ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE 1791-1840 Hayne was what is sometimes called "a typical Southerner "; a man of engaging manner, quick and acute mind, fluent and pleasing of speech, and overflowing with self-confidence, and a certain amiable arrogance, due chiefly to his association with a servile class. He was born in St. Paul's parish, Colleton, District, S. C., in 1791. In the War of 1812 he received the title of colonel, and was afterwards AttorneyGeneral of his State, South Carolina, and in 1822 was elected to the Senate. He resigned in 1832 to assume the governorship of South Carolina, retired two years later, and died in 1840. Throughout his political career he was an opponent of the protective tariff, and a champion of the Nullification party. In the Senate he was the friend of Benton and Calhoun, and one of the leaders of the Southern element. The famous debate between Hayne and Webster was brought on by Foote's inquiry as to the sale of public lands, which raised the question of State sovereignty, and thus of nullification. Benton was in the fray in support of Hayne; he represented the West, where the public lands were in question. The logical conclusion of their arguments was to denationalize the central government, and thus the issue was defined in 1830 upon which North and South went to war in 1861. Hayne was a man of charming personality and great personal magnetism, besides possessing no mean oratorical ability, but in Webster he found a worthy antagonist. March, in his "Reminiscences of Congress," compares Hayne's entrance into debate to a Mameluke charge. He was gay and gallant, headlong and incautious, sure of success, and never at a loss for weapons. He had a great command of language, and an effective manner; his voice was good and pleasing, and his vanity was accompanied by so much good-nature that it was seldom offensive. Such qualities make a formidable foe; but matched against the cold, pitiless logic of Webster, Hayne's eloquence was not convincing. In this famous debate the stern issues that led the country into civil war thirty years later were sharply drawn. The eloquence and the logic of the North were pitted squarely against the eloquence and the logic of the South. No longer was there to be any doubt as to the divergent policies of the two sections. The whole country watched the debate with absorbing interest, and when it was over it was the consensus of opinion that Webster, the gladiator of the North, had defeated the eloquent and gallant South Carolinian. Hayne's Speech on Foote's Resolution," delivered on that occasion, is given here. It is one of the most celebrated orations ever delivered in the American Congress. 66 ON THE SALES OF PUBLIC LANDS Delivered in answer to Mr. Webster's first speech on Mr. Foote's resolution in the Senate of the United States, on January 21, 18301 MR R. PRESIDENT: When I took occasion, two days ago, to throw out some ideas with respect to the policy of the government, in relation to the public lands, nothing certainly could have been further from my thoughts than that I should have been compelled again to throw myself upon the indulgence of the Senate. Little did I expect to be called upon to meet such an argument as was yesterday urged by the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Webster]. Sir, I questioned no man's opinions; I impeached no man's motives; I charged no party, or State, or section of country, with hostility to any other, but ventured, as I thought in a becoming spirit, to put forth my own sentiments in relation to a great national question of public policy. Such was my course. The gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Benton], it is true, had charged upon the Eastern States an early and continued hostility towards the West, and referred to a number of historical facts and documents in support of that charge. Now, sir, how have these different arguments been met? The honorable gentleman from Massachusetts, after deliberating a whole night upon his course, comes into this chamber to vindicate New England; and instead of making up his issue with the gentleman from Missouri, on the charges which he had preferred, chooses to consider me as the author of those [The following is the resolution of Mr. Foote: "Resolved, That the committee on public lands be instructed to inquire and report the quantity of the public lands remaining unsold within each State and Territory, and whether it be expedient to limit, for a certain period, the sales of the public lands to such lands only as have heretofore been offered for sale, and are now subject to entry at the minimum price. And, also, VOL. II.-7 97 whether the office of surveyor-general and some of the land offices may not be abolished without detriment to the public interest; or whether it be expedient to adopt measures to hasten the sales, and extend more rapidly the surveys of the public lands." Mr. Webster's answer to this speech is widely known as his famous "Reply to Hayne." EDITOR.] charges, and losing sight entirely of that gentleman, selects me as his adversary, and pours out all the vials of his mighty wrath upon my devoted head. Nor is he willing to stop there. He goes on to assail the institutions and policy of the South, and calls in question the principles and conduct of the State which I have the honor to represent. When I find a gentleman of mature age and experience of acknowledged talents, and profound sagacity, pursuing a course like this, declining the contest offered from the West, and making war upon the unoffending South, I must believe, I am bound to believe, he has some object in view which he has not ventured to disclose. Mr. President, why is this? Has the gentleman discovered in former controversies with the gentleman from Missouri that he is overmatched by that senator? And does he hope for an easy victory over a more feeble adversary? Has the gentleman's distempered fancy been disturbed by gloomy forebodings of "new alliances to be formed" at which he hinted? Has the ghost of the murdered Coalition come back, like the ghost of Banquo, to sear the eye-balls of the gentleman," and will it not " down at his bidding"? Are dark visions of broken hopes, and honors lost forever, still floating before his heated imagination? Sir, if it be his object to thrust me between the gentleman from Missouri and himself, in order to rescue the East from the contest it has provoked with the West, he shall not be gratified. Sir, I will not be dragged into the defence of my friend from Missouri. The South shall not be forced into a conflict not its own. The gentleman from Missouri is able to fight his own battles. The gallant West needs no aid from the South to repel any attack which may be made on them from any quarter. Let the gentleman from Massachusetts controvert the facts and arguments of the gentleman from Missouri, if he can-and if he win the victory, let him wear the honors; I shall not deprive him of his laurels. 66 The gentleman from Massachusetts, in reply to my remarks on the injurious operations of our land system on the prosperity of the West, pronounced an extravagant eulogium on the paternal care which the government had extended towards the West, to which he attributed all that was great and excellent in the present condition of the new States. The language of the gentleman on this topic fell upon my ears like the almost for |