Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1850-03-13

the Constitution. and finds nothing there
which makes this his duty. The village
mechanic in Ohio, who drives the Jack
plane, and earns his bread by the swea,
Of his brow, will not abandon his honest
pursuits, when he sees man pass in the
street, with a skin somewhat darker than
his own, and a budget on his back. follow
him, knock him down, and tie him. be-
cause there is possibility that a Missis-
sippi planter may hold mortgage on his
bones, flesh and sinews! Our fair coun-
try women. Welding 10 the tender sympa-
thies which always adorn their sex, when
enquired Of by a disconsolate passer by
of her own sex. who perhaps may carry
in her arms an infant slightly tinged, may
point out the nearest and best road to
Canada. Is there anything wrong in this!
Point it out.
On this point let me remark. that whilst
the great mass Of all parties in my State
disclaim all design to interfere with your
constitutionally exists, they remember, and
will never forget that they, too, have an
institution the operations Of which are
Freedom! They have tasted its blessings,
/
Of all who may strive to obtain them. If
our southern brethren. then will have
slaves, and these slaves will run off to
Ohio. they must capture them themselves.
But we aggress on the South because
our political power increases more rapidly
than hers. That is the result of an in
crease in population. We cannot help il,
if there are pecuiarities about our institu-
ton which produce this result. 1t is Ger
tainly not wrong if we obey that injunc
ton of Holy Writ. "Mul,iply and re-
! plenish the earth.' This complaint comes
with a poor grace, especially from the
gentleman from North Carolina Mr..
Clingman who has, as yet, withheld from
his country his aid in removing this source
OF inequality.
But we are charged with designing or
threatening to aggress by the passage of
the proviso. intend to vote for the ad-
mission Of California as IA State with this
clause in her constitution, and for a ter
ritorial law for New Mexico embracing it,
We are told that il excludes the South
from a fair share Of the territory acquir-
ed by common blood and common trea-
sure; and that it weakcns the title to their
property and prevents them from remov-
ing it thither. This is not true. That
proviso is and has been in full force in
the State Of Ohio and the Northwestern
Territory for sixty years. A large por-
ton Of her best citizens are from the South.
The district which Immediately repre-
sent embraces large body of the lands
Of the Virg ginia military district, to which
Virginians and North Carolinians emf
grated with their property. Some took
slaves with him. to whom their families
were attached, although they knew that
the moment the foot of the slave touched
that soil, with the masters consent, one
of the peculiarities of our institution made
him free man. And here let me say
that the most thorough going Free Soil
men, and the most violent Abolitionists
there, are those furnished us by North
Carolina and Virginia. would be entire
ly safe in allowing my action here to be
governed on this subject by the views Of
those in my district who came from slave
States. Their warmth in favor OF free
soil may, | suppose, be attributed to that
same principle Of human action which
makes the reformed drunkard the most
ardent in pressing onward the cause of
temperance; or the converted sinner the
/
been eye witnesses to the evil effects of
slavery, not the least Of which is its ten
dency to reduce to the level Of the de-
graded slave the free labor OF the poor
white man where it exists. If the proviso
is applied to these Mexican Territories.
the southern man as well as the northern
man may take his property there; he may
take his negroes if he chooses, but if he
takes them. they cease to be property or
things, and are made persons only.
The honorable member from Missis-
siPpi Mr.. Brown takes bold position, if
he is sincere, and will not question it.,
notwithstanding his preposterous assertion
| read from his printed speech. MR. C.
here read from Mr.. Brown S speech:]
"For myself I REGARD SLAVERY As GREAT
MORAL, SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND RELIGIOUS BLESS
lSG--A BLESSING TO THE SLAVE AND BLESSING
TO THE MASTER"
The honorable gentleman (said Mr.. c.
proceeds with arguments to prove that
great blessings are conferred upon the
African by making him slave! Now.
sir, if the gentleman can make this posi-
ton good by sound argument, and if the
honorable member from North Carolina
Mr.. Clingmanl can make good his de-
clara,ion that where slavery exists you
find the greatest degree Of civilization.
refinement, wealth. comfort, and happ-
ness, pledge my self to abandon the pro-
viso, and oppose it here and elsewhere,
with as much honest ardor as now sup
port it. If slavery is q blessing to the
slave. how is it that the great, the good,
and the wise Of every civilized land upon
earth have never learned the fact! This
is a great age we live in, and it has been
reserved for the keen perceptive faculties
Of the honorable member from Mississippi.
to make the grand discovery that the true
way to may negro happy is to put him in
chains and under the lash Of the task
master! 4 discovery somewhat parallel