disposed to pursue this further, can find these
views elaborated in the debates in the Con-
vention that formed the Constitution of the
United States, and in the Federalist, in the
arguments of all the original fathers of the
Federal Government.
Now, let me in conclusion briefly consider
the question which has been argued pretty
extensively, Who is responsible for this war ?
Who brought it upon the country? I make
this proposition, that the Southern States
never have made a demand upon the Federal
Government that has not been granted. In
the formation of the Constitution, they required,
first, that the slave trade should be
open to them for twenty years; that, like
highwaymen, robbers and pirates, they might
go in their vessels to the coast of a far-off
land, sieze the defenceless inhabitants thereof,
and bring them home, and put them into the
cotton-fields and use them as chattels. They
made this demand in violation of the moral
conscience of the world. But it was granted
to them. They had the permission, and they
used it. Next, they asked to have three-fifths
of their negroes represented, and made the
basis of political power. That, too, was
granted by the North; and they have had it
ever since. Although it was coupled with
taxation, they never have been taxed for it.
They used what was advantageous to them,
and have never been compelled to pay the
price for it. Again, they asked for the re-
turn of their slaves, when they should escape
into the Northern States. That, too, was
granted to them, and it was confirmed by the
act of 1850. That act, or the act that pre-
ceded it, have never been violated by the
Federal Government. It is true that in some
individual cases the. law has been opposed; but
the Federal Government has uniformly brought
the machinery of its executive power to enforce
that law, and it has always been enforced.
A few years later, they demanded the pur-
chase of Florida, that they might have that
area to spread their peculiar institution over.
and that they might increase their political
power. That was purchased. Then they
demanded Louisiana; that immense territory
west of the Mississippi, that they might
spread themselves still further. That, too,
was purchased out of the common treasury of
the common country. Then they demanded
the annexation of Texas, that they might
still have more power, and still keep the con-
trol of the Federal Government. That, too,
was conceded to them, with the power of
making four additional slave States. Then
they asked a war with Mexico, for the pur-
pose of gaining still more territory. That,
too, was conceded to them. That defenceless
power was invaded, war was made upon it,
and a large portion of its territory was
wrenched from it, for the purpose of appeas-
ing the insatiate appetite for territory of
Southern States' rights men. |
Have they anything to complain of in that
respect? Have they not had everything they
wanted? The Federal Government has never
injured them or laid an onerous hand upon
them. They had no right to cloak their re-
volt under any declaration that they had been
injured by the North. The North has uni-
formly given them everything they asked,
and the destiny of this country has been in
their hands. They claimed it, and vie con-
ceded it.
They have had forty-eight years of
the Presidency of this country in their
hands; forty-eight years of the seventy-two
that have elapsed since the adop-
tion of the Federal Constitution, and
twelve years more they have had North-
ern men with Southern principles, making
sixty. So that, in fact, the executive depart-
ment of this Government, from the formation
of the Constitution up to the present time,
has only been for twelve years in the hands
of the national party. What grounds have
they for complaint? They have controlled
the destiny of this people. They have estab-
lished its policy. They have had eighteen
Judges of the Supreme Court, and the North
has had but eleven. They have had the con-
trol of the legislative, executive and judicial
departments of the Government, although
four-fifths of the judicial business has arisen
in the Northern States. Has the North in-
jured them on this score? Certainly not.
Of Presidents of the Senate, the South has
had twenty-four and the North eleven; and
of Speakers of the House the South has bad
twenty-three and the North twelve. Of At-
torney Generals they have bad fourteen,
while the North has bad five. Of foreign
ministers they have had eights-six, and the
North fifty-four; yet three-fourths of the
business requiring the services of these di-
plomatic agents abroad arose in the North .
Have they any ground of complaint there?
They have had the lion's share in that mat-
ter. In the army and navy the same dispro-
portion exists. They have had a vast ma-
jority of the higher officers, while the great
mass of the soldiers and marines were from
the North. So, too, of the clerks, auditors,
and comptrollers in the executive depart-
ments of the Government. For the last fifty
years, the records show that out of three
thousand thug employed, two thirds have
been from the South.
These are facts. They have bad the des-
tiny of this people entirely in their own
hands; and in God's name what have they
made out out of it? Through the infernal and
infamous doctrine of States' rights they have
ruined the country, so that it would long
ago have been damned beyond redemption
but for the recuperative power and inex-
haustible resources of this young and giant
nation, it has been nothing but Southern
misrule, from the time we commenced up to |
