Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1848-08-18

the Abolition ul Slavery when these IcrrI,urio.
shall be mad. inio States. and come into the {.
mon. hhHr then. would be those few chap.
lers in our His,oryl We find ourselves now ia
The possession OF Tcrrilones with q population
.ol one hundred aud h.iy thousand souls. if sm
correctly informed, in California aud New Mex.
ico. The best authenticated history Of the so.
cIaI institutions Of that population informs "a,
IhaI there exists there at this moment a specie.
OF slavery as absolute and inexorabIe rs exist.
anywhere on the face Of the eauh; and that
about five IA six Of the population Of that coun.
Try are subjected to The iron rule Of this ab5mi.
nable institution there.
Now, do not expect that ary man will rise
up and say, that because an individual happens
TO be the debtor of another, he shall have hi.
own person sold into Slavery; and not only that,
but that the curse shall exlend--worse than that
Of the Hebrew, not TO the third and fourth gen.
era'on, but to The remolest poslerily Of thai un.
fortunate man. Nobody will pretend 10 rise up
IN defence Of such proposition as that. Now.
then, will give over the criticism. Suppose
there is law in New Mexico, which obiqcs q
man to work all the DAYS Of his life for anoth.
er because he happens 10 owe him five dollars,
by some means conlryed by the credlorto keep
him always his debtor. Do you intend tha,thal
law shall exist there for an hour! We'll. Won
have made law here, that your lawmakers
who are to 90 10 New Mexico and California,
shall not touch the subject Of Slavery; aud il
that which is designated in tho popular Ian.
guage Of thai country Slavery, exists there, do
you, indeed, send abroad, as you promised todo.
your missionary Of liberty! You went there
with the sword, and made il red in the blood
Of these Peoplel What did you tell ,hem?-
I'VE come to give you freedom" Instead Of
that, you enact in your code hcrc--bIoody as
that OF Draco-lhat there shall be Judges and
lawgvcrs over them, but that they shall make
no law touching that Slavery 10 which five out
OF SIX Of them are subjected.
Mr.. President. this chapter in your history
furnishes instructive matter for our considera.
tion. 1t is strange act in the great drama Of
what VIC call progress. have looked upon il
with some concern. was one Of those who
predicted that this, or something like this. would
be the result Of your Mexican war | always
believed, notwithstanding your dan,aIs here.
that you made war upon Mexico for the purpose
and with the intention Of conquest. ycnlured
to predict just what we now see, that acauisi.
ton of territory would follow the war as its con-
sequence, and its object was that, and nothing
eisc and that this very question would arise,
and arise here, TO distract your councils, d.su.
mite your people, and threaten, as we are now
told it does, that peace which you thought Of so
lightly when war was so sowan1ouly w0gcd against
Mexico. 1t now seems your prelensions were
all hypocriIicaI from the beginning. You said
your armed men went forth 10 her in the spirit
of love. You pretended their mission was not
conquest, but 10 set free the captive, to raise up
the proslrate Peon Of that counlry--and now
what (ollowsl As soon as your arms have sub
dued the country, the gentle note of the dove is
changed to the lions roar. Instead of the pro-
per blessing Of pcacelo yourconquered subjects.
you propose TO leave the chains of the Peon un-
touched, and now graveIy contend that negro
slavery shall be superadded to slavery for debt.
This is your improvement, this your progress ia
MeXEo. To eXalt the miserable Peon, YOU give
hun the enslaved negro for association and ex-
ample. Sir, this is indeed spectacle worth
noting, in this bright noon Of the nineteenth
We proclaimed 10 the world we would take
nothing by conquest. This was our solemn hv-
pocrlical declaration for two dark years, while
our progress was marked by blood, while the
march of your power was like another people
of old, by clouds of smoke in the day, aud fire
by night. City after city fell beneath the as
saulIs of your gallant army, and still you cca-
sed not to declare you would take nothing by
NOW you say this territory was con-
Gnered, was acquired by the common blood of
our common country. You trace back the con-
sideralion which You have paid for this country
to the blood and the bones Of the men that you
sent there to be sacrificed; and pointing TO the
unbured corses Of her sons who have fallen
there, the South exclaims-"These, these con-
stitule my title TO carry my slaves TO that land!
1t was purchased by the blood of my sons. -
The aged parent, bereG of his children, and the
widow with the family that remains, desire 10
20 there TO better their fortunes, if it may be,
and pointing TO the graves Of husband and chill
dren, excam, "There, there was the price paid
for our proportion of this territory" Is that
lruel If that could be made out-f you dare
put that upon your record-if you can assert
that you hold the country by The strong hand,
then you have right to go there with your
slaves. If we of the North have united with
you of the South in an expedition of piracy.
and robbery, and murder, that Oldest law known
among men-"Honesty among thieves"-re-
lures us to divide it with you equally. | Laugh
Ter.
If, indeed, Mr.. President, we have no other
right than that which force gives us TO these our
new possessions; if, indeed, we have slaughter
I'd fifty thousand of Gods creatures onI y TO SUBJ
ect to our power one hundred and fifty thousand
or an alien, ensaved and barbaous people, it
IS but ftung finale to all this to rivet yet closer
he claim of personal slavery upon the MeXi-
can peon, and people your possessions thus ac-
luired by Slaves. repeat that this right Of
conquest applied to territory, is the samo-no
other and no better than that by which original
y one man could claim 10 hold another in Sa-
very. ltis but the right, if right it may be cal
ed, of the srongest-the law in both cases is
simply the law of force. You march over a
wrest it by war from It's owner, and say