The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-07-06


The scheme has engrossed the Senate six mouths,
10 the exclusion Of nearly every other measure II
il ever shalt reach the House of Representative Is
most auspicious promise there Is rejecuon 10 DE
followed by final disagreement between the Two
Houses. And this will be the sum OF the history OF
the first session Of the thirty first Congress-the
history of attempt to break, in one compact aud
twisted bundle fagots SO strong and gnarled that
they could hardly be snapped singly-an attempt
overcome reason, passion and prejudice alto
eether. instead of engaging reason alone
We were driven and harassed into this strange
proceeding by alarms OF danger 10 the republic.
WELL sir California New Mexico Utah. the Dis
trict Of Columbia, were no sooner crowded and
cramIned into this unwieldy, rickety ark, through
distrust of the customary vehicles OF legislation TO
weather out the dark and dangerous Storm IMAM
the storm passed away like a cloud in autumn
The ominous Kalends of June have come, and with
them the extra constitutional assenibage at Nash
vile. but not its invading iccts and hosie arnes
So also the crisis in the House OF Representatives
has come without disclosing the steep ruin which
was apprehcnded The political elements have
subsidized from their wild uproar. Why not now
let California resume the voyage in her own sepa.
rate vessel, and, following the Presidential chart
make the port speedily, and III safety.
The answer is, that the commonwealth is labor.
ing of wounds which threaten its safety. IL can.
not be improper to apply To each Of them a tent
that will search il TO the bottom.
The first of them ID the alleged neglect to surren,
der fugitive slaves The wound bleeds afresh at
every return of Congress to the Capitol:
Thaniuluz came next behind,
Whose annual wound in Lebanon ailured
The Syrian damsels to lament his fate,
In amorous dtties all n summers day.
Sir. it is not proved here that three fugtives a
year are withheld against lawful demand; nay !
think il Is not proved that even onei withheld.
The value of what is called slave property, because
the laws OF slave States call it property,is not inn
paired one dollar. Strength, and beauty and youth,
bring their accustomed prices. What them is the
evil? The people OF the free States hesitate at the
execution OF the act of 1898 among them, without
adequate provision for distinguishing between
the real fugitive and the free citzen-between
rendering the unhappy slave, and kidnapping the
still more unhappy freeman And what Is your
remedy? To give the form Of trial after the
render in the State To which the alleged fugitive ID
conveyed Sir, this will only aggrayate the exag
gerated evil. Are you, then, prepared to confess
that this proud republic approaches its downfall be-
cause a slave sometimes finds refuge under IL, in
spite Of its laws!
The of these evils is the agitation about sla
very in the District of Columbia. There are only A
thousand slaves here, all told. The people Of the
free States demonstrate against their being held IN
hopeless bondage; but they wait patiently, until
the mind OF the nation can be moved to abolish II.
What answer does this scheme give Ia these rcmon
strance.? IL proposes to remove the slave shambles
across the Potomac; and, in return for that conces
zion, exacts a guaranty OF the continuance of sla
very until Maryland shall consent 10 its abolition
Sir. this is healing the wound by plunging deeper
into ii the knife that made il. Shall we, then,
thorize the newly returned Minister from Russia to
give 10 hs imperial master the gratifying lntelli
sscnce that this Republic, the only counterpoise OF
his desp' tism, hastens TO its fall by mad
cquate and so ingorious az the bare possibility tina
one thousand slaves may, some FIVE, ten. twenty
years hence, be redeemed from bondage?
The next OF these evil. lis the encroachment OF
Texas upon New Mexico Well, sir, we-will leave
the Territory Of New Mexico in the keeping OF the
President. and her free institutions To the care o.
her people, until she come here as State
and demand admission into the Union
The fourth of these disasters il the solitude OF
10000 MJrmons in the far off basin of the Salt Lake
But this solitude j. of their choice They could
not live under our governments in any of our
States IL Is. therefore, solitude sweetened by in
dependence. The remedy proposed by the com
promise Is to extend to them institutions Ii Ike those
from which they fled. Sir. tho Mormons, when
they shall have gathered population adequate to
sustain State government, establish one; and
IN the mean time, they will be living under the
protection OF our arms, and enjoying the only laws
they are yet prepared To endure.
There Ia, then, only one real wound upon the
body politic-the Suspense Of California. This is i
wound whose pain IL not relieved by anguish IN
any other part and this is the very one which
with exquisite surgery, the President proposes W,
shall heal Immediately, and by itself, alone.
But IL nsisted that trivial as these disturbance
are, the country ID nevertheless irrtatcd, excited
and distracted. Sir, the country seens TO IN,
neither excited distracted IL Is worried by ou
own delay, and has become impatcnt-not iInpa
tisnt enough yet to approve this bill, but impatien
for the admission of California alone. That is all
Still II IL replied that the slavery question mus
be settied That question cannot be settcd by thi.
bull. Slavery and freedom are conflicting systems
brought together by the union of the States, not
neutralized, nor even harmonized Their antsgo
nisin 10 radical, and therefore perpetual. Com
promise continues conflict, and the conflict in
wolves, unavoidsbly, all questions of national in
terest-questions of revenue, Of internal improve
nent. of industry, of commerce. Of political rival
ry, and even all questions of peace and Of war In
entering the career OF conquest you have kindle,
10 hercer heat the fires you seek 10 exiting uish
because you have thrown into them the fuel o
propagandism. We have the proparandism o
slavery enlarge the slave market, and to incrcas,
slave representation in Congress and in the Elec
toral collcges-for the bramble ever seeks power
though the olive, the fig, and the vine refuse il;
we have the propsga ndism Of freedom TO counter
act those purposes Nor can this propa gandism b
arrested on either side. The is full Of cxilcs
and they swarm over our land. Emigration from
Europe and from Asia, from Polynesia even, from
the free States and from the slave States goes on
and will go and must go on, in obedience {,
laws which, should say, higher than thu
Constitution. II any such laws were acknowledge,
here. And ] may BE- allowed here to refer thos,
who have been scsndalizcd by the slluson 20 sucl
laws TO a single passage by an author who-e opin
IONS did not err on the side Of superstition .
tyranny: II IL be said that every nation ought il
this 10 follow their own constitutions we are at al
end Of our controversies; for they ought not b,
followed unless they are rightly made; they canno
b. rightly made II they are contrary to the uuver
sal law of God and Nature" (biscourses on Gov
eminent, by Algernon Sidney, chap LIST. D. 4s)
spoke Of emigrsnts; and wherever those emigrant
go-whether they 60 from necessity Of choice
they form continuous, unbroken, strcsVDg pro
cessons of colonists, founders OF States, bhers O
nations. And when colonies are planted. Statos ar
founded, nations built. labor IL there the fir,
and indispensable element, and IL begins and pros
ecutes TO the end it's strife for freedom and power
While the sovereignty Of the Territories remain
here, the strife will come up here TO be composed
You may slsy the Wilmot proviso in the Senat
chamber and bury il beneath the Capitol to-day
the dead corso, in complete steel, will haunt you
Legislative halls To- morrow.
When the strife 10 ended in the Territories yO
now possess, IL will be renewed on feds, Mort
well South. To fortify advantages gained. o
20 retrieve lo@ses incurred, for both of the psrte
we'll know that there 10 Yet in that word Here
after"
SENATORS have referred us 10 the promise Of pesc
which bersldcd in the Missouri compromise. Sir
that prophecy is but half its journey yet. The an
nerstion Of Texas the invasion Of Mexico, this pro
longed struggle over California this desperate con
test FOR the SHOWS and sands Of New Mexico an
Deseret, are all within the scope and limits Of III
prediction; and 40 the srifcs yet To come owe
zee bound regions beyond the 81 Lawrence an