of an absolute tyranny
over these States." What would have been thought of Mr. Jefferson
if he had stopped there and adduced no instance and given no proof
of his serious indictment against George III.? But Mr. Jefferson
and his fellow-patriots in that great Act proceeded to submit their
proof to the judgment of a candid world. They recited twenty-eight
distinct charges of oppression and tyranny, depriving them of rights
to which they were entitled as subjects of the Crown under the
British Constitution. From that hour to this, there has been no
disproval of the truth of these charges or of the righteousness of
the resistance to which our forefathers resorted. It would have
been well for the dignity of the Southern Confederacy in history
if one of its many able men had placed on record, in an authentic
form, the grounds upon which, and the grievances for which,
destruction of the Union could be justified.

In his message to the Confederate Congress, Mr. Davis apparently
attempted to cure the defects of his Inaugural address, and to give
a list of measures which he declared to have been hostile to Southern
interests. But it is to be observed that not one of these measures
had been completed. They were merely menaced or foreshadowed. As
matter of fact, emphasized by Mr. Buchanan in his message, and
known to no one better than to Mr. Davis, not a single measure
adverse to the interests of slavery had been passed by the Congress
of the United States from the foundation of the government. If
the Missouri Compromise of 1820 be alleged as an exception to this
sweeping assertion, it must be remembered that that compromise was
a Southern and not a Northern measure, and was a triumph of the
pro-slavery members of Congress over the anti-slavery members; and
that its constitutionality was upheld by the unanimous voice of
the Cabinet in which Mr. Crawford of Georgia and Mr. Calhoun of
South Carolina were leading members.

On the other hand, the policy of the government had been steadily
in favor of slavery; and the measures of Congress which would
strengthen it were not only numerous, but momentous in character.
They are familiar to every one who knows the simplest elements of
our national history. The acquisition of Louisiana, the purchase
of Florida, the Mexican war, were all great national movements
which resulted in strengthening the slave power. Every demand
which the South made for protection had been conceded.