The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-12-08

Air. SUMMERS, OF KansWha
| Bat SIR the evils Of this system cannot be emu
merated. 1t were unnecessary to attempt IT
/ They glsre upon W. at every step When Jht
owner looks to his wasted estate, he knows anC
/ feels hem When the statesman examines n,
condition Of his country, and finds her mora
inhacnce gone, her physical strength dimn
| ishod, her physical power waning b. secs aDt
must confess them. They may be viewed writ
! ten on "a nation map. Contrast the condition
( Of rhe SoutI ern States with hat which thost
/ Of the Northern md Middle present. Examine
! thern in relation TO general education, the stat
J Of their agriculture, manufactures foreign ant
domestic eOmmerce-you have here the prob
lem worked out On : large scale. s.
! Sir. We should take courage from the goodness
Of the cause in which we are engaged. 1t y
one on which Heaven viii smile We shall not
| b- left unaided in our exertiOus. Slavery ia a
aotionai calamity. Such it has been regarded
by those who are entirely free from the evil.
Nine OF the non-slaveholdng STATES have gen.
crcusly offered to the South the common Treas.
ury for the removal o. TIM common evil. Such,
too was the plrport Of the resolutions submit
It'd to the Senate of the United States BY Rufus
King, at the close Of his long and useful public
life.
Ertrad from the speech Of Joha 4 Chandler, Of
Norfolk county.
lt is admitted by all who have addressed this
House, that Slavery is & curse, and III increas-
ing enc. That it hes been destructive to the
lives Of our citizens history with unerring
truth will record. That its future increase
Will create cornmotion, cannot lie doubted
The time then, sir, has arrived when the
sdius popuH applies and every consideration Of
patriotism requires us 20 act upOn it. This
p-inciyle-thi, fundamental principle, the safe
ty Of the peoplo--emhraces rot only the pres
cnt race but poste1ity also The gentleman
from B.un,wick with great force and elo-
quence has insisted that the master has prop
erty, not only in the female slave, but in the
issue. dd infritim. And, sr, We have an in
tcrest, not only III our own welfare, but 10 that
of our posteri'y. We are bound to legislate
for them, az well az for ourselves.
This principle, that poserity arc interested
in tie acts OF their ancestors, is recognised in
the Bill OF Rights in the very Grrt section of it.
That instrument is hallOwed by its antiquity
by the double confirmation of the people of this
Dominion ! may say, it is superior to the
Constitution itself rs that Processes to be based
upon the BIZ OF k'Ehts.
What says that instrument THAT man
has certain unaiienablc rights, Of which, when
he enters into society he cannot by any COM
pact deprive hi1 Postertty, namely the enjoy
ment Of lilo and liberty with the means of &C
curing and possessing property and of pursu-
ing and obtaining happiness and safety" Has
Slavery intericred with our means of enjoying
life, liberty property, happiness, and safety
Look at Southampton. The answer il written
in letters Of blood, upon the floors Of that IN.
happy county. Under these circumstances,
may we not inquire into the right of our ances-
tors to inhict this curse upon US seeing that it
has intcriered 80 essentially with the first ar
ticie of the Bill of Rights
But sir will this evl-this curse-not in
crease VIII not the life liberty, prosperity,
happiness, and safety, of those who may come
after us, be endangered, in still greater de.
gree, by it, How, then, can we reconcile it to
ourselves, to iasten this upon them Do wo
not endanger our very national existence, by
ontaling Slavery uron them!
SIR, the gentlemen from Brunswick very en-.
phatically asked Are not our slaves our
property And the gentleman from Dinwid-
die, sustaining his position, said, in chat iutog.
rity and firmness which chUlacterizcs all his
actions, that he would own no property re.
speeding which he was afraid to show bis title
papers He even invited discussion uuop this
question ct title to slaves 90 property. rs a
IUginidh, do not question the masters title
to his slave but put it TO the gentleman. as
man, as Il moral man. as Christian man
whether he has not some doubt Of his claim
beng IA absolute and unqualified az that Of
other property do this, not for the purpose
OF raising an argument TO sustain the power of
the Legislature to remove them, which think
have satisfactorily shown, but mainly to call
his attention to the title, that if doubt as to
that should be created, it may operate in some
measure in Withdrawing opposition TO the re-
moval OF tho slaves. Let us sir, in the inye~t,-
CATION of this tide, 20 back to its origip.
Whence came SiGUfS into this cOuntrv} From
Africa, We're hey free men meret At enc
time they were HOlc came hcy 10 BE- conre,ied
mo stdreSf Bv the stratagem of war and ne
strong arm OF the conqueror; they were van
pushed IN battle, folu by the victorious party
To the slave trader who brought them TO our
shores, and dispos Of them 10 the planter Of
Virginia Had NE con9u0Or an absolute aAd
unqualified rghi 10 them
The grntloman from Campbell, Mr.. Daniel
IN arguing tins part cf the su' jcct stated THAI
ancient authors insisted upon two modes hy
which free man might become slave. viz,
! by voluntary compact and b. conquest but
he was IN the end compelled by the course o,
his reasoning, 10 admit that those doctrines
have been exploded by modern writer's. If
then, Liberty, rightiully cannot ba conyerted
into slavery, may not question whether tn,
title 81 the inas'cr 10 the slave il absolute anC
unqualified aud beyond the disposition of tn,
Government In general 1scs, the dorivaty,
title cannot be better than the primitive. |
the warrior had no al. oluto right 10 the persol
OF his captive. may there MT no some doub
whether the Virginia planter has an unauali
! fled one
| What SIT, would be thought mt the presen
! day il an elephant We're taken. by force O
fraud from It's true owner. on the coast
| Africa, and brought 10 our country and an IL
/ dlvidnai, knowing Of the circumstance were
! purchase it--would il not be ead that he pa
| ticipated III TIE crino Would not the ol
adage, that tho receiver Of stolen goods il
bad AZ the thief apply And, sir, is the rel
sonng different when the subject in u huma
beIng--whcn man has been taken, by fore
of fraud, from his native shore and sold
your markets Ii may be said that orr ance
tors did not know The circumstances unde
which the slave lost his liberty. | hope the
did not. Ii will in some measure extenuate IN
crime, but cannot enhance the title. The trut
j., that our ancestors had no title to this pro,
erty and we have acquired it only by legisl'
tive enac,ments, sanctioned by the necessity {
the case
1t may be argued that length Of time ha
created title Some thirty years ago
rgate which had b,au vnutured truul iii