The southern press., 1851-10-29
From As GalysslO. Mas.
Gen. Houston,s speseh at HuntsyiiIe.

The Huntsville Presbyterian gives an out
line OF Gen. Hous,on's speech, delivered in that
place on the 22d nit. The invitation given, and
signed by several citizens of huntsville, particu
larry requested that he would address the people
of Walker county on the permanency or stabll.
ity Of the Union. According to the synopsis OF
the Presbyterian, Gen. Houston confined him
self entirely to vindicttion of his own public
course, going back as far an the battle of San
Jacinto and his retreat from the Colorado, and
coming down 10 his vote on the la.e compro-
mise and on the Oregon bill, in which he and
Mr. Benton voted with the North and against
all other cenators from the South. He justiies
this vote, as he had done before, by asserting
that although this bill excluded slavery from
Oregon, yet that It had been previously exclu-
ded by the Missouri compromise in 1920 But,
if slavery hSd been previously excluded from
Oregon by that compromise, why did the Free
soile,s insist so strenouously upon another ex
illusion by an additional act a Legislation? The
truth is, the Missouri compromise did not ex-
pressly, or by any necessary Inference, extend
the line OF SO deg. 80 min. to the Pacific, and il
was matter of some considerable doubt with
the Free-soilers, whether the people of Oregon
might not adopt the institution, ii not restricted
by the Wilmot Proviso in this bill. But, be.
sides, Il was an important object to them to es-
tabIish precedent for such legislation for their
future purposes.
But, if the Oregon bill only re.affirmed the
Mississippi compromise, as regards the exclusion
Of slavery north of SO deg 80 min, why was il
not also re- affirmed al regards the rights of the
Soulh up to that line? The Missouri compro.
mise established slavery to the south Of that
line, as firmly as it excluded slavery to the north
of it. and all the Southern members were unani-
nous in their willingness, nay, in their earnest
desire, to incorporate the very same principles
into the Oregon bill, and to ,xclude slavery on
the north and establish it on the south Of the
latitude Of 36t degrees entirely to the Pacific.
But, the truth is (and the history Of that bill
proves it beyond the possibility of donbt) that
the Free sellers in Congress- were determined to
exclude slavery from the North of that line,
without recognizing or sanctioning its existence
to the south of it, and they carried their meas
ures, by the aid Of two Southern senator's vot-
ing with them. 1t is an attempt to impIs upon
us, to say that the Oregon bill simply re-affirmed
the Missouri compromise, for when an amend
ment was actually offered recognizing slavery to
the south of 36t degrees, it was voted down in
the lower house by large m jorty of Northern
members. With that amendment, it would have
been what Gen. Houston calls it, reenactment
of that compromise, or ather an extension of the
line of SO deg 80 min. to the Pacific; but with.
out it, it was merely naked enactment of the
Wilmo; Provso, as it was understood to be by
the Northern members, and was consequently
opposed by all the Southern, excepting only
Thos. Fl. Benton and Gen. Houston. What we
here state are matters of recent history, and
cannot be conlroverted. In all the balance OF
his speech, as reported, Gen. Houston confines
hmself entirely TO Justification of his pubic
acts and we see no intimation that he even
touched upon any of the great principles upon
which this confcderacy is based or any of the eIe-
ments of its durability, the subject proposed for
his address by the committee who invited him.