Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1850-06-21

large committees, however distinguished the IN
dividuals of which they are composed, as TO rec
oncile me to the extension of slavery. The
committee of thirteen, recently raised in the Sem
ale, composed as it is of eleven members, who
are known to favor the policy of the South, will
submit no plan of adjustment that is not wholly
onc-sded and sectional. Nothing can be hoped
for from that quarter in the least favorable TO
freedom. The committee was raised against
the votes of these who represented two-thirds Of
the freemen of this country-its members elect
ed themselves and each other, and cannot view
it in any other light than as a scheme to force
upon the country a measure of southern policy,
under the name of " compromise" Yet it is
hoped by some such process to quiet the North,
and calm the agitation growing out of the dan
gerous and unwarrantable demands of slavery.
Sir, no palliative which may be offered us by
this committee of thirteen will reach the dis
ease or give quiet to the country This strug-
gle will 70 on increasing in force and intensity,
until limits are fixed 10 the possessions of sla-
very-until the aristocracy of the South shall
abandon its alarming pretensions, and rest con-
tent with that share of political influence to
which it is Justly entitled under the Constitution.
Agitation will continue until there is freedom
upon this floor, and the rights Of a majority
acknowledged and respected. Sir, these threats
of disunion, this bold defiance of the rghtful and
constitutional authority of this Government
must cease, before peace and fraternal concord
will be restored to the country. A stop must
be put to this prescription of northern men who
do not acknowledge the divine character and in
estimable blessings of slavery. In short, this
struggle between the opposing principles of
freedom and slavery will 90 on, until that day
shall arise when the child that is nursed by
white mother shall stand an equal chance in this
Government with one nursed in the lap Of slave
We claim for the men of the North an equality
in this Government. 1t is ours by RIGHT Of in
heritance, and with the blessing of God we mean
to have it. We wage no warfare uponthe South
Their system of slavery is their own, as is the
alistocracy it sustains. Their rights, under the
Constitution, we pledge ourselves to respect as
sacred and inyiolate; but it is the Constitution
as it shall be interpreted by the high powers of
this Government and not as it shall be construed
by their imperial fiat, by which we agree to
abide.
The true ground of the present controversy
is not that slavery is assailed or even threaten
ed, within IFS lawful limits, the States where it
exists, bat that resistance is offered TO its extern
sion into the free Territories of the nation. This
is the true and real ground Of the present con-
troVersy. The Shareholders are alarmed lest
the sceptre of political power shall be taken
from their hands, and they demand an enlarge
meut OF the area Of slavery, as means of III
creasing the value Of slave property, and of Sc
curing TO them the permanent control over the
Government of the Union True to the instincts
and passions of an aristocracy, they threaten to
ruin when they can no longer rule. If the
Shareholders of the South would rest satisfied
with their aristocratic position and dominion in
the slave States, and be content to share with
the ireemen Of the North the political power Of
tllis Government upon the terms and conditions
prescribed in the Constitution, we should have
10 agitation, no strife, connec cd with the sub
lect Of slavery. We claim 40 right to interfere
with slavery or any Of tho prerogatiyes it CON-
ters, in The Southern States of this Union. 1t
may stand there for centuries to come, if it can
so stand, as it las stood for centuries that have
passed. without Ict, or hintrauCc, or moies,ltion,
on the part OF this Government. But when it
attempts to pass beyond State limits, and plant
Itself upon our national Territories, and puts
forth demands subFeTsiye OF our institutions Of
Government, then slavery loses its local and do
nestle character, and becomes a subject Of vital
concern to the people OF the whole Union.
Mr.. Chairman, some gentlemen, apparently
with view to excuse their conduct, and to lull
the free States into fatal sense of security, con-
fdently assume that slavery can never exist in
any part of the territory acquired from Mexico.
This assumption, it is worthy OF note, comes eX-
clusivev from Northern men, and from that
class OF Northern men who reconcile it with
their duty to act upon all occasions in harmony
with the interest and policy Of slavery. Ii is dI-
recty and fatty contradictod by almost every
Southern man who has spoken upon the subject,
and is in the face Of every fact connected with
the history and progress Of slavery upon this
continent. OF all our vast possessions, owned
at the time Of the organization of the Govern
ment, and those acquired from France and Spain,
and by the annexation Of Texas, not one foot
can be found to-day, free from the institution of
slavery, that was not secured to freedom by the
positive law of this Government. The eriSt-
e7ice or n0n-criSence of slavery in country does
not depend upon SOIL or climate, or production.
1t is regulated by pecuniary considerations and
the demand for labor. The numJer of slaves
that can be prohtably employed upon given ex-
tent Of territory will depend much upon the
character OF its productions; but wherever la
! Dor is in demand, wherever there is work to do,
! there the slave is valuable, and there he will be
| taken, unless legal barriers are interposed to
prevent it. This is proved by the whole history
of the settlement of this continent. There is
no branch of labor in which slaves can be more
probably employed than in mining the precious
metals. 1t was for this purpose that slaves
were first employed in America.
1t is a mockery, Mr.. Chairman, 10 pretend
that slavery cannot exist in the territories acquir-
ed from Mexico. 1t can and it surely will 90
there, unless prevented by the action of this
| Government, or the early organization Of those
territories as States before slavery has time to
dilfuse itself over them. Let our action in these
/ halls be controlled by the threats and policy Of
slaveholding aristocracy-organize Territorial
| Governments without any prohibition Of slavery
break down all barriers against its introduc-
ton by a submission on our part to the const-
! tutional Dgmas of the South, and slavery will
as certain oyerrun those Territories as that it
! has spread from the Potomac, south and west.
to the Gulf of Mexico and the banks of the Rio
| Grande. This result is not only admitted BY
the South but it is openly and boldly proclaim
ed as her settled and fixed policy-a policy ne
! cessarv, as she AYERS to her own safety, and
| from which, sooner than depart, she is willing
! to Dissolve the Union. Yet in the face of all
this, we are Knocked with the idle assurances of
! Northern men, that there is no danger that sla-
very will be extended. Sir, what's this contro-
versy about} For what is this protracted and
I exciting struggle It has but one foundation