ped that Jefferson Davis should die, they
might have a better and an abler man to sue
ceed him, though not considered so available
at the time for the first place—does the gen-
tleman remember that a greater man, with
greater mind, with a broader intelligence, ha
not shrunk from coming directly to the point
and placing on record the direct assertion
that the statement made by Mr. Davis is no
true? Does the gentleman remember that
Yet it is so, and for the satisfaction of gentle
men here, I will read the words of Mr. Alex
ander H. Stephens, showing exactly what
their new government was founded upon
He says;
"Our new government is founded upon)
exactly the opposite ideas, [that is, the idea
advanced by the great men of this Republic
in former days.] Its foundations are laid, it
corner-stone rests, upon the great truth, that
, the negro is not equal lo the white man; that
slavery, subordination to the superior race, is
his natural and normal condition. This, our
new government, is the first, .in the history of
the world, based upon this great physical
philosophical:, and moral truth. This truth
has been slow in the process of its develop
ment"—
And well he might say so, remembering the
teachings of Jefferson, Jay, Livingstone and
other great men,
"This truth has been slow in the process
of its development, like all other truths in the
various departments of science. It has been
so even amongst us. Many who hear me
perhaps, can recollect well that this truth was
not generally admitted, even in their day,"
He well knew that he could not go back
one generation for the approval of his theory
He knew very well that pecuniary interests
had built up and given rise to the theory
upon which lie professes they have founder
their great idea of government. He says
about their new Constitution, their new gov-
ernment—
" The new Constitution has put at rest for-
ever all the agitating questions relating to
our peculiar institutions—African slavery as
it exists amongst us, the proper status of the
negro in our form of civilization.' Ibis was
the immediate cause of the late rupture and
present revolution. Jefferson, in ins forecast,
had anticipated this, as the rock upon which
the old Union would split. He was right,
what was conjecture with him is now a real-
ized fart. But whether he fully comprehend-
ed the great truth upon which that great
rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The
prevailing ideas entertained by him and most
of the leading statesmen at the time of the
formation of the old Constitution were
that the enslavement of the African was in
violation of the laws of nature; that it was
wrong in principle, ?socially, morally and
politically. It was an evil they knew not
well how to deal with; but the general opin- |
ion of the men of that day was, that somehow
or other in the order of Providence, the
institution would be evanescent and pass
away. This idea, though not incorporated in
the Constitution, was the prevailing idea at
the time. The Constitution, it is true, secured
every essential guarantee to the insti-
tution while it should last; and hence no
argument can be justly used against the constitutional
guarantees thus secured, because
of the common sentiment of the day. Those
ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong,
they rested upon the assumption of the equality
of the races. Tills was an error. It was a
sandy foundation; and the idea of a govern-
ment built upon it—when the 'storm came
and the wind blew, it fell.' "
Now when we talk of the cause of this war
let us go back lo the opinions of the men
who foresaw it, and they tell us that there
would come a time when these men, drunk
with the full cup of political power, accus-
tomed for long years to rule and guide and
control the action of this country, finding
that the spread of general intelligence, of
education, and of learning would oppose to
their power a stumbling block over which
they might not piss, whenever that time
came, would make an effort to dissev-
er this Union. This war is the fruit of
slavery.
The gentleman then told us that Maryland
is manacled and in chains, that her voice is
stifled and she may not speak as she would.
And as for him, lie says he would have her
speak now worthily, and not in humble syco-
phantic terms of subservience to federal pow-
er; but in utterance worthy of her part.
Does tire gentleman remember that at the
time of the formation of the Federal Consti-
tution, one of the leading men of Maryland
advised her people strongly not to ratify it,
because they would thereby be binding them-
selves as parties to a wrong so great that no
1 government might hope to live under it?
And on the one single ground of slavery, the
State of Maryland was called upon and warned
not to join in the Federal Government,
because its Constitution contained in it an
admission and an allowance of slavery.
Maryland manacled and in chains to-day?
Maryland bound to-day, when in the freedom
of her Convention, joyfully and with delight
she is about to proclaim the fact that three
years of civil war has taught her that in this
Unicon alone is safety to be found, by sub-
mitting to the supremacy of the Federal gov-
ernment; that by the Constitution of the
United States alone, have republican institutions
been guaranteed to her; that for three
years has she been wrapped and cradled in
the arms of the Federal Government; and
though file tide of invasion bias roiled upon
her fromtiers, for three years has the whole
power of the Federal Government been exer-
cised to sweep it back, so that she is free to day. |
