The southern press. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-03-30
spsssh Of II.n. me-. soal., Of 10 ulsIana,

/. on Moriqy, March 22d, 1852.
Mr. CLARkE'S resolutions, and the amend
ments to the sane moved b, Senators SEWARD
Of New York, md CAss of Michigan, being IN
der consideration
Mr.. SOULE Of Louisiana, who had previ-
ously obtained possession OF the floor, rose and
said
am appale, Mr.. President, by the vast and
imposing asseDblage which see congregated
in this hall. ear much, sir that the announce
ment. 80 flatteingly made ly some newspapers,
of the part which it was presumed would take
in this contest has raised expectations which it
will not be ir my power to crafty; and the
anxiety, the dbtust, and trment, which such
an apprehension is so we'll calculated TO engen-
der, are not little augmented by the awful
magnitude and the difficulties of the subject
before me- However sir, | cnnot wish to avoid
the task 1t wte toQ-late for me now to dis
own its.claims Of to re yddiae its exigences. /
shall therefore proceed witt it, tremblingly, no
doubt, yet with 3ome faint hope that may still
b. able to bear Is burden il manner not alto.
gether unbecomhg the dignity of al American
senator.
Whatever be he fate of ihe resolutions upon
your table, Mr.. President the debate which has
grown ont of ukm will haze its influence and
bear its fruits II rejoice that il has afforded us
a fit opportunitN for procaning to the world
our abiding faith in the rettude and ultimate
triumph of thoss great principles on which rest
the hopes and the destinits OF mankind; for,
sir, we are heard at great distance when we
speak from the high places which we occupy
here. What Of hope and encouragement, what
of interest and sympathy, we express for down
trodden and oppressed nations, is re-echoed
the remotest regions of the world !;
and while we give utterance to the thought, 1t
runs swiftly onthe magic wire, until it moves to
congenial and harmonious vibrations every fibre
of the human heart.
Sir, conceive not that there is any essential
in the sentiments entertained by
those senators who fist moved in this debate.
Indeed, what of disagreement have been able
to discern among them, would seem to arise
rather from nlsconstruction of the object
aimed at by eachrespectively, than from any
real antipathy in heir opinions as to what prn-
ciples we SHOULD assert and yindicate here.
Though the original resolutions may have been
intended (and rave no doubt but that they
were) as a sort ofpolitical breakwater, thrown
up to compress md still those surges OF the
popular sentimen, to which | took occasion
some time ago I, allude--though they may
seem to advocate impasSiveness, absolute i'm
passiveness, as theonly policy under which we
can grow and pros,er-yet dicerning eye will
not fail to detec that feyerish and restless
anxiety, the offspring of Il keen and unerring
foresight, which btrays itself through the du-
bious, mystic, tinli,, had almost said basbful
admission containes in the last of them, of
POI sibe contingency on the occasion OF which
"a just regard TO our own safety ciH require us
10 aaUance 10 The coajlict rather than atcait The
approach IF The foes # constitutional freedom and
IF human liberty"
Thus, sir is the p)licy so solemnly commend
ed, and SO skiifully developed in the remarka-
BILE speech by which the Senator from Rhode
Island Mr.. CLARK opened this debate, held
under check by the express reservation and pro,
test that IT may come TO its last day, and be
superseded by another that piH require US 10
the void 10 adUdnce 10 the con.
fict, and to .fghl for Constitutional freedom and
for human liberty
But, much to my wonder, and still more TO
my deep concern, that contingency, so striking
y pointed at in The resolutions, was entirely
overlooked in the speech, where il is not even
alluded TO- Sir, | had determined that it
houId not remain unheeded, and | now plead
Is implied concessions in vindic itlon of the
! am decidedly against this country being pont
ip within the narrow circle drawn around il by
he advocates of impgssiveness Escorted though
!, cones to US by the authority and imposing
names under which il shelters ITSELF that policy
Ias no claims TO mr. synpathies-it Is SET forth
n autagonism to the policy by which the states
men of the progressive school attempt 10 initiate,
Is IL is said, n system of interference with The
a. nfn th AZ ha Graf ID ttv
n inertness the second, in action. One, under
hat infatuation width long series of successes
$ so apt to produce, points to the past, and
Iredits them all to the policy which but prefaeed
heir history the dher invokes the very state
" things which those successes have brought
bout, and, obeying the dictates Of new exigen-
,ies, strives 10 turn TO pref, the solemn warning
non iiSdem d,tJus, retinentur quibus compd.
-antur." ! am Tor the last and, while vindi-
.ating its expectancy, shall attempt to show
hat the opposed policy cannot claim the support
which II so freely boTrows from the doctrines
md teaching OF the immortal sage and hero
whose name awakens such deep emotions of
Eratitude and re- pecL Sir, the policy of Wash.
ngton, rs calculated by bis own acts, was by
10 means that unimpassioned, phlegmatic, eau
ious, and inactive policy which our opponents
NOulu u W tcttrFf OhAf vi shc Iohbaiy
watchfu sharp, AID sctive policy, ready 10 in
erpose wherever aid whenever great interest
" a great principle 3as 1T stake, and dsdaining
bat submissive wisdom which could abide the
most revolving assumptions on the part Of for
ign powers, from the moment that they did not
feet too ostensibIJ the immediate concerns Of
he republic.
Through most strange confusion, the pre-
umed principles Invoked in the proclamation
If neutrality Of 1898, are made the ground.
Vork--indeed, the very foundation-of those
proclaimed in the Farewell Address Of the rev.
cred patriot hero; yet who knows not that the
neutrality adopted in 1893 was b Z an essentially
transient measure. looking solely to the then
Of the country, and to the demands
which that situation, with its surrounding perils.
made upon it ,---that Il was considered IN no
other light by General Washington himself rs
most unequivo.slly exhibited from the fact that.
abiding TO this very subject IN his Farewell
Address, he speaks Of u thus "The period is
not far off when VIC may take such an attitude
as will cause III neutrality WE EAY AT ANY
TIME REsoLtE v2oN TO BE RESPECTED" &c.
And this is not tho only evidence of the mean
ing which he intnded that the proclamation
a n IA n