..*- 4
. .
44
% Dtmwratit 30urna, iOte t0 ilje South an Svutjern tRigyts, t ie, atet flews, Citeratutre, %*hraliti, ~Euperance, agiulUnr &
"We wil. clnU to the Pillars of the Temple. of .Libertes, and If It must fall -"
SUMEMlI DURISOE & CO., Proprietors. MARCH~1L1) 17 1858VL.4lh-O *
SPRER OF RON. J. R. HAMOND,
OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
In the Senate of the United States, Thursday,
March 4, 1858, the bill for the admission of
Kansas into the Union being under consid
eration.
Mr. HAMMOND addressed the Senate as fol
lows:
Mr. President, in the debate which occurred
here in the early part of the last month, I un
derstood the Senate from Illinois [Mr. Douglas]
to say that the question of the reception of the
Lecompton constitution was narrowed down to
a single point. That point was, whether that
constitution embodied the will of the people of
Kansas. Am I correct ?
Mr. DoUGLAS. The Senator is correct, with
this qualification: I could waive the irregulari
ty and agree to the receptionof Kans into the
Union under the Lecompton constitution, pro
vided I was satisfied that it was the act and
deed of that people, and embodied their will.
There are other objections; but the others I
could overcome, if this point were disposed of.
Mr. HAMMoND. I so understood the Senator.
I understood that if he could be satisfied that
this constitution embodied the will of people of
Kanss, all other defects and irregularities could
be cured by the act of Congress, and that he
himself would be willing to permit such an act
to be passed.
Now, sir, the only question with him is, how
is that will to be ascertained? and upon that
point, and that only, it is probable we shall
differ. I think the Senator fell into a funda
mental error in his report dissenting from the
reportof the majority of the territorial commit
tee, in saying that the convention which framed
this constitution was a creature of the Territo
rial Legislature; and from that error has pro
bably arisen all his subsequent errors on this
subject. How can it be possible that the con
vention should be the creature of a Territorial
Legislature ? The convention was an assembly
of the people in their highest sovereign capaci
ty, about to perform their highest possible act
of sovereignty. The Territorial Legislature is
a mere provisional government; a petty corpo
ration, appointed and paid by the Congress of
the-United States, without a particle of sover
eign power; and yet, shall that interfere with
a sovereignty-inchoate, but still asovereignty?
Why, sir, Congress cannot interfere; Congress
cannot confer on the Territorial Legislature the
power to interfere. Congress is not sovereign.
Congress has sovereign powers, but no sover
eignty. Congress has no power to act outside
of the limitations of the Constitution; no right
to carry into effect the supreme will of any
people if it has not been expressed in their con
stitution; and, therefore, Congress is not sov
ereign.
Nor does Congress hold the sovereignty of
Kansas. . The sovereignty of Kansas resider
it resides anywhere, with the -sovereign St.
of this Union. They have conferred upou C
gress, among other powers, the authorit;.
administering such sovereignty to their s:
to make needful rules and regulations reg
ing'the Territories; and they have given t
gresspower to-admit a State. Under'these
sovereign powers, Cangress may first estal
a provisional territorial government morel,
municipal purposes; and when a State;
grown into sovereignty, when that sovereif
which has been kept in obeyance demands.re
cognition, whena community is formed there,
a social compact created, a sovereignty born as
it were upon the soil, then Congress is gilted
with the power to acknowledge that sovereign
ty; and the Legislature, only by mere usage,
oftentimes neglected, assists at the birth ot it
by passing a precedent resolution'assembling a
convention.
But, sir, when that convention assembles to
form a constitution, it assembles in the highest
known capacity of a people, and has no superior
in this Government but a State sovereignty ; or
rather the State sovereignties of all the States
alone can do anything with the act of that con
vention. Then, if that conventi-m was lawful,
if there is no objection to the conveintion itself,
there can be no objection to the action of the
convention ; and there is no power on earth
that has a right to inquire whether the conven
tio represented the will of the people of Kan
sas or not. I do not doubt that there might be
some cases of such gross and palpable frauds
committed in the formation of a convention, as
might authorize Congress to investigate themi,
but I can scarcely conceive of any; and I do
not think that Congress .has any other power,
when a State knocks at the door for admission,
but to inquire if her constitution is republican.
If what I have said be correct, then the will
of the people of Kansas is to be found in the
action of har constitutional convention, and it
is not safe to look for it anywhere else. It is
immaterial whether it is the will of a majority
of the people of Kansas now, or not. The con
vention was, or ought to have been, elected by
a majority of the people of Kansas. A conven
tion, elected irn April, may well frame a consti
tution that would not be agreeable to a majori
ty of the people of a new State, rapidly filling
up, in the succeeding January; and if Legisla
tures are to be allowed to put to a vote the acts
of a convention, and have them beaten down
by a subsequent influx of emigrants, there is
no finality. If you were to send back the Le
pomliton Constitution, and another was to be
framed, in the slow way in which we do p~ulic
business here, before it would reaclh Congress,
in anothor year, perhaps the majcority would
be turned the other way.
Sir, whenever you go outside of the regular
forms of laiw and constitutions to seek for the
will of the people, you are wandering in a wil
derness-a wilderness of thorns. If this was a ni
nority conistituitionl I do not know thmat that would
be an objection to it. Constitutions are made
for minorities. Perhaps minorities ought to
have the right to make constitutions, for they
are administered by majorities. The Constitu
tion of this Union was made by a minority, and
as late as 1840, a minority had it in their hands,
and could have altered or abolished it ; for in
1840, six out of the twrenty-six States of the
Union held the numerical majority.
The Senator from Illinois has, uppn his view
of the Lecomuptonl Constitution and the present
situation of athliirs in Kansas, raised the cry of
pplar sovereignty. The Senator from New
York [Mr. Seward] yesterday made hiimself
faceti.ms~ about it, anmd called it "squatter sov
ereignty." There is a popular sovereignty
which is the basis of our Government, and I
am unwilling that the Senattor should have thme
benefit of uniting squatter soveruignty wit~h
popular sovereignty. Sir, in all countries and
in all time, it is well understood that the nu
merical majority of the people could,- if they
chose, exercise the sovereignty of the country ;
but for want of intelligence, and for want of
leaders, they have never -yet been able success
fully to combine and form a popular govern
ment. They have often attempted it, but it
has always turned out, instead of a p~opular
sovereignty, a populous sovereignty ; and deina
gogues, placing themselves upop the movement,
have invariably led them in mnilitary despo
I think that the popular sovereignty which
the Senator from Illinois would derive from the
acts of his Territorial Legislature, and fronm the
information received from partisans and partisan I
presses, would lead us directly into populous (
sovereignty, and not popular sovereignty. The t
first organization of popular sovereignty on a t
proper basis, took place in this country. The t
first gun of the Revolution was a salute to a t
new organization of popular sovereignty that i
was embodied in the Veclaration of Indepen- f
dence, developed, elab ted, and inaugurated i
forever in the Constton of the United States; t
and the true pillars o it were representation I
and the ballot-boi--'4 legland constitutional I
ballot-box ordained byhe jkople. In the divi- I
sion of power, in distri~uting the sovereign
powers among the various departments of-the a
Government, the people retained for themselves v
the single power of the ballot-box ; and a great r
power it was. Through that power they were t
able to control all the departments of the Gov- r
ernment. It was not for the people to be ex- v
errising political power in detail ; it was not for a
them to be annoyed with the cares of govern- 1
ment; but, from time to time, through the bal- t
lot-box, to exert their power to control the v
whole organization, and sovereignty remained s
with them. This is popular sovereignty, the n
popular sovereignty of a legal, constitutional s
ballot-box ; and when spoken through that box, p
the voice of the people, for all political pur poses, t
is the voice of God; but when it is outside of p
that, it is the voice of a demon, the tocsin of r
the reign of terror. t
Permit moe to say, that in passing, I omitted a
to answer a question that the Senator from Illi- fi
nois has, I believe, repeatedly asked; and that V
is, what were the legal powers of the Territo- a
rial Legislature after the formation and adoption o
of the Lecompton Constitution? That had f(
nothing to do with the Territorial Legislature. ti
They moved in totally different spheres. The b
Territorial Legislature was a provisional govern- i
ment, almost without power, appointed and paid o
by this Government. The Lecompton Consti- rd
tution was the act of a people, and the sover- [
eign act of a people. They moved in different
spheres and on different planes, and could not ti
come in contact at all without usurpation on I1
the one part or the other. It was not compe- iy
tent for the Lecompton Constitution to overturn it
the Territorial government and set up a govern- p
ment in place of it, because that Constitution, N
until acknowledged by Congress, was nothing; ri
it wis not in being. It could well order the g,
pe4-ople of Kansas to pass upon it; it could do al
whatever was necessary to perfect that consti- k
tution, but, nothing beyond that, until Congress s(
had agreed to accept it. In the mean time the A
territorial government, a government ad interim, t<
was entitled to exercise all the sway over the tl
Territory that it ever had been entitled to. The li
error of assuming, as the Senator did, that the g
convention was the creature of the territorial sZ
government, has led him into the difficulty and d
confusion of uniting and disuniting these two +1
Ai e inls* tI
tory of Kanhas is a disgusting one from the be- w
giuning to thend. I have avoided reading it a
as much as I could. Had I been a Senator be- a
fore, I should have felt it my duty, perhaps, to T
have done so; but not expecting to be one, I al
aMili ignorant, lortunatejy, in a great measure, oi
of detail; and I was glad to hear the acknowl- a
edgment of the Senator from Illinois, Aince it of
excuses me from the duty of examining it. tl
I hear, on the other side of the Chamber, a b
great deal said ab1out gigantic and stupendous 81
frauds; and the Senator from New York, yes- I
terday, in portraying the character of his party 1
and the opposite one, laid the whole of those ti
frauds upon the pro-slavery party. To listen to t"
him, you would have supposed that the regi.. t
mnents of emigrants recruited in the purlieus of g;
the great cities of the North, and sent out, armaed t
and equipped with Sharpe's rifles, and bowie t(
knives and revolvers, toconquer freedom for Kan. P
sas, stood by, meek saints, innocent as doves, and tI
humble as lambs brought up to the sacrifice. t~
Think of them: General Lane's lambs! They ii
remind one of Col. Kirke's lambs, to whom theye
have a family resemblance. I presume that
there were frauds; and that if there were"
frauds, they were equally great on all sides; P
and that any investigation into themn onsthis a
floor, or by a comnmission, would end in noth. ai
U
ing but inflicting almost uniendurable disgrace i
on the United States.
But, sir, the true object of the discussion on aa
the other side of the Chamber, is to agitate the et
-question of alavery. 1 have very great doubts tI
whether the leaders on the other side of the ha
House really wish to defeat this bill. I think og
they would consider it a vastly greater victory
to crush out the Democratic party in the North, la
and destroy the authors of the Kransas-Nebraska am
bill; and I am not sure that- they have not tI
brought about this imbroglio for the very pur- sl
pose. How strange is it that they tell us that, ta
year after year, the majority in Kansas is bea a
ten at the polls ! They have always had a ma- is
jority, but they always get beaten !lIowv could in
that be ? it does seem, froni the nlost reliable t
sources of informatorg, tlist themy have a ma- a
jority, and have had a majority for some time. he
Why has not this majority come forward and s,
taken possession of the government, and made 0]
a free State constitution, and brought it here ? sI
We should all have voted for its ;adnilgsion hj
cheerfully. There can be but one reason: if s
they had brought, as was generally supposed at ei
the time 'the Kansas-Nebraska act was passed
would be the case, a free State constitution
here, there would have been no difficulty among
the Northern Democrats; they would have ~
been sustained by their people. The statementt
made by some of them, as I understood, that Y
that act was a good free State act, would have
been verified, and the Northern Democratic
party would have been sustained ; but its comi
mug here a slave State. it is said, will kill that0
party, and that is the'reason they havo refrain
ed from goinig to the polls; that is the reason
they have retrained from making it a free State !
when they had the power. T'hey intend to
make it a free State as soon as they have effect- !
ed their purpose of destroying the Democratic
party at the North, and their true reason here d
is to agitate slavery. For one, I aim not dis
posed to discuss that question here in any ab- t
stract forum I think the time has gone by for b
that. Our minds are all made up. 1 am wil
ling to discus~s it-and that is time way it should*
be and must be discussed-.as a practical thing,
as a thing that is, and is to be ; and to discuss '
its efl'ect uon our political institutions, and tot
ascertain how long those political institutions
will hold together under its effects. n
The Senator from New York entered very re
fairly into this field yesterday. I was surpris
ed, the other day, when he so openly said the el
battle had been fought and won. Although I -
knew, aiid had long known it to be true, I was e
surprised to hear him say so. I thought that vi
he had been entrapped into a hasty expression g
by the sharp rebukes of the Senator from New a
-lampshire; and I was glad to learn that-yester
lay he had come out and shown that it is a ma-*
ured project of his; that these words mean all ,
hat I thought they meant; that they mean:
hat the South is a conquered povince, and 4
hat the North intends to rule it. He said that I
t was their intention to take this Government i
rom unjust and unfaithful hands, and place it i
a just and faithful hands; that it was their in- I
ention to consecrate all the Territories of the
nion to free labor; and that, to effect their
urpqses, they intended to reconstruct the Su
reme Court.
Yesterday, the Senator said, "Suppose we
dmit Kansas with the Lecompton constitution:
rhat guarantees are there that Congress will
ot again interfere with the affairs of Kansas?"
ieaning, I suppose, that if she abolished slave
y, what guarantee there was that Congress i
rould not force it upon her again. Sir, so far I
s we of the South are concerned, you have, at I
Mst, the guarantee of gaod faith that never has I
een violated. But what guarantee have we, 1
rhen you have this Government in your pos- 1
3ssion, in all its departments, even if we sub
iit quietly to what the Senator exhorts us to I
abmit to-the concentration of slavery in its I
resent territory, and even to the reconstrue- t
ion of the Supreme Court-that you will not c
lunder us with tariffs; that you will not bank
upt us with internal improvements and boun- %
es on fish; that you will not restrain us with t
avigation laws, and other laws impeding the
Lcilities of transportation to Southern produce ? I
Vhat guarantee have we that you will not cre- 1
te a new bank, and concentrate all the finances t
f this country at the North, where already, I
ir the want of direct trade and a proper sys
m of banking in the South, they are ruinous- i
concentrated? Nay, sir, what guarantee I
ave we that you will not emancipate our slaves, r
r, at least, nake the attempt? We cannot c
fly on your faith when you have the power. s
Ihas been always broken whenever pledged. U
Now, sir, as I am disposed to see this ques- L
on settled as soon as possible, and am perfect- t
, willing to have a final and conclusive settle- a
ient now, instantly, and after what the Senator s
om1 New York has said, I think it not unim- ii
>rtant that I should attempt to bring the F
orth and South face to face, and see what il
tsources each of us might have in the contin- L
mncy of separate organizations. If we never
:quire another foot of territory for the South,
ok at her. Eight hundred and fifty thousand ,
ittare miles; as large as Great Britain, France,
ustria, Prusia, and Spain. Is not that terri- Il
,ry enough to make ai empire that shall rule
ie world ? With the finest soil, the most de
zhtful climate, whose productions none of those
-cat countries can produce, we have three thou- e
ad miles of continental shore-line, and so in- i
nted with bays and crowded with islands, a
mt. when their shore lines are allbl wn wh-,
ke acknowledged seat of the empire of the
orld. The sway of that valley will be as great
ever the Nile knew in the earlier ages of 9
ankind. We own the most of that valley.
he most valuable part of it belongs to us; aid
though those who have settled above us are
>w opposed to us, another generation will tell
different tale. They are ours by all the laws P
nature; slave labor will go over every foot of U
is great valley where it will be found profita- U
e to use it, and those who do not use it are
on to be united with us by such ties as will
ake us one and insoparable. The iron horse
ill soon be clattering over the sunny plains of c
e South to bear the products of its upper
ibutaries to our Atlantic ports, as it now clat
h
rs over the ice-bound North. There is the
-c Mississippi, a boud of' union made by na
re's law. She will forever viiidicate her right C
the Union. On this fine territory we have a
>pulation four times as large as that with which 0
ese colonies separated from the mother coun- b
y, and a hundred, I might say a thousand,
Id as strong. Our population is now sixty per
nt. greater than that of the whole United
ates when we entered into the second wvar of
dependence. It is as large as the whole
>pulation of the United States was ten years e
ir the conclusion of that war, and our exports
-e three times as great as those of the whole
nied States then. Upon our muster-rolls we
ive a million of men. In a defensive war, upon f
iemergency, every one of them would be
ailable. At any time, the South can raise, ~
uip, and maintain in the field, a larger army.
ian any Power of the earth can send against J
r, and an army of soldiers-men brought up
ihorseback, with guns in their hands. U
If we take the North, even when the two
rge States of Kansas and Minnesota shall beU
maitted, her territory will be one hundred
"
Lousand square miles short of ours. 1 do not.
ak of' California and Oregon ; there is no an
gonism between the South and those countries, c
id never will be. The population Qf the~ ?orthl
fifty per cent. greater titan ours. I have noth- a
g d say in disparagernent either of tho soil of s
C North or the people of the North,, who are 1
brave, intelligent, energetic race, full of intel- ej
t, but they produce no great staple that the t
uth does not produce ; while we produce two JI
-three, and those are the very greatest, that el
e can never produce. As to her men, however ti
gh they miay be, they have never proved them- te
ves to be superior to those of the South, e
ther in the field or in the senate. ti
But, sir, the strength of a nation depends in a
-eat measure upon its wealth, and the wealth P
-a nation, like that of a man, is to be estima- '
d by its surplus production. You may go to
ur trashy census books, all of which is perfect
nsense, and they wvill tell you that in the a
mate of Tennessee the whole number of house a
riants is not equal to one half those in miy V
vn house, and such things as that. You mayt
certain what is made throughout the country t
m these census books, but it is no matter how 'J
uch is made if it is all consumed. If a man
worth millions of dollars and consumes his b
come, is he rich? Is lie competent to embark
any new enterprise ? Can he build up ships di
railroads ? And could a people in that con- li
tion build ships and roads or go to war ? All o
e enterprises of peace and war depend upon ii
me surplus p~roductions of a people. They may y
happy, they may he comfortable, they may a
ijoy themselves in consuming what they make ; a
at ther are not rich, they are not strong. It si
ems, 'hy going to the reports of the Secre- y
ry of the Treasuryywhich are authentic, that t
at year the United States exported in rounde
unbers $279,000,000 worth of domestic pro
ace, excluding gold and foreign merchandize .ta
-exported. Of this amount $158,000,000 e
'orth is the clear produce of the South ; arti- i
es that are not and cannot be made at the a
orth. Hero are also $80,000,000 worth of a
iports of products of the forest, animal pro-t
sions, and breadstuffs. If we assume that thee
outh made but one third of these, and I think
ia sa low calculation, our exports are $185,- i
)00,000, leaving to north less than 695,
)01000.
In addition to thisw-je sent to the' North
;30,000.000 worth ofcotton, which is not
xounted in the exports. We sent to her $8,
)00,000 worth of tobaceg, which is not counted
n the'exports. We seat naval stores, lumber,
ice, and many other nor articles. There is
io doubt that we sent the North $40,000,000
n addition; but s tpoithe amount to be$35,
)00,000, and it will giyedus a surplus production
>f $220,000,000. The recorded exports cf the
south now are reater .han-the whole exports
>f thoUnited tates i'an year before 1856.
rhey are greater t;m e whble egge ex
orts of the United Sttes for the last twelve
rears including the two extraordinary years of
856 and 1857. They . nearly double the
mount of the avem '-"exports of the twelve
>receding years. If -im right in my calcula
ions as to $220,000,000 of surplus produce,
here is not a nation'-nithe face of the earth,
ith any numerous popijation, th# can compete
ith us in produce peqGaptL: It amounts to
;16.66 per he suppo g that we have twelve
aillion people. Engla., with all her accumu
ated wealth, with herjoncentrated and intel
ectualized energy, makes.under sixteen dollars
If surplus production .i head. .
I have not made a ca lationas to the North,
rith her $95,000,000 'urplus; but, admitting
hat she exporte as m as we do, with her
ighteen millions of 'IAtion, it would be but
ittle'over twelve dollars Lhead at the outside.
he cannot export to d abroad exceeding
en dollars a head agai our sixteen dollars. I
:now well enough that e. North sends to the
uth a vast amount f he productions of her
adustry. I'take .it bgrianted that she, at
east, pays us in that waj forthe thirty or forty
uillion dollars worth otc-tton and other arti
les we send her. I- a*4,wlling to admit. that
lie pays us considerabl re; but to bring her
1p to our amount of us production, to bring
er up to $220,000 0 f surplus production,
lie South must take -' m-her $125,000,000;
nd this, in addition to ur share of the con
uiption of the $330, 000 worth introduced
ito the country from road and paid for in
art by our own export The thing is absurb;
is impossible; it can ever appear anywhere
ut on a census statistic k;
With an export of* ,000,000 under the
resent tariff, the Sou torganized separately
ruld have about- ,000 of revenue.
Vith ope fourth the ^ t.tariff she would
ave a revenue adequa all her wants, for
he South would never to war; she would
ever need an army or aay, beyond a few
arrisons on the fronti ad a few revenue
utters. It is commi , at breeds war. It
in anufactures that reo 'o be hawked about
ver the world, that. . -ise in nnvias nnl
on mak e war on cotton? Without lii'ing a
uj, without drawing a sword, when they make
-ar on us we can bring the whole world to our
et. The South is perfectly competent to go
iu, one, two, or three years, without planting a
%ed of cotton. I believe that if she was to
ant but half her cotton, it would be an iu
iense advantage to her. I am not so sure but
it after three yeairs' cessation she would come
lit stronger than ever she was before, and bet
.r prepared to enter afresh upoi her great ca
,er of enterprise. What would happen if no
itton was furnished for three years? I will
ot stop to depict what every one can imagine,
ut this is certain: Old England would topple
edlonig and carry the whole civilized world
ith her. No, sir, you dare not make war on
tton. No power on earth dares make war
pon it. Cotton is King. Until lately the Bank
tEngland was king, but she tried to put her
:rews as usual, the fall before last, upon the,
ytton crop, and was utterly vanquiishe~d. The
t power has been conquered. Who can doubt
that has looked at recent events? Wheni the
buse of credit had destroyed credit and anni
ilated confidence, when thousands of the strong
t commercial houses in the world were -comning
own, and hundreds of millions of dollars of
ipposed property evaporating in thin air, when
ou came to a dead lock, and revolutions were
reatened, what brought you up? Fortunately
r you it was the commencement of the cotton
~ason, and we have poured in upon you one
iillion six hundred thousand bales of cotton
1st at the crisis to' save you from sinking.
'hat cottoui, but for the bursting of your spec
latie bubbles in the North, which produced
e whole of this convulsion, would have brought
s $100,000,000. We have sold it for $65,000,
D, and saved you. Thirty-five million dollnrs
e, the slave-holders of the South, have put
ito the charity box~ of yoiwr magniticent fluan
ers, yrour catton lords, your umorohaut princes.
But, sir, the greatest strength of the South
rises from .the harmony of her political and
eial institutions. This harmony gives her a
ame of society the best in the world, and an
itent of political freedom, combined with ea
r'security, such as no other people ever en
yed upon the face of the earth. Society pre
des government; creates it, and ought to con
oh it; but as far awe can look back inl1.is
yric times, we find the case different; for gov
ement is no sooner created ~than it becomes
)o strong for society, and shapes and moulds,
a well as controls it. In later, centuries the
rogress of civiliz.ation and of intelligence has
inde the divergence so great as to produce civil
rars and revolutions; and it is nothing now
ut the want of harmony between governments
nd societies which occasions all the uneasiness
ud trouble and terror that we see ab'road. It
as this that brought on the American Revolu
on. We threw off a Government not adapted
>our social system, and made one for ourselves.
'he question is, how far have we succeeded'?
'he South, so far as that is concerned, is satis
ed, harmonious, and prosperous.
In all social systems there must be a class to
o the menial duties, to perform the drudgery of'
fe. That is, a class reguiring but a low order
I intelligence and but little skill. Its requis
es are vigor, docility, fidelity. Such a class
ou must have or you would not have that
ther class which leads progress, irefinement,'
nd civilization. It constitutes the very mud
i of society and of psolitical government ; and
ou might as well attenipt to build a house in
he air, as to build either the one or the other,
xcept on this mud-sill. Fortunately for the
outh, she found a race adapted to that purpose
her hand. A race inferior to her own, but
minently qualified in temnper, in vigor, in docii
ty, ini capacity to stand the climate, to answer
1 her purposes. We use themfor our purpose,
nd call them slaves. Weare old fashioned at
he South yet; it is a word discarded now by
rs polite; butlI will not characterize that class
t the North with that term; but you have it;
is there; it is everywhere; it is eternal.
The Senator from New York said yesterday
that the whole world had abolished slavery.
Aye, the name, but not the thing; and all the
powers of the earth cannot abolish it. God only
can do it when he repeali the flat, " the poor
ye always have with you;" for the man who
lives by daily labor, and scarcely lives at that,
and who has to put out his labor in the market
and take the best he can get for it; in short,
your whole class of manual laborers and opera
tives, as you call them, are slaves. The differ
ence between us is, that our slaves are hired for
life and well compensated ; there is no starva
tion, no begging, no want of employmentamong
our people, and not too much employment either.
Yours are hired by the day, not cared for, and
scantily compensated, which may be proved in
the most deplorable manner, at any hour, in any
street in any of your large towns. Why, sir,
you meet more beggars in one day, in any single
street of the city of New York, than you would
meet in a lifetime in the whole South. Our
slaves are black, of another, inferior race. The
staias in which we have placed them is an ele
vation. They are elevated from the condition
in which God first created them, by being made
our slaves. None of that race on the whole
face of the globe can be compared with the
slaves of the South, and they know it. They
are happy, content, unaspiring, and utterly in
capable, from intellectual degradation, ever to
give us any trouble by their aspirations.
. Your slaves are white, of your own race; you
are brothers of one blood. They are your
pquals in natural endowment of intellect, and
they fiel galled by their degradation. Our
slaves do not vote. We give them no political
power. Yours do vote, and being the majority,
they are the depositaries of all your political
power. If they knew the tremendous secret,
that the ballot-box is strongei than an army
with bayonets, and could combine, where would
you be? Your society would be reconstructed,
your government recunistructed, your property
divided, not as they have mistakenly attempted
to initiate such proceedings by meeting in parks,
with arms in their hands, but by the quiet pro
cess of the ballot-box. You have been making
war upon us to our very hearth-stones. How
would you like for us to send lecturers or agi
tators North, to teach these people this. to aid
and assist in combining, and to lead them?
Mr. W z.soN and others. Send then along.
Mr. ILa.xiioNi). You say, send them North.
There is no need of that. They are coming
here. They are thundering at our doors for
homesteads of onc hundred and sixty acres of
land for nothing, and Southern Senators are
supporting it. Nay, they are assembling, as I
have said, with arms in their hands, and de
manding work at $1,000 a year and six hours a
day, Have you heard that the ghost of Men
doza is stalkine in) thm streets of -our bie cities:
U.. oue uunur-u ann nity nzon aouiars ot
our money passes annually through your hands.
Much of it sticks; all of it assists to keep yo'r
machinery together and in motion. Suppose we
were to discharge you; suppose we we.-o to take
our business out of your hands; we should con
sign you to anarchy and poverty.
You complain of the rule of the South; that
has been another cause that has preserved you.
We have kept the Govermnent conservative to
the great purpose of the Govermnent. We
have placed her and kept her upon the Consti
tution, and that has been the cau.,e of your peace
and prosperity. The Senator from New York
Mays that that is about to be at an end; that
you intend to take the (overnnent from us;
that it will pass f-rm our hands. Perhaps what
ie says is true; it may be ; but do not forget
it cani never be fogotten; it is written on the
brightest page of human history-that we, the
slaveholde3r5 of the South, took our country m
her infaoncy; and, after ruling her lhr sixty out
f the seventy yea.-s of her exietence, we shall
surrender her to yin without a stain upon her
honor, boundless in prosperity, incalculable in
hier strength, the wonder and admiration of the
orld. Time will show what you will make of
her ; but no time cani ever diminish our glory
r your responsibility.
AN\W YORK LETTER.
Nmew Yong, March 1st 1858.
Before I " go downi to the sea in ships,'' may
[ not again conmmnune with the gallant old Ad
ertisr / Such communion is to mec, in the
midst of strange scones and faces, like a familiar
ht with an old and loved friend. A stray num
ber reached me a few days since, of which I left
not even an advertisemenat unscanned, and from
wichi I learned that all with you goes well. So
may it ever be I
To-day in old Edgefield is the first of the
Spring Session, and all will be business and bus
tle, the old "square"' will be as thronged as
Broadway-but how different the throng. All
there will be of one heart and mind, South Caro
linians and Christians; no freedom-shriekers nor
sentimental nigger worshippers; no free-lover,
o spiritualist, no Mormon, no garoter. Charles
Lamb never lived in New York ; if he had, he
would never have sung "the sweet security of
streets I' 'Tis appalling to contemplate the
poisonous doctrines, in all sorts of hideous shapes,
whih are dissemminmated and prevail through
ut the North, and especially in New York City.
And this is to be found principally among the
rabid anti-slavery factions ; free-love and its ait
tendant abominations extend pari pos with
abolition fanaticism, and it may be safely as
serted that where we find an inveterate hater of
negro slavery, we find something still worse.
But better things must now be looked for, all
New York being under the influence of a relig
ious revival. A religious revival in New York
is certainly an exception to the general truth,
" nothing new under the sun I," In the City there
are twelve daily public prayer-meetings, attended,
it is estimated, by ten or twelve thousand souls;
and the Lenten services in the Episcopal and
Roman Catholic Churches arc crowded as never
before. I see these meetings and hear and read
a grat deal thereof, but as yet the good seems
bidden in such a large field of tares, it is diill
cult to discern the goodly wheat heads. A de
scription of a down-town prayer meeting might
lead me into unbecoming levity, therefore I for
ear. Sufic it to say, that these meetings do
not exceed an hour in length, and one sees such
notices as this posted upon the walls, " prayers,
exhortations, experiences and confessions not to
consume mere than five minutes, that all may
have a chance to speak," and hears such re.
quests from the leader as this, " the prayers of
the congregation are desired for a withered
branch of the tree of life." Five minutes for a
confession I they must acknowledge their sins, to
use a piney woods phrase, " in the lump."
For ten days back people and papers seem to
be suddenly quiet concerning " bleeling Kan.
sas " and the Lecompton Constitution, and I
think Old Buck is no longer in danger of a five
hundred-parson-power " remonstrance." The de
fection of Walker from his hostile position to
wards the Lecompton Constitution, seems also to
have stopped the mouths of a certain mongrel
democratic clique. There has been a prodigious
attempt to get up a grand anti-Lecompton and
anti-Administration row like Forney's in Phila
delphia. This demonstration was advertised
with a flourish of trumpets to come off at the
elegant and spacious Academy of Music, but the
prjet maafgique turned up a magnificent fail.
ure, and the leaders, Historian Bancroft and Ex
Secretary Stanton, came ont at the little end of
the liorn. When tl6 crowd assembled, on one
of the colilest nights conceivable, before the
Academy, they found the doors closed. in their
faces, the management refuing to let their gor
geous theatre to a political mob. The meeting
was perpetrated a week after in the narrow and
obscure Chinese Assembly Rooms, hitherto de
voted to negro minstrelsy and jugglery, but hav
ing been nipped in the bud, it never became a
beauteous fluwer.
New York at present is pining for some violent
local excitement, some exploit after the fashion
of the Burdell murder; such things seem quite
necessary here, and the papers are often laid
down with expressions of disgust at the unim
portant character of the murders, &c. Beck
Cotton, as a candidate for immortality upon the
score of great wickedness, would here be consid
ered quite an impostor, and stand no chance of
lodging in elegant style up town as does the im
perishable Mrs. Burdell Cunningham.
The long expected Turkish naval dignitary,
Mohamed Pasha, is not yet arrived, but still ai
vertised.
. arm grvmng the slip to
street-sweepers, who pursue you at all points,
crying out " a penny, good sir, for sweeping the
crossing."
Some of the dear, delightid "profane stage
actors" are gone while others have come in.
Matthews, Broughani and Waleot, have departed,
but Dion Bourcicault and Agnes Robertson,
which twain are one flesh, draw throngs nightly
t Wallack's little bM'on of a play-house. Bour
iCauLlt has added to his already blooming bays,
noher branch, a play called " Jessie Brown, or
The Lelief of Lucknow," and this it is,which is
now turning all theatre-goers mad. it is founded
upon the following incident : Just before the re
lief of Lucknow by the flighlanders, a young
Scotch girl, Jessie Brown, starts from her pallet,
where she is lying delirious from starvation and
watching, screaming out "diuna ye hear it, din
na ye hear it ? The slogan of the McGregor,
the grandest of them a' They attempt to si
lence her, thinking her raving, but her Scotch
ears are true, and soon " The Campbells are
coing ", is heard upon the breeze, and in a few
minutes the walls are covered with the gallant
Scotchmien. This is woveni into a tale or drama,
thrilling and exciting to the last degree, and
treated in a most masterly m~anner. 'Tis put up.
n the stage most gorgeously, the nu.'c en scene
and tableaux baffling description, all the splen
ours of Eastern scener-y and costumes of High
land plaids and uniforms. Bourcicault himself
personates the atrocious Nana Sahib. Agnes
Robertson as an actress is far more natural, easy,
fascinating, than any one I have ever seen, and
beautiful too she is. Her voice is perfect, and
[ would desert the grandest Italian Opera any
night to hear her sing'Scotch songs, especially
when incidental to such scenes as aire portrayed
n the glorious "Belief of Lucknow."
Let me give you a little scandal. The daily
papers in New York always chronicle divorce,
nd will you believe that they are just as nu
erous as births, marriages or deaths ? Lately
there have been three among dramatic stars.
The beautiful Lizzie Weston Davenport was sev
ered from her lord, and married next day to
harles Matthews the comedian, he having been
previously, so says the injured husband, her "gay
deceiver." And Jordan, of Laura Keene's Thea
tre, the handsomest man in New York, parted
ompany with Mrs. Jordan, an ex-danseuse, she
allgigthat he " bobbed round " too much and
"led captive too many silly women." He also
arried again next day. As a third case,
Madame Ponisi, for several years leading tragic
ctress at the Broadway Theatre, put away her
better half, he being " no better than he should
be," and the next day (1) married a scene painter
r costumer of thme establishment. Alas, that
theso disciples of the buskin should so forget in
private life all the beautiful morality they speak
upon the boards!i
Ah, I must wind up my chat with the old
Edgefield Adm'ertiser," and my next confab will
probably be from across the Atlantic. To all who
deign to east an eye over my idle nothings, I now
say, '' a smile and kind word when we meet, and
a place in thy memory dear." J. T. B.
THE LoxoER the saw of contention is kept in
motion, the hotter it grows.
'Do you play by the ear!l' inquired2 a pupil of
a dancng school fidler. "No, mny dear, 1 play
y the ,tigl."
ERITACTS FB OUR 00CiAR'STN JITY.
Through the carelessness of some officer' of
"Uncle Sam's" Post Office Department, we
failed to receive " Cruan' " ever interesting
letter until Wednesday, after the last paper was
out. But as it pontains many readable parm.
graphs we have concluded to publish it entire,
with the exception of the markets, and two or
three other items that would have been rather
stale for this issue.
CHiarEMoN, March 6th 1858.
The " Lenten Season" has at last somewhat,
frightened our gay young men and women out
of the pasive relation which they have so stout
ly maintained towards its dreaded approach, and
some who were decidedly of the "fat" .orde,
while balls and kickups were the order of the
day and night, are now disposed to playPhari
see and make clean the outside of the cup and
platter, "by paying tithes of mint, anise and
cummin," at the expense of "the weightier mat
ters of the law."
The ladies are looking out with great interest
for the Spring Fashions. Our intelligence from
the Northern Cities holds out very little encour
agement to the economically disposed. Every
lady must of course dress fully up to, if notbe
yond the mark of her neighbors, cost what it
may. This is one of those ancient and venera
lle maxims in the Philosophy of Dress which no
caviller, however antediluvian, will dare to con
trovert in this enlightened age.
Many beautiful varieties,of Moire Antiqueh ave
been imported for the Spring season. Queen
Victoria having shewn her royal preference for I
this material. Silk dresses are not to be worn
plain but flounced, the flounces having a border
f flowers edged with fringe, ii deference to the
inereasing mania for ornamental decorations.
Lace, tulle and thin tissues are prepared for ball
Iresses, with rose colored elvet and blonde, and
olden leaves upon white dresses. An entirely
ew sack cloth has been brought out from Paris,
(an old style of material revived) which is said
to be very novel and costly. It is black silk,
very heavy, and woven so as to appear quilted,
in small diamond or octagon patterns. A dregr
Df it costs as much as MnW . . 'elvet. The -
loak is the plain sack in shape, with ..downg
ollowing are the names of the leading artistes:A
Signora Marietta Gazzaniga, the celebrated
Prima Donna; Miss'Adelaide Phillips- Sigiora
vogado; Signor Brignoli; Signor Tagliaheo;
ignor Stecchi Bottardi; Signor Amodio; Sig..
nor Assoni; Signor Coletti; Signor Muller; Sig
or Quinto. With a powerful Chorus and aug.
ented Orchestra.
A Course of Lectures is in progress before the
Jerantile Library Association by Dr. Charles
Jackay, on " The Ballad Poetry of England."
Our believers in Phrenology have been enter
ained by several illustrated Lectures on very cu
rious subjects by Prof. 0. F. Fowler of New
Vork. He is said to be a very pleasant Lecturer,
nd draws good houses.
A portion of this week has been occupied in
~he examination of the Senior Class of tlie Col-.
Lge, with a view to graduation at the approach
ig commencement. Last evening was assigned
or the public exercises of the Crestomathic So
iety connected with the Institution.
One or two robberies, fires, and Rail Road ac
idents in a small way, have occurred since my
Lat, but it is not particularly pleasant to your
:rrespondent, nor creditable to the fair fame of
~ur City to blazon such events to the world, so I
ill endeavor to entertain your readers with itente
f more general interest and importance.
Commissioners are now engaged in receiving
ubsriptions for the contemplated Port Royal
ail Road. By the way, " Port Royal" is des
~ined to become a Royal 1brl, if the Beaufort
~oys are not out in their reckoning. Active pre
arations are being made for a fearful competi
ion with the "Ancient City," for the enviable
istinction of " the commercial emporium of the
outh East." Our brethren below who have
ken the lead in this great enterprise are ex
eedingly sanguine, and brag over us so much
iready, that our dreams have become fearfully
isturbed with visions of a new and magnilent
ity rising in majestic pride over the ruins of
oor "Old Charleston." Rumor says there is
oing to be a big new Custom House built down
ere, from which Sea.Serpents and Devil-Fish
will constitute an important article of Export.
Two large ships drawing each 17 feet water
ere towed to sea over our Bar a few days sine
y steamers, The ?ilots did not seem to like is
ltogeter, and came out with a manifesto in one
i the papers, denying that there was so much
ater on the Bar, but their statement *as met
na refuted by the Captain of the Dredge Boat
mnd others, to thme satisfaction of the doubting
na incredulous. So look out Port Royal, or we
ill pluck back a feather or two from your plume,
efore you know where you are.
The suspended Cadets of the Citadel Academy
ae published their statement of the recent
~meute in that Institution. Its tone and temper -
re more moderate than might have bgen ex
eted under the circumstances, and their de-. -
nce looks plausible enough, but it is impossible
o form a proper judgment in such matters from.
x-parte statements, either from prosecutor er
efendant. The impression gains groundthat
Lhere are faults onc both sides, but until both are
efinitely heard, public opinion shoud 4u
cndd as well as the offending Stednt
Men are like bugles ;the mare brassthey con
ain, the furher you can bearthem. o!mlenre.
ike tulips; the more modest and retiring. they
ppear, the better youdove them.