The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-03-28

and has never been heard from since. In 1882,
the case of Larche, Of the same character, was
| rejected In 1912, another attempt was made
to induce Congress to pay for slaves iost IN East
| Florida by the action Of our troops In 1914, out
! the claim was reiected-only thirty-six members
voting for il, During the last Congress, efforts
were made TO pass bills to pay for slaves but none
of them succeeded In the 2Sth Congress, bill
10 nav for n slave lost in the Florida war came TO
! this body from the Senate Ii was committed 10
the Committee of the Whole House. was per-
fectly aware of its character and called the at
tention of my venerable and lamented frlend from
Massachusetts, Mr.. ADAMS to it. know IL
was his intention to oppose ITS passage, ou' Oh
| one of those DAYS when bills are hurried through
this body under the rules without objection, IL
! PASSED WAS myself unable TO be present, ana
! il escaped the notice Of Mr.. Adams and became
a law No man will for moment pretend mat
an accident OF that character constitutes prece-
dent or establishes any principle. with this ex-
ception Congress- from the first session under the
old Confederation to this day, has rejected the
principle that man can hold property ~ man."
! Mr. Madison declared in Convention that VI
aOuM be nvong 10 odm1 in the Constitution THAT
THERE COULD BE PROPERTY IN MAN" To this
| opinion of Mr.. Madison, every member assented
| No one controverted it. To that doctrine Con-
gress, as well as the Supreme Court of the Uni
! ted States has at all times adhered Yet we are
constantly told that slaves are property and gen.
temen appeared determined to overthrow, not
merely the practice of the Government, the de-
cisions of the courts and the Constitution itself,
in order to sustain slavery, but they seem dispo-
sex "a re3eel the law of nature, and reverse the
DEGREES of God himself in order to bring his
| image TO the level of the brutes that perish.
have now answered all the positions of the
gentleman from Georgis which regard as mate
rial. have paid particular attention to his
speech, as am not sware than any other South
ern member has dwelt upon the constitutional OBJ
legations Of this Government towards slavery. |
will now turn my attention to the question OF
extending slavery into our newly-acquired Terri
tories.
1t is constantly asserted that, by adopting the
Wilmot Proviso we shall exclude The people Of the
South from emigratiag 10 those Territories NTH thar
properly" They charge us with attempting to
create distinctions between the people OF the
free and those of the slave States" These argu-
ments are unfounded The exclusion of slavery
is for the express purpose of permitting all men,
of every State, and nation, and kindred, and
tongue, and people, under heaven, to go there
"upon terms of perfect equOlbyo We propose to
give to aH the same protection the same security
to life liberty and property, to admit of no dis
tinctions except those of moral worth. IL is this
"equaI1y Of political rights" to which Southern
men Object, and not b tne S,AMt 81 K. Raeiz ex-
|
no distinction that we will permit no man to hold
the body of another at his disposal, to deprive
him of liberty to beat and scourge, to degrade
and brutaze, him. Such are our objects, and
such are the objections to them. IT, sir, we permit
slavery to establish itself in these Territories, we
shall show ourselves unequal to the discharge OF
our duties statesmen, and insensible to our OBJ
legations as Christians-we shall deserve and
must receive the censure, the condemnation, OF
| he ri will ed Ii ia nj m
point to travel over ground already occupied
The moral turpitude of permitting slavery and
slave markets to be established on territory hth-
erto consecrated to freedom, has been ably exam
ined by other gentlemen. There is, however, an
abstraction, first advanced within the last two
years but now advocated by individuals Of both
political parties, denying our right to prohibit
slavery in those vast regions believe the devotees
of this new theory admit that, owning the lands
and holding the sovereignty of those Territories
in our own hands, we may prohibit the robbing
man of his money, his watch, or his horse but if
the robber goes farther, and commits the greatest
of all possible crimes, by robbing his fellow
of bis wife and children, of his liberty, his intel
lectusl enjoyments, his future hOpes-of him
| self-such robbery must be permitted, and we
have no right to prohibit it,
! stated that this theory was Houel. 1t has GER
tainly been discovered since 1776. Then our ia
theirs declared " that Governments were instituted
! for the very purpose of securing The people IA the
enjoyment OF life and liberty" Now it is said that,
in establishing Government there, we must leave
the question of liberty out of view, to be deter
mined by the people Of that country Who do
gentlemen mean by the people? Do they include
| all persons who now live in New Mexico, or who
shall hereafter 20 there2 Do they intend that
each human being shall have n voice and a vote
on this question of his own liberty? Will they
by legislative enactment secure the right of such
vote to every man. No, sir; such is not the iu-
tention of gentlemen who use this language.
They intend that one portion of the people shall
determine whether they will rob another portion
of their liberty and hold them as property. Such
is the effect of this policy yet gentlemen are I'M
willing to come out before the country and avow
this intention in undisguised language.
Again, it is urged that slavery cannot exist
there. In the opening of my remarks, showed
that it has existed in Oregon and California, that
it now exists in Deseret and, if we credit nc
counts apparently correct, it has existed in New
, Mexico. In my opinion, the mines of New Mex
2 leo will furnish as profitable employment for
slaves as can be found upon the face Of the earth
That if permitted, those mines will be filed with
dense slave population. And such we know to
be the opinion of Shareholders generally and they
are competent Judges. | regard these arguments
merely as apologies for leaving the question pre-
cisely as shareholders desire it to be left. Time
will not permit me to examine these points fur
Their
While commenting upon the compromises of
, the Constitution spoke of the slave representa-
ton in Congress the political position in which
it placed the freemen of the North; that this po-
sition was intermediate between the supercilious
, master and his abject slave. then called atten-
r ton to the effect which this degrading position
has had upon members of this body, upon the
. Northern press, and upon the timd and irreso-
Lutte men of the North, generally. The ques-
, ton now propounded to us is shall thus political
nlolIy between ourselves and shareholders be En-
. tented and increased? Shall consent or permit
. the holder of a thousand slaves in the mines OF
New Mexico to WELD the same influence in this
| Government and exert the same control over our
, commercial and national rights and interests that
is held and exerted by six hundred ofour intelli.
gent farmers of the North Now, sir, the motto
of our Northern people is, " no slave Territory
no more slave States" We intend to permit nc
. increase of slave power. We will oppose it nom
hereattr and al all times under all circumstances
in all legal and constitutional ways; by every
honorable means The Northern man who hest
a ates to oppose this outrage upon the interests
the honor, and the constitutional rights of the
North, we regard as a traitor TO freedom and t
humanity.
But sir the most nsidious treason against free
dom and the North is that which urges upon u'
the propriety OF leaving thls question OF slavery
entirely TO the electors ofthe Territories. fthey
establish it, and form State Constitutions of ,
slaveholding character, then they urge that eact
shall be admitted into the Union a slave State
and every holder cf Eve slaves be entitled 10 AT
influence over our national rights and interests
, equal to FIVE laboring men Of the North. III
q who embraces this insidious mode Of degrading
the Northern character, adds to his moral anC
political treason the baseness of duplicity and o
cowardice, and is far less entitled to our respec
, than he who comes out openly, and frankly de
clares that Northern laborers are less entitled I,