leading question of the rights of the South [to extend
slavery over the new territory], he is for us and he is with us." Said a newspaper in his own State, " General Taylor is from birth, association, and conviction, identified with the South and her institutions, being one of the most extensive slaveholders in Louisiana, and supported by the slaveholding interest; is opposed to the Wilmot Proviso, and in favour of procuring the privilege to the owners of slaves to remove with them to newly acquired territory."
The southerners evidently thought the crisis an important one. The following is from the distinguished whig senator, Mr. Berrien:—
"I consider it the most important Presidential election, especially to southern men, which has occurred since the foundation of the government.
"We have great and important interests at stake. If we fail to sustain them now, we may be forced too soon to decide whether we will remain in the Union, at the mercy of a band of fanatics or political jugglers, or reluctantly retire from it for the preservation of our domestic institutions, and all our rights as freemen. If we are united, we can sustain them; if we divide on the old party issues, we must be victims.
"With a heart devoted to their interests on this great question, and without respect to party, I implore my fellow-citizens of Georgia, whig and democratic, to forget for the time their party divisions: to know each
other only as southern men: to act upon the truism uttered by Mr. Calhoun, that on this vital question—the preservation of our domestic institutions—the southern man who is furthest from us is nearer to us than any northern man can be; that General Taylor is identified with us, in feeling and interest, was born in a slaveholding State, educated in a slaveholding State, is himself a slaveholder; that his slave property constitutes the means of support to himself and family; that he cannot desert us without sacrificing his interest, his principle, the habits and feelings of his life; and that with him, therefore, our institutions are safe. I beseech them, therefore, from the love which they bear to our noble State, to rally under the banner of Zachary Taylor, and, with one united voice, to send him by acclamation to the executive chair."
All this has been carefully kept from the sight of the people at the North.
There have always been men in America who were opposed to the extension and the very existence of slavery. In 1787, the best and the most celebrated statesmen were publicly active on the side of freedom. Some thought slavery a sin, others a mistake, but nearly all in the Convention thought it an error. South Carolina and Georgia were the only States thoroughly devoted to slavery at that
