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STATE OF THE UNION 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 HON. EMERSON ETHERIDGE, 
 
 - . t *s 
 
 t **' C i 
 OF TKNNESSBB, 
 
 Delivered in the Hou«e of RepreseatatiFes, Jan. 2S^ 186 f« 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 PRINTED BY HENRY FOLKINHORN, 
 
 186 1. 
 
V" A.A./^ 
 
 -■^ry^ ' 
 
 S1503 
 
 
S IP E E a H . 
 
 The Hrute havlsg under consideration tiie report of the 
 
 Mr. ETHElilDGE said: 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I have frequently had oc- 
 casion to express my opinions in regard to 
 matters of grave public concern, and I have 
 often done so at the risk of imputations upon 
 my political integrity. I have too fre- 
 quently found that many of those with whom 
 I differed, have indulged in censure of my 
 acts, and imputed even treason to ray mo- 
 tives. In a contest like this, involving as it 
 does, the existence of the Government, and 
 the preservation of popular freedom ; arous- 
 ing as it does, the fiercest passions of rival 
 and contending parties, a man must be at 
 once for or against his whole country. It 
 matters not under what banner he arrays 
 himself, those upon the opposite side will 
 attach to him the most selfish and treason- 
 able aims. I say, therefore, in advance, 
 that in whatever I may now say upon the 
 subject under consideration, I shall not seek 
 to evade any responsibilities of that kind. 
 I shall not attempt to speak merely to avoid 
 censure, or [by affectation or hypocrisy ^to 
 court commendatioo. In what I say, I 
 shall be bound by a strict regard for truth. 
 The opinions I shall avow are those sanc- 
 tioned by observation and experience ; they 
 have the approval of ray heart. And the 
 facts to which I shall refer, will, I am sure, 
 be sustained by the unquestioned truths of 
 history. 
 
 Sir, if I had a jury of twelve honest and 
 unpretending men, sworn well and truly to 
 try the issues joined between the contending 
 factions — a jury belonging to no political 
 party, and without other motive than a de- 
 sire to subserve the best interests of their 
 country — I could, by submitting a plain 
 statement of undisputed facts, have a prompt 
 and unanimous verdict in favos of preserv- 
 ing the Union of thesi' States. Unfortu- 
 nately, sir, we cannot here, and now, get a 
 disinterested jury ; but it is consoling to 
 know that time will soon adjourn all these 
 difficult questions to the arbitrament of all 
 the people, who, with no other weapon thau 
 the ballot-box, will be able to arrest revolu- 
 tion and save the country. If, for the last 
 year or two, the men and women of this 
 country could have observed the deliberations 
 of this body; could have seen each member 
 as he is, and witnessed your daily proceed- 
 ings, they would instantly rise up all over 
 the countr,y,and arrest the tide of revolution, 
 which is threatening to involve us all in one 
 common ruia. There afe thirty millions of 
 
 select committee of thirty-three— 
 
 people whose peace and happiness, whose 
 very existence is involved in these grave 
 issues. This Hou^e is composed of but two 
 hundred and thirty-six members, some of 
 whom, doubtless, have reached their present 
 position by the merest accidents. It may be 
 safely assumed that each member of this 
 body represents, among his immediate con- 
 stituents, more than that number of states- 
 men — statpsraen, perhaps, our superiors ia 
 wisdom and moderation, yet we are to be 
 told iu this day of fearful precipitation, that 
 because forsooth, Co^i^ress, elected as it has 
 been, without reference to the issues now be- 
 fore us, cannot, or will not, instantly do 
 something to stay the tide of revolution, 
 therefore, there is no hope for the country. 
 I say, again, could the people behold those 
 v>rho are now around me, could they see 
 them when under their alternate hopes and 
 fears — the hopes inspired by the " Tribune," 
 or the fears aroused by the thunderings of 
 the "Herald," — [Laughter.] could they see 
 and know all these things, as they really 
 are, their good sense would cause them to 
 reject with scorn, the idea of hazarding, 
 finally and forever, the peace of the country 
 aloiK. upon the deliberations of such a bodyt 
 Can it be possible that we hold the final des- 
 tinies of such a people, and such a country 
 in ojir hands alone? I answer, no; such eq 
 imputation is a libel upon the good sense of 
 the millions who are resolved to preserve the 
 institutions our ancestors so wisely ordained. 
 As well might so many hackmen, gathered 
 promiscuously from the streets of New York, 
 get together and constitute themselves sole 
 arbiters of a country, which will endure so 
 long as we are fit to be free. In what spirit 
 was our Government conceived ? It was in 
 jealousy, and not in confidence. Why, sir, 
 by the very Constitution which you and I 
 have sworn to support — and I mean to keep 
 my oath — your Government alone was 
 formed ; and throughout every line of that 
 Constitution, is a manifest distrust of man's 
 ability to resist the temptations of power. 
 Hence, short terras in office were prescribed, 
 and every officer of the Governmont was 
 required to sw^ar fealty to that Constitution. 
 Even the Father of his Country was not 
 allowed to assume the Executive authority, 
 until he had first invoked the vengeance of 
 Heaven, should he fail faithfully to support 
 and defend the Constitution he had as«isted 
 to ordain. This body is wisely so constitu 
 ted that, at the? ipiratton of every two years, 
 
we are compelled by the Constitulion, to 
 return our authority to the people. If dis- 
 satisfied with our conduct they are sure to 
 dispense with our services. Oup Govern- 
 ment contemplated just such emergencies as 
 we are now compelled to meet, and, how- 
 ever, contumacious the politicians may be, 
 in despite of them, every issue now before 
 us will soon be adjourned by the Constitu- 
 tion itself to the decision of the whole peo- 
 ple. They have the good sense and patriot- 
 ism to work out a safe solution ,of all real 
 or pretended difficulties. If error prevails 
 noAV, their sound judgment will combat it 
 successfully, and all will finally be well 
 again. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, although we are to-day de- 
 liberating i!pon questions which, when we 
 were respectively elected, were not before 
 the American people, yet the hasty precipita- 
 tors of this revolution, tell us, if we do not 
 decide at once, and so deciding come up to 
 their requirements, we must accept t!ie al- 
 ternative of dismemberment with all its at- 
 tendant horrors! I protest against it. I 
 demand, to-day, for the innocent millions 
 whose peace, prosperity, civilization — whore 
 very existence is so fearfully involved, an 
 adjournment of this whole matter from the 
 arbitrament of maddened unrelenting politi- 
 cians to all the people — to those whose ser- 
 vants we are, and Avho will not fail in this 
 great emergency, to save the priceless heri- 
 tage which you have no rightful power to 
 destroy. And, sir, if you do not so adjourn 
 all these questions to the people — to those 
 whose peace and happiness are so fearfully 
 imperilled — they will speedily adjourn you 
 to a dark oblivion, and write shara« and in- 
 famy upon your graves. What right have 
 you or I, or any one of us, to assume that we 
 alone will pass, finally, upon the questions 
 of peace and war, among our own people, 
 when they themselves, with the ballot-box in 
 their hands, are impatient, as I believe, to 
 pass their judgment upon thesa measures, 
 which, however, abstract they Biay be, will, 
 if adopted, disarm the enemies of the Union 
 of their treasonable pretexts, and leave them 
 without further power to mislead their too 
 confiding victims. I yet trust this House 
 will do something — yes, sir, do much, to 
 allay this alarm, and apprehension; and 
 while I shall continue to vote for every pro- 
 position to disarm tho-ie irhose a im Isdisituioii, 
 and whose grievances are mainly pretexts, 
 1 do not hesitate to announce in my place, 
 that if this Congress shall, finally, tail to meet 
 the public expectation in patriotic quarters, 
 I will not then be willing to abandon my 
 interest in almost the only government in the 
 world, which is worth preserving. This , 
 House cannot, by any indifference it may j 
 manifi bi to tiir various propositions before 1 
 
 it, force me to join tlvose, who, aiming at dis- 
 union as an end, expect by your indifference 
 to gather strength for their revolutionary de- 
 signs. Before I consent to aid in the over- 
 throw of my country, and to extinguish its 
 nationality, I will counsel with your masters— 
 the people — those in whose unambitious 
 hearts, love of country and of kind, burns as 
 brightly as of yore. 
 
 Sir, this revolution which threatens, speedi- 
 ly to involve us all, and which is suggestive 
 of so terrible a future, is the most extraordi- 
 nary, unpardonable, and indefensible the 
 world has ever looked upon; and public men 
 all over the country, of whom better things 
 were expected — men who, a i'ew months ago, 
 were indignant at the bare suspicion of their 
 sympathy or complicity with those who 
 were <^ere plotting revolution, are now coun- 
 selling armed rebellion, and playing with the 
 worst passions of mankind, as though nothing 
 serious were involved in the result. 
 
 I propose to meet fairly the dread alterna- 
 tive presented by these precipitators ; to meet 
 them in a candid spirit, and to array in 
 opposition to their real and pretended griev- 
 ances, some of the manifold blessings which 
 all sections of the country have derived 
 l"rom the Government — a Governmentwhich 
 smiles even yet benignantly upon its mis- 
 guided children. And may I not ask, what 
 utter madness and folly, must there be in 
 subverting the Government for the purpose 
 of securing out of th-e Union, rights or privi- 
 leges which may not be secured or vindicated 
 by candid appeals to our kindred and friends, 
 who salute the same fiag, and acknowledge 
 a common ancestry. 
 
 It is a remarkable and most significant fact, 
 that this revolulion is not justified or carried 
 on with reference so much to anything which 
 has been done by Congress, or any political 
 party, as because of dangers which, it is al- 
 leged, are to be apprehended in th-e future. 
 The only thing charged to have been already 
 done or performed, as was said by ray friend 
 from Virginia, [Mr. MillsonJ two days ago, 
 is the passage by the Legislatures of some 
 of the free States, of the so-called Personal 
 Liberty bills. If I had time — I have not — I 
 believe precipitation reigns here, and each 
 moment, as it " rides u|X)n the dial's point,'' 
 (pointing to the clock,) admonishes me that 
 1, too, must be precipitate. If I had time, I 
 could show — and I cliallenge contradiction 
 from any disunionist, if such there be here — 
 that you will be infinitely more the victims 
 of the unfriendly legislation of the free 
 States, when the Government has been des- 
 troyed, than you now are, or ever can be; 
 while the Constitution endures and the 
 Union is maintained. This — the passage of 
 tite Personal Liberty bills — I repeat, is the 
 only thing now actunlly done or performed 
 
by any department of Government, State or 
 Federal, of whicli even disunionists can com- 
 plain. I will endeavor, then, to state the 
 dangers you profess to fear in the future. 
 
 First, You say the people of the North are 
 opposed to the execution of the fugitive slave 
 law. 
 
 Secwid, That the Republican party, when 
 they obtain control of both branches of Con- 
 gress, intend to exclude slavery from all the 
 Territories by act of Congress. 
 
 Tliird, That the people of the North re- 
 fuse to grant Congressional protection to 
 slave property in the free Territories. 
 
 Fourth, That they intend, finally, to change 
 the Federal Constitution, thereby to enable 
 them to abolish slavery in the States. 
 
 Fytk, That the people of the free States 
 are opposed to slavery. 
 
 Sixth, That the people of the respective 
 sections are not homogeneous — that they hate 
 each other. 
 
 Seventh, That some of the people of the 
 free States, favor thesocial and political equal- 
 ity of the negro. 
 
 EigUh, That the South is in danger of in- 
 vasions, similar to John Brown's raid into 
 Virginia. 
 
 I think I have fairly stated all the various 
 charges which the disunionists have embo- 
 died into this indictment against the Govern- 
 ment they seek to overthrow, and the people 
 they would treat as enemies. Now, sir, I 
 frankly confess that the Personal Liberty 
 bills do exist in some of the free States. They 
 are, whenever designed to evade the Consti- 
 tution or the laws passed under it, without 
 cxtenuatian or excuse. But it is gratifying 
 to perceive, if the signs of the times are 
 worth anything, that all these Personal Lib- 
 erty bills, which in any manner conflict 
 with the Constitution, are soon to be swept 
 from the statute books of the free States. 
 And if this were uot so, it should not be for- 
 gotten, that these laws have existed during 
 the whole of the last eight years of Demo- 
 cratic rule, and without so much as a threat 
 of revolution for such a cause; nor should 
 it be overlooked, that if they are uncojistilu- 
 tional they are simply void, and if they are 
 passed without a violation of the Constitu- 
 tion, as States-rights men you liave less rea- 
 son to complain. I repeat they will soon be 
 repealed. Nothing retards it now, in ray 
 opinion, but that general repugnance which 
 all men feel in doing anything seemingly, 
 "upon comj^ulsion." I repeat, this is the 
 only act that has been done, by State or Fed- 
 eral authority, upon -which disunion is justi- 
 fied by ils advocates; and, as I before said, 
 the other grounds of complaint are in refer- 
 ence to things you profess to believe will 
 hereafter occur — things which never have 
 happened, and which never could transpire 
 
 if the seceding States had continued in the 
 Union, and yourrepresentatives had remained 
 at their pests. I might further remark in re- 
 gard to these Personal Liberty bills, that they 
 do not, as I am assured, exist in the border 
 free States — the States which immediately 
 adjoin the slave States — Iowa, Illinois, In- 
 diana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. 
 Where, then, do they exist ? They are found 
 on the statute boolcs only, of such far ofT 
 States as Vermont — a State in which, I am 
 assured, there has not been a fugitive slave 
 for forty years; a State as inaccessible to a 
 slave's approach, as his escape is impossible 
 from South Carolina. 
 
 But you say that slaves escape from the 
 southern States, and are permitted to pass 
 through the free States, and take refuge in 
 Canada. I grant this to be true ; and they 
 will, in all time to come, occasionally es- 
 cape from their owners. No system of laws 
 can guard against it. In some negroes a 
 disposition to run away is inherent. It must 
 be endured, unless, per chance, you can in- 
 vent some peculiar lineament to restrain the 
 elasticity of their legs. (Laughter.) I reside 
 within a day's ride of the free States, yet 
 I have never known more than one slave to 
 make his escape from my own neighborhood 
 into the free States. He passed through that 
 part of Kentucky now represented by my 
 friend, [Mr. Burnett,] and took refuge in 
 Illinois. He was arrested by some of the 
 citizens of that State and taken back to his 
 owner. Now, I will not blame my friend 
 from Kentucky for permitting this- fugitive 
 to pass through his district, nor will I coun- 
 sel disunion because his constituents did not 
 arrest him on his way. Fugitive slaves do 
 pass through the free States, and find free- 
 dom iu Canada, but have you any means of 
 reclaiming them now, in the British domin- 
 ions ; and will not a disruption of the Union, 
 in effect, bring the Canada line down to the 
 banks of the Ohio? 
 
 But what appeals have the southern States 
 made to the free States to repeal these stat- 
 utes? Is not their existence rather an ima- 
 ginary than a real grievance? For I am 
 informed fhat under them no fugitive slave 
 has ever been liberated, nor has there been, 
 at any time, a prosecution or fine, forfeiture 
 or conviction, for any alleged violation of 
 their provisions. Instead of seeking relief 
 in that spirit wliich would have given dig- 
 nity and effect to the appeal, the whole 
 piatter has been left to ilie party newspapers 
 and politicians. 
 
 But the precipitators complain, as I have 
 stated, that many of the peu()ie of the i'ree 
 States are hostile to the execution of the 
 fugitive-slave law. Doubtless this is so to a 
 great extent; but this is not the fault of the 
 Federal Government, nor of the law. Mr. 
 
6 
 
 Buchanan, in his late annual message to 
 Congress, used this very language : 
 
 ••The fiig'itive-slnve law hns been cnrriod into execu- 
 tion ill every conteste.l case since tlic ctmineucement of 
 the presciit aiiinmistration." 
 
 And it is a matter of hi.story, that not a 
 dozen slaves have been rescued within the 
 last forty years, from the cu.stody of the offi- 
 cers of the United States, while acting under 
 the authority of that lavv'. You know the 
 statement I make is true, although the people 
 of the South are made to believe tliat it is 
 impossible to recapture a runaway slave 
 •without his being in almost every instance 
 rescued from the custody of the ofticcrs of 
 the law. And while every rescue is made 
 a matter of public notariety, mention in 
 rarely, if ever made, of the instances in 
 which the law is enforced. We all know 
 that fugitive slaves are almost constantly 
 being captured in the free States and cc:r- 
 ried back to their owners; hut informa- 
 tion of cases of this kind rarely find their 
 way into the parly newspapers — certainly 
 not in those wiuch advocate disunion. But 
 a mob or a riot, originating in matters of 
 this kind, is the food upon which secession 
 leaders wax wroth and grow fat. If the fu- 
 gitive-slave law is not now well executed, 
 will it be more faithfully enforced if you dis- 
 solve the Union ? Will you then have any 
 fugitive-slave law whatever? It cannot ex- 
 ist for a moment beyond the life of that j 
 Constitution which secession seeks to destroy. 
 
 Whether we have two or more Confedera- i 
 cies, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and | 
 Maryland are to be converted into mere out- 
 posts. The people who know most of their 
 present free-State neighbors, and v,^ith whom 
 commercial intercourse must of necessity 
 exist, are to have their immediate northern 
 friends transformed into enemies, and all the 
 priveleges of the Constitution are to be sur- 
 rendered for the poor boon of standing as 
 military sentinels to guard those who dream 
 of Southern Confederacies, and feel secure 
 because of their remoteness from danger. 
 These seceding States are now no sufferers 
 from the evils of wliich they complain. They 
 know nothing of Personal Liberty bills, ex- 
 cept as they atford pretexts for thei^r schemes, 
 while hundreds of miles of slave territory 
 intervenes between them and the free States. 
 It is the border slave States I have named 
 which alone feel the injustice of the aboli- 
 tionists; and now the Gulf States propose by 
 disunion, to aggravate all these evils and 
 add to their number a thousand fold. It re-. 
 mains to be seen if they and their misguided 
 allies can so far mislead the people of the 
 borc'er slave States as to induce them thus 
 recklessly to throw away their best interests, 
 to gratify the malignity of disappointed 
 ambition. And let it be remembered that 
 
 there is no complaint from any quarter ot 
 the South against the provisions of the 
 fugitive-slave law. The charge, as I have 
 already said, is that some of the people of 
 the i'rce Slates do not approve its provisions, 
 and sometimes resist its enforcemcRt. But 
 this is not the fault of the Federal Govern- 
 ment, wdich disunion would madly destroy. 
 Mr. Orr, late the presiding officer of this 
 House, and very recently a resident Com- 
 missioner "near the Government of the 
 United States," from the Kingdom of South 
 Carolina, (laughter) has declared the fugi- 
 tive-slave law to be ''as stringent as human 
 ingenuity can make it." I ask my friends 
 who are in favor of dissolving the Union, if 
 its overthrow vsill make the fugitive-slave 
 law more stringent, or make ihe radical 
 anti-slavery men of the free States more in- 
 clined to admire its provisions. I frankly 
 adm't that the ncithern people are opposed 
 to slavery in the abstract ; they always were; 
 they are so now, and they always will be so. 
 You cannot find an honest northern man, 
 born, reared, and educated in a free State— 
 and who knows notiiing of the stern neces- 
 sity of the relation of servitude as it exists in 
 the southern States, but what he hears from 
 Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and their co- 
 adjutors — who is not opposed to slavery m 
 the abstract. It is true many of your.Yan- 
 kees go South, and almost instantly fall in 
 love with a negro (laughter) — I beg pardon — 
 with a woman who has some real or contin- 
 gent interest in a plantation and negroes; 
 and not unfrequcntly they cajole her into 
 marriage. Very soon you vvrill hear them 
 announce their belief in the theory of Agas- 
 siz, and descant hugely against the unity of 
 the human race. I have had repeated lec- 
 tures myself from these interesting gentry. 
 I repeat that the people of the free States 
 have always been opposed to slavery — as 
 evidence of which I point you to the fact 
 that they abolished it when it existed among 
 them. It is quite ai difficult to make a 
 northern man favorable to negro slavery — 
 without making him interested in it — as it is 
 to make a politician run away from a fat 
 office. (Laughter.) 
 
 The precipitators assign as another cause 
 for their attempt to overthrow the Govern- 
 ment, that the people of the free Slates in- 
 tend to abolish slavery in the States where it 
 exists. Now, sir, I do not believe there is 
 one word of truth in this allegation, and 
 those who make it ought to know better; 
 and if such were their desire we all know 
 they have no such power. The whole Re- 
 publican party denounce this charge as 
 false. I am liere in the presence of the 
 members of this House, and I aver that there 
 is not a man in this Congress, of any party, 
 from any quarter cf the country, who claims 
 
the power or avows the purpose to interfere 
 with slavery in the States where it exists. 
 (Cries of "not one," from the RepublicansiJe 
 of the House ) If there is one I wish to know 
 it, (voice, "There are none.") because he 
 will reeeivp the rebuke not only of his col- 
 leagues, but of every man who v/ishes to live 
 up to the Constitution. But, sir, this pur- 
 pose is imputed to the people of the free 
 States by the disunionists and their allies, in 
 the teeth of the most iolemu assurance which 
 a political party can make to the world ; and 
 I hesitate not to say that this Assurance has 
 been, in many instances, purposely withheld 
 from the people of the alave States so that 
 this misrepresentation might produce its 
 baleful effects upon the popular mind. I re- 
 member that during the last sumnier some of 
 the newspapers in my own State affected to 
 be horrilied because I read the following 
 resolution from the Republ'caa platform: 
 
 "That the maiiUaimnce inviolate of the rights of the 
 States, ami especially the right of each State to order and 
 coiurol its own doineitic institutions, accoriling to ils own 
 judgmeiitexclusively, isessenlial to thatbalauce of power 
 on which the perfection and eiid jrauce ol our poUlical 
 fiihric depends ; and we fleiiounco the lawless invasion 
 by armed force of ilie soil of any State or Territory. 
 i;o matter under wkal pretext, as among Ihe gravest of 
 crimes." 
 
 And I do not hesitate now, in this presence? 
 to assert, that no political party that ever 
 assembled in convention in this country, has 
 -given stronger guaranties against any desire 
 or any power to inteifore with slavery in the 
 States of this Union. Tliey did more than 
 this — that which no other political party in 
 this country has ever done. Apprehending 
 tlie possibility of invasions similar to that of 
 John Brown, they denounce in express terms 
 all such raids "as among the gravt^st of 
 crimes." Common fairness requires that we 
 take gentlemen at tlieir word, but if more 
 were wanting in this regard, they are now 
 willing to appease your apprehensions — if 
 any such you have — to vote for an amend- 
 ment to the Constitution, declaring in express 
 terras that Congress shall never have power 
 or authority to legislate in regard to siavei-y 
 in the States where it may exist. Such a 
 provision would be, in fact, no amendment 
 at all, but a declaration of what the Consti- 
 tution already is ; for no intelligent lawyer, 
 no man of sense, believes that the Constitu- 
 tion now confers upon Congress any such 
 power. 
 
 But, say those who are intent upon sub- 
 verting the Government: the people of the 
 two sections are dissimiliar; they have their 
 peculiarities and prejudices; they hate each 
 other. Sir, that may all be true to some ex- 
 tent, but there may be more hope of another, 
 and, I trust, a better generation. 
 
 How long have they been hating each 
 other to that extent which can justify a 
 separation, and that intensified hate which 
 
 will be sure to follow fraternal war? The 
 people of the North and South do not hate 
 each other, one particle more than did the 
 embittered leaders of the old Whig and 
 Democratic parties at the close of those san- 
 guinary political conflicts which marked our 
 history a few brief years ago. But will they 
 love each other any more sincerely when 
 they arc separated into hostile armies and 
 encamped in battle array? Or, will the 
 bloody traditions, which will disturb the re- 
 pose of our children, prepare them for a more 
 cordial embrace? True, you may separate 
 upon pn per, but the Ohio will be a poor me- 
 morial of peace between a rival people and 
 contending States. But I will not agree 
 that you hate each other now. Our lineage 
 is the same, and eafeh should know the other's 
 infirmities by his own. If your constituents 
 could I sometimes see, how frequently and 
 hew lovingly the Free Soiler and the South- 
 ern Radical hold kind and familiar councilj. 
 liow often they almost embrace eacli other, 
 they would not for a moment believe the 
 stale complaint of sectional hate. I will 
 tell you when you most cordially hate each 
 other. 'Tis whan the his are compelled to 
 give place to the ouls. When that array of 
 iwlitical retainers, by the reverses of politi- 
 cal fortune, has to take up its baggage, and 
 abandon the templing harvests of the Capi- 
 tal, then it is you hate each other. (Laugh- 
 ter and applause in the gallaries.) Sir, if 
 you desire to witness a grand living panora- 
 ma of the sorrowlul faces which were seen 
 when the Jews were led into captivity, you 
 have but to take a position upon one of these 
 adjacent towers on the fourth of March, and 
 behold these martyrs, now so devoted to 
 coiintry, whf^^n tuey are exiled from the places 
 they now know, and love so well. Sir, I 
 trust that in a grave public emergency like 
 this, love of our whole country, and every 
 part of it, may banish all meaner emotions. 
 In an hour like this, I would scorn to cherish 
 an unkind political feeling toward a human 
 being. I feel that if I could, by iniiiiolating 
 myself, add a day to the life of my country, 
 I would freely make the offering ; and I trust 
 that all others will yet be found to yield 
 tnnch i J preserve that Union with which is 
 rainr^^led the best hopes of mankind. Again 
 I asR you ; will you love each other better 
 in that iearfal hour of final separation? 
 You will not 1 You cannot! But hate — 
 undying hate — will foment and protract 
 feuds and contests more bitter and unrelent- 
 ing, than those of the rival houses of York 
 and Lancaster. Furthermore : let this gov- 
 ernment be broken up, and the Border Slave 
 States dragooned, first into revolution and 
 then into a Southern Confederacy, and tea 
 years will not have elapsed before tbie sluncH 
 ' bering fires of the present strife will be bla- 
 
zing (h<rf, and perhaps another revoltUion will 
 mark our history. If this be not so, then all 
 history is a falsehood, and iti; philosophy a 
 lie. 
 
 It is alleged that a portion of the people 
 of the free States favor the social equality j 
 of the negro. Well, if this be so to any j 
 considerable extent, I am very sorry for it 
 and wish it were otherwise. To say the ■ 
 least, it ex«!iibits, in my judgment, a very 
 bad taste; but I do not believe it is so to 
 any considerable extent. But if it were, 
 would separation change their tastes or make 
 them repudiate such social equality. 1 will 
 not make any special allusion, or recur par- 
 ticularly to a chapter in our past party war- 
 fare. Were I to do so, I might show how 
 an alleged predilection for the social equality 
 of the negro wa> once charged upon a gal- 
 lant soldier and veteran statesman, who, 
 during an eventful life, was a special favor- 
 ite of the people, North and South. But 
 this I will say, that scandal is tlie poisonous 
 weapon of all political parties in truly ex- 
 citing times. It is often invoked, and but 
 rarely in vain. I may say tiiat the political 
 equality of the negro was not wholly un- 
 known to the people of some of the slave 
 States thirty years age. Half a century 
 elapsed, in some of the southern States, be- 
 I'ore the right of suffrage was denied to the 
 free negro population. I live in a State 
 whose public men have not been wholly 
 unknown to fame. We yet preserve recol- 
 lections of a Jackson and a Polk. The first 
 constitution of Tennessee was made in 1796. 
 It remained unchanged until the year of 
 grace 1835, and one of the peculiar features 
 of that constitution was that it sanctioned 
 and approved the political equality of the 
 negro to the extent of allowing the right 
 of suffrage; and if he owned a sufficient 
 amount of property, he was given a prefer- 
 ence over the white man who had none. 
 Andrew Jackson was a member of the con- 
 vention that ordained that constitution. — 
 His signature is attached to it to-day, and 
 twice, beforf it was ehunged, he was made 
 President of the United States, In the 
 State of New York, but two months ago, a 
 proposition to give political equality to the 
 negro, to the extent of universal suffrage, 
 was voted down by more than ten to one. 
 It did not receive the vote of any consider- 
 able minority in a single county in the State. 
 I repeat, that the political equality of the 
 negro, to the extent I have named — and it 
 is, I believe, the extent to which it prevails 
 in any of the free States — has existed here- 
 tofore in many of the southern States. It 
 formerly prevailed in ray native State — 
 North Carolina — where, until within the 
 hast thirty years, free negroes were allowed 
 the right of suffrage. May we not exercjse 
 
 a little charity and forbearance upon this 
 matter, especially as we set the example and 
 have no rightful power, to prevent its exer- 
 cise in other Slates. Most of the free States 
 never have, and do not now permit negro 
 suffrage, while social equality is a thing al- 
 most wholly unknown, even in the most 
 radical of the anti-slavery States. The 
 people of Tennessee advanced somewhat 
 slowly, as is shown by their allowing negro 
 suffrage from 1796 until 1835, and as these 
 Republicans are somewhat progressive, per- 
 haps they, too, after a while, may change 
 their policy. 
 
 As to the apprehensions expressed about 
 invasions, such as John Brown made into 
 Virginia, I have this to answer : will disunion 
 or separation enable the seceding States to 
 protect themselves more efficiently than now? 
 Can you have a more sanguinary code for 
 the punishment of such invasions o/ter sepa- 
 ration than we now have? At this time, 
 every citi/en of the southern States feels 
 himself judge, juror, and executioner in such 
 cases, and every tree in the forest is made a 
 convenient gallows on which- to hang such 
 invaders. John Brown's fate has taught all 
 such men that we no-w have a code in such 
 cases as sure and summary as it can be made. 
 It is a matter of history that the noble State 
 of Pennsylvania — a State which, if it had 
 to speak tnrough the ballot-box to-day, would 
 roll up a majority of thousands in favor of 
 Union and a fair adjustment of present com- 
 plications — was prompt to vindicate herself 
 from any suspicion of sympathy with Brown 
 and his dozen Ibllowers. Two of his adher- 
 ents sought refuge in the meuntains of that 
 State, where they were arrested by as many 
 of her citizens, and instantly surrendered to 
 the authorities of Virginia, where they were 
 tried, convicted, and executed. They paid 
 the penalty of their crimes with a torfeiture 
 of their lives yet so great was the panic 
 created by this insane project of Brown that 
 the State of Virginia immediately flew to 
 arms her northern border was bristling with 
 bayonets, as was alleged, to repel an appre- 
 hended invasion irom Pennsylvania, and 
 other States, for the liberation of Brown and 
 his followers. And the people of Virginia 
 believed such an invasion was seriously con- 
 templated ! 
 
 Sir, the greatf evil of the times is, that the 
 people of all the different sections have list- 
 ened so much to persistent misrepresenta- 
 tions, that they actually know less of each 
 other's true purposes and feelings to-day than 
 they did thirty years ago. The policy of the 
 radical abolitionists is to intensify the oppo- 
 sition to slavery which has always existed 
 in the northern mind. To do this, they pub- 
 lish every libel that fanaticism can invent, 
 and apply it to the great body of the people 
 
of the South. And the purpose of the dis- ! 
 unionists of the South has been, and now is, \ 
 to give notoriety to every extreme opinion of 
 northern ultraists as the prevailing sentiment 
 of the great body of the people of the free 
 States. In each section, the most intemper- 
 ate expressions and conduct of the other, are 
 represented as the rule instead of the excep- 
 tion. Thus misrepresentation, perversion, 
 and falsehood have done their work, and we 
 are now reaping the bitter fruits. Last year 
 Texas was represented as in flames ; peaceful 
 villages and habitations were said to be con- 
 sumed by the torch of northern abolition in- 
 cendiaries. The public mind was frenzied; 
 and no doubt the innocent were often made 
 victims to that wide spread alarm which time 
 and reflection will prove to have been un- 
 founded. But, were these exaggerations all 
 stern realities, would separation or disunion 
 increase the power of the people there to pro- 
 tect themselves from the dagger or the torch? 
 Will that State have greater facilities for 
 punishing inciters of insurrection when out 
 of the Union, than are now found wUhin it? 
 Reason and common sense answer, No. A 
 northern abolitionist, or other person, who 
 goes to Texas to tamper with slaves or pro- 
 mote rebellion, deserves a permanent lodg- 
 ment in an asylum for the insane. Of all the 
 places in the world, Texas is the last to wel- 
 come or appreciate his presence. As well 
 might the most devoutly pious seek happi- 
 ness by folding his Christian mantle around 
 him, and plunging into the gulf which sepa- 
 rates Lazarus iVom the rich man in hell. 
 [Laughter.] So much then, for the various 
 allegations which theseceders have preferred 
 against the Federal Government. 
 
 I have for the sake of the argument ac- 
 cepted all your charges as true, and allowed 
 you to present tiiem in their most aggravated 
 form; and were they all really true to the 
 extent, that partisan coloring has painted 
 them, still so well satisfied am I that dis- 
 union would aggravate them all and prove 
 no remedy for anything, that I would endure 
 all these evils for years to come, before I 
 would overthrow my country, and entail 
 upon its kindred people the inevitable horrors 
 of fraternal war. Sir, I go further ; Lso love 
 my country that I would add to all these 
 things, a continuance of the unfortunate reign 
 of James Buchanan, and his late advisers, 
 for eight years more. I would repeat tlie sad 
 experiment of the "old Public Functionary" 
 for a dozen years, before I would consent to 
 murder my country and extinguish the 
 patriot's last and dearest hopes. 
 
 In regard to the pending question and 
 others of a kindred nature, 1 have only time 
 to say, that I am ready to vote for the pro- 
 position originally submitted to the Senate, 
 and eommonly called the Crittenden amend- 
 
 ment. I will vote, of course, for the proposi- 
 tion which I had the honor to submit to the 
 House a few days ago ; and, failing in this, 
 I will support in good faith the measures re- 
 ported by the gentleman Irom Ohio [Mr. 
 Corwin] from the committee of thirty-three. 
 I will support any one of these, preferring of 
 course my own. And should each, and all 
 of these measures fail; should all other pend- 
 ing propositions be voted down, I will not 
 then abandon the Union of these States, and 
 the untold blessings it lavishes upon the 
 votaries of civil liberty throughout the world, 
 trailing in each and all of these measures, I 
 will return home, and link my destinies with 
 those who are ready to confront disunion. 
 If needs be, I will meet it with a torch in 
 one hand and a sword in the other, and so 
 help me God, so long as the stars and stripes 
 wave o'er niy State, or any part of it, I will 
 never bovy the knee to the storm of Disunion. 
 [Great applause in the gallaries.] 
 
 Mr. Speaker: Let us look impartially for 
 a moment, at some of (he leading political 
 events of the past. They will justify the 
 assertion that, from the time the Constitution 
 was ordained, down to this hour, no act has 
 been passed by Congress, in regard to sla- 
 very anywhere, in the Slates or Territories, 
 which was not dictated or controlled^by the 
 statesmen of the South, demanded by the 
 public opinion of the South, or which has 
 not received the sanction and approval of 
 the leading statesmen of that section of 
 country. The whole policy of the Federal 
 Government in regard to the government of 
 the Territories, and the slavery question in 
 all its bearings, is ju>.t such as Mr. Lincoln, 
 will be compelled by the Constitution and 
 his oath uf office, to enforce. More sir: It 
 is the policy, which has been initiated and 
 carried into effect by the Democratic or 
 dominent party of the South. It has been 
 forced upon the country by them, and has, 
 heretofore, met their cordial approval. If I 
 had time, I could demonslrate this by proof. 
 And just here Mr. Speaker, — as I will not 
 be able to say all I wish to say, within the 
 hour allowed by the rules of the House, un- 
 less by unanimous consent, — I will pledge 
 myself, if the House will grant me an exten- 
 sion of time, not to trouble it again, with 
 any extended remarks, during the remaining 
 few days' of the session. Intending to im- 
 pose upon myself a voluntary retirement 
 from public life, at the close of the present 
 Congress, I hope I may have the j)ermission 
 of the House, to be unrestricted as to time. 
 (Cries of "go on," "we will extend your 
 time.") 
 
 Mr. Speaker: When the Declaration of 
 Independence was proclaimed ; when the 
 Constitution was ratified, our Western boun- 
 dary was the Mississippi river. From that 
 
10 
 
 day to this, at the instance of Southern 
 statesmen, the area of this country has been 
 vastly enlarged. At the period of Independ- 
 ence, slavery may be said (o ha*ve existed, 
 in all the States and Territories. Before 
 this time, slavery had been sanctioned by 
 law, throughout the British possessions of 
 North America, and, of course, it remained 
 after the war of the Revolution. Since that 
 period, as I have already said, Southern pol- 
 icy has controlled the question of territorial 
 aggrandizement. Whatever territory the 
 men of the South have asked Congress to 
 acquire, the same has been acquired ; what- 
 ever policy her representatives have advoca- 
 ted, vi'hether financial or commercial, has 
 generally prevailed; and in all these protract- 
 ed struggles, growing out of the slavery 
 question, the just and Reasonable demands 
 and guarantees, required by us, have been 
 given. Perhaps, ia some cases, men of ex- 
 treme views have not been gratified, but 
 every protracted struggle has vesaltcd, in 
 "what has been regarded as Southern tri- 
 umphs, or acquiesced in as fair legislative 
 enactments. And this has occurred when the 
 Northern States had a large representative 
 majority. These facts should certainly be 
 considered .by those who are told that the 
 Federal Government is a curse, and dis- 
 union a blessing. 
 
 The purchase of the Louisiana territory — a 
 slave-holding country — was made at the in- 
 stance of the people of the South. Three 
 slave and two free States have already been 
 formed within its limits. Its area was great. 
 It now has vast resources, and in a few brief 
 years it will have the v/ealth and population 
 of a mighty empire. Fifty years hence it 
 will be more powerful in all that constitutes 
 a State than was France when Napoleon, 
 flushed with victory, first looked upon the 
 *' sun of Au^terlilz.-' It was acquired, I re- 
 peat, by the negotiations of a southern Presi- 
 dent — Northern Representatives generou:-ly 
 voting with those of the South to advise the 
 treaty and to contrii)ute the purchase money. 
 Subsequently — in 1819 — we purchased Flo- 
 rida, ia which slavery then and now exists. 
 I men'tion Florida with somewhat of sorrow, 
 I will not say with shame. But a few years 
 ago lhestate.>men of this country were clam- 
 orous that Florida should be purchased by 
 the Federal Government. For what pur- 
 pose? Because, said they: tliat peninsula 
 belongs to a Foreign Power. It is part and 
 parcel of this continent ; it is geographically 
 a part of the United States; it commands 
 lheentran.ee to the Gulf of Mexico, and its 
 hostile eye frowns upon our increasing com- 
 merce — It mmt be ours. And, sir, it wts- 
 purchased — purchased at a cost of five mil- 
 lions of dollars. We have expended nearly 
 fifty millions in subduing and removing t!ie 
 
 savages. Millions more have been expended 
 in erecting beacons and fortifications along . 
 her reefs, to protect the commerce of the 
 whole country. Yet, after all these large ; 
 expenditures, Florida, with but little over 
 half the number of the voting population of ; 
 the district I represent, sece^fe — goes out of 
 the Union — carrying with her, not only 
 our public lands, but the forts, arsenals^ . 
 and fortifications which were placed 
 there by this Government for the bene- 
 fit of the whole Union. And worse still: 
 she breaks the unity of our Government, and 
 destroys the prestige which has attended her • 
 glorious career. I can better pardon South 
 Carolina, for she was one of the glorious 
 " Old Thirteen ; ' but little B'lorida — v/hich 
 to-day has barely population sufficient to 
 protect herself from the alligators within her 
 borders — isv^olly without apology. Florida, 
 like Louisiana, T»ras purchased by the aid of 
 northern Representatives, and paid for by 
 the money of ail our people; yet, without a 
 single grievance, she is to destroy the Unioa 
 of the States, to which she owes her very 
 existence. 
 
 Gentlemen will pardon me if I speak 
 plainly, for I feel that I plead the cause of 
 my whole country. Indeed, I would deserve 
 to forleit the good opinion of the people who 
 sent me here, were 1 to attempt to avoid the 
 responsibilities of the hour. They will be 
 best met by dealing wilh them in a frank 
 and candid spirit. 
 
 I begin next with the acquisition of Texas, 
 another slaveholdiiig region. We admitted 
 her into the then happy family of States and 
 welcomed her people to our embrace whea 
 they sought the protection of our national 
 flag. And this reminds us of her early 
 trials and recalls the vicissitudes of her hero 
 chieftain. I allude of course to General 
 Houston, whose old age is now devoted to 
 the preservation of the Federal Union, 
 His life, though protracted through two 
 generations, has been historic at every 
 step : but its sublimest hour is now. His- 
 tory tells of reluctant exiles, who returned 
 to their native land, with the avenging 
 torch and sword, but history furnishes but 
 one Houston. His exile was voluntary. He 
 abandoned fame and honors, when tendered 
 by his State; he returned tottering with the 
 weight of years, and the load of empire he 
 laid down at your feet. In his exile Ue still 
 loved the flag of his native land. Distance 
 and banishment had impressed hiia with a 
 truer sense of its protecting power, and he 
 clings tf it still. The taunt of " submis- 
 sionist"and 'hoary-headed traitor" have not, 
 I trust it never will, cause him to abandoQ 
 it to its foes. 
 
 The annexatioH of Texas led, finally, to 
 a war with Mexico — a war against which, 
 
11 
 
 as you know, many of the people of the 
 North protested. This is abundantly proved 
 by reference to the political history of that 
 day. The people of the South, generally, 
 demanded that this should be the occasion 
 of annexing a large part of Mexico, and it 
 was done. The ratification of the treaty of 
 Guadalupe Hidalgo, extended your area to 
 the Pacific ocean. Thus had the old thir- 
 teen Slates expanded, until now we stretch 
 from the torrid zone of the South to the 
 frozen regions of the Norlii, while on the 
 East and West we are met by the returning 
 waves of the two great oceans of the world. 
 This is the country whick party madness 
 would suspend upon the passions of the 
 hour. Behold it, with all its vast resources, 
 its rivers and lakes, its mountains, and min- 
 eral wealth. Though in its infancy, it is 
 greater in all the elements of enduring 
 power, and more advanced in a high civili- 
 zation, ihan was the Roman empire, when 
 her Imperial eagles were hovering around 
 the pillar of Hercules. The hand of dis- 
 union 'tmi^t be stayed. Our country must not 
 j>emA, while its monuments are yet unfinished 
 and the soldiers of the Revolution survive. 
 
 Again : In 1793 the Soutii demanded the 
 passage of a law by Congress for the return 
 of fugitive slaves. It was promptly passed. 
 In 1850 you complained of its inefficiency 
 and demanded a more stringent one — it was 
 granted — it has been faithfully enforced by 
 the Federal Government. Even disunion- 
 ists admit this to be so. What more? In 
 1820, a majority of Representatives from 
 the Southern States, voted for the Missouri 
 Compromise. In the Senate, among South- 
 ern Senators, the vote was ten to one in its 
 favor. So unmistakably satisfactory was it 
 at the time, that Mr. Pinckney, of South 
 Carolina — then soeminent and distinguished 
 — declared that it was regarded as "a great 
 Southern triumph." The public! men of 
 the South, who secured the adoption of that 
 compromise, were, until recently, proclaimed 
 "public benefactors." 
 
 In 1854]thetiame men, who are now clam- 
 orous for disunion, demanded the repeal of 
 that compromise, and it was accomplished 
 by the aid of Northern votes. You repeal- 
 ed it, — time honored as it was — and inaugu- 
 rated the new doctrine of Popular Sove- 
 reignty, or non-interference on the part of 
 Cong;ress, which doctrine is in iull force to- 
 day, in all the organized Territories. That 
 principle was embodied in laws, enacted by 
 the Representatives from the South, and 
 which, repeatedly since 1S59, has been rati- 
 fied at the polls; and the whole D;'mocraiic 
 party of the country have solemnly pledged 
 themselves, to stand by it, as a final settle- 
 meni. The Kansas-Nebraska bill was the 
 pet measure of those who now compose the 
 
 main army of the seceders — demanded by 
 the Democratic party of the South, and un- 
 fortunately for the country, yielded by iheir 
 allies at the North. 
 
 True, in 1850 you demanded that the Mis- 
 souri compromise line, with addilional guar- 
 antees, should be extended to the Pacific 
 ocean, and I frankly confess, it was refused 
 by the North ; but you secured the compro- 
 mise measures of 1850 which most of the 
 public men of the South, declared were bet- 
 ter '' in substance and principle," than the 
 measures which had been refused. These 
 compromise measures of 1850, were ratified 
 with singular unaniraiiv by all those. North 
 and Soulh, who in 1852 voted for Mr. Pierce 
 and General Scott for the Presidency. In- 
 deed the two great political parties of that 
 day pledged themselves to abide by these 
 measures, as an honorable and fair adjust- 
 ment of the whole subject of slavery in the 
 Territories. And all these measures are yet 
 untouched, and in full force to-day. I ask 
 agnin, then, what principle or policy — what 
 public measure — havethe peopleof the Soutli 
 ever urged upon the Federal Government, 
 wiiich has been denied? I answer none. 
 It is true that the politicians, during the last 
 year,demanded that the FederalGovernment, 
 which as a rule, has never legislated for or 
 against slavery — which is neither pro-slavery 
 nor anti-slavery, which has abolished slavery 
 in soma Territories, and protected it in 
 other'' — should reverse its former policy, and 
 that slavery should be protected by Congress 
 upon every square inch of the organized 
 Territories of the United States, without 
 any regard whatever to the will of the peo- 
 ple of the Territories, although they might 
 have abolished it by legislative enactment. 
 This demand, which no reasonable man 
 could have expected to be yielded, was re- 
 jected by a majority of millions. The issue 
 was made in the last Presidential election, 
 in the most pointed manner. The result was 
 precisely what its advocates and opponents 
 alike desired and expected. In that contest 
 nearly two millions of men voted for Mr. 
 Lincoln; nearly two millions for Mr. Douglas, 
 and about three quarters of a million for Mr. 
 Bell. AH those who adhered to Lincoln and 
 Douglas, and a large majority of those who 
 sustained Mr. Bell, declared against it — 
 against demanding this impossibility of the 
 Fedoral Congress. Breckenridge only re- 
 ceived about eight hundred thousand votes, 
 being in a popular minority, even in the 
 slave States; so that the advocates of con- 
 uressional legislation, to protect slavery in 
 "the free Territories — including all those who 
 voted for Breckinridge — were in a minority 
 of more than three millions. And this worth- 
 less abstraction — so impossible to obtain in 
 or out of the Union — is the only demand 
 
12 
 
 which has bfon made by any respectable 
 portion of the people of the South, which 
 Congress has denied. I am not alone in the 
 belief that this plank was inserted in their 
 platform by the original seceders at Balti- 
 more, for no other or higher purpose than to 
 strengthen the cause of disunion in the 
 South. In proof of this I will say : the Fed- 
 eral Government has been in operation near- 
 ly eighty years, and up to this hour — so far 
 as I know — no southern member of Congress 
 has so much as introduced a bill to provide 
 for the protection of slavery in the free Ter- 
 ritories of the United States. Yet southern 
 politicians now propose to dissolve the Union, 
 because a majority of three millions of voters 
 have decided that non-intervention by Con- 
 gress, shall be its policy in regard to slavery 
 m our original Territories, in preference to 
 the new dogma of congressionlil protection. 
 To the doctrine of non-intervention a large 
 jx)rtion of the Republican parly are willing 
 to subscribe. But were they not willing to 
 do so — it is well known that, if the members 
 from the seceding States were to remain at 
 their posts, no proposition could pass Con- 
 gress, during Mr. Lincoln's administration 
 for the abolition of slavery in the Territories, 
 the District of Columbia, or in any place 
 within the jurisdiction of Congress. Not- 
 withstanding they have seceded, it cannot 
 be done now. I undertake to say that the 
 wisest men of the Republican party, do not 
 desire to attempt any such thing. 
 
 It is worthy of observation, i\Ir. Speaker, 
 that every argument of a disunionist may 
 be successfully met and refuted bv the com- 
 plaints of another. I will submit one ex- 
 ample, which is a fair specimen of all the 
 rest : It is said by one that he desires to 
 overthrow the Government fur the purpose 
 of expanding slavery; that there will be, 
 •JvithiB the next fifty years, twenty or thirty 
 millions of slaves in the southern States, 
 and that self-preservation requires us to an- 
 ticipate this, and to secure area for the spread 
 of the negro population, which will then be 
 crowded into the slave region. To this an- 
 other replies : that the South now has suf- 
 ficient territory; many more square miles 
 than the free Slates, and lie desires disunion 
 to re-open the African slave trade, to piocure 
 additional labor for the vast, unsettled regions 
 we now have. His motio is " More Negroes 
 from Africa." The truth is, the South needs 
 no forced or sudden expansion. What is the 
 Ir^e reason tiiat you do not form and people 
 slave States as rapidly as free States? It is 
 not from want of territory, as you know. It 
 proceeds from caused vvhich no human power 
 can avoid or control. Not only soil and cli- 
 mate, but population, are against you. To 
 keep pace with the rapid strides of the free 
 States you must first repeal that law of na- 
 
 ture, which is older than Lincoln and 
 stronger than the Republican platform; Be 
 fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth. 
 [Laughter.] You have not the population 
 now, nor have you — as the North has — a 
 heavy immigration I'rom Europe. For years 
 you have given that immigration your en- 
 couragement, and it now pours in unbroken 
 current upon your tempting public domain. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I shall attempt no apology 
 for that portion of the Rppublican platform 
 which declares it to be the right and duty of 
 Congress to prohibit slavery in the Territo- 
 ries. I do not hesitate here, as I have done 
 elsewhere, to pronounce this feature of their 
 party creed to be wrong, if for no other 
 reason, because the extension or restriction 
 of slavery, as they well know, depends now 
 on causes which are more controlling than 
 any mere act of Congress. It has proved a 
 most unwise and unnecessary feature in their 
 political creed. It was inserted, I apprehend, 
 for a reason similar to tiial which has caused 
 a certain dominant party in the South, for 
 years past, to make the negro issue para- 
 mount to allothers — to caiTy aneleciion. And 
 at last our southern friends have found, to 
 their sorrow, that this Sambo game is one 
 that two can play at. I hope, as they 
 have lost the stakes, they will resort to no 
 other means than the ballot-box to regain 
 their party power. I implore you to avoid 
 the dire alternative of disunion ; trust to 
 that reaction in public opinion which is sure 
 to come in every case where wrong or error 
 exist, and reason is left free to combat it. 
 And it is because I have faith in the sober 
 second-thought of the people eyeryw/here, 
 that 1 propose to appeal from this Congress 
 10 them. If, sir, you have grievances, are 
 you disposed to break up the Government 
 rather than ask the people of the free States 
 — your bi'ethren and kindred — to consider 
 them? No; let us adjourn this unhappy 
 quarrel to the people — the real people — to 
 whom this Government belongs. 'Tis but 
 eighteen months until this whoit dispute will 
 be transferred by the Constitution to the 
 whole people of the United States ; but I 
 implore you to transfer it to them now, and 
 I apprehend those who persist in refusing so 
 reasonable a demand, will be consigned to 
 retirement and obscurity. I am not afraid 
 to trust the people, and 1 shall be content to 
 abide by their deliberate decision upon all 
 these questions, when made. 
 
 I ask again, '\Vhy destroy our country, be- 
 C'uisc this Congress may fail to agree upon 
 speciSc legislative measures or constitutional 
 iiraendmcnts, which have bscu before the coun- 
 try but a few weeks, and upon which the peo- 
 ple of the States, North and Sout!), have had 
 no means of passing a finaJ judgment. I pro- 
 test against it. 
 
13 
 
 When, sir, and undiir what circumstances, 
 was this House of Representatives chosen ? 
 Tiie members from the Free States were nearly 
 all elected in 1858. They were elected amid 
 the excitement and indignation which per- 
 vaded all classes of people in the Free States, 
 because the power and patronage of the Ad- 
 ministration had been invoked — not to coerce 
 a State, not to expel a State from the Union, 
 but to coerce a Territory into the Union with 
 a Constitution that its people abhoiTed. In 
 that indignant uprising of the people, when 
 party lines were eradicated, men who were 
 most violent and extreme in their vie;vs were 
 chosen by the people. They were elected, as 
 I have said, without regard to the specific 
 measures now before us. Other members 
 from the Free States w'ere elected at that time, 
 with a special reference to the alleged extrava- 
 gances, frauds, and corruptions of the present 
 administration and its advisers. And how was 
 it in the last Presidential election ? Mr. Lin- 
 coln, it is well known, was not elected .solely 
 because of his sympathy and connection with 
 the Republican party. All the odds and 
 ends — all the opposition which Mr. Buchanan's 
 unfortunate administraUon had aroused, was 
 invoked t<5 the support of the Republican can- 
 didate, to prevent the election of Mr. Douglas, 
 who was regarded as the most formidable rival. 
 For Mr. Lincoln, it is known, every element 
 of opposition to the ruling powers was most 
 earnestly and successfully invoked. The Dem- 
 ocratic party, it was known, had great re- 
 sources. Its leaders were artful and inuus-- 
 trious, ready to resort to every stratagem for 
 success. The idea generally prevailed that 
 they knew how to keep open the ballot-box 
 until they got votes enough. (Laughter.) 
 These things were known or believed by every 
 one, and throughout the Free States, with rare 
 exceptions,all who felt that the overthrow of the 
 present Democratic parly was demandtd by the 
 interests of the counti-y voted for Mr. Lincoln, 
 There is another reason why disunionists 
 should have no apologists or defenders. Were 
 Mr. Lincoln the monster they affect to re- 
 gard bim, it is well known — and to none 
 better than themselves — that during his whole 
 administration the Senate would hiive been 
 politically opposed to him. The next House 
 of Representatives, if the seceding States are 
 represented, will be also largely opposed to 
 the Republican party, while, the Supreme 
 Court, — heretofore claimed as the sheet-anchor 
 of those who are now disunionists — is com- 
 posed almost entirely of the political opponents 
 of Mr. Lincoln. With these ficts before us, 
 wo behold the seceders running away from 
 dangers which they have the power to .avert, 
 and cannot therefore truly fear. In connnon 
 parUinco they have "spiked thtir cannon, 
 buvnci their gun-carraiges, and retired f®r 
 safety," to Fort Disunion, (Laughter.) 
 
 Fnere are gentlemen on the Republican sid« 
 of the House who refuse to agree to whai I 
 regard as a reasonable proposition for comi- 
 promise or adjustment, because — as they say — 
 it will not correspond with their former politi- 
 cal records. Political consistency is desirable 
 only when it accords with wisdom. There 
 should be no hesitation between apparent per- 
 sonal consistency, and the preservation of the 
 country. Great emergencies often demand a 
 seeming sacrifice, and should that sacrifice be 
 demanded now, I trust we shall all be found 
 ready to offer it upon the altar of our country. 
 I appeal, then, first to you ;,and should you, as 
 Representatives, fail to meet the just expecta- 
 tions of reasonable men, I will appeal from yon 
 to the people — to those who are still your 
 masters. 
 
 The people of the South, who have most 
 at stake, will be found to counsel prudence 
 I and moderation. Wise men, conscious of 
 I that power which is inspired by being in 
 i the right, will not embrace the precipitation 
 j and madness of the times. Whatever they 
 [ may desire our northern brethern to do, they 
 i will make known in a firm yet respectful and 
 ; fraternal way. Whatever your politicains 
 may do, I doubt not the poople of the North 
 [ will meet us, if time is given, and moderation 
 prevails, in a reciprocal spirit. Interchange 
 of opinion will lead, no doubt, to the best re- 
 sults, and we will yet preserve in all its glory 
 that country still so dear for its blessings. 
 
 Mr. VALLANDIGHAM. ( interrupting ) 
 I want to ask the gentleman from Tennessee 
 I a question which may control my vote uipori 
 the pending propositions, and I trust he vvvH 
 ' give me a candid answer. 
 i Mr. ETHERIDGE. I will. 
 j Mr. VALLANDIGHAM. If his statement 
 I of the case between the slaveholding and the 
 j non-slaveholding States of the Union be true, 
 j ought the people of the free States to hum€- 
 j iate themselves by proposing any constitu- 
 I tional amendment, or any additional Icgisk- 
 I tion ? 
 
 I Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, so per- 
 sistent have been the misrepresentations of 
 , the leading men in all sections of Ijie Union — 
 t " misapprenhension " is perhaps abetter terra 
 — so persistent have been these misrepresen- 
 tations, made even at the Noitb, and under 
 which our people are laboring, in regard to 
 I what the Republican policy is to be, that many 
 of the people of the South seem s'most willing 
 — pardon the expression — " to b l:eve a lie that 
 they may be damned." (Laughter.) Now. sir, 
 I will give the gentleman a specimen. 
 
 Mr. VALLANDIGHAM. Ought re peo- 
 ple of the free States to do anything i consist- 
 ent with their self-respect? 
 
 Mr. ETHERIDGE. I will not ask them to 
 do anything W'hich stlf-respcct forbids. But 
 it is known that a portion of th? people of iixa 
 
14 
 
 South are like a tempest — I will not call them 
 mad, others have called them insane — I do 
 not inquire why they are so; they ought 
 not to be so ; but wo are advised, ia some part 
 of Holy Writ, that it is sometimes best t > an- 
 swer even a fool "according to his folly," And 
 if these people are excite* to so fearful an ex- 
 tent, and if they are thus misled, is it not 
 proper for the Republicans, for the Democrats, 
 for all the people of the North, to say that 
 Ihey will not do that which we all know they 
 do not propose to do f 
 
 I will read from a paper edited by a gentle- 
 man now spoken of for the oflSce of Clerk of 
 the House of Representatives for the great 
 Southern Confederacy, which disunion pro- 
 poses to form. Pending an election for dele- 
 gates in one of the seceding States, he perpe- 
 trated, among other things, the following: 
 
 " Truth will Save the Umon.— ' The plan of Lincoln 
 and his advisers is to turn the negroes of the South loose, 
 and compel the poor people of the Souih to intermarry 
 with them. AVith this hybrid population, they (the Yan- 
 kees) expect to raise cotton (or their kioms — in tact to 
 reap the harvest of the South. But the white people of the 
 ^uih. however poor, are oppo:!ed to amnlgamatinK with 
 negTo«8 — they leave that 10 the white f)et>ple of Ma«sachu- 
 setl?. Wi are of the opinion, that the aiteinpt to force 
 'amalgamation on the non-slaveholders of the South, will 
 be the most difficult job Mr. Lincoin ever undertook. He 
 imay give his own daughters, or his neighbors', to btick 
 aegroes, but the sentiment is different here.' " 
 
 Why, sir, is it not a matter of history that 
 R Barnwell Rhett stood in the streets of Chrles- 
 ion a few weeks ago announcing to the enraged 
 multitude that the people of the North h&d elec- 
 ,ted a mulatto forVice-President, AndMr.Mem- 
 minger, too, wtnt into the interior — to Green- 
 "ville, 1 think it was — and announced there, to 
 the denizens of the piney hills, to gentlemen, to 
 lawyers, to doctors, to loafers, to shortboys, to 
 every body that stood around, that Hannibal 
 Hamlin w.os a mulatto, and that the people of 
 'the North had elected an Alolitioaut for 
 i*resident, and a mulatto for Vice-President. 
 Now every body knows that what you or I 
 may say upon that subject will never reach 
 •the ears of that misguided people. 
 
 Mr. VALLANDIGHAM. 1 desire simply 
 io inquire whether there is anything in the 
 Crittenden propositions, or in thpse known as 
 the propositions of the border State committee, 
 ©r in the report of the Committe of Thirty- 
 three, tending to remove this singular " delu- 
 sion " which the gentleman says esists in the 
 jnind,-- of the southern people ? 
 
 Mr ETHERIDGE. I will answer that ques- 
 tidri fiankly. There is: I tell the gentleman 
 from Ohio, the true Union men of the South 
 are standing to-day, struggling with all their 
 power to preserve the Government ; fighting, 
 !)• they believe, for the cause of religion, hu- 
 
 .nity, civilization, and progress; and all these 
 tuings are involved in the peace of the country. 
 And that peace may depend upon the adop- 
 tion of these propositions. They are surround- 
 ed by a tempestuous despotism— everywhere 
 <3oafironiing a panic which is made to feed it- 
 
 self. It is all devouring. Why, sir, it is Wei 
 known to every gentleman who reads tho 
 newspapers, that wherevtr this disunion Sen- 
 timent predominates, ic is simply, a rei^n of 
 terror. 
 
 Go to the cities of South Carolina, and what 
 do you see? Men frantic and in arms. Go to 
 Charleston, to Tallahassee, to Montgomery, to 
 Jackson — to any place where those conven- 
 tions were assembled, and you see the railitary 
 in full control of everything. These conven- 
 tions deliberated three or four hours only over 
 the fate of an Empire. Every thing that 
 might have invoked cajraness or deliberation 
 had disappeared, and martial music and war- 
 like demonstrations attested the fallacy of a 
 peaceful disruption of the States. 
 
 Mr. LEAKE. Will the gentleman allow ma 
 to ask him a question. 
 
 Mr. ETHERIDGE. Certainly. 
 
 Mr. LEA KE. I merely wi.sh to know wheth- 
 er the gentleman is speaking on the side of the 
 North, or the South ? 
 
 Mr. ETHERIDGE. I am speaking on a 
 side that has few representatives upon this 
 Qoor. I am speaking on the side of my country. 
 (Great applause in the galleries.) 
 
 Why, sir, a.s I was proceeding to say, what 
 is the state of affairs now in all the villages 
 and cities of the Gulf States? Sir, bold men, 
 educated men, ambitious men, men of chiv- 
 alry and daring, are heading the military forces. 
 Men, women, and children are excited, just as 
 the pomp and circumstance of war will ex- 
 cite evei-ybody. Thousands believe honestly 
 that Lincoln and his cohorts are coming dowp 
 to apply the torch and the knife to tho dwell- 
 ings and the people of the South. 
 
 [Here the hammer fell.} 
 
 Mr. LOVEJOY obtaine<I the floor. 
 
 Mr. ETHERIDGE. I supposed I had tha 
 unanimous consent of the House to proceed. 
 
 The SPEAKER pro tern., (Mr. Dawes in 
 the Chair.) The gentleman can proceed if 
 there be no objection. 
 
 Mr. WINSLOW. I object, 
 
 Mr. MORRIS, of Ilh'nois. The House has 
 already given its consent. 
 
 Mr. MAYNARD. I understood that tho 
 consent of all sides of the House was obtained 
 that ray colleague should be allowed to pro- 
 ceed beyond his hour. 
 
 Mr. ETHERIDGE. No objection was made. 
 
 Mr. WINSLOW. I object. 
 
 Mr. HARRIS, of Maryland I rise to a 
 point of order. I addressed the Chair first 
 when the hammer fell upon the gentleman 
 from Tennes.see, and I am entitled to the floor. 
 I have no objeojtion to the gentleman proceed- 
 ing, if that be the wish of the House, but I 
 desire to have the floor if I am entitled to it. 
 
 The SPEAKER pro tern. The Chair has 
 assigned the floor to the gentleman from Illi- 
 
15 
 
 Mr. MAYNARD. My colleagvie applied to 
 the House durisg his rotnarks, and made cer- 
 tain pledges upon which he obtained the unani- 
 mous consent of the House to proceed witli 
 his remarks. There was not a dissenting 
 voice. He afterwards gave way to the gentle- 
 man from Ohio under the pledge which was 
 then made. 
 
 Mr. WINSLOW. The gentleman did not 
 ask unanimous consent. 
 
 Mr. ETHERIDGE. I ask, then, only the 
 few minutes I think I am entitled to, and 
 which I lost when I yielded to the gentleman 
 from Ohio. 
 
 The SPEAKER pro Um. Is objection 
 made? 
 
 Mr. WINSLOW. It is better to stop this 
 thing in the beginning, and unless the hour 
 rule is suspended generally, I must object. 
 
 Mr. HARRIS, of Maryland. I rise to a 
 point of order. It is that the instant the 
 hammer of the Speaker fell I addressed the 
 Chair, and was entitled to be recognized. 
 
 The SPEAKER pro tern. The Chair un- 
 derstands the rule to be that when more than 
 one gentleman rises at the same time, it is the 
 province of the Chair to assign the floor. The 
 Chair observing several members rising at the 
 same moment, assigned the floor to the gen- 
 tleman from Illinois. 
 
 Mr. HARRIS, of Maryland- I imj«t Eubiuit 
 to the decision of the Chair. 
 
 Mr. WINSLOW. In order to accommodate 
 the gentleman from Tennessee, I propose, that 
 by unanimous consent, the hour rule bo abol- 
 ished during this discussion. 
 
 Mr. COX. I object. 
 
 Mr. ETHERIDGE. I now iiwi>t upon 
 the few minutes which I lost by interruptions. 
 [Cries of " go on," " go on."] 
 
 The SPEAKER j9ro tem. Is objection made? 
 
 Mr. CRAIGE, of North Carolina. I object 
 
 Mr. MORRIS, of Illinois. I rise to a point 
 of order. It is this : that by una»imous con- 
 sent of the House, permission was given to the 
 gentleman from Tennessee to conclude his re- 
 marks upon an intimation that he would not 
 occupy the floor at any other time during this 
 session. When he made that proposition there 
 was not a solitary objection to it in the House, 
 and hence objection now conies too late. 
 
 The SPEAKER pro Orm. The Chair does 
 not understand that any such assent was 
 yielded by the House. 
 
 Mr. ETOERIDGE. I will relieve the House. 
 I ask that I may occupy the remainder of my 
 hour, and then I will resume my seat. 
 
 Mr. CRAIGE, of North Carolina. I have 
 objected to it time and again. 
 
 The SiPEAKER pro tern. The gentleman 
 can proceed only by unanimous oonstnt. 
 
 Mr. GROW. I would inquire if the time 
 occupied in interruptions has been deducted 
 from the gentleman's hour? 
 
 The SPEAKER pro tem. Nothing was 
 stated by the Chair one way or the other. 
 
 Mr. GROW. The gentleman from Tennes- 
 see declined to yield for interruptions unless 
 they were to be deducted from his time. 
 
 Mr. CRAIGE, of North Carolina. Nothing 
 was said about the extension of his time at all. 
 
 Mr. GROW. The gentleman yielded the 
 floor with the understanding that tiie time 
 occupied by the interruptions should be de- 
 ducted from his hour. 
 
 Mr. VALLANDIGHAM. When I request- 
 ed the gentleman from Tennessee to yield for 
 a question, his answer was, •♦ I will yield, pro- 
 vided it does not come out of my time." 
 
 Mr. GROW. And nobody objected to that 
 agreement. 
 
 Mr. VALLANDIGHAM. I think that 
 whff.tever time was occupied in the dialogue 
 betwe-*;n him and myself ought to be allowed 
 him. 
 
 The SPEAKER ^o Um. The Chair heard 
 no such statement, but will allow the gentle- 
 man frotD Tennessee to proceed for five min- 
 utes. 
 
 Mr. ETHERIDGE, I will not, ar^er what 
 has just occurred, detain the House but a mo- 
 ment, I will conclude by saying that I shall 
 vote for the proposition of the venerable Sen- 
 ator from Kentucky, [Mr. Crittendks;] I 
 shall, as I have before said, vote for the pro- 
 position subraitted by myself, and if these fail, 
 I shall sustain the measures reported by the 
 gentl.man from Ohio, [Mr. Cobwln.] Sir, I 
 will vote for anything which will relieve the 
 public ntind from the painful apprehensions 
 under which it now labors. If anything of 
 this kind c^n pass this Congress— and f do 
 not despair — it will do my heart good to know 
 that the tide of revolution has been thereby 
 stayed. But, as I have already stated, if 
 nothing is finally done, I will go home to my 
 people; I will throw myself in '" the imminent 
 deadly breach," and resist the storm of dis- 
 union to the last; and, sir, if the worst must 
 come to the worst — if I am to be dragged to 
 the fearful precipice and made the reluctant 
 victim or the unwilling observer of my coun- 
 try's ruh), I now in advance wash my hands 
 of the shame and the crime which will attach 
 to those who would overthrow the public lib- 
 erty to erect a despotism upon its ruins. Sir, 
 where the flag of my country floats, there I 
 will go. I will cling to it in this dark hour of 
 its ptril with that sacred trust and confidence 
 a saint must feel in clinging to bis God. 
 [Great applause in the gallerie?.] 
 
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