The republic., 1851-02-18

moved TO lay IL on. the table. alr. b., being re-
quested by several Senators, withdrew his motion.
Mr. BUTLER said that he considered the act Of last
session only slight obstruction thrown in the
way of the torrent of agitation, which would be
easily thrust aside. When the petition was re-
ferred, he then said that he would have nothing to
do with the matter and, he had said at the last
session, he now again declared that henceforth he
would do nothing TO resist the presentation OF any
petition which persons might think proper TO send
to the Senate the subject ofslavery For 1t might
as well be attempted to- quiet maniac with luliaoys
to attempt to stop the course of fanatic by rea-
soning.
Mr.. HALE stated the operation and working Of
the law to have been wanting in uniformity In
New York the alleged fugitive was given up, and
Was brought back TO slavery IN PhiiadeiPnia they
went q little further, and a freeman was kidnap-
ped and the commissioner doomed him to slavery;
hc was, however, sent back TO freedom again
And now, by the paper OF this morning, he saw
that n fu gitive had been rescued by mob, and
taken from the United States court. room. There
would seem TO be little conformity in the operations
of this law. He was not for agitation here: he de-
sired, when he wished to agitate, to be among the
people at home. He was an agitator. he shrunk
from none of the imputations implied in the name
Of an agitator. O'Connell was an agitator He
goried in being an agitator. II was the name ap-
piled to all those who have ever endeayored to shake
off oppression and raise the condition of man. The
men Of the Revolution were agitators. Every thing
great that had been done in the cause OF liberty
was done by agitation. Agitation was the element
in which the State lived. Ii was the life principle.
Without il the State would become stagnnnt, and
futid corruption would follow. Like the pool men
toned in the scriptures, it became stagnant and
corrupt till an angel agitated its waters and re-
stored its purity
MIR. BERRIEN was sorry that the Senator from
New Hampshire, in advising that speeches intend
ed to produce agitation should be transferred from
the Senate to the stump, had not himself set the
example. This petition was signed with the names
Of persons whom the Senator from Maine said to
his knowledge respectable. There was no
evidence the petition itself that it was
signed by those individuals whose names were
attached to it. The petition composed of seve-
cal pieces of paper bearing signatures attached one
to each other, and at the head Of them all was
printed petition The petition sets forth that Con-
and to the requirements and penalties of which
they are unwilling TO be subject The character
given by the Senator from Maine to those whose
names appeared on the paper, induced him to the
belief that the individuals themselves had never
signed it.
MIR. FOOTE was glad that the Senator from New
Hampshire had avowed himself to be what every
one knew him to bean agitator. He had gloried
in being an agitator of the type OF O'Connell; he
was sure that the Senator was welcome to all the
glory he could desire from the association He had
read in the paper account of the occurrence in
Boston, in which an armed mob of negroes had
taken fugitive from the court house, and had hur
ried him of, supposed, TO the Canadian from
tier.
He had called on the Secretary of State, and from
what he had been informed he considered that he
authorized in saying that the Government
would do its duty, and hat the law would be
forced.
Mr.. COOPER was opposed TO agitation. lie was
in favor of sustaining and preserving the acts Of
last session. He thought no good could result from
agitation on this subject of slavery II the resolu
ton the result of agitation, the Senator from
New Hampshire said, 1t was very different kind
of agitation than that now sought TO be continued;
1t was an agitation against a common foe and not
agitation sectional in its character, and tending
to alarm, confusion, and i'll feeling between
different parts of the country. He believed the Flu
give Slave law to be constitutional, and
necessary to carry into effect provision Of that
Constitution. He believed large majority OF the
| people Of Pennsylvania regarded it such, and
that they would carry its provisions into effect in
| good faith. He had presented petitions similar TO
this, and they had been referred He believed if pe
ttons Of this character treated other peti
tons were, one cause of agitation at the North
would be removed.
He would vote against the reconsideration.
Mr.. HAML1N read letter from of the sign
crs of the petition, in which the writer, who was
known to Mr.. H., said it had been signed by all
those whose names were attached to it.
MIR. PEARCE said that the Senator from New
Hampshire had made the charge that the case at
Philadelphia was one OF kidnapping. Kidnapping
had peculiar and legal Specification. He knew
all the parties. The commissioner was known TO
The party whose slave the negro supposed to be
was one of his constituents and his neighbor. The
man sent back. Against neither Of these
would the suspicion of kidnapping lie. The COM
missioner had made an error through mistake of
idcntiy-a mistake that was constantly occurring
in criminal practice. The Senator from New
Hampshire gloried in the name of agitator. He
(Mr. P.) did not; he abhorred it. He thought the
Senator had made awonderful discovery, that agi
tation element. lie thought the Senator
was equally unfortunate in his scrptural alusiop.
He was somewhat unfortunate in ikening the agi-
tation on this business to that gentle troubling of
the waters caused by heavenly influence.
As to the Senator being an agitator, he was at
liberty to be SO. All knew who was the first agi-
tatn . tko lcxr,1 Sa,h.
corrupted the heart of the first woman laugh
| teri He had continued from that time since cor
rupting mankind. II was impossible to say who
would be the last agitator, but it not 30 diff
cult to point out some of the of the first.
[Laughter.]
Mr.. RHETT inquired of the Senator from Penn
sylvania, who said that the people of Pennsylva-
MIA satisfied with the Fugitive Slave law,
whether Pennsylvania had repealed those laws
which were passed to prevent the law of 1898 being
carried into execution?
Mr.. COOPER replied that he had said the majo-
rty OF his constituents were in favor Of sustaining
the peace of the last session, including
the Fugitive Slave law. The laws spoken OF by the
Senator from South Carolina had not been repeal
ed, owing to local causes, which it was unneces-
sary for him TO particuarize.
MIR. RHETT desired the Senator's remarks to go
out with that qualification. Those laws had not
been repealed, nor would they be. The mercan-
tile portion Of the people of Pennsylvania, well
as Of New York, might be in favor of sustaining
the law, but the others would never do 80. They
would never rest till the law modified and its
efficiency totally destroyed.
Mr.. HALE thought the Senator from Maryland
had totally mistaken the character of the first ae-
tator, the devil. he went into Eden, not agi-
tator, but as one seeking to certain fugi-
tivcs whom he claimed as his property, and whom
he designed carrying back with him to the slavery
of hell. [Laughter.I Gentlemen desired no agi-
tation and yet he thought the Senator from Penn
sylvania, and some others, would not object to
little agitation the subject Of coal, iron, and
coarse cotton. Laughter The Senator frof
Maryland too, perhaps, would not object to little
of that gentle heavenly agitation.
| The Senator from Pennsylvania said that the
| men OF the Revolution were not agitators II was
| well that the bones Of Washington were not be-
meath the Capitol; if they they would not rest
| easy under such declaration. They were agi-
tators. They were agitators at Boston, when they
boarded the British vesscls and made Boston har-
Dor large teapot. Truth need fear no agitation.
Truth was rock which might be washed whittier
by the billows, but could be shaken. 1t was