Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1848-09-09

"
to charge others with the want oil courage meet it
To the support of this bill of peace the South has rae
with extraordinary unanimty Four members in this an
eight in thu other House the whole apparent South
ern opposition to IL and they have based that opposition upo
grounds which will place every Northern opponent proessin
hostility the existence of slavery whether felt or ieigned
most unpleasant position il he reute their argu
ments the satisfaction Of his constituents for if the South
opposition be right in their opinion Of the ultimate eci
sion Of the court, these Northern gentlemen haveejeced
bill which would have made The whole territory free An,
do they not perceive that by their defeat of bill which sim
ply makes the regulations necessary to enable the
ecse IFS appellate jurisdiction they have refused comply
with palpable constitutional injunction upon US ALL denied
to themselves and their Southern brethren constitutional
right and subjected themselves to the inference the
foregone concusionthat their argument about free soil
these territories is mockey Are they afraid try the
question What will, what be the inference in the
South from their conduct in defeating the bill What will
be the probable consequence Of denying the South their
constitutional right to try this ques ion
This sir is question which put with and alarm
| am neither Northern Southern man on this
question. stand middle ground In the spirit ,of re.
quest from the Legislature Of Delaware voted at the time
the Mexican treaty before the Senate extend the anti
slavery provso the ordinance of 1857 the territories
TO be acquired by that treaty The resolutions Of the Legs
aure of Delaware not they have been TO
be- instruction to vote for the provso, but request vote
against the acquisition of slave territory came from men
whose opinions respecmen who had the wisdom to fore
the dlscord and danger that would of this acqu
stion Of Mexican territory and who anxious avert an
evil which now threatens with disunon and civil war
They are no Abolioniss, neither they the advocates of
the extension OF slavery In the spirit Of their request
for the poviso against slavery when no other man from
slaveholdng State voted with Some ten or fifteen gen.
temen from all the non-savehodng States voted with me for
that proViso On the treaty my present colleague joined
in this vote and there but thirteen Senators from all
the North Gust half her delegation in the Senate at the
me who gave their in that VOTE Even the
Senator from Ohio, r. ALLEN who voted with me for the
poviso on the bills granting two and three millions secure
Inar MayIr want al aatlx~
to insert in the treaty of settlement and limits made at
Guadalupe Hldago My votes, given in the spirit OF the e
gslave request to aimed against the acquisition of
territory, which foresaw would be the apple strife among
my countrymen In Senate of iftysx members there
with the aid Of myself and my colleague Just fifteen for
that proviso Less than third But the moment the
Barnburners blew their trumpet change came over the sp-
mt OF the dream OF two three Senator'S sixty DAYS ago
scoied at this poviso and its effect and they might num-
Der sixteen twenty friends Of it in the Senate nclu
ding the Senator from Ohio Mr. ALLEN who has returned
10 his first lcye Under these circumstances saw no man
cfsense 'A er calculate that majority Of this body ,oiH
rofe TO prerea the eenSion Of sapery those territories BIZ
direct aoof Congress- There is no more prospect Of that
than o majority vote in the other House 10 introduce sa
very into the territories
With the perfect knowledge Of this fixed fact how do
Northern gentlemen, who defeated this bill the other House.
where they have large majority expect 10 settle this ques
ton DO they expect the South to give up their consu
tona objections because political majority in one branch of
Congress insist upon Would they give up their own set
Southern majority in the Senate, and contened after
being thus kicked of The Supreme Court Sir know
them too WELL and respect them too much to believe it.
They now know that they in the majority in the popula
branch of Congress- and that this majority will be greatly in
creased with returning They can therefore
as the stronger party they desire preserve the Union
afford to be masnanmous Yet how have they met the South
IN their efforts TO conciate and ernal feeling Sir
honest man, am bound state the truth and will
now do it in presence of all the members of the committee
Northern well Southern In that committee the Sou,h
proposed the Missouri compromise in spirit and elect-tha
all the terr1y north Of 80 deg 80 should be Free and
all South of open slavery the people there should will
it. The North voted the proposition down. The North then
proposed the cords of the Missouri compromise which totally
varied from the spirit Of because the time Of that com
promise the territory to which applied all slave terri
tory, and that TO which be applied was all Tree
This was refused by the South because while yielded sixth
seventies OF the whole territories Of the United States out
side of the States the Northern claim of restriction was
entirely silent as to the remainder, and made OF
inch Of territory the South The proposal of the Soutb
to the line Of 80 deg 80 min the Pacific would have
made 600 900 square miles Of the territories living beyond
the States both sides of the Rocky mountains free from
slavery forever and would have left for African slavery south
OF SO deg 30 mn parts OF California and New Mexico con-
tanning only about hundred and seventy thousand
miles OF the most worthless part of the whole counry-in
other words less than sixth area and less than one
twentieth IN value Of all the territory acquired by the common
blood and treasure.
The gentlemen of the committee from the North having
voted down this proposal made by my friend from Kentucky
(Mr USDERwooD,) Southern member, there was, indeed
as the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr CALHoUS) has
described it. solemn pause in that committee All hope of
amcabe settlement for the vanished and unnatural
contention seemed likely to prevail among u.s. II was then
proposed 10 try the last resorhe established by the
constitution TO settle all judicial quesons-and 10 rest our pre-
sent hopes Of settlement this the ark Of our safety
Iwo-thds OF the committee joyousy concured in the propo
ston But in that body Of men had in our friends
from Kentucky and Rhode Island the representatives Of the
ultra claims Of the South and the North who differed with us
about the report and with another about every thing
this subject The proposition to limit the appeal and the writ
OF error in other 10 matters of the value of $4,000
came from the Senator from kentucky himself But the
original jurisdiction OF the court in Of habeas corpus had
been settled by the decision Of that court has been shown
by my friend from Vermont and others, and the committee
saw clearly that single could and would be made at the
will OF either party which would settle the question the next
term OF the court either application the original or
the appellate jurisdiction OF the the pleasure Of those
interested repeat again, however, that the bill as stood
when passed the Senate gave the court in addition 10 its
original jurisdiction all facilities for the exercise OF its power
as an appellate trbuna in all cases. without reference to the
amount in controversy, or the party who desired il.
Having thus stated the Of the North and the South
in committee, the point Of inquiry how they treated
this simple proposition to acknowledge constitutional right
existing in both when the bill acted upon in Con
gress The truth is before the world The Nouh-the
stronger party in the other House-voted down the bill and
refused 10 hear proposition satisfy the minds Of their
Southern brethren TO their constitutional rights by even
allowing them the constitutional privilege Of an appeal to the
common abier appointed by the great charter which makes
them nation.
Sir this decision Of the Northwitb which had acted IN