The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1854-06-02

the Missouri Compromise line defined by eighth section
souri, Territory to form constitution and sate
and for the admission of such State into the Union
equal footing with the original States and prohibit SLAYER,
in certain Territories approved March O 1920 be- and th
same hereby declared to extend 70 the Pacific
effected hereby revived and declared to be IN full force
binding for the future organization of the Territories Of thu
United States the and with the under
standing, with which it was originally adopted"
The amendment agreed to-the South voting in II.
favor, and with few exceptions the North against it
The bill was therefore returned to the House with this
amendment and there by aorea uotes il was disagreed
to- Yes, sir, this bantng of the North in which SO
much virtue is all at discovered rejected by
northern votes in the House. il had been in the Senaes
committee before referred to-
The whole session of l84sI49 was permitted to pass
away without any provision being made for the govern
ment OF the recently acquired Territories The conduct o
the North was as Indicative of hostility to the principles
embraced in the Missouri Compromise slavery
itself Neither the the other would they tolerate
and the session passed away indignation excited every
southern bosom at the conduct Of the North California
and New Mexico without organized government
and the people within those Territories left in plain
language, TO take care of themselves
Mr. Chairman, come to that period in the history
of this question when the compromise of 1850
were passed 1t unnecessary however, upon this branch
of the subject say than that the Missouri Compro-
line was whatever shape assumed during that mem
orable session of Congress rejected by the North in both
houses So deeply had the spirit of ansayery infused it
self into the bosoms of those who in the man represented
the free States that all the attempts to compromise upon
the line Of SO deg 30 min failed whenever proposed The
principle therefore abandoned and by the adopted
in the Compromise of 1850 it virtually repealed That
principle the of "non-intrvenoap-a principle
recognised in the constitution in strict accordance with it,
and diametrically opposed the Missouri Compromise
In the fourth article of the constitution section the
ond, it is provided
q That the citizens Of each State shall be entitled 10 all dc
frireyes and iun'ies Of citizens cf tae seeeral Stes
Now sir does the act of 1920 which permits the intro
ducton into Territory of whatever article of property
citizens of non-slayehodng States may possess and denies
that right to citizen of Georgia. comply with this provis-
ion Of the constitution Is no in fact in direct conflict
with it2 Does the northern man. by and through it.
MED TO the southern man Most clearly he does. What
then becomes of the constitution, which says northern
man and southern man shall have equal rights2
Our property-that s the property of the South
which, like any other article Of personal property may be
transferred from State Territory to another consists
mostly in slaves 1t IS property recognized by the
sttuton for that instrument expressly provides for its
capture and rendition when il has escaped from State
to another II constitutes mainly too the wealth Of
farmers does other species of property the wealth of the
nonslayehoder The LATTER however may take with him
wherever he may go the merchandise the machinery and
the stock which constitute his wealth. while the peculiar
property OF the southern man is alone excluded Now sir
where is either the justice consttutonaity of such
law II il be unequal it is unjust and the former
cannot but be admitted it may well be asked why should
ever have been enacted. But whence the power
derived Nowhere sir, save in that of numerical
strengththe power Of numbers So much for the justice
Of the law.
But it is unconstitutional, also Then why not repeal It
positive and direct terms and in the proposed
by the bill which recently passed the Senate? Was not
the Territory Of Louisiana the property of all the
States? II was There is one here the
tray Had the North Mr. Chairman, possessed exclusive
right TO that domain and had ceded it United States
with reservation prohibiting slavery there even then the
injustice OF such act to the South would have been
gross But such state OF things existed II was the
common property Of all the States and neither sound pol
icy constitutional authority justes the Missouri Com
promise of 1920 The eminent statesmen of the times
in which the question agitaed denied its oonstt-
tionay Scarcely authority Of eminence divesed of
the anatcm Of the day, be found its advocate That
usrous and faithful expounder Of the constitution
Thomas Jefferson expressly deniei it, while he deplored
Its enactment In letter to William Short written April
l3 1920 he said:
Although had laid down as a law to myself never TO
write talk think Of politics, know nothing OF
public affairs and therefore had ceased 10 read
yet the Missouri question aroused and filed with alarm
The old schsm of federal and republican threatened moth
ng because existed in every State and united them
gether by the aternsm of party. But the coincidence
marked principle, moral and POLITICAL with geographical
line, conoeced, feared ,cosid Be oroted
from the mind thatit would be recurring opey
and renerng irriatons, until would kindle such mutual
and moral hatred as TO render separation preferable nol
that Union would be Of long duration now doubt It
much and the at great distance and the direct
confidently counted onthe OF Nature control this
but by the Potomac, Ohio, and Missouri or, proba
bly, the Mississippi upwards 70 northern boundary"
Ny only comfort and confidence Is that shall live
70 see THIS and envy not the present generation the glory
ana fortune and Of rendering desperate the experiment
which was to decide ultimately whether capable Of
uOpr
win gnalize their epoch future history ~ the counter
part OF the medal Of their predecessors"
In another TO John Holmes dated April ~ 1920 he also
said
had for long time ceased to read newspapers or pay
attention TO public affairs confident they were good
hands, and content to be passenger in bark to the
shore from which not distant But this momentous
h terror considered II once the knel Of the Union
1t hushed indeed for the moment But this Is reprieyc
only, not final sentence.
"a geographical line ooinciding with marked principle
moral and POLITICAL conceived held
passions Of men, win never be oberated
And every new irritation win mark deeper and deeper
can say with conscious truth, that there s a
earth who would sacrifice than would relieve MS
sion OF that kind Of property tfor is msnaned) h
bagateie which would not cost n second thought H.
that way general emancipation and eparfation could be
efeced and gradually with due sacrihces tb;pt n
might be- But IL S. have the wolf the ears and
we can neither hold him safely let him no Justice Is IN
scale and sefpresevnton in the other OF one thing
am certain that as the passage Of slaves from one State
another would not make slave Of single human bene who
would not be without IT, their diffusion over Greater
surface would make them individually hammer and
onaly facilitate the accomplishment their emapcipston
by dividing the burden on greater number coaduors
An abstinence, too, from this power woud remore
the jealousy excited by the undertaking Congress 10
late the condition OF the different descriptions Of men compo-
sing state This certainly is the exclusive right of every
state which nothing In the constitution has taken from them
ana given TO the general government.
" Could Congress for example, that the
Of Connecticut shall be feemen or that they shall NOT ei
CRATE into any other Stateg
And in another TO John Adams dated Mt later period
January %, 1921 he says
Our anxetes In this quarter are all concentrated IN tho
question: What does the holy alliance in and an, az Con
gress to do with on the Missouri onest;on And
this by the by, Is the of the only tho John
Doc or Richard Roo OF the eectmen The real question