Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1850-08-01
political.
SPEECH OF MIR. UPHAM,
OF VERMONT.
ON THE COMPROMISE BILL.

'-al ssi 81 f-|
In SENATE, July l AND 2, 1850.
The Senate having under consideration
tie bill for the admission Of California as q
State into the Union, to establish Territori-
al Governments for Utah, and New Mexico,
and making proposals TO Texas for the es-
Enlistment of her western and northern
boundaries
Mr.. UPHAM said /: Mr.. President, it is
my purpose, in the humble part am about
to take in the discussion Of the various
questions growing out of this measure, to
address the Senate in the language Of
"truth and soberness," without any attempt
at establishment or display. Rhetorical
flourishes and high sounding defamation,
in my poor judgment, ito say nothing Of
their bad taste in this chamber,) have no
tendency to allay the prevailing excitement
or to quel the fury of the storm that is
beating So pitilessIy upon us. l shall there
fore express my views with great frankness
and plainness, but, at the same time in Ian
guage, hope, not unbecoming the position
l occupy or the Importance of the subject
under consideration.
Mr.. President, if anything could awaken
in my mind fearful apprehensions for the
stability of the Government and the perpe-
tuity of our free institutions, it would be
the oft repeated declaration, ON this floor
and elsewhere, that the laws Of Congress
touching the question of slavery in our new
ly-acquired Mexican Territories and in the
District of Columbia, if not agreeable to
the taste Of Southern politicians. will be
resisted at all hazards aud to the last ex-
tremity. But, sir, | am no: very easily a.
harmed, and therefore have no fears for the
safety of the Union no, sir, none whatev-
er. The foundation upon which it rests
was laid broad and deep by the patriots Of
the revolution, and cemented with their
blood, and the first open attempt to UNDER
mine it will meet with most severe rebuke,
not only from the constituted authorities OF
the country, but from twenty millions Of
people, most of whom regard the Union as
the ark of their political safety, and stand
ready, if need be, to peril their lives in its
defence. The cry of disunion has gone
out from the halls of Congress; but sir, if
have not greatly mistaken the signs of the
times, it meets with no favorable response
from the people in any section of the coun-
try; no, sir, not even in the slave States.
The people of the South, with few exceP-
tons, cling to the Union with as much de-
votion and affection as the people of the
North. Their fathers and our fathers stood
shoulder to shoulder on many battlefield,
in hours of peril and of glory, to open the
way for its establishment; and it is our most
sacred duty, as their descendants, TO uphold
and preserve it at every hazard. MIR. Pres
ident, the people of this great country en-
Joy too much security, too much happiness,
and too much prosperity in the Union to de-
sire to go out ofit to better their condition.
They are contented where they are; and,
if they have grievances to complain of, they
can seek and obtain redress much better in
the Union than out Of it. The disastrous
consequences that must follow the breaking
up of the deep foundations Of the Govern
ment, and the consequent rupture Of the
ties that bind these States together in one
family, the people fully understand. They
know that disunion is nothing more or less
than civil war, the arming of one section Of
the country against the other for deadly
conflict: and they know too that the FIRST
drop of blood shed in a conflict of arms
between the North and the South would be
the death-knelI of freedom here and thro'-
out the world. Who, Mr.. President, that
is not laboring under some strange halluci-
nation, can believe for single moment
that secession would furnish remedy for
any of the grievances complained Of by the
slave States! 1t would be forfeiture of
all their interests in the Territories, and a
surrender of all claim upon the free States
for the restoration of their fugitive slaves.
In the Union the rights Of all can be secur-
ed and protected; out Of the Union all
would be doubt, uncertainty, and insecure
ty. But the Union, it is SAID, is in danger,
and that the immediate cause is the almost
universal discomfort which pervades all the
States composing the Southern section of
the coniederacy. What sir, has caused this
widespread discontentl One of the caus-
es, we are told by Southern Senators, is the
]ong-continued agitation Of the slave ques-
ton on the part of the North, and the many
aggressions which they have made on the
rights of the South during this time. An
other cause it is said. is to be found'in the
fact that the equilibrium between the two
sections Of the Government, as it stood when
the Constitution was ratified and the Gov
eminent put in motion, has been destroyed,
not by the operation of time, but by the le-
gislation of Congress. The legislation
complained Of is, first the ordinance Of 1867
second, the system of revenue and dis
bursements adopted by the Government;
third. the Missouri compromise; and fourth,
the exclusion of slaves from the Oregon
Territory. Now, Mr.. President, propose,
before urging my objections to the bill un-
der consideration, to examine these causes
of discomfort and these acts Of Legislation,
for the purpose of showing, first, that the
agitation Of the subject of slavery, with 4
view to effect its abolition, commenced in
the South before the Revolution, and con-
tinued up TO 1882; and that the agitation
in the North of which the South complains
was occasioned BY the aggressions Of the
slave power on the rights OF the North and
secondly, that the legislation complained 81,
with the exception Of the Oregon bill, can-i
not with truth be charged to the North.
And, first. a. TO the agitation Of The slave
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