The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1848-08-12
"a III r. G. A L. H. I'D ID N "A ~

forever, rather llIan that the Constitution
should hnye been made To sanction the sInVe
trade for twenty years. The dissolution of
the Conludemcy would have been nothing IN
comparison with lNt recognition OF piracy
and murder. | can conceive of nothing ~
The dark record of mans euorntiesirom the
death Of Abel down Ia this hour 80 hofflble
ms that of stealing people from their own
home, aud making them aud their posterlly
sInyes forever II is Il crime which we know
! has been visited, rs we know from tho pa
res of Sncred History, by the vengeance and
wrath of Almighty God. In thus character
ling this accurscd traffic, | spenk but tho
common sentiment of all mankind. could
not, if lnXcd my feeble intellect to tho ut
most dcnounce it in language ms strong MS
that uttered by Thomas jefferson himself, -
| Nay more, the spirit Of HAT great man de-
sccndmg in his grandson, in your Virginia
| Convention, denounced the Slave Trade ms
now carried on between the States, rs being
no less infamous than that Foreign Slave
| Trade carried on in ships that went down mo
the sen. speak Of Thomas jefferson RAN
doiDh. II YOU would not go 20 Africa and
thence people California with slaves, may
YOU not perpctuute equal euormites here
You take the child from its mothers heart
you separate husband g. wife, and you strans-
port them three thousand miles OIL across lie
broad Atlantic.
know that this is n peculiar institution,
aud doubt not that in the hands of such
gentlemen as talk about it here, it may be
made very attractive. 1t may be very n
greeablo sight to behold large company OF
dependents, kindly treated 10y benevolent
master, and to trace the manifestations oi
gratitude which they exhibit. But in my eye
II much more grateful spectacle would be That
ofa patriarch in the same neighborhood.
with his dependents all around bin, invested
with all the attributes Of freedom bestowed
upon them by the Common Father, in whose
sight all urc like precious 1t is, indeed, 4
very peculiar" institution. According to the
account Of the Senator from Mississippi, MIR
Davis this institution exhibits all that is most
amiabIe aud beautiful in our nature. That
Senator drew picture of I'm old, gray head
ed negro woman, with her hard hand upon
the soft head Of the masters child, and bles-
sing him and his inthCr--ior what? For the
stamp ofpG,tes ScY,Utiw centrum! But he con-
ccaled the other side of the picture and II
was only revealed to us by the quick npprc-
tension of the Senator from Florida, (NIr
Wcstcoii) who wanted the power To send
patrol all over the country to prevent tins old
nurse from lhrolting young muster had
almost believed, after hearing the beautiful,
tor from Mississippi, that God had indeed
MS he said, made this people in Africa, 10
come over here aud wait upon us, till the
Senator from Florida walked me ny 10 II rccOl-
lection olthe old doctrines Of Washiugtonand
Jefferson, that wherever that pUlrinrChul IN
stlulion existed, a rigid police should he
maintained in order 10 prevent the old wo-
men from cutting the ihrOats of somebody.
it is then very "pCculiar' institution! Those
who live under it cnnnot exist day without
caresscs; and on the next they mnst he pruvI- /
died scores of constullcs with clubs in their
hands, to keep them from cutting each
others throals a laugh.)
do not wish to extend HAT institution
into these Territories. Is it pretended that
Slave labor could he profitable in Oregon or
California DO we expect TO grow cotton
and sugar there? | do not know that il may
not be done there ; for the gentleman from
New York has told MS. Just as you go West
upon this continent, the same line OF latitude
changes very much, so that you may have
very different isohermal line MS you APP
ploach the Pacific Ocean. But do not care
SO much about that; my objection is radical
one to the institution every where. do be-
licvc, il there is any place upon the globe
which we iUhabit where white man cannot
work, hc has no business there. l!lhnt place is
I'll only for black men to work, let black men
alone work there. | do not know any better
law for MANS good thun that old ono which
was anhuunCed to man after the first trans
erosion, that by the sweat of his brow he
should earn his bread. | don't know what
business men have in the world unless it is
to work. If lac is only to sleep and cat hc is
reduced to the level of the hog-tho only
gentleman know. \ laugh.
When you ask me, then, not TO prohibit
Slavery in these Territories, with my view Of
the institution itSelfund of our power. must
assert the power to exclude Slavery forever
In your States where you have made Slavery
property, you may protect 1t as you please,
and will aid you in giving it that security
which the Constitution affords; but, with
Gods help not one inch beyond shall this i'll
stitulon 20. l may be mistaken in all this
but Of one thing am satsicd-of the hon
est conviction of my own ludgoment--and
no supposed interruption of the ties which
bind the various sections of the Confcderacy
shall induce me to shrink from those convic-
tons, whenever am called upon to carry
them out into law
But we are told that when the ConStitu-
ton was made there existed certain relative
proportions between the power Of tie Slave
and power of the Free States. / understood
the Senator from South Carolina that we
were under obligations to preserve, eternally,
these relative proportions in the same way.
Mr. Calhoun said nothing of the kind
MIR Corwin.-I am very happy to be unde-
ceived. understood the Senatorto conceive
that this is n question Of municipal power
II is not so. 1t is IL question of mnr:;cipai
law, ofciviI poliIy, Tie men who famed
the Constitution never dreamed that there
was going to DC a conflict of powcr between
;no slave and the free States. They never
dreamed that the South was TO contend they