On the other hand, we

to the protection of the central Government. are under equal obligation to sustain the Federal Government in the exercise of the powers conferred upon it, and to uphold and maintain the Constitution as the only legal bond of union.

All just government is designed alone for the protection of rights, and is the result of experience and compromise. There are abstract rights to be protected, but no reliable abstract principles applicable to the formation of governments. These are to be deduced practically from an experience of the character of a people, the climate in which they live, the products of labor, and the direction consequently given to their agricultural, mechanical, manufacturing and commercial enterprises.

It was under a due sense and appreciation of these important facts that our fathers framed the Federal Constitution. Our people were spread over several degrees of latitude and longitude; and their character and sentiments were modified by origin, climate, natural resources and pursuits; and these again introduced, and caused to be maintained, a variety of institutions, each peculiar to its own locality, and adapted, respectively, to the internal prosperity thereof. In the formation of the Constitution it was therefore obvious that no one State, or section, could justly expect to have all its important provisions conform, exclusively, to its own peculiar ideas. Hence, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure "tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, "and secure the blessings of liberty to" all, the principle of compromise was rendered necessary. It was that principle alone which enabled the Convention to unite in the adoption of an instrument which, while it secures us from the dangers of foreign interference and internal discord, guarantees to us the integrity and sovereignty of our State governments, and the sacred rights of liberty and property.

Without the compromises of the Constitution, we all know that instrument could never have been adopted. They are just to the North and to the South, to the East and to the West-to each of the States, considered as a single community, and to all considered as a federal community. They were adopted by those who had every incentive to be honest, firm and patriotic; who were entrusted with the performance of that duty by communities which had experienced the advantages of liberty, and the members of which had shed their blood in its defence. The angry strifes of parties, and the treacheries of factions, had not then arisen; and there were no other motives to impel to a union than those of duty, and a just sense of its advantages.

These compromises, then, constitute the corner stone of the federal compact, which cannot be disturbed without destroying the whole superstructure. The domestic institutions of all the States are recognized and protected by them. The absolute and inalienable right of the people of the Territories, under the Federal Constitution, to organize their social communities with such institutions as they may deem best for the promotion of their own welfare, is recognized by them. They are interwoven with every ligament of our general and State organizations, and those who propose to destroy them are dead to every sentiment of patriotism, and recreant to every suggestion of duty and honor. Traitors alike to the Constitution, the Union, and the cause of human liberty and progress, they deserve the execration of the present, and will merit the maledictions of future generations.

In the great battle of the Revolution, men of the North and of the South fought side by side; and they were encouraged, assisted and emulated by thousands from foreign lands, who valued the blessings of freedom the more highly, because they had experienced the evils of despotism. All were then regarded as fairly entitled to a full share of the fruits of the victory. In the formation of the Constitution the rights of all, regardless of birth or location, were recognized.

In a free government the existence of parties is to be expected. They are, indeed, necessary to its preservation; and so long as parties confine themselves within the limits of the Constitution, no danger is to be apprehended from them. But when they are organized upon principles incompatible with, or repugnant to it, they are traitorous, seditious and revolutionary. Unhappily for the peace and progress of the country, factions have been organized during the last few years, designed for, or tending to, the overthrow of the Constitution, and the destruction of the Union. More recently, all these fomenting elements have coalesced into two factions, one of which professes to be animated by a deep reverence for American institutions, and a hatred for religious domination; and the other, by a fervent devotion to abstract liberty. Like all other factions, their governing principles are directly antagonistic to the ends they propose to accomplish. The first of these factions, under pretence of respect for the dignity of American citizenship, and regard for the rights of conscience, proposes to disfranchise and reduce to political and social inferiority, all of those who happen to have been born in a foreign land, and to persecute, proscribe and reduce to political degradation all who do not concur in its notions of what liberty of conscience is. The other, whilst professedly striving for the elevation of the black race, would, if successful, reduce millions of the white race to servile dependence upon wealth and power-a condition far more humiliating than that of domestic servitude.

The sincerity of the leaders of these factions may well be questioned, since, although their principles are, in several respects, in conflict, they generally coalesce when they have hopes of thereby elevating themselves to office and power.

Against these, and all the other factions, under various names, which have sought to subvert the principles of our Government, the National party of the Union has always warred. It did so when, under the lead of Mr. Jefferson, it obliterated from our Statute book the alien and sedition laws. It did so when traitors organized to cripple the country, during the war of 1812. And it does so now, when it is evident that there is in process of formation, a coalition of the dangerous and treasonable elements of society for the destruction of social order and free institutions.

It was under the auspices of this great party that my name was placed before the people as a candidate for the exalted position to which I have been elected; and my official conduct will conform to its fundamental principles. From the acquaintance I have had with the people of the State for years past, I know that they are faithful to all the compromises of the Constitution, and opposed only to those who labor to destroy them. They love the Union. They are loyal to their own institutions; and while they will suffer no interference with them by others, they will abstain from interference with the institutions of our sister States. They now understand the motives of those within our borders, who, under the specious name of

Emancipation, seek to strike a fatal blow at the Constitution and the Union. They comprehend that we have amongst us a few of the corrupt instruments of slavery agitators of other States, who are only being used as the disturbers of our peace. They will not suffer themselves to be involved, by such instrumentalities, in the discussion of questions which can only retard our physical and moral progress, by deterring good men of other states and countries from making their homes amongst us.

Missouri has always occupied the same position with reference to the rights and equality of the States, and the limitations of federal power. In the sectional struggle connected with her admission into the Union, she announced in her solemn public act, doctrines which have finally received almost universal assent. During similar agitations since that time, the Executive and the General Assembly of this State have declared the sentiments of the people with reference to different attempts at federal usurpation and aggressive sectional agitation, ever expressing loyalty to the Constitution and the Union, but a firm determination to maintain her rights according to the true spirit of the fundamental law.

The latest form of assault upon the rights and equality of the States, has been with reference to the organization of territorial governments. The joint resolutions of our General Assembly in 1839, 1845, and 1849, and at various other periods, have asserted the doctrine that "The right to prohibit "slavery in any Territory belongs exclusively to the people thereof, and can "be only exercised by them in forming their constitution for a State govern❝ment, or in their sovereign capacity as an independent State;" a proposition of which the President of the United States says: "It is a mystery how it could ever have been doubted."

These views have since been discussed in every State; they have been sanctioned by Congress in the recent Territorial enactments; by the Executive in his approval and enforcement thereof, as well as in his messages; by the American people at the ballot-box last November, and finally by the Supreme Court of the United States. Thus, the views of Missouri, early advanced and persistently maintained, are now recognized and established constitutional maxims. Our devotion to the Union and our fraternal regard for the several members of the Confederacy, have been manifested by a faithful adherence to the Constitution and the unyielding maintenance of the reserved rights of the States.

It is to be regretted that the full settlement of the slavery question by every department of the Federal Government, and also by the people at the ballot-box, has not quieted all agitation; that any portion of the people, prompted by passion or prejudice, should have threatened resistance to the laws, proclaimed disorganizing and revolutionary sentiments, or assailed with vituperation, the augus. tribunal to whose judicial decision the question was finally submitted. And it is cause of special regret, that any number of citizens of this State, however small, should have become the instruments of scheming agitators elsewhere, who are evidently instigated by a determined hostility to our welfare. With a returning sense of duty, it is to be hoped that most of those who are now misled by mischievous and revolutionary ideas, will obey the requirements of patriotism, and that these few in our midst will cease to war upon the peace and prosperity of Missouri.

The same sectional spirit which in 1814 called into being a party opposed

to the then existing war with Great Britain, gave utterance to its narrow and intolerant views in fierce denunciations of all the Slave-holding States, and in an attempted proscription of all immigrants seeking here an asylum from monarchial oppression. That party has ever since had its representatives in different States; sometimes warring upon the growth and prosperity of the Western States; sometimes forming factions to war upon the Slave-holding States, and at others promoting secret or open organizations for the proscription of naturalized citizens and the exclusion of white immigrants from that position of political and social equality to which they are by natural laws entitled; never resting content with a discharge, in good faith, of their duties to the whole community, as citizens of a common Union. Originally opposed to the democratic character of our government, and averse to popular power, they have always been vindictive in spirit and turbulent in action. And now they seem not to realize that there can be no true liberty save under the guidance of established laws.

At present, vague notions of negro equality are mingled with hatred to the white immigrant. With a pretended love for the black, is associated an effort to degrade the white laborer. While some are attempting to secure the emancipation of, and others to confer the right of suffrage upon, the negro, another faction would withhold that right from the white immigrant, the tendency of which would be to reduce the latter to social equality with the former, and give to the two races equal civil rights, or to the negro, political superiority. And all these co-operate in their opposition to Democratic principles-coalesce as a common enemy of the Democratic party.

It becomes the duty of every good citizen to repel the vile slander put into circulation by the enemies of our social system, that white labor is degraded in this State by the presence of African slavery. In no portion of the Union is the white laborer more respected, and in no section of our common country are greater inducements presented to the working man, in every department of honest industry, than in Missouri. Nowhere in the West is the honest and industrious immigrant more heartily welcomed than here. Whether from the work-shops or manufactories of New England, the collieries or founderies of Pennsylvania, the extended fields of Virginia, the small farms of the East, the broad plantations of the South, or the dense and over-crowded populations of the Eastern Continent-whether laborers, farmers, planters, mechanics, merchants, scholars or professional men, in coming amongst us, respecting our rights and to obey and assist in the maintenance of our laws, they have met, and will continue to meet, with a hearty reception; and they have found, and will continue to find, themselves respected as much as in any other State in the Union. Statements of an opposite character evince the enmity of those who make them to the peace and prosperity of our State; and the tendency of their efforts is to repel the most worthy and conservative portion of those who are seeking homes in the West.

It is the interest of Missouri to invite immigration. We need an increase of productive genius and of productive labor. We have an extended area of territory yet to be brought into subjection. The development of our mineral resources is yet hardly commenced. Our manufacturing interests. are yet in their infancy. We want an increase of capital in all these departments. We want the labor, the mechanical skill to direct it, and the commercial enterprise to facilitate the necessary exchange of commodities. It

matters not to us whence it comes, if it brings with it moral worth and political integrity.

Ours is the central State of the Confederacy and of the continent, and is destined, in the future, to be the commercial emporium of the Atlantic and the Pacific-the point of arrival, departure and exchange of the products of Europe and Asia. We have the largest stream in the world—a river which steamers can now ascend over twenty-five hundred miles, with a vast network of tributaries winding through the heart of the State; whilst another great stream, happily designated by the Indians the "Father of Waters, concentrates and pours the waters of numerous branches along our eastern border. These two rivers drain an extent of fertile surface greater than the continent of Europe; and its products must pass by our doors, or find a market among us. We have a number of square miles of territory greater than all New England, rich in all the great natural elements of wealth. As a body of cultivable soil, ours is not equalled by any like quantity in the world.

Our mineral resources surpass in abundance and variety those of any other State in the Union, and of any other country on earth. The Iron Mountain alone covers a surface of about five hundred acres, and its ores extend to an unknown depth. The Pilot Knob and its vicinity contain an equal quantity of rich mineral; and iron ores of the finest qualities are to be found along the lines of the South-West Branch of the Pacific, and of the Iron Mountain Railroads, and are scattered in vast profusion over all the south-east section of the State. According to Professor Swallow, "There is ore enough of the very best quality, within a few miles of Pilot Knob and Iron Mountain, above the surface of the vallies, to furnish one million tons per annum of manufactured iron, for the next two hundred years." Rich mines of copper and lead are interspersed through the same region; and of the latter, inexhaustible quantities have recently been discovered in the SouthWest. Besides these, we have a great variety of other minerals, amongst which are zinc, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and others, including traces of silver and gold.

Of coal, our supply can never be exhausted. It is abundant in the vicinity of St. Louis, all over the northern half of the State-along the lines of the North Missouri, and the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroads, in the vicinity of the Osage, and in other portions of the State. According to the statement of our State Geologist, it would require three hundred years, at the rate of one hundred thousand tons per day, to transport the supply imbedded in four counties on the line of the latter road. He also states that "the coal beds of Missouri can furnish one hundred million tons per annum for the next thirteen hundred years."

Fine marble also abounds in the South-East, near the Osage, and in other localities. We have, besides, an incalculable supply of Kaolin, or porcelain clay, better in quality than that of China.

Our population is now over one million. It has increased with great rapidity during the last ten years, and to an unprecedented extent in the last three years. If we are wise, directing our energies to the development of all our resources, physical, moral and intellectual, indignantly frowning upon every attempt to inculcate the dangerous and alarming doctrines which lay at the foundation of the emancipation chimera, and do not suffer ourselves to be involved in fruitless and mischievous controversies with the enemies of