The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-07-18

State from which | come, who have requested nos
TO vote for this BILL to consider il in these respects
and then to "examine me, and say how look !
that should seem to be lacking In justice and hu
manity so much as this fact comes to-"
| But IL lie said that the Ordinance Of 1857 Is un.
necessary in New Mexico, and therefore is an alb
straction and that il gives offence
cannot yield implicit faith to those who assure
me that peculiarities Of soil and climate in New
Mexico exclude slavery. They are combined with
other statesmen who deny that point; and this bill
comedies away the point itself IL expressly COW
enants TO admit New Mexico as a slave State, IL
she shall come in that character | cannot sur
render just and benevolent purpose to arguments
which knit contradictions as closely as words can
] lie together know that there slpves at this
,'ao,as'.' - re. |. -" .....Uv,.r taas enc
discoyery Of few fskes ofgold or Of few grains
Of silver, or even Of few clumps Of GOAL, in the
UNEMPLOYED recesses of New Mexico, would be
| followed by a new revelation Of the will Of the
Almighty in regard to it,
Sir, perhaps those who excuse this measure can
point me TO tyrant who ever deprived his subjects
Of what he deemed necessary for them Nero
thought one neck would be more than enough for
the Roman people, when he wished they had but
one, that he might destroy the body polite at a
blow Perhaps they can point me to any act con-
ferring or declaring human rights that was not an
hOctIhOhOu ~ NdS ODccINtu ny ouc VI tut iOuuu-
ers Of the Commonwealth Of England, that the
PRONUNCIATION of those rights had always "been
in terms not concrete, but abstracts Our own
experience is the same. There is the Declaration
OF Independence, with its solemn recital Of the
natural equality Of men, and Of the insenability
of their essential rights. There is the Constitu-
tion Of the United States beginning with its sub
lime summary of the objects of the Government,
and ending with its jealous bill of personal rights
What were these but abstractionsl There is the
same bill Of rights in every Constitution and
even the Constitutions of many of the slave States
hopefully assert distractions Of equality which,
for want of only a complete development of politi-
Cal Justice are not yet reduced to the concrete by
established laws
Perhaps moreover, the apolOgIAts can show me
SONG act declsratory OF human rights that did not
give offence The tyrant Of France took umbrage
at the noble motto which Algernon Sydney in
scribed in the album Of the King Of Denmark
| Manus hec, inimica tyrannis
Ense petit placidAm sub Lbertate quietam.
Nay, Algernon Sydney expiated with his life
the offence Of writing mere sbstraotions the
fundamental principles Of our own Constitution /;
and among them was the Wilmot Proviso thss
expressed by that immortal patriot: "The liberty
of one man cannot be limited or diminished by one
or by any number Of men, and none can give away
| the right OF another"
Equal justice always excites fear, and therefore
always gives offence; otherwise it's way would be
smooth, and its sway universal The distractions
of human rights are the only permanent founda-
tions of society IL is by referring to them that
men determine what is established because it Is
RIeHT, in order to uphold IL foreoer; and what is
TigM only because it is established, in order that
they may lawfully change Il, in accordance with
the increase of knowledge and the progress of rea-
SON.
The abstraction now in question is the right of
all the members Of State to equal political free
dom. That is the Wilmot Proviso-that Is the
proviso Of freedom-csll it by whatever name
you will. Ifit ever was right at any time, In any
place. under any circumstances, IL Is right always,
In ell places, and under all circumstances Ii can
be rrnounced safely nowhere. Certainly New
Mexico is not the region, is hers the soil, nor
! hers the cline, where il should be renowned.
| New Mexico IL the very field of the contest IL
we surrender here, where We have all the van
tage where else shall we find ground on which to
make resistance
We have taken breathing spell from annexa.
ton Of territory to divide the gains This diyi-
sion once made, no matter how, the national in.
stinct-an instinct fostered by Democratic senti.
ments and sympathies, and invigorated by mar.
tial ambition-will hurry us on In a career that
presents scarcely formidable obstacles. What
ever seemed attractive to the slave States in LOU
isana, in Florida, In Texas, in New Mexico, and
in California, is surpassed In the valley of Mexi-
| co, in Yucatan, In Cuba, In Nicaragua In Guate-
mals, and In other States Of Central America
There are fields native to the tobacco plant, to the
rice plant, to the cotton plant and to the sugar
cane, and the tropical fruits; and there are even
mines Of silver and of gold. There the climate
disposes to Incidence, Incidence to luxury and
In urv m al h. AZ
Wilmot Proviso only in the rigors of perpetual
winter, or in arid sands, will fail to discern its
inhibition. Our pioneers are already abroad In
those inviting regions; our capital Is making pas
sages through them from ocean 10 ocean and
within ten years those passages will be environed
by American communities SURPRISING in power
and wealth, II not in numbers, the unsettled and
unenterprising States now existing there You
will say that national moderation will prevent
further annexation. But national moderation did
not hold US back from the Mississippi, nor from
the Nueces, nor from the Rio Grande, nor from |
even the coast of the Pacific ocean. The virtue |
grows weaker always as the nation grows stronger
The demand Of the slave States for division |
line Of $50 80, or elsewhere across the continent
between slavery In the South and freedom In the
North, betrays the near expectation of these con-
quests. The domestic production and commerce
in slaves will supplant the African slave trade,
and new slave States will surround the Gulf Of
Mexico and cover its islands Those new States,
combined with slave States already existing, will
constitute slave empire, whose seat Of commerce
on the Crescent levee will domineer not only over
the southern portion Of the continent but through
the Mississippi and its fsr-reaching tributaries,
over the broad valley that stretches away from
the foot Of the Alleghanies to the base Of the
Rocky Mountains.
This sir, Is the dream Of the STAKEHOLDER, and
this Is the Interpretation thereof | know full |
we'll that IL is woven Of the stuff that all "dreams
are made onp | know how hopeless would be |
the attempt 10 establish and 10 maintain such |
States, and an empire composed Of such States
But know that nothing seems 10 slavery impos-
sible after advantages already won; and that
calamities distant, and therefore derided will not
deter II from the prosecution Of Its purpose, or
extinguish the hope Of success.
There is q sound maxim which teaches that |
every Government Is perpetualiy degenerating
at successive periods by the rosusctation of its
first principles and the rssstablishment Of Us
original constitution. The blood IL not more ma
tive 70 the heart than the principle Of the equal
ity Of men contained In the Ordinance Of 1857 TO
the Constitution Of the United States The Con. |
stitution of the United States oonfers no power
upon Congress TO deprive men Of their natural
rights and insliensble liberty shall, therefore,
insist upon applying the Proviso, not only where
II Is necessary TO save q territory from slavery,
but even where It's application might be waived,
as means Of preserving and renewing the Con-
stitution itself II cannot be bad political bus-
bsndry TO stir the earth, and apply frssh mould |
TO the roots Of the vine our forefathers planted,
when lite branches are spreading themselves
abroad and clustering upon the States which sur. |
round US.
Cherishing these opinions, ! have struggled,
and I shall struggle 70 the last, to extend the
Ordinance Of 1857 over New MEXICO. Ii fail
In that, shall not then surrender II by entering
but shall fall hack, as did In the case Of Cali.
foruls upon the people O! the Territory and