[From _The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government_ (New York,
1881, v. i.)]
It has been a conviction of pressing necessity, it has been a belief
that we are to be deprived in the Union of the rights which our
fathers bequeathed to us, which has brought Mississippi to her present
decision. She has heard proclaimed the theory that all men are created
free and equal, and this made the basis of an attack upon her social
institutions; and the sacred Declaration of Independence has been
invoked to maintain the position of the equality of the races. That
Declaration of Independence is to be construed by the circumstances
and purposes for which it was made. The communities were declaring
their independence; the people of those communities were asserting
that no man was born--to use the language of Mr. Jefferson--booted and
spurred, to ride over the rest of mankind; that men were created
equal--meaning the men of the political community; that there was no
divine right to rule; that no man inherited the right to govern; that
there were no classes by which power and place descended to families;
but that all stations were equally within the grasp of each member of
the body politic. These were the great principles they announced;
these were the purposes for which they made their declaration; these
were the ends to which their enunciation was directed. They have no
reference to the slave; else, how happened it that among the items of
arraignment against George III was that he endeavored to do just what
the North has been endeavoring of late to do--to stir up insurrection
among our slaves? Had the Declaration announced that the negroes were
free and equal, how was the Prince to be arraigned for raising up
insurrection among them? And how was this to be enumerated among the
high crimes which caused the colonies to sever their connection with
the mother country? When our Constitution was formed, the same idea
was rendered more palpable; for there we find provision made for that
very class of persons as property; they were not put upon the footing
of equality with white men--not even upon that of paupers and
convicts; but, so far as representation was concerned, were
discriminated against as a lower caste, only to be represented in the
numerical proportion of three fifths.
Then, Senators, we recur to the compact which binds us together; we
recur to the principles upon which our Government was founded; and
when you deny them, and when you deny to us the right to withdraw from
a Government which, thus perverted, threatens to be destructive of our
rights, we but tread in the path of our fathers when we proclaim our
independence and take the hazard. This is done, not in hostility to
others, not to injure any section of the country, not even for our own
pecuniary benefit; but from the high and solemn motive of defending
and protecting the rights we inherited, and which it is our sacred
duty to transmit unshorn to our children.
I find in myself, perhaps, a type of the general feeling of my
constituents towards yours. I am sure I feel no hostility towards you,
Senators from the North. I am sure there is not one of you, whatever
sharp discussion there may have been between us, to whom I cannot now
say, in the presence of my God, I wish you well; and such, I am sure,
is the feeling of the people whom I represent towards those whom you
represent. I, therefore, feel that I but express their desire when I
say I hope, and they hope, for peaceable relations with you, though
we must part. They may be mutually beneficial to us in the future, as
they have been in the past, if you so will it. The reverse may bring
disaster on every portion of the country; and, if you will have it
thus, we will invoke the God of our fathers, who delivered them from
the power of the lion, to protect us from the ravages of the bear; and
thus, putting our trust in God and in our own firm hearts and strong
arms, we will vindicate the right as best we may.
In the course of my service here, associated at different times with a
great variety of Senators, I see now around me some with whom I have
served long; there have been points of collision; but, whatever of
offense there has been to me, I leave here. I carry with me no hostile
remembrance. Whatever offense I have given which has not been redressed,
or for which satisfaction has not been demanded, I have, Senators, in
this hour of our parting, to offer you my apology for any pain which, in
heat of discussion, I have inflicted. I go hence unencumbered of the
remembrance of any injury received, and having discharged the duty of
making the only reparation in my power for any injury offered.
Mr. President and Senators, having made the announcement which the
occasion seemed to me to require, it only remains for me to bid you a
final adieu.