The southern press. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-03-02

that gentlemen who come from slaveholding
States say the North gets all that it desires, but
by whom does it get IL? Does ii get it by any
action OF Congress? If slavery Be interdicted
within the limits of California, has it been done
by Congress-! No, sir. That Introduction is
imposed by California herself"
Now. hear his answer to Mr.. Clay
81 answer, that everything is conceded Jy lhe adj
mission Of California The iohole matter in con-
tr0versy terminates at once. The North gets
all she ever asked--gets ii By the action of Con-
gvess in direct violation Of the great legal prin-
ciple, that wrong doer shall not profit by his
own wrong. Who among US does not know
that agitation in the State legislatures, and in
the National Congress, has prevented Southern
emigration to California, and placed the country
in the power of those who have imposed this e.
strction? Who is there so blind as not ~ saa
that this has been the result Of aggressions COM
menced here ! And who does not feel that Con
gress is responsible for the fact, that slavery has
been excluded Property is timid The slave. !.
holder would not carry his property there will,
threat hanging over him, that it was to beta
ken from him BY operation FLAW, the moment
he landed. Agitation, then, in Congress- re-
peated declarations, made everywhere--in State
legislatures, in conventions, BY the press, from
the pulpit eyen--that slavery should be excluded
from California by law, have deprived ms OF our
constitutional rights, as certainly and effectualy
as any positive enactment could have done. And
we are now asked not only to submit to it. but
to accept it as boon, and be very thankful for
The outrage. Sir, 1 prefer Tie Wiimoi prouiso Al.
reel. prefer it because it is holder, palmer. and
more manly The robber who meets me on the
highway and demands the surrender of my prop
erty, leaves me at least the option of a contest
and is entitled to far more respect than the as
sassin who turks behind the corner and stabs in
the dark. So, sir, he who deprives me ofmy le-
gal rights by open means, is always entitled to
higher respect than he who seeks to ACCOMPLISH
the same end by deception and trickery. / hold
that whatever opposition is due to the Wilmot
provIso, whatever resistance it demands. il
doubly due to this scheme Of smuggling d SOW.
ereign State into the Union. Very probably
this will be set down to the account Of faction
It's the fashion 80 to denounce whatever is sAid
by any Southern man, which argues truth to his
section of the.Union.n IN
The Senator from Alabama is now in favor
of the compromise; but in this speech he
showed what sort Of things compromises have
been to the South. He then denounced them
all, and the proposed compromise of Mr.. Clay
in particular:
@This great error, Mr.. President, into which
the Senator from Kentucky has fallen, and the
in hisjudgnent, and all that is weak in his argu
ment is in supposing that there must, Of neces-
sity, be a compromise. The Consultation It.
self is compromise, and compromise with
compromise is something unheard of in law
and unknown in equity. If the people of the
North will not abide by compromise deliber.
ately made, and created by common consent
into the paramount law Of the land, what hone
can we have that any less solemn covenant
will restrain them in future? We want 70
coapromise. A bond has been executed. and
we are willing to abide by its terms. IL we are
to go on compromising away provision after
provision of the Constitution, it is better that IL
should be abrogated al once. In point of fact. il
is niluy, or rather, 10 speak more CORRECTLY, IL
IS potoertess Jtr protection, and potent only ,ohen
IL comes 10 aid Northern aggressions."
Here he says, that the Constitution is n
nullity and something worse, because it il actin
ally an instrument in the hands of the North
by which the South is oppressed. "I.et me
illustrate my meanings" he says, and he Illus
trates as follows:
"The majority claims given power, (no mat
ter how extravagant and no matter whether IL
relates to slavery or not;) the minority deny
the existence of any such power After months.
or it may be years, Of fierce struggles and con-
tentions, il is acceded to, and one halls is given
mp. In little while another contest is begun
for the remainder. Another compromise fol.
lows, and another half is yielded; and 80 on
until the stronger party gets all il demands.
Sir, want no compromise Of this sort.
stand upon the Constitution IL reckless and
unprincipled minority choose 10 violate that. in
strument there Is a remedy sharp and sepere,
il is true, but Just and neritaJe in its arplica.
ton.
What, Mr.. President, have we 10 compro
mise What have we demanded! What favor
even have we asked! Tell me, you who talk
OF compromise, what is il Southern men ask at
yonr hands! Nothing, sir; nothing Humber
even than Lazarus at the rich mans gate, we
have appealed TO you neither for charity nor
sympathy. What We have once given no. we
have never sought to reclaim Whatever bur-
dens the Constitution Imposes, we are willing 10
hear Beyond this, no man ought 10 90, and no
freeman tciH 90
81 have had occasion 10 say so much in nv
short service here OF the Union and its value, of
the wrongs TO which we are subjected, and The
appropriate remedy for them, that Il is with the
utmost reluctance again approach the subject
The Senator from Kentucky has favored MS with
a biqody and DISASTROUS picture If disunion, and
the Senator from Michigan, short time after
wards, in carefully prepared speech, followed
in the same ingubrious stran.
Mr.. CAss. There was no preparation on
the subject The remarks never occurred 10
me until the moment they were uttered.
Mr.. CLEMENS. Well, that is small natter
What | mean TO assert is, that both Of those
senators endeavored to impress upon the county
the belief that war must follow on the heels Of
disunion. Both Of them, no doubt, believe that
such is the case but in my deliberate Judgment
all I'M is fancy merely. cannot see why war
should follow separation. On the contrary,
thirk the good sense Of both nations would
teach them that il they must part, il had better
be after the manner Of the patriarch Of old, and
that each should say 10 the other, let there be
noystrife, pray thee, between me and thee, nor
between thy herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we
be BRETHREN But IL il should be otherwise; if
war must come IL civil discord and paternal
strife should mar the beauty Of the land, the re.
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