America Before Europe: Principles and Interests

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C. Scribner, 1862 - Great Britain - 419 pages
 

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Page 134 - But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow-servants which owed him an hundred pence, and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest ; and his fellowservant fell down at his feet and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all ; — and he would not, but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt.
Page 178 - Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery — subordination to the superior race — is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first in the history of the world based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.
Page 168 - Lincoln's election or the non-execution of the fugitive slave law. It is a matter which, has been gathering head for...
Page 416 - You are, of course, aware that the election of last November resulted in the choice of Mr. Abraham Lincoln; that he was the candidate of the republican or anti-slavery party; that the preceding discussion had been confined almost entirely to topics connected, directly or indirectly, with the subject of negro slavery; that every northern State cast its whole electoral vote (except three in New Jersey) for Mr. Lincoln, while in the whole south the popular sentiment against him was almost absolutely...
Page 412 - States, nor concede, nor recognize any rights, or interests, or power of any party, state, or section, in contravention to the unbroken sovereignty of the federal Union. What is now seen in this country is the occurrence, by no means peculiar, but frequent in all countries, more frequent even in Great Britain than here, of an armed •insurrection engaged in attempting to overthrow the regularly constituted and established government. There is, of course, the employment of force by the government...
Page 415 - Every uncorrupted nation, in its deliberate moments, prefers its own integrity, even with unbearable evils, to division through the power or influence of any foreign State. This is so in France. It is not less so in this country. Down deep in the heart of the American people — deeper than the love of trade, or of freedom— deeper than the attachment to any local or sectional interest, or partisan pride or individual ambition — deeper than any other sentiment — is that one out of which the...
Page 415 - ... pride or individual ambition — deeper than any other sentiment* is that one out of which the Constitution of this Union arose, namely, American independence — independence of all foreign control, alliance, or influence. Next above it lies the conviction that neither peace, nor safety, nor public liberty, nor prosperity, nor greatness, nor empire, can be attained here with the sacrifice of the unity of the people of North America. Those who, in a frenzy of passion, are building expectations...
Page 414 - It is erroneous, so far as foreign nations are concerned, to suppose that any war exists in the United States. Certainly, there cannot be two belligerent powers where there is no war. There is here, as there has always been, one political power, namely, the United States of America, competent to make war and peace, and conduct commerce and alliances with all foreign nations. There is none other, either in fact, or recognized by foreign nations.
Page 178 - He was right. What was conjecture with him is now a realized fact. But whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood and stands may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old Constitution were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of Nature, that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically.
Page 414 - This government insists that the United States are one whole undivided nation, especially so far as foreign nations are concerned, and that France is, by the law of nations and by treaties, not a neutral power between two imaginary parties here, but a friend of the United States.

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