The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-05-12
WASHINGTON: WEDNESDAY MORNING, MAY u, 1852.

| not put this question with any bad feeling or un-
Kind spirit towards any gentleman upon tins floor !;
but where has il come from? Not from the North ;
| but /, is without controversy that the South has
opened these wounds and made them bleed afresh,
Southern resolutions, here and elsewhere, have
i been irritating and fostering those wounds from
the first day of our session until now and this is
still threatened, at lime and place where, if per-
sisted IN, the doctors, fear will pronounce each
wound iuinledicaJite rnaus. The North Is quietly
! acquicscng. II Is true, you may occasionally see
ebullitIons there, as you always will everywhere
| whenever there rs contrarety of opinion. Our
great cities, countless States lines Of public works
are not unfrequently marked by outbreaks, depe-
II rate opposition 10 the execution OF our local laws
/ bloody and fatal rencounters, ia which officers of
the peace are Observation-Disclosures Of these 10 one
obstacle thrown in the way of the execution Of the
! Fugitive Slave law. Bai the great heart Of the
i North is sound as your Constitution itself About
thai there should bc no mistake. 1t is sound, and
the South need have no fears, unless they come to
fear the possibility of the existence of free govern
ment, and despair of the Constitution and the
! Union. All ask, and all that my constituents
ask, is that we may turn our backs upon this ever
recurring and pesteni question, and ctit be where
the Constitution and the laws have placed it.
| But, sir, wish to read little further from the
address of the gentleman from Georgia | find
/ nothing in that address that more heartily meets
with my appreciation than the paragraph which
shall now read; and it points the way in which
/ think we may have unity and good feeling again
g He was willing and ready to aver that, so far
as he was concerned, as a Representative he never
could consent TO say that any other body of men,
| unknown to the law and unauthorized should pro-
claim the politics by which he was to be governed.
1t was the duty of Representatives to act according
10 the provisions of The Constitution; they were
individuals known to the law and the country.
And what spectacle could be more humiliating than
that an American Representative should submit
a A.
ments 10 an outside body of men, unknown to him.
! self and irresponsible, and permit such body 10
! dictate the policy which is to govern him and his
| posterlty, A representative Government could
] not stand, nor our Constitution be preserved, if
this system of things should be continued. Who
| constituted these conventions; Men entirely un-
| known to the law and the Constitution-men
selected informally in the primary meetings held
| over the country. What kind of spectacle would
| the American Congress present, coming here the
| mere instruments-the shameful, vile Instruments
to register the DEGREES of body unknown to law. {"
So say | and, thank God 1t is good Wing doc
1 trne. My friend from Georgia and myself, though
our homes are so far asunder, on tins great ques-
| ton ' see eye TO eye" us do all good Wings. No,
sir, no Baltimore Philadelphia Convention can
\ make platform for me- | am an American cit-
zen ] am freeman yet, and, with the blessing of
| God, will remain one
If my Wing friends meet together, and present
| to the American people man-and that is their
| only proyince--in whom have confdence-a man
whose sentiments | think correspond with my
| own-l shall not hesitate to sustain him. But If
| they present no such man that TO me, shall
! know where my course is at once. ! told my
| constituents before ! came here how stood. /
told them that, unless the next presidential cand-
date Of the Wing party was sound-sound as
have represented myself 10 be-on the subject of the
| Compromise, would take the position OF Henry
Clay, as expressed before the legislature of Ken
tucky--l would go for Democrat who was sound
| rather than him.
| Mr. Chairman, we may, as Wings, forego the
great cardinal articles of our faith. We may per-
| nit the veto, the one-man power, 10 demolish and
| override, with imperial prowoss, the Representa-
| tives Of the people in Congress. We may endure
! the oppression Of the tong millions Of our own
| countrymCn, by holding them down in the home
i less pouuess, breadloss poverty and ihraldom Of
the forlorn subjects Of European princes, throwing
1 no kind arm Of protection around their industry,
| and see country blcd and exhausted into hope-
| less bankruptcy and ruin as 1t would be, were IL
not FOR the yet uneXhausted Of IFS virgin
soil It's opulcnt mines and the irrepressible oner-
| ges of our people. We may tolerate the shame
| ful Inconvenience, the fatal disasters, springing
/ from n criminal neglect to improve our national
| harbors lakes and rivers, where hecatonlbs OF
our people, with their wealth, are annually en-
| guphed--caamltles more TO be dreaded than ocean
1 pirates, highwaymen, or bandit hordes; but tho
/
| the harmony Of our people, arc essential TO our
national existence. We may not forego thus
Peace and harmony within arc essential TO all asso
| Citations Of men. And even
| " Devils with devils damn'd firm concord hold"
So you will mark that sir; no man shall have
my vote for the presidency unless lie stands firm
| on tho ground Of the Compromise
| But do not think il belongs TO that convention
10 fix the politics Of the people Of this Government
| Suppose the convention should take il upon them
selves to reI'udiaio the Compromise, am not free
! Am TO obey their bchests simply because | am a
| Whigi Sir, claim to be something more than
mere party hack, dear 10 me as are and have ever
been, the distinctive principles Of the Wing party.
/ ] viii not give up 10 party what meant for
mankind. | say that no man ought 10 be irrcvo-
| cably bound 10 tho nominee OF the National Con-
vention--certainly not 10 any doctrines they may
assume to illuminate; doctrines most probably
shaped and concoctcd 10y conclaye Of schcmng
office harpics, suddenly assembled, in some dark
chamber, during the night Just preceding the con-
ycntion. They may agree upon, and advise the
adoption Of the ma1i, but not the measiu0 That Is
| their province. But ] will determine my own
measures, and will every freeman. Aud then,
when the field is cleared for action, will determine
\ for myself under whose banner can best promote
| the general welfare" ] know Of but one thing
in the action of these conventions that ought TO be
/ deemed conclusive, as against anybody. Personal
| honor requires hat Il is that every candidate
whose name is submitted u the convention, if not
chosen, should retire at once, ard hcnceforth,
during tho campaign, IN good faith, afford no fac
ous opposition 10 the election of the man selected,
! and against whom he has had his chances | would
trust no man who did not recognise this obliga-
ton. But the people ought 70 be free, and above
these irresponsible bodies i IS, ard always has
been, good Wing doctrine, that we pay no blind
homage TO the fulminaii6ns OF Ned Fuckers, Gene
raj Commandcrs-rresponslblc men, picked up at
random, and with little other thought than that
they have the party label hanging out, and ule
extra money that they spend IN travel, or, per
adventure, "cast like bread upon the waters, !" to
be sought for again about the days Of Inauguration
Sir, il is better to use the plain language ! pro-
fess to be plain man. live among great many
very plain people, whose yea is yea, and whose
nay Is nay
MIR. Chairman, We do not know what these
bodies will do We suppose and believe, they
will do ght. But the best OF US are liable TO err
however pure may be our purpose. Remember,
If you please, the amentablc scenes we have wit
messed, even here, in this august body, wisely pro-
vIded for by the Constitution we so much admire
created by discreet people, with so much care
and circumspection composed Of gentlemen acting
under the most solemn Obligations to God and the
country having the hirh respouS llllity Of shanpo