Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter

“ If I am to choose between the generation of men who, under the guarantee of treaties, under the sanction of laws, transferred the African from a worse to a better condition, and those who, in violation of law and of the Constitution, steal away the southern slave, and transfer him from a better to a worse condition, let me live with the first rather than with the last. ”

“ I believe that the progress of light and intelligence in both races is not incompatible with the institution with the institution of southern slavery. I believe that we all are responsible for the happiness of all who are committed to our charge, whether they be white or black; and I say, let us do right in despite of the Abolitionist, however he may throw himself in the path of the improvement of the slave. ”

“ By what right then, does any man reproach us for doing that which places the society of our country in the very best possible position? Sir, the statesman is not responsible for not attaining the greatest ideal good. He is responsible for not doing the best under the circumstances; and he who has done that has discharged his full duty to his race and to his principles. Are we to say, we will put down any organization, social or political, in which we find individual cases of evil and injustice? ”

“ A thousand offenses, so trivial and so absurd, have been thus summarily disposed of, that it would be impossible for any man to maintain that we should be justified in the attempt to exercise such power upon precedents drawn from the British Parliament.
Sir, if we claim any privilege beyond what the Constitution has specially given, it is only under the implication that we may punish things done within our own view, and may preserve our own existence by expelling an intruder and preventing contempts. ”

“ Of course I argue upon the principle that the alleged breach of privilege is founded upon the constitutional provision as to words spoken in debate. I show enough, if I prove that this provision can in no way extend to a speech published and circulated. No one can allege, as it seems to me, that a mere assault upon a Senator is a breach of his parliamentary privilege. It is a violation of his legal rights, and for that wrong the courts afford a remedy. ”

“ We should find, probably, if we could pursue the inquiry strictly and accurately, that Massachusetts herself is more interested in the profits of slave labor, and subsists a larger number of people upon it, than do, perhaps, the States of Maryland or Missouri, or even some other slave States which I might enumerate.
Not only this; but those who thus make slavery profitable by creating the demand for the products of slave labor, are as much responsible for the institution as we are who own the slaves. ”

“ Suppose an officer were to arrest a man who was privileged by the Constitution from arrest. The remedy against him would be, that the man thus arrested could plead that privilege in order to be released, and he could sue the officer for false imprisonment; but could this House take up the officer and punish him? Surely not. The Constitution itself provides that no man shall be punished either in life, liberty, or property, except by due process of law. The theory of our Constitution is one of law and of equal rights ”

“ If your obligations to God forbid you to discharge the duties required by the society whose government protects you, nothing is left for you but to abandon that society if it will not change the government. You can have no right to enjoy the benefits and protection of that Government, and then refuse to perform the conditions upon which those advantages are extended to you.
Now, sir, if it be an individual who is in this unhappy case, there is nothing left for him but to expatriate himself at once, or else, make up his mind to meet the penalties of the violated law. ”

“ We know, on the other hand, that under this institution of slavery we can present more than three millions of African negroes who exhibit a greater degree of progress and improvement, of happiness and virtue, than the same number of that race who can be found under any other Government or in any other clime. I say, then, that we can point to all these things to prove, and to show, that the holding of these men in bondage is the necessary result of those circumstances which originated out of the action in part of Old England and of New England herself. ”

“ We are strong enough within the Union, or without the Union, to defend ourselves, and with the blessing of Providence let us do right, and leave the consequences to God. To him who intrudes his opinion upon us—to him who has no right to make an inquiry as to our domestic affairs, I have only to say, "There is the southern slave; he speaks for the institution of slavery in our section; produce to us the same number of African negroes in bondage or otherwise, and in any other country, who have made the same progress in improvement, and then we may acknowledge your right to reproach us ”

“ When we come to add the number who depend on the other slave-grown staples, not only in Great Britain but in all Europe, and in the free States of our own Confederacy, we should find, I believe, that there were more depending for their existence on the institution of slavery, and its profits, outside of our slaveholding States than within them. ”

“ What social system or institutions would stand?—what government on the face of the earth could endure for a minute, under such a doctrine? We know that in the great scheme of creation itself, framed by an all-powerful, all-wise, and all-good Being, evil exists. ”

“ We are told of the dungeon to which the pious matron is consigned in Virginia who teaches the slave to read. Sir, I have seen in the State of Virginia thousands of slaves who could read and write; and if there ever was any matron, pious or otherwise, who was imprisoned for teaching them, I have yet to hear the history of the case. I have never known such a case; I do not believe that one exists. I think I have been told, that in one of the States of this Union there is a law making it penal to keep Christmas ”

“ I admit that evils may occur on that side, but not so great on that horn of the dilemma as on this; because it is always to be remembered that, in the other alternative, the courts of law are open, where you may sue by private action for damages, where you may indict for assault, and where the court has power and jurisdiction to punish for the offense, in either person or property; so that there is a full remedy and an impartial tribunal for any such injury. ”

“ I pass away from that in which Massachusetts expresses her approbation of this unparalleled attack on States and their representatives, and come now to the other resolutions, in which she undertakes to sit in judgment on a case here pending, and not merely to request her Representatives, and to instruct her Senators, as other States do, but to "demand" of us that we should carry out her fiat and execute her judgment. I am willing to admit that Massachusetts is fully the equal, and has all the rights, of any other State in this Confederacy ”

“ We know that, in any form of society which could be organized , evil must exist; and to reproach a statesman or a people because in their institutions they may not have attained perfection, is to demand of them more than is possible for human nature. ”

“ I say, if it were, I think I can show that you could do nothing with him, and would have no power to punish him, but that the sole power which exists is in the courts, and that there a Senator has the protection which every other citizen possesses—a protection ample and full—an independent tribunal to judge the case, fully armed with jurisdiction and powers for the case and for the occasion; but, beyond that, I do not believe the Senate could have punished an individual for an occurrence which took place when it was not in session, and not within its view. ”

“ You would see either that, or you would see that as they increased in numbers, and population began to press upon the means of subsistence, the white man would leave the country and abandon some of the fairest portions of this continent to the occupation of the negro. We know that from the experiment which has already been tried. I may say that human nature and the experience of States around us both teach us that, although the slave would be nominally emancipated, he would in fact be in far worse bondage than he was held before. ”

“ A member of Parliament has undoubtedly the privilege, for the purpose of producing parliamentary effect, to speak in Parliament boldly and clearly what he thinks conducive to that end. He may even, for that purpose, if he thinks it right, cast imputations in Parliament against the character of any individual, and still he will be protected. ”

“ What materials are these that we are collecting for history? What weapons are we placing in the hands of those who wish us ill, and who delight in every opportunity to disparage ourselves and our institutions? ”

“ President, I do believe that the time has arrived when we should look at the state of circumstances around us, coolly and dispassionately, and when every man should come to the settlement of these differences with the will to sacrifice much of feeling, anything of the pride of opinion, everythingthat he can, consistently with duty and conscience, to settle and quiet them. ”

“ It is through this process that they acquire the means and facilities for emigration which are necessary for the improvement of every race that has ever made any improvement in the history of man. The stronger races satisfy this necessity of their condition by armed emigration; the weaker are made to do it by forced emigration; and history shows that the African has performed his share of that process, from an age beyond the date of the pyramids, in the caravan of the slave trader. ”

“ Has she shown that, in this regard, she is more entitled to have her opinions respected and enforced than the other States of the Union? She can make no such claim, whilst the personal liberty bill stands upon her statute-book. While she claims all the benefit conferred on her by this Union and its Constitution, she is bound by an honorable obligation to carry out the duties which it imposes on her in return. Every man who lives under this Constitution and enjoys its benefit, is bound, so far as he is able, to carry out its obligations, and to discharge the duties which it imposes on him. ”

“ In the great scheme of life, the safeguards are provided rather against the assaults of other persons upon the vital organs, than against any injury which the possessor himself might inflict upon them. Against that danger, the instincts of self-preservation are supposed to afford a sufficient protection, except in the case of a frenzied or misguided will. ”

“ Now, if we can show that the preservation of this relation inures to the benefit both of the white and the black race, and that to destroy it would effect a cruel injury to each, do we not show what justifies us in holding them in that condition? Do we not give reasons which prove that it is our duty to do so? ”

“ There are probably as many people outside of the slave States who derive profit and existence from the proceeds of slave labor, as are to be found within them. On the great staple of slave-grown cotton, it is now estimated that nearly, or quite, three million British subjects depend for their subsistence. ”

“ But there are others again who say that they believe there is yet a higher law, whose obligations restrain them from carrying out this part of the Constitution. I say to them that, whilst I admit, when the laws of God and man come into conflict, you must obey those of God rather than of man, at the same time it follows as a consequence that this law of God would forbid you to take an oath to support the Constitution which contained a provision contrary to its obligation. ”

“ He not only made it to force the repeal of that discriminating duty, but he succeeded; and England did repeal it, notwithstanding the obligations which she owed to her colonies, on whom she had forced this harsh measure, to give them, at least, that advantage in her own markets.
If we examine the history of the institution, we find, as I have just endeavored to show, from its commencement to the present period, that those who now reproach us are as responsible as we. In the first instance, they sold the slave and we bought him. Now, we sell the products of his labor and they buy it. ”

“ It may require the will of another as well as of ourselves; but I say, give us what we can secure if we choose—give us peace at home. We want its opportunities to work out our destiny, and to crown with the glory of success the most wonderful experiment inhuman happiness that has ever been attempted in the history of man. ”

“ We know from experience that in the southern States it is this which has mitigated the institution and ameliorated his condition; because it is under this, that, when population begins to press on the means of subsistence, he is removed from a place where his labor pays but little to one in which it pays more, not only to the master but himself. ”

“ Although it may seem to be hard that he should be thus forced to emigrate at the will of another instead of his own , yet, when we come to scrutinize closely the process, we find that the line of emigration which he pursues according to the laws of trade, is precisely that line which he would take if he were to follow only his own interests. ”