Daily Richmond times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1849-1850, 1850-01-24
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22d, Is!

ne lopCSol llle udy are tle L TeSlueIt , speCiai
message FIRST printed this morning. and Mr..
Clingman's Southern speech in the House. Gen..
Cass's continuation seems to have excited little
curiosity | understand however, that he avowed
his determination to resign his seat, if pressed to
vote on the Wimot Provso. He will, probably,
however, be prepared to vote California, with her
present constitution into the Union, thus stultfy
ing such of his Southern friends as may oppose
her admission, and still hold him up as the great
friend of the South.
Mr.. Clingman's speech may well be considered
the most startngone ever delivered in Congress.
and it cannot fail to make deep impression
throughout the country. He not only asserted,
in the most deliberate manner, the determination OF
the South to resist the Wilmot Proviso, or aboli-
ton in the District, but affirmed and argued that
she would be fully able to maintain her position,
and prosper in case of separation from the North.
He told North ern gentlemen, calmly, that forty
Southern members had the power, by the applica-
ton of the yeas and nays, to prevent any legisa-
ton by the present Congress, and, if sufficient
number would stand by him, he was prepared to
exercise that power, rather than have these obnox-
ious measures passed. Northern presses had threat
ened the expulsion of those members who were for
Reorganization and disunion in that contingency.
'.Let them try said he; "let them remember that
this Capitol is on Southern territory. We have
possession of it, and do not mean to be driven
from it. If they attempt to expel us by force,
they aoiH mot find quorum TO do business,
after they have finshsd the experiment" Mr.
Clingman declared the willingness of the South to
accept any fair compromise, such as the Missouri
compromise, or an agreement by which California
should be admitted free State, and slavery be
permitted to enter New Mexico but he emphati-
cally warned the North, that if it attempted to
clude the South from the whole Of the Terrific
res, they must inevitably part company. Mr.. G..
was listened to, with more than ordinary attention,
by the House He is very far from being so good
speaker as Mr.. Toombs or Mr.. Stephens, but
the solemnity of his admonitions gave his remarks
an importance which has seldom been attached to
Congressional displays.
Mr.. Howard, of Texas, followed Mr.. Cling
man, and did all the hurt he could to the Southern
cause by raising party issues against the Admins
tration He threw the blame of the present state
of things altogether on the Wing party and Gen.
Taylor, of course provoking the obvious and just
reply, that Democracy brought the Territories and
all their woes upon US, that Mr.. Polk gave up half
the battle in signing the Oregon bill, and that Gen.
Cass's policy of leaving the slavery question to
the Mexican inhabitants of the territories
equally as hateful as the Wmot Proviso South
ern men, in Congress and elsewhere, ought to
forget past political differences in the present
mentous crisis Never before was there such
state of feeling in Congress. Never before
was such determined warfare waged upon
Southern institutions. The Wimot Proviso
is admitted, by Northern men, to be who'll
ly subordinate to the great question of poaoer
and this involves, in the future, the very ex-
istence of slavery The worstaspect of the sub
iects the fact, that Northern politicians are acting
more through fear of their constituents than in
cordance with their own judgments. They re-
present unanimous sentiment opposed to slavery,
and are afraid to counteract it. If they per-
sist obstinately in their fealty to that sem
timent, the Union cannot stand. During
the present Administration, thank God, we shall
be protected from outrage. But four years are
as nothing in the life of nation Unless this
spirit of aggression is arrested, the South will be
driven to the last resort of sef-defence,
The President, in his Special Message, states
that he wished to State Governments orga-
nzed by the people of California and New Mexi-
CO. California has adopted his suggestion, but
he does not positively advise Congress to accept
the Constitution she has framed, properly leaving
this matter to the judgment of Congress itself, as
the suffciency of the permanent population and
the propriety of the boundaries, are yet to be de-
ternned. New Mexico preferred to form Ter
ritorial Government, and the President distinctly
argos Congress not to sanction it, as that would
be to decide the boundary question against Texas.
He also recommends the policy Of nstituting no
new Territorial Governments any where, and OF
allowing the people to remain in their present con-
dition until they are prepared to enter the Union
as States. In the urgency of this recommended
ton, and the earnestness of the Presidents advice
that Congress should abstain from discussing or
legislatng upon the subject of territorial slavery,
nearly all minds perceive his fixed determination
to apply the veto to any bill with the Wmot Pro-
yiso, if the Northern majority force it upon him.
His language is capable OF no other reasonable
construction, and yet Southern Democrats in
Congress are cavlling at his inviting the Califor-
mans to save themselves from the horrors of an
archy, by framing government of some sort, to
which, as freemen, they had an inherent right
w. C. C.
SENATE OF OHIO.
We learn from the following Geographic despatch
dated Columbus, Ohio, January 18th, published in