The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-06-26

delayed than that The Union should be endangered.
BY awaiting their action all of uneasness
may be avoided, and confidence and kind feeling
restored. Time, the great solver of all difiiculties
aided by the deliberate judgment Of the people of
those Territories, will settle the question which
agtates and perplexes the public mind more wisely
and happily than we can by our legislation on the
subject.
Let California be received, let her come alone; il
is due TO usage, to her people, to her rights a
sovereign State for such she is, and never can be
less. Who they that have thus patiently
waited, and still ask for admission? Are they not
our sons the strength of our loins the ardent the
young, the brave, the wise? What a noble illus
tration does the constitution they have adopted
afford OF the habits Of free government and lawful
order most proniscuous assemblagc OF men,
thrown upon foreign and distant shore, with only
one pursuit. and that of gold, the most corrupting,
in country without government or law, quietly
operating, without tumut or violence, TO select
members Of convention which to give them
constitution; that convention meeting, organising,
deliberating, and deciding-under sanction,
with protection authority but the public opin
ion--and ultimately forming constitution, wise
and conservative, which was adopted by the votes
Of nearly all the people; which, when adopted,
went into immediate effect, and became al once
law for those who before were exempt from all law;
under which Senators, members OF Congress, and
Of the Legislature, and officers Of the State govern
ment were regularly and quietly chosen, and thus
became well-constituted and we'll regulated
public, complete at its BIRTH and awaiting only the
consent of its sister republics to take its equal sta
tion with them in the glorious Union which const-
tutes US one great nation.
Such series of facts as these, at moment when
the older nations Of continental Europe, after pc
riod of suspense, bloodshed, and ruin, all encoun-
tered in the and for the hope of liberty,
to be contenedly relapsing into military despotsm,
should appeal irresistibly to an American Congress
for acknowledgment and sympathy To weigh
against State, thus presenting herself, technical
informates, and, still worse, to oppose the admis
sion of such a State, unless pledges can be wrung
from her supporters favorable to slavery gross,
30 palpabe, a wrong, SO unusual in all other in
stances, SO dshonoring to her, that it
ceive the sanction Of the representatives of the
American people. Alone, and free; then, let her
come, proclaiming, by that noble provision of her
constitution, that the shore Of the Pacific, within
her boundaries, shall support the foot Of a
slave; noble inheritance for which, in after times
her children will bless their brthrght and our ma
tional sanction and acknowledgement. Thus too
will the stain, which affixed by the mother
country to the Atlantic shore, be atoned for and re-
deemed by the adoption of this charter of liberty
which her descendants, in these days, have spread
over and along the shores, the mountains, and the
valleys Of this distant coast.
Aliusion has been made in the course of the de-
bates In this and the other House to the opinions and
votes Of one whose name it my chief honor bear
-of one who, during long public life faithfully
served the country that he loved and the Constitu-
ton which he assisted to frame; the occasion NAV
therefore be fitting one. and iial piey not an un-
hitting motive, for now seeking to do Justice the
early, steady, and consistent course of Rufus King
on the subject Of slavery. On the 10th of March.
the Consideration as delegate from Massachusetts,,
that ancient and honorable commonwealth, he laid
upon the table and moved 10 have committed the
first resolution presented to Congress for ,he
immediate and absolute prohibition, then and for
ever Of slavery in the States Of the Ohio
and which, with ahght alteration, was incorpora atod
into the ordinance of 1857, for the government Of
the Western Territory, by his friend and colleague
Nathan Dane. Born in Massachusetts, he early
came into the councils Of the nation deeply imbued
with the spirit of his native State. and ardently
tached TO the nation whose birthrght he had helped
To assert in arms-he felt that freedom was, and
must be, the Of its prosperity glory.
| aud power. and his first permanent public act was
TO lay the broadest basis for that stone, by
impresung upon the line region beyond the Ohio,
yet unpeopled, the Interchangeable condition Of indi-
vidual freedom, by forever excluding and prohibit
ing slavery within its boundaries.
Ever true TO the Constitution, and all the obi
| cations which IL imposes. he never shrunk from
the performance Of all the duties, in peace or in
war, which his station in the public councils at
home, or as the representative of his country
abroad, required at his hands. When returned to
the Senate Of the United States in 20, the ap
plicaton for the admission Of Missouri was under
discussion. He was instructed by the legislature
OF his State TO resist the admission of Missouri n
slave State the public opinion OF his own people
conceded with his own, 70 forbid such extension
OF slavery and, strong in his own convictions, in
the public opinions Of his State. in the direct and
positive instructions Of the legislature Of New
York, he opposed in calm but effective argument
the compromise of great principle ior temporary
| expcdiency. Missouri admitted, and the COM
promise prevailed But true 10 his early principles.
and as each revolving year showed more clearly to
his practisod Judgment the evils Of this agitatng
question, he determined 10 make last effort in the
cause which had called forth his FIRST effort in the
Congress Of the Confede ration. and he accordingly
laid upon the table of the Senate in 1875, Of
the last days of that session, with which, hs had
previously announced iscareer in the Senate would
apart all the public lands OF the United states, To-
gether with their nett proceeds perpetual fund
for the emancipation and removal OF the slaves Of
the United States under the sanction and the laws
/ Of the several States where slavery existed.
II was a great and generous Offering in the name
uf the free States TO the South, that II they would
consent, the freemcn Of the States whore slavery
was unknown would reinquisb their share Of this
magnificent public domain Of the public lands,
held in common trust, in compensation 70 the ststes
where slavery existed, for the surrender and ex-
portaton of tho slaves within their respective linn
/ its. Mr. Chairman, with such an example befor
me, with principles such he announced and
maintained TO guide me, | cannot hesitate,
cannot doubt, respecting the course ] should
pursue upon the Questions before The opin-
| iona which he held upon the subject OF slavery
are mine, by precept and inheritance; mine, as
the result Of my own convictions, reflected in
the sentiments Of my constituents, IA embodied in
the resolutions Of the legislature Of my State; and
in the discharge Of my public duty acknowledge,
and will obey uithout hesitation all these powerful
Influences.
Much has been said in the course Of the long de
.
and especially Of that ever living principle Of lib
| erty which is contained in the 9th article. This
noble ordinance, full of the wisdom and the fore
caste Of the great and good men Of that day, was
enacted by the votes OF all the States present on
that memorable occasion, and has become the foun-
dAton OF numerous States, the proud boast OF mil
lions OF frecmen; of has been declared that il
the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night
TO the rushing multitudes that then and since have
have sought resting place in the vast and fertile
| regions OF the West. Tho establishment Of this
ordinance the western territory restricted ana
fixed the limits OF slavery In those days, for u en-
brsced within its provisions aud influence all the
lands and territory not then included within the
boundaries Of the thirteen States, and s the great
landmark Of that day; and STILL and for all time to
come, the enduring witness Of the opinSons Of the
| visc and enlightened statesmen who framed ~.
that slavery should have its limits,
Before conclude, ! woald ssk the indulgence OF
the committee 10 refer 70 the claim which Virginia
has often made, and which has been recently re-
newed in these halls, 10 have possessed, and have
coded Of right, the great territory northwest Of the
Ohio and in virtue Of that cession 70 have claimed
and W have had awarded 10 her, the merit and the
honor Of having been the mother OF the mighty
States aud OF the numerous people who nov nhsbis.
and hereafter in greater numbers are W inhabt and
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