It was these monstrous doctrines and assumptions, which were then, and are to the present day, avowed and defended by abolition orators, that alarmed the Southern people.  It was not long before Northern abolitionists were detected in circulating through the South, exciting and incendiary publications, on the subject of slavery, and in some instances, intermeddling with slaves, and trying to incite insurrections among them.  These things inflamed the public mind more and more in the South.  Legislatures met, and enacted laws still more stringent for the punishment of such offenders; for the suppression of public discussion; and they, withal, threw so many restrictions around those who held slaves that in most of the states, emancipation became exceedingly difficult, and in some of them, absolutely impracticable.  These are historical facts, and they are worth more than a volume of any man’s speculations on the subject of slavery.  They speak for themselves, and require but little comment from me.  Who was it that crushed in embryo, the reform which was in progress thirty-five years ago?  It was the abolitionists, and every one is aware of it, who is informed on the subject; and intelligent men among the abolitionists know it, as well as any one else.  The officious inter-meddling of abolitionists with Southern slavery, never has, and never can effect anything for the slave; it has served but to retard emancipation, and to rivet the chains of slavery.  This opinion has been expressed a thousand times, by the wisest and best men, that our nation has ever produced—­men, who enjoyed the best opportunities for forming correct opinions on the subject.  Henry Clay said, in a letter, written in 1845, “I firmly believe that the cause of the extinction of negro slavery, far from being advanced, has been retarded by the agitation of the subject at the North.”

I believe slavery to be an individual and a national evil—­a dire calamity—­and would rejoice to see it extinguished by any means compatible with the safety, peace and prosperity of the nation, the best interests of master and slave; and in the fear of God Almighty, before whose bar I know that I must shortly appear, I sincerely, firmly and solemnly believe, that if the free states had stood aloof, and left the discussion and disposition of it entirely to the slave states, several states which are now slave states, and are likely to remain so, would have long since made provisions for the emancipation of their slaves.  And I moreover believe, that if the North would now desist from all interference with it, the evil would be eradicated from the United States, some hundreds of years sooner than it will be, provided she persists in her present course.  This is a legitimate conclusion from the foregoing historical facts.  Abolitionists can do nothing, and men of intelligence well know it, that will mitigate the evils of slavery, or eradicate it from the South.  It is entirely beyond their reach, they cannot control