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![handle is hein.slavery/agrslvow0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
AGGRESSIONS OF THE SLAVE POWER.
SPEECHa doctrine sanctioned and sustained ythe great
SPEH OF MHONACHSENRYWILN men of this country fo,- twp generations ; a doc-
OF MASSACHUSETS,
IN REPLY TO HON. JEFFERSON DAVIS. trine endorsed as constitutional by the Supreme
Court of the United States in 1810, 1819, 1828,
Delivered in the Senate, January 26, 1860. and in 1840; endorsed as constitutional by the
M. WILSON. Mr. President, during the pastthe State the Senator from
M . TLSN. M. Pesidntdurig te pat Mississippi represents in 1818-I say, sir, that
seven weeks, these Halls have rung with angry the Republican call summoned all of this class
menaces of disunion. Disunion has been pre- of men in America into its National Convention.
dicted, disunion has been threatened, in the The Republican party laid down principles as
event of the triumph of the Republican party in broad as the Union itself. It embraced the whole
November next. We have sat here coolly, calm- country Fnd the interests of the whole country
ly, and listened to those angry and noisy men- in its policy. It adopted no sectional creed, no
aces. Yesterday, I gathered uip some of these sectional atform, no sectional policy, but stood
predictions, some of these arguments, some of upon the ancient faith of our fathers, and there
these th~ats of disunion, and presented them to it stands to-day, upon an impregnable basis,
the consSeration of the Senate. The Senator where stood the men who framed the Constitu-
from Mississippi, [Mr. DAvis,] with, I thought, tion of the United States and early administer-
something of sensibility, something of feeling, re- ed it.
plied to those remarks. I know, sir, that there So much, sir, for my right to speak as a Re-
comes to us, from the loyal and patriotic freemen publican, and to rebuke the disunion avowals of
of the North, the voice of condemnation of the men who have adopted a new creed, a new read-
angry menaces which have been made in these asg of the Constitution, and who threaten to pull
Chambers. There come to Senators on the other down the columns of the Union unless this na-
side of this C amb the imploring appeals of tion accepts their new creeds and their new con-
men who are shivering over the political graves structions of constitutional power. That is it.
their leaders in these halls are digging for them. Let the country understand it. The Republican
Sir, I was glad to see, yesterday, when the de- party stands upon the doctrine of Washington,
larations of Democratic presses and leaders were Jefferson, and the men who framed the Consti-
presented to their view, a degree of feeling uan- tution. It stands upon doctrines saactioned by
ifested on the other side of the Chamber. Sena- the highest judicial tribunal of the country in
tors are beginning to feel that it is no easy task Sother and itter days. The Republican party
to look these Democratic menaces of disloyalty proposes nothing new, but stands by the old tra-
to the Union in the face. I take the movement ditional policy. A new school, accepting the
yesterday to be a premonitory symptom of're- creed that came from. the brain of Calhoun in
treat from positions which even the Senator from 1847. now exists, and we who choose to follow
Mississippi cannot maintain. I say to the Senate 1the fathiers rather than these new lights are
and the country, that we shall now witness the threatened now with the overthrow of the Gov-
retreat of the Democratic leaders from their dis- ement if we do not accept their new constitu-
loal and revolutionary positions. tional constructions. That is the whole of it,
The Senator from Mississippi called upon me and let the country understand it.
to say why I had arraigned gentlemen here for The Senator objected to my right to speak,
these avowals. He charged it upon the Repub- Ibecause, in 1851, 1 attended a social festival in
lican party, that, in 1856, it aent ol under a see- Boston, and made a speech at that festival. Let
tional banner, on a sectional platform, and under me say that I stand by that speech here to-day.
the lead of a sectional candidate; and, in so do- I do not disavow a word of it. That speech is
ing, it seceded from the Union ; it adopted prac- not full nor complete, and it dnes not report ail
tical secession. Now, I have to say to that Sen- I did sy ; hut what is reported I stead by. in
ator, that th call for the Republican National that speech I did say, then and there, to the faces
Convention, in 1856, was addressed to all men of gentlemen, what I have said all my life. I
North and Sooth, who concurred in the senti- i84r wits a ose to ollow
ments of the Republican fathers, who wqe op- and raty know, and everybody in my State knowas,
posed to the extension of slavery, and in favor of that I disagree with those gentlemen in regnid
its prohibition in the Territories of the United nto their views of the Constitution, of State rigis,
States foand that call would have summoned and of the Union. I netr r uttered a word or
Washington and Jefferson, and the men who dreamed a dream of hostility to the Union f
fouaded the Government of the country, into the these States, and I neer even allowed myself to
Convention. Men from the South camne to that put a case of disunion even as a supposition, as
Convention, and when they returned to their a contingency. But, sir, attending that festival ,
homes they were denounced for their attendance, on an invitation, I spoke of the fidelity of Mr.
and one of them banished frona his State. That Garrison, and of those that associated with him-
Republican call invited the people who could m ten who do not vote, men who hold no offices,
staned on the doctrine of slavery restriction that men who will accept no offices, men that you
came frobthepen of Thomas Jefferson in 1784- may call fanatical, if you please, but men who](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/agrslvow0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)