under the Declaration of Independence; but I do not think an African equally white with me, and therefore he is not on a footing of equality exactly. He has never enjoyed political rights, and therefore he has been deprived of none. In Africa, he enjoyed the privilege of slaughtering and eating his fellow-man; and it was consistent with his idolatry, and consistent with his education; but that does not give him the education and moral pitch that white men have.
But be that as it may, whilst these subjects are being discussed, I ask, I implore gentlemen to tell us what better disposition can be made of them. Is the wild and savage African of Africa better than the slave of the South? Is he as well off as the free blacks of the North or those who are freezing in Canada? No; he is not as well off as they are; he is not cared for; and will you throw our slaves back again into barbarism, or will you turn them loose upon us in the South? Have we done aught to produce the necessity of having them amongst us? Did not your ancestors do it? We never were a commercial people; we never carried on the slave-trade until recently—and I brand that as an act of unmitigated infamy; but it was done by others. Slavery has descended to us; it is necessary, and we must maintain it; but does it conflict with the well-being of Northern gentlemen and Northern society that the South bear it? We are told that it is a calamity and misfortune to us. Let us bear our misfortunes alone. We have not asked for intervention, nor can we permit it. It is requiring too much. Have I ever sought to drive slavery into your communities? Have I ever sought to extend its limits or to trench on any one of the established principles of gentlemen who think differently on this subject from myself? I have not sought to thrust it down their throats; but I have determined always to maintain it as a man, and to vindicate the rights that exist with us.
You never hear me talk of "Southern rights." The South has no rights but what belong to the North; nor has the North any rights but what belong to the South. The North has excluded slavery; the South retains it. The North did it because exclusion was their interest; the South retain it because that is their interest. All the States have equal rights. You, gentlemen of the North, have the right to adopt slavery when you please. We have the right to abolish it when we please. You have the right to abolish it, and we to adopt it. Our rights are reciprocal under the Constitution. We hold no rights that are Southern that are not Northern; but "Southern rights" is a cant phrase, calculated to inflame the popular mind, and create an alienation of feeling, as though the South was, in interest, antagonistic to the North, and the North to the South. Allay these reflections, gentleman; hush them up; cure and heal the wounds that have been inflicted upon the nation; give harmony to it, and you will give stability to our institutions. God has given us everything that is necessary to make us a happy, a great, and a mighty nation; and, oh, let us not be laggard in the generous race of emulation to honor His works.
Mr. Iverson having replied to the foregoing remarks, Mr. HOUSTON rejoined as follows:
Mr. President: If it had not been for the lateness of the hour last evening,
