Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 22.djvu/38

 26 Snulln'rn I/i.^orirtif ,W/V/// I'O/H PS,

But he said we may do this: We admit the contract, we admit the constitutional contract, and we may regard it similar to cases in chancery where circumstances have arisen that make a party unable to comply with his contract, and, therefore, the court decrees pecu- niary compensation.

There were many reasons which brought on the conditions which culminated in the war, which necessitated the vast expenditure of money which is exhibited in the table.

The doctrine of States rights, protective tariff, internal improve- ments, and in fact all the questions upon which the Democratic party differed with their political opponents, entered into the question; but as history seems to contend that the existence of slavery was the main cause, I will comply with my friends' request, and, from a southern standpoint, give some reasons which come to my mind, and in doing so I beg that every one present will believe me when I dis- claim any feeling or any disposition to censure any one or any section.

I know all, and especially I know the soldiers, will accept my statements in the same good feeling in which they are uttered, and will appreciate the propriety of a southern man calling attention to historical facts, which refute allegations made upon this floor, that the responsibility of the war rested altogether upon the southern people.

When the people of the South settled on the shores of Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, they had no intention of en- couraging or even tolerating the institution of slavery.

The thrifty New England seamen, in their voyages to the Indies and other countries, saw its practical operation, and solely with the view of profit in the transportation and sale of the African, they, with characteristic energy, urged upon all the Colonies the great ad- vantages which would result from utilizing this character of labor. Their friends in the North readily acceded to their importunities, but not so with those of the South.

SOUTHERN COLONIES OPPOSED SLAVERY.

Oglethorpe and his colonists were possibly the most determined in resisting the importation, sale and use of African slaves; and for twenty years they were successful in the enforcement of the law which prohibited the landing of slaves in Georgia. Finally, together with the other Southern States, they succumbed, and the New Eng-