The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-03-02
Hsrs wirh those caitilr angels lhev abide

Here with those caltiif angels they abide
Who stood aloof in heayen---to God untrue,
Yet wanting courage with his foes to side.
Heaven east them forth, its beauty not to
stain,
And hell refuses to receive them too;
From them no glory could the damned OBJ
tain"
Sir, according to this poetry, which he applies
to others, if his present position is that OF sub
mission, he could have no glory with the damned
The Internal regions itself is not fit place fol
him. Mark, Mr. President, do not myself say
that this is his position. | am using the Sena-
tors own words. j will go on with his brave
positions.
On the 18th Of February, Qor the Senator did
not on one occasion only thus calamity arrslgn
those who were invading the rights OF the
South, or were disposed to surrender them no
sir; again and again he couched his lance and
dashed into the conflict again and again he
met the cheerings, not Of submissionists and
compromisers here with whom he now stands,
but Of all the true and brave men in the South
who looked here for counsel and gudance,) on
the 18th of February debate arose on the
question whether petition should be received
presented by the Senator from New Hampshire,
praying that the Uuion should be dissolved.
The Senator from Alabama said, in reply to
the avowals of the S nator from Ohio, Mr.
CHASE, and other Northern senator's:
elf senators desire us to believe them sin
cere in their professions of love for the Union,
that sincerity ought to be manifested by their
conduct, Who has put the Union in danger I!
Not the South, for we have committed no ag-
gressions. and propose to commit none. We
are responsible only for making known our de.
termination to resist oppression, come from phdf
quarter ii may It is the North, and the North
alone, who are the agitators. II il the North
alone by whom this fair fabric has been shaken
to its centre; and the allegation that there are
Southern disunionists for the sake of dsunon
is an unmitigated calumny which shall not be
pronounced in my hearing without being brand
ed as it deserves. If you love the Union so
much, cease your aggresson-pause in your ef.
forts 10 destroy The Constitution, phich is ITS only
bond. You need be under no apprehensions for
the Union, unless your conduct makes its de-
struction duty. From the South you have
nothing to fear 80 long as you do not attempt
to perpetrate wrong" Remember that all
this time the compromise is the matter under
consideration. 81 do not misunderstood the
policy which causes you to denounce those
who defend the rights of the weaker section
who have dared to step between power and its
victim--as factionists and disorganzers"
His conclusion is very hne--worthy of a
Southern Senator basely assailed and maligned
because he does his duty 1t is as follows:
"For myself have duty before me which
can make no demands and impose no risks or
that am not ready to meet. Any
one may pursue n pathway strewed with roses
it requires men to tread where thorns and BRAN
bles cumber the way. | expected to be de
nounced, to be misunderstood by some, and cal
umnated by others !"
That's applicable to myself Ihave expected
that would be illuminated, as he himself ex-
pected to be, for defending the rights and inter-
ests of the South. am sorry that must use
this language of the senator rs being SO appli-
cable to himself. He says:
!" Much of this cannot prevent; but when
the charge is made here in my presence that
am factionist, or that those who act with me
are SO, shall repel it in terms that admit of no
double meaning. Sir, do not believe that
there is man in the entire South who desires
disunion for itself. hope, ALSO that there is
not one who will suffer his rights to be invaded,
or his honor furnished, no matter tchat may be
the cost Of resistance. We mean at all hazards
to defend the Constitution. If that is faction,
we are guilty. If that is dsunion, we are DIS
III
we have much to answer for.
81 have heard enough, Mr. President, ofhypo
critical aohining about The Union, from those
who are its deadliest foes. If you want peace,
you have only to say so. Let us alone We
US your lamentations. Ifyou are determined to
destroy The Constitution. be men, own it publicly
and take the responsibility. Do not seek to
shift it to our shoulders"
Well, sir, that is not all. On tie Goth of
February, Mr.. CLAY's resolution came up for
consideration in the Senate, and here is the way
he discourses about the constitutionality of the
admission of California:
6 If she has right to form constitution and
State government, her right to regulate the sub
ject of slavery is unquestionabe."
But he shows that, having no law Of Con-
gress authorizing her to form a constitution and
be State, she was no Slate He goes on as
follows:
No territorial government was ever estab-
lshed in California. The people who framed
the constitution were not inhabitants, in the
legal meaning of the word. They were com
posed of Indians, Mexicans, land a wild band of
adventures from every quarter of the globe,
alured by the lust of gold to the shores of the
Pacific, many of them without permanent resi-
dence anywhere, and four ifths of them without
the remotest intention of remaining in the coun-
try whose organic law they undertook to estab-
lsh.
81 do not speak without authority upon this
point. have here the message of the governor
of California, who, it is to be presumed, is ac-
quainted with the character Of the population
of which he is the chief He describes them as
follows:
"'Already we have almost every variety of
the human race among us-a Heterogeneous
mass of human beings, of every language and
hue
Yet these persons, not citizens of the United
States, owing no allegiance to this government,
not speaking our language even, or understand
ing our laws, undertake to erect sovereign
State out of our public domain; and with cool
impudence which almost commands admiration,
call upon us to sanction their action, and give
validity to most extraordinary usurpation"
"In California no census has been taken
there is no law fixing her boundaries no law
regulating the time, places, and manner of hold
ing elections no law to determine the qualca-
tons of voters no evidence and no reason to