The Liberator

JOHN C. CALHOUN.

Mr. Calhoun has delivered his sentiments in the U. S. Senate, on the Mexican war, and in support of his cunningly framed resolution, 'that to conquer Mexico, and to hold it either as a province, or to incorporate it into the Union, would be inconsistent with the avowed object for which the war has been prosecuted; a departure from the settled policy of the government; in conflict with its character and genius; and, in the end, subversive of our FREE (!) and POPULAR (!) institutions.' Mr. Calhoun has no scruples against robbing Mexico of a large portion of her territory—enough to extend the bloody area of slavery over hundreds of thousands of square miles—but he magnanimously (!) rejects the proposition, to swallow all Mexico at once! It is in this way he expects to acquire credit at the North for moderation, virtue, humanity; it is in this way the game is to be played between the seemingly divided, but really united portions of the slavocracy—the one portion vociferous for the entire subjugation of Mexico, the other (Mr. Calhoun's) in favor of taking 'a defensive line that shall cover ample territory for indemnity.' The extravagance of the former is merely a ruse to secure Northern votes, and reconcile Northern consciences, to A COMPROMISE, by which an immense amount of new territory shall be added to the Union for slaveholding purposes, without any resistance on the part of the North. Let us subjugate and annex all Mexico,' exclaim some of the Southern madcaps. Gentlemen, be not rash,' says Mr. Calhoun. 'Let us be content, for the present, with dismembering her.' Discreet and sagacious man,' respond the doughfaces of all parties at the North; 'a proposition so reasonable shall meet from us no opposition.'

If Mr. Calhoun talks of seizing only a portion of the Mexican republic, instead of the whole, it is not because he would favor the cause of liberty or humanity. Of all the cool, determined, ever vigilant foes of that cause, he is conspicuous. There is not in this land—not in the wide world—a greater devotee at the gory altar of Slavery than himself. His pride, as a slaveholder, is inordinate—his ambition Satanic. He glories in the traffic in human flesh—in wholesale robbery, concubinage, adultery and murder—in breeding and multiplying, for chains and slavery, those who are born in the image of God. His hands and his garments are stained with blood—his conscience is seared as with a hot iron—his heart is a piece of adamant. But he is cool, crafty, self-possessed, self-determined, inventive—he never deals in cant in discoursing on the subject of slavery—he utters his thoughts boldly, resorts to no circumlocution, and comes right to the point. This is his sole merit. Dying as he has lived, his memory shall rot, or be preserved only to be execrated to the latest posterity.

We have not room for his speech in our columns. It is in his usual condensed and forcible style, without flourish or ornament. He says the Constitution of the United States is an 'admirable' one, and eulogizes 'its wise provisions.' Thereby we are sure it is all we have so repeatedly affirmed it to be—'a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell.' He speaks of our 'free institutions'—O, marvellous audacity! Of those, the institution of slavery he holds to be paramount. He mourns that there is no solicitude for liberty now'! Why should he? Is not slavery a blissful condition? Does he mean to excite a slave insurrection? Solicitude for liberty'! Go, champion of hell-born slavery! and hide thyself from the presence of men—from the light of day—if possible, from the eye of God himself.

THE FREE WHITE RACE.

We have never dreamt of incorporating into our Union,' says John C. Calhoun, 'any but the Caucasian race—the free white man. To incorporate Mexico, would be the very first instance of the kind of incorporating an Indian race: for more than half of the Mexicans are Indians, and the other is composed chiefly of mixed whites. I protest against such a union as that! Ours, sir, is the government of the white man.' Haughtily spoken, and in the true spirit of slaveholding domination! Mr. Calhoun seems to know of no such people as mankind: to him, the doctrine of the brotherhood of the human race is absurd and impossible. In his opinion, the only race to be named and cared for is the Caucasian! All the rest, negroes in particular, are to be placed on a level with brutes, and made subject to the will of the free white race'!

And Mr. Calhoun is one of the great men of America! Great he may be—respectable he certainly is not—on the score of intellect; but where is there a more vulgar mind, or a more contemptible spirit, or a narrower soul than his own? Herein behold demonstratively his vulgarity and narrowness:—

'He finds his fellow guilty of a skin
Not colored like his own; and for this cause,
Dooms and devotes him as his lawful prey.'

This is sheer ruffianism. It may be refined, enlightened, gifted—still it is ruffianism. It is also the boldest impiety: for he who is disposed to insult, injure and enslave another on account of the manner in which it pleased God to fashion him, exalts himself above all that is called God, and mocks at Divine wisdom and goodness.

With all his affected regard for a white skin, we have not the least doubt that Mr. Calhoun has on his plantation, slaves whose skins are much whiter than his own. Whether any of them are indebted to him, on this score, we do not know; but that amalgamation is the order of the day,' as well as of the night, on every plantation—that the 'bleaching process,' by which the blackest skins are quickly turning to white, is in vigorous operation throughout the South—is undeniable. White runaway slaves are frequently advertised in the Southern newspapers.

With much trepidation, Mr. Calhoun asks—'Are we to associate with ourselves, as equals, companions, and fellow-citizens, the Indians and mixed race of Mexico? Sir, I should consider such a thing as fatal to our institutions' He means the institution of slavery. No doubt it would be fatal. But is it for men like himself—are they men, or monsters who have assumed the human form?—who give over to prostitution and ravishment, with all possible impunity, a million and a half of helpless females—is it for such men to talk of caste, and exalted companionship? Mr. Calhoun and his man-imbruting associates will yet learn, that there is a companionship not much longer to be tolerated—the companionship of honest men with thieves, of free-men with tyrants, of Christians with pirates! Religiously, a multitude of churches have already put all slaveholders beyond their pale and fellowship.— Politically, the cry is on the winds—and it is a terrible sound in the ear of the oppressor—'No Union with Slaveholders!' Not in vain has that cry gone forth.