American Eloquence, Volume II. (of 4) by Various

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Having now shown what cannot save the Union, I return to the question
with which I commenced, How can the Union be saved? There is but one
way by which it can with any certainty; and that is, by a full and final
settlement, on the principle of justice, of all the questions at issue
between the two sections. The South asks for justice, simple justice,
and less she ought not to take. She has no compromise to offer, but the
Constitution; and no concession or surrender to make. She has already
surrendered so much that she has little left to surrender. Such a
settlement would go to the root of the evil, and remove all cause of
discontent, by satisfying the South that she could remain honorably
and safely in the Union, and thereby restore the harmony and fraternal
feelings between the sections, which existed anterior to the Missouri
agitation. Nothing else can, with any certainty, finally and forever
settle the question at issue, terminate agitation, and save the Union.

But can this be done? Yes, easily; not by the weaker party, for it can,
of itself do nothing,--not even protect itself--but by the stronger. The
North has only to will it to accomplish it--to do justice by conceding
to the South an equal right in the acquired territory, and to do her
duty by causing the stipulations relative to fugitive slaves to be
faithfully fulfilled, to cease the agitation of the slave question, and
to provide for the insertion of a provision in the Constitution, by an
amendment, which will restore to the South, in substance, the power
she possessed of protecting herself, before the equilibrium between the
sections was destroyed by the action of this Government. There will be
no difficulty in devising such a provision--one that will protect the
South, and which, at the same time, will improve and strengthen the
Government, instead of impairing and weakening it.

But will the North agree to this? It is for her to answer the question.
But, I will say, she cannot refuse, if she has half the love for the
Union which she professes to have, or without justly exposing herself to
the charge that her love of power and aggrandizement is far greater than
her love of the Union. At all events the responsibility of saving the
Union rests on the North, and not on the South. The South cannot save
it by any act of hers, and the North may save it without any sacrifice
whatever, unless to do justice, and to perform her duties under the
Constitution, should be regarded by her as a sacrifice.

It is time, Senators, that there should be an open and manly avowal on
all sides, as to what is intended to be done. If the question is not now
settled, it is uncertain whether it ever can hereafter be; and we,
as the representatives of the States of this Union, regarded as
governments, should come to a distinct understanding as to our
respective views, in order to ascertain whether the great questions at
issue can be settled or not. If you, who represent the stronger portion,
cannot agree to settle on the broad principle of justice and duty, say
so; and let the States we both represent agree to separate and part in
peace. If you are unwilling we should part in peace, tell us so, and
we shall know what to do, when you reduce the question to submission or
resistance. If you remain silent, you will compel us to infer by your
acts what you intend. In that case, California will become the test
question. If you admit her, under all the difficulties that oppose her
admission, you compel us to infer that you intend to exclude us from
the whole of the acquired territories, with the intention of destroying,
irretrievably, the equilibrium between the two sections. We would be
blind not to perceive in that case, that your real objects are power and
aggrandizement, and infatuated, not to act accordingly.

I have now, Senators, done my duty in ex-pressing my opinions fully,
freely and candidly, on this solemn occasion. In doing so, I have been
governed by the motives which have governed me in all the stages of the
agitation of the slavery question since its commencement. I have exerted
myself, during the whole period, to arrest it, with the intention of
saving the Union, if it could be done; and if it could not, to save
the section where it has pleased Providence to cast my lot, and which I
sincerely believe has justice and the Constitution on its side. Having
faithfully done my duty to the best of my ability, both to the Union and
my section, throughout this agitation, I shall have the consolation, let
what will come, that I am free from all responsibility.

[Illustration: Daniel Webster]

DANIEL WEBSTER,

OF MASSACHUSETTS. (BORN, 1782, DIED, 1852.)

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. * * *

But we must view things as they are. Slavery does exist in the
United States. It did exist in the States before the adoption of this
Constitution, and at that time. Let us, therefore, consider for a
moment what was the state of sentiment, North and South, in regard
to slavery,--in regard to slavery, at the time this Constitution was
adopted. A remarkable change has taken place since; but what did the
wise and great men of all parts of the country think of slavery then? In
what estimation did they hold it at the time when this Constitution was
adopted? It will be found, sir, if we will carry ourselves by historical
research back to that day, and ascertain men's opinions by authentic
records still existing among us, that there was no diversity of opinion
between the North and the South upon the subject of slavery. It will be
found that both parts of the country held it equally an evil, a moral
and political evil. It will not be found that, either at the North or
at the South, there was much, though there was some, invective against
slavery as inhuman and cruel. The great ground of objection to it was
political; that it weakened the social fabric; that, taking the place
of free labor, society became less strong and labor less productive;
and therefore we find from all the eminent men of the time the clearest
expression of their opinion that slavery is an evil. They ascribed its
existence here, not without truth, and not without some acerbity of
temper and force of language, to the injurious policy of the mother
country, who, to favor the navigator, had entailed these evils upon the
colonies. * * * You observe, sir, that the term slave, or slavery, is
not used in the Constitution. The Constitution does not require that
"fugitive slaves" shall be delivered up. It requires that persons held
to service in one State, and escaping into another, shall be delivered
up. Mr. Madison opposed the introduction of the term slave, or slavery,
into the Constitution; for he said, that he did not wish to see it
recognized by the Constitution of the United States of America that
there could be property in men. * * *

Here we may pause. There was, if not an entire unanimity, a general
concurrence of sentiment running through the whole community, and
especially entertained by the eminent men of all parts of the country.
But soon a change began, at the North and the South, and a difference
of opinion showed itself; the North growing much more warm and strong
against slavery, and the South growing much more warm and strong in its
support. Sir, there is no generation of mankind whose opinions are not
subject to be influenced by what appear to them to be their present
emergent and exigent interests. I impute to the South no particularly
selfish view in the change which has come over her. I impute to her
certainly no dishonest view. All that has happened has been natural.
It has followed those causes which always influence the human mind and
operate upon it. What, then, have been the causes which have created so
new a feeling in favor of slavery in the South, which have changed the
whole nomenclature of the South on that subject, so that, from being
thought and described in the terms I have mentioned and will not repeat,
it has now become an institution, a cherished institution, in that
quarter; no evil, no scourge, but a great religious, social, and moral
blessing, as I think I have heard it latterly spoken of? I suppose this,
sir, is owing to the rapid growth and sudden extension of the cotton
plantations of the South. So far as any motive consistent with honor,
justice, and general judgment could act, it was the cotton interest
that gave a new desire to promote slavery, to spread it, and to use its
labor.

I again say that this change was produced by causes which must always
produce like effects. The whole interest of the South became connected,
more or less, with the extension of slavery. If we look back to the
history of the commerce of this country in the early years of this
government, what were our exports? Cotton was hardly, or but to a very
limited extent, known. In 1791 the first parcel of cotton of the growth
of the United States was exported, and amounted only to 19,200 pounds.
It has gone on increasing rapidly, until the whole crop may now,
perhaps, in a season of great product and high prices, amount to a
hundred millions of dollars. In the years I have mentioned, there was
more of wax, more of indigo, more of rice, more of almost every article
of export from the South, than of cotton. When Mr. Jay negotiated the
treaty of 1794 with England, it is evident from the Twelfth Article of
the Treaty, which was suspended by the Senate, that he did not know that
cotton was exported at all from the United States.

* * * * *

Sir, there is not so remarkable a chapter in our history of political
events, political parties, and political men as is afforded by this
admission of a new slave-holding territory, so vast that a bird cannot
fly over it in a week. New England, as I have said, with some of her
own votes, supported this measure. Three-fourths of the votes of
liberty-loving Connecticut were given for it in the other house, and one
half here. There was one vote for it from Maine but, I am happy to say,
not the vote of the honorable member who addressed the Senate the day
before yesterday, and who was then a Representative from Maine in the
House of Representatives; but there was one vote from Maine, ay, and
there was one vote for it from Massachusetts, given by a gentleman then
representing, and now living in, the district in which the prevalence of
Free Soil sentiment for a couple of years or so has defeated the choice
of any member to represent it in Congress. Sir, that body of Northern
and Eastern men who gave those votes at that time are now seen taking
upon themselves, in the nomenclature of politics, the appellation of
the Northern Democracy. They undertook to wield the destinies of this
empire, if I may give that name to a Republic, and their policy was,
and they persisted in it, to bring into this country and under this
government all the territory they could. They did it, in the case of
Texas, under pledges, absolute pledges, to the slave interest, and they
afterwards lent their aid in bringing in these new conquests, to take
their chance for slavery or freedom. My honorable friend from Georgia,
in March, 1847, moved the Senate to declare that the war ought not to
be prosecuted for the conquest of territory, or for the dismemberment of
Mexico. The whole of the Northern Democracy voted against it. He did not
get a vote from them. It suited the patriotic and elevated sentiments of
the Northern Democracy to bring in a world from among the mountains and
valleys of California and New Mexico, or any other part of Mexico, and
then quarrel about it; to bring it in, and then endeavor to put upon
it the saving grace of the Wilmot Proviso. There were two eminent and
highly respectable gentlemen from the North and East, then leading
gentlemen in the Senate (I refer, and I do so with entire respect, for
I entertain for both of those gentlemen, in general, high regard, to Mr.
Dix of New York and Mr. Niles of Connecticut), who both voted for the
admission of Texas. They would not have that vote any other way than as
it stood; and they would have it as it did stand. I speak of the
vote upon the annexation of Texas. Those two gentlemen would have the
resolution of annexation just as it is, without amendment; and they
voted for it just as it is, and their eyes were all open to its true
character. The honorable member from South Carolina who addressed us
the other day was then Secretary of State. His correspondence with Mr.
Murphy, the Charge d'Affaires of the United States in Texas, had been
published. That correspondence was all before those gentlemen, and the
Secretary had the boldness and candor to avow in that correspondence,
that the great object sought by the annexation of Texas was to
strengthen the slave interest of the South. Why, sir, he said so in so
many words.

Mr. Calhoun. Will the honorable Senator permit me to interrupt him for a
moment? Mr. Webster. Certainly.

Mr. Calhoun. I am very reluctant to interrupt the honorable gentleman;
but, upon a point of so much importance, I deem it right to put myself
_rectus in curia_. I did not put it upon the ground assumed by the
Senator. I put it upon this ground; that Great Britain had announced to
this country, in so many words, that her object was to abolish slavery
in Texas, and, through Texas, to accomplish the abolition of slavery
in the United States and the world. The ground I put it on was, that it
would make an exposed frontier, and, if Great Britain succeeded in
her object, it would be impossible that that frontier could be secured
against the aggressions of the Abolitionists; and that this Government
was bound, under the guaranties of the Constitution, to protect us
against such a state of things.

Mr. Webster. That comes, I suppose, Sir, to exactly the same thing. It
was, that Texas must be obtained for the security of the slave interest
of the South.

Mr. Calhoun. Another view is very distinctly given.

Mr. Webster. That was the object set forth in the correspondence of a
worthy gentleman not now living, who preceded the honorable member from
South Carolina in the Department of State. There repose on the files
of the Department, as I have occasion to know, strong letters from Mr.
Upshur to the United States Minister in England, and I believe there are
some to the same Minister from the honorable Senator himself, asserting
to this effect the sentiments of this government; namely, that Great
Britain was expected not to interfere to take Texas out of the hands
of its then existing government and make it a free country. But my
argument, my suggestion, is this: that those gentlemen who composed the
Northern Democracy when Texas was brought into the Union saw clearly
that it was brought in as a slave country, and brought in for the
purpose of being maintained as slave territory, to the Greek Kalends.
I rather think the honorable gentleman who was then Secretary of State
might, in some of his correspondence with Mr. Murphy, have suggested
that it was not expedient to say too much about this object, lest it
should create some alarm. At any rate, Mr. Murphy wrote to him that
England was anxious to get rid of the constitution of Texas, because it
was a constitution establishing slavery; and that what the United
States had to do was to aid the people of Texas in upholding their
constitution; but that nothing should be said which should offend the
fanatical men of the North. But, Sir, the honorable member did avow this
object himself, openly, boldly, and manfully; he did not disguise his
conduct or his motives.

Mr. Calhoun. Never, never.

Mr. Webster. What he means he is very apt to say.

Mr. Calhoun. Always, always.

Mr. Webster. And I honor him for it.

This admission of Texas was in 1845. Then in 1847, _flagrante bello_
between the United States and Mexico, the proposition I have mentioned
was brought forward by my friend from Georgia, and the Northern
Democracy voted steadily against it. Their remedy was to apply to
the acquisitions, after they should come in, the Wilmot Proviso. What
follows? These two gentlemen, worthy and honorable and influential men
(and if they had not been they could not have carried the measure),
these two gentlemen, members of this body, brought in Texas, and by
their votes they also pre-vented the passage of the resolution of the
honorable member from Georgia, and then they went home and took the lead
in the Free Soil party. And there they stand, Sir! They leave us here,
bound in honor and conscience by the resolutions of annexation; they
leave us here, to take the odium of fulfilling the obligations in
favor of slavery which they voted us into, or else the greater odium of
violating those obligations, while they are at home making capital and
rousing speeches for free soil and no slavery. And therefore I say, Sir,
that there is not a chapter in our history, respecting public measures
and public men, more full of what would create surprise, and more full
of what does create, in my mind, extreme mortification, than that of the
conduct of the Northern Democracy on this subject.

Mr. President, sometimes when a man is found in a new relation to things
around him and to other men, he says the world has changed, and that he
is not changed. I believe, sir, that our self-respect leads us often
to make this declaration in regard to ourselves when it is not exactly
true. An individual is more apt to change, perhaps, than all the
world around him. But under the present circumstances, and under the
responsibility which I know I incur by what I am now stating here, I
feel at liberty to recur to the various expressions and statements,
made at various times, of my own opinions and resolutions respecting the
admission of Texas, and all that has followed.

* * * On other occasions, in debate here, I have expressed my
determination to vote for no acquisition, or cession, or annexation,
North or South, East or West. My opinion has been, that we have
territory enough, and that we should follow the Spartan maxim: "Improve,
adorn what you have,"--seek no further. I think that it was in some
observations that I made on the three million loan bill that I avowed
this sentiment. In short, sir, it has been avowed quite as often in as
many places, and before as many assemblies, as any humble opinions of
mine ought to be avowed.

But now that, under certain conditions, Texas is in the Union, with all
her territory, as a slave State, with a solemn pledge also that, if she
shall be divided into many States, those States may come in as slave
States south of 36 deg. 30', how are we to deal with this subject? I know no
way of honest legislation, when the proper time comes for the enactment,
but to carry into effect all that we have stipulated to do. * * *
That is the meaning of the contract which our friends, the northern
Democracy, have left us to fulfil; and I, for one, mean to fulfil it,
because I will not violate the faith of the Government. What I mean
to say is, that the time for the admission of new States formed out of
Texas, the number of such States, their boundaries, the requisite amount
of population, and all other things connected with the admission, are
in the free discretion of Congress, except this: to wit, that when new
States formed out of Texas are to be admitted, they have a right, by
legal stipulation and contract, to come in as slave States.

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