. . . Now, sir, as I am disposed to see this question settled as soon as possible, and am perfectly willing to have a final and conclusive settlement now, instantly, and after what the Senator from New York has said, I think it not unimportant that I should attempt to bring the North and South face to face, and see what resources each of us might have in the contingency of separate organizations. If we never acquire another foot of territory for the South, look at her. Eight hundred and fifty thousand square miles; as large as Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia, and Spain. Is not that territory enough to make an empire that shall rule the world? With the finest soil, the most delightful climate, whose productions none of these great countries can produce, we have three thousand miles of continental shore line, and so indented with bays and crowded with islands, that, when their shore lines are added, we have twelve thousand miles of shore line. Through the heart of our country runs the great Mississippi, the father of waters, into whose bosom are poured thirty-six thousand miles of tributary streams; and beyond we have the desert prairie wastes, to protect us in our rear. Can you hem in such a territory as that? You talk of putting up a wall of fire around eight hundred and fifty thousand square miles so situated! How absurd.

But, sir, in this Territory lies the great valley of the Mississippi, now the real, and soon to be the acknowledged seat of the empire of the world. The sway of that valley will be as great as ever the Nile knew in the earlier ages of mankind. We own the most of that valley. The most valuable part of it belongs to us; and although those who have settled above us are now opposed to us, another generation will tell a different tale. They are ours by all the laws of nature; slave-labor will go over every foot of this great valley where it will be found profitable to use it, and those who do not use it are soon to be united with us by such ties as will make us one and inseparable. The iron horse will soon be clattering over the sunny plains of the South to bear the products of its upper tributaries to our Atlantic ports, as it now clatters over the ice-bound North. There is the great Mississippi, a bond of union made by nature’s law. She will forever vindicate her right to the union. On this fine territory we have a population four times as large as that with which these colonies separated from the mother country, and a hundred, I might say a thousand fold as strong. Our population is now sixty per cent greater than that of the whole United States when we entered into the second war of independence. It is twice as large as the whole population of the United States was after the conclusion of that war, and over exports are three times as great as those of the whole United States then. Upon our muster-rolls we have a million men. In a defensive war, upon an emergency, every one of them would be available. At any time, the South can raise, equip, and maintain in the field, a larger army than any Power of the earth can send against her, and an army of soldiers—men brought up on horseback, with guns in their hands.

If we take the North, even when the two large States of Kansas and Minnesota shall be admitted, her territory will be one hundred thousand square miles short of ours. I do not speak of California and Oregon; there is no antagonism between the South and those countries, and never will be. The population of the North is fifty per cent greater than ours. I have nothing to say in disparagement either of the soil of the North, or the people of the North, who are a brave, intelligent, energetic race, full of intellect, but they produce no great staple that the South does not produce; but we produce two or three, and those are the very greatest, that she can never produce. As to her men, however high they may be, they have never proven themselves to be superior to those of the South, either in the field or in the Senate.

But, sir, the strength of a nation depends in a great measure upon its wealth, and the wealth of a nation, like that of a man, is to be estimated by its surplus production. You may go to your trashy census books, all of which is perfect nonsense, and they will tell you that in the State of Tennessee, the whole number of house-servants is not equal to one half those in my own house, and such things as that. You may ascertain what is made throughout the country from these census books, but it is no matter how much is made if it is all consumed. If a man is worth millions of dollars and consumes his income, is he rich? Is he competent to embark in any new enterprise? Can he build ships or railroads? And could a people in that condition build ships and roads and go to war? All the enterprises of peace and war depend upon the surplus productions of a people. They may be happy, they may be comfortable, they may enjoy themselves in eating what they make; but they are not rich, they are not strong. It seems, by going to the reports of the Secretary of the Treasury, which are authentic, that last year the United States exported in round numbers $279,000,000 worth of domestic produce, excluding gold and foreign merchandise reexported. Of this amount $158,000,000 worth is the clear produce of the South; articles that are not and cannot be made at the North. Here are then $80,000,000 worth of exports of products of the forest, animal provisions, and breadstuffs. If we assume that the South made but one third of these, and I think that is a low calculation, our exports are $185,000,000, leaving to the North less than $95,000,000.

In addition to this, we send to the North $30,000,000 worth of cotton, which is not counted in the exports. We send to her $8,000,000 worth of tobacco, which is not counted in the exports. We send naval stores, lumber, rice, and many other minor articles. There is no doubt that we send to the North $40,000,000 in addition; but suppose the amount to be $35,000,000, and it will give us a surplus production of $220,000,000. The recorded exports of the South now are greater than the whole exports of the United States in any year before 1856. They are greater than the whole average exports of the United States for the last twelve years, including the two extraordinary years of 1856 and 1857. They are nearly double the amount of the average exports of the twelve preceding years. If I am right in my calculations as to $220,000,000 of surplus produce, there is not a nation on the face of the earth, with any numerous population, that can compete with us in produce per capita. It amounts to $16.66 per head, supposing that we have twelve million people. England, with all her accumulated wealth, with her concentrated and intellectualized energy, makes under sixteen dollars of surplus production per head.

I have not made a calculation as to the North, with her $95,000,000 surplus; but, admitting that she exports as much as we do, with her eighteen millions of population it would be little over twelve dollars a head at the outside. She cannot export to us and abroad exceeding ten dollars a head against our sixteen dollars. I know well enough that the North sends to the South a vast amount of the production of her industry. I take it for granted that she, at least, pays us in that way for the thirty or forty million dollars worth of cotton and other articles we send her. I am willing to admit that she pays us considerably more; but to bring her up to our amount of surplus production, to bring her up to $220,000,000 of surplus production, the South must take from her $125,000,000; and this, in addition to our share of the consumption of the $333,000,000 worth introduced into the country from abroad, and paid for in part by our own exports. The thing is absurd; it is impossible; it can never appear anywhere but on a census statistic book.

With an export of $220,000,000 under the present tariff, the South organized separately would have about $40,000,000 of revenue. With one fourth the present tariff she would have a revenue adequate to all her wants, for the South would never go to war; she would never need an army or a navy, beyond a few garrisons on the frontiers and a few revenue cutters. It is commerce that breeds war. It is manufactures that require to be hawked about over the world, and give rise to navies and commerce. But we have nothing to do but to take off restrictions on foreign merchandise and open our ports, and the whole world will come to us to trade. They will be too glad to bring and carry for us, and we never shall dream of a war. Why, sir, the South has never yet had a just cause of war. Every time she has seized her sword it has been on the point of honor, and that point of honor has been mainly loyalty to her sister colonies and sister States, who have ever since plundered and calumniated her.