JANUARY, 1838.]

Mr. Calhoun's Resolutions.

parent truisms. They ought also to be useful, and put forth for some useful public purpose.

But, sir, the leading reason urged for disposing of the whole abolition matter is, that the agitation of the topic disturbs the public harmony and endangers the Union. I am quite disposed to respect all such fears and apprehensions, when urged with seriousness; to listen to public sentiment, and to yield much to public judgment; and, I am happy to perceive that the thought now and then flashes across the minds of gentlemen, that there are two ends to this Union, both of which should fall under the protection and paternal regard of this Government. We are the representatives of the whole, and our affections and watchfulness should be commensurate with the whole. The resolutions before us propose no measures for the general harmony, but to give certain interpretations to the constitution favorable to the slave interest. This is to avoid the dissolution of the Union. I cannot see how the end is to be reached by the means.

I wish to ask, sir, what your recollections are in regard to the history of public policy. You have probably for the last thirty years been a witness and participator in what has occurred here, and your memory can go much beyond that. You know what has been the public feeling on the subject of the integrity of the Union, and what kind of a reputation those have acquired who have been suspected only of agitating this alarming topic. How stands the Hartford Convention in public estimation? How other conventions and assemblies of men of more recent date, who were supposed to meditate unfriendly feelings to the Union? All hostility to the Union has at all times been viewed by the great body of the people with the most profound sorrow and regret.

The Abolitionists can have no motive to dissolve the Union. They have never been charged with such an object, to my knowledge. Their acts may create alarm and discontent, which may tend to that. There may be selfish men among them, for the ambitious always mould the moving elements, when they can, to aid their own selfish purposes. It would not be singular if such were found among them, but their number cannot be great. But how is the Abolitionist to be profited, if his wishes are all realized? If all the slaves on the globe were made free, how will it mend his condition? In no way whatever. He can gain nothing by the change. But they repudiate, and very properly, all right to interfere with the States, and confine themselves to the Territories and the District of Columbia.

The worst, then, which can be said of them, is, that they are deluded, misguided philanthropists, fanatics-heated with an unbecoming zeal. I do not mean to touch the question of the expediency of their course in asking for immediate abolition in the District. That I will meet whenever the Senate will open it by receiving their petitions, but not until

[25TH CONG. then; for the right of petition is the higher right, and must first be vindicated. I shail however, at all times go for the Union, and the whole Union; and against the Abolitionists if they propose to interfere with constitutional rights or guarantees.

Mr. CALHOUN said he had, he believed, been in a standing minority from the time the subject of abolition was first agitated in this body till the introduction of these resolutions; and, although he had steadily objected to the reception of any abolition petitions, so far from taking a lead in laying them on the table, as the Senator stated, he had not, in a single instance, made such a motion. He was, on the contrary, wholly opposed to the course. He had never doubted the folly of the position, that we were bound to receive petitions, but might lay them immediately on the table, without consideration or discussion. In the original debate, he told the Senator from Pennsylvania, (Mr. BUCHANAN,) who took a lead in favor of that course, that it was utterly indefensible, and that the reasons he (Mr. B.) assigned to prove that we were bound to receive, would be equally cogent to show that we were bound to refer, report on, discuss, and decide on them. He also told him what would be the consequences of his false position, all of which have already been realized. The Senator from Kentucky has already taken the precise ground which he foretold would be taken. Nor is the Senator less mistaken in supposing that he has been opposed to the discussion of the subject. He has, it is true, been utterly and unalterably opposed to any discussion with the abolitionists. They have no right to come here, and he was and is for shutting the door in their face; but he never shunned discussion when the subject came fairly up, nor would he, so long as the Senator's constituents and others continue to agitate the subject; in proof of which, he referred the Senator to the course he adopted in relation to the President's Message, some years since, on the circulation of incendiary publications through the mail. So far from avoiding discussion, he raised a special committee on that portion of the Message, made a full report adverse to the President's views, accompanied by a bill, which gave rise to much discussion. So now, acting on the same principle, he had presented the resolutions as the antagonists of the Vermont resolutions.

But this is not the only instance of the misstatement of his course by the Senator. Assuming, erroneously, as he had shown, that his position had been that Congress has no right to agitate or discuss this subject, however presented, he accuses him (Mr. C.) of challenging debate on the present occasion, and says that he (Mr. DAVIS) would have remained silent had it not been for his challenge. It is true he had stated that the political creed of the Senator, and those who thought with him, in reference to the origin and structure of our Government, so far from affording any constitutional

2D SESS.]

Mr. Calhoun's Resolutions.

[JANUARY, 1838.

Mr. NILES felt that the resolutions before the Senate had placed himself and some others in a delicate situation; he was, and ever had been, decidedly opposed to the agitation of this subject in Congress, in any form; he was opposed to its discussion here, believing that it would tend to increase the evil which it was designed to remove. But it has been brought before us, and we are compelled to act upon it. He had a few remarks to offer upon the reso

protection against the assaults of the Abolitionists, had roused their fanatical spirit into action; and he had called on the party generally who entertained it, to show, if he was in a mistake as to the effect of their creed, what protection it afforded. If the Senator has construed this into a challenge to discuss these resolutions, he must say he has most signally failed to meet it. He has not even attempted to show that the view which he and his party take of the constitution, can afford the least protection against the dan-lutions. They are here, whether properly or not, gers which now so seriously menace the country and we are called on to decide upon them; and and its institutions. His silence he had a right when we arrive at that point, they ought to to consider as conclusive proof of the truth of stand or fall upon their own merits. They are his assertion, and the Senator ought not to be objected to on several grounds: first, as being surprised if, after this tacit confession, he should mere abstractions, having no practical bearing; turn to those who entertained the opposite con- and if by this is meant that they are, if adopted, stitutional views, and call on them exclusively to have no operation on the rights of any one, to rally to the rescue at this hour of danger. this objection is correct. But he would not The Senator was so conscious of his weakness add to what he had said on that point. They on this point, that instead of attempting to are also objected to on the ground of their point out a remedy, when his political theory | having a double aspect-one political, the other afforded none, he took the opposite course, to having reference to the abolition question. deny that there was any danger to be repelled. Some gentlemen think that they are altogether He told us, gravely, that the Abolitionists were unsound and dangerous, as the affirmation of a no Disunionists; that they had no ambitious political creed. They think they discover a objects; no corrupt purpose; that they repu- lurking treason in them, or a squinting towards diated all interference with the States; that nullification. Remove the veil, says the Senathey only aimed to abolish slavery in the Terri-tor from Massachusetts, and you discover that tories and in this District, where there were not more than 2,000 slaves; and that they claimed no right, but to beg you to grant them the innocent and harmless boon they craved, (of cutting our throats and burning our houses,) and that these beggars were but a handful, of whom a large portion were females. Such is the picture which he gives of this small band of innocents, and the harmless motives that actuate them; and this, in the face of the constant, uniform, and open avowal, that their object is the total abolition of slavery in the States, as well as in this District and the Territories, and that they consider the abolition in the latter but as the first step to abolition in the former.

As brief as has been his notice of the Senator's apology for the Abolitionists, (for such he must consider his speech,) it is much longer than he would have made it, had it not been for the respect which he has had for his talents and character. He cannot consider the course he has pursued in his speech as indicative of his actual feelings and fairness, and is compelled to regard it as indicative of the distempered state of the public sentiment of those he represented. Thus viewed, it affords an important lesson to those he represented. Throughout, not a censure of the Abolitionists is whispered. All is excuse, defence, apology. It is we, not they, who are the agitators; it is we, not they, who are the disturbers of the peace and quiet of the country; it is we, not they, who are the assailants; it is we, not they, who harbor ambitions and improper designs; and, finally, it is we, not they, who meditate disunion. It is no crime to attack us, but a heinous offence in us to defend ourselves.

little thing called nullification.

These objections had no great force on his mind. So far as the resolutions embraced political principles, he had no difficulty; he believed them to be sound and just. They contained a brief exposition of the true theory of our Government; there was nothing new in them; their doctrines were those of the old Republican school of '98, which he regarded as the true interpretation of the constitution; the doctrines of State rights, which were the true principles of union and liberty. They had stood the test of public opinion and of public scrutiny, in every way and form, for nearly half a century, and he thought it rather too late to call them in question now. If, in the infancy of the Confederacy, these principles were deemed just, and the only bulwark against consolidation, the experience of the last forty years has added immeasurable weight to the conviction by which they were then sustained. This Government has exhibited a steady tendency towards consolidation; and this tendency, whilst it is constantly impairing the rights of the States, is the source of greatest danger to the Union. But it is said that the political features of these resolutions, whether right or wrong, are irrelevant, and have nothing to do with their avowed object. He thought very differently. Petitions are before the Senate, asking us to abolish slavery in this District, and to prohibit the slave-trade between the States. We present these resolutions as an answer to these requests. We hold up the mirror of the constitution, that the petitioners and all others may see the objections and difficulties existing in the very theory and nature of the

JANUARY, 1838.]

Mr. Calhoun's Resolutions.

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[25TH CONG. public opinion. This is its only abiding foundation; the rock on which it rests, or upon which it must founder. As long as that remains sound, we have nothing to fear, and hence we discover the danger from the movements and apparent designs of the abolitionists. Are not all their efforts directly calculated to poison public sentiment? Are they not calculated to alienate the opinions and feelings of the people of one section of the Union from those of another? If their schemes are persisted in, is there not reason to fear that feelings will be engendered in both ends of the Union, hostile to each other and the Union itself? Does any one suppose that this Confederacy of States can be preserved with public sentiment hostile to it; with feelings unfriendly and hostile between the people of the two extremities? Does any one suppose it can be maintained when the time arrives (but he hoped it would never arrive) when the entire population of one section of the country, comprising nearly pressed with the solemn conviction that the Union, instead of adding to their security, is the fruitful source of danger to their domestic institutions, their property, their peace, and their lives? He must know little of the nature of this Government, and little of human nature, who can entertain such an opinion. Sir, the strength of this Union is in the hearts and affections of the people; in a settled, abiding conviction, that it is a source of security, a benefit, a blessing, to all parties to it.

Government-that they may see that some of the objects prayed for are directly in conflict with the constitution, and that others have a direct and necessary tendency to disturb the Union. The designs of these agitators are not confined to this District; we have evidence that they are not; they are praying for the prohibition of the trade in slaves; they are already directly interfering with this matter within the States. These unfortunate men, who, I fear, are to be the disturbers of their country's peace, view this subject in a religious rather than a political or civil aspect. They regard slavery as a moral evil; as a sin in the sight of God, which they are in conscience bound to set their faces against and attempt to extirpate. Does not this show that they consider themselves in some sense responsible for what they regard as a crime, which must proceed from the consideration that we are one people, one community, for local as well as general purposes? These men mostly belong to the clergy, who, with many honorable ex-half the States, become fully and deeply imceptions, are, of all men, the most liable to fall into error on this subject. Their course of reading, reflections, associations, and duties, all tend to lead them into error in regard to the nature of our Government and political and social rights. If they do not entertain erroneous views on this subject, why do they confine their efforts to slavery in the United States? Is there no slavery elsewhere? Why do they not give their attention to Cuba and the islands lying along upon our coasts? Does not slavery exist there? and is it not known to be much more cruel, severe, and oppressive? Who has ever heard of the exertions of abolitionists to abolish slavery in the Island of Cuba? Depend upon it, sir, these fanatics act under an impression that they are in some respect responsible for the existence of slavery in the United States, because they are citizens of the same country and belong to the same general community. These resolutions present this subject in its true light; they hold up the States as separate and independent communities, except for a few general purposes; as much separate and distinct in all their concerns and institutions purely local, as though the Union did not exist; as much separate and distinct as these States are from Canada, or Cuba, or Mexico. A citizen of Vermont has no more right to interfere with the subject of slavery in South Carolina, than a citizen of Canada. Is there not reason to believe that there is much delusion on this subject?

But what is the real source of danger? We are told that no force can be brought against the Union or the South. This is true, sir; the danger is not from force. What is the strength of this Government, and of this Union? Is it force? Is it backed and sustained by your army and navy; your militia, or other military establishments? Far from it: that is not the design of those national institutions. The strength of this Union, of this Government, is

Sir, (said Mr. N.,) I will not undertake to predict what will be the issue of this struggle at the North. For a time, very possibly, the side of error may prevail. It was a subject peculiarly calculated to take hold of the feelings and prejudices of large classes of the people; it was a subject calculated to delude and mislead. But if the abolition party should prevail, and abolition principles triumph, we shall have then reached the third stage of the evil; the contest will then be brought here, and between the different States of this Union. Then are to follow reproaches, criminations and recriminations, and real or supposed aggressions offered and repelled; agitation, alarm and confusion may prevail, and the noble fabric of the Government appear to be falling to pieces. This will be the final crisis, which may fill the country with calamities, but the Union will not be dissolved. When the waters of bitterness have spread over the land-when the people have drank deep from the cup of affliction-when they have seen and tasted enough of the bitter fruits of fanaticism, folly, rashness, and passion-the good sense and reason of the people will return, the delusion will subside, and the dark clouds which have lowered over our horizon will gradually disappear, until the sun breaking through them shines once more on our favored land. Sir, the Union will not be dissolved, although it may be put to a severe trial. He felt a strong conviction, an abiding