The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-01-03
THE COMMITTEES OF THE HOUSE Nh. WIN
TNROP.

| object to the way in which the Coness
| District Of Columbia had been ms
Winthrop that the voice Of the Fses 49,. -
been stifed in that Committee AID oes = -
mort could be obtained from it, He (Allssl had
better overhaul the Journals Of the House before
he makes such an assertion. He will lind that
this Committee did make \ report 1hdf Comhnp-
zee yeporfsd a biR to Abolish Slavery IN the DIS
| trict of Columbia and when motion WAS mane
to lay it on the table, six Of them voted against
! it,
GLOW is il? Does the Editor of the Atlas state
the truth concerning the action OF Mr. WIN
throp's committee II he does, the fact ought 10
be known n
| The statement of the editorial correspondent OF
the Boston 44tldS is entirely untrue, as we shall
show presently. Before doing so, word concern
ing MIR Winthrop and the Committees Of the
! House Three of these, the Committees ON the
! Judiciary, District of Columbia, and the Terri
tories, are specially liable to be called upon Tor
action in relation to Slavery.
! The Committee on Territories, as organized oy
Mr. Winthrop in the commencement OF the last
Congress. consisted of Smith of Indiana, Cranston
of Rhode Island, Cobb of Georgia, Rockwell OF
J Massachusetts, Thompson Of Pennsylvania Gou
of New York, Morse of Louisiana, Evans OF Ono,
! Pillsbury of Texas-three Shareholders, SIX non
shareholders OF the latter, Smith, Gott ana
Rockwell, were understood at that time 10 DC
thorough Anti.Slayery men Cranston, Evans
and Thompson, were Wlmot Proviso men, but
not so active as the former were supposed TO De-
For one, we say frankly, that this Committee ap-
peared to be fairly constituted.
! In the interval, between the first and second
sessions of that Congress, the Wing Party, by the
election of General Taylor, became committed to
policy adverse TO the agitation of the Slavery
Question and, at the opening Of the second
session, it was manifest that the aim OF his
leading friends in the House was to evade or pro-
crastinate decisive action upon the Ierri'orlai
! Question The gentleman at the head OF the
Committee on Territories, having some prospect
of filling eventually place in General Taylor's
Cabinet became qpietia. The moderate WI
mot Proviso men on the Committee seemed to par
take of his spirit In view Of this state OF things
NJ Rec. ;s.--::!see4 resolution ipstructipg The
Committee to report bills for the Government OF
California and New Mexico, with the Wilmot
/
the previous question. Mr.. Vinton asked whether
liz was a resolution to instruct the Committee to
ia1uire uuo The expectancy of reporting, &c. Being
informed that it proposed to instruct them imper-
atively to report, he said he should vote against
the demand for the previous question. The pre-
yious question, however, was ordered, against the
votes of several leading Taylor Men, and the
resolution was passed The Committee of course
reported. but, with the exception of moving that
they be made the special order of the day, its
chairman took no special interest in them, and
never, we believe, made speech in their support
| Still this change in him and few of his asso-
ciates, happened oJtn their appointment by Mr..
Winthrop on that Committee, so that we cannot
hold him responsible.
We wish we could find his conduct in relation
to the construction of the other two Committees
equally unexceptionable. Let us analyze them.
The Committee on the Judiciary consisted of
J. r. Iugersol of Pennsylvania, Ashmun of Mas
sachusetts, Petit of Indiana, Hall of New York,
Lumpkin of Georgia, Dixon Of Connecticut
French of Kentucky, Taylor of Ohio, and Meade
of Virginia.
If J. r. Ing rsoll be an Auti-Savefy man, we
have never detected the slightest evidence Of the
fact Petit was au ardent Wilmot Proviso man,
but hated negroes French was moderate slave
holder Lumpkin and Meade were Of the most
ultra class. Taylor we have always regarded as
little better than "A prO-slavery man. voting of
course, for the Wlmot Proviso, but under COM
pulsion from his constituents Dixon, Hail. and
Ashmun, were the only men on the Committee
from whom any legislation on the side of Liberty,
! beyond the Proyiso) could ever be expected No
man in Washington, familiar with the course of
the gentlemen named, and acquainted with their
views, will question the correctness of our repre-
sentation
The Committee on the District of Columbia
consisted Of Chapman of Maryland Mcdowell
of Virginia, Barrow of Tennessee, Sims of South
Carolina, Henry of Vermont, Tallmadge of New
York Thurston of Rhode Island Ficklin of Illi-
nois and Edwards of OhiO-four from the slave
States five from the free, the chairman being a
STAKEHOLDER. With the exception of Thurston
| and Henry. there was not man on that Commit
tee from whom Freedom had anything to hope.
| Mr. Ficklin had always been notorious for his
pro-slavery course, Tallmadge and Edwards
never gave indication of the least degree of inter-
est in any form Of the Anti-Savery movement
1t was generally understood, never denied, that
we know, that the latter wac an owner of slaves
AS to the rest theS were all known to be opposed
to interference in am wa, with slavery or the slave
| do in etric ;n1x baI
tuted such Committee, we should have expected
| that every one would see at once that our nten-
ton was to carry out policy which had been
pursued for nearly half a century-the h-alOae,
the dO-aOthiag policy. Nothing was done during
the long session of the last Congress. The me-
MORALS in relation to slavery and the slave trade
were ruthessly smothered in this Committee
The opening Of the second session was signalized
by vigorous attacks on the District slave trade
Great excitement was the result The authorities
here saw that the non-slaveholding citizens were
growing deeply indignant at the perpetuation
Of the enOrmity. On the 23l of January the
Mayor and corporate authorities memorialized
Congress on the subject, and asked for an act d.
rectly prohibiting the Importation Of slaves into
the District for hire or SALE or empowering them
to prohibit such importation. Under the pres
sure of this memorial, the Committee. badly as
it was constituted, could not help acting; and on
the LIST of January it reported a bll to yroh;b,
t,.c' :Emi Of ssets INFO the District for
sale or hire &c 1t gave rise to a long discussion
in which Mr.. Chapman, the Chairman of the
Committee avOwed his opposition 10 II orJ an