plexion-the wild consternation and furious gnashing of teeth exhibited by the chivalric oppressors, at the sig of an anti-slavery publication-the rewards offered for the persons of abolitionists-the whipping of Dresser, and the murder of Lovejoy-the plundering of the United States mail-the application of lynch law to all who are found sympathizing with the slave population as men, south of the Potomac— the reign of mobocracy in place of constitutional law-and, finally, the Pharaoh-like conduct of the masters, in imposing new burdens and heavier fetters upon their down-trodden vassals-all these things, together with a long catalogue of others, prove that the abolitionists have not set down aught in malice" against the South-that they have exaggerated nothing. They warn us, as with miraculous speech, that, unless justice be speedily done, a bloody catastrophe is to come, which will roll a gory tide of desolation through the land, and may peradventure blot out the memory of the scenes of St. Domingo. They are the premonitory rumblings of a great earthquake—the lava token of a heaving volcano! God grant, that while there is time and a way to escape, we may give heed to these signals of impending retribution! One thing I know full well. Calumniated, abhorred, persecuted as the abolitionists have been, they constitute the body-guard of the slaveholders, not to strengthen their oppression, but to shield them from the vengeance of their slaves. Instead of seeking their destruction, abolitionists are endeavoring to save them from midnight conflagration and sudden death, by beseeching them to remove the cause of insurrection; and by holding out to their slaves the hope of a peaceful deliverance. We do not desire that any should perish. Having a conscience void of offence in this matter, and cherishing a love for our race which is "without partiality and without hypocrisy," no impeachment of our motives, or assault upon our character, can disturb the serenity of our minds; nor can any threats of violence, or prospect of suffering, deter us from our purpose. That we manifest a bad spirit, is not to be decided on the testimony of the Southern slave-driver, or his Northern apologist. That our philanthropy is exclusive, in favor of but one party, is not proved by our denouncing the oppressor, and sympathizing with his victim. That we are seeking popularity, is not apparent from our advocating an odious and unpopular cause, and vindicating, at the loss of our reputation, the rights of a people who are reckoned among the offscouring of all things. That our motives are not disinterested, they who swim with the popular current, and partake of the gains of unrighteousness, and plunder the laborers of their wages, are not competent to determine. That our language is uncharitable and unchristian, they who revile us as madmen, fanatics, incendiaries, traitors, cut-throats, etc., etc., cannot be allowed to testify. That our measures are violent, is not demonstrated by the fact that we wield no physical weapons, pledge ourselves not to countenance insurrection, and present the peaceful front of non-resistance to those who put our lives in peril. That our object is chimerical or unrighteous, is not substantiated by the fact of its being commended by Almighty God, and supported by his omnipotence, as well as approved by the wise and good in every age and in all countries. If the charge, so often brought against us, be true, that our temper is rancorous and our spirit turbulent, how has it happened, that, during so long a conflict with slavery, not a single instance can be found in which an abolitionist has committed a breach of the peace, or violated any law of his country? If it be true, that we are not actuated by the highest principles of rectitude, nor governed by the spirit of forbearance, I ask, once more, how it has come to pass, that when our meetings have been repeatedly broken up by lawless men, our property burnt in the streets, our dwellings sacked, our persons brutally assailed, and our lives put in imminent peril, we have refused to lift a finger in self-defence, or to maintain our rights in the spirit of worldly patriotism? Will it be retorted, that we dare not resist-that we are cowards? Cowards! no man believes it. They are the dastards who maintain might makes right; whose arguments are brickbats and rotten eggs; whose weapons are dirks and bowie-knives; and whose code of justice is lynch law. A love of liberty, instead of unnerving men, makes them intrepid, heroic, invincible. It was so at Thermopylait was so on Bunker Hill. Who so tranquil, who so little agitated, in storm or sunshine, as the abolitionists? But what consternation, what running to and fro like men at their wits end, what trepidation, what anguish of spirit, on the part of their enemies! How southern slavemongers quake and tremble at the faintest whisperings of an abolitionist! For, truly, "the thief doth fear each bush an officer." Oh! the great poet of nature is right— "Thrice is he armed who hath his quarrel just- A greater than Shakespeare certifies the "wicked flee when no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a lion." In this great contest of right against wrong, of liberty against slavery, who are the wicked, if they be not those who, like vultures and vampyres, are gorging themselves with human blood? if they be not the plunderers of the poor, the spoilers of the defenceless, the traffickers in "slaves and the souls of men?" Who are the cowards, if not those who shrink from manly argumentation, the light of truth, the concussion of mind, and a fair field? if not those whose prowess, stimulated by whisky potations or the spirit of murder, grows rampant as the darkness of night approaches; whose shouts and yells are savage and fiend-like; who furiously exclaim: "Down with free discussion! down with the liberty of the press! down with the right of petition! down with constitutional law!" who rifle mail-bags, throw types and printing presses into the river, burn public halls dedicated to virtue, liberty, and independence," and assassinate the defenders of inalienable human rights? 66 And who are the righteous, in this case, if they be not those who will have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them;" who maintain that the laborer is worthy of his hire, that the marriage institution is sacred, that slavery is a system accursed of God, that tyrants are the enemies of mankind, and that immediate emancipation should be given to all who are pining in bondage? Who are the truly brave, if not those who demand for truth and error alike, free speech, a free press, an open arena, the right of petition, and no quarter? If not those, who, instead of skulking from the light, stand forth in the noontide blaze of day, and challenge their opponents to emerge from their wolf-like dens, that, by a rigid examination, it may be seen who has stolen the wedge of gold, in whose pocket are the thirty pieces of silver, and whose garments are stained with the blood of innocence? The charge, then, that we are beside ourselves, that we are both violent and cowardly, is demonstrated to be false, in a signal manner. I thank God, that "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal," but spiritual. I thank him, that by his grace, and by our deep concern for the oppressed, we have been enabled, in Christian magnanimity, to pity and pray for our enemies, and to overcome their evil with good. Overcome, I say: not merely suffered unresistingly, but conquered gloriously. If it must be so, let the defenders of slavery still have all the brickbats, bowie-knives, and pistols, which the land can furnish; but let us possess all the arguments, facts, warnings, and promises which insure the final triumph of our holy cause. Nothing is easier than for the abolitionists, if they were so disposed, as it were in the twinkling of an eye, to "cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war," and fill this whole land with the horrors of a civil and servile commotion. It is only for them to hoist but one signal, to kindle but a single torch, to give but a single bugle-call, and the three millions of colored victims of oppression, both bond and free, would start up as one man, and make the American soil drunk with the blood of the slain. How fearful and tremendous is the power, for good and evil, thus lodged in their hands! Besides being stimulated by a desire to redress the wrongs of their enslaved countrymen, they could plead in extenuation of their conduct for resorting to arms (and their plea would be valid, according to the theory and practice of republicanism), that they had cruel wrongs of their own to avenge, and sacred rights to secure, inasmuch as they are thrust out beyond the pale of the Constitution, excluded from one half of the Union by the fiat of the lynch code, deprived of the protection of the law, and branded as traitors, because they dare to assert that God wills all men to be free! Now, I frankly put it to the understandings of Southern men, whether, in view of these considerations, it is adding any thing to their safety, or postponing the much dreaded catastrophe a single hour,-whether, in fact, it is not increasing their peril, and rendering an early explosion more probable,— for them to persevere in aggravating the condition of their slaves by tightening their chains and increasing the heavy burdens or wreaking their malice upon the free people of color-or in adopting every base and unlawful measure to wound the character, destroy the property, and jeopard the lives of abolitionists, and thus leaving no stone unturned to inflame them to desperation? All this, Southern men have done, and are still doing, as if animated by an insane desire to be destroyed. The abject of the Anti-Slavery association is not to destroy men's lives, despots though they be,—but to prevent the spilling of human blood. It is to enlighten the understanding, arouse the conscience, affect the heart. We rely upon moral power alone for success. The ground upon which we stand belongs to no sect or party-it is holy ground. Whatever else may divide us in opinion, in this one thing we are agreed-that slaveholding is a crime under all circumstances, and ought to be immediately and unconditionally abandoned. We enforce upon no man either a political or a religious test, as a condition of membership; but at the same time, we expect every abolitionist to carry out his principles consistently, impartially, faithfully, in whatever station he may be called to act, or wherever conscience may lead him to go. I hail this union of hearts as a bright omen, that all is not lost. To the slaveholding South, it is more terrible than a military army with banners. It is indeed a sublime spectacle to see men forgetting their jarring creeds and party affinities, and embracing each other as one and indivisible, in a struggle in behalf of our common Christianity and our common nature. God grant that no root of bitterness may spring up to divide us asunder! "United we stand, divided we fall"—and if we fall, what remains for our country but a fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery indignation, that shall consume it? Fall we cannot, if our trust be in the Lord of hosts, and in the power of his might—not in man, nor any body of men. Divided we cannot be, if we truly "remember them that are in bonds as bound with them," and love our neighbors as ourselves. Genuine abolitionism is not a hobby, got up for personal or associated aggrandizement; it is not a political ruse; it is not a spasm of sympathy, which lasts but for a moment, leaving the system weak and worn; it is not a fever of enthusiasm; it is not the fruit of fanaticism; it is not a spirit of faction. It is of heaven, not of men. It lives in the heart as a vital principle. It is an essential part of Christianity, and aside from it there can be no humanity. Its scope is not confined to the slave population of the United States, but embraces mankind. Opposition cannot weary it out, force cannot put it down, fire cannot consume it. It is the spirit of Jesus, who was sent to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God." Its principles are self-evident, its measures rational, its purposes merciful and just It cannot be diverted from the path of duty, though all earth and hell oppose; for it is lifted far above all earth-born fear. When it fairly takes possession of the soul, you may trust the soulcarrier anywhere, that he will not be recreant to humanity. In short, it is a life, not an impulse-a quenchless flame of philanthropy, not a transient spark of sentimentalism. THE CONSEQUENCES OF SECESSION. HENRY CLAY. Senate Chamber, Feb. 6, 1850. SIR, This Union is threatened with subversion. I want, Mr. Presi dent, to take a very rapid glance at the course of public measures in this Union presently. I want, however, before I do that, to ask the Senate to look back upon the career which this country has run since the adoption of this constitution down to the present day. Was there ever a nation upon which the sun of heaven has shone that has exhibited so much of prosperity? At the commencement of this Government our population amounted to about four millions; it has now reached upward of twenty millions. Our territory was limited chiefly and principally to the border upon the Atlantic ocean, and that which includes the southern shores of the interior lakes of our country. Our country now extends from the northern provinces of Great Britain to the Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico on one side, and from the Atlantic ocean to the Pacific on the other side-the largest extent of territory under any government that exists on the face of the earth, with only two solitary exceptions. Our tonnage, from being nothing, has risen in magnitude and amount so as to rival that of the nation who has been proudly characterized "the mistress of the ocean." We have gone through many wars-wars too with the very nation from whom we broke off in 1776, as weak and feeble colonies, and asserted our independence as a member of the family of nations. And, sir, we came out of that struggle, unequal as it was-armed as she was at all points, in consequence of just having come out of her long struggles with other European nations, and unarmed as we were at all points, in consequence of the habits and nature of our country |