ible for the existence of slavery--she is now our
fiercest opponent; and yet New Jersey and Pennsylvania, who have not
this responsibility, have always stood by the South, and I believe
they always will.

It is not by _abhorring_ slavery that you can put an end to the
institution. You must let it alone. We are responsible for it now, and
we are willing to stand responsible for it before the world. We
understand the subject better than you do. It has occupied the
attention of the wisest men of our time. In fact, it is not a question
of slavery at all. It is a question of race. We know that the very
best position for the African race to occupy is one of unmitigated
legal subjection. We have the negroes with us; you have not. We must
deal with them as our experience and wisdom dictate; with that you
have nothing to do. The gentleman from Massachusetts may congratulate
himself that there are no negroes in that Commonwealth. I ask him what
he would do, if he had the race to deal with in Massachusetts as we
have it in Virginia?

I said, twenty years ago, in the Senate of the United States, and my
whole experience since having confirmed the truth of the statement I
repeat it now, that candid minds cannot differ upon this proposition,
that the present position of the negroes of the United States is the
best one they could occupy, both for the superior and inferior race.

And to the people of New England I have this to say: Your ancestors
were most powerful and influential in fastening slavery upon us. You
are the very last who ought to reproach us for its existence now. We
do not indulge reproaches toward you. It is unpleasant for us to
receive them from you. Their use by either can only serve to widen the
unhappy differences existing between us. Let us all drop them, and, so
far as we can, let us close up every avenue through which dissensions
may come. We call upon you to make no sacrifices for us. It will cost
you nothing to yield what we ask. Say, and let it be said in the
Constitution, that you will not interfere with slavery in the
District, or in the States, or in the Territories. Permit the free
transit of our slaves from one State to another, and in the language
of the patriarch, "let there be peace between you and me."

Let us all agree that there shall be landmarks between us; the same
which our fathers erected. Let us say that they shall never be
removed. I think upon this point I can cite an authority that will