Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1832-04-07
SATURDAY, APRIL z, 1889.


and animated debate, which took place in the
House Of Representatives last Monday, on me.
mortal Of certain British subjects in favor of the
Colonization Society. &c. We annex the pi-
quaint debate between Mr.. Burgess and Mr..
Blair:
Mr.. BuReEs next rose, and observed, that,
in Justice to the course he had pursued, he must
be permitted to say few words, He bad not
been in the House when the memorial was intro
duced; and when the gentleman from Tennessee
mir Polk had made his motion for reconsider
alton, he did not know to what the gentleman al
luded; but, when he perceived that the gentle
man from Tennessee aud the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Mrrcer,) we're at issue as TO the
contents of the paper. he had moved that II
m,oht be read He had no knowledge what
ever of its contents, save that it came from
British subjects. and that il was ON the subject OF
the foreign slave trade. Gentlemen. he trusted,
would do him the justice. howsOcver indisposed
some might be To DO SO, and however ready to
insult his feelings and to injure his character;
yet the House, he was sure. would do him the
iusr,ce to admit that he had ever treated the sub
feet of slavery in a manner calculated to quiet
every angry feeling. He had never sought to
stir up any excitement on that subject. He re-
Auterive Those who remembered that claim.
and the debate to which it gave rise. could bear
witness, that the statements he then made were
such as to satisfy everv gentleman comlag from
a slave State Of hi, perfect conviction Of the I'M
constitutionaity of any interference, by the Ge-
neral Government, with the tenure OF their slave
property. Yet to-day, for some purpose, God
knew what it had suited gentlemen totally to
m,srepresent his sentiments. The gentleman
from Virginia tMr Patton) had alluded, he pre-
suned, to him as having said that they of the
South were afraid 10 hear the paper read.
Mr.. PArroN said. he had alluded to the gen.
tlernan from ',hode Island, who had asSed-Are
the gentlemen afraid 10 hear it read:
Well, now. replied Mr.. BaIges. we'll. now
I asked whether gentlemen were afraid to hear
the paper read. Nav not gentleman ask such
a question without offence. In what way more
emphatic could |, have declared that the gentle
men were not afraid? king Asrippa, belevest
thou the prophets:' asked the great Apostle,
and Instant, added, 6" know that thnu bellev-
est" Let the gentleman consult his primer IN
rhetorc-ave, and his primer in courtesy too.
The gentleman from Suuth Carolina Mr..
Blar) bad accused the ci,iZens ut the North OF
bu,ltling their factories on the groans and tears
and blood of the oppressed and miserable Afrl-
cans. That was more, Mr. B. sad, than he
would sit and hear. The gentlemen knew no.
thing about the people of the North, Mr. B.
admitted that, before the slave trade was made
piracy, some American ship-owners were engag-
ed in ii, and IL might BE- that even after the trade
became illegal some might have cUn,rved to be
concerned in IL. II the facts were 81, let them
settle thai question with God and their country.
But that the people OF New, England had built
their factories ON the groans and tears and blood
OF the Africans, was as false as that the gentle
man from South Carolina Mr. Bair) now lived
on the .ssroans and tears and blood OF the
vast number IF slaves over whom he held con-
troll. That that gentleman. whose entire fortune.
Standing. and consequence IN the community,
WA 11ilt upon pyramid ut the bones aud ST.
ne,'- aud blood Of ensiaved Africans, should
dare to bring charge like this. was an outrage
such as Mr.. B. had never before witnessed -
He did not apply this language to other Southern
gentlemen: He confined it to that gentleman
alone. Mr.. B. had said that it mad pleased God
to relieve the people of the North from that grew
Gus curse, which still lay upon their Southern
brethren: And. in saving so. he had but quot
ell the words Of one OF the best and wisest Of
the statesmen Of the South. He reproach his
brethren with an evil which had fallen upon them
in the appointment Of POvidence He would
a, soon reproach man for having lost an eye or
an arm. or having deformed limb, as for hav-
ing been born in a country where he received by
inheritance the control OF the labor of slaves.
He had always looked at it so. In every move
ment the South had made to relieve themselves
from the pressure of this heavy burden. he had
ever felt The deepest sympathy. No man per.
sonally interested in the horrible catastrophe OF
thu last summer. had felt more acutely, than he
and his friends on that calamitous occasion; and
vet they were to be reproached with having in
suited the Simultaneously because they desired
to nave certain petition read, that they might
act unlerstandlngly in permitting it to be put
out of the House m manner that should vlndl-
cat. the courtesy of the country. He STIR up an
excitement He injure the South!
There is not person there, to whom he would
not extend the hand Of amity; but there are those
there in regard to whom the most fervent aspra-
ton of the most sympathetic heart is too feeble;
too ,,ule to express all for which he would i'm
More Heaven in their behalf. Did he desire that