An address to the people of
Florida
from Gen, R. K. Call
Ca^e
E440.5
.CM
AN ADDRESS
TO THE
FKOM
GrEN. R. K. CALL.
ADDRESS.
Lake Jackson, 1st December, 1860.
To the People of Florida :
Pardon tliis intrusion. A fellow-citizen would address
you—one holding no office, no place of authority among
you. Put I have a common interest, and from my long re¬
sidence I am somewhat identified with the history of .Flori¬
da. Before the birth of most men now living, I was a sol¬
dier in Florida. I was with Jackson in 1814, when he
drove the fleet and army of Britain from the Forts and the
bay of the Peninsula. I was with him in 1818, when he
conquered the Seminoles, and made the first trail of civilized
man in the wilderness of Middle Florida—when he captured
St. Marks, Pensacola and Barrancas. I was with him in
1821, when, as the first American Governor, and as the re¬
presentative of his country, he took possession of "West Flo¬
rida, in person, and of East Florida by his Adjutant General,
the late Col. Butler. I negotiated all the preliminary ar¬
rangements for that possession, and superintended the hoist¬
ing of the stars and the stripes as the emblem of our national
dominion. Since then Florida has been my home. Ilere
are my children, and here is also all I have on earth. Here
I have lived, and if my invocations may be heard in the
court of Heaven, most fervently do I pray that in the hour
of death that gallant flag may still wave over me, and wave
forever over our whole united happy country. My birth¬
place is not in Florida. But Florida is the first and the
only State of which I have been a citizen—the only State to
which I have ever owed allegiance. It is natural, then, my
fellow-citizens, that I should love Florida—that her honor,
her fame and her fortune should be quite as dear to me as to
any of you. It is natural that I should love the flag which
I followed in its glory on some dangerous fields, and that I
4
should love the country to whose service my youth and early
manhood were devoted. If this he deemed an infirmity—if
patriotism he deemed a sin—I pray you pardon and forgive
this sin and that infirmity. And when all is put to hazard
and placed in jeapordy by rash and heedless indiscretion,
and when, without a moment's calm deliberation or reflec¬
tion, in the madness of excited passion, an attempt is making
to precipitate you into revolution, rebellion and treason
against your Government, I may, I trust, presume to ad¬
dress you, and invoke your allegiance to your country. I
would counsel with you—I would commune with you at the
altar of my country. I would entreat you to rally with me
around the flag of the Union—to obey the precepts of Wash¬
ington and Jackson—never to abandon " the palladium of
our country's safety," until the last experiment to save it
shall have been tried and failed, and until the last remaining
hope shall have expired. And when we have thus counsel¬
led, my fellow-citizens, your judgment shall prevail. I will
not separate myself from you. Your determination shall
be my determination—your fate and fortune shall be my
fate and fortune—and if you fall, I will perish with you.
All I ask time would give. All I ask is cool, calm, cautious
deliberation in deciding the most solemn and stupendous
question ever yet presented at the bar of human judgment.
My fellow-citizens, why this mad—this headlong, rushing
haste—why this rash, precipitate action ? On Monday last
your Legislature met at 12 or 1 o'clock. It went to worfc.
Secession—secession—was the watchword and reply, and on
Thursday, before the hour of 12, in the House of Represen¬
tatives, was consummated an Act—an Act, with rapturous
applause, which may, if not averted, produce the most fatal
consequences—the most dire calamities to us and to our
whole country. This Act—-this portentious Act—provides
for a Convention of the People, by Delegates to be chosen
•with the same rushing haste, and to assemble at your Capi¬
tal on the 3d of January next, with the same lightning
speed with which the Act was passed. And for what pur-
5
pose—with what design ? Secession—secession of the State
of Florida from the Union—from the great confederation of
American States. Your stripes and your stars—your coun¬
try's flag—flag of the Union—hailed on every sea—in every
foreign land as the light, the hope, the harbinger of liberty
to oppressed millions—to the whole world—is to be stricken,
deserted, dishonored, tattered and torn, by American hands
—spurned and stamped on by American feet—and this is
Secession, not Treason.
Flow, my fellow-citizens, on my allegiance, on my respon¬
sibility and under the halter, if you please, before God and
in the name of my country, I proclaim, that when that deed
shall be done, it will be treason—high treason—against our
constitutional government. I make this proclamation on
the authority of the Constitution of the United States—on
the authority of Chief Justice Taney and the authority of
General Jackson, as will appear from the following extract
from his proclamation of the 11th December, 1832:
" The Constitution of the United States forms a government, not a league ;
and whether it be formed by compact between the States, or in any other
manner, its character is the same. It is a government in which all the
people are represented, which operates directly on the people individually,
not upon the States—they retain all the power they did not grant. But
each State having expressly parted with so niany powers as to constitute,
jointly with the other States, a single nation, cannot from that period pos¬
sess any right to secede, because such secession does not break a league,
but destroys the unity of a nation; and any injury to that unity is not only
a breach which would result from the contravention of a compact, but it is
an offence against the whole Union. To say that any State may at pleas¬
ure secede from the Union, is to say that the United States are not a nation;
because it would be a solecism to contend that any part of a nation might
dissolve its connexion with the other parts, to their injury or ruin, without
committing any offence. Secession, like any other revolutionary act, may
be morally justified by the extremity of oppression; but to call it a constitu¬
tional right is confounding the meaning of terms, and can only be done
through gross error, or to deceive those who are willing to assert a right,
"but would pause before they made a revolution, or incur the penalties con¬
sequent on a failure."
Again, in the same State paper, be held the following
language:
"The laws of the United States must be executed. I have no discretion¬
ary power on the subject; my duty is emphatically pronounced in the Con¬
stitution. Those who told you that you might peaceably prevent their exe¬
cution deceived you; they could not have been deceived themselves. They
know that , a forcible opposition could alone prevent the execution of the
laws, and they know that such opposition must be repelled. Their object
G
is disunion; but be not deceived by names—disunion, by armed force, is
TREASON."
But, in}7 fellow-citizens, allow mo again to ask, wlxy this
impetuous haste of our Legislature ? Did. you desire a Con¬
vention ? Did you authorize yourselves to he taxed for the
expenses of a Convention ? Is there at this time, in your
judgment, a necessity for a Convention? Is it not percep¬
tible to your understanding that, from our geographical posi¬
tion, occupying a very narrow space between Georgia and
Alabama 011 one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other,
that our destiny is inseparable from the destiny of those two
powerful States ?—that if they should, after their wise and
deliberate counsel, determine to go out of the Union, that,
however reluctant some of us might be, that we must, from
imperative necessity, follow them; and, if they should resolve
to remain in the Union, we must, from the same necessity,
remain with them. Why, then, while these great States
are yet in counsel, deliberating with the calm dignity which
becomes them, and with the caution which the importance
of the subject and the occasion demands—why Should we
come to conclusions of such vast magnitude without due de¬
liberation and reflection?
I have endeavored, my fellow-citizens, to show you that
secession is treason. But, it may be said, in the present
moment of high excitement, that this is a question of no im¬
portance. I beg leave to differ with those holding this opin¬
ion. If secession is a lawful right, its exercise must be only
a question of expediency at any time. If it is wrong and
unlawful, it must pass the ordeal and judgment of the civil¬
ized world and the impartial judgment of posterity, and it
must be justified or condemned by the facts and circum¬
stances attending the commission of the act. If the judg¬
ment of other nations should be against us—if they should
regard it as factious and treacherous, as evincing instability
and insubordination—that judgment must rest upon us. It
will follow us into any other political association of States
we may7 form. And if we should carry the destructive prin-
7
ciples of nullification and secession into the structure of an¬
other government—if each State of the proposed new Con¬
federacy shall, by constitutional law, he the judge of its own
powers—if it should have a defined and acknowledged right
to secede at will and to nullify any law which it may deem
improper—such a government can have 110 stability, It can
never establish a public credit, to supply deficiencies of reve¬
nue. It can never borrow money 011 the public faith, to
replenish an exhausted treasury, or command the respectful
consideration of any civilized nation on earth.
We come, then, to the cpiestion of revolution. This I ac¬
knowledge as the natural and inalienable right of man, in or
out of society. It is a principle, and not derivable—it is
positive and not comparative, and may be claimed and exer¬
cised by one man or any number of men. It is entirely a
question of relative strength and power between the resist¬
ing and opposing parties. I shall speak only of Florida. I
have no right to speak of any other State, and as Florida
proposes to go out of the Union alone, you, my intelligent
fellow-citizens, are quite competent to decide for yourselves
whether you are capable of successfully resisting the power
against which you may rebel—the power of the United
States of America! And if you are not driven back, which
I am very confident you will not be, and you are entirely
convinced yourselves you will not be, and of which you have
not the slightest apprehension—and when, if you are not
driven back, the whole civilized world now must know, and
posterity will learn from faithful history, was owing entirely
to the civilization, forbearance and magnanimity of that
government whose wrongs, injustice and oppressions yon
declare to be the cause and plead as the justification of your
revolution and rebellion against your country. And why
deceive yourselves with the attempt to assimilate this infan¬
tine mockery of heroism with the virtuous patriotism, the
true heroism, the high temerity, the daring intrepidity and
romantic chivalry of our fathers in our glorious American
8
Revolution ? "Why this display of valor where it is known
there is no danger?
Then, my countrymen, on this momentous occasion, when
the eyes of the whole world are upon us—when Europe and
America are alike observing our actions, and waiting in
anxious apprehension of their consequences—let us perform
a solemn duty wThich we owe to ourselves, to our posterity,
to our country, to all mankind. Let us carefully examine
and deliberately decide the great and fearful question—the
greatest, the mightiest and most fearful question which has
ever been presented in the court of the world. Is there now
a justifiable cause for revolution and rebellion against our
Constitutional Government, which, like the Providence of
God, is dispensing equal blessings of liberty, peace, safety,
happiness and prosperity to thirty millions of people ?—that
Government which has established justice, insured domestic
tranquility, provided for the common defence, promoted the
general welfare, and secured the blessings of liberty to our¬
selves and our posterity—that Government whose gallant
flag, on every sea and in every land, enables us to say, with
the pride and safety of the ancient Roman, " I am an Amer¬
ican citizen!" Shall we destroy this glorious Government—
shall we divide this great united people—shall we make ene¬
mies of friends—shall we sever the ties of kindred blood, of
mutual sympathies and affections, mutual interest, mutual
dependence and mutual support—shall we give peace for
war, prosperity for adversity, security for danger, power for
weakness, wealth for poverty, happiness for misery?
Again, permit me to ask, with the solemnity which the
occasion demands, shall we destroy this popular Govern¬
ment, whose wonderful successes have amazed the world, and
almost worked out the great problem, conquering the preju¬
dices of ages, and demonstrating the truth of the ability of
man for self-government ? Shall we now, by this signal
failure, destroy the bright hopes we have given to the mil¬
lions of oppressed humanity in foreign lands, who worship¬
ped our star on the morning of its birth, who hail our flag
9
on sea and land as tlie bright hope of Liberty to all the
world? Shall we tell them—hope 110 more, this mighty
temple has fallen, her altars are broken, her fires have gone
out, and liberty is lost forever ? Shall we cheer the gloomy
and broken spirit of tyranny? Shall we raise the fallen
crest of despotism ? Shall we say to the princes of Europe
and the tyrants of Asia, discard your groundless apprehen¬
sion, cease to fear the progress of popular Government,
cease to fear the example of America, to fear the growth,
the power, the majesty, the collossal grandeur of that great
Western Empire, the dread of princes, the hope of nations,
whose Government, extending across a whole Continent, is
unrestrained liberty, united with the greatest happiness and
highest prosperity ? Shall we say to the kings of the earth-
fear not, but rejoice, the spell which bound the world is
broken; freedom has become licentiousness; liberty has
become riot; order has become anarchy; nullification and
secession are triumphant over laws and Government; the
United States are dismembered; the Union, the American
Union, has fallen; the Constitution, the highest exemplifica¬
tion of political government, the purest charter of human
liberty, all lost forever; the flag of the Union has been rent,
the stripes have been torn and the stars have gone clown in
night and darkness, never again to shine ?
And when this stupendous ruin shall have been consum¬
mated—wThen this glorious government shall have been de¬
stroyed—when the friends of civil and religious liberty in
every land shall weep over its destruction—-what justifica¬
tion can we offer to the civilized world, what record of justi¬
fication can we leave for posterity? Has your government
oppressed you ? Has it failed to accomplish the great de¬
sign of its creation ? What wrong have you suffered? What
injustice has it done ? If none, why should you rebel—why
be treacherous and faithless—why commit treason against
your country ?
Is the election of a sectional President by a sectional party,
2
10
consisting of less than one-third of the political strength of
the nation, owing entirely to the division of two-thirds of the
people into three other parties, and when it is in own that
the conservative vote of the North given against the success¬
ful sectional candidate is greater than the ichole popular
vote of the Soidh given against the same candidate—is this a
sufficient cause to justify revolution and rebellion against
your government ? And is it not a fact well known that the
success of this sectional candidate wTas not owing alone to
the strength of a sectional party, but to a combination of
other issues with that of slavery ? Is it not well known that
the friends of the tariff and the opponents of Democracy
contributed greatly to the success of Mr. Lincoln, and with¬
out this extraneous contribution and support he could not
have been elected ? And is the silent pledge of Mr. Lincoln,
by the political platform of his party, to allow no more slave
territory, when we have not in our whole national domain
one acre of territory to which slavery can be carried, and
when there can never be such territory, until at some dis¬
tant and unforeseen day we may, by possibility, acquire
more territory from some foreign nation—is tliis tacit pledge
on this very remote contingency a sufficient justification for
an immediate secession from the Union? If you please,
answer these questions, men of Florida.
If this sectional party, coming into power alone by the
forms, with principles adverse and repugnant to the sub¬
stance of the Constitution—with designs, as I believe it has,
ultimately to subvert the government and disregard all the
constitutional guarantees of African slavery—if we have a
loyal attachment and patriotic love for the government to
which we owe allegiance—is it not more consistent with the
obligations of that allegiance—more consistent with our
duty as American citizens—more consistent wTith our obli¬
gations to society—more manly, more patriotic and more
honorable—to resist that party by all lawful and constitu¬
tional means, and then, should that resistance prove unsuc¬
cessful, to resist them with arms in the field, than to prove
11
faithless and treacherous to our government, rebel against
its authority, secede from tlie Union, abandon our national
flag, under which we have fought, under which our fathers
fought, and desert those faithful, gallant friends of the North
who heme stood by us firmly in every trial f Have we no
nationality? Have we no expanded patriotism to embrace
our whole country ? Have we become as sectional as the
sectional party of whom we complain ? Have we no sym¬
pathy, no gratitude for the 300,000 men of New York—for
the great energy, high talent and numbers who stood by us in
Massachusetts and all the other northern States? And shall
we desert those who were so true to us? Heaven forbid,
gallant, generous men of Florida. Heaven forbid this deser¬
tion of our friends, who are willing still to stand by us even
in the field, with thousands of men and millions of money.
Heaven avert the shame of such desertion.
Hone of you, my countrymen, are more opposed to the
principles enunciated in the political platform of the Black
Republican party than I am. Hone of you will go further
to resist those principles and to resist the men who profess
them than I will, but I do know, from my own personal asso¬
ciations, that there are many, and I believe there are many
thousands, of intelligent, brave, patriotic men, numbered in
the recent vote of that party, who will, when the time shall
come, join zealously and manfully in the defence of each and
all your constitutional rights and privileges. I know that
such men will never take, encourage or justify the taking of
arms against you while you claim of them nothing more
than is due under the obligations of the Constitution. I
have on a former occasion said to an intelligent and highly
respectable gentleman of that party, in reply to an insinua¬
tion of the power and will to drive back any State which
might, from wrongs and oppressions, go out ot the Union—
I have said, " Let them come!—and let them come by steam.
They will want the speed of steam, and even lightning speed
will be too slow in retreat!" This I then said to the mad
fanatics of that mad and revolutionary party, and this I yet
12
say, "Let tliem come!" And on that day, my brave coun¬
trymen, we will try our mettle more by deeds than words.
There will be blood upon our dented swords! We will try
our bravery more by lighting then than now by talking. I
may not be your chosen leader then, as now, but I have a
proud belief—a proud feeling in my heart—that none of you
will be my leaders in that fight—that though the lire and
elasticity of youth has past, in age there is yet manhood to
defend the land in which I live; and.whether in the pass of
"Thermopylae" or on the new field of "Marathon," few will
fall nearer to the foe than I will stand or fall. For this you
have my gage ! But, my friends, my countrymen, I would
have you right. Right is law, is strength, 'tis power, 'tis
majesty, it is everlasting! It awes all human power! It
will live when we are gone—and let the world know now,
and let our children's children learn in succeeding genera¬
tions, that in our day we were right. Then will it be right,
or rather, would it not be wrong for Florida to secede from
the Union because Abraham Lincoln has been chosen by his
party President of the United States for four years, when
there is a decided majority against him, both in the House
of Representatives and in the Senate, and when he must be
powerless for all evil designs, should he possess them, and
which few believe? Would it not be wrong for Florida to
secede from the Union for this cause, when it is certain that,
by a combination of those opposed to Mr. Lincoln, their
moral power, even during the next four years, would hold his
administration in check, and at its close his defeated party-
would retire in shame and dishonor—that it would disband
never again to unite and disturb the peace and safety of our
happy country? Think well on this, my rash, impetuous
friends.
Then, my countrymen, in view of all the facts and cir¬
cumstances which I have laid before you, and in view of all
other facts and circumstances which you know and of argu¬
ments you have heard, is it not plain to your understanding
—is it not a fact, not to be controverted, that the present '
13
disunion movement in Florida is not because of tlie election
of Mr. Lincoln, but from a long-cherished hatred of the
Union by the leading politicians of our State—is it not cer¬
tain that tlie election of Mr. Lincoln is the occasion, the cir¬
cumstance,, the mere pretext, the apology, and not the cause
of their hostility to the Union—is it not certain that they
are now availing themselves of your present excitement and
just dissatisfaction with the election of Mr. Lincoln to induce
you to follow them, and aid them in the accomplishment of
a design they have long meditated, to aid them to destroy our
Constitution and Union? You cannot be deceived—-you
cannot be mistaken in the fact—you must see and you must
know this to be true—it is proven by the history of the past
■—it is proven by the present, and there is nothing wanting
to illustrate this truth—it is fact—certainty—truth !
And will the old line Whigs—the old Guard of the
Union—be seduced from their allegiance ? Will they desert
their flag—betray their trust ? Will the conservative men
of Florida, will the constitutional Union men, pledged to
support the Constitution, the Union and the enforcement of
the laws, be charmed by the syren song—will they be won
by the {soft, seductive witchery of the bland approach—the
smiling face—the suasive speech, " Let us be unanimous ?"
USTo, my countrymen—no. We will not be "unanimous,"
by one—at least one. There will be one man to stand, if all
others should fly, and there will be one voice to cheer the
flag of the Union, as long as there is one stripe, one star on
that glorious banner. Let those who would destroy the
temple built by our fathers, consecrated to liberty, and hal¬
lowed with glory, do the Yandal work themselves. Let them
have all the honor and fame, and let them have all the re¬
sponsibility, the reproaches, the condemnation and the burn¬
ing curses which posterity will give for the damning deed.
And what, my hapless, my deluded countrymen, what
will you gain by going out of the Union ? I have heard it
said by some, " we want our rights." Of what right have
any of you been deprived % Have any slaves of yours es-
14
caped ? I have lieard of none, or very few in twenty years.
And if I should he told that slaves have escaped from Mary¬
land, Virginia and Kentucky, and their rendition has "been
refused, I ask, in reply, if brave old Kentucky, with her
warrior crest of a hundred battle-fields, and my ancient
mother, Virginia, in her recorded glory of the past, have called
on Florida to resent their insults and avenge their wrongs ?
But I most frequently hear " we want our rights" from
men who have no slaves. Of what violation of right do you
complain other than the non-rendition of fugitive slaves?
Kone, I believe. Then will you better enforce that right,
or acquire a better right to be enforced, by going out of the
Union ? Every sensible man must know that the right to
demand a fugitive slave, under th-e Constitution and the
Fugitive Slave Law, must be lost the moment we go out of
the Union—that we shall leave that right behind us, and
there will be an end of it. And does any one believe that
the negro will be less likely to run away when there shall
be no law for his arrest and return, or that the abolitionist
will be less disposed to induce the negro to run away when
there shall be no laws to punish him for offering such in¬
ducement, than now, when there is imperative laws for
both ? And although that law is grossly and treacherously
violated, it is still a restraint upon both. Is it not then a
fair presumption that the number of runaways will be in¬
creased and the loss by escape will be increased by secession
from the Union ? In my judgment, my friends, these re¬
sults are certain.
The next inquiry is, shall we be able to acquire more ter¬
ritory for slavery by going out of the Union ? I think there
can be 110 difficulty in answering this question. It appears
very certain to me that we shall not. Our boundaries will
be fixed at once permanently, unless they should be after¬
wards contracted. They never can he e.qnmdid. And the
same fatal consequences must ensue to the institution of
slavery, by compulsion, if confined to the same limits, whe¬
ther in or out of the Union. This is certain. There can be
15
no difference—no escape from tlie consequences and danger.
I see nothing, then, to he gained for slavery by going out of
the Union. And if my counsel could prevail, I would re¬
main in the Union and fight the Black Republican party
out of it—-fight here and die here—for in my opinion there,
is no safety in retreat. And I believe here is the standing
point—the vantage ground never to be abandoned—never to
be deserted—never to be yielded while life endures. My fel¬
low-citizens, I entreat you, never, never voluntarily abandon
the ground. If Georgia and Alabama retreat we must fol¬
low ; but let us bring up the rear, not lead the advance. In
my judgment here we should conqueror die. I have care¬
fully examined and surveyed the whole field—every plain,
every valley, every mountain-pass, every defile, ambush
and ravine I have surveyed. I may not here give you
a chart of my recognizance, but I would that those most in¬
terested should see«it. And I say again, here is the fighting
point—here the whole civilized world will give us their sym¬
pathies, and I most firmly believe that our friends in the
Aortli—Constitutional Union men of all parties—and there
are hundreds of thousands of such men who voted the Black
Republican ticket—will " come to the rescue," and that they
will not fall, but stand and conquer with us.
The present excitement has awakened the public* atten¬
tion. If that attention is now guided and directed by wise
deliberation and cool counsel, all will be well. A little more
time will develop the important truth that African slavery,
like all other institutions, is on the line of progress and im¬
provement. It has improved and is still improving, under
the impress of Christianity. It is no longer a remnant of
barbarism, but an agent of civilization; that it is contribut¬
ing more now, and may be made to contribute still more,
to the elevation of the African race—more to commerce
and navigation—more to manufactures'—more to the cloth¬
ing and feeding—more to supply the wants and necessities
of human life, than any other institution on earth. We did
. not bring the African here, and if he were not here, I would
O ? j
16
never bring liim here. Northern ships, Northern men and
Northern money bronglit him to this continent, and destiny
has cast his lot in the South. lie wants land to labor and
to live on. lie is a native of America. He has won a
claim to a home with his master in America. He is better
entitled to it than any panper in Europe, and he should
have it or his master should now die fighting fior it. Then,
my fellow-citizens, let us not retreat an inch. Let us
stand where we are in the Hnion, under the flag, under the
broad banner of the Constitution, exacting and demanding
every right and privilege which it ensures. And while we
do this, my fellow-citizens, let us respect and obey the Consti¬
tution ourselves. While Ave claim exact measure in the ob¬
servance of the fugitive slaATe laws, let us yield exact obedi-
dience to the law prohibiting the Af rican slave trade. The
abolitionist, avIio refuses to deliver up your fugitive slave,
Avhile he violates the public law whose ^penalty he well de¬
serves, though he be "actuated by the impulse of a false
humanity, he is not liable to the suspicion of sordid avarice.
But he who takes the wild African, in his Christian charity,
to tame and civilize him in reward for his labor, will never
receive much credit for his benevolence. And let us obey
the laws ourselves, if we expect obedience from others.
Examples are impressHe. The moral power of law is om¬
nipotent. The law of God requires obedience to the law of
man, and there can be no civilization or true Christianity
without obedience to Luav.
But, my fellow-citizens, we are offered a great boon, a
great blessing, Avlien we shall go out of the Union. You
are promised the wealth which it is supposed by some may
floAV from the pure stream of "free trade." What is "free
trade f some of you may enquire, as it is an untried experi¬
ment in our country ? . And I hope it may never be practi¬
cally knoAvn to any free American citizen. It is to take the
tax off from commerce and put it upon the people—ensUve ^
the people with it to set trade free. The justice of this, my '
felloAv-citizens, you may learn more fully under its onnres- i
17
sive action when yon shall leave this free and happy gov¬
ernment. But, he assured, my fellow-citizens, that however
beneficial it may be to the wealthy, it must ever be unjust
and oppressive to the laboring man. The operation of the
law of impost on foreign commerce is fey 110 means certain
and regular in its effect, and hence the diversity of opinion
on the subject. But I believe the best received opinion on
the theory is this: that the loss by the duty paid to the gov¬
ernment on any foreign article is about equally divided be¬
tween the foreign manufacturer and the importer; that this
duty paid by the importer is charged 011 the goods and is in¬
directly paid back by the consumer. Thus, in the operation
of our system, a large portion of the amount of the revenue
-which supports our Federal Government is indirectly paid
by foreigners through the consumer, or it remains a profit to
the importer. The desire to get clear of this system, under
which we have lived so happily and so prosperously, and
which you so often hear denounced by the press and your
public orators as the " accursed Tariff," is the true and real
cause of the secession movement which now agitates the
whole country. This is the true cause, and if the slavery
question was this clay settled in the most complete and satis¬
factory manner, it would not stop the effort to dissolve the
Union. It was the opposition to the Tariff which in 1832
induced the nullification of the revenue system of the gov¬
ernment and then shook the Union to its foundation. That
opposition has never slumbered—it has been cherished by the
disunionists. It is this which has reduced your national treas¬
ury to bankruptcy and created a national debt, I believe,
now of some $10,000,000, to pay the expenses of the govern¬
ment in time of peace. This is the cause of hatred to the
government—the true cause of its present danger, blow,
my fellow-citizens, let me show you what must inevitably be
the operation of the "free trade'''' system which all seces¬
sionists advocate, and for its introduction, in the place of our
present revenue system, they would this day destroy the
3
IS
Union and destroy onr constitutional government. Tliis is
the operation: Goods of foreign growth and manufacture
would he imported free of duty, and therefore might he
cheaper to the consumer. This would enable those who can
afford to purchase g?,ostly sill's, cloths, shawls, wine, brandy
and all other luxuries of foreign growth and manufacture, to
do so somewhat cheaper. But what advantage is all this to
that highly respectable and most valuable class of all coun¬
tries, the working-men, who could not afford these luxuries
even at the reduced price, and who never use them at all ?
What advantage could the men of this class—the men who
fight our battles—derive from "free trade''' to compensate
them for the annual loss they must sustain from a direct tax
011 all they have, even their heads, too, if necessary, to sup¬
port the government ?
I know your habits, my fellow-citizens of the working
class; and those of you who know me best, know how warm¬
ly my sympathies have,been with you on all questions of
government, and how deeply I am interested in your success
and prosperity. I know your energy and industry, your
frugality and economy, in order that you may make and
save money, not only to accumulate property, but to educate
your children and place them 011 the path of honorable dis¬
tinction which all may follow with more or less success
under our happy constitutional government. I see around
me many interesting proofs of high success in this praise¬
worthy and commendable pursuit. I often meet your edu¬
cated sons and your accomplished daughters, born in the
wilderness, when I, in common with their fathers, were the
pioneers of civilization. They are ever to me the more in¬
teresting because I know the dangers, the privations and toil
their brave fathers bore for their accomplishment and their
advancement. I have nothing to ask of you, my fellow-citi¬
zens. You have nothing to give I would accept, save your
kind feelings, and those I believe I have already, from some
of you at least, and I feel that I deserve tliem. Yet, my
fellow-citizens, I have one boon to crave—one request to
19
make—not for myself—it sliall be my last. It is for your
country and yourselves. Love your country, cherish its in¬
stitutions, preserve its constitutional Union, in tlie language
of Washington, as tlie "palladium of your country1's safety,"
the last hope of liberty. Tlie great element of Roman power
and Roman glory was their love of country—their whole
country. Wherever their eagles flew over barbarous lands—
wherever their standards waved, whether over ruined Car¬
thage, conquered Spain, over Helvetian hills or Belgian
plains—they loved them all as their country. And when
Rome lost her patriotism, she lost her liberty, her power, her
glory, and her civilization perished by the ravages of the
barbarians. Take warning by the fate of Tome.
I am of a past generation. I have seen the day when
patriotism was a virtue—-I have seen the day, the glorious,
happy day, when Southern men, under Northern skies,
fought on frozen Northern fields—when Northern men,
shoulder to shoulder, brave as cmy, with Southern men,
fought on Southern fields. But those days have passed.
Patriotism is lost and strangled in sectionalities. These are
the bane of your country's peace and happiness, and unless
an antidote can be applied, all must end in ruin. I have
greater hope of breaking down the Black Republican party
in the North than I have of eradicating the germ of sec¬
tional policy in Florida—the hope, the vision of "free trade."
You are too intelligent, my fellow-citizens, not to perceive
the injustice and inecpiality of its operations. You are too
sagacious not to discern that it can be nothing but wrong
and injustice to those who eat, drink or wear nothing of
foreign growth to take the tax from trade zxiUputiton them.
You may be told that your own homely wear, the necessa¬
ries of life which you require, would be cheaper then than
now. This is not probable. But if it should be so, what would
be your comparative advantage with the wealthy, who feed
on luxuries, and wear fine linens every day ? The beauty and
virtue of the present system is that tlie tax for the support
of our happy Government is voluntary—that you never
20
know it by any of yonr senses, seeing, feeling or tasting, and
tliat those whose circumstances forbid the indulgence in ar¬
ticles of foreign growth or manufacture pay no part of the
expenses of Government. If a tariff should be, as it is some¬
times, unequal and oppressive, it can always be corrected by
the Legislature.
But I am told by the advocates of secession that our popu¬
lar Government is a failure—that the peoples Government
has failed. Is this so ? Look back at the past—look at its
progress, its successes, its wonderful power, its protection to
the American citizen in every land and on every sea. Look
at home and abroad. Look at our vast dominion from sea
to sea. Look at our commerce and navigation, our agricul¬
ture, our manufactures, our thirty millions of happy, pros¬
perous, intelligent people, our morality, religion and civili¬
zation, our success in peace and in war, .our position among
the nations of the world. Is this a failure ? Ho, not yet.
But when this Union falls, then, indeed, it will be a failure.
And when the people's Government shall fail, wdiat then \
Liberty will be lost, and kings, princes and nobles must and
will govern the people, 'who cannot govern themselves. Bt-
member this, my free, my brave countrymen. It has ever
been so in all ages and nations, and it must ever be so.
So, again, in the philosophy of nature, the same cause must
ever produce the same effect. We are the same humanity,
with the same passions, the same physical energies, the same
faculties of mind, the same capacity for moral and religious
impressions, and with the same love of liberty for which the
Greeks and Bomans were distinguished in their brightest
days of glory. They fell! Liberty fell. Civilization was
lost. The same causes which destroyed them are now de¬
stroying us. There is one departure in the parallel. AYe
shall have 110 barbarian hordes, no Goths, no Vandals, no
Saracens, 110 Crescent leaders to conquer us; but we shall
conquer ourselves—a more terrible, a more horrid, a more
barbarous conquest. We shall not leave for the wonder and
admiration of future ages the ruined temples, the broken
21
classic columns of Grecian and Roman art; but if our histo¬
ry sliould survive, if our archives should not perish, we shall
leave, in ruins, a broken and violated Constitution, a monu¬
ment of what we were, brighter and more glorious than all
the monuments' of Greek and Roman civilization.
When this Union shall fall, be assured, my fellow-country¬
men, be assured, the cadence of our ruin will have com¬
menced. It may not be precipitous—it may not be convul¬
sive in its progress—but the fatal impulse will have been
given, and, like the slow gravity of a gentle inclination, its
destiny will be onward until the final consummation of the
mighty ruin, in terrible and desolating convulsion. And
when the philosopher of human government, in some future
age, standing amidst the stupendous ruin, shall search the
record of the past to find the place of origin, the time, the
cause, the fatal cause, he will not find them in the ^Northern
land—he will find them in the sunny South—he will find
them under a Southern sky—he will find the date the time
1832—he will find there the germ of the poison tree of Java,
whose deadly shade and blighting breath has poisoned and
withered every flower and plant in the beautiful garden of a
blooming earthly Paradise—he will find there the first resist¬
ing hand, the first assault, the Brutus' stab, the wound that
never healed till death ended a life of painful agony—he
will find the fatal seed "free trade"■—he will find nullifica¬
tion, the deadly jpoisonous fruit—he will find the first rent,
the first mutilation of the great role, the Magna Charta of
American liberty, American power, American glory—he will
find the power of this government defied and dared to com¬
bat—he will find that the Constitution of the United States,
which declares that "the judicial power of the United States
shall be vested in a Supreme Court;" that the judicial power
shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising under this
Constitution, the laws of the United States and treaties
made, or which shall be made, under tlieir authority—to all
cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and con¬
suls—to all cases of admiralty and maratime jurisdiction—-
22
to controversies to which the United States may "be a party—
to controversies between two or more States, ifcc. He wrill
find tliat this express and ample grant of power by the peo¬
ple of the United States to the Supreme Court was openly
and vehemently denied and defied; that the people of a
whole State, by a public ordinance, expressive of their sove¬
reign will, proclaimed and published to the world their re¬
sistance to the law, their contempt and disregard of the
Constitution, their defiance of the government and their
nullification of all the revenue laws of the United States.
If the searcher for historical truth should continue his learned
researches, he will find that, although the supreme dignity
and power of the Federal Government was maintained with
unshaken and immovable firmness, yet, by a soothing paren¬
tal conciliation and forbearance, the angry passions of men
were calmed and allayed and the government continued to
• administer its blessing to our prosperous happy people; yet
there has ever been a murmuring discontent, a lowering oj(po¬
sition, to the whole revenue system, and that a spirit of
secession and disunion, never slumbering, ever vigilant, ever
watching for the hoped for hour of dissolution of this great
and glorious Union. He will find this palpable and unques¬
tionable truth on every page of thirty years of history.
And when the philosopher shall have ended his inquisi¬
tive researches in the South, let him go to the JSTortli. He
will find on the record the proceedings of the gloomy con¬
clave. tie will find the minister of a false humanity, a false
religion, mingling the charities of a holy faith with the mad
rites of abolition mischief. To right the imaginary wrongs
of the African--—a wild barbarian, naked and untamed, wor¬
shipper of the sun, some beast or bird, the living God un¬
known, brought from the distant wilderness, perhaps by his
father or his grandfather as upropertyU u as merchandise
but now a civilized Christian man, well dressed, well fed,
and far more intelligent and respectable than the European
pauper, who waits for his daily 1 (read upon the measured
penury of this priest of plotting mischief—at the altar he will
23
find him, at the altar of his God, communing with the prince
of darkness, one hand to Heaven, the other to Ilell, meditating
the manner and the temptations of the faithful slave, cheer¬
ful, contented and happy, all his wants supplied by a kind
master, 110 thought or care for to-morrow—this priest of
mingled creeds—it is a part of his faith, his worship—is
meditating with the cunning and wickedness of the damned
one, to tempt this faithful African to rise at midnight and
murder the master he loves while sleeping! The inquisitive
philosopher will find all the priests and worshippers of
this unhallowed faith disunioivists, and who denounce our
Constitution as u a league with hell." They wisli to destroy
the Union to liberate the slaves, while the secessionists wish
to destroy the Union to perpetuate slavery. The searcher
for truth will find these extremities concentrating to a com¬
mon centre, amidst the ruin of a desolated land. Both are
Nullifiers. The North learned this accomplishment from
the South. Both are disunionists—both are rending the
vitals of their country—both filling the world with their bit¬
ter denunciations of each other, destroying the peace and
happiness of a great and glorious nation.
But, my fellow-citizens, some of you may ask again, as
you have asked before, if we do not go out of the Union,
what shall we do ? How shall we resist the administration
of Mr. Lincoln ? Be patient, my fellow-citizens. This is a
mighty question. Florida is a very small State, and should
not try to lead in a matter of so much magnitude. I trust
there will be a general Convention of all the slave-holding
States, and you may very safely follow the direction such a
Convention may recommend—a'Convention of great States
—of great men—wise men. I do most sincerely hope that
the State of Florida will wait patiently for the action of a
general Convention of all the Southern States, or as many
as may choose to go in Convention. Bespect for her own
dignity, no less than respect for the superior ability of other
States and great statesmen, require it. If she should adopt
this course, with all my devotion to the Union, I shall be
24
reconciled to act with liei*. If it be the will of Providence
that the brilliant career of the American Union shall end
here—if this should be recorded 011 the last page of our glo¬
rious history, we shall perform in the first act of the drama
of her destruction. While I mourn and weep over the mighty
ruin, I should smile in my tears could I be cheered with the
hope that the commencement may not be followed with the
dire and fearful tragedy pictured in my apprehensions. But
end as it may, my fellow-citizens, I shall be cheered with one
solace, one pleasing consolation. I have done my duty. I
have ever been true and faithful to my country. I have
fought for her—I have ever been ready to die for her. I
have spoken for her—I have written for her. For more thai!
ten years I have warned you of her danger. I have warned
you of the hidden designs of those who are now trying to
lead you out of the Union—to lead you into rebellion and
treason against your Government. Even during the late
canvass, a few short months ago, some of you know, I
charged a democratic candidate for a high place with being
a disunionist. I put liim 011 his honor—on his pledge of
honor as a gentleman—a pledge next to the soul—in sacred
regard with a gentleman—and he denied it; denied that he
was or or ever had been a disunionist. I received his pledge.
I thought it too high to be questioned. But where is he
now ? I know not. But this I know, I have not heard his
voice in the storm calling " to the rescue." Indeed, I hear
no voice but my own, and yet I hope thousands will hear
and answer to the call, " come to the rescue"—come to the
falling stars and stripes of the ever glorious banner. And
if we can do 110 more, let us imitate the gallant sailors of the
sinking war ship in the battle of the dSTile, and give three
cheers for the flag of the Union. I have but one cause of
fear for the safety of the Union, and that is founded in .the
apprehension of a want of love for the Union. I should
have a bad opinion of the valor of those who are panting
for the flight from the Union if I did not know they hate, the
TJnion, I know many of them to be brave, and they run *
25
from hate, not fear. I shall love the Union as long as it is
the constitutional Union of onr fathers—as long as it can he
preserved with the virtues of the Constitution. All the
guarantees of the Constitution must he observed and ren¬
dered. The Union was horn of the Constitution, and they
must live together or die at the same hour, and he huried in
the same grave. But I will not voluntarily abandon the
Union and the glorious flag of my country, under which we
have lived so long, so free, so prosperous and so happy,
without doing all I can to save it in its pristine glory for
ourselves, our posterity, our own Anglo Saxon race—to save
it as a blessing for all mankind.
And now, my fellow-citizens, you who are aiding and
abetting in giving impulse to an action, increasing in its pro¬
gress like the increasing velocity of a descending weight—
an action you may not arrest and whose end you cannot
see—an action which in its terrible course may overturn
governments and destroy millions—an action which may
bring desolation, ruin and misery to families and communi¬
ties, tears and blood to a whole land. If these painful and
appalling considerations may not reach your sensibilities, let
me come nearer to you and ask you individually, have you
considered the effect which the secession of Florida must
have immediately on your own domestic affairs at home and
your relations abroad? You must know that your ports of
entry and your custom-houses must be instantly closed; that
nothing more can go out or come in from sea until the new
government of Florida, whatever character that government
may be, shall be established and her national existence shall
be recognized and acknowledged by other foreign nations.
Has your cotton gone forward and satisfied all demands
abroad—relieved all the obligations of credit and good
faith—paid the money advanced upon it by kind, confiding
friends in the Forth, who trusted honor as well as cotton ?
If not, will you yourselves shut the gate of commerce, keep
back your cotton, cause ruin to friends? And may you not
4
26
inflict a new wound on that honor already so deeply wounded
by the election of Lincoln as to induce yon wildly to rnsli
out of the Union before he comes into office? And are your
garners well filled, your meat-houses and your corn-houses
well stored ? If they are not, I pray you pause yet a little
while—I pray you pause. If you are resolved to go out of
the Union, I know my voice will not stay you—I know my
hand never shall be raised to stop yon—yet I pray you stop
a little while. You can go just as surely, just as safely, just
as certainly in April, May or June next as you can on the
4th, or, if it must be, on uthe 8th of January" the glorious
8th. You do know the past season was most inauspicious
for the provision crop in portions of Florida. I believe it
was equally so in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Missis¬
sippi, while it was never more abundant in the great valley,
the Egyptian grain field of America. Do not fear Lincoln—■
he da/re not raise his hand—his arm is powerless to strike even
Florida. FTo, no, fear not his vengeance. Your kind, your
brave, your generous friends in the Uorth—the 300,000 men
of ISTew York, cheered on by the heroic voice of Fillmore
and Dickinson, Hunt and Wood—hundreds of thousands of
true and gallant men of Hew England, cheered on by Ever¬
ett, Curtis, Winthrop, Gushing and Hallett, and other heroie
generous men—and hundreds of thousands of brave, gene¬
rous friends in Pennsylvania, without a leader, all animated
with the same daring courage, governed by the same Chris¬
tianity and the same high civilization—the gallant, patri¬
otic Douglas, with the host of the great valley—will " come
to the rescue" and cover you with the mantle of their pro¬
tection even when retreating and " seceding" from them.
Wait, then—wait, I pray you wait—until we ship our cot¬
ton, pay our debts and bring in supplies to prevent famine,
until the blessings of a kind Providence shall give us abun¬
dance, in return for our labor, in the coming year. And
then, if you will strike, strike boldly.
But if you have already guarded against want and suffer
ing, you have judiciously and providently guarded against?
27
one evil, and may God, my fellow-citizens, guard you in Ids
merciful providence from all otliers, for lie knows tliat my
heart is tilled with nothing hut kindness for all of you.
But, my fellow-citizens, my beloved countrymen, bear
with me a little longer. I cannot leave you yet. It is the
last time I shall ever address you, and I have yet something
to say, I feel that the South is wronged; that her rights
have been violated in the violation of the Constitution; that
her dignity is wounded, and that she is, she should be, justly
offended; and none of you will go further than I will in re¬
senting the insult and in punishing the offenders. But the
wrong raid injustice is not the act of the government, but of
an aggressive party, which would subvert its powers; and
when I see so many elements of conservation to oppose that
party—and when I see so many truly great and well prac¬
ticed statesmen, both in the JSTorth and South, all animated
yet with that love of country for which they have been so emi¬
nently distinguished in the councils of their country—may
we not hope that they will, at this alarming crisis, when the
Union is shaken to its foundation stones—may we not hope
that some of them will, at an early day, meet at a convenient
place and unite their superior, abilities in devising some
present plan for the permanent settlement of the unhappy
controversy which has so long disturbed the repose of our
country ? And if a private citizen of Florida, little known
anywhere, may, without impropriety, I would address my¬
self to the Hon. John Bell of Tennessee, the Hon. John C.
Breckinridge of Kentucky^ the Hon. Stephen A. Douglas of
Illinois, the Hon. Herschel Y. Johnson of Georgia, the Hon.
Edward Everett of Massachusetts and the Hon. Joseph Lane
of Oregon, and respectfully suggest to them the expediency
of meeting at Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, with such
other distinguished citizens as they may suggest, to deliber¬
ate on this subjof L f n:c-r. iaonrr-o J which has m. or
claimed the coiiftiuenitjon of men. 1 hope I may be par¬
doned for the liberty I have thus taken, and that the honor¬
able gentlemen may be well assured that I am prompted
28
alone by an ardent desire to save the Union, and by the
high consideration in which I hold their merit as gentlemen
and their great abilities to relieve the present distress and
imhappiness of our falling country.
My fellow-citizens, when I look at the map of our great
country—its fertility and various productions—its unbounded
resources—its lake and ocean boundaries—its great rivers—
its internal navigation, the Mississippi with its mighty arms
embracing fifteen States of this Confederacy, and a system of
railroads embracing them nearly all—when I consider the na¬
tional character of our people—their great energies—their
intelligence—their high morality—their great success in all
pursuits and enterprises—when I examine the wonderful
structure of our government, the ample capacity it has de¬
veloped by experiment in war and the blessings it has dis¬
pensed in peace—when I reflect on the progress our country
has made in all that is great and glorious in my own day
and under my own vision—I cannot believe the mission of
the American Union is yet half accomplished. When it has
done so much for ourselves and so much for the whole civil¬
ized world—when we see so much yet to be done, and that
it can only be done by a union of the States as one great
national family—when we know the value and pride of the
American name in every foreign country, and when we
must know that even our great energies and boundless re¬
sources can never accomplish comparatively but little with¬
out the blessings of peace and domestic tranquility, and
when we must know that after the dissolution of this Con¬
federacy the States now bound together in friendly domestic
relation must become foreign to each other and be perpetu¬
ally liable to wars from conflicting foreign interests—when
we consider the heavy burdens of taxation with which the
people must be oppressed to pay the expenses of govern¬
ment, the expenses of fortifications and armies—I must be¬
lieve, until otherwise convinced by sad experience, that the
people of America are too wise and sagacious to destroy this
great system of popular government. I have, therefore, an
29
abiding liope and trust in heaven that all the conservative
elements may be combined; that the wisdom, the virtue and
patriotism of our enlightened nation may prevail over the
excited passions which are now inflaming the minds and
hearts of individuals and communities; that the tempest
now raging around us may be hushed and stilled, and that
our whole country may be again restored to its wonted pro¬
gress, with the blessings of peace and tranquility—-and then,
from the flight of the lialf-fledged eagle, we may contem¬
plate with exalted national pride the splendor of her empire
when the shadow of her wings shall give protection to a
hundred millions of free and happy people.
My fellow-citizens, I have expressed myself earnestly and
ardently in this address. I felt all I have said—I believe it
all to be true. It may be—I am sure it will be—offensive
to many and approved by few. This fills me with painful
regret. I would not willingly wound the sensibility of one
of yon. But, my fellow-citizens, I have felt at this momen¬
tous crisis that I have a high and holy duty to perform—the
duty of a double allegiance—allegiance to the State of Flo¬
rida—allegiance to the Government of, the United States. I
$
have told you something of my identity with the history of
Florida. Yet I have told but little. You all know how
much more than I have said I have been identified with
your history. It does not become me to remind you of it.
But this I may say, that I feel an elevated pride in the con¬
scientious belief that in every high trust—on all occasions,
and at all times, my duties I have discharged with fidelity,
as I have this day. For near twenty years I have had 110
more connection with your Government than if I had
been a stranger in a foreign land. But when I heard of
mustering men, and heard your drums beating a retreat
from the Union, it reminded me that I had a duty to
perform. I have faithfully performed that duty, and I
am prepared for the consequences, let them be what
they may. I have performed my duty to Florida—■
I have performed my duty to my country—I have perform-
30
ed my duty, a sacred duty, to tlie memory of Gen. Jackson.
And, oli, my country, were lie liere this day! One word,
one look, one wave of his conquering hand, and you, my
fellow-citizens, would fall back from rebellion to your coun¬
try's allegiance—back to her banner, the stars of the Union.
Democrats, some of you liaye professed to loye him. You
profess to be his followers. I pray you profane not his
name—insidt not his memory by calling yourselves his
friends, while standing in the ranks of rebellion against
your country.
I have heard it said that our Southern Republic is to be
placed under the flag—under Britain's proud dominion.
Oh, I hope not. I pray not. Men of Florida, are you
Americans ?—have you your father's blood—their history—■
their high traditions ? Have you not in " childhood's guile¬
less hour" heard the gray-haired sire, soldier of a glorious
day, heroic age—tell of the battles, the sieges, the marches,
he had seen and fought and won against that same haughty
Britain's flag and power ? Have you not heard him tell,
and did not your young hearts beat high with pride and love
for such a sire, such agpountry, and did not your young blood
flow in rapid circulation at the tale he told of " Charleston,"
" Sidlivanf " Camden,," " Cow P ens f u Savannah f "King's
Mountain f a Guilfordf "Petersburg," " Torhtownf and if
it be not treason to remember too well, you may have heard
of Bunker Hill, Dorchester Heights, and the night march
of our Washington. You may have heard of Long Island's
bloody and disastrous field—of Saratogas glorious battle—of
Washington's conquering in retreat across the Jerseys, hunt¬
ed like the tiger, and how like the tiger's spring, the light¬
ning's stroke, he fell upon that same Britain's camp at
Trenton and at Princeton, and afterwards at Monmouth.
You may have heard, too, of Brandyivine^ the wound of La¬
fayette, the surprise of Wayne's camp in the bloody night at
Paola—of soldiers suffering at Falley Forge—of their march
with naked, bleeding feet and frozen ground, and of the
brave battle at Gcrmantown, And then, again, you may
31
have heard of Scott—star of the Northern battle-fields of a
later day. You may Lave heard of him at Lund if s Lane,
at Chippeiva, where, like Napoleon on the bridge, he led
the foremost, and conquered and won that glorious field.
You in your own day have seen this conquering, romantic
chief, the second Cortez, at the gates of Mexico; and, oh,
there is another name of glory and renown, and other fields
of deathless lame. " Jackson," significant of victory in
peace and war—of peerless chivalry. You have heard of
him—of the night-battle and the great day-battle 011 the
bank of the Mississippi—the 23d of December, 1814—the
8th of January, 1S15. You have heard of all this, and you
have heard of your own Pensacola, graced by his high chi¬
valry, and you have heard of Talladega, Emuclfaw, Enoto-
chopco, of the Horse Shoe—of the scouts, the marches and
mutinies—harder to conquer than the enemy. But Jack¬
son conquered all. You have heard of these things, cover¬
ing the whole field of Alabama. And then there is naval
glory hallowing every sea. Jones in the British Channel,
with his little daring craft, bearding the lion in his den, and
throwing the glove of knighthood at the feet of a whole
kingdom. And you have heard of Truxton and Preble—
Rodgers and Biddle—of Decatur in the Pirate's Bay. You
have heard how, bravest of the brave, at night he sprung
upon the sleeping deck, struck down the sentinel, followed
by his brave Americans—how Turk and Christian fought
and fell in furious fight, until he won the lost Philadelphia,
and made her the funeral pile of his country's foes. You
have heard of him again in later days—the Hotspur of the
seas; of Lawrence, who would not " give up the ship" to
death. You have heard of Hull and the old Ironsides,
Bainbridge, Jones and Stewart, Perry and McDonough on
the Lakes, winning whole fleets and deathless fame, the ro¬
mantic Porter, of creative power, daring the elements, and
building a navy on the ocean by Ids own brave prowess. And
then you have heard of our own Tatnall in the China seas—
brave, generous Tatnall, Georgia's gallant son, with the mar-
32
tial grace of " courtesy's bright star," paying a visit of cheering
sympathy to the wounded Admiral, in the light, in a shower of
shot and bomb shells. Then there are great civic victories,
great sages—Washington, of double genius, warrior, sage—
of unsurpassed sagacity; statesmen of high renown ; orators
of unequalled eloquence—achievements unequalled in liis-
tory; your Constitution, your laws, your great popular
Government, are the ingredients of the great compound—■
these the atoms, the elements combined in the creation of
the great American name—a glorious name—won on battle¬
fields and in ocean fights by great heroes, and cherished by
great sages in the sanctuary of your father's councils. This
name, with all its comprehensive significance, is your birth¬
right—your proud inheritance. Men of Florida, my coun¬
trymen, my friends, and, oh, you of my name, my kindred
blood, my race and lineage, will you leave that name ? like
the name of the Roman citizen, it is a "pcissicorcl" the
" Shibboleth" not at the passes of the Jordan, but on
the world's highway. It wins, it awes, it is feared and
respected, it is known in every land and spoken in every
tongue; and will you leave that name and go under
another—under the British flag? Oh, that Jackson was
here to speak, or just to raise his hand and show the scar of
the sabre's cut, aimed at the head of the brave prisoner boy
——of the brave orphan boy of thirteen—because he would
not be a slave and clean the boots of a liaughtv, barbarous
Britain. Oh, for one hour of Dondolo, the Octogenarian
Chief.
My fellow-citizens, I have yet a parting word I would
say. I have told you I felt that I had a sacred duty
to perform to the living and the dead—my duty to my coun¬
trymen and my duty to the memory of General Jackson. I
have tried to discharge my duty to both with fidelity. But
that you may understand the force of my obligations, it is
necessary to say something more of myself (which I do with
reluctance,) and show that in early life Jackson dedicated
me to 111 y country. I will, then, if you please to read it,
as
give you an extract from one of Ins letters to me at Pensa-
cola, written from tlie Hermitage, on the 15th clay of No¬
vember, 1821, as follows: "Believe me, when I first met
with you in the field, your ^youthful appearance, your manly
and soldier-like deportment, attracted my attention, and
when mutiny and desertion pervaded my camp—when situ¬
ated in the howling wilderness, surrounded with the savage
yell, it was your soldier-like and honorable conduct, when
deserted by your company, at this trying moment, that drew
my particular attention to you. To see a gallant youth of
'eighteen, abandoned by his Captain and company, returning
from the field of honor, and you left alone, determined tb
die rather than tarnish your military fame by retiring
from the post of clanger—from that moment my opinion was
formed of you, and I cherished your youthful merits for
your country's good, and aided in promoting your rank as
your merit increased and your talents were disclosed to me.
I regret, our separation, but I still more regret that injustice
and inattention of the Executive in not having provided for
you, agreeably to his promise and my expectation. But, my
dear Call, I have been tossed upon the world of fortune from
youth-hood. I have experienced prosperity and adversity.
It was this that gave me a knowledge of human nature—it
was this that forced .into action all the energies of my mind
and ultimately caused me to progress through life as I have
done."
Thus you will see, my fellow-citizens, that Jackson dedi¬
cated me to my country, little as I have done; that he
"cherished my youthful merits for my country's good.'" For
my own advancement I have never used this letter. I have
held it too sacred to use it for myself, and I now publish it,
in the hope that, aided by his impressive power even in the
grave, that I may in this appeal reach your hearts and turn
them to your country. But you cannot yet understand the
full force of my obligations to Jackson, and my obligation to
do all Bean of that which I know he would do were he here
5
31
among us iu tliih hour of trials and portending dangers, until
I tell more of Lis kindness to me. I was a friendless orphan
boy, without fortune. Destiny tlirew me in the path of
Andrew Jackson. I followed Am in his tirst campaign
against the Creek Indians in 1S13, and in the wilderness he
found me, as eight years after he has described in the ex¬
tract from the letter I haye here giyen you. I was with
him in his tirst march—Lwas with him in his last battle,
lie promoted me, perhaps—I am sure he did—far aboye my
merit, I became his Aid-de-camp, and for near three years
I was a member of his domestic family at the Hermitage..
For eight years in military association, the most endearing
relations subsisted between us. Afterwards we were asso¬
ciated in civil life—he a Senator from Tennessee, I a dele¬
gate from Florida, in the Congress of the United States. I
was hi < mess-mate in Washington, as I had been his mess-
mute in the wilderness. Unbounded mutual confidence sub¬
sisted between us. lie was the frank, sincere, undisguised
.atddier. (>ften he has told me that he had no secret other
than his 'Masonic obligations, and, if any man ever knew
him, I knew him. And now to the Democrats of the work-
ingmen of Florida I would especially address myself. You-
are patriotic—you have no political aspirations. For twenty
years I have told you of .the design of your leaders. You
have ever professed to love Jackson—to' follow Ins precepts,
reverence his name and honor his memory. I now tell you,
my countrymen, if you go further you will commit treason
against your country and trample on the grave of ,Geileral
Jackson. Your foot-ste}>6 will not disturb the slumbers of.
the mighty dead, but they will lead you to the ruin of your
country.
And now, my fellow-citizens, in your presence, in the
presence of my whole country, in the presence of the God
of our worship, and if it be Ilis Divine will that the dead
si rail know the hearts and the actions of the living, I would
say to the spirit of my beloved great chief in Heaven, who
took *me by the hand in the wilderness:—brought up the .