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Page 30
As for myself, I believed at that early period, if the party who got up
the petitions should succeed in getting Congress to take jurisdiction,
that agitation would follow, and that it would in the end, if not
arrested, destroy the Union. I then so expressed myself in debate, and
called upon both parties to take grounds against assuming jurisdiction;
but in vain. Had my voice been heeded, and had Congress refused to take
jurisdiction, by the united votes of all parties, the agitation which
followed would have been prevented, and the fanatical zeal that gave
impulse to the agitation, and which has brought us to our present
perilous condition, would have become extinguished, from the want of
fuel to feed the flame. That was the time for the North to have shown
her devotion to the Union; but, unfortunately, both of the great
parties of that section were so intent on obtaining or retaining party
ascendency, that all other considerations were overlooked or forgotten.
What has since followed are but natural consequences. With the success
of their first movement, this small fanatical party began to acquire
strength; and with that, to become an object of courtship to both the
great parties. The necessary consequence was, a further increase of
power, and a gradual tainting of the opinions of both the other parties
with their doctrines,until the infection has extended over both; and the
great mass of the population of the North, who, whatever may be their
opinion of the original abolition party, which still preserves its
distinctive organization, hardly ever fail, when it comes to acting,
to cooperate in carrying out their measures. With the increase of their
influence, they extended the sphere of their action. In a short time
after the commencement of their first movement, they had acquired
sufficient influence to induce the legislatures of most of the Northern
States to pass acts, which in effect abrogated the clause of the
Constitution that provides for the delivery up of fugitive slaves. Not
long after, petitions followed to abolish slavery in forts, magazines,
and dock-yards, and all other places where Congress had exclusive
power of legislation. This was followed by petitions and resolutions of
legislatures of the Northern States, and popular meetings, to exclude
the Southern States from all territories acquired, or to be acquired,
and to prevent the admission of any State hereafter into the Union,
which, by its constitution, does not prohibit slavery. And Congress is
invoked to do all this, expressly with the view of the final abolition
of slavery in the States. That has been avowed to be the ultimate object
from the beginning of the agitation until the present time; and yet the
great body of both parties of the North, with the full knowledge of the
fact, although disavowing the abolitionists, have co-operated with them
in almost all their measures.
Such is a brief history of the agitation, as far as it has yet advanced.
Now I ask, Senators, what is there to prevent its further progress,
until it fulfils the ultimate end proposed, unless some decisive measure
should be adopted to prevent it? Has any one of the causes, which has
added to its increase from its original small and contemptible beginning
until it has attained its present magnitude, diminished in force? Is the
original cause of the movement--that slavery is a sin, and ought to be
suppressed--weaker now than at the commencement? Or is the abolition
party less numerous or influential, or have they less influence with,
or less control over the two great parties of the North in elections? Or
has the South greater means of influencing or controlling the movements
of this Government now, than it had when the agitation commenced? To
all these questions but one answer can be given: No, no, no. The very
reverse is true. Instead of being weaker, all the elements in favor
of agitation are stronger now than they were in 1835, when it first
commenced, while all the elements of influence on the part of the South
are weaker. Unless something decisive is done, I again ask, what is
to stop this agitation, before the great and final object at which it
aims--the abolition of slavery in the States--is consummated? Is it,
then, not certain, that if something is not done to arrest it, the South
will be forced to choose between abolition and secession? Indeed, as
events are now moving, it will not require the South to secede, in order
to dissolve the Union. Agitation will of itself effect it, of which its
past history furnishes abundant proof--as I shall next proceed to show.
It is a great mistake to suppose that disunion can be effected by a
single blow. The cords which bound these States together in one common
Union, are far too numerous and powerful for that. Disunion must be the
work of time. It is only through a long process, and successively, that
the cords can be snapped, until the whole fabric falls asunder. Already
the agitation of the slavery question has snapped some of the most
important, and has greatly weakened all the others, as I shall proceed
to show.
The cords that bind the States together are not only many, but various
in character. Some are spiritual or ecclesiastical; some political;
others social. Some appertain to the benefit conferred by the Union, and
others to the feeling of duty and obligation.
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