Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1850-09-14

know, by men incapable Of any motives but those Of the
lofisst patriotism. and Of the noblest public virtue
Mr. WINTHROP. Mr.. President, if shall vote sgans'
the amendeut which has been proposed BY tne
able Senator from New York, (Mr SEwAnD, Will not We
because oeard il proposition to dissolve TINS Union.
Al moi kneo what might be the effect of that amendments
i. were adopted But il really seems 10 me tnal .u @ M
the Liberation Of thousand, or at most t"ehynse nun
dred slsves-- , rl
M BALDWIN Not twenty Eve hundred. There are
Mr.. WINTHROP. think the Senator must De mlsta-
Ven but If il be so then say, with all the more emphasis
that the idea that the liberation o. SIX nunaIea save On
i about 10 dissolve this Union, altogether supasses my be-
lief. am not quite creduous enough Tor that.
Mr.. FOOTE. Will the honorable Senator bear with me
n allow me to explain on one point
Mr.. WINTHROP. Certainly.
Mr. FOOTE. Mr.. President it is not the number Of the
slaves it is the immediate consequences It is the hide
ous violation of the political compact of our fathers 1t is
the prncpe-the most objectionable injustice towards the
South-whch must inHame the public mind and must inev-
taby awaken apprehension that this is but the entering wedge
to other and aggressive which afterwards
to follow. That is my view Of the matter
Mr.. WINTHROP. believe understood the honorable
member from Mississippi BEFORE The facts Of the case were
certainly stated them His suggestion was that the
passage Of bill emancpae hundred negroes on
this little patch teitoy which you may almost cover with
about to DC the entering wecse
which to rive this vast Union asunder Sir must In
deed be the operation Of awful and mysterious principle
and not the operation Of the act ITSELF which is about to pro-
duce this tremendous result
And that leads me say, in the second place, that II
should vote against this amendment will not be on the
that do not believe Congress have power to apo
sh slavery in this District nor upon the ground that am NOT
willing exercise that power on the proper occasion and IN
proper manner. That understand to be the principle
which is about to dissolve the Union The assertion and ex-
ercise Of this power hideous violation Of the political
compact and objectionable injustice towards the south
that the dissolution Of the Union Is inevitable SIR mold
and docivo nv InV
should be recorded against this amendment to protest IN adj
against being understood to aquesce in any such idea
No one can 20 further than myself in denying the power Of
Congress interfere with slavery in the States but within
the limits Of this District mantain that its authority is
pee over slavery and every thing else And happen
10 have before me little memoranda OF the opinions OF
our fathers and Of predecessors upon this subject which
will serve, think, to justify this opinion better than any ar
cument Of my own. brought them into the Senate some
DAYS ago. with expectation Of being called upon use
them this connexon if at all and certainly with not the
slightest idea that the Senator from New York was about to
do let me say 80 unadvised and unreasonable thing
TO offer such amendment to the bill now before US.
Sir in the Virginia Convention which ratified the Federal
constitution what said George Mason the father Of the
stuton of his own State believe In referring to the
clause giving Congress the power to exercise exclusive egs
laton over the District of Columbia, he said
Ths clause gives unlimited authority in every possible
elusive power as far as respected the police good
ment Of the place, but he would give them no more"
What said Patrick Henry He spoke Of it as " an un-
limited and unbounded authority.
What said Mr. Madison, in the " Federahst =
The indispensable necessity of complete authority at the
seat Of Government carries its evidence with it
Here are the opinions three Of the fathers of the Rpub
lie three Of the most celebrated names in the old Common
wealth of Virginia.
Well what was proposed long afterwards in the Con-
gress Of the United States Here record from the journal
Of the House Representatives Of January 49, 1906 proving
the opinions that were held BY large number OF the Repre-
senatves Of the people that time The resolution then
presented was adopted but shall presently how
large vote received and on what grounds was rejected
On motion and seconded that the House do come to
the following resolution:
Resoved That from and after the 4h day of July 1906
all blacks and people of color that shall be born within the
District of Columbia, or whose mothers shall De the property
of any person residing within said District shall be free, the
males at age OF - and the females at the age of -
The House proceeded to consider the said motion the
Clerks table, and the question that the same be referred
to Committee of the Whole House, passed in the mega
tive Yeas AZ nays 65 And then the main question being
taken that the House 40 agree 70 'a1s e Is
The motion was thus lost by majority Of 46 but nothing
heard that occasion about its being proposition to
dissolve the Unon or even an directed to
end opposed grounds Of e1Pediency only and the
power of Congress was not denied.
This Mr. President shows the sentiments Of the Represen
taves Of the people at that early period Of the republic
shows, too, that the proposition Of the Senator from New
York is not altogether novel and indeed have evidence
here that such proposition has been offered under better
auspices and with better at later day. On the 9th
of January 1922 the House Of Representatives of the United
States actually passed the following resolution
esolyed That the Committee for the District of Column
ba be instructed inquire into the expediency of providing
by law for the gradual abolition Of slavery within the District
that the interests Of individual shall be i'm
jured thereby"
That resolution passed the House Of Representatives by
vote ia &C. twelve members from the slave
States voting in favor of the resolution And from first to
last will be found in the debates upon these questions, that
the power Of Congress questionable power to abolish
slavery and the slave trade in this Dcthe power to do
this very thing which the honorable Senator from Mississippi
tells us involves principle which is about to rend the Union
asunder has been admitted again and again by gentlemen
rom almost every Southern well from almost every
Northern State in this Union.
Why, sir long ago the debate the Missouri ques
tion in $780, Mr.. Smyh, Of Virginia, reproached the free
States with their inacton this subject elf (sad he) the
future freedom Of the blacks your real object and not
pretence why do you not begin here? Within the ten
miles square, you have undoubted to exercise excu
sive legislation. Produce bill to emancpate the slaves IN
the District Of Columbia, you prefer it. to emancpae
those born hereafter" More recently. Mr. POWELL OF Viz
ginia, in his report of January IL, 1887, says:
"The Congress of the United States has by the consu-
ton, exclusive jurisdiction the District and has power
upon this subject spey upon all other subjects OF legs-
lation, to exercise unlimited discretion"
And Mr. Pnckney, of South Carolina, in the resolutions
which introduced in the House Of Representatives in 1885,
while he says that Congress has power to interfere with
the institution Of slavery in any State only says that
ought not to interfere with slavery in the District of Coum
ba may add that there have been petitions again and again
presented here from North Carolina and other slave States, in
favor Of the abolition Of slavery in this District have
before record of December 49, 1924, where Mr. Saun
ders Of North Carolina ate Minister spain believe,)