Democratic banner., 1849-09-03
Letter from Hon. John Jameson.
Fulton, Aug. l8, 1S49.

EOLAONS aug 49, Ao7S'
Dear Sir:-Yours of the 10th instant has
been received. This is the first day since
its receipt that ! have been well enough to
write. In answer to your interrogatoIy, ]
state that, according TO the Journal, Col.
Benton did vote withsix others to strike Out
the words "Free White' in the 9th section
of the bill to give Oregon a territorial gov
eminent. The 9th sec. of the bill, as far as
this matter is concerned, stood as follows in
the bill
SEC. s. find be ii further enacted, That
every free white male ihhabitant above the
age Of twenty-one years, who shall have
been a resident of said Territory at the pas
sage of this act, shall be entitled to vote al
the first ] lection, and shall be eligible to
any Office, SC.
This vote will be found on page 499, Of
Senate Journal, lst session Both Congress.
will further state, in the same Journal,
page 5O2, it will be seen that Mr.. Davis, Of
ii .eeaohneotto Uttered the following amend
ment to said bill, to-wit: "Strike out the
18th sec. and insert in line thereof the fol-
lowing: Sec. IL, and be it further enacted
that So much of the 9th section of the or
dinance Of the 18th of July, ls47, as is con-
tanned in the following words: "There shall
be neither slavery or involuntary serritude
in the said territory otherwise than in the
punishment of crimes, whereof the party
shall have been duly convicted, shall be and
remain in force in the territory of Oregon"
Upon this amendment the yeas and nays
were ordered, and are as follows, to wit:
Yeas-Messrs. Allen, Atherton, Baldwin,
BENTON, Bradbury, Clark, CoRwIN, Davies
of MASS, Dayton, Dix, Dodge, Fields, Fitz-
gerald, Green, HHLE, Hanlin, Miller, Niles,
Spruance, Uphsm, Walker-2l.
Nays-Messrs. Atchison, Badger, Bell,
Berrien, Borland, Brenze, Bright, Butler.
Calhoun, Clayton, Davis, Of Mississippi,
Dickinson, Douglass, Downs, Foote, Han
.negan, Houston, Hunter, Johnson ct Mary
land, Johnson of Louisiana, Johnson Of
Georgia, King, Lewis, Mangum, Mason,
Metcalf, Rusk, Sebastian, Sturgeon, Tur-
.ney, Westcott, Yulee-33.
You will see that the above amendment is,
in so many words, the Wilmot Proviso, and
Col. Benton voted for it, and that too, when
it was a separate and an abstract PROPOSE
ton, presented by way Of amendment to
the. bill--and it was to strike out a section
that went upon the ground of non-inter-
ference by Congress in this matter-thati is,
leaving the people of Oregon to determine
on on the subject of slavery for themselves.
1t will be seen too, that he is the only soli-
tary Senator, Wing or Democrat, from the
slaveholding States that voted for it--Spru-
ance from Delaware excepted-and Col.
Benton says that Delaware need no longer
be ranked among the slave States as it ra-
lates 10 the questions now agitated on that
subject. I have the whole bill here as it
passed the Senate, but I can neither spare
that or the journal. wish they were in ev-
cry persons hands, then no one would doubt
but that he is a Wilmot Provisoist, but has
gone farther than the most of them, BY yo-
ting with six others, to strike out the words
Stree White" as above mentioned. Hale
being tee mover, and as a matter Of course,
one Of the seven. 1t will be recoIlected
too, that the bill above referred to, was a
Senate bill introduced then for tho purpose
of organizing territorial governments in N.
Mexico and California, Is well as Oregon
and passed the Senate without the WiImot
Proviso in it, or striking out the words "free
white," and is not the Oregon bill that came