Weekly national intelligencer., 1850-03-09


proaches human that sometimes neces
say The defence of nations sometimes against
the injustice of other nations.
Now sir in this state of senimen upon the general
tue of slavery lies the of great portion Of those u
happy divisions exasperat and reproaches which nd
vent and support in different parts OF the Union Slavery
does exist in the United States II did exist in the States
before the adoption Of this constitution, and that ime
And now let consider, sir, for moment, what the
of sentiment North and South in regard slavery the
time this constitution adopted Aremarkabe change has
taken place since but what did the wise and great Of all
parts of the country think of slavery n what estimation
did they hold in l7s7 when this constitution adopted
Now will be found, sir, if we will carry ourselves by his
toca back that day. and ascertain mems opinions
by authentic records still existing among that hereas
great diversity of opinion between the North and the South
upon the subject Of slavery, and will be found that both
parts Of the country held it equally eva moral and po
Ecal evil II will not be found that either at the North
the South there much, though there some nsec
tive against slavery nhuman and cruel The great ground
of objection it political that it weakened the social
fabric that taking the place of free labor society less
strong and labor less productive and therefore find
from all the eminent OF the time the ceares expression
of their opinion that slavery evil And they ascribed
it. without truth, and not without acerby of tenn
per and force of language to the injurious policy of the
ther country who to favor the navigator had entaed these
evils upon the colonies need hardly REFER sir the pub
iicaons of the day. They matters Of history the
cord The eminent men, the most eminent and nearly
all the conspicuous of the South held the sentiments
that slavery evil abght, blast mitew scourge
feprOD0uOn
SO vehement the North of that day in the South. The
North much excited against the South and
the is suppose, because there much less the
Norh and the people did not see, think they saw the
evils prominently they were seen, or thought to be
at the South
Then sir, when this constitution framed, this was the
light in which the Convention viewed it. The Convention
reflected the judgment and sentiments of the great Of
the South. member of the other House, whom have
the honor know 10 speech has collected
from these public documents They prove the truth Of
what saying, and the question then was, how to deal
with it. and how, to deal with it as an evil Well, they
this general result They thought that slavery could
be continued in the country if the Importation of slaves
made cease and therefore they provided that after
certain period the importation might be prevented by the
of the new Government Twenty years was proposed by
some gentleman, Northern gentleman, think, and many
of the Southern gentlemen opposed it being long, Mr.
Madison especially something against it. He said
would bring much Of this mischief into the country to
allow the importation of slaves for such period Because
must take along with US, in the whole of this dcussion
when considering the sentiments and opinions which
this constitutional provision originated that the conviction of
all that the importation of slaves ceased the white
would multiply faster than the black race and that slave
ry would therefore gradually and expire Imay not
be improper here to aude that had almost sad celebrated
opinion Of Mr. Madison. You observe that the slave
slavery not used in constitution The constitution does
notreque that "fugve slaves shall be delivered up It re-
qres that bound to service in State and escaP
ing another shall be delivered up" Mr. Madison opposed
the introduction Of the slave slavery the constt
ton for he said he did not wish to recognised by the
constitution of the United States Of America that there could
be property Now, sir, all this took place at the
Convention in 1857 but connected with this-concuen
and conempoaneouss another important consideration not
sufficiently attended to. The Convention for framing this
constitution assembled in Philadelphia in Nav and sat until
September 1887. During all that time the Congress Of
the United States in session at New York. II was
matter Of design, know, that the Convention should
not assemble in the city where Congress holding
sessions. Almost all the public men of the country there
af tbo,
these assemblies; and think happened in some in
stances that the gentlemen members of both.
If mistake not, such the of Mr. Rufus King,
then member Of Congress from Massachusetts, and at the
time member of the Convention frame the constitu-
ton from that State. Now, it in the summer of 1857
the very time when the Convention in Philadelphia franz
ing this constitution, that the Congress New York was
framing the ordinance of 1857 They passed that ordinance
the 18th July, l7s7 New York, the very month"; per
haps the very day. which these questions about the impor
on Of slaves and the character Of slavery debated in
the Convention at Philadelphia. And, far can now
earn there perfect of opinion between
these respective bodies and resulted this ordinance Of
1857, excluding slavery applied to all the territory over
which the Congress of the United States had urisdcon and
that all the territory northwest of the Ohio Three years
before, Virginia and other States had made cession of that
great territory the United States. And most magnificent
act reflect upon without disposition to
do honor and justiceand justice would be the highest
hono-o Virginia for that of cesson of her northwestern
territory will say, sir, is Of her farest claims to the
respect and gratitude Of the United States and that perhaps
it is only second to that other claim which attaches to
her that in her counses, and from the intelligence and
patriotism of her leading statesmen, proceeded the first idea
put into practice for the formation Of general constitution Of
the United States. Now sir the ordinance Of 1857 applied
thus the whole territory which the Congress Of the
United States had jurisdiction It adopted nearly three
years before the Constitution of the United States went into
operation because the ordinance took effect Immediately on
its passage, while the Constitution of the United States hay
been framed to be sent to the States to be adopted
by their Conventions and then Government had to be or
ganzed under it. This ordinance, then, in operation
and force when the constitution adopted and this Govern
ment put in motion, in April, 1889.
Mr.. President three things are quite clear historical
truths. One s that there expectation that on the
ceasng Of the mPortaono slaves from Africa slavery would
begin to That was hoped and expected. Another
that tar there any power in Congress to prevent
the spread Of slavery in the United States that power was
executed in the absolute and to the fullest ex
tent An honorable member whose health does not allow
him to be here to-day
ASESAToR. He is here. Referring to Mr.. CALHOUN
Mr.. WEBSTER. am very happy to hear that he is
may he long be in health and the enjoyment of 10 his
the other day that be considered this the first
the series OF calculated eneebe the South and
deprive them Of their just participation in the benefits and pr
vleges of this Government He says very properly that it
ton went into effect but my presentpupose is only say
Mr. President that it was done with the entire and unani-
concurrence of the whole South Why there stands
The vote of every State in the Union unanimous in
favor of the ordinance with the exception Of single ind
vdual voe and that individual Northern But,
sir, the ordinance abeshing rather prohibiting slavery
northwest Of the Ohio has the hand and seal Of every South
em member in Congress.
This was the state of things and this the state Of opn
ion under which those two very important matters
ranged and those important things done that is the
establishment Of the constitution with recognition Of slavery