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

| W We'll now, II there any co accession in this
resolution by either party to the other! know
that gentlemen who come FROM slaveholding
States say the North get, all that it desires. but
by whom does 1t gel it Does it get it BY any
action OF Congress! II slavery be interdictsd
within the limits OF California, has it been done
by Congress! No, sir. That interdiction !.
imposed by California herself"
| Now hear his answer to Mr.. CLAW:
81 answer, that everything is conceded 6y The ad.
mission of California. The phole matter in con.
troversy terminates at once. The North oe,s
all she ever asked-gets it by the action of Con.
gress in direct violation of the great legal prin
ciPle that the 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 re-
striction! Who is there so blind as not to sec
that this has been the result Of aggressions COM
menced here I! 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 with
threat hanging over him, that it was to be ta-
ken from him by operation oflaw, the moment
ne landed, Agitation, then, in Congress; re-
peated declarations, made every WHEREIN State
the pulpit even--that slavery should be excluded
from California by law, have deprived us of our
constitutional rights, certainly and effectualIv
rs any positive enactment could have done. And
we are now asked not only to submit to it, but
to accept 1t as boon, and be very thankful for
the outrage Sir, prefer the Wilmot proriso di.
rect. prefer it because it is holder, palmer and
more manly. The robber who meets me on tn,
highway and demands the surrender of nv prop.
erty, leaves me at least the option ola 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 of nv To-
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, ia
douby due to this scheme of smuggling SOW.
ereign State into the Union. Very probably
this will be set down to the account of faction
1t is the fashion so to denounce whatever is said
by any Southern man, which argues truth to his
section of the Union"
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
one to which may be traced much that is wrong
in his judgment, and all that is weak in his arou.
ment is in supposing that there must, of neces.
sity, be compromise. The Constitution il.
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 n compromise deliber-
ately made, and created by common consent
into the paramount law of the land, what hope
can we have that any less solemn covenant
will restrain them in future! We want M
cou promise. bond has been executed. and
we are willing to abide by its terms. If we are
to 60 on compromising away provision after
provision of the Constitution, it is better thai IL
should be nbr0gated at once. In point of fact, it
is nulty, or rather, 10 speak more correctlv. IL
po,oerless fer protection, and potent ONLY oien
1t comes to aid Northern aggressions"
Here he says, that the Constitution is a
nuility and something worse, because it is actu
ally an instrument in the hands of the North
by which the South is oppressed 0Let me
Illustrate my meaning" he says, and he illus.
trates rs follows:
"The majority claims a given power, Ono mat.
ter how extrayagant, and no matter whether it
relates to slavery or not3 the minority DENY
the existence of any such power. After months,
or it may be years, of fierce struggles and con-
tentions, it is acceded to- and one halls is given
up. In a little while another contest is begun
for the remainder. Another compromise fol-
lows, and another half is yielded; and so on
until the stronger party gets all it demands
Sir, want no compromise of this sort. !
stand upon the Constitution If reckless and
unprincipled majority choose to violate that in
strument, there is remedy sharp and seuere,
it is true, but Just and inevitable in its aIplica
ton.
What, Mr.. President, have we to compro-
mise What have we demanded? What favor
even have we asked! Tell me, you who talk
Of compromise. what is it Southern men ask at
your 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 up we
have never sought to reclaim. Whatever bur
dens the Constitution imposes, we are willing 10
hear. Beyond this, no man ought to go, and no
freeman aoiU go.
6 have had occasion to say 80 much in nv
short service here Of the Union and it's value, of
the wrongs to which we are subjected and the
appropriate remedy for them that it is it'll the
utmost reluctance again approach the subject.
The Senator from Kentucky has favored us with
" "'Oo"J N''" "''"'F""o PtCtNIc " utSuutOt, din
the Senator from Michigan, a short time after.
wards, in a carefully prepared speech, followed
in the same Mgubrious strain.
"Mr. CAss. There was no preparation or
the subject. The remarks never occurred to
me until the moment they were uttered
Mr.. CLEMENS Well that is a small matter.
What | mean to assert is that both of those
senators endeavored to impress upon the country
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 that is fancy merely. cannot see why war
should follow a separation. On the contrary,
think the good sense of both nations would
teach them that if they must part, it had better
be after the manner Of the patriarch of old, and
that each should say to the other, let there be
no strife, pray thee, between me and thee, nor
between thy herdsmen and my herdsmen, for We
be brethren But if it should be otherwise if
war must come if civil discord and paternal
strife should mar the beauty of the land, the re-.