Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 9.djvu/15

 HAYNE eling, base and selfish feelings which bind men to the footstool of a despot by bonds as strong and enduring as those which attach them to free institutions. Sir, I would lay the founda- tion of this government in the affections of the people — I would teach them to cling to it by dispensing equal justice, and above all, by se- curing the *' blessings of liberty '* to ** them- selves and to their posterity." We are ready to make up the issue with the gentleman, as to the influence of slavery on in- dividual and national character — on the pros- perity and greatness, either of the United States or of particular States. Sir, when ar- raigned before the bar of public opinion, on this charge of slavery, we can stand up with conscious rectitude, plead not guilty, and put ourselves upon God and our country. Sir, we will not consent to look at slavery in the ab- stract. We will not stop to inquire whether the black man, as some philosophers have contended, is of an inferior race, nor whether his color and condition are effects of a curse inflicted for the offenses of his ancestors. We deal in no ab- stractions. We will not look back to inquire whether our fathers were guiltless in introdu- cing slaves into this country. If an inquiry should ever be instituted in these matters, how- ever, it will be found that the profits of the slave-trade were not confined to the South. Southern ships and Southern sailors were not the instruments of bringing slaves to the shores