Great Britain, which in former times sent more vessels to the coast of Africa to kidnap and to transport itsnatives, than all the other nations of the earth together, now maintains a fleet upon the same coast to suppress the trade she so lately encouraged. Three times, during the present century, has that government escaped civil commotion by making large concessions to popular rights. Since the year 1814, written constitutions have been extorted by the people from more than three fourths of all the sovereigns of Europe. What a tempest now beats upon Austria, from all points of the compass, because, during the last season, she attempted only to half enslave the Hungarians,—because she attempted to do what, during the last century, she might have done without a remonstrance! The rights of individuals, not less than the rights of communities, have emerged from oblivion into recognition, and have become law. Penal codes have been ameliorated, and barbarous customs abolished. There are now but two places on the globe where a woman can be publicly whipped,—in Hungary and in the Southern States! And the universal scorn and hissing with which the rulers of the former country have been visited for their women-whipping, and their execution of those whose sole crime was their love of freedom, only foretoken that fiercer scorn and louder hissing with which, from all sides of the civilized world, the latter will soon be visited. Let the high-toned and chivalrous sons of the south,—those “who feel a stain upon their honor like a wound,”—think of all this, as one in the long catalogue of “hazards” upon which they are rushing.
Sir, the leading minds in a community are mainly responsible for the fortunes of that community. Under God, the men of education, of talent, and of attainment, turn the tides of human affairs. Where great social distinctions exist, the intelligence and the wealth of a few stimulate or suppress the volition of the masses. They are the sensorium of the bodypolitic, and their social inferiors are the mighty limbs, which, for good or for evil, they wield. Such is the relation in which the three hundred thousand, or less than three hundred thousand slave owners of the south, hold to their fellow-citizens. They can light the torch of civil war, or they can quench it. But if civil war once blazes forth, it is not given to mortal wisdom to extinguish or control it. It comes under other and mightier laws, under other and mightier agencies. Human passions feed the combustion; and the flame which the breath of man has kindled, the passions of the multitude,—stronger than the breath of the hurricane,—will spread. Among these passions, one of the strongest and boldest is the love of liberty, which dwells in every bosom. In the educated and civilized, this love of liberty is a regulated but paramount desire; in the ignorant and debased, it is a wild, vehement instinct. It is an indestructible part of the nature of man. Weakened it may be, but it cannot be destroyed. It is a thread of asbestos in the web of the soul, which all the fires of oppression cannot consume.
With the creation of every human being, God creates this love of liberty anew. The slave shares it with his master, and it has descended into his bosom from the same high source. Whether dormant or wakeful, it only awaits an opportunity to become the mastering impulse of the soul. Civil war is that opportunity. Under oppression it bides its time. Civil war is the fulness of time. It is literal truth that the south fosters within its homes three millions of latent rebellions. Imbedded in a material spontaneously combustible, it laughs at fire. Has it any barriers to keep the spirit of liberty, which has electrified the Old World, from crossing its own borders, and quickening its bondmen into mutinous life?—not all of them, but one in ten thousand, one in a hundred thousand of them. If there is no Spartacus among them, with his lofty heroism andhis masterly skill for attack and defence, is the race of Nat Turners extinct, who, in their religious musings, and their dumb melancholy, take the impulses of their own passions for the inspiration of God, and, after prayer and the eucharist, proceed to massacre and conflagration? In ignorant and imbruted minds, a thousand motives work which we cannot divine. A thousand excitements madden them, which we cannot control. It may be a text of Scripture, it may be the contents of a wine vault; but the result will be the same,—havoc wherever there is wealth, murder wherever there is life, violation wherever there is chastity. Let this wildfire of a servile insurrection break out in but one place in a state; nay, in but ten places, or in five places in all the fifteen states; and then, in all their length and breadth, there will be no more quiet sleep. Not Macbeth, but the angel of retribution, will “murder sleep.” The mother will clasp her infant to her breast, and, while she clasps it, die a double death. But, where will the slaves find arms? “Furor arma ministrat.” Rage will supply their weapons. Read the history of those slaves who have escaped from bondage; mark their endurance and their contrivance, and let incredulity cease forever. They have hid themselves under coverts; dug holes and burrowed in the earth for concealment; sunk themselves in ponds, and sustained life by breathing through a reed, until their pursuers had passed by; wandered in “Dismal Swamps,” far away from the habitations of men; almost fasting for forty days and forty nights, like Christ in the wilderness; crushed themselves into boxes, but of half a coffin’s dimensions, to be nailed up and transported hundreds of miles, as merchandise; and, in this horrible condition, have endured hunger and thirst, and, standing upon the head, without a groan or a sigh;—and, will men, who devise such things, and endure such things, be balked in their purposes of hope and of revenge, when the angel ofdestruction, in the form of the angel of liberty, descends into their breasts?
The state of slavery is always a state of war. In its deepest tranquillity, it is but a truce. Active hostilities are liable at any hour to be resumed. Civil war between the north and the south,—any thing that brings the quickening idea of freedom home to the mind of the slave; that supplies him with facilities of escape, or immunities for revenge,—will unleash the bloodhounds of insurrection. Can you muster armies in secret, and march them in secret, so that the slave shall not know that they are mustered and marched to perpetuate his bondage, and to extend the bondage of his race? Was not Major Dade’s whole command supposed to be massacred through the treachery of a slave? A foray within your borders places you in such a relation to the slave that you are helpless without him, and in danger of assassination with him. He that defends slavery by war, wars against the eternal laws of God, and rushes upon the thick bosses of Jehovah’s buckler. Such are some of the “hazards” which the leaders of public opinion at the south, the legislators and guides of men in this dark and perilous hour, are invoking upon themselves and their fellows; not for the interests of the whole, but for the fancied interests of the slaveholders alone, and against the real interest of a vast majority of the people. May God give that wisdom to the followers which he seems not yet to have imparted to the leaders.
Sir, in these remarks, I have studiously abstained from every thing that seemed to me like retaliation or unkindness. I certainly have suffered no purposed word of crimination to pass my lips. If I have uttered severe truths, I have not sought for severe language in which to clothe them. What I have said, I have said as to a brother sleeping on the brink of a precipice, where one motion of his troubled sleeping,or of his bewildered awaking, might plunge him into remediless ruin.
In conclusion, I have only to add, that such is my solemn and abiding conviction of the character of slavery, that under a full sense of my responsibility to my country and my God, I deliberately say, better disunion,—better a civil or a servile war,—better any thing that God in his providence shall send, than an extension of the bounds of slavery.
Upon the close of Mr. Mann’s remarks,
Mr. Burt, of South Carolina, rose and said that he had not interrupted the gentleman from Massachusetts during his speech, but he presumed he did not wish to have any error go forth under the sanction of his name; and he therefore called upon him to retract what he had said in regard to slaves ever being exempted from capital punishment for crimes for which the whites were executed. He called upon him also to withdraw the imputation that the pecuniary value of the slave was a motive for any such difference in the laws respecting them. He remarked that, by the laws of the Southern States, such a distinction is not made. I know, said he, no instance in which it exists. On the contrary, slaves are punished capitally for offences that are not so punished when committed by white men. In South Carolina, slaves have never been admitted to the benefit of clergy for offences at common law; and thus a slave is punished capitally for maiming or grievously beating a white man. Mr. Burt was also understood to say that there were “six or eight,” or “eight or ten,” offences in South Carolina for which slaves were punished capitally, but for which white men were not.
Mr. Mannreplied that he had stated what he believed to be true; but if he had fallen into any mistake, he should be most happy to be corrected. He was assured also by the gentleman from Georgia, onhis left, [Mr.Toombs,] that no such distinction existed as he had supposed; and it was but reasonable to believe that those gentlemen were more conversant with the southern laws than himself.
Mr. Mannadded that he, (Mr. Mann,) could not be expected to have the statute books of the Southern States before him, at that time, to meet so unexpected a denial. Neither could he be expected by any honorable gentleman to make a retraction until he had time to see whether the ground he had taken were tenable.
Note by Mr. Mann.On repairing to the Law library to ascertain which party was right in regard to the above difference of opinion, the second book I opened contained at least three cases, where the courts were authorized to sentence a slave to be transported for the commission of an offence, for which a white man must be unconditionally hung. See North Carolina Rev. Stat. vol. i. chap. 3, §§ 36, 37, 39. Of course, the reason of this difference is the pecuniary value of the slave. Hung, he would be worthless; transported to Cuba, he might bring five hundred dollars.The law was formerly so in Mr. Burt’s own state.In the seventh volume of the Statutes at Large of South Carolina, No. 344, § 5, I find the following: “Andwhereas, it has been found by experience that the execution of several negroes for felonies of a smaller nature, by which they have been condemned to die, has been of great charge and expense to the public, and will continue, (if some remedy be not found,) to be very chargeable and burdensome to this province;Be it therefore enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that all negroes or other slaves who shall be convicted and found guilty of any capital crime, (murder excepted,) for which they used to receive the sentence of death, as the law directs, shall be transported from this province, by the public receiver for the time being, to any other of his majesty’s plantations, or other foreign part, where he shall think fitting to send them,for the use of the public.”The slave condemned to transportation was to be appraised, and his master paid out of the public treasury, and this amount was, of course, to be reimbursed by what should be received from the foreign sale. From the statement of Mr. Burt, that no such lawnowexists in South Carolina, I suppose the above enactment must have been repealed.Thefactstated in the speech is therefore proved, although the instances may be fewer than I had supposed. As to the motive attributed, there can be no doubt. The cases are most numerous in the Southern States, where white men are merelyimprisonedfor offences for which slaves are whipped, branded, and cropped, or otherwise corporally punished. The slave’s time is too valuable tobe lost in a prison, but the white man’s is not; the white man’s skin is too sacred to be flayed or branded, but the slave’s is not.But laws which punish “six or eight,” or “eight or ten,” or any other number of offences with death, when committed by slaves, while the same offences receive a milder penalty when committed by whites; or laws denying the benefit of clergy, (where that relic of barbarism still prevails,) to a slave, while it is granted to a white man, are surely among the greatest atrocities recorded in the history of the race. Ponder for a moment upon the accursed fact. A freeman acting under all the motives to self-respect; moved by all the incentives to good conduct; enjoying all the means of education; inspired by all the influences of the gospel; and capable of comprehending all the powerful restraints and the sublime rewards connected with a hereafter,exoneratedfrom the punishment of death; while death, in all the horrors with which ignorance and superstition can invest it, is inflicted upon men who are subjected to bondage; deprived of all motive for honorable conduct; debarred from every avenue to knowledge by cruel penalties; blinded to the light of the gospel; and, in a land of boasted Christianity, left in the darkness of heathenism! These are not the customs of a lawless banditti, of outcasts or renegades, but solemn enactments of state legislatures, devised by talent and eminence, enforced and preserved by the oligarchical few, by the virtual nobility and flower of populous communities. Such laws demand a return of five talents, under penalty of death, where only one talent had been confided; they absolve him who had received five talents, though he brings none of them back. Such laws make the Scriptures read, that the servant who knoweth his lord’s will, but doeth it not, shall be beaten with but few stripes; but the servant who did not know it, whom his very master debarred from knowing it, shall be beaten with many stripes; for unto whomsoever much is given, but little shall be required; but to whom men have committed much, of him little shall be asked. What shall be thought of a system,AND OF EXTENDING A SYSTEM, which so perverts the hearts of men, otherwise clear-headed, high-minded, and generous!What more fitting theme could be conceived, were the arch-enemy of mankind to compose aburlesque, in ridicule ofRepublics, to be represented in that Theatre which is all “Pit”?It is not, however, theexistenceof slavery, but itsextension, we now intend to avert.
Note by Mr. Mann.On repairing to the Law library to ascertain which party was right in regard to the above difference of opinion, the second book I opened contained at least three cases, where the courts were authorized to sentence a slave to be transported for the commission of an offence, for which a white man must be unconditionally hung. See North Carolina Rev. Stat. vol. i. chap. 3, §§ 36, 37, 39. Of course, the reason of this difference is the pecuniary value of the slave. Hung, he would be worthless; transported to Cuba, he might bring five hundred dollars.
The law was formerly so in Mr. Burt’s own state.
In the seventh volume of the Statutes at Large of South Carolina, No. 344, § 5, I find the following: “Andwhereas, it has been found by experience that the execution of several negroes for felonies of a smaller nature, by which they have been condemned to die, has been of great charge and expense to the public, and will continue, (if some remedy be not found,) to be very chargeable and burdensome to this province;Be it therefore enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that all negroes or other slaves who shall be convicted and found guilty of any capital crime, (murder excepted,) for which they used to receive the sentence of death, as the law directs, shall be transported from this province, by the public receiver for the time being, to any other of his majesty’s plantations, or other foreign part, where he shall think fitting to send them,for the use of the public.”
The slave condemned to transportation was to be appraised, and his master paid out of the public treasury, and this amount was, of course, to be reimbursed by what should be received from the foreign sale. From the statement of Mr. Burt, that no such lawnowexists in South Carolina, I suppose the above enactment must have been repealed.
Thefactstated in the speech is therefore proved, although the instances may be fewer than I had supposed. As to the motive attributed, there can be no doubt. The cases are most numerous in the Southern States, where white men are merelyimprisonedfor offences for which slaves are whipped, branded, and cropped, or otherwise corporally punished. The slave’s time is too valuable tobe lost in a prison, but the white man’s is not; the white man’s skin is too sacred to be flayed or branded, but the slave’s is not.
But laws which punish “six or eight,” or “eight or ten,” or any other number of offences with death, when committed by slaves, while the same offences receive a milder penalty when committed by whites; or laws denying the benefit of clergy, (where that relic of barbarism still prevails,) to a slave, while it is granted to a white man, are surely among the greatest atrocities recorded in the history of the race. Ponder for a moment upon the accursed fact. A freeman acting under all the motives to self-respect; moved by all the incentives to good conduct; enjoying all the means of education; inspired by all the influences of the gospel; and capable of comprehending all the powerful restraints and the sublime rewards connected with a hereafter,exoneratedfrom the punishment of death; while death, in all the horrors with which ignorance and superstition can invest it, is inflicted upon men who are subjected to bondage; deprived of all motive for honorable conduct; debarred from every avenue to knowledge by cruel penalties; blinded to the light of the gospel; and, in a land of boasted Christianity, left in the darkness of heathenism! These are not the customs of a lawless banditti, of outcasts or renegades, but solemn enactments of state legislatures, devised by talent and eminence, enforced and preserved by the oligarchical few, by the virtual nobility and flower of populous communities. Such laws demand a return of five talents, under penalty of death, where only one talent had been confided; they absolve him who had received five talents, though he brings none of them back. Such laws make the Scriptures read, that the servant who knoweth his lord’s will, but doeth it not, shall be beaten with but few stripes; but the servant who did not know it, whom his very master debarred from knowing it, shall be beaten with many stripes; for unto whomsoever much is given, but little shall be required; but to whom men have committed much, of him little shall be asked. What shall be thought of a system,AND OF EXTENDING A SYSTEM, which so perverts the hearts of men, otherwise clear-headed, high-minded, and generous!
What more fitting theme could be conceived, were the arch-enemy of mankind to compose aburlesque, in ridicule ofRepublics, to be represented in that Theatre which is all “Pit”?
It is not, however, theexistenceof slavery, but itsextension, we now intend to avert.
The last paragraph in the foregoing speech gave rise to the following correspondence, which was published in the National Intelligencer:—
LETTER FROM MR. MANN.
Messrs. Editors; Your paper of this morning contains a portion of a speech of the Hon.Mr. Badger, of North Carolina, delivered in the Senate on the 19th instant, in which he comments upon some remarks lately made by me in the House of Representatives. The respect which, (without any personal acquaintance,) I have long entertained for this distinguished senator, would deter me from noticing any such miscontructions of my remarks as a candid mind might inadvertently commit; but the misrepresentations which the senator has made are so gratuitous and gross, that I am constrained to notice them. I therefore ask the favor of a place in your paper, where he can answer me, if he pleases, though he chose a place for his animadversions where he knew I could not answer him.
The following is a passage in his speech:—
“Nor, Mr. President, must I forget that, in considering the effect which this proviso is likely to have upon the condition of the southern mind, we must look to what has been said by northern gentlemen in connection with this subject. Permit me to call the attention of the Senate to a very brief extract from a speech delivered in the other end of the capitol:—“‘In conclusion, I have only to add, that such is my solemn and abiding conviction of the character of slavery, that, under a full sense of my responsibility to my country and my God, I deliberately say, better disunion, better a civil or a servile war, better any thing that God in his providence shall send, than an extension of the bounds of slavery.’“Several Senators.Whose speech is that?“A Senator.Mr. Mann’s.“Mr. Badger.We have heard much, Mr. President, of the violence of southern declamation. I have most carefully avoided reading the speeches of southern gentlemen who were supposed to be liable to that charge. I happened, however, in the early part of this session, and before the other House was organized, to be in that body when there were some bursts of feeling and denunciation from southern gentlemen, which I heard with pain, mortification, almost with anguish of mind. But, sir, these were bursts of feeling; these were passionate and excited declarations; these had every thing to plead for them as being spontaneous and fiery ebullitions of men burning at the moment under a sense of wrong. And where, among these, will you find any thing equal to the cool, calm, deliberate announcement of the philosophic mind that delivered in the other House the passage which I have read: ‘Better disunion, better a civil or a servile war, better any thing that God in his providence shall send, than an extension of the bounds of slavery.’“In other words, it is the deliberate, settled, fixed opinion of the honorable gentleman who made that speech, that rather than the extension of slaveryone foot,—yes sir, there is no qualification,one foot,—he would prefer a disunion of these states; he would prefer all the horrors of civil war, all themonstrous, untold, and almost inconceivable atrocities of a servile war; he would pile the earth with dead; he would light up heaven with midnight conflagrations; all this, yea, and more,—all the vials of wrath which God in his providence might see fit to pour down upon us, he would suffer, rather than permit, not one man who is now free to be made a slave,—that would be extravagant enough,—but rather than permit one man who now stands upon the soil of North Carolina a slave, to stand a slave upon the soil of New Mexico:“Yes, sir, here is a sacrifice of life and happiness, and of all that is dear to the black and white races together, to a mere idealism,—a sacrifice proposed by a gentleman who claims to be a philosopher, and to speak the language of calm deliberation,—a sacrifice of our glorious Union proposed by a patriot,—not rather than freemen should be made slaves,—not rather than the condition of even one human being should be made worse than it now is,—but rather than one man shall remove from one spot of the earth to another without an improvement of his condition, without passing from slavery to freedom. Sir, after that announcement, thus made, which I beg to say, sir, I did not seek,—for the speech I have never read; the extract I found in one of the newspapers of the day,—after that announcement, talk not of southern violence, talk not of southern egotism, talk not of our disposition to sacrifice to our peculiar notions and our peculiar relations, the peace and happiness, the growing prosperity, and the mutual concord of this great Union. Now, sir, if that announcement goes abroad into the southern country, attended by the wanton application of this Wilmot proviso, an irritating commentary upon that patriotic announcement, what can be expected? What but the deepest emotions of indignation in the bosoms of those born and brought up where slavery exists, and taking totally different views of the institution from those which are taken by the honorable gentleman who has placed himself upon this cool and deliberate, humane and philosophical position.”By his own confession, Mr. Badger had not read my speech. He takes up a single sentence, therefore, for comment, without the justice of looking at the context. He is like the man who should declare that the Scriptures say “there is no God,” when it is the fool, and not the Bible, that makes the declaration. My speech discussed the question of extending slavery over our territories and the proposed southern remedy for prohibiting that extension, namely, the disunion of the states. The conclusion to which I came was, that the north had better submit to the application of the southern remedy, than to surrender the new territories to all the horrors of bondage. Beyond our present limits “no more slave territories and no more slave states,” was the exact ground I took. But Mr. Badger represents me as saying that I would “prefer a disunion of these states,” and all the other evils in his long and labored catalogue, “rather than the extension of slaveryone foot;” “yes,” he repeats with emphasis, “one foot.” Now, I never made such a declaration as this. I never said any thing to give countenance or color to such a declaration. Many persons, seeing the statement of the honorable senator, and relying upon his character for fairness and veracity, have believed that I did. But he has led them into the error. My argument and conclusion had reference to new slave territories, or to a new slave territory. Mr. Badger construes, or rather misconstrues this to mean “one foot.” If my speech is fairly susceptible of this construction, I wish so far to retract it. He shall have my consent to a “one foot” territory, and to as many slaves as he can hold on it under thelocal law.Mr. Badger further charges me with invoking all the calamities he enumerates, “rather than permit one man who now stands upon the soil of North Carolina a slave, to stand a slave upon the soil of New Mexico.” This statement is not merely forced, but fabricated. Surely I said no such thing. I intimated nor hinted at, nor thought of such a thing. There may be little choice whether any one man who now “stands a slave,” shall “stand a slave” in one place or in another,if that be all. In a national point of view, and looking at the subject as a statesman, the sentiment imputed to me is simply ridiculous. But this wrongful imputation of such a sentiment, without substance or semblance to justify it, is far worse than ridiculous; it becomes unjust and ungenerous; and is none the less so for being made in a place where he knew I could not repel it. The whole scope and stress of my argument went against yielding any such portion of our new acquisitions to slavery as would form either a state or a territory. The eight or ten southern legislatures, the eight or ten governors of southern states, the southern Senators and Representatives in Congress, and the confederates in getting up the Nashville Convention, have never, to my knowledge, proposed a compromise on the platform of a “one foot” territory, or expressed their readiness to spare the Union if “one man who stands a slave in North Carolina,” is permitted to “stand a slave in New Mexico.” When such an issue is brought forward seriously, it will be met seriously. But the real issue on this point is, (and the senator must know it,) whether the victims of slavery shall be indefinitely multiplied by the addition to its domain of regions now free. That the creation of a new slave territory will increase the victims of slavery, is a proposition too plain to be argued. To deny this, is to assert that if slavery had been confined to the State of Virginia, or to the settlement at Jamestown, where the first cargo of slaves was landed, the present number of slaves in this country would be no less than it now is; or, in other words, there would now be three millions of slaves within the limits of Virginia, or within the limits of Jamestown.I have made this reply to the honorable senator from North Carolina with great reluctance, and from no motive of personal unkindness. I have long been accustomed to regard his character with respect, and his opinions with deference; and I am happy in an opportunity to express a feeling of personal gratitude for his former endeavors to avert from the councils of the nation the subject-matter of this most lamentable contention.Very truly, yours, &c., HORACE MANN.Washington, March 28, 1850.P. S. Another point in the honorable senator’s speech, in which he attempts to vindicate the penal slave code of North Carolina and of the other Southern States from the taint of cupidity, may be safely left without comment to intelligent men. Every student of thecriminallegislation of the Southern States in regard to slaves, knows that their laws are replete with proofs where the sensibilities of a man are sacrificed to the spirit of gain.
“Nor, Mr. President, must I forget that, in considering the effect which this proviso is likely to have upon the condition of the southern mind, we must look to what has been said by northern gentlemen in connection with this subject. Permit me to call the attention of the Senate to a very brief extract from a speech delivered in the other end of the capitol:—
“‘In conclusion, I have only to add, that such is my solemn and abiding conviction of the character of slavery, that, under a full sense of my responsibility to my country and my God, I deliberately say, better disunion, better a civil or a servile war, better any thing that God in his providence shall send, than an extension of the bounds of slavery.’
“Several Senators.Whose speech is that?
“A Senator.Mr. Mann’s.
“Mr. Badger.We have heard much, Mr. President, of the violence of southern declamation. I have most carefully avoided reading the speeches of southern gentlemen who were supposed to be liable to that charge. I happened, however, in the early part of this session, and before the other House was organized, to be in that body when there were some bursts of feeling and denunciation from southern gentlemen, which I heard with pain, mortification, almost with anguish of mind. But, sir, these were bursts of feeling; these were passionate and excited declarations; these had every thing to plead for them as being spontaneous and fiery ebullitions of men burning at the moment under a sense of wrong. And where, among these, will you find any thing equal to the cool, calm, deliberate announcement of the philosophic mind that delivered in the other House the passage which I have read: ‘Better disunion, better a civil or a servile war, better any thing that God in his providence shall send, than an extension of the bounds of slavery.’
“In other words, it is the deliberate, settled, fixed opinion of the honorable gentleman who made that speech, that rather than the extension of slaveryone foot,—yes sir, there is no qualification,one foot,—he would prefer a disunion of these states; he would prefer all the horrors of civil war, all themonstrous, untold, and almost inconceivable atrocities of a servile war; he would pile the earth with dead; he would light up heaven with midnight conflagrations; all this, yea, and more,—all the vials of wrath which God in his providence might see fit to pour down upon us, he would suffer, rather than permit, not one man who is now free to be made a slave,—that would be extravagant enough,—but rather than permit one man who now stands upon the soil of North Carolina a slave, to stand a slave upon the soil of New Mexico:
“Yes, sir, here is a sacrifice of life and happiness, and of all that is dear to the black and white races together, to a mere idealism,—a sacrifice proposed by a gentleman who claims to be a philosopher, and to speak the language of calm deliberation,—a sacrifice of our glorious Union proposed by a patriot,—not rather than freemen should be made slaves,—not rather than the condition of even one human being should be made worse than it now is,—but rather than one man shall remove from one spot of the earth to another without an improvement of his condition, without passing from slavery to freedom. Sir, after that announcement, thus made, which I beg to say, sir, I did not seek,—for the speech I have never read; the extract I found in one of the newspapers of the day,—after that announcement, talk not of southern violence, talk not of southern egotism, talk not of our disposition to sacrifice to our peculiar notions and our peculiar relations, the peace and happiness, the growing prosperity, and the mutual concord of this great Union. Now, sir, if that announcement goes abroad into the southern country, attended by the wanton application of this Wilmot proviso, an irritating commentary upon that patriotic announcement, what can be expected? What but the deepest emotions of indignation in the bosoms of those born and brought up where slavery exists, and taking totally different views of the institution from those which are taken by the honorable gentleman who has placed himself upon this cool and deliberate, humane and philosophical position.”
By his own confession, Mr. Badger had not read my speech. He takes up a single sentence, therefore, for comment, without the justice of looking at the context. He is like the man who should declare that the Scriptures say “there is no God,” when it is the fool, and not the Bible, that makes the declaration. My speech discussed the question of extending slavery over our territories and the proposed southern remedy for prohibiting that extension, namely, the disunion of the states. The conclusion to which I came was, that the north had better submit to the application of the southern remedy, than to surrender the new territories to all the horrors of bondage. Beyond our present limits “no more slave territories and no more slave states,” was the exact ground I took. But Mr. Badger represents me as saying that I would “prefer a disunion of these states,” and all the other evils in his long and labored catalogue, “rather than the extension of slaveryone foot;” “yes,” he repeats with emphasis, “one foot.” Now, I never made such a declaration as this. I never said any thing to give countenance or color to such a declaration. Many persons, seeing the statement of the honorable senator, and relying upon his character for fairness and veracity, have believed that I did. But he has led them into the error. My argument and conclusion had reference to new slave territories, or to a new slave territory. Mr. Badger construes, or rather misconstrues this to mean “one foot.” If my speech is fairly susceptible of this construction, I wish so far to retract it. He shall have my consent to a “one foot” territory, and to as many slaves as he can hold on it under thelocal law.
Mr. Badger further charges me with invoking all the calamities he enumerates, “rather than permit one man who now stands upon the soil of North Carolina a slave, to stand a slave upon the soil of New Mexico.” This statement is not merely forced, but fabricated. Surely I said no such thing. I intimated nor hinted at, nor thought of such a thing. There may be little choice whether any one man who now “stands a slave,” shall “stand a slave” in one place or in another,if that be all. In a national point of view, and looking at the subject as a statesman, the sentiment imputed to me is simply ridiculous. But this wrongful imputation of such a sentiment, without substance or semblance to justify it, is far worse than ridiculous; it becomes unjust and ungenerous; and is none the less so for being made in a place where he knew I could not repel it. The whole scope and stress of my argument went against yielding any such portion of our new acquisitions to slavery as would form either a state or a territory. The eight or ten southern legislatures, the eight or ten governors of southern states, the southern Senators and Representatives in Congress, and the confederates in getting up the Nashville Convention, have never, to my knowledge, proposed a compromise on the platform of a “one foot” territory, or expressed their readiness to spare the Union if “one man who stands a slave in North Carolina,” is permitted to “stand a slave in New Mexico.” When such an issue is brought forward seriously, it will be met seriously. But the real issue on this point is, (and the senator must know it,) whether the victims of slavery shall be indefinitely multiplied by the addition to its domain of regions now free. That the creation of a new slave territory will increase the victims of slavery, is a proposition too plain to be argued. To deny this, is to assert that if slavery had been confined to the State of Virginia, or to the settlement at Jamestown, where the first cargo of slaves was landed, the present number of slaves in this country would be no less than it now is; or, in other words, there would now be three millions of slaves within the limits of Virginia, or within the limits of Jamestown.
I have made this reply to the honorable senator from North Carolina with great reluctance, and from no motive of personal unkindness. I have long been accustomed to regard his character with respect, and his opinions with deference; and I am happy in an opportunity to express a feeling of personal gratitude for his former endeavors to avert from the councils of the nation the subject-matter of this most lamentable contention.
Very truly, yours, &c., HORACE MANN.Washington, March 28, 1850.
P. S. Another point in the honorable senator’s speech, in which he attempts to vindicate the penal slave code of North Carolina and of the other Southern States from the taint of cupidity, may be safely left without comment to intelligent men. Every student of thecriminallegislation of the Southern States in regard to slaves, knows that their laws are replete with proofs where the sensibilities of a man are sacrificed to the spirit of gain.
FOOTNOTES:[8]In February, 1847, Mr. Calhoun offered a series of resolutions in the Senate of the United States, among which was the following:—“Resolved, That it is a fundamental principle in our political creed, that a people, in forming a constitution, have the unconditional right to form and adopt the government which they may think best calculated to secure their liberty, prosperity and happiness; and, in conformity thereto, no other condition is imposed by the Federal Constitution on a state, in order to be admitted into this Union, except that its constitution shall be “republican;” and that the imposition of any other by Congress would not only be in violation of the constitution, but in direct conflict with the principle on which our political system rests.”In sustaining these resolutions, he said,—“Sir, I hold it to be a fundamental principle of our political system that the people have a right to establish what government they may think proper for themselves; that every stateABOUTto become a member of this Union has a right toFORM ITS OWN GOVERNMENT AS IT PLEASES; and that, in order to be admitted, there is but one qualification, and that is, that the government shall be republican. There is no express provision to that effect, but it results from that important section which guaranties to every state in this Union a republican form of government.”Mr. Senator Downs, of Louisiana, offered the following resolution:—“Resolved, That it is competent and expedient, and not inconsistent with the practice of the government in some cases, to admit California, or such portion of it as Congress may deem proper, immediately into the Union, on an equal footing with the other states; and that the committee on —— be instructed to report a bill for that purpose, for that portion of California which lies west of the summit of the Sierra Nevada mountains.”The doctrine of these resolutions was fully indorsed by the WashingtonUnion, speaking, doubtless, (for it never spoke any thing else,) the sentiments of the then administration.“The south denies that Congress has any jurisdiction over the subject of slavery, and contends that thepeople of the territories alone, when they frame a constitution, preparatory to admission into the Union,have a right to speak and be heard on that matter. This fact being settled,it really seems to us that this exciting question might be speedily adjusted, if calm counsels prevail. The south contends for her honor, and for the great principles of non-intervention and state equality.Why, then, cannot all unite, and permit California to come into the Union as soon as she can frame a constitution?Then, according to the doctrines which prevail on both sides of Mason’s and Dixon’s line, she may constitutionally establish her domestic institutions on any basis consistent with republican principles.The south could lose nothing by adopting this course. On the contrary, she would save all for which she contends.”
[8]In February, 1847, Mr. Calhoun offered a series of resolutions in the Senate of the United States, among which was the following:—“Resolved, That it is a fundamental principle in our political creed, that a people, in forming a constitution, have the unconditional right to form and adopt the government which they may think best calculated to secure their liberty, prosperity and happiness; and, in conformity thereto, no other condition is imposed by the Federal Constitution on a state, in order to be admitted into this Union, except that its constitution shall be “republican;” and that the imposition of any other by Congress would not only be in violation of the constitution, but in direct conflict with the principle on which our political system rests.”In sustaining these resolutions, he said,—“Sir, I hold it to be a fundamental principle of our political system that the people have a right to establish what government they may think proper for themselves; that every stateABOUTto become a member of this Union has a right toFORM ITS OWN GOVERNMENT AS IT PLEASES; and that, in order to be admitted, there is but one qualification, and that is, that the government shall be republican. There is no express provision to that effect, but it results from that important section which guaranties to every state in this Union a republican form of government.”Mr. Senator Downs, of Louisiana, offered the following resolution:—“Resolved, That it is competent and expedient, and not inconsistent with the practice of the government in some cases, to admit California, or such portion of it as Congress may deem proper, immediately into the Union, on an equal footing with the other states; and that the committee on —— be instructed to report a bill for that purpose, for that portion of California which lies west of the summit of the Sierra Nevada mountains.”The doctrine of these resolutions was fully indorsed by the WashingtonUnion, speaking, doubtless, (for it never spoke any thing else,) the sentiments of the then administration.“The south denies that Congress has any jurisdiction over the subject of slavery, and contends that thepeople of the territories alone, when they frame a constitution, preparatory to admission into the Union,have a right to speak and be heard on that matter. This fact being settled,it really seems to us that this exciting question might be speedily adjusted, if calm counsels prevail. The south contends for her honor, and for the great principles of non-intervention and state equality.Why, then, cannot all unite, and permit California to come into the Union as soon as she can frame a constitution?Then, according to the doctrines which prevail on both sides of Mason’s and Dixon’s line, she may constitutionally establish her domestic institutions on any basis consistent with republican principles.The south could lose nothing by adopting this course. On the contrary, she would save all for which she contends.”
[8]In February, 1847, Mr. Calhoun offered a series of resolutions in the Senate of the United States, among which was the following:—
“Resolved, That it is a fundamental principle in our political creed, that a people, in forming a constitution, have the unconditional right to form and adopt the government which they may think best calculated to secure their liberty, prosperity and happiness; and, in conformity thereto, no other condition is imposed by the Federal Constitution on a state, in order to be admitted into this Union, except that its constitution shall be “republican;” and that the imposition of any other by Congress would not only be in violation of the constitution, but in direct conflict with the principle on which our political system rests.”
In sustaining these resolutions, he said,—
“Sir, I hold it to be a fundamental principle of our political system that the people have a right to establish what government they may think proper for themselves; that every stateABOUTto become a member of this Union has a right toFORM ITS OWN GOVERNMENT AS IT PLEASES; and that, in order to be admitted, there is but one qualification, and that is, that the government shall be republican. There is no express provision to that effect, but it results from that important section which guaranties to every state in this Union a republican form of government.”
Mr. Senator Downs, of Louisiana, offered the following resolution:—
“Resolved, That it is competent and expedient, and not inconsistent with the practice of the government in some cases, to admit California, or such portion of it as Congress may deem proper, immediately into the Union, on an equal footing with the other states; and that the committee on —— be instructed to report a bill for that purpose, for that portion of California which lies west of the summit of the Sierra Nevada mountains.”
The doctrine of these resolutions was fully indorsed by the WashingtonUnion, speaking, doubtless, (for it never spoke any thing else,) the sentiments of the then administration.
“The south denies that Congress has any jurisdiction over the subject of slavery, and contends that thepeople of the territories alone, when they frame a constitution, preparatory to admission into the Union,have a right to speak and be heard on that matter. This fact being settled,it really seems to us that this exciting question might be speedily adjusted, if calm counsels prevail. The south contends for her honor, and for the great principles of non-intervention and state equality.Why, then, cannot all unite, and permit California to come into the Union as soon as she can frame a constitution?Then, according to the doctrines which prevail on both sides of Mason’s and Dixon’s line, she may constitutionally establish her domestic institutions on any basis consistent with republican principles.The south could lose nothing by adopting this course. On the contrary, she would save all for which she contends.”