The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1850-06-02

lcIpatioa here al all Why this Is lar beyond what ih
have asked; for their assaults were exclusively
directed against the negro traders the paradng of he
slave gangs IN public places, and their placing them Il
the workings Of the bill debtor in an adjoining coan
" OF maryland or Virginia owes debts in the Distrc
or at home beyond his means OF payment His entir,
property IS IN slaves He honestly resolves 10 par
with them in order to meet his Liabilities AT fair prices
they might pay all at homeprces not fifty cents in IN,
dollar re brings them here for the honorable purpose
einous crime and orets his slaves to his own ruin and
that OF his credors! Is that just to etheror to the
people q the District or the State of Maryland the
sIayehoding Staies Is not that discriminating against
slave property with vengeance Congress could
not forbid his bringing any other property here Ia
pay his debts; and where does the constitution confer
a power on Congress 10 legisate upon one species
OF property more than upon anotherl Such discmi-
nation saps the foundation OF all equality in the rights
0esr esns,s g wsI m a. q s and Of
the way UH further aggressions upon the rights OF
slaveholders dnyDhere and eusryhee As said on an.
shall not be brought into The District even for the honor
dbe purpose OF paying the owners debts, what could
prove more tempting 70 aboonsts than to insist upon
ana press to the passage OF law to for
bid their being brought here for any other purpose? The
next step IN the march oi aggression would naturally be
q forbid the slaves now here from being sold Of the
District and removed to the South and next and last
and most surely, would follow, and prompay too the
emancipation Of those who here for, after the
Sonn had assented to the exclusion Of slaves from the
Dce'SS payment VI ucUls, none WOuiQ dread or
respect her resistance to that progressive emancipation
which would inevitably flow from it,
ms leads me naturally to another matter, which
hold as OF the highest Importance mean the ac-
ton OF the committee upon the most disturbing and
perilous question that has menaced the counry-I
mean the WILNoT PRovIso; or. in other words
abolish or exclude slavery in and from the Terrific
ries Of the United Statesi large majority Of the North
I Is oelieyed affirm and maintain such power in Con-
gress The entire South, with rare exceptions wholly
disafhrn It. The whole country feels and knows that
the question cannot be safely deferred longer There can
be peace until it is decided II must be settled some
how: il not settled congressonalv or udiciay it may
be settled by rupture OF this glorious Union.
Such being the state OF public opinion and the impend
have prevailed in all sections Of the country 10 have had
the opinions of the Committee OF Thirteen upon the pow.
er OF Congress over slavery in The Territories There was
hardly doubt on the public mind, from the very const
tion OF the committee. and the wel-known opinions Of
its Members that the decision must have been against
the power Of Congress Such a conclusion easily
arrived at. The committee consisted Of thirteen mem
from the save and six from the free States
VI the seven, the chairman, Mr. CLAY] believe af
the power OF Congress- but contests the erpedency
OF using II But the other six, il well understood
explicitly denied the power II was equally well un.
derstood that at least two OF the other senator's who
composed the committee Mr.. CAss and Mr. DrcKNsosl
must have stood eight to FIVE against the coasTrTu-
rIoSALrTY OF the Wlmot Prouiso II such was the
opinion OF majority OF the committee, Mr. President.
was not the South entitled have that opinion made
known to the Senate and to the counryi
But the South has not only Just cause OF complaint.
vital question as the constituiionaly oi The VIII
not Proviso was suppressed, but that the committee
brought back to the Senate for their solemn de-
Liberation and voie the only two OF the original resou-
ions of the honorable senator from Kentucky which
bore the least semblance OF protection and immunity Tor
The institution of slavery in the District and at the South
These two resolutions were as follows:
9Th Resossd That pedept abolish slavery in
10 exist in the of Maryland Of that
STATE ritos tho consent Of s people Of the Dsfrcf and
'eitos just compensation to me oTr@s of sapo T'" inc
sth Rao'red That Congress has poV9 prohbi, or
States admission exclusion Of slaves brougut
from into another Of them depends exclusively upon
their own particular laws
II will be remembered that when the resolutions were
first introduced animated debate sprung up in the SEN
ate and that they assailed at all points. Among
other criticisms which they subjected, IT de-
cared that they had nothing practical about them that
they were mere absraetions Against this charge the
honorable senator from Kentucky defended them with his
usual warmth and eoquence. He mainiained that they
were distractions; that all Of them involved primer.
PIES and that be designed to have the deliberate vote OF
the Senate upon each Of them This declaration was
highly satisfactory for, in these exciting tines when the
under the assautng hosts OF The fanatics, large and
commanding vote OF the Senate, asserting the rights and
immunities OF Shareholders in the District and in the
States be secure, both under the pghngs OF the pub
lie faith and the prohibition OF the federal constitution,
would have served two valuable purposes the one in
checking and dscouragng The assaanls IN Their mad ca
The OHer IN lenuenCy 10 eoutne
South aroused and inHamed she through their
menacing bearing and CALLING calumnies. II would not,
indeed have been anything TO boast oil YET It would have
been something in the way OF plea for further ioIbear
her part have had assurances, through the
solemn OF both houses OF Congress- that while they
stripping the South of her legitimate rights to share
in the mgIaton and settlement o federal Territories yet
that the rights OF Shareholders in the District and between
the States would remain sacred and nvioable.
True would not have voted for the fifth resolution,
without reservation upon the question OF pofcer, which
might have been implied in amendment asserting that
without affirming or denying power in Congress TO
abolish slavery in the District, II nexpedient &c.
Were there other grounds OF objection 10 thus scheme
Of adjustment, (as most unhappily there areD must
think that the withholding from the vote OF the Senate
the important resolution, and the suppression OF the deb
opinion OF the committee that Congress possesses
no pofcey under the constitution TO prohibit or abolish
slavery in the Territories OF the United States constitute
objections which OF themselves would be almost nsuper
able
II the committee has other alternative TO offer to
the South but that presented by the compromise before
me, let by all means have the Wilmot Provso Bad
as that is, all dsguises, and takes all the res-
possibilities OF all that imports, and OF all that can be i'm
be confronted and resisted but aggressons, in the garb
of CONCESSIONS that look you fair but mean you foui
gliding the bous which masks the hemlock, Is the worst
form that the worst wrong assume. IL deceives
while il assails ruins while il aliures Sir mean
no offence anybody, when declare that this mode of
botchng up settlement OF great issues 10 which sover-
eighties are parties something distaeful to my sent
ments The whole thing is unreal has no substance
in il.
Yet was told on yesterday, BY my friend and col
league Mr. DowNs1 that the South should not be too
strict and peemptoy In her requirements that she should
also make sacrifices and that after ALL what the
compromise profered 10 her was the best she could get
a. H. hat xuko