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Page 69
It has been a conviction of pressing necessity, it has been a belief
that we are to be deprived in the Union of the rights which our fathers
bequeathed to us, which has brought Mississippi into her present
decision. She has heard proclaimed the theory that all men are created
free and equal, and this made the basis of an attack upon her social
institutions; and the sacred Declaration of Independence has been
invoked to maintain the position of the equality of the races. That
Declaration of Independence is to be construed by the circumstances and
purposes for which it was made. The communities were declaring their
independence; the people of those communities were asserting that no man
was born--to use the language of Mr. Jefferson--booted and spurred to
ride over the rest of mankind; that men were created equal--meaning the
men of the political community; that there was no divine right to rule;
that no man inherited the right to govern; that there were no classes by
which power and place descended to families, but that all stations were
equally within the grasp of each member of the body-politic. These were
the great principles they announced; these were the purposes for
which they made their declaration; these were the end to which their
enunciation was directed. They have no reference to the slave; else, how
happened it that among the items of arraignment made against George III.
was that he endeavored to do just what the North had been endeavoring
of late to do--to stir up insurrection among our slaves? Had the
Declaration announced that the negroes were free and equal, how was the
Prince to be arraigned for stirring up insurrection among them? And
how was this to be enumerated among the high crimes which caused the
colonies to sever their connection with the mother country? When our
Constitution was formed, the same idea was rendered more palpable, for
there we find provision made for that very class of persons as property;
they were not put upon the footing of equality with white men--not even
upon that of paupers and convicts; but, so far as representation was
concerned, were discriminated against as a lower caste, only to be
represented in the numerical proportion of three-fifths.
Then, Senators, we recur to the compact which binds us together; we
recur to the principles upon which our Government was founded; and when
you deny them, and when you deny to us the right to withdraw from a
Government which, thus perverted, threatens to be destructive of our
rights, we but tread in the path of our fathers when we proclaim our
independence, and take the hazard. This is done not in hostility to
others, not to injure any section of the country, not even for our own
pecuniary benefit; but from the high and solemn motive of defending and
protecting the rights we inherited, and which it is our sacred duty to
transmit unshorn to our children.
I find in myself, perhaps, a type of the general feeling of my
constituents towards yours. I am sure I feel no hostility to you,
Senators from the North. I am sure there is not one of you, whatever
sharp discussion there may have been between us, to whom I cannot now
say, in the presence of my God, I wish you well; and such, I am sure,
is the feeling of the people whom I represent towards those whom you
represent. I therefore feel that I but express their desire when I say
I hope, and they hope, for peaceful relations with you, though we must
part. They may be mutually beneficial to us in the future, as they have
been in the past, if you so will it. The reverse may bring disaster
on every portion of the country; and if you will have it thus, we will
invoke the God of our fathers, who delivered them from the power of the
lion, to protect us from the ravages of the bear; and thus, putting
our trust in God, and in our own firm hearts and strong arms, we will
vindicate the right as best we may.
In the course of my service here, associated at different times with
a great variety of Senators, I see now around me some with whom I
have served long; there have been points of collision; but whatever of
offense there has been to me, I leave here; I carry with me no hostile
remembrance. Whatever offense I have given which has not been redressed,
or for which satisfaction has not been demanded, I have, Senators, in
this hour of our parting to offer you my apology for any pain which,
in heat of discussion, I have inflicted. I go hence unencumbered of the
remembrance of any injury received, and having discharged the duty of
making the only reparation in my power for any injury offered.
Mr. President, and Senators, having made the announcement which the
occasion seemed to me to require, it only remains for me to bid you a
final adieu.
End of Project Gutenberg's American Eloquence, Volume III. (of 4), by Various
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