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Page 34
ON THE CONSTITUTION AND THE UNION;
SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MARCH 7, 1850.
MR. PRESIDENT:
I wish to speak to-day, not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a northern
man, but as an American, and a member of the Senate of the United
States. It is fortunate that there is a Senate of the United States; a
body not yet moved from its propriety, nor lost to a just sense of its
own dignity and its own high responsibilities, and a body to which
the country looks, with confidence, for wise, moderate, patriotic, and
healing counsels. It is not to be denied that we live in the midst of
strong agitations and are surrounded by very considerable dangers to
our institutions and government. The imprisoned winds are let loose.
The East, the North, and the stormy South combine to throw the whole
sea into commotion, to toss its billows to the skies, and disclose its
profoundest depths. I do not affect to regard myself, Mr. President,
as holding, or fit to hold, the helm in this combat with the political
elements; but I have a duty to perform, and I mean to perform it with
fidelity, not without a sense of existing dangers, but not without
hope. I have a part to act, not for my own security or safety, for I am
looking out for no fragment upon which to float away from the wreck, if
wreck there must be, but for the good of the whole, and the preservation
of all; and there is that which will keep me to my duty during this
struggle, whether the sun and the stars shall appear for many days. I
speak to-day for the preservation of the Union. "Hear me for my
cause." I speak to-day out of a solicitous and anxious heart, for the
restoration to the country of that quiet and that harmony which make the
blessings of this Union so rich, and so dear to us all. These are the
topics that I propose to myself to discuss; these are the motives,
and the sole motives, that influence me in the wish to communicate
my opinions to the Senate and the country; and if I can do any
thing, however little, for the promotion of these ends, I shall have
accomplished all that I expect.
* * * We all know, sir, that slavery has existed in the world from time
immemorial. There was slavery in the earliest periods of history, among
the Oriental nations. There was slavery among the Jews; the theocratic
government of that people issued no injunction against it. There was
slavery among the Greeks. * * * At the introduction of Christianity, the
Roman world was full of slaves, and I suppose there is to be found no
injunction against that relation between man and man in the teachings
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ or of any of his apostles. * * * Now, sir,
upon the general nature and influence of slavery there exists a wide
difference of opinion between the northern portion of this country and
the southern. It is said on the one side, that, although not the subject
of any injunction or direct prohibition in the New Testament, slavery
is a wrong; that it is founded merely in the right of the strongest; and
that it is an oppression, like unjust wars, like all those conflicts by
which a powerful nation subjects a weaker to its will; and that, in its
nature, whatever may be said of it in the modifications which have taken
place, it is not according to the meek spirit of the Gospel. It is not
"kindly affectioned"; it does not "seek another's, and not its own";
it does not "let the oppressed go free." These are sentiments that are
cherished, and of late with greatly augmented force, among the people of
the Northern States. They have taken hold of the religious sentiment of
that part of the country, as they have, more or less, taken hold of the
religious feelings of a considerable portion of mankind. The South upon
the other side, having been accustomed to this relation between the two
races all their lives; from their birth, having been taught, in general,
to treat the subjects of this bondage with care and kindness, and I
believe, in general, feeling great kindness for them, have not taken
the view of the subject which I have mentioned. There are thousands of
religious men, with consciences as tender as any of their brethren at
the North, who do not see the unlawfulness of slavery; and there are
more thousands, perhaps, that, whatsoever they may think of it in its
origin, and as a matter depending upon natural rights, yet take things
as they are, and, finding slavery to be an established relation of the
society in which they live, can see no way in which, let their opinions
on the abstract question be what they may, it is in the power of this
generation to relieve themselves from this relation. And candor obliges
me to say, that I believe they are just as conscientious many of them,
and the religious people, all of them, as they are at the North who hold
different opinions. * * *
There are men who, with clear perceptions, as they think, of their own
duty, do not see how too eager a pursuit of one duty may involve them in
the violation of others, or how too warm an embracement of one truth
may lead to a disregard of other truths just as important. As I heard it
stated strongly, not many days ago, these persons are disposed to mount
upon some particular duty, as upon a war-horse, and to drive furiously
on and upon and over all other duties that may stand in the way. There
are men who, in reference to disputes of that sort, are of opinion that
human duties may be ascertained with the exactness of mathematics. They
deal with morals as with mathematics; and they think what is right may
be distinguished from what is wrong with the precision of an algebraic
equation. They have, therefore, none too much charity toward others who
differ from them. They are apt, too, to think that nothing is good but
what is perfect, and that there are no compromises or modifications to
be made in consideration of difference of opinion or in deference to
other men's judgment. If their perspicacious vision enables them to
detect a spot on the face of the sun, they think that a good reason why
the sun should be struck down from heaven. They prefer the chance
of running into utter darkness to living in heavenly light, if that
heavenly light be not absolutely without any imperfection. * * *
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