of Virginia and other Southern States, that
they continued the slave trade till 1808.
They had the monopoly of the shipping; they
bought or stole them on the African coast,
and brought them here, and sold them here;
they kept them so long as it was profitable
and when it ceased to be profitable, they
sold them to the South, So it has been with
the abolitionists in the North, and so it has
been in a very great degree with the abolitionists
in this State.
But, sir, there is another influence at
work, at this particular time. The civil
war, now devastating and rending this once
fair land, is made the occasion and pretext for
urging emancipation. I suppose there is
hardly a single gentleman in this Hall, who
believes that emancipation would he urged in
this State, as it is, had it not been for this
war. I do not care who hears it, or who
knows it, my firm conviction is, that the in-
terests of Maryland are but secondary, and
that the first purpose of the emancipationists
is to make Maryland a free State, so that be-
ing a free State she may link her destinies
with the free States in the separation to take
place, and that there may be no inducements
so far as slavery is concerned, for her to go
South. Indeed, the gentleman (Mr. Daniel)
substantially so avowed. That, sir, I believe
to he the beginning and the end, the sum
and purpose of the whole movement,
Gentlemen tell us "that slavery made the
war;" that "slavery, like Acteon, has been
eaten up by his own dogs:" that "slavery
has lifted its parricidal hand and stricken
down the best government that ever lived."
Sir, slavery has done no such thing. Slavery
has made no war upon this government. I
believe that the slave States have ever been,
aye, are this day, far truer to the government
of this land, as our fathers made it, than the
Northern States. The hand that struck that
blow, was the red hand of abolition that has
been upraised against the nation's life, cer-
tainly for thirty years. It is to be found in
the echoes and utterances and teachings of
your Theodore Parkers, your Wendell Phil-
lipses, your higher law men, your Reward,
now Secretary of State, who inaugurated that
infamous higher law doctrine, and he sits to-
day and coolly and with unblushing effron-
tery defiantly tells the American people, that
"he can touch a bell upon his left hand or
upon his right and cause the arrest and in-
carceration of any man within the limits
of this broad land, and that there is no
power to save him," and unhappily be speaks
truly.
I said that I did not believe slavery was
the cause of this war. It has been made the
pretext for it. Sir, slavery existed here long
before the sound of the cannon was heard or
the bright glitter of the bayonet was seen.
It existed when peace shed its mild, benig-
nant ray from North to South, and there |
was a bond of brotherhood seen and felt, that
bound us together "as with hooks of steel,"
from the Lakes to the Gulf, and from the
shores of the Atlantic to the far distant Pa-
cific. It has been here for more than three-
quarters of a century. It was here before the
nation was born, whilst yet we were Colonies
of Great Britain, it has been here ever since,
and never was there strife in the land because
of it until within the last three years, when
abolitionists struck down the Constitution,
and reared in place of it the banner inscribed
with the doctrines of "the higher law."
Gentlemen tell us that the war commenced
by the firing on Fort Sumter and the " Star
of the West." Sir, they speak as though the
firing upon Fort Sumter was the dawning of
creation. Why, sir, that was but the sequel,
the result of causes that had their origin
away back in a score of years, it was the
very purpose, the object for which your Wen-
dell Phillipses had agitated and schemed, and
for which your Parkers and Cheevers had
preached treason until their efforts and their
colaborers in treason and crime had debauched
the public sentiment of the. entire North to
such a degree that Union was no longer pos-
sible, even if It were desirable. Sir, nothing
would content them but the utter extinction
of slavery; and when, after years of agita-
tion, their efforts culminated in the election
of the present Executive, the storm came and
war burst upon us. Sir, listen to what Mr.
Theodore Parker says in a letter dated June
27th, 1856: "What a state of things we
have in politics, the beginning of the end. I
take it we can elect Fremont, if so the battle
is fought and the worst part of the contest is
over. If Buchanan is elected I don't believe
the Onion holds out three years. I shall go
for dissolution."
In another letter, addressed to Professor
Desor, he says; " If Fremont is not elected,
then I look forward to what is worse than
civil war in the other form, viz: a long series
of usurpations on the part of the slave power,
and of concessions by the North, until we are
forced to take the initiative of revolution at
the North; that will be the worst form of the
case, for then the worst fighting will be among
the Northern men, between the friends of
freedom and the hunkers. I expect civil war
and make my calculations accordingly,"
And again, in a letter to John P. Hale, he
says: "If Buchanan is President I think the
Union does not hold out his four years. It
must end in civil war, which I have been pre-
paring for these six months past, &c, I buy
no books, except for pressing need. Last year
I bought $1,500 worth. This year I shall
not order $200 worth, I may want the money
for cannon,"
And in his journal he says . "Of course
we shall fight. I have expected civil war for
months. Now I buy no more books for the
present. Nay, I think affairs may come to |
