PRESCIEISrOE. SPEECH DELIVERED BY HON. BEVERLY TUCKER, OF VIRGINIA. IN THE SOUTHERN CONVENTION, HET,D AT NASHVILLE, TENN., APRIL 13TH, 1850. RICHMOND, VA: "V^EST ut, sir, I have no such fear ; and I do but judge others by myself, when I say, that among all the topics which cau present themselves for discussion here, there is none so im- portant as this. If we wish the free exercises of our own reason, if we wish to act with effect on the reasons of oth- ers, we must divest our minds and theirs of fear. When yuu see a boy flying irom his shadow and about to throw himself into the water, if you wish to stop him, don't tell him of the depth of the water. The one thing to bo said to him, and the only thing he will hear, is, that the pursuer is not the devil, that it is no more than his own shach^w. Make him sensible of this, and he will presently be as much alive to the evil of being drowned as you can desire. Just so, sir, if we can convince our people that the fierce philan- thropy and malignant love of our northern brethren will never manifest themselves by carrying fire and sword tlirciugh the borders of a Southern Confederacy, they may bring themselves to see that the loss of a thousand millions of slave property — the destruction of all value in our lands for want of labour, the necessity of destroying the negroes, or of amalgamating with them, or of succumbing to thera, or of fleeing the country and giving it up to thera, are really very bad things. Is it too much to su[)pose that they may also begin to suspect that an eternal separation from those whom pretended fanaticism and malignant rapacity would drive to this extremity, would be any thing but an evil? Let us speak to them then, not of their wrongs, for thcvse they know, but of their remedies and their resources , not in 10 the tone of dismay and despair, but with words ofencourage- ment, in accents of hope, full of joyful expectation. Let me not be met again, sir, with the still repeated ciickoo song, "the people are not prepared for tliis or that measure." I know it, sir. The people are not pre- pared, and therefore we are here. They are not prepared to lie down patiently under their wrongs — they are not prepared to submit to further aggression, and unfortu- nately they are still unprepared to decide how the wrong is to be redressed, and the aggression repelled. Just so, sir, the patient is not prepared to submit to the amputation of the gangrened limb, while the surgeons are still consulting in a hope that operation will not be necessary. But still less is he prej)ared to die ; and when put to choose between the loss of a limb and the loss of life, we know what choice he will make. So let the peo})le of the South once see dis- tinctly they must choose between the Union, and all the rights and interests that the Union was intended to protect, and they will not hesitate to renounce it, even though a bloody war should be the consequence. Still there is enough of terrible and fearful in the thought of such a war, to dis- pose them to shut their eyes to other and greater dangers. It is that they may be thus blinded, that their enemies tell them that a peaceful separation is impossible ; and it is the ho])e of restoring them to the use of their Acuities that I undertake to show, and will proceed to show, that such an event cannot be any thing but peaceful. It is Mr. Webster, who, of late, in his oracular way, and in his deep cavernous tones, such as might issue from the cave of Trophonius, has put forth this raw head and bloody bones declaration, " that a peaceful severance of the Union is impossible." I beseech you to consider what these words mean, as spoken by Mr. Webster. He has no right to si)eak for the South. We are not his clients. No part of that liberal fee which Massachusetts has paid to secure his advocacy of her peculiar interests on the floor of the senate was contributed by us. She is his country, his whole coun- try, and for her only has he a right to speak. But when 11 have we said this, and who has said it for us ? What mo- tive, what means, what end could a Southern Confederacy have for making war upon the North? Sir, no man among us dreams of such a thing — no northern man apprehends it. What then mean these words of Mr. Webster ? Are they anything but woi'ds of menace? When we of the South do but cry out " don't tread on us," we beseech you by tlie memories of the past and tlie hopes of the future, "don't tread on us," tliey call that menace. " Certainly it is menace," say they, " for do you not mean to intimate, that if we do tread on you, you will strike? Yes, it is me- nace, and as such we despise it. For have we not trod on you, and you did not strike? And are we not treading on you and you do not strike, and if you attempt to elude us by secession, we will trample you into the earth." Sir, I did not do justice to the strength of Mr. Webster's language when I called it the language of menace. It is much more. It is outrage, it is the contemptuous spurn of one who scorns to strike a coward foe. But it is not Mr. Webster alone who has said this. Mr. Clay echoes it, and he is a southern man. Gen. Cass, too, echoes it, and is not he a nortiieru man with southern principles? A marvellous coincidence of opinion, sir, among men who so rarely think alike ! But is there not some- thing yet more marvellous in the triple league of amity, between these men, heretofore so hostile? An ominous con- junction, sir. Clay, Webster find Cass — Ctesar, Pompey and Crassus— Augustus, Antony and Lepidus ! Triumvirates all ! Depend upon it, sir, this precise number three is not fortuitous. It is full of meaning, when two men of un- principled ambition are contending for supremacy; when they put down all other competitors, and nothing remains but a division of empire, or one great final struggle for su- premacy, it sometimes happens, that all things are not pre- pared for this division, or the final struggle. What then BO convenient as to call in some third person, some "light, unmeritable man, fit to be sent on errands," to serve as a Btake-holder until the others should be ready to play out 12 tlicir desperate game. So too, in France, while it was yet doubtf'.il wliethcr the ultimate triiimpli would be to the corv- stitutioiial theories of Sieves, or to tiu; military despi>tism of Bonaparte, they set up a temporary consulship. The idea of consuls was talceu i'rom Ron)(', where there were two consuls. Now here were two men of rival parties, and something like equal consideration. What did they want with a third ? They wanted him as a stake-holder — or, as Talleyrand then said, as a sort of wrapping paper between the two, to prevent collisions. Hence they took a man, never heard of before or since, who came in, he knew not how, and went out, no one else knows when. It is an old saying that ''when rogues fall out, honest men come by their own." But what are honest men to do, sir, when men long hostile to each other ; men who, for years, have spoken all manner of evil against- e.ach other, are seen to coalesce ? What have these men in common? The}' have indeed one common ol)ject — the Presidency , and they DKiy combine to put down every thing which cannot be made to rally to the support of some one of the three ; when this is done two will combine to run oif the third. Lepidns will disappear, and then comes the battle of Ac- tiiiin. Hence it is, sir, that this southern party is to be nipped in the bud. The nucleus of such a party is to be broken u}), and its members driven back to their old posi- tions of whiggery and democracy. Why is this, sir? The reason is [)lain enough to those Avho will analyze the ques- tion. Will a southern ])arty follow Mr. Clay? No, sir. They have followed him lar enough. They followed him in the Missouri compromise, the root of all this present evil. They followed him in the tariff compromise of" '33, which •ended in the crushing tariff of '42, They can follow him no longer. Can they follow Mr. Webster, who says one thing to-day, and takes it bar^k to-morrow ! Great credit is clainied for ]\Ir. Webster because he made a si)eech sometime ago, a part of which it was thought might be displeasing to some ^f his constituents. "Self-sacrificing, magnanimous, Mr. 18 Webster !" Such was the cry. Well, sir, did he sacri- fice himself? Has- he lost ground? Should southern whigs take him as their candidate for the Presidency, Avill he lose one vote in New Enghmd. The self-sacrifice of a man whose wliole life has been a sacrifice of everything else to SELF ! not to the gratification of one passion only, but of all ! Does he worship at the shrine of ainbition only? What altar of the deities raised up by the evil passions of the ancients is not reeking with the blood of his victims? Is it Plutus? Is it Bacchus? Is it Venus? We do not in- deed find him in the temple of Mars; and that for the all-sufficient reason, that he who would find acceiitance there, must go prepared, if need be, to make a sacrifice of himself; and this, Mr. Webster, ever true to himself, will never do. Shall we put up with Gen. Cass? Shall we look for the defence of our rights to one wliose ideas of right and wrong are so confused, that he prates about natural rights acquir- ed by the per[)etration of wrong ; a shallow pedant who. af- fectinut superstition must have its idols, sir. Egyptians must have their calf. Americans must have tlieir human God — and as the spirit of party runs too high to permit us to agree in any thing, we have quite a pantlieon of Gods ; BO tliat what we call politics, has come to he a sort of reli- gious controversy between their respective votaries. For my part, sir, I confess myself, as I have said, a little prone to this sort of worship, but it has been my misfor- tune through life to have met with no God in human shape. Mr. Clay does indeed look something more like it than the rest. He has genius, eloquence, a high and gallant bear- ing, and a [)revailing intlnence over all tliat approach him, but I look in vain for wisdom, statesmanship and disin- terestedness. In place of these, I find management, artifice and legerdemain — sometimes overreaching others— some- times overreaching himself. Never falling but to rise, he never rises but to fall — always making the sacrifice of the South the step[)ing stone of liis elevation — always, in his reverses, catching at the South in his fall, and i)ulling her down. The author of the Missouri compromise, and of the present scheme for robbing the South of all it professed to secure — the avowed enemy and open denouncer of John Q. Adams as a traitor and a liar, and the worker of the wires which placed him on the throne — the aullior of the tariff com[)roaiise of 'Si), t) the faithful performance of ■which he personally pledged himself in my hearing, and the author of the tariff of '42, in open violation of that pledge, I see nothing in Mr. Clay but a sort of Jupiter Scapin, before whom I can never bring myself to bend the knee. But IMr. Webster 1 The master mind of the age! He whom his admiring coimtrymen have already distinguished as "tlic Godlike man! Sir, the most devout Pagan that 17 ever bowed before a shrine, would not recognize the God- head in tlie statue of Jupiter Touans himself, if seen lying in a kennel, plaistered over with the mire of profligacy and debauchery. There let him lie. I will say no more of Gen. Cass. I have said too much of all these men. But wlien I see them, who agree in nothing else, conspiring to cheat, oppress and trample on tlie South — when, in their fiercest stril'es, I see them "hacking each other's daggers in the sides" of the consti- tution, I am tenipted to forget my self-respect, and scourge in hand descend to the office of })nblic executioner. But I have a higher and a worthier ohjeet. There are few of those wliOse minds I desire to influence, on whom the name of one or the other of these men is not a spell ul' great power. To them I say, "your Gods are no Gods." Turn from them to the only living and true God, the God of the righteous and oppressed, and put your trust in him. Do you want leaders? Seek for them in the true spirit, and you will find them. Seek for men distinguished by virtue as well as talent — men worthy to minister between God and you, in the great concerns of duty as well as right. He will not leave himself without a witness, and even now, '•there walketh among you one whom you know not, the latchets of whose shoes these men are not worthy to un- loose." Who is he? I know him not. But let your ac- tions show you woi'thy of such a leader — let your deter- mined resistance to wrong, and devotii)n to the right, de- mantl him, and he will ap})e;ir. When our fathers first resolved to resist the stanij) act, Washington was a sur- veyor — Patrick Henry an obscure county court lawyer — Greene was at his forge — aiul even now, in the depths of your ibrests, are other such men, wanting nothing but a righteous cause, and brave men resolute to support it, to secure iude|>eiulence and freedom to you, and immediate honour to themselves. 1 very much regret, sir, the time I have devoted to tliese men. You will lemember that 1 undertook to sliuw, that should the South be driven to secession, there is no reason 18 to apprehend tliat such a step would lead to war. To pre- pare 3'our minds for what I have to sa}' on this point, it was necessary to put out of my way the authority of tliose who have concurred in declaring a peaceful separation to he impossihle. It is only with this view that I have spoken of them — I know them only as enemies to my countuy, and I could warn mv countrymen a";ainst them. And now, sir, let us look at the dangers which are to at- tend disunion. Let us suppose a case, and consider the in- fluences which will he brought to bear on those on whom the peace of this continent will depend. Let us suppose but five States — the States of Florida, Georgia, South Car- olina, Alabama and Mississippi — to withdraw from the Union, and form a Southern Confederacy. Their policy ■would be clearly pacific. What would be the policy of the rest of the world ? Would the, manufacturing States wish to rush into a war, which, while it lasted, Avould shut them out from the best market in tlic world ? Would the ship- ping and commercial States wish to rush into a war which would throw the carriage of our rich and bulky produc- tions into the hands of Europe, until our own commercial marine should have become adequate to our wants? I say notliing of the fatal consequences which would attend the loss of a supply of cotton to the spindles and looms of New England, because, although war should prevail, the laws of trade will be sure to carry the needed supply to the place of demand. This indeed must be of a circuitous route, and at enormous expense ; but on this I lay no stress, though it would prevent the Yankee from hoj^ing to com- pete with the English manufacturer in markets open to both, while war would shut him out from this the cliiel and best market. "And how long would such a war last?" asks Mr. Webster, with a scornful scowl, ^'llow long Avould it be before the fleets and armies of the North would sweep the coasts, and blockade the ports, and overrun and desolate the territory of the South, and turn the knives of the slaves against their masters' throats?" 19 How long ? Sir, snch destructive war will never be waged until MaRsachnsetts shall have lost her senses, and be picpired to rush on self destruction. Whence, but from the Southern States, comes the cotton tliat keeps iu activity the spindles and looms of the North? Sir, the North would not dare to prosecute war with such activity, as even to diminish the sui)ply. Obtaining it, as she must do, from neutral ports, the North could only get what was left after supplying the demand of other countries, and any essential diminution would leave her notliing. But a war of desolation ! Why, sir, such a war would re-act upon the North like the bursting of a cannon in a crowded ship, working ten times more mischief there than on the enemy. Do gentlemen consider the natare of great manufacturing establishments, kept in operation by what they call free labour ? the labour of those whose daily bread is the purchase of daily toil, and who, left without emplo} ment for a week, must starve, or beg, or rob. The mind of man has not conceived the wretchednes which the failure of one cotton crop would produce. Universal bankruptcy; universal ruin; the prostration of the wealthy, and the uprising of the suffering mass, violently snatching from their beggared employers a portion of the scanty rem- nant of former abundance, to satisfy the wants of nature. Sir, when the overwhelming force of France threatened to invade and subjugate Holland, the Dutch cut their dykes and let in the ocean — the enemy withdrew, and all thought of again invading the soil of a people capahlo of defending their liberty by such sacrifices, was abandoned forever. Here was a self-inflicted suffering which did but warn the enemy, without wounding, him. But what if the people of the Southern States, gOaded by insult and wrong, should determine on a much less sacrifice. What if, with one ac- cord, they should agree to make no cotton for a single sea- son, except for their own factories^ and apply all their la- bour to laying up a store of grain for another year? The South could bear it, sir. It would incommode many. It would enrich some. It would ruin nobody here. And 20 what would be the efiect elsewhere ? The mind of inaa cannot culciilate it. The imagination of man cannot con- ceive it. Horresco rcftrens. An eartliquake shaking the continent from the rotomac to the Lakes, swaHowiiig up the llrilish isles, and overturning all that revolution has left standing in Fiance and (jlerniany, would be haidly more destructive. Sir, the pillars of the world wouKi be -shaken; and here stands the South grasping them in her strong arms. Here she stands, like old blind Sampson, set to make sport lor these Philistines, who mock her degrada- tion. Will .she not make her prayer to God, and bow lier- selfin her might, not like him, to die with the Philistines, but to overwiielm and stand unhurt among the ruins ? No, she will not. But this is always in her jjower— and this she will do. if ever her loathing detestation and scorn of her u])jjres.sors equals in acrimony and malignity their fierce philanthropy and insidious friendship. Something like this would be the consequence to the North of any war with the South, Worse if possible than this would be the consequence of a war of desolation and emancipation. In that case the mischief would not be con- fined to the North, It would overspread the civilized world, in aggravated horror. In New England we can cal- culate it. The seven hundred millions of which the South has been robbed b}' the unequal operation of the Federal Goveiiiment, has been realized, as they call it. It has been built into ships and factories; it has been paid out for bar- ren hinds at high prices, only justified by these establish- ments ; it has been built into palaces where merchant princes and manulatcturers dwell in marble halls. There are no other objects of investment, and the boasted heaped np wealth of New En^Uuid is just that — no niore. Now take away the cotton and commerce of the South, atid what do you see? The ships lie rotting at the wharves; the lac- tories tumbled into rtiins ; and skulking in corners of their marble palaces, the meichant princes, like those of Venice, live meagrely on contributions levied on the curiosity of traA'ellers. As to the labourinii; classes, the far West is 21 open to them. What violence and rapine they may prac- tice for a while, under the teachings of Communism, Fou- rierisni, Agrarianism, and other isms of the family of Abo- litionism, it is not possible to say. But they will soon see that Communism is of little worth where there is nothing to divide, and that what they call the rights of labour can- not be enforced against those who have nothing to pay. — They "will be off to the West, sir, there to found a new- Ohio on the banks of Wisconsin and Minesota. And Bos- ton ? Look at Venice, sir. The history of Boston is so far the history of Venice. Venice enriched herself by the oppression and plunder of her subject provinces. Boston has done the same. Venice concentrated her ill-gottoa wealth on the marshes of the Adriatic. Boston has heap- ed up hers upon a barren rock. The poisoned chalice has been commended to the lips of Venice, and she has in turn become the victim of misgovern ment, while the trade of the world has found other channels — and behold she is a wilderness of marble in a waste of waters. Even such, would be the mischiefs which Boston would pull down upon herself, by the suicidal step of warring against the South. But look across the Atlantic, and suppose the madness and malignity of the North to hurry them into a dcssola- ting war against the cotton growing States. Other coun- tries have more various resources than New England, and might have something to fall back on. England, for ex- ample, insular as she is, has land. But England has a su- perabundant population, and there are not less than three millions of labourers whose very existence depends on cot- ton. They have no western country to fly to, and while the land of England is sufficient to feed them all, they will not starve, whether there be work for them to do or no. There is something there for Communism to divide — sometliing for Fourierisra to experiment on. Let but the loom stand atill for one month, and there will not be one stone left standing on another of the whole political and social fabric of England. 3 22 The statesmen of England know this, sir, and this it is that governs the foreign policy of England, and determines her to oppose her veto to any war that miglit disturh her commerce, and, through that, her niannfactures, on which her very existence depends. Tiie play of the shuttle is the pulse of life to her. Let it once stop and it beats no more. Nor is this confined to her. The same cause operates on every powerful nation of Western Europe, and hence that long, unnatural peace, which, for more tlian thirty years, has covered Europe as with a death pall, produced and pre- pared more suffering and more causes of mischief than half a century of war had ever done. But the evil is upon them, and they dare not shake it off. However the angry spirit of rival nations may chafe at the restraint ; however the plethora of redundant population may call for tlie let- ting of blood; the immense fixed capital invested in manu- facturing establishments, and the multitudinous })opulation whose bread depends upon them, compel the world to peace. It is indeed but a piece of suppressed hostility, of stifled envy, of insiduous rivalry, and its consequences make us feel the full force of the woe denounced against those who cry " peace, peace ! when there is no peace." But there is no escape from it. In the cant of the day, "the spirit of the age demands it— rthe spirit of the age is essen- tially pacific." What then, sir, would all Europe say to any attempt on the part of the Northern States, or of any power upon earth, to lift a hand against the cotton growing region, and interrupt the production of that article. The power of wealth would oppode it — the cry of famine would forbid it — the universal nakedness of mankind would forbid it ; the united voice of all the civilized world would command the peace. The Southern States of this Union are confessedly the only cotton growing country in the world, and slave la- hour the only means by which it can be produced. What- ever may be their spite against us, and however they may cant about slavery, they will be careful to do nothing to interfere with the production of cotton. Had Orpheus been 23 ' the only man in the world, sir, the Nymphs, however en- raged, would not have killed him. All this time I have spoken as if our dear sister- Massa- chusetts, and the rest of that sisterhood, were to have the matter their own way. I have taken no notice of the fact, that although North Carolina and Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, might not he at once prepared to join the South- ern Confederacy, they would feel that their interests were identified with it, and refuse to join in a crusade against the defenders of their rights. They would have a voice in the question of peace or war. They might indeed be out- voted, but would a vote restrain them, and would the North press a measure which would be sure to force them into the Southern Confederacy ? The exemplary patience of Virginia is a proof that she fondly recollects that to her, more than to any other State, this Union owes its existence. She will be the last to dissolve it violently, because she will be thj last to forget the proud and endearing recollections of the past, and to lift her hand against those she has so long cherished as brothers. But let her be told she must fight somebody, and she will not be long in deciding whom she will fight. Tell her to regar 1 and treat as enemies the Southern States, peopled mainly by herself— to imbrue her hands in the blood of her own children, and her answer is ready, in the words of Harry Percy : " Not speak of Mortimer ! Forliid my tongue to speak of Mortimer ! Yes, ] will speak of him : and may my soul ■\Vant mercy if I do not join with him !" Sir, Virginia did not approve the attitude assumed by South Carolina in 1833. What then? Was she prepared to lift a hand against her ? On the contrary, she remem- bers now with pride that her Governor then declared, that before one foot should cross the Potomac on a hostile er- rand against South Carolina, he would lay his bones on its shores. That was old John Floyd, sir, a man "whenever promised, but he meant to pay ;" and, thank God, there stands another John Floyd in his father's place, to repeat and make good his father's words. • 24 Tut suppose the few remaining Southern States not to be driven to the necessity of choosinijj their enemy. Suppose, as ^vould be the case, that no warlike attempt should be made — how long would those States be content to remaiQ under the grinding misgovernmcnt winch taxes them for the benefit of their masters in the North, while witnessing the prosperity of their Southern brethren living under a revenue tariff and enjoying the blessings of free trade ? With a mod- est, economical government, such as a mere central agency for independent States ought to he, a moderate revenue would suffice, and nothing would prevent the acceptance of the ovcituresfor free trade, now made by all commercial na- tions. These are not accepted now, sir, because mainly beneficial to the South. And who cares for the South ? — What is the South ? An ass of tlie tribe of Issachar, "bow- ed down between two burthens ;" thirty millions to be paid into the treasury, and twice as much more to go into the pockets of the Northern manufacturers. What if Lord Palmerston should offer now, in return for a reduction of our Tariff to a revenue standard, to take off the English duty of seventy-five cents on our tobacco. Would it be^ ac- cepted? No sir, no. It would but ( nrich the Tobacco States, aud what do our masters care for them? On the other hand, let a Southern Confederacy, in adopting the free trade overture, ask a differential abatement of ten cents of this duty in their favour, and how long would Virginia and North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and even Maryland and Missouri, delay to avail themselves of the arrange- ment? Depend upon it, sir, such a Confederacy as I have supposed would hardly be formed before every slaveholding State in tlie Union would seek admission into it. The prestige of Union once dispelled by a partial secession, the Middle States would be at no loss to choose between union with their Southern brethren, or with tlieir Northern ene- mies, persecutors and slanderers. But the thing would not stop here, sir. Pennsylvania at this moment, with, all tlie advantage of a protective tar- iff, finds her manufticturers often on the verge of bankrupt- 25 cy. A tariff may protect her against the competition of European manufactures, but not against the superior skill and capital of New England. Against this she contends as well as she can in the markets of tlie South, Take that away and she will sink at once. Even now Massachusetts grudges her the benefit of the protection which only ena- bles her to hold up her licad. But let tlie southern victims of that oppressive system emancipate themselves from it, and my life upon it, five years will not pass over before it is abolished. What then will be the condition of Pennsylva- nia, placed on the border, between a Northern Confederacy, in which she is overshadowed by superior capital and skill, and a Southern Confederacy of which she might become the workshop? A revenue tariff of ten percent, would be worth more to Pennsylvania as a member of a Southern Confederacy, than forty per cent, is now — mors than all that protection could do for her, were the South withdrawn from the Union. Let us look a little to the West, sir. I begin with Illi- nois, because she reaches farthest South, because she is nearest to New Orleans and furthest from New York ; and because slie begins to be aware that slaves are wanted in the Southern part of the State, and seems not quite in- sensible to the propriety of letting such of her people have them as have need of them. Now what will be her situa- tion ? No man admires more than I that noble system of inland navigation that connects the waters of the Mississippi with the lakes. But tolls and tow-paths are expensive things, and canals are sometimes broken by floods, some- times laid dry by drouglit, and winter rarely fails with his icy breath to close up the navigation of the lakes. But the Mississippi, broad, deep, and full, is ever open to bear on its flowing bosom all the bulky and weighty products of Illinois, at the lowest possible rate of expense. I am aware, sir, that the law of nations would secure to States, on the waters of that river, a free passage to the ocean. But that law would not exempt them from imports and from export duties, and from all the inconveniences which must be in- 26 curred by tliose Avho necessarily pass tlirougli a foreign country to set to tlieir own. A great river, sucli as the Mississippi; like an iron cramp, liokls together all the country penetrated by its tributaries, and no amount of human perverseness can long prevent them from blending into one "like kindred drops." What I have said of Illinois, applies Avith nearly equal force to Indiana. It may, in time, n,\)u\y also to Ohio. At present, sir, I see nothing in tliat region wliich "we desig- nate as Ohio, of which any sort of moral or ])olitical character can be predicated, I see a vast multitude of all kindred, tongues and nations, swept down and agglomerated like the wash of a hill side, or that from the mouth of a common sewer ; heaped, as against a dam, on the north bank of the river. On such an alluvial deposit you may raise cucumbers or onions, but tlie majestic forev^;.t oak can find no root there — the stately edifice no stable foundation. Among such a rabble you may have temporary regulations of arbitration and police — but a government, strong to pro tect, strong to restrain, consecrated by the afit'ction and reverence of the people, a '"fortress at once and a temple" — the thing is impossible. The rock built Acropolis of Ten- nessee stands on yonder hill, and there it will stand. It is built of rocii, for it stands on a rock ; and there they will stand together till the foundations of the earth are shaken. But as well might you build such a structure on the marshes of the lower Mississippi, as to establish anything deserving the name of a free, stable and enduring government, on such a quaking bog as Ohio. The institution of domestic slavery, which, like piles driven into the earth, gives sta- bility to government, and renders universal suffrage and perfect freedom possible to those who are free, is a resource denied to tliem. God forbid that I should desire to intro- duce slavery there. No, sir. I wouUl not so wrong the negro. lie is ])roud and happy in his subordination to one worthy to be his master. But servitude under such as these, differing in colour, and inferior in all besides, it would break his heart. If such servitude as this is iheir 27 only idea of slavery, I protest before God that their abhor- rence of it must fall far sliort of mine. But tliey them- selves are sensible of the negro's superiority, and they are jealous of it. They steal our slaves from us, and when they have made them what they call free, they harass them, they persecute them, they combine to shut them out from all creditable or profitable employment— they starve them out, and even drive them away ? Is this disgust ? No, sir. It is jealousy. The shoemaker will not sit on the same boncli with the negro. But let the negro prosper in spite of per- secution, and he will give him his daugliter in marriage, and she too will thankfully take him to her obscene and Instlul bosom. And this is Ohio; and the philanthropic abolitionist, as he floats down the river, turns his eye sadly from Kentucky, the home of a bold, high-minded, law- abiding yeomanry, the home of accomplished gentlemen and enlightened statesmen, to gaze on the prosperity of Ohio. What does he see there, sir? A fertile soil, in- dustry, manufactures, commerce, wealth, and even some science. All the elements of civilization are there — but of civilization itself, of the refinements and courtesies of life, nothing. No, sir, without social organization there can be no civilization. It is the relation between trne and ac- knowledged superiority, and confessed inferiority, that ele- vates and ennobles both where both are capable of elevation. Association will always assimilate. The Southern gentle- man, studiously observing all possible courtesy in his de_ portment to the negro, makes a gentleman of him, while he himself becomes toore a gentleman by his condescension. The man of Ohio has nobody below him but his hog. He cannot make the hog a gentleman, sir, and I need not say how the dead weight of the hog must operate to drag down his companion to his level. But there is the Queen City, as they call it, "showing like a jewel on an G^tliiop's ear." I went ashore there, the other day, sir, and, verily, I sliould have thought, that, like tlie Queen of the House of Brunswick, she had been imported from Germany ; for the young piinces in her 28 streets talked hardly any language but the German. And these are the men whose suffrages arc to give law to us, whose fathers rescued the country from the domination of a German prince upon the English throne. I speak harshly, sir. I know it. I meant to do so. I speak as it becomes every man to speak of the enemies of his country ; for I speak of those who have long waged a systematic, predatory and cowardly war against Virginia, my country. But enough of Ohio. There let her be — a foul cess-pool — at one time greexi and stagnant, at another stirred up from the bottom by the strifes of the reptiles that struggle in its mud, and tainting the moral atmosphere with its stench. The inhabitants of Ohio may one day acquire that con- sistency which is necessary to constitute a people, and then they may form themselves a government, or in the mean time they may find a master. It will be time enough then to consider of our relation to them. Until then, I will rest in the hope, that should such events take place as I have spoken of, they will sec the necessity of paying that respect to the Laws of Nations, which they deny to the Constitution. Mr. President, I hope I have said enough to satisfy think- ing men, that those frightful consequences of disunion^ at tlie thought of which the heart trembles and the cheeks turn pale, will not ibllow disunion, should the North be mad enough to drive us to that extremity. If I have suc- ceeded in this I have accomplished all I wished. I have not spoken with a view to make men desire disunion. I have aimed at no more than to keep them from being frightened out of their senses at the bare thought of it. I wish only to bring them to hear reason, and having done this, I expect them to see at a glance that the true way to preserve the Union is to let the people of the North see that we all understand our true position, and all see the matter in this light. Let them see that even those among us (if there be any such) who would surrender every right sooner than expose themselves to the horrors of war, are 29 sensible that there is no danger of war, and no reason why they should submit to insult, outrage and wrong, lest a worse thing befall them. Let the North understand, sir, that such are the views and temper of tlie South, and the spirit of encroachment will stand rebuked, and tlie states- men of the North will at once, and with anxious earnest- ness, acknowledge our rights, and in good faith address themselves to those who Bpoak for us, not to cajole and bribe them to betray us, but to ascertain what will actually and i)ermanently satisfy us. By such means the Union may be preserved, and if such a course is adopted, the Union is safe. This course of proceeding must begin with us. It must begin here, and now. That is our business here, sir. To save the Union, and to save it by showing the people of the North that by persevering in their wan- tun, unjust and mad career they will destroy it. If it per- ishes, the act will be theirs — not ours. Mr. President, I have worn out the patience of the Con- vention, exhausted my strength and wasted my feeble voice without saying the tenth part of what I had to say. I have come here with my mind charged to bursting with thoughts that vainly struggle for utterance. To "un])ack my heai't with words," and give voice to all I would wish to say, I would as soon attempt to drain Lake Eric through a goose quill. I would speak of the magnificent future, and glorious destiny of a Southern Confederacy. I would speak of the various and boundless resources of a country embracing the noble Chesapeake and its waters, extending thence to the Gulf, and from the Atlantic to the Bravo, comprehending an assortment of all things needful for agriculture, manu- factures, and commerce. I would point to the region of iron, coal and water power, stretching from this spot to the eastern foot of the Alleghanics, sloping down in the east to the tide waters of the Atlantic, in the west to the rich plains that border the Mississippi, while James river, Poto- mac and Ohio, stretch forth their arms to encircle the whole in their embrace, and bind together the three great in- 30 terests of civilization witli a cord twisted by tlic liaiuls of Kature, in a union like tiiat of the sexes; a union of con- genial not conflicting; interests. No ]\Iezentian marriage of the living with the dead — no compact between power and wealcness, simplicity and craft, generosity and selfishness ! No compromise ! in which, as in bargains with the devil, one party signs his name in his own blood, which all the waters of Lethe will not wash out, while the otlier uses a chemical compound of the newest Yankee invention, which disappears as soon as it is dry. I would speak of the destiny and destination of the negro race — I would recite the divine decree which mitigated the curse of Canaan, by ordaining that in the tents of Shem he should dwell with Japhet as his servant, and in that scliool of civilization and Christianity purge away his first offence, ' and qualify himself to be restored to his Maker's favour* These words, so long witliout any intelligible meaning, have found their interpretation and fulfilment here. They indicate the task to be performed, and designate us to per- form it. Woe to us, if, seeking rather the praise of man than the honour that cometli from God, we shrink from it. Let us rather be thankful that he lias made choice of us, unworthy as we are, to be his instruments in this great work. What have all the missionaries on earth, since the daj'S of the Apostles, done for the spread of the Gospel among the Heathen, compared to what has been effected on belialf of tlic negro race in this great school of domestic slavery ? The success of tlie teaclier has not been every where the same, because all were not equally competent and equally faithful. The Frenchman who but taught his pupil to sing and to dance, and to practise his old abomina- tions in a new way, was flogged with his own birch and barred out. The Englishman, in his serene self-compla- cency, contem})lating his own imaginary superiority over all others, set up at last for being wiser than God himself, broke up his school and dismissed liis pupils. So far we have stood manfully to our post. We have not indeed studied as we ought all the duties of our position ; but we 31 are finding them out, and the improvement of the negro, physical, moral and intellectual, is our witness that we have not heen altogether unfaithful. In this connexion, sir, I would not speak of our interest in the matter. The decree wliich appointed our task, appointed our vrages, and unless God he false, then let us assure ourselves that so long as we perform the one, we shall receive the other. I have no fears for the results while we are true to ourselves and to Him. The institution of slavery is of his appoint-' ment, and it \yill endure until it shall have accomplished that to which it was appointed. Sir, I went on Sunday last to the Episcopal church, aijd there, in the psalm for the day, I heard the voice of God, and he put a new song into my mouthj a song of deliverance and triumph : " Thou art, my king, God ! Send help unto Jacob. " Throuoh thee will wc overthrow our enemies, and in thy name will we tread them under who rise up against us. " For I will not trust in my bow : it is not my sword that shall help me. "But now thou art afar off, and pnttest us to confusion. "Thou makest us to turn our backs upon our enemies, so that they that hate us sjioil our goods. '• But although all this come upon us, yet do we forget thee. " Up Lord ! Why sleepe^t thou? Arise and help us for thy mercy's sake. " The Lord of hosts is on our side : The God of Jacob is our refuge." I am far from imagining, sir, that the benevolent pur- poses of the Creator in favour of the African race, are lim- ited to the small number that have heen brought over to us, or that the slave trade will be continued until all Africa is dispeopled. No, sir. Civilization and Christianity must be sent to those who cannot be brought to them. But how ? It has pleased the Almighty to envelope that Continent with a pestilential atmosphere, which a white man cannot breajthe and live. The peculiar conformation of the negro race fits him alone for it, and it is by him that this work must be done. The Colonization Society is a feeble, pre- mature and abortive attempt at this. The negro has learned but half the lesson necessary to qualify him for this task. But let a place be found nearer home, where a colony of free blacks, may be established under a provincial gov- ernment, protected, rcrgulated and controlled by a Southern Confederacy, open to all who will go to it, and from its 32 proximity accessible to all. How long would it be, sir, be- fore, exercising in a limited degree the functions of self- government, tbey would learn that other lesson which is necessary to qualify them, not only for personal but politi- cal freedom ? Growing and fhnirishing under the paternal care of tlieir former masters, we might expect nothing but good offices from them. Such a colony would be no runa- ways' harbour, and a time would come, (and it will come, sir,) which none of us willlive to see, when established in complete independence, they will be in condition to go forth from this normal school, and settle colonies of their own on all tlie coasts of Africa. But wjiere is this place near home ? Sir, tlie folly and madness of France have prepared it. It is Hayti. And Avcre a Southern Confederacy once formed, ■five years would not elapse before a cession would be ob- tained, there, or somewhere on tlie southern shores of the gulph, of territory sufficient for such a colony. I beg pardon, sir, for these speculations. This is a sub- ject on which it is so much the custom for those to talk most who think least, that a man who has made it the study of liis Avhole life, is under some necessity of apolo- gizing.; for the expression of his thoughts. But all tills is mere speculation, and nothing but insane folly on the jiart of northern men, can make it more than speculation. It rests with them at any moment to quiet all this agitation and restore tranquility, at least, though not harmony. Abused confidence and in.sulted friendship can never be I'estorcd. But equality between the States can be restored, and the rights of all parties being equally re- spected, and the interests of all ])arlios equally cared ibr, a regard for these interests, the recollections of the past, and the iudispotsition of mankind to the suntlering of old ties, and breaking up the established order of things^ may even now preserve the Union. But depend ujjou it, that this is not to be effected by any of those cheating compromises which "keep the word of promise to the ear,- and break it to tlie hope." AVe have bad enough of these things, and the "false juggling fiend" who has so often arrayed himself 33 in the garb of an an gel of light to palm them on us, can deceive us no more. We noAv know him in his disguise, and will have no more of his compromises. ''Othello's oc- cupation's gone." He may tamper with our representatives in Congress, and with the letter writing loafers wlio hang about the treasury to negotiate Galphin claims and fraudu- lent contracts, but their day too is gone as well as his. This battle is not to be fought at Washington. We have changed our tactics, sir. We are tired of being trampled down by the elephants and cavalry, who push themselves into the front of the array, and at the first prick of the lance, or at the first fire, turn back and break through the infantry, and throw every thing into confusion, dismay and rout. Henceforth, sir, we fight with the infantry in front, and shall not leave it to men Avhose valour all oozes out at their fingers' ends between January and April, to decide for us what we are to do. We are sick of compromises, and as to this thing they call a compromise, what is it? What was the matter in dispute ? What was the claim set up by the Yankees ? Nothing more than to exclude us from all the territory conquered by southern arms, and purchased with southern money, (for we pay all the taxes,) from Mexico. Well, sir, docs this compromise propose to let us into equal participation with the North ? No such thing. Not a foot of all our conquests is open to us ; but then we are gravely told that if we will give some ten or fifteen millions more to bribe Texas to give up a portion of her territory equal to three large States, which, belonging to her, is now actually open to us, they will perhaps not exclude us from that. Smitten on one cheek, we are to turn the other ! And this is compromise ! Is any thing conceded to us ? No. Is any demand of the other party withdrawn ? No. The proposed compromise urges new demands, and they Avho pretend to speak for us, say that the best thing we can do is to admit them. But it seems, sir, that Mr. Clay insists that, although we cannot understand it, this is a compromise; and in proof of it, tells us, that its advocates in the committee, that famous 34 majority of eight, liaJ great difficulty in agreeing among themselves ou its terms. I have little doubt of it, sir, for I can well believe that these gentlemen were as careful of their own individual interests in the matter, as they were indif- ferent to ours. I have heard of sucli cases in other coun- tries. They happen every day in Spain. A band of robbers when they set on a traveller, always compromise with him somewhat in this way. He is told that if he will lie on his face, put his hands behind him, and submit to be rifled and stript, tlioy will ask no more of him. I don't know whether they call this a compromise. But if they did, sir, the captain of the gang might explain how, as plausibly as Captain Clay himself. "Compromise!" says he ; " certainly we had to com[)romise. Some of us wished only to take the fellow's money and leave him his clothes. Others were for putting him to death ;. and we compromised on the middle ground of taking both money and clothes, and sparing his life. And then when we were dividing the spoil — good God ! had I not to compromise and content myself with only half instead of taking the whole to myself." This last I suspect, sir, was the great difticulty with the committee. ]\Ir. Webster and General Cass doubtless thought that they liad as good a right as Mr. Clay to iiame the bill so as to make political capital for themselves respectively. Mr. Foote probably would have been glad to have it a little more acceptable to the people of Mississippi. It may be doubted wlieiher Mr. Clay was inclined to admit these pretensions. Is not Mr. Clay the ''Great Pacificator ?" Did he not give peace to the country in 1820 and in 1833, and is he not thesule inventor and nuuuifacturer of the famous pa- tent fresli salt to be sprinkled un the tails of Southern gulls and boobies? Was it nut enough fur \Vebster and Cass to be admitted to the honour of co-operating with him? — And as to Mr. Foote, it ought to satisfy his ambition to be allowed to take the title of the "Little Pacificator." So be it, sir, worthily has he won it, long may he wear it. I am afraid indeed it may cost him dear. iEsop tells us of an 35 eagle, that stooping from liis lofty clifi", pounced on a lamb and bore it away ; at sight of which the ambition of a crow was so aroused that he tried to do the like, and alisriitingf on the back of an old ram, tangled his feet in the wool and got his neck twisted by the shepherd. So we have all seen how the strong talons and sweeping wing of Mr. Clay, bore away old Republican Kentucky into the high latitudes of Federalism ; but it requires no great foresight to decide bow ]^Ir. Foote will fare in his attempt upon the tough old ram of Mississippi. He may not care much about that, sir, for it is probably settled that, in the next Presidential ass race (horse race no longer, sir,) he is to ride behind Mr. Clay as candidate for the Vice-Presidency. What light Southern man is to ride en croupehehind Mr. Webster; what Northern man with Southern principles, or what Sonthern man with Northern principles, behind Gen. Cass, I do not care to inquire. One thing I do know, sir. Only one of the three can be President, but let who will be elected, all the five understrappers of that committee will be provided for. What then does Mr. Foote care for Mississippi? About as much as she w^ill henceforth care for him. But General Taylor's plan ? Sir, don't talk to me about General Taylor. "What portion have we in David? — Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, oh Israel ! Now see to thine own house, David." General Taylor will be pretty sure to see to. that, and to his sugar plantation too. Whatever else he neglects, he will spare no pains to prevent any thing which may lead to the indei)endence of Cuba, to her admission into this Union, and to the loss of two* cents and a half in the pound in the price of big sugar, Avhich he must submit to, whenever the sugar of the West Indies is admitted free of duty. To a man like him, considerations of this sort, are of more im- portance than all the rights and all the wrongs of all the world beside. But all that I have said, all the vast interests involved in this controversy, are to be- disregarded, and stern reali- ties are to be dissipated into thin air, by the potent spell 36 of tlic magic word " Uniun." Sir, there is no Southern man, whose heart has not felt the i)o\ver of that spell. In the South, attachment to the Union is matter of sentiment. In tlie North it is an affair of calculation. The conjuror, who uses tlie word to blind the mimls and palsy the limbs of others, feels nothing of its power over himself Had Union been to the North what it has been to us, the North would have dissolved it fifty years ago. What has it been to us ? Sir, it is tlie old story of the Giant and the Dwarf: a partnership in wliich one gets all the profit, the other nothing but dry blows. Who stormed the walls of Mon- terey ? Who scaled the heights of Churubusco ? Whose blood enriches the field of Buena Vista? South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas, are here to answer — "Ours." And the prize won by such sacrifice; for whom is that? For those who "kiss- ed my Lady Peace at home," and blessed themselves that they were not man slaj'ers and cut throats. Judas sold his master's blootl^ but could not keep the wages of his crime. These men will shed no blood ; not they. But the price of blood — they cannot find it in their hearts to refuse that. — When we complain of this, they .say, " are we not brethren? Let there be no strife among us." Why do they not go on with the words of Abraham? " Go you to the right, and we will go the left, or go you to the left, and we will go to the right?" Why? Because of the Bible, as of the Con- stitution, they read just as mucli as suits them, no more. Do we still remonstrate ? They become stern. "Are we not stronger than you ? Have we not our foot upon your neck ? Attempt to withdraw it, and we will trample you into the earth." In three victorious fights the Giant gained for himself a castellated palace, broad fertile lands, and a beau- tiful wife; the Dwarf lost an eye, an arm, and a leg. — '* Come my little hero/' said the Giant let us repose on our laurels ; you can sit and turn the spit at my kitchen fire, you will find a warm bed in the ashes, and you shall have a sop out of the dripping pan." " That is hardly a fair division," says the Dwarf. "It is the best you can get," 37 says the Giant coolly. "You'd better take it." "No," says the Dwarf, " I would rather drag my mangled carcase elsewhere, and sooner depend upon the charity of stran- gers than on your justice." "Turn the spit, you maimed urchin," is the reply ; if you give yourself any airs I will throw you behind the fire." The story is not exactly in pjoint, sir. In our case it is the Giant that has been maim- ed and crippled, and the Dwarf, taking advantage of his helpless condition, has cheated him of the purchase of his prowess and his blood. No people ever existed more ready to sacrifice to friend- ship or generosity than Virginia. It is the character of in- dividuals and of the State. She will divide her bread with the hungry ; she will give her garment to comfort the naked. She will strip herself to the shirt ; but when you claim that too, the instinct of self-respectful modesty is called up and supplies the place of a more sordid feeling. She says no, to that, sir. It has been said of her "^ that there is no more than the thickness of a bit of linen, be- tween her and a downright fool." This may be true, sir : but woe to him, who with profane hand, ventures to touch that last safeguard of her stainless honour. But who are we, a mere handful of deputies, who pre- sume to speak for Virginia ; Sir, we do not speak for her. She has sent us here to confer with you, and to speak to her and to the world: We speak not for her ; but we speak of her, as she is, with fiilal reverence and admiring love. We are indeed but few, what of that? " If we are marked to die, we are enough To do our country loss, but if I do live, The fewer men the greater share of honour." As for me, sir, I speak only for myself, and shrink from no responsibility. Were it tenfold more, it would be only the more welcome. I wish none to divide it with me. " I would not lose so great an honour As one man more methinks would share from me. For the best hope I have." 4 38 I have uo fear, sir, that Virginia will disclaim me. I know the dull ass will back upon the spur and throw and kick his rider. I know the dog that has no stomach for the fight, will bite the hand that tarrs him on. But Vir- ginia is uo dull ass ; Virginia is no coward cur ; and how- ever reluctant to strike for sordid interest, she will never disavow those who pledge her honour in defence of honour. I thank God that he has spared me to this day. Equality or independence is the watchword of Virginia. One of these she will have; and if I can be at all instrumental to such, an achievement, I shall not have lived in vain. But if the heart of Virginia is dead within her ; if that spirit which has been to me the breath of life, is fled ; if that fountain of just principles and elevated sentiments, from which as from the milk of childhood, my heart and mind have drawn their nutriment, is dried up — there is nothing left for me, sir, but to lay my head on the cold bo- som of my venerated and lamented mother, and to die there. OTilil Mfie.^W'Hli JUST PUBLISHED BY WEST & JOHNSTON, THE SOUTHERN SPY.— Letters on the policy and inau- pnration of the Lincoln war ; written anonymously in Washington and elsewhere, by Edward A. Pollard, of Virginia, author of "Black Diamoiids." CONTENTS. 1. Letter to President Lincoln, written nt Wasliinjtton. 2. Letter to Presidcht Lincoln, written nt Wnshinoclon. 3. Letter to President Lincoln, written at Washington. 4. Lelfor to President Lincoln, written near tlie Government. 5. Letter to the Editor of ,wr)tten in Mnryland. 6. Letter to Secretary Seward, written in ^^arvlJ^nd. T. Letter to President Lincoln, -written in Maryland. 8. Letter to Doctor Tyn