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agriculture, manufactures and trade, which were innocent and beneficent, I shall never be a denizen of a State where nien and women are reared as cattle, and bought and sold as merchandise. When that evil day shall come, and all further effort at resistance shall be impossible, then, if there shall be no better hope for redemption than I can now foresee, I shall say with Franklin, while looking abroad over the whole earth for a new and more congenial home, "Where liberty dwells, there is my country."

You will tell me that these fears are extravagant and chimerical. I answer, they are so; but they are so only because the designs of the slaveholders must and can be defeated. But it is only the possibility of defeat that renders them so. They cannot be defeated by inactivity. There is no escape from them, compatible with non-resistance. How, then, and in what way, shall the necessary resistance be made? There is only one way. The Democratic party must be permanently dislodged from the Government. The reason is, that the Democratic party is inextricably committed to the designs of the slaveholders, which I have described. Let me be well understood. I do not charge that the Democratic candidates for public office now before the people are pledged to, much less that the Democratic masses who support them really adopt, those atrocious and dangerous designs. Candidates may, and generally do, mean to act justly, wisely, and patriotically, when they shall be elected; but they become the ministers and servants, not the dictators, of the power which elects them. The policy which a party shall pursue at a future period is only gradually developed, depending on the occurrence of events never fully foreknown. The motives of men, whether acting as electors, or in any other capacity, are generally pure. Nevertheless, it is not more true that "Hell is paved with good intentions," than it is that earth is covered with wrecks resulting from innocent and amiable motives.

The very constitution of the Democratic party commits it to execute all the designs of the slaveholders, whatever they may be. It is not a party of the whole Union, of all the Free States and of all the Slave States; nor yet is it a party of the Free States in the North and in the Northwest; but it is a sectional and local party, having practically its seat within the Slave States, and counting its constituency chiefly and almost exclusively there. Of all its representatives in Congress and in the Electoral College, two-thirds uniformly come from these States. Its great element of strength lies in the vote of the slaveholders, augmented by the representation of three-fifths of the slaves. Deprive the Democratic party of this strength, and it would be a helpless and hopeless minority, incapable of continued organization. The Democratic party, being thus local and sectional, acquires new strength from the admission of every new Slave State, and loses relatively by the admission of every new Free State into the Union.

A party is, in one sense, a joint-stock association, in which those who contribute most direct the action and management of the concern. The slaveholders contributing in an overwhelmning proportion to the capital strength of the Democratic party, they necessarily dictate and prescribe its policy. The inevitable caucus system enables them to do so with a show of fairness and justice. If it were possible to conceive for a moment that the Democratic party should disobey the behests of the slaveholders, we should then see a withdrawal of the slaveholders, which would leave the party to perish. The portion of the party which is found in the Free States is a mere appendage, convenient to modify its sectional character, without impairing its sectional constitution, and is less effective in regulating its movement than the nebulous tail of the comet is in determining the appointed though apparently eccentric course of the fiery sphere from which it emanates.

office had been filled by slaveholders thirty-two out of forty years.

In 1886, Martin Van Buren-the first non-slaveholding citizen of a Free State to whose election the Democratic party ever consented-signalized his inauguration into the Presidency, by a gratuitous announcement, that under no circumstances would he ever approve a bill for the abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia. From 1888 to 1844, the subject of abolishing Slavery in the District of Columbia and in the national dock-yards and arsenals, was brought before Congress by repeated popular appeals. The Democratic party thereupon promptly denied the right of petition, and effectually suppressed the freedom of speech in Congress, so far as the institution of Slavery was concerned.

From 1840 to 1843, good and wise men counselled that Texas should remain outside of the Union until she should consent to relinquish her self-instituted slavery; but the Democratic party precipitated her admission into the Union, not only without that condition, but even with a covenant that the State might be divided and reorganized so as to constitute four Slave States instead of one.

In 1846, when the United States became involved in a war with Mexico, and it was apparent that the struggle would end in the dismemberment of that republic, which was a non-slaveholding power, the Democratic party rejected a declaration that Slavery should not be established within the territory to be acquired. When, in 1850, governments were to be instituted in the Territories of California and New-Mexico the fruits of that war, the Democratic party refused to admit New-Mexico as a Free State, and only consented to admit California as a Free state on the condition, as it has since explained the transaction, of leaving all of New-Mexico and Utah open to Slavery, to which was also added the concession ef perpetual Slavery in the District of Columbia, and the passage of an unconstitutional, cruel, and humiliating law, for the recapture of fugitive slaves, with a further stipulation that the subject of Slavery should never again be agitated in either chamber of Congress. When, in 1854, the slaveholders were contentedly reposing on these great advantages, then so recently won, the Democratic party, unnecessarily, officiously, and with superserviceable liberality, awakened them from their slumber, to offer and force on their acceptance the abrogation of the law which declared that neither Slavery nor involuntary ser vitude should ever exist within that part of the ancient territory of Louisiana which lay outside of the State of Missouri, and north of the parallel of 36 deg. 80 min. of north latitude-a law which, with the exception of one other, was the only statute of Freedom then remaining in the Federal code.

In 1856, when the people of Kansas had organized a new State within the region thus abandoned to Slavery, and applied to be admitted as a Free State into the Union, the Democratic party contemptuously rejected their pe tition and drove them, with menaces and intimidations, from the halls of Congress, and armed the President with military power to enforce their submission to a slave code, established over them by fraud and usurpation. At every subsequent stage of the long contest which has since raged in Kansas, the Democratic party has lent its sympathies, its aid, and all the powers of the Government which it controlled, to enforce Slavery upon that unwil ling and injured people. And now, even at this day, while it mocks us with the assurance that Kansas is free, the Democratic party keeps the State excluded from her just and proper place in the Union, under the hope that she may be dragooned into the acceptance of Slavery.

The Democratic party, finally, has procured from a Supreme Judiciary, fixed in its interest, a decree that Slavery exists by force of the Constitution in every Territory of the United States, paramount to all legislative authority either within the Territory, or residing in Congress.

To expect the Democratic party to resist Slavery and favor Freedom, is as unreasonable as to look for Protestant missionaries to the Catholic Propaganda of Rome. The history of the Democratic party commits it to the policy of Slavery. It has been the Democratic party, and no other agency, which has carried that policy up to its preSuch is the Democratic party. It has no policy, State sent alarming culmination. Without stopping to ascertain, or Federal, for finance or trade, or manufacture, or com critically, the origin of the present Democratic party, we merce, or education, or internal improvements, or for the may concede its claim to date from the era of good feeling protection or even the security of civil or religious libwhich occurred under the Administration of President erty. It is positive and uncompromising in the interest Monroe. At that time, in this State, and about that time of Slavery-negative, compromising and vacillating, in in many others of the Free States, the Democratic party regard to everything else. It boasts its love of equality deliberately disfranchised the free colored, or African citi- and wastes its strength, and even its life, in fortifying the sen, and it has pertinaciously continued this disfranchise-only aristocracy known in the land. It professes fraterment ever since. This was an effective aid to Slavery; for while the slaveholder votes for his slaves against Freedom, the freed slave in the Free States is prohibited from voting against Slavery.

In 1824, the Democracy resisted the election of John Quincy Adams-himself before that time an acceptable Democrat-and in 1828, it expelled him from the Presidency, and put a slaveholder in his place, although the

nity, and, so often as Slavery requires, allies itself with proscription. It magnifies itself for conquests in foreign lands, but it sends the national eagle forth always with chains, and not the olive branch, in his fangs.

This dark record shows you, fellow citizens, what I was unwilling to announce at an earlier stage of this argument, that of the whole nefarious schedule of slaveholding designs which I have submitted to you, the Demo

eratic party has left only one yet to be consummated-| too conservative for others. As if any party ever foresaw the abrogation of the law which forbids the African slave t: ade.

Now, I know very well that the Democratic party has, it every stage of these proceedings, disavowed the motive and the policy of fortifying and extending Slavery, and has excused them on entirely different and more plausible grounds. But the inconsistency and frivolity of these pleas prove still more conclusively the guilt I charge upon that party. It must, indeed, try to excuse such guilt before mankind, and even to the consciences of its own adherents. There is an instinctive abhorrence of Slavery, and an inborn and inhering love of Freedom in the human heart, which renders palliation of such gross misconduct indispensable. It disfranchised the free African on the ground of a fear that, if left to enjoy the right of suffrage, he might seduce the free white citizen into amalgamation with his wronged and despised race. The Democratic party condemned and deposed John Quincy Adams, because he expended $12,000,000 a year, while it justifies his favored successor in spending $70,000,000, $80,000,000, and even $10,000,000, a year. It denies emancipation in the District of Columbia, even with compensation to masters and the consent of the people, on the ground of an implied constitutional inhibition, although the Constitution expressly confers upon Congress sovereign legislative power in that District, and although the Democratic party is tenacious of the principle of strict construction. It violated the express provisions of the Constitution in suppressing petition and debate on the subject of Slavery, through fear of disturbance of the public harmony, although it claims that the electors have a right to instruct their representatives, and even demand their resignation in cases of contumacy. It extended Slavery over Texas, and connived at the attempt to spread it across the Mexican territories, even to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, under a plea of enlarging the area of Freedom. It abrogated the Mexican slave law and the Missouri Compromise prohibition of Slavery in Kansas, not to open the new Territories to Slavery, but to try therein the new and fascinating theories of Non-intervention and Popular Sovereignty; and, finally, it overthrew both these new and elegant systems by the English Lecompton bill and the Dred Scott decision, on the ground that the Free States ought not to enter the Union without a population equal to the representative basis of one member of Congress, although Slave States might come in without inspection as to their numbers.

Will any member of the Democratic party now here claim that the authorities chosen by the suffrages of the party transcended their partisan platforms, and so misrepresented the party in the various transactions I have recited? Then I ask him to name one Democratic statesman or legislator, from Van Buren to Walker, who either timidly or cautiously like them, or boldly or defiantly like Douglas, ever refused to execute a behest of the slaveholders, and was not therefor, and for no other cause, immediately denounced, and deposed from his trust, and repudiated by the Democratic party for that contumacy.

I think, fellow-citizens, that I have shown you that it is high time for the friends of Freedom to rush to the rescue of the Constitution, and that their very first duty is to dismiss the Democratic party from the administration of the Government.

Why shall it not be done? All agree that it ought to be done. What, then, shall prevent its being done? Nothing but timidity or division of the opponents of the Democratic party.

Some of these opponents start one objection, and some another. Let us notice these objections briefly. One class say that they cannot trust the Republican party; that it has not avowed its hostility to Slavery boldly enough, or its affection for Freedom earnestly enough. I ask in reply, is there any other party which can be more safely trusted? Every one knows that it is the Republican party or none, that shall displace the Democratic party. But I answer further, that the character and fidelity of any party are determined, necessarily, not by its pledges, programmes, and platforms, but by the public exigencies, and the temper of the people when they call it into activity. Subserviency to Slavery is a law written not only on the forehead of the Democratic party, but also in its very soul-so resistance to Slavery, and devotion to Freedom, the popular elements now actively working for the Republican party among the people, must and will be the resources for its ever-renewing strength and constant invigoration.

Others cannot support the Republican party, because it it has not sufficiently exposed its platform, and determined what it will do, and what it will not do, wher triumphant. It may prove too.progressive for some, and

so clearly the course of future events as to plan a universal scheme for future action, adapted to all possible emergencies. Who would ever have joined even the Whig party of the Revolution, if it had been obliged to answer, in 1775, whether it would declare for Independence in 1776, and for this noble Federal Constitution of ours in 1787, and not a year earlier or later?

The people of the United States will be as wise next year, and the year afterward, and even ten years hence, as we are now. They will oblige the Republican party to act as the public welfare and the interests of justice and humanity shall require, through all the stages of its career, whether of trial or triumph.

Others will not venture an effort, because they fear that the Union would not endure the change. Will such objectors tell me how long a Constitution can bear a strain directly along the fibres of which it is composed? This is a Constitution of Freedom. It is being converted into a Constitution of Slavery. It is a republican Constitution. It is being made an aristocratic one. Others wish to wait until some collateral questions concerning temperance, or the exercise of the elective franchise are properly settled. Let me ask all such persons, whether time enough has not been wasted on these points already, without gaining any other than this single advantage, namely, the discovery that only one thing can be effectually done at one time, and that the one thing which must and will be done at any one time is just that thing which is most urgent, and will no longer admit of postponement or delay. Finally, we are told by faint-hearted men that they despond; the Democratic party, they say, is unconquerable, and the dominion of Slavery is consequently inevitable. I reply to them, that the complete and universal dominion of Slavery would be intolerable enough when it should have come after the last possible effort to escape should have been made. There would, in that case, be left to us the consoling reflection of fidelity to duty.

But I reply, further, that I know-few, I think, know better than I-the resources and energies of the Democratic party, which is identical with the Slave Power. I do ample prestige to its traditional popularity. I know further-few, I think, know better than I-the difficulties and disadvantages of organizing a new political force like the Republican party, and the obstacles it must encounter in laboring without prestige and without patronage. But, notwithstanding all this, I know that the Democratic party must go down, and that the Republican party must rise into its place. The Democatic party derived its strength, originally, from its adoption of the principles of equal and exact justice to all men. So long as it practiced this principle faithfully, it was invulnerable. It became vulnerable when it renounced the principle, and since that time it has maintained itself, not by virtue of its own strength, or even of its traditional merits, but because there as yet had appeared in the political field no other party that had the conscience and the courage to take up, and avow, and practice the life-inspiring principles which the Democratic party had surrendered. At last, the Republican party has appeared. It avows now, as the Republican party of 1800 did, in one word, its faith_and its works, "Equal and exact justice to all men." when it first entered the field, only half organized, it struck a blow which only just failed to secure complete and triumphant victory. In this, its second campaign, it has already won advantages which render that triumph now both easy and certain.

Even

The secret of its assured success lies in that very characteristic which, in the mouth of scoffers, constitutes its great and lasting imbecility and reproach. It lies in the fact that it is a party of one idea; but that idea is a noble one-an idea that fills and expands all generous souls; the idea of equality-the equality of all men be. fore human tribunals and human laws, as they all are equal before the Divine tribunal and Divine laws.

I know, and you know, that a revolution has begun. I know, and all the world knows, that revolutions never go backward. Twenty Senators and a hundred Representatives proclaim boldly in Congress to-day sentiments and opinions and principles of Freedom which hardly so many men, even in this fiee State, dared to utter in their own homes twenty years ago. While the Government of the United States, under the conduct of the Democratic party, has been all that time surrendering one plain and castle after another to Slavery, the people of the United States have been no less steadily and perse veringly gathering together the forces with which to recover back again all the fields and all the castles which have been lost, and to confound and overthrow, by one decisive blow, the betrayers of the Constitution and Freedom forever.

"NEGRO SLAVERY NOT UNJUST."

A SPEECH BY CHARLES O'CONOR,

At the Union Meeting at the Academy of Music, New York City, Dec. 19, 1859.

MR. MAYOR AND GENTLEMEN: I cannot express to you told in the legislative assemblies of our Northern States, the delight which I experience in beholding in this great not merely by speakers, but by distinct resolutions of the city so vast an assembly of my fellow citizens, convened whole body-we are told by gentlemen occupying seats in for the purpose stated in your resolutions. I am delight the Congress of the Union through the votes of Northern ed beyond measure to behold at this time so vast an people-that the Constitution seeks to enshrine, to protect, assembly responding to the call of a body so respectable to defend a monstrous crime against justice and humanity, as the twenty thousand New Yorkers who have convened and that it is our duty to defeat its provisions, to outwit this meeting. If anything can give assurance to those who them, if we cannot otherwise get rid of their effect, and to doubt, and confidence to those who may have had mis. trample upon the rights which it has declared shall be progivings as to the permanency of our institutions, and the tected and insured to our brethren of the South. (Apsolidity of the support which the people of the North are plause.) That is now the doctrine advocated. And I ask prepared to give them, it is that i the queen city of the whether that doctrine, necessarily involving the destrucNew World, in the capital of North America, there is tion of our Union, shall be permitted to prevail as it has assembled a meeting so large, so respectable, and so hitherto prevailed? Gentlemen, I trust you will excuse me unanimous as this meeting has shown itself to be in re- for deliberately coming up to and meeting this questionceiving sentiments which, if observed, must protect our not seeking to captivate your fancies by a trick of words Union from destruction, and even from danger. (Ap--not seeking to exalt your imaginations by declamation plause.) Gentlemen, is it not a subject of astonishment or by any effort at eloquence-but meeting this question that the idea of danger, and the still more dreadful idea gravely, sedately, and soberly, and asking you what is to of dissolution, should be heard from the lips of an Ameri- be our course in relation to it? Gentlemen, the Constitu. can citizen, at this day, in reference to, or in connection tion guarantees to the people of the Southern States the with, the sacred name of this most sacred Union? protection of their slave property. In that respect it is a (Applause.) Why gentlemen, what is our Union? What solemn compact between the North and the South. As a are its antecedents? What is its present condition? If solemn compact are we at liberty to violate it? (Cries of we ward off the evils which threaten it, what its future "No, no!") Are we at liberty to seek or take any mean, hope for us and for the great family of mankind? Why petty advantage of it? (Cries of "No, no!") Are we at gentlemen, it may well be said of this Union as a govern-liberty to con over its particular words, and to restrict and ment, that as it is the last offspring, so is it Time's most to limit its operation, so as to acquire, under such narrow glorious and beneficent production. Gentlemen, we are construction, a pretence of right by hostile and adverse created by an Omniscient Being. We are created by a legislation? ("No, no!")-to interfere with the interests, Being not only All-Seeing, but All-Powerful and All-Wise. wound the feelings, and trample on the political rights of And in the benignity and the farseeing wisdom of His our Southern fellow-citizens? ("No, no, no!") No, gentlepower, He permitted the great family of mankind to live men. If it be a compact, and has anything sacred in it, we are on, to advance, to improve, step by step, and yet permit- bound to observe it in good faith, honestly and honorably, ted five thousand years and upward to elapse ere He laid not merely to the letter, but fully to the spirit, and not in the foundation of a truly free, a truly happy, and a truly any mincing, half-way, unfair, or illiberal construction, independent empire. It was not, gentlemen, until that seeking to satisfy the letter, to give as little as we can, and great length of time had elapsed, that the earth was thereby to defeat the spirit. (Applause.) That may be the deemed mature for laying the foundations of this mighty way that some men keep a contract about the sale of a house and prosperous State. It was then that He inspired the or of a chattel, but it is not the way honest men observe con. noble-minded and chivalrous Genoese to set forth upon tracts, even in relation to the most trivial things. ("True," the trackless ocean and discover the empire that we now and applause.) What has been done, having a tendency enjoy. But a few years, comparatively, had elapsed to disturb harmony under this Constitution, and to break when there was raised up in this blessed land a set of men down and destroy the union now existing between these whose like had never before existed upon the face of this States? Why, gentlemen, at an early period the subject earth. Men unequalled in their perceptions of the true of Slavery, as a mere philosophical question, was discussed principles of justice, in their comprehensive benevolence, by many, and its justice or injustice made the subject of in their capacity to lay safely, justly, soundly, and with argument leading to various opinions. It mattered little all the qualities which should insure permanency, the how long this discussion should last, while it was confined foundations of an empire. It was in 1776, and in this within such limits. If it had only led to the formation of country, that there assembled the first, the very first, societies like the Shakers, who do not believe in matriassembly of rational men who ever proclaimed, in clear mony; societies like the people of Utah, destined to a and undeniable form, the immutable principles of liberty, short career, who believe in too much of it (laughter); or and consecrated, to all time I trust, in the face of tyrants, societies of people like the strong-minded women of our and in opposition to their power, the rights of nations and country, who believe that women are much better qualithe rights of men. (Applause.) These patriots, as soon fied than men to perform the functions and offices usually as the storm of war had passed away, sat down and performed by men (laughter)-and who probably would, framed that instrument upon which our Union rests, the if they had their way, simply change the order of proceedConstitution of the United States of America, (Applause.) ings, and transfer the husband to the kitchen, and themAnd the question now before us is neither more nor less selves to the field or the cabinet. (Laughter and apthan this whether that Constitution, consecrated by the plause.) So long, I say, as this sentimentality touching blood shed in that glorious Revolution, consecrated by Slavery confined itself to the formation of parties and sothe signature of the most illustrious mau who ever lived, cieties of this description, it certainly could do no great George Washington (applause)-whether that instrument, harm, and we might satisfy ourselves with the maxim that accepted by the wisest and by the best of that day, and "Error can do little harm as long as truth is left free to comaccepted in convention, one by one, in each and every bat it." But unfortunately gentlemen, this sentimentality State of this Union-that instrument from which so many has found its way out of the meeting-houses-from among blessings have flown-whether that instrument was con- pious people, assemblies of speculative philosophers, and ceived in crime, is a chapter of abominations (cries of societies formed to benefit the inhabitants of Barioboola"No, no,") is a violation of justice, is a league between gha-it has found its way into the heart of the selfish polistrong-handed but wicked-hearted white men to oppress, tician; it has been made the war-cry of party; it has been and impoverish, and plunder their fellow-creatures, con- made the instrument whereby to elevate not merely te trary to rectitude, honor and justice. (Applause.) This personal distinction and social rank, but to political power is the question, neither more nor less. We are tol! from Throughout the non-slaveholding States of this Union, men pulpits, we are told from the political rostrum, ve are have been thus elevated who advocate a course of con

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duct necessarily exasperating the South, and the natural | effect of whose teachings renders the Southern people insecure in their property and their lives, making it a matter of doubt each night whether they can safely retire to their slumbers without sentries and guards to protect them against incursions from the North. I say the effect has been to elevate, on the strength of this sentiment, such men to power. And what is the result-the condition of things at this day? Why, gentlemen, the occasion that calls us together is the occurrence of a raid upon the State of Virginia by a few misguided fanatics-followers of these doctrines, with arms in their hands, and bent upon rapine and murder. I called them followers, but they should be deemed leaders. They were the best, the bravest, and the most virtuous of all the abolition party. (Applause.) On the Lord's day, at the hour of still repose, they armed the bondman with pikes brought from the North, that he might slay his master, his master's wife, and his master's little children. And immediately succeeding to it at this very instant-what is the political question pending before Congress?

compact, to separate from us and to dissolve it? Why gentlemen, the greatness and glory of the American name will then be a thing of yesterday. The glorious Revo lution of the thirteen States will be a Revolution not achieved by us, but by a nation that has ceased to exist. The name of Washington will be, to us at least at the North (cheers), but as the name of Julius Cæsar, or of some other great hero who has lived in times gone by, whose nation has perished and exists no more. The Declaration of Independence, what will that be? Why, the declaration of a State that no longer has place among the nations. All these bright and glorious recollections of the past must cease to be our property, and become mere memorials of a by-gone race and people. A line must divide the North from the South. What will be the consequences? Will this mighty city-growing as it now is, with wealth pouring into it from every portion of this mighty empire-will it continue to flourish as it has done? (Cries of "No, no!") Will your marble palaces that line Broadway, and raise their proud tops toward the sky, continue to increase, until, as is now promised under the Union, it shall present the most glorious picture of wealth, prosperity, and happiness, that the world has ever seen? (Applause.) No! gentlemen, no! such things cannot be. I do not say that we will starve, that we will perish, as a people, if we separate from the South. I admit, that if the line be drawn between us, they will have their measure of prosperity, and we will have ours; but meagre, small in the extreme, compared with what is existing and promised under our Union, will be the prosperity of each.

Truly has it been said here to-night, that we were made for each other; separate us, and although you may not destroy us, you reduce each to so low a scale that well might humanity deplore the evil courses that brought about the result. True, gentlemen, we would have left, to boast of, our share of the glories of the Revolution. The Northern States sent forth to the conflict their bands of heroes, and shed their blood as freely as those of the South. But the dividing line would take away from us the grave of Washington. It is in his own beloved Virginia. (Applause and cheers.) It is in the State and near the spot where this treason that has been growing up in the North, so lately culminated in violence and bloodshed. We would lose the grave-we would lose all connection with the name of Washington. But our philanthropic and pious friends who fain would lead us to this result, would, of course, comfort us with the consoling reflection that we had the glorious memory of John Brown in its place. (Great laughter and cheers.) Are you, gentlemen, prepared to make the exchange? (Cries of No, no.") Shall the tomb of Washington, that rises upon the bank of the Potomac, receiving its tribute from every nation of the earth-shall that become the property of a foreign State-a State hostile to us in its feelings, and we to it in ours? Shall we erect a monument among the arid hills at North Elba, and deem the privilege of making pilgrimages thither a recompense for the loss of every glorious recollection of the past, and for our severance from the name of Washington? He who is recognized as the Father of his Country? (Cries of "No, no," and cheers.) No, gentlemen, we are not prepared, I trust, for this sad exchange, this fatal severance. We are not prepared, I trust, either to part with our glorious past or to give up the advantages of our present happy condition. We are not prepared to relinquish our affection for the South, nor to involve our section in the losses, the deprivation of blessings and advantages necessarily resulting to each from dis union. Gentlemen, we never would have attained the wealth and prosperity as a nation which is now ours, but for our connection with these very much reviled and injured slaveholders of the Southern States. And, gentlemen, if dissolution is to take place, we must part with the trade of the South, and thereby surrender our participation in the wealth of the South. Nay, more-we are told from good authority that we must not only part with the slaveholding States, but that our younger sister with the golden crown-rich, teeming California, she who added the final requisite to our greatness as a nation-will not come with us. She will remain with the South.

A book substantially encouraging the same course of provocation toward the South which has been long pursued, is openly recommended to circulation by sixty-eight members of your Congress. (Cries of "Shame, on them," applause, and hisses.)-Recommended to circulation by sixty-eight members of your Congress, all elected in Northern States (hisses and applause)-every one, I say, elected from non-slaveholding States. And with the assistance of their associates, some of whom hold their offices by your votes, there is great danger that they will elect to the highest office in that body, where he will sit as a representative of the whole North, a man who united in causing that book to be distributed through the South, carrying poison and death in its polluted leaves. ("Hang him!" and applause.) Is it not fair to say that this great and glorious Union is menaced when such a state of things is found to exist? when such an act is attempted? Is it reasonable to expect that our brethren of the South will calmly sit down ("No") and submit quietly to such an outrage? (Cries of "No, no.") Why, gentlemen, we greatly exceed them in numbers. The non-slaveholding States are by far the more populous; they are increasing daily in numbers and in population, and we may soon overwhelm the Southern vote. If we continue to fill the halls of legislation with abolitionists, and permit to occupy the executive chair men who declare themselves to be enlisted in a crusade against Slavery, and against the provisions of the Constitution which secure that species of property, what can we reasonably expect from the people of the South but that they will pronounce the Constitution, with all its glorious associations, with all its sacred memories-this Uuion, with its manifold present and promised blessings-an unendurable evil, threatening to crush and to destroy their most vital interests-to make their country a wilderness. Why should we expect them to submit to such a line of conduct on our part, and recognize us as brethren, or unite with us in perpetuating the Union? For my part I do not see anything unjust or unreasonable in the declaration often made by Southern members on this subject. They tell us: "If you will thus assail us with incendiary pamphlets, if you will thus create a spirit in your country which leads to violence and bloodshed among us, if you will assail the institution upon which the prosperity of our country depends, and will elevate to office over us men who are pledged to aid in such transactions, and to oppress us by hostile legislation, we cannot much as we revere the Constitution, greatly as we estimate the blessings which would flow from its faithful enforcement-we cannot longer depend on your compliance with its injunctions, or adhere to the Union." For my part, gentlemen, if the North continues to conduct itself in the selection of representatives to the Congress of the United States as, from, perhaps a certain degree of negligence and inattention, it has heretofore conducted itself, the South is not to be censured if it withdraws from the Union. (Hisses and applause. A voice "that's so." Three cheers for the Fugitive Slave Law.) We are not, gentlemen, to hold a meeting to say that "We love this Union; we delight in it; we are proud of it; it blesses us, and we enjoy it; but we shall fill all its offices with men of our own choosing, and, our brethren of the South, you shall enjoy its glorious past; Gentlemen, if we allow this course of injustice toward you shall enjoy its mighty recollections; but it shall the South to continue, these are to be the consequences→→→ trample your institutions in the dust." We have no evil to us, evil also to them. Much of all that we are right to say it. We have no right to exact so much, most proud of; much of all that contributes to our pros and an opposite and entirely different course, fellow-perity and greatness as a nation, must pass away from citizens, must be ours-must be the course of the great us. North, if we would preserve this Union. (Applause, The question is-should we permit it to be continued, and cries of "Good.") and submit to all these evils? Is there any reason te justify such a course? There is a reason preached to u for permitting it. We are told that Slavery is unjust; we are told that it is a matter of conscience to put it down.

And, gentlemen, what is this glorious Union? What must we sacrifice if we exasperate our brethren of the South, and compel them, by injustice and breach of

and that whatever treaties or compacts, or laws, or constitutions, have been made to sanction and uphold it, it is still unholy, and that we are bound to trample upon treaties, compacts, laws, and constitutions, and to stand by what these men arrogantly tell us is the law of God and a fundamental principle of natural justice. Indeed, gentlemen, these two things are not distinguishable. The law of God and natural justice, as between man and man, are one and the same. The wisest philosopher of ancient times-heathen philosophers-said, The rule of conduct between man and man is, to live honestly, to injure no man, and to render to every man his due. In words far more direct and emphatic, in words of the most perfect Comprehensiveness, the Saviour of the world gave us the same rule in one short sentence-"Love thy neighbor as thyself." (Applause.) Now, speaking between us, people of the North and our brethren of the South, I ask you to act upon this maxim-the maxim of the heathen-the command of the living God: "Render to every man his due," "Love thy neighbor as thyself." (Applause.) Thus we should act and feel toward the South. Upon that maxim which came from Him of Nazareth we should act toward the South, but without putting upon it any new fangled, modern interpretation. We should neither say nor think that any Gospel minister of this day is wiser than God himself-than He who gave us the Gospel. These maxims should govern between us and our brethren of the South. But, gentlemen, the question is this: Do these maximsjustify the assertion of those who seek to invade the rights of the South, by proclaiming negro Slavery unjust? That is the point to which this great argument, involving the fate of our Union, must now come. Is negro Slavery unjust? If it be unjust, it violates the first rule of human conduct," Render to every man his due." If it be unjust, it violates the law of God, which says, "Love thy neighbor as thyself," for that law requires that we should perpetrate no injustice. Gentlemen, if it could be maintained that negro Slavery is unjust, is thus in conflict with the law of nature and the law of God, perhaps I might be prepared-perhaps we all ought to be prepared to go with that distinguished man to whom allusion is frequently made, and say, there is a "higher law" which compels us to trample beneath our feet, as a wicked and unholy compact, the Constitution established by our fathers, with all the blessings it secures to their children. But I insist-and that is the argument which we must meet, and on which we must come to a conclusion that shall govern our action in the future selection of representatives in the Congress of the United States-I insist that negro Slavery is not unjust. (Long continued applause.) It is not unjust; it is just, wise, and beneficent. (Hisses, followed by applause, and cries of "Put him out.") Let him stay, gentlemen.

PRESIDENT.-Let him stay there. Order.

MR. O'CONOR.-Serpents may hiss, but good men will hear. (Cries again of “Put him out;" calls to order; confusion for a time.)

THE PRESIDENT.—If anybody hisses here, remember that every one has his own peculiar way of expressing himself, and as some birds only understand hissing, they must hiss. (Applause.)

We

trine. There are some principles well known, well understood, universally recognized and universally acknow ledged among men, that are not to be found written in constitutions or in laws. The people of the United States, at the formation of our Government, were, as they still are, in some sense, peculiarly and radically distinguishable from other nations. We were white men, of what is commonly called, by way of distinction-the Caucasian race. were a monogamous people; that is to say, we were not Mohammedans, or followers of Joe Smith-with half a dozen wives apiece. (Laughter.) It was a fundamental principle of our civilization that no State could exist or be tolerated in this Union, which should not, in that respect, resemble all the other States of the Union. Some other distinctive features might be stated which serve to mark us as a people distinct from others, and incapable of associating on terms of perfect political equality, or social equality, as friends and fellow-citizens, with some kinds of people that are to be found upon the face of the earth. As a white nation, we made our Constitution and our laws, vesting all political rights in that race. They, and they alone, constituted, in every political sense, the American people. (Applause.) As to the negro, why, we allowed him to live under the shadow and protection of our laws. We gave him, as we were bound to give him, protection against wrong and outrage; but we denied to him political rights, or the power to govern, We left him, for so long a period as the community in which he dwelt should so order, in the condition of a bondsman. (Applause.) Now, gentlemen, to that condition the negro is assigned by nature. (Cries of "Bravo," and "That's so," and applause.) Experience shows that this race cannot prosper-that they become extinct in any cold, or in any very temperate clime; but in the warm, the extremely warm regions, his race can be perpetuated, and with proper guardianship, may prosper. He has ample strength, and is competent to labor, but nature denies to him either the intellect to govern or the willingness to work. (Applause.) Both were denied him. That same power which deprived him of the will to labor, gave him, in our country, as a recompense, a master to coerce that duty, and convert him into a useful and valuable servant. (Applause.) I maintain that it is not injustice to leave the negro in the condition in which nature placed him, and for which alone he is adapted. Fitted only for a state of pupilage, our slave system gives him a master to govern him and to supply his deficiencies: in this there is no injustice. Neither is it unjust in the master to compel him to labor, and thereby afford to that master a just compensation in return for the care and talent employed in governing him. In this way alone is the negro enabled to render himself useful to himself and to the so ciety in which he is placed.

These are the principles, gentlemen, which the extreme measures of abolitionism compel us to enforce. This is the ground that we must take, or abandon our cherished Union. We must no longer favor political leaders who talk about negro Slavery being an evil; nor must we advance the indefensible doctrine that negro Slavery is a thing which, although pernicious, is to be tolerated merely because we have made a bargain to tolerate it. We must turn away from the teachings of fanaticism. We must look at negro slavery as it is, remembering that the voice of inspiration, as found in the sacred volume, nowhere condemns the bondage of those who are fit only for bondage. Yielding to the clear decree of nature, and the dictates of sound philosophy, we must pronounce that institution just, benign, lawful and proper. The Constitution established by the fathers of our Republic, which recognized it, must be maintained. And that both may stand together, we must maintain that neither the institution itself, nor the Constitution which upholds it, is wicked or unjust; but that each is sound and wise, and entitled to our fullest support.

MR. O'CONOR.-Gentlemen, there is an animal upon this earth that has no faculty of making its sentiments known in any other way than by a hiss. I am for equal rights. (Three cheers were here given for Mr. O'Conor, three for Gov. Wise, and three groans for John Brown.) I beg of you, gentlemen, all of you who are of my mind at least, to preserve silence, and leave the hissing animal in the full enjoyment of his natural privileges. (Cries of "Good, good," laughter and applause.) The first of our race that offended was taught to do so by that hissing animal. (Laughter and applause.) The first human society that was ever broken up through sin and discord, had its happy union dissolved by the entrance of that We must visit with our execration any man claiming our animal. (Applause.) Therefore I say it is his privilege to suffrages, who objects to enforcing, with entire good faith, hiss. Let him hiss on. (Cries of "Good, good," laughter the provisions of the Constitution in favor of negro Slavery, and applause) Gentlemen, I will not detain you much or who seeks, by any indirection, to withhold its protection longer. (Cries of "Go on, go on.") I maintain that from the South, or to get away from its obligations upon negro Slavery is not unjust-(a voice-"No, sir," ap- the North. Let us henceforth support no man for public plause,) that it is benign in its influence upon the white office whose speech or action tends to induce assaults upon man and upon the black. (Voices-"That's so, that's the territory of our Southern neighbors, or to generate in80," applause.) I maintain that it is ordained by na-surrection within their borders. (Loud applause.) These ture; that it is a necessity of both races; that, in climates where the black race can live and prosper, nature herself enjoins correlative duties on the black man and on the white, which cannot be performed except by the preservation, and, if the hissing gentleman please, the perpetuation of negro Slavery.

I am fortified in this opinion by the highest tribunal in our country, that venerable exponent of our institutions, and of the principles of justice-the Supreme Court of the United States. That court has held, on this subject, what wise men will ever pronounce to be sound and just doc

are the principles upon which we must act. This is what we must say to our brethren of the South. If we have sent men into Congress who are false to these views, and are seeking to violate the compact which binds us together, we must ask to be forgiven until we have another chance to man. ifest our will at the ballot-boxes. We must tell them that these men shall be consigned to privacy (applause), and that true men, men faithful to the Constitution, men loving all portions of the country alike, shall be elected in their stead And, gentlemen, we must do more than promise this-we must perform it. (Loud applause, fol.

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