Gen. Cushing,) paid a compliment to the feat performed by the Mississippi +Regiment in checking the enemies cavalry on the field of Buena Vista one Black +Republican newspaper denied the originality of the movement, and claimed it to +have been previously performed by an English regiment at Quatre Bras. This +claim was unfounded; the service performed by the British Regiment having been +of a totally different character and for a different purpose.—A Southern +paper, however, has gone one step beyond that of the Massachusetts paper, and +denies the merit claimed for the service rendered by saying that it was the +result of accident, growing out of the peculiar conformation of the ground on +which the regiment rallied and that it was necessary for the safety of the +regiment, being like the act of a man who leaps from a burning ship and takes +the chance of drowning. +</p> + +<p> +If this only affected myself, I should leave it, like other misrepresentations, +unnoticed, but it concerns the hard earned reputation of the regiment I +commanded. It affects the fame of Mississippi, and propagates an error which +may pollute the current of history. +</p> + +<p> +We live in an age of progress, and it requires a progressive age to produce a +military critic who should discover that a soldier deserved no credit for +availing himself of the accidents of ground. One half of the science of war +consists in teaching how to take advantage of the irregularities of the ground +on which military movements are to be made, or defensive works are to be +constructed. The highest reputation of Generals in every age has resulted in +their skill in military topography. The most marked compliment ever paid by one +General to another, was that of Napoleon to Cæsar, when he halted on his +encampments without a previous reconnoisance. But the regiment did not rally as +stated, for it had not been dispersed; neither was their movement the result of +their own necessity, or adopted for their own safety. They were marching by the +flank, on the side of a ravine, when the enemy’s cavalry were seen +approaching. They could have halted on the side of the ravine, which was so +precipitous that they would have been there as sate from a charge as if they +had been in Mississippi. They could have gone down into the ravine, and have +been concealed even from the sight of the cavalry. The necessity was to prevent +the cavalry from passing to the rear of our line of battle, where they might +have attacked, and probably carried our batteries, which were then without the +protection of our infantry escort. It was our country’s necessity and not +our own which prompted the service there performed. For this the regiment was +formed square across the plain, and there stood motionless as a rock, silent as +death, and eager as a greyhound for the approach of the enemy, at least nine +times, numerically, their superiors. Some Indiana troops were formed on the +brink of the ravine with the right flank of the Mississippi Regiment, +constituting one branch of what has been called the “V”. When the +enemy had approached as near as he dared and seemed to shrink from contact with +the motionless, resolute living wall which stood before him, the angry crack of +the Mississippi rifle was heard, and as the smoke rose and the dust fell, there +remained of the host which so lately stood before us but the fallen and the +flying. The rear of our line of battle was again secured, and a service had +been rendered which in no small degree contributed to the triumph which finally +perched upon the banner of the United States. +</p> + +<p> +I am not a disinterested, and may not be a competent judge, but I know how I +thought, and still believe, that your sons, given by you to the public service +in the war with Mexico, have not received the full measure of the credit which +was their due. They, however, received so much that we might be content to rest +on the history as it has been written. But it constitutes a reason why we +should not permit any of the leaves to be unjustly torn away. +</p> + +<p> +To return to the consideration of the less important subject, the +misrepresentation of myself; I will again express the surprise I felt that when +abolition papers were assailing me with a view to destroy any power which I +might acquire to correct the error which had been instilled into the minds of +the people of the North in relation to Southern sentiments and Southern +institutions, that they should have received both aid and comfort from Southern +newspapers, and been bolstered up in the attempt to misrepresent my political +position. When the charge was made, which was copied in Northern papers, that I +had abandoned those with whom I co-operated in 1852, to produce a separation of +the States, my friend, the editor of the Mississippian, seeing the +misrepresentation of my position, and naturally supposing, as we had no +discussion in 1852, the reference must have been made to the canvass of 1851, +quoted from the resolutions of the State-Rights Democratic Convention, and from +an address published by myself to the people, to show that my position was the +reverse of that assigned to me. Before proceeding, I will advert to a reference +which has been made to him, as my “organ.” He is no more my +“organ” than I am his. We have generally concurred, I and have been +able to understand and anticipate his positions as he has mine. I am indebted +to him for many favors. He is indebted to me for nothing. As Democrats, as +gentlemen, as friends, we occupy to each other the relation of exact equality. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding that irrefutable answer to the charge, it has been reiterated, +and, as before, located in the year 1852. It is known to you all that our +discussions were in 1851. I then favored a convention of the Southern States, +that we might take counsel together, as to the future which was to be +anticipated, from the legislation of 1850. The decision of the State was to +acquiesce in the legislation of that year, with a series of resolutions in +relation to future encroachments. I submitted to the decision of the people, +and have in good faith adhered to the line of conduct which it imposed. +Therefore in 1852 there is no record from which to disprove any allegation, but +you know the charge to be utterly unfounded, and charity alone can suppose its +reiteration was innocently made. Neither in that year nor in any other, have I +ever advocated a dissolution of the Union, or the separation of the State of +Mississippi from the Union, except as the last alternative, and have not +considered the remedies which lie within that extreme as exhausted, or ever +been entirely hopeless of their success. I hold now, as announced on former +occasions, that whilst occupying a seat in the Senate, I am bound to maintain +the Government of the Constitution, and in no manner to work for its +destruction; that the obligation of the oath of office, Mississippi’s +honor and my own, require that, as a Senator of the United States, there should +be no want of loyalty to the Constitutional Union. Whenever Mississippi shall +resolve to separate from the Confederacy, I will expect her to withdraw her +representatives from the General Government, to which they are accredited. If I +should ever, whilst a Senator, deem it my duty to assume an attitude of +hostility to the Union, I should, immediately thereupon, feel bound to resign +the office, and return to my constituency to inform them of the fact. It was +this view of the obligations of my position, which caused me, on various +occasions, to repel, with such indignation, the accusation of being a +disunionist, while holding the office of Senator of the United States. +</p> + +<p> +I have been represented as having, advocated “Squatter Sovereignty” +in a speech made at Bangor, in the State of Maine, A paragraph has been +published purporting to be an extract from that speech, and vituperative +criticism, and forced construction have exhausted themselves upon it, with +deductions which are considered authorized, because they are not denied in the +paragraph published. +</p> + +<p> +In this case, as in that of the charge in relation to my position in 1852, +there is no record with which to answer. I never made a speech at Bangor. And a +fair mind would have sought for the speech to see how far the general context +explained the paragraph, before indulging in hostile criticism. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Douglas, in a speech at Alton, adopting the paragraph published, and +evidently drawing his opinion from the unfair construction which had been put +upon it, claims to quote from a speech made by me at Bangor, to sustain the +position taken by him at Freeport. He says: +</p> + +<p> +“You will find in a recent speech, delivered by that able and eloquent +statesman, Hon. Jefferson Davis, at Bangor, Maine, that he took the same view +of this subject that I did in my Freeport speech. He there said:” +</p> + +<p> +“‘If the inhabitants of any territory should refuse to enact such +laws and police regulations as would give security to their property and his, +it would be rendered more or less valueless, in proportion to the difficulty of +holding it without such protection. In the case of property in the labor of a +man, or what is usually called slave property, the insecurity would be so great +that the owner could not ordinarily retain it. Therefore, though the right +would remain, the remedy being withheld, it would follow that the owner would +be practically debarred, by the circumstances of the case, from taking slave +property into a Territory where the sense of the inhabitants was opposed to its +introduction. So much for the oft repeated fallacy of forcing slavery upon any +community.’” +</p> + +<p> +It is fair to suppose, if the Senator had known where to find the speech from +which this extract was taken, that he would have examined it before proceeding +to make such use of it. And I can but believe, if he had taken the paragraph +free from the distortion which it had undergone from others, that he must have +seen it bore no similitude to his position at Freeport, and could give no +countenance to the doctrine he then announced. He there said: +</p> + +<p> +“The next question Mr. Lincoln propounded to me is: ‘Can the people +of a territory exclude slavery from their limits by any fair means, before it +comes into the Union as a State?’ I answer emphatically, as Mr. Lincoln +has heard me answer a hundred times, on every stump in Illinois, that in my +opinion, the people of a territory can, by lawful means, exclude slavery before +it comes ill as a State. [Cheers.] Mr. Lincoln knew that I had given that +answer over and over again. He heard me argue the Nebraska bill on that +principle all over the State, in 1854, and ’55, and ’56, and he has +now no excuse to pretend to have any doubt upon that subject. Whatever the +Supreme Court may hereafter decide as on the abstract question of whether +slavery may go in under the Constitution or not, the people of a territory have +the lawful means to admit or exclude it as they please for the reason that +slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere unless supported by local police +regulations, furnishing remedies aid means of enforcing the right of holding +slaves. Those local aid police regulations can only be furnished by the local +Legislature. If the people of the Territory are opposed to slavery they will +elect members to the Legislature who will adopt unfriendly legislation to it. +If they are for it, they will adopt the legislative measures friendly to +slavery. Hence no matter what may be the decision of the Supreme Court, on that +abstract questions still the right of the people to make it a slave territory +or a free territory, is perfect and complete under the Nebraska Bill. I hope +Mr. Lincoln will deem my answer satisfactory on this point.” This is the +distinct assertion of the power of territorial legislation to admit or exclude +slavery; of the first in the race of migration who reach a territory, the +common property of the people of the United States to enact laws for the +exclusion of other joint owners of the territory, who may in the exercise of +their equal right to enter the common property, choose to take with them +property recognized by the Constitution, built not acceptable to the first +emigrants to the Territory. That Senator had too often and too fully discussed +with me the question of “squatter sovereignty” to be justified in +thus mistaking my opinion. The difference between us is as wide as that of one +who should assert the right to rob from him who admitted the power. It is true, +as I stated it at that time, all property requires protection from the society +in the midst of which it is held. This necessity does not confer a right to +destroy, but rather creates an obligation to protect. It is true as I stated +it, that slave property peculiarly requires the protection of society, and +would ordinarily become valueless in the midst of a community, which would seek +to seduce the slave front his master, and conceal him whilst absconding, and as +jurors protect each other in any suit which the master might bring for damages. +The laws of the United States, through the courts of the United States, might +enable the master to recover the slave wherever he could find him. But you all +know, in such a community as I have supposed, that a slave inclined to abscond +would become utterly useless, and that was the extent of the admission. +</p> + +<p> +The extract on which reliance has been placed was taken from a speech made at +Portland, and both before and after the extract, the language employed +conclusively disproves the construction, which unfriendly criticism has put +upon the detached passage. Immediately preceding it, the following language was +used: +</p> + +<p> +“The Territory being the common property of States, equals in the Union, +and bound by the Constitution which recognizes property in slaves, it is an +abuse of terms to call aggression the migration into that Territory of one of +its joint owners, because carrying with him any species of property recognized +by the Constitution of the United States. The Federal Government has no power +to declare what is property enywhere.{sic} The power of each State cannot +extend beyond its own limits. As a consequence, therefore, whatever is property +in any of the States, must be so considered in any of the territories of the +United States until they reach to the dignity of community independence, when +the subject matter will be entirely under the control of the people, and be +determined by their fundamental law. If the inhabitants of any territory should +refuse to enact such laws and police regulations as would give security to +their property or to his, it would be rendered more or less valueless, in +proportion to the difficulty of holding it without such protection. In the case +of property in the labor of man, or what is usually called slave property, the +insecurity would be so great that the owner could not ordinarily retain it. +Therefore, though the right would remain, the remedy being withheld, it would +follow that the owner would be practically debarred by the circumstances of the +case, from taking slave property into a territory where the sense of the +inhabitants was opposed to its introduction. So much for the oft repeated +fallacy of forcing slavery upon any community.” +</p> + +<p> +And in a subsequent part of the same speech, the matter was treated of in this +wise: +</p> + +<p> +“The South had not asked Congress to extend slavery into the territories, +and he in common with most other Southern statesmen, denied the existence of +any power to do so. He held it to be the creed of the Democracy, both in the +North and the South, that the general government had no constitutional power +either to establish or prohibit slavery anywhere; a grant of power to do the +one must necessarily have involved the power to do the other. Hence it is their +policy not to interfere on the one side or the other, but protecting each +individual in his constitutional rights, to leave every independent community +to determine and adjust all domestic questions as in their wisdom may seem +best.” +</p> + +<p> +In other speeches made elsewhere, in New England and in New York the equality +of the South as joint owners was declared and maintained, as I had often done +before the people of Mississippi and in the Senate of the United States when +the subject was in controversy. The position taken by me in 1850, in the form +of an amendment offered to one of the compromise measures of that year, was +intended to assert the equal right of all property to the protection of the +United States, and to deny to any legislative body the power to abridge that +right. The decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case has fully +sustained our position in the following passage: +</p> + +<p> +“If Congress itself cannot do this, (prohibit slavery in a Territory,) if +it is beyond the powers conferred on the Federal Government—it will be +admitted, we presume, that it could not authorize a territorial government to +exercise them. <i>It could confer no power on any local government established +by its authority, to violate the provisions of the Constitution.</i> +</p> + +<p> +“And if the Constitution recognizes the right of property of the master +in a slave; and makes no distinction between that description of property and +other property owned by a citizen, <i>no tribunal</i>, acting under the +authority of the United States, whether legislative, executive, or judicial, +has a right to draw such a distinction, or deny to it the benefit of the +provisions and guarantees which have been provided for the protection of +private property against the encroachments of the government.” +</p> + +<p> +At the time of the adoption of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, it certainly was +understood that the constitutional rights to take slaves into any territory of +the United States should thenceforth be regarded as a judicial question; and +therefore special provision was made to facilitate the bringing of such +questions before the Supreme Court of the United States. After the decision to +which reference has just been made, the prominent advocate of the bill at the +time of its enactment should have been estopped from recurring to his +“squatter sovereignty” heresies, though the decision should have +been different from his anticipation or desire. And as much interest has been +felt in relation to his position, and some inquiry has been made as to my view +of it, I will here say, that I consider him as having recanted the better +opinions announced by him in 1854, and that I cannot be compelled to choose +between men, one of whom asserts the power of Congress to deprive us of a +constitutional right, and the other only denies the power of Congress, in order +to transfer it to the territorial legislature. Neither the one nor the other +has any authority to sit in judgment on our rights under the Constitution. +</p> + +<p> +Between such positions, Mississippi cannot have a preference, because she +cannot recognize anything tolerable in either of them. +</p> + +<p> +Having called your attention to the speech made at Portland, to show that other +parts of it disprove the construction put upon the paragraph, which was taken +from it, and reported to be a part of the speech delivered at Bangor, it may be +as well on this occasion to state the circumstances under which the speech was +made at Portland. Immediately preceding the State election, I was invited, by +the democracy of that city, to address them, and my attention was especially +called to a delusion practiced on the people of Maine, by which many were led +to believe that there was a purpose on the part of the South, through the +government of the United States, to force slavery not only into the +territories, but also into the non-slaveholding States of the Union. It was +represented to me that in the last Presidential canvass that one of the +Senators of Maine had convinced many of the voters that if Mr. Buchanan should +be elected, slavery would be forced upon Maine, and that the other Senator was +arguing that the Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court had given authority +to introduce and hold slaves in that State. To counteract such impressions, +injurious to the South and her friends, the remarks which have been extracted +were made. +</p> + +<p> +On that, as on other occasions, it was deemed a duty to correct +misrepresentation and seek to vindicate our purposes from the prejudice which +ignorance and agitation had created against us. If it was in my power in any +degree to allay sectional excitement, to cultivate sounder opinions and a more +fraternal feeling, it was a task most acceptable to me, and one for the +performance of which I could not doubt your approval. But it has been my +fortune to be the object of a malice which I have not striven to appease +because I was conscious that it rested upon no injury or injustice inflicted by +me. The land swarms with Presidential candidates, announced by their agents or +their friends, or by themselves, as the mode most available for preventing too +zealous and partial friends from putting them in nomination. To these it was +the source of unfounded apprehension, that I went to the coast of New England, +instead of returning to Mississippi. If any of them had known the necessity +which kept me from home, it is fair to suppose the aspirant for such +distinction could not have been guilty of the meanness of suppressing that +fact, and allowing misrepresentation to do its work in my absence. +</p> + +<p> +For the wretch who is doomed to go through the world bearing a personal +jealousy or a personal malignity, which renders him incapable of doing justice, +and studious of misrepresentation, I can only feel pity, and were it possible +to feel revengeful, could consign him to no worse punishment than that of his +own tormentors, the vipers nursed in his own breast. +</p> + +<p> +But long have I delayed what is my chief purpose, to speak to my friends, the +men whose good opinion is to me of importance only second to the approval of my +own conscience. So far as they have misunderstood me, it is a pleasure to set +forth the true meaning of both my words and my deeds. To my traducers I have no +explanations to offer and no apologies for any one. If State Rights men in the +excess of their zeal have censured me, I have no reproaches for them, but +cheerfully bear the burden which may be imposed upon me by zeal in the cause to +which my political life has been devoted, and in imitation of Job, would bless +the State Rights Democracy of Mississippi, even if the object of its vengeance: +“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” +</p> + +<p> +If I had been asked what interpretation might possibly be put upon the +published sketch of the remarks made by me at sea on the Fourth of July last, +speculation would have been exhausted before it would have occurred to me that +my State Rights friends would consider themselves described under the head of +“trifling politicians,” who could not believe that the country +would remain united to repel insult to our flag as it had recently been on the +occasion of the attempt to exercise visit and search in the Gulf of Mexico, +under the pretext of checking the African slave trade. The publisher of that +sketch has already announced that it was not a report, and that for its +language I could not justly be considered responsible. To this it is needless +that I should add any thing. But I have treated it, and will treat it in the +view necessarily taken by those who construed it before such denial was made. +</p> + +<p> +During the period of greatest adversity, in the hour of gloom and defeat, the +State Rights Democracy had no cause to complain of my fealty. We struggled +together, fell together, rose together, and to them I am indebted for whatever +of consideration or position I possess. Endeared to me by our common suffering; +grateful to them for the steadfast support with which they have honored me, +accustomed to refer with pride to my identity with them, it would have been +strange indeed, if when separated from them under circumstances which turned +any eyes, with more than ordinary anxiety towards my home, I should then have +sought an occasion to heap reproachful language upon them. +</p> + +<p> +Often it has been my duty to repel the accusations of others who sought to +attribute to the State Rights Democracy opinions not their own, and to impute +to them the purpose to agitate for the destruction of the government we +inherited. As one of the State Rights party, I deny that the language published +is a picture of me or my class, and I have as little disposition now, as at any +former time, to separate myself from the body of the party, with which I have +so long acted, which I rejoice to see in power at home, and daily more and more +respected in the other States. +</p> + +<p> +I have thus defined who were not meant, and will now tell who were meant. +Firsts they were the noisy agitators who were constantly disturbing the public +peace and proclaiming that slavery is so great an evil, that the preservation +of the Union is subordinate to the purpose of abolishing it. They who object to +any protection, on the high seas or elsewhere, being given to slave property by +the government of the United States; who would rejoice in any insult offered to +the national flag if borne by a vessel sailing from a Southern port; and who +have been for some time back circulating petitions for a dissolution of the +Union on the ground of the incompatibility of the sections. And to these may be +added the few, the very few of Southern men who fancying that they would have +advantages out of the Union which they cannot possess within it, however fully +the compact should be observed and State Equality maintained, desire its +dissolution, and taking counsel of their passions, decry the labors of all who +seek to preserve the government as our fathers formed it, and to develop the +great purposes for which it was ordained and established. +</p> + +<p> +The other phrase which has been the subject of comment was, “and this +great country will remain united.” How “united” is set forth +in the language to which this clause was a conclusion, “united to protect +our national flag whenever a foreign power, presuming on our domestic +dissention, should dare to insult it.” The unanimity with which men of +all parties in the two houses of Congress rallied to support the executive in +maintaining the rights of our flag, had been the subject of my commendation. +Upon that fact the idea expressed rested. At worst it could but have evinced +too much credulity, and I trust I may die believing that whenever the honor of +our flag shall demand it, every mountain and valley and plain, will pour forth +their hardy sons, and that shoulder to shoulder they will march against any +foreign foe which shall invade the rights of any portion of the United States. +</p> + +<p> +And here permit me as a duty to you, and an obligation upon myself, to pay the +tribute which I believe to be due the Northern Democracy. Having formed my +opinion of them upon insufficient data, I have had occasion, after much +intercourse with them, to modify it. I believe that a great reaction has +commenced; how far it will progress I do not pretend to say, but am hopeful +that agitation will soon become unprofitable to political traders in New +England, and this hope rests upon the high position taken by the Northern +Democracy, and upon the increased vote which in some of the States, under the +more distinct avowal of sound principles, their candidates have received. You +may now often hear among them not only the unqualified defence of your +constitutional rights, but the vindication of your institutions in the +abstract, and in the concrete. +</p> + +<p> +In the town of Portland, just preceding the election, a Democrat of large means +and extensively engaged in commercial transactions and city improvements +addressed the Democracy, arguing that their prosperity depended upon their +connection with countries, the products of which were dependent upon slave +labor; and the future growth and prosperity of their city depended upon the +extension of slave labor into all countries where it could be profitably +employed. He showed by a statistical statement the paralysing effect which +would be produced upon their interest by the abolition of slavery. The Black +Republican papers of course abused him, and compared him to Davis and Toombs, +but his sound views were approved by the Democracy, and so far as I could +judge, he gained consideration by their manly utterance. +</p> + +<p> +A generation had been educated in error, and the South had done nothing in +defence of the abstract right of slavery. Within a few years essays have been +written, books have been published, by northern as well as by southern men, and +with the increase of information, there has been a subsidence of prejudice, and +a preparation of the mind to receive truth. Our friends are still in a +minority. It would be vain to speculate as to the period when their position +will be reversed. Whether sooner or later, or never, they are still entitled to +our regard and respect. A few years ago those who maintained our constitutional +right, and to secure it voted for the Kansas and Nebraska bill, went home to +meet reproach and expulsions from public employment. +</p> + +<p> +Even their social position was affected by that political act. The few years, +however, which have elapsed, have produced a great change. They have recovered +all except their political position. That bill which was considered when it was +enacted, a Southern measure, for which Northern men bravely sacrificed their +political prospects, has of late been denounced at the South as a cheat and a +humbug. A poor return certainly, to those who conscientiously maintaining our +rights, surrendered their popularity to secure what the men for whom they made +the sacrifice now pronounce to have been a cheat. It is true that bill has +recently received in some quarters a construction which its friends did not +place upon it when it was enacted. But it should be judged by its terms and by +contemporaneous construction. +</p> + +<p> +When I visited the people of Mississippi last year, the question of greatest +public excitement, was connected with the action of the Executive in relation +to the admission of Kansas as a State of the Union. You had been led to suppose +that the President would attempt to control the action of the convention, and +if the constitution was not submitted to a popular vote, would oppose by all +the means within his power, the admission of the State within the Union. You +were also excited at a dogma which had been put forth, to the effect that no +more slave States should be admitted. I agreed with you then, that if the +President took such position he would violate the obligations of his office, +and be faithless to the trust which you had reposed in him. I agreed with you +then, that the exclusion of a State, because it was slaveholding, would be such +an offence against your equality as would demand at your hands the vindication +of your rights. What has been the result? The convention framed the +constitution, submitted only the clause relating to slavery to a popular vote, +and applied for admission. The President in his annual message referred in +favorable terms to the application, then not formally made, and when the +Constitution reached him transmitted it to Congress with a special message, in +which he fully and emphatically maintained the right of admission. +</p> + +<p> +After the convention had adjourned, Mr. Stanton, acting Governor of the +Territory, called and extra session of the Freesoil Legislature, which has been +elected, and it passed an act to submit the whole constitution to a popular +vote. The President removed him from office,—a further evidence of the +sincerity with which he was fulfiling your expectations in relation to Kansas. +And it gives me pleasure here to say of him, what I am assured I can now say +with confidence, that he will not shrink a hair’s breadth from the +position he has taken, but will move another step in advance, and fall, if fall +he must, manfully upholding the rights and defying the insolence of ill-gotten +power. +</p> + +<p> +When the bill was presented to the Senate for the admission of the State of +Kansas, after a long discussion, it was adopted, with a provision which +required the State after admission to relinquish its claim to all the land +asked for in its ordinance, except 5,000,000 acres, that being the largest +amount which had been ever granted to a State at the period of its admission. +There was also a provision declaratory of the right of the people to change +their constitution at any time; though the instrument itself had restricted +them for a term of years. I considered both those provisions objectionable; the +first, because it was directory of legislation to be enacted by a State; and +the second, because it was inviting to a disregard of the fundamental law, and +had too much the seeming of a concession to the anti-slavery feeling which was +impatient for a change of the constitution. That bill failed in the House, and +was succeeded by a bill of the Opposition which recognized the right of Kansas +to be admitted with a pro-slavery constitution, provided it should be adopted +by a popular vote. This also failed, and in the division between the two +Houses, a com- {sic} +</p> + +<p> +As there has been much diversity of opinion in relation to that law, and I +think much misapprehension as to its character, I will be pardoned for speaking +of it somewhat minutely. +</p> + +<p> +When it was known that the Conference Committee had prepared a bill, I mittee +of conference was appointed, which framed the bill that became a law. being at +the time confined to my house by disease, invited my colleague and the +Representatives from the State to visit me, that we might confer together and +decide upon the course which we would pursue. Before the evening of our +meeting, a distinguished member of the House of Representatives, a member of +the Committee, called and read to me the bill which they had prepared. It +contained some features which I considered objectionable. He concurred with me, +and promised to use his efforts to have them stricken out. When the Mississippi +delegation assembled, our conference was full, and marked by the desire, first +to protect the rights of our State, and secondly, to secure unanimity of action +by its delegation. The objections which were urged, referred, as my memory +serves me, entirely to the features which I had reason to hope would be +stricken out. One of the delegation announced an unwillingness to support the +proposed modification of the Senate proposition, lest it should be considered +as yielding the point on which we had insisted that Congress could not require +the Constitution to be submitted to a popular vote. I refer to the lamented +Quitman, whose sincere devotion to Southern interests, no one, who knew him, +could question. I regretted that he deemed it necessary to vote, finally, +against the measure, but I honor the motive which governed his course. +</p> + +<p> +The ordinance which was attached to the Constitution, was not a part of it, but +a condition annexed to the application for admission. If Congress had stricken +the ordinance out, the effect, I believe, would have been that of admitting the +State without any reservation of the public land; would have transferred as an +attribute of sovereignty the useful as well as the eminent domain. The Southern +Senators who received the soubriquet of Southern ultras, held that position in +1850, in relation to the public lands of California, and it constituted one of +their objections to the admission of that State at the time it was effected. To +modify the ordinance, that is to change the condition on which the inhabitants +of Kansas proposed to enter into the Union was necessarily to give them the +right to withdraw their proposition. +</p> + +<p> +It remained then for Congress if they reduced the amount of land asked for in +the ordinance, either to provide the mode in which the inhabitants should +accept or reject the modification or leave them to do it in such manner as they +might adopt. The convention was defunct, the legislature was black republican +and thought to be entitled to little confidence, and it seemed to be better +that Congress should itself provide the mode of ascertaining the public will +than leave that duty to the territorial legislature, such as it was believed +and proven to be. It was a mere question of expediency, and I think the best +course was pursued. +</p> + +<p> +To have admitted the State without modification of the ordinance, would have +been to grant five times as much of the public land as had ever been given to a +State at the period of admission. +</p> + +<p> +There was nothing to justify such a discrimination, and otherwise the State +could not be admitted without referring the question or violating the principle +of State sovereignty. +</p> + +<p> +As a condition precedent, the general government may require the recognition of +its right to control the primary disposal of the land, but can have no right to +impose a condition with the mandate that it shall be subsequently fulfiled and +no power to enforce the mandate if the State admitted should refuse to comply. +Not for all the land in Kansas, not for all the land between the Missouri and +the Pacific ocean, not for all the land of the continent of North America, +would I agree that the federal government should have the power to coerce a +State. +</p> + +<p> +The necessity for having all conditions agreed upon before the admission of a +State was demonstrated by Mr. Soule, in 1850, in the discussion of the bill for +the admission of California. Mr. Webster replied to him but did not answer his +argument, and the course of events seems likely to verify all that Senator +Soule foretold. +</p> + +<p> +Of the three methods which were supposable, I think Congress adopted the best; +it was the only one which was attainable and secured all which was of value to +the South. It was the admission by Congress of a State with a pro-slavery +Constitution; it was the triumph of the principle that forbade Congress to +interfere either as to the matter of the Constitution or the manner in which it +should be formed and adopted. +</p> + +<p> +The refusal of the inhabitants to accept the reduced endowment offered to them, +and their decision to remain in a territorial condition, was, in my opinion, +wise on their part and fortunate on ours. The late Governor, Denver, has +forcibly pointed out to them their want of means to support a State government, +and the propriety of giving their first attention to the establishment of order +and the development of their internal resources. There were many reasons to +doubt the fitness of the inhabitants of Kansas to be admitted as a State. +</p> + +<p> +The condition of the country and the previous legislation of Congress made the +case exceptional, and, in my judgment, justified the course adopted. I have, +therefore, no apology or regret to offer in the case. +</p> + +<p> +The Northern opponents of the measure have, among other denunciatory epithets, +applied to it those of “bribery” and “coercion.” +“Bribery” to give less by twenty millions of acres of land than was +claimed, and “coercion” to leave them to the option of receiving +the usual endowment, or waiting until they had an amount of population which +would give some assurance of their ability to maintain a State government. +Though such is the requirement of the law, and designed to secure exemption +from the mischievous agitation which has for several years disturbed the +country and benefitted only the demagogues who make a trade of politics, we may +scarcely hope to escape from a renewal of the agitation which has been found so +profitable. The next phase of the question will probably be in the form of what +is termed an “enabling act,”—a favorite measure with the +advocates of “squatter sovereignty,” who, claiming for the +inhabitants of a Territory all the power of the people of a State, nevertheless +consider it necessary that Congress should confer the power to form a +Constitution and apply as a State. Congress has given authority for admission +in some cases, but I think it better to avoid than to follow the precedent. Not +that I am concerned for the doctrine of “squatter sovereignty,” but +that I would guard against the mischievous error of considering the federal +government as the parent of States, and would restrict it to the function of +admitting new States into the Union, barring all pretension to the power of +creating them. +</p> + +<p> +It seems now to be probable that the Abolitionists and their allies will have +control of the next House of Representatives, and it may be well inferred from +their past course that they will attempt legislation both injurious and +offensive to the South. I have an abiding faith that any law which violates our +constitutional rights, will be met with a veto by the present +Executive.—But should the next House of Representatives be such as would +elect an Abolition President, we may expect that the election will be so +conducted as probably to defeat a choice by the people and devolve the election +upon the House. +</p> + +<p> +Whether by the House or by the people, if an Abolitionist be chosen President +of the United States, you will have presented to you the question of whether +you will permit the government to pass into the hands of your avowed and +implacable enemies. Without pausing for your answer, I will state my own +position to be that such a result would be a species of revolution by which the +purposes of the Government would be destroyed and the observance of its mere +forms entitled to no respect. +</p> + +<p> +In that event, in such manner as should be most expedient, I should deem it +your duty to provide for your safety outside of a Union with those who have +already shown the will, and would have acquired the power, to deprive you of +your birthright and to reduce you to worse than the colonial dependence of your +fathers. +</p> + +<p> +The master mind of the so-called Republican party, Senator Seward, has in a. +recent speech at Rochester, announced the purpose of his party to dislodge the +Democracy from the possession of the federal Government, and assigns as a +reason the friendship of that party for what he denominates the slave system. +He declares the Union between the States having slave labor and free labor to +be incompatible, and announces that one or the other must disappear. He even +asserts that it was the purpose of the framers of the Government to destroy +slave property, and cites as evidence of it, the provision for an amendment of +the Constitution. He seeks to alarm his auditors by assuring them of the +purpose on the part of the South and the Democratic party to force slavery upon +all the States of the Union. Absurd as all this may seem to you, and +incredulous as you may be of its acceptance by any intelligent portion of the +citizens of the United States, I have reason to believe that it has been +inculcated to no small extent in the Northern mind. +</p> + +<p> +It requires but a cursory examination of the Constitution of the United States; +but a partial knowledge of its history and of the motives of the men who formed +it, to see how utterly fallacious it is to ascribe to them the purpose of +interfering with the domestic institutions of any of the States. But if a +disrespect for that instrument, a fanatical disregard of its purposes, should +ever induce a majority, however large, to seek by amending the Constitution, to +pervert it from its original object, and to deprive you of the equality which +your fathers bequeathed to you, I say let the star of Mississippi be snatched +from the constellation to shine by its inherent light, if it must be so, +through all the storms and clouds of war. +</p> + +<p> +The same dangerously powerful man describes the institution of slavery as +degrading to labor, as intolerant and inhuman, and says the white laborer among +us is not enslaved only because he cannot yet be reduced to bondage. Where he +learned his lesson, I am at a loss to imagine; certainly not by observation, +for you all know that by interest, if not by higher motive, slave labor bears +to capital as kind a relation as can exist between them anywhere; that it +removes from us all that controversy between the laborer and the capitalist, +which has filled Europe with starving millions and made their poor houses an +onerous charge. You too know, that among us, white men have an equality +resulting from a presence of the lower caste, which cannot exist where white +men fill the position here occupied by the servile race. The mechanic who comes +among us, employing the less intellectual labor of the African, takes the +position which only a master-workman occupies where all the mechanics are +white, and therefore it is that our mechanics hold their position of absolute +equality among us. +</p> + +<p> +I say to you here as I have said to the Democracy of New York, if it should +ever come to pass that the Constitution shall be perverted to the destruction +of our rights so that we shall have the mere right as a feeble minority +unprotected by the barrier of the Constitution to give an ineffectual negative +vote in the Halls of Congress, we shall then bear to the federal government the +relation our colonial fathers did to the British crown, and if we are worthy of +our lineage we will in that event redeem our rights even if it be through the +process of revolution. And it gratifies me to be enabled to say that no portion +of the speech to which I have referred was received with more marked +approbation by the Democracy there assembled than the sentiment which has just +been cited. I am happy also to state that during the past summer I heard in +many places, what previously I had only heard from the late President Pierce, +the declaration that whenever a Northern army should be assembled to march for +the subjugation of the South, they would have a battle to fight at home before +they passed the limits of their own State, and one in which our friends claim +that the victory will at least be doubtful. +</p> + +<p> +Now, as in 1851, I hold separation from the Union by the State of Mississippi +to be the last remedy—the final alternative. In the language of the +venerated Calhoun I consider the disruption of the Union as a great though not +the greatest calamity. I would cling tenaciously to our constitutional +Government, seeing as I do in the fraternal Union of equal States the benefit +to all and the fulfilment of that high destiny which our fathers hoped for and +left it for their sons to attain. I love the flag of my country with even more +than a filial affection. Mississippi gave me in my boyhood to her military +service. For many of the best years of my life I have followed that flag and +upheld it on fields where if I had fallen it might have been claimed as my +winding sheet. When I have seen it surrounded by the flags of foreign +countries, the pulsations of my heart have beat quicker with every breeze which +displayed its honored stripes and brilliant constellation. I have looked with +veneration on those stripes as recording the original size of our political +family and with pride upon that constellation as marking the family’s +growth; I glory in the position which Mississippi’s star holds in the +group; but sooner than see its lustre dimmed—sooner than see it degraded +from its present equality-would tear it from its place to be set even on the +perilous ridge of battle as a sign round which Mississippi’s best and +bravest should gather to the harvest-home of death. +</p> + +<p> +As when I had the privilege of addressing the Legislature a year ago, so now do +I urge you to the needful preparation to meet whatever contingency may befall +us. The maintenance of our rights against a hostile power is a physical problem +and cannot be solved by mere resolutions. Not doubtful of what the heart will +prompt, it is not the less proper that due provision should be made for +physical necessities. Why should not the State have an armory for the repair of +arms, for the alteration of old models so as to make them conform to the +improved weapons of the present day, and for the manufacture on a limited scale +of new arms, including cannon and their carriages; the casting of shot and +shells, and the preparation of fixed ammunition? +</p> + +<p> +Such preparation will not precipitate us upon the trial of secession, for I +hold now, as in 1850, that Mississippi’s patriotism will hold her to the +Union as long as it is constitutional, but it will give to our conduct the +character of earnestness of which mere paper declarations have somewhat +deprived us; it will strengthen the hands of our friends at the North, and in +the event that separation shall be forced upon us, we shall be prepared to meet +the contingency with whatever remote consequences may follow it, and give to +manly hearts the happy assurance that manly arms will not fail to protect the +gentle beauty which blesses our land and graces the present occasion. +</p> + +<p> +You are already progressing in the construction of railroads which, whilst they +facilitate travel, increase the products of the State and the reward of the +husbandman, are a great element of strength by the means they afford for rapid +combination at any point where it may be desirable to concentrate our forces. +To those already in progress I hope one will soon be added to connect the +interior of the State with the best harbor upon our Gulf coast. When this shall +be completed a trade will be opened to that point which will produce direct +importation and exportation to the great advantage of the planter as well as +all consumers of imported goods; and furnishing “exchange,” will +protect us from such revulsion as was suffered last fall when during a period +of entire prosperity at home, our market was paralyzed by failures in New York. +</p> + +<p> +The contemplated improvement in the levee system, will give to our people a +mine of untold wealth; and as we progress in the development of our resources +and the increase of our power, so will we advance in State pride and the +ability to maintain principles far higher in value than mountains of gold or +oceans of pearl. +</p> + +<p> +But I find myself running into those visions which have hung before me from my +boyhood up; which at home and abroad have been the hope constantly attending +upon me, and which the cold wing of time has been unable to wither. I am about +to leave you to discharge the duties of the high trust with which you have +honored me. I go with the same love for Mississippi which has always animated +me; with the same confidence in her people, which has cheered me in the darkest +hour. As often as I may return to you, I feel secure of myself, and say I shall +come back unchanged. Or should the Providence which has so often kindly +protected me, not permit me to return again, my last prayer will be for the +honor, the glory and the happiness of Mississippi. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPEECHES OF THE HONORABLE JEFFERSON DAVIS ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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