"We of the South are emphatically surrounded by dangerous class of beings—degraded, stupid savages—who, if they could but once entertain the idea that immediate and unconditional death would not be their portion, would re-enact the St. Domingo tragedy. But the consciousness, with all their stupidity, that a ten-fold force, superior in discipline, if not in barbarity, would gather from the four corners of the United States and slaughter them, keeps them in subjection.But, to the non-slaveholding States, particularly, we are indebted for a permanent safeguard against insurrection.Without their assistance, the while population of the South would be too weak to quiet that insane desire for liberty which is ever ready to act itself out with every rational creature."
"We of the South are emphatically surrounded by dangerous class of beings—degraded, stupid savages—who, if they could but once entertain the idea that immediate and unconditional death would not be their portion, would re-enact the St. Domingo tragedy. But the consciousness, with all their stupidity, that a ten-fold force, superior in discipline, if not in barbarity, would gather from the four corners of the United States and slaughter them, keeps them in subjection.But, to the non-slaveholding States, particularly, we are indebted for a permanent safeguard against insurrection.Without their assistance, the while population of the South would be too weak to quiet that insane desire for liberty which is ever ready to act itself out with every rational creature."
In the debate in Congress on the resolution to censure John Quincy Adams, for presenting a petition for the dissolution of the Union, Mr. Underwood, of Kentucky, said:
"They (the South) were the weaker portion, were in the minority.The North could do what they pleased with them; they could adopt their own measures. All he asked was, that they would let the South know what those measures were. One thing he knew well; that State, which he in part represented, had perhaps a deeper interest in this subject than any other, except Maryland and a small portion of Virginia. And why? Because he knew that to dissolve the Union, and separate the different States composing the confederacy, making the Ohio River and the Mason and Dixon's line the boundary line,he knew as soon as that was done, Slavery was donein Kentucky, Maryland and a large portion of Virginia, and it would extend to all the States South of this line.The dissolution of the Union was the dissolution of Slavery.It has been the common practice for Southern men to get up on this floor, andsay, 'Touch this subject, and we will dissolve this Union as a remedy.'Their remedy was the destruction of the thing which they wished to save, and any sensible man could see it. If the Union was dissolved into two parts, the slave would cross the line, and then turn round and curse the master from the other shore."
"They (the South) were the weaker portion, were in the minority.The North could do what they pleased with them; they could adopt their own measures. All he asked was, that they would let the South know what those measures were. One thing he knew well; that State, which he in part represented, had perhaps a deeper interest in this subject than any other, except Maryland and a small portion of Virginia. And why? Because he knew that to dissolve the Union, and separate the different States composing the confederacy, making the Ohio River and the Mason and Dixon's line the boundary line,he knew as soon as that was done, Slavery was donein Kentucky, Maryland and a large portion of Virginia, and it would extend to all the States South of this line.The dissolution of the Union was the dissolution of Slavery.It has been the common practice for Southern men to get up on this floor, andsay, 'Touch this subject, and we will dissolve this Union as a remedy.'Their remedy was the destruction of the thing which they wished to save, and any sensible man could see it. If the Union was dissolved into two parts, the slave would cross the line, and then turn round and curse the master from the other shore."
The declaration of Mr. Underwood as to the entire dependence of the slave masters on the citizens of the nominally Free States to guard their plantations, and secure them against desertion, is substantially confirmed by Thomas D. Arnold, of Tennessee, who, in a speech on the name subject, assures us that they are equally dependent on the North forpersonal protectionagainst their slaves. In assigning his reasons for adhering to the Union, Mr. Arnold makes use of the following language:
"The Free States had a majority of 44 in that House. Under the new census, they would have 53. The cause of the slaveholding States was getting weaker and weaker, and what were they to do? He would ask his Southern friends what the South had to rely on, if the Union were dissolved? Suppose the dissolution could be peaceably effected (if that did not involve a contradiction in terms), what had the South to depend upon?All the crowned heads were against her. A million of slaves were ready to rise and strike for freedom at the first tap of the drum.If they were cut loose from their friends at the North (friends that ought to be, and without them, the South had no friends),whither were they to look for protection? How were they to sustain an assault from England or France, with the cancer at their vitals? The more the South reflected, the more clearly she must see that she has a deep and vital interest in maintaining the Union."
"The Free States had a majority of 44 in that House. Under the new census, they would have 53. The cause of the slaveholding States was getting weaker and weaker, and what were they to do? He would ask his Southern friends what the South had to rely on, if the Union were dissolved? Suppose the dissolution could be peaceably effected (if that did not involve a contradiction in terms), what had the South to depend upon?All the crowned heads were against her. A million of slaves were ready to rise and strike for freedom at the first tap of the drum.If they were cut loose from their friends at the North (friends that ought to be, and without them, the South had no friends),whither were they to look for protection? How were they to sustain an assault from England or France, with the cancer at their vitals? The more the South reflected, the more clearly she must see that she has a deep and vital interest in maintaining the Union."
These witnesses can neither be impeached nor ruled out of Court, and their testimony is true. While, therefore, the Union is preserved, I see no endto the extension or perpetuity of Chattel Slavery—no hope for peaceful deliverance of the millions who are clanking their chains on our blood-red soil. Yet I know that God reigns, and that the slave system contains within itself the elements of destruction. But how long it is to curse the earth, and desecrate his image, he alone foresees. It is frightful to think of the capacity of a nation like this to commit sin, before the measure of its iniquities be filled, and the exterminating judgments of God overtake it. For what is left us but "a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation"? Or is God but a phantom, and the Eternal Law but a figment of the imagination? Has an everlasting divorce been effected between cause and effect, and is it an absurd doctrine that, as a nation sows, so shall it also reap? "Wherefore, hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men that rule this people: Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Judgment will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place: And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it."
These are solemn times. It is not a struggle fornational salvation; for the nation, as such, seems doomed beyond recovery. The reason why the South rules, and North falls prostrate in servile terror, is simply this: With the South, the preservation of Slavery is paramount to all other considerations—above party success, denominational unity, pecuniary interest, legal integrity, and constitutional obligation. With the North, the preservation of the Union is placed above all other things—above honour, justice, freedom, integrity of soul, the Decalogue and the Golden Rule—the Infinite God himself. All these she is ready to discard for the Union. Her devotion to it is the latest and the most terrible form of idolatry. She has given to the Slave Power acarte blanche, to be filled as it may dictate—and if, at any time, she grows restive under the yoke, and shrinks back aghast at the new atrocity contemplated, it is only necessary for that Power to crack the whip of Disunion over her head, as it has done again and again, and she will cower and obey like a plantation slave—for has she not sworn that she will sacrifice everything in heaven and on earth, rather than the Union?
What then is to be done? Friends of the slave, the question is not whether by our efforts we can abolish Slavery, speedily or remotely—for duty is ours, the result is with God; but whether we will go with the multitude to do evil, sell our birthright for a mess of pottage, cease to cry aloud and spare not, and remain in Babylon when the command of God is, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be notpartakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Let us stand in our lot, "and having done all, to stand." At least, a remnant shall be saved. Living or dying, defeated or victorious, be it ours to exclaim, "No compromise with Slavery! Liberty for each, for all, forever! Man above all institutions! The supremacy of God over the whole earth!"
Typographical errors corrected in text:Page 7: Eurpean replaced with EuropeanPage 9: justication replaced with justificationPage 26: appaling replaced with appallingOn page 16 there is a partially blocked word in the scanned image. From the context it is very likely that the word is 'demand':"I have not, at any time, advanced an ultra sentiment, or made an extravagant ——nd. I have avoided fanaticism on the one hand, fully on the other."
Typographical errors corrected in text:
On page 16 there is a partially blocked word in the scanned image. From the context it is very likely that the word is 'demand':
"I have not, at any time, advanced an ultra sentiment, or made an extravagant ——nd. I have avoided fanaticism on the one hand, fully on the other."