The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-02-28

lions of property of its citizens II cannot be
less unfayorable than that Of an abandonment Of
it-nay, reprobation as offensive to the feelings
of the proprietors of 1t as it is deprecatng to the
property ITSELF
And have honorable members who press this
extreme policy weighed the necessary effects of
its adoption by the Government? If it shall be-
come law, can it be believed, Mr.. Chairman
that it will be possible for the people of the South
supposing them to be tolerably informed of the
rights of property in regular government, and to
possess moderate share of sensibility to wrong
and insult, to maintain that attachment to- the
| Union and that desire for its preservation which
are necessary alike to its prosperity, its peace,
and its honor Happily for the higher destinies
Of human nature, she is incapable in such circum-
stances, Of so gross an act Of self-abandonment.
| am aware, honorable members, who take the
ground of total exclusion, insist that it is quite
impossible that any desire can be felt by them to
degrade or disparage the South, or any other Sec
ton of a common Union. Coneeding that, what,
may | respectfully inquire, is the stress of that
regard which cannot overcome the obstacles, if
any exist, that lie in the way of such terms Of
compromise as these have had the honor this
day TO announcer
And what, Mr.. Chairman, is the practical solu-
tion, it lies in prospect, of the proposition Of
the non-extension Of slavery to the new Terrific
res2 Is it not that within the short lapse of a
single generation, perhaps the white population
residing in the slsye States, by some process not
yet known in the range Of what is even practica-
ble shall deport her slaves, or alb ndon the coun-
try to them. am aware that we are assured that
the object of non-extension is not to disturb or
impair the institution of slavery within the
slave States Rut Il urge attention to the logical,
proxmate effect of the contemplated measures
And with how much more ease may not the North
approach the line indicated of settlement than
the South? The North, by the nature of her in
ternal condition, as well as her numerical pre-
ponderance in the more populous branch OF the
National Legislature, is, and must continue Sc
cure. Her power must in every event soon OBJ
tain in the other branch of Congress The South
is pressed by assaults and is out of power The
North is moving on her career OF encroachment
at the suggestion of sentimental sentiment
| founded, Mr. Chairman, on speculative and dis
puted point in natural rights. The South is
charged with the preservation OF substance-a
vast and now indispensable form of wealth.
widely diffused and most influential element in
the constitution of her civil and domestic institu-
| tons and relations.
In looking Mr.. Chairman, over the vast thea
! tire now appropriated to the display of American
patriotism and American politics, the eye be-
comes aimmed by the stretch of territorial dis
tances, and the mind throbs with the labor Of
compromising the extent and variety Of the
nations resources. What comprehensiveness Of
policy, what prudence of purpose, what modera-
ton pf~temnfr Hill not be depsnded in the coz
duet Of our public affairs Drawn too strin-
gently together, the weight Of the parts would
crush them. Regarded with indifference not to
say hostility by the Government, they will infal-
libby separate and fall away. The grand rewards
of wise and tolerant system Of political econo-
my, that lie In prospect over the widespread and
bounteous lap of the continent, can never be
reaped by the narrow and angry counsels of par
ty. The Government demands statesmen not
casuists, to administer its politics. What, Mr..
Chairman is the source Of all our present perils?
Ii is the effort to convert the Constitution of the
country into school for the propagation of doubt
full creeds Of moral ethics. But fanaticism, how
ever ingenious, is proverbialy impracticable. 1t
may ruin, but cannot govern. lt was but few
days ago, that we were called to hear the repro
bationsof the institution of domestic slavery pro-
nounced here, on the authority of the hackneyed
and mystical postulate, that all men are born
equalp THIS, by the way, seems to have become
sort of oracle whose sybilistic responses are
quoted for the authority Of very much proposed,
| from time to time, in American politics that is
odd and startling to human experience. True
may be the asserted maxim, in some restricted and
explained senses. Invoked in the sense and for
the purpose contemplated, it is but a weapon
with which intatuation or folly, unrestrained
might sever the bonds Of every conceivable pOliti-
cal organization which it is in the power of human
nature to endure. If an appeal be taken from
text to commentary we find that the authors Of
both were slaveholders-and, what is more Mr.
Chairman, slave importers. If We go to the fms,
authority of the Creator Of rights and natural
Conditions, do we not find the reverse of the
proposition, taken in its broad and common ac-
ceptation, to be the TRUTH Not leafiet that
trembles in the breath Of the zephyr on the bough
of the aspen finds in the eye of the naturalist an
exact measure in all the myriads Of its vernal as
sociates. The equilibrium of natural forces are
graduated, Mr.. Chairman, need it be sail, on
scales of endless diversiries. But, Mr.. Chairman,
we are not called here to the defence OF slavery
We are here to demand only that the character of
property in slaves, which is fixed by the Constitu-
ton itself, be recognised as such by the Govern
ment, the creature of that Constitution in one as
in another of the dominions Of its jurisdiction.
have, Mr. Chairman, purposey said nothing
Of the alternatives of the adjustment of existing
dissensions on the basis have had the honor to
submit, or on some other embracing at least its
principles | refer to them now, and very briefly,
alone as sources of additional argument. One of
three results all sufficiently deplOrable to awaken
solicitude, must | respectfully suggest, follow
rash and intolerant coupsels here. An effort will
DC uaue 10 eHeCb u separute orSdblZt-
ton. Should this succeed | leave the conse-
quences of it to the thoughts and imaginations
of the committee. Failing that separate State
measures of retaliatary kind may be anticipa-
ted And how Mr.. Chairman, will this condi-
ton of our relations, Federal and State, be en-
dured To what may it not lead The third,
and perhaps the most to be regretted of ALL would
be, that exhausted by their own struggles in the
effort to agree upon some plan of effestua defence,
the suffering States might sink back into the arms
of those who would be then found no longer dis
guised but triumphant and hooking prosecutors.
Shorn of equality wounded in honor, in pride
humbled in affection alienated, and thenccforth
but looking anxiously forward to final overthrow
or fortutous escape. And did | suppose, Mr.
Chairman, there were one citizen in the Republic
worse than all the rest, who could contemplate
with composure or indifference the prospect Of
either of these melancholy pages in our political
history, | know not, Mr.. Chairman, whether
he should be viewed most with adherence or
pity. The young Greek, MIR. Chairman, who
held his life at the bidding of his country found
the pathway of patriotism by the twilight of po-
litical civilization. Shall we, with such moment
Gus issues of good or evil suspended on our
councils, fail of terms of adjustment so easy, SO
accessible, so commended to us by the most sa-
cred considerations of duty to the country and to
ourselves as are those at our command?
And now, finally, MIR Chairman, since the char
acter of the times gives consequence, in the eyes
of my own beloved State to the line of the con-
duct of the bumblest of her Representatives, in
contingencies of our public affairs in view, must
beg leave of the Committee to say, that | have
ventured to present mode Of quieting the pub
lie discontents with the sincerest desire that it,
or some equivalent Of it, may prove acceptable to
majority of the Committee and to the nation.
Should all efforts however fail TO avert the dis
honoring brand of inferority Of privilege and
rank, now threatening the South, by her total
exclusion from participation in the common terri
| tnriaa Of the Union excent ON an onernus Condi-