The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-07-18
WHOLE NO. IS5.

for then IL will be said truly OF him as il was Of
the noble Roman, never did he do more for har-
mony and for freedom than when to dull and pre-
JUDGED spprehensions he seemed to be doing
nothing
need only indicate the application Of these re-
marks to Utah.
The District Of Columbia, the offspring Of the
Republic, 10 cherished equally by all Of the States
and II the destnies Of the nation are correctly
Appreciated, the capital must one day stand :" in
dignity and for the liberal arts y without par
alleL But yet lacks one element Of prosperity
the freedom of labor; and one element Of great
ness-the dignity Of labor. Its atmosphere sup
presses, although it cannot smother, the lave OF
liberty, which is public universal, and indy
inr 2Hae.ia. IT, i--.tS r,.. -,
capital De cast into the balance, 20 bring ND
the already buoyant scale Of California The
only reason is, that you have decided 10 overload
that scale with the weight Of your gratuity TO
Texas, and Of the suppression Of freedom in Utah
and New Mexico.
Such, sir, is the manner in which California.
Texas, New Mexico, Utah and Columbia are
wronged by casting their interests into the mia
shapen chaos OF fair-seeming forms, and mischiefs
manifold, which constitutes this extraordinary
scheme Of compromise and adjustment.
The scheme has engrossed the Senate six
months, TO the exclusion Of nearly every other
measure Ifit ever shall reach the House OF Rem
resentatives its most suspicious promise there is
a rejection, TO be followed by final disagreement
between the two Houses, And this will he the
sum OF the history of the first session OF the thirty
first Congress-the history of an attempt to break,
in one compact and twisted bundle, fagots 80
strong and gnarled that they could hardly be
snapped singly-an attempt TO overcome reason
passion, and prejudice, altogether instead of en-.
gsging reason alone.
We were driven and harassed into this strange
proceeding by alarms OF danger TO the Republic
Well, sir, California, New Mexico, Utah, the
District Of Columbia We're no sooner crowded and
crammed into this unwieldy, rickety ark, through
distrust of the customary vehicles Of legislation
to weather out the dark and dangerous stnrel,
IMAM the storm passed away like a cloud in
autumn. The ominous Kaends of June have
come, and with them the extra constitutional as
semblage at Nashville, but not it's invading fleets
and hostile armies. So also the crisis in the
House OF Representatives has come without dis
closing the steep ruin which was apprehendei.
The political elements have subsidized from their
wild uproar. Why not now let California resume
the voyage in her own separate vessel and, fol-
lowing the Presidential chart, make the port
speedily and in safety
The answer is that the commonwealth is labor
ing Of wounds which threaten its safety. 1t can
not be improper to apply TO each of them tent
that will search 1t to the bottom
The first Of them Is the alleged neglect to sur
render fugitive slaves. This wound bleeds afresh
at every return of Congress to the Capitol
ThammuE came next behind
Whose annual vonnd In Lebanon sllured
The Syrian damsels 10 lament his fate,
In smorous ditties all summers day.
Sir, it is not proved here that three fugtives
year are withheld against lawful demand nay,
think 1t is not proved that even one Is so with
held. The value Of what is called slave property,
because the laws OF slave States treat il as prop
erty, is not impaired one dollar. Strength, and
beauty, and youth, bring their accustomed prices
What, then, is the evil The People of the free
States hesitate at the execution Of the act of 1893
among them, without an adequate provision for
distinguishing between the fugitive and the free
citisen-between surrenderipg the unhappy slave,
and kidnapping the still more unhappy freeman.
And what is your remedy To give the form of
trial after the surrender, In the State to which
the alleged fugitive is conveyed Sir, this will
only aggravate the exaggerated evil Are you
then, prepared to confess that this proud Repub.
lie approaches its downfall, because slave some
times finds refuge under it, in spite Of It's laws2
The next OF these evils Is the agitation about
slavery in the District Of Columbia There sre
only thousand slaves here, ell told The people
Of the free States demonstrate against the being
held In hopeless bondage; but they wait patient
ly, until the mind Of the nation can be moved 10
abolish It, What answer does this scheme give
to these remonstranoesY II proposes to remove
the slave shambles across the Potomac and, In
return for that concession, exacts a guaranty Of
the continuance Of slavery until Maryland shall
consent TO its abolition. Sir this Is healing the
wound by plunging deeper into il the knife that
made It, Shall we, then, authorize the newly
returned minister from Russia to give to his i'm
peral master the gratifying intelligence that this
Republic, the only counterpoise of his despotism
hastens to its fall by cause so inadequate and
80 inglorous as the bare possibility that one thou.
sand slaves may, some five, ten, or twenty years
hence, be redeemed from boDdage7
The next OF these evils is the encrosohment Of
Texas upon New Mexico. Well, sir we will
leave the Territory of New Mexico in the keep
ing Of the President and her free institutions to
The care OF her own people, until she can come
here as State and demand admission into the
Union.
The fourth OF those disasters is the solitude of
5000 Mormons In the far-of basin of the Salt
lake. But this solitude is Of their own choice.
They could not live under our Governments In
ny Of our States IL Is, therefore, solitude sweet
ned by independence The remedy proposed by
be compromise Is to extend to them institutions
Ike those from which they fed Sir, the Nor
IONS, when they shall have gathered a popula-
lon adequate to sustain State Government, can
stablish one and, In the mean time they will be
wing under the protection Of our arms, and en-
'ying the only laws they are yet prepared to
ndure
There Is, then, only one real wound upon the
ody politic-the suspense Of California. This
5 wound, whose pain Is not relieved by anguish
n any other part and this is the very one which,
With exquisite surgery, the President proposes
We shall heal immediately, and by itself, alone.
But IL 10 insisted that, trivial these disturb
Ia erth eta trrf al
xcited, and distracted. Sir, the country seems
o me neither excited nor distracted Il 10 wor-
led by our own delay, and has become impa-
ient-not impatient enough yet to approve this
I'LL, but impatient for the admission Of California
lone That il ALL
Still II Is replied that the slavery question must
70 settled. That question cannot be settled by
his bill. Slavery and freedom are conflicting
ystems, brought together by the union Of the
States, not neutralized, nor even hsrmoni1ed.
Their antagonism Is radical and therefore per.
petual Compromise continues conflict, and the
conflict involves, unavoidably, all questions Of
national interest-questions Of revenue, Of inter
,nl Improvement, ofindustry, Of commerce, OF po-
itical rivalry and even ali questions of peace and
" war. In entering the career Of conquest, you
nave kndled 10 kercer heat the fires you seek
o extinguish, because you have thrown into them
he fuel Of propagandism. We have the propa-
sspdism Of slavery to enlarge the slave market
md TO increase slave representation In Con.
yress and In the electoral oolleges-for the bram-
Die ever seeks power, though the olive, the fig,
md the vine refuse IL and We have the propa-
randism Of freedom to countsract those purposes.
Nor can this propagandism be arrested on either
ide The sea In full Of exiles and they swarm
ver our land Emigrsion from Europe and
rom ASIA from Poiynesia sven, from the free
states. and from the slave States, goes on, and
vill 20 on, and must 70 on, in obedience to laws
'hich, should say, were higher than the Con-
titution, II any such laws we're acknowledged
ere. And may be allowed here to refer those
rho have been scsndaliscd by the allusion 10 such