very class of persons as property;
they were not put upon the footing of equality with white
men--not even upon that of paupers and convicts; but, so far as
representation was concerned, were discriminated against as a
lower caste, only to be represented in the numerical proportion
of three fifths. So stands the compact which binds us together.

"Then, Senators, we recur to the principles upon which our
Government was founded; and when you deny them, and when you
deny to us the right to withdraw from a Government which, thus
perverted, threatens to be destructive of our rights, we but
tread in the path of our fathers when we proclaim our
independence and take the hazard. This is done, not in hostility
to others, not to injure any section of the country, not even
for our own pecuniary benefit, but from the high and solemn
motive of defending and protecting the rights we inherited, and
which it is our duty to transmit unshorn to our children.

"I find in myself perhaps a type of the general feeling of my
constituents toward yours. I am sure I feel no hostility toward
you, Senators from the North. I am sure there is not one of you,
whatever sharp discussion there may have been between us, to
whom I can not now say, in the presence of my God, I wish you
well; and such, I am sure, is the feeling of the people whom I
represent toward those whom you represent. I, therefore, feel
that I but express their desire when I say I hope, and they
hope, for peaceable relations with you, though we must part.
They may be mutually beneficial to us in the future, as they
have been in the past, if you so will it. The reverse may bring
disaster on every portion of the country, and, if you will have
it thus, we will invoke the God of our fathers, who delivered
them from the power of the lion, to protect us from the ravages
of the bear; and thus, putting our trust in God and in our firm
hearts and strong arms, we will vindicate the right as best we
may.

"In the course of my service here, associated at different times
with a great variety of Senators, I see now around me some with
whom I have served long; there have been points of collision,
but, whatever of offense there has been to me, I leave here. I
carry with me no hostile remembrance. Whatever offense I have
given which has not been r