Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1846-11-19
Letter from Mr.. BrinkerhOff"
WilmNi'S Resolution,


cal martyr to his paroxysmal indeP&' seem dis
vet to be ascertained. He DIS public stage
posed, however, to retire fr0er which he mus
without one kick at the No occasions to face
tered courage on oUhio Statesman re-publish-
in Congress 3dicatlons of sympathy, letter
es, with sumkerhoff, in which he exposes with
from Nerity the reckless designs of the Slave
sever, and claims for himself the credit of what
is called, Wilmot's provso, He thinks the
question involved in that provso is to be the
great question for the decision of the American
People, and is anxious that they should be put
in possession speedily of all the facts necessary
to suitable action,
When the President asked for $2,000,00O
to enable him to carry forward negotiations with
Mexico, it was we'll understood, Mr.. B. says,
that the object sought by such an appropriation
was, the purchase fCalilornia and New Mexico.
"To the acquisition of California, too, few,
if any, were opposed, procided ahOays, the con-
ditons on which it was to be obtained were
such as the interests of the whole country and
the welfare Of the human race demanded but,
if it was to be obtained for the still further eX-
tension of slavery territory; to lay still wider
and deeper the foundations of southern sectional
power-a power aIl-grasping in its disposition
which has for years mouOpolized nearly all that
is valuable in official station and quite all in
territorial cquistion----whlch, in Conjunc-
ton with federalism, has given away the half
of Oregon, and subjected US to the disgrace
II,o /,
and one on the north-west-if it was to be OBJ
tanned for the purpose of spreading peculiar
institution which is 1rag-chain upon the car
of human progress, make free labor dshonor-
able, and the common school impossible, |, for
one, did not desire it at all. And, in this view
of the question | was satisfied, from repeated
conversations with various representatives from
the free States, very large number of them
conceded with me-"
To Mr.. Brnkerhoff, it seems, belongs the
honor of embodyng these views IN the form of
proviso to the BILL although the proviSo was
moved by Mr. WiImot. We give Mr. BIS &C
count of the movement,
Accordingly, drew up an amendment to
the bilI--the original of which is now in my pos
session, and which intend to preserve as an
heirloom for my posterity-providing as an
cypress and Fundamental condition to the dc-
QUESTION of any territory FROM the Republic of
McricO by the United States, by Uirtue Of any
treoty to be negotiated bctoOetn them, and to the
use, by the EreeutiUe, Of the moneys herein dp-
propriafed, neither siarery nor Involuntary SER
Uitude shall cver e1iSt IN any part of said ter
ritorv, except for crime, 'Ohcreof the party shalt
be first duh convictcd' This | presented to
Mr.. WiImot, of Pennsylvania, a gentleman of
talents and Rrmness, and requested him to offer
it; which having first copied it in his own hand,
he did The amendment it will be perceived,
adopts the language of the justly famous Ordi-
nance of the old Congress of 1887, for the gov
eminent of the territory northwest of the Ohio
river and which has had the effect to exclude
the peculiar institution from the States of Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and the Territory
of Wisconsin, and thus to ensure them a prog
ress in population, wealth, and power, to which
the annals of the world afford no parallel"
On the passage of the amendment, the follow
ing incident, as related by Mr.. Brnkerhoff, took
place -
Directly after the vote upon the amendment,
Mr.. w. of s. c.. came to Mr.. G. of N. Y, and
began to talk about dissolution of the Union
By the bye, this cry ola dissolution Of the Union,
by the South, has long ceased to be even a re-
spectacle bugbear. In reply, Mr. g said |
am now dscharging the duties of the first Office
I avaP hold md I eh all ondeovoy tn d;sch,voa
them conscientiously-a least to be as honest
as the times viii admit-whatever may be the
consequences. Now, do not profess to be a
sharp-sighted man: but | can see some things and
from what have seen have come to the concIu-
sion that the Union is Of a id sight more impOr-
lance to you, than you are to the Union Mr..
w. left"
The vote on the amendment answered at least
one important purpose 1T disclosed the real de-
signs of the shareholders in their attempt to &C
Guire california.
"By their jealous support of the bill before
amendment and their strenuous opposition to il
afterwards, the southern representatives SHOWED
very clearly that they cared nothing for the ac
QUESTION of California, unless they could make /
subservient to their schemes for sectional advance
ment, and fully dis 'osed an intensely sectlona
feeling on their part, in the existence of whcl
the people of the free States have been slow t.
believe, but which has long been suffic iently OBJ
Vous to their representatives"
We quote the closing paragraph of Mr.. B.
letter 1t was written, it will be perceived, be
fore the country had received certain intelligence
of the acquisition Of California and New Mex
leo.
"The great question, then, you will perceive
the question whether California thalI be acquired
as slave or free territory, is postponed for tn
present postponed for the future action of thu
people and of their representatives A more i'm
portant question, one more widely and deepl
affecting the interests OF future empires and un
Born generations, was never before submitted t.
anv people God grant that men Of the rich