Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1854-02-09
CONGRESSIONAL.

Monday, Jan. 30.
SENArE.-Thc galleries of the senate chamber
were at an early holr crowded to excess, in
consequence Of the anticipated opening Of the
Nebraska debate.
The Rhode Island resolutions against the re-
peal Of the Missouri compromise were presented
by Mr. Allen, and ordered to be printed.
The Joint resolution. appointing Il select com
mlttce on The proposed amendment to the con-
stitution relative to the manner Of clccting a
president, was also adopted.
The Nebraska bin WAS then taken up when
MIR. Douglass took the floor, and proceeded to
explain the principal features of tie BILL lie
said there were two points he wished particlar-
ly to explain. Thcs, were, first, respect to the
rights Of the Indians and secondly, the ques-
ton Of slavery. The iYst, he said, were fully
protected. With regard to the other, he assert
ed that the committee had taken the principles
of the compromise acts Of 1850 as their guide,
and had made each and every provision to ac-
cord with those principles, recognizing the
right of the people to s,lt-goyerrment, free Of
all control, except by the constitution Of the
United States, and restricting them upon no
particular subject by their position north or
south of any arbitrary geographical line.
The second bill reported by the committee had
for its object to make that plain which in the
first one seemed to be in doubt or uncertainty
in some places The first bill WAS understood
as repeating the Missouri compromise, and in
some Others as not doing so. As the bill was
intended to carry out fnlly the principles Of the
compromise Of 1880, and as they considered that
the compromise had suppressed the Missouri
compromise, that fact had better be plainly and
distinctly stated. This was all he had intended
to say, had the discussion gone on last Tuesday
On that day when he proposed to say this
much the senator from Ohio, and the senator
from Massachusetts asked that it be postponed
to this day, to give them time to examine it,
10 this request he yielded as u matter Of courte-
sy to them.
Mr.. Douglass then alluded to the address sub
sqeuently publishcd-by Messrs. Chase and SIM
ner, in which he said the motives OF the COM
mttee were misrerrcsentcd and the bill itself
alsifed, and the coarscst elithets heaped upon
is author. Mr.. Douglass spoke with consid-
crablc feeling on this point, denouncing the
signers Of tic address us aboitionists, as viola
tors Of the Sabbath ,nasmuch astheir address pur-
ported from its date to have been written on the
Sabbath, when all the other members of congress
NcfC hb SiluICl Jic buCH tuANCftcu " tNC lttcb
that this address had been sent to the Ohio leg
islaturc purporting to have been signed by a
majority of the Onio delegation. lie believed
that the statement that it had been so signed
was wilfully false.
Mr. Douglass then proceeded to deny that the
early policy of the government was to exclude
slavery from all the territories, but only in the
northwest justifying his position by histori-
cal summary of the doings Of congress and
government in that regard. lie contended that
the Missouri compromise line was maintained
up to the time when California and New Mex
leo was acquired, when on his motion the
senate voted into bill a provision for extend
ing that line to the Pacific.
Mr.. Chase, of Ohio, attempted to get the
floor for an explanation, bat Mr.. Douglass re-
fused to yield, accompanying the refusal with
such language to Mr.. Chase that the chairman
pronounced him out of order.
The proposition was rejected in the house by
northern votes with free soil proclivities, and
thus the solemn compact was violated, the geo.
graphical lines destroyed, and slavery agitation
let loose again upon the country. Had the
north been faithful to the Missouri compromise
in 1913, there would have been no agitation,
no excitement, no alarms. 1t was the defeat
of it, that abandonment of it then, that plunged
the country into slavery agitation, disturbed
our domestic peace, and defeated the senator
of Michigan for the presidency.
He thought it was with a bad grace that men
who had themselves proved false to the sacred
compact could arrlign him before the country
for that which was accomplished in 1913 by
their own faithfulness and troachery.
Mr.. Douglass again adverted to the address
of Messrs. Sumner and Chase, reviewing it in
details, and pronouneing many of its statements
/ to be ,vilfully false.
After he had concluded there were manfcsta-
tions of applause in the galleries, but they were
promptly checked by the officers.
Mr.. Chase then got the floor, and met the in
science of the Little Giant in spirit of man
ly firmness worthy of himself and the cause he
represents. Mr.. Sumner also spoke briefly in
answer to certain imputations of the Senator
from Illinois.
liousE.-Alr. Medallion introduced a bill to
change the mode of compensating senators, rep
resentatives and delegates in congress. Refer
red to committee on mileage.
Mr.. Churchill offered the following joint res
olutions, which were referred to the committee
ON foreign affairs -
Rcsolrcd, That the people of this Union have
ever viewed with the deepest concern the re-
newed intervention of powers in the affairs of
countries not embraced within their borders,
particularly when sach intervention had avow-
edly for its object the expression of generous
political sentiments, and they will never permit
such an interference on this continent without
physical resistance to it.
Resoircd, That while the United States of
America are disposed to observe in a spirit of
good faith International obligations, they de-
sire similar observance of such obligations by
all the nations of the earth, and that they can
never behold with indifference the obliteration
of an independent state by third power because
of the political freedom of such state
Mr.. Davis, of Rhode Island, presented GER
tain resolutions of the Legislature of that state
against the repeal of the Missouri compromise.
Referred to committee on territories.
Mr., Dean introduced bill to remove the
mint from Philadelphia to New York. Refer
red to committee on ways and means.
Mr.. Pringle offered a resolution instructinp
the committee territories to report at an early
day bill which passed the house last session
providing for the organization of the territory
of Nebraska Objected to.
| Many other resolutions and bills were intro.