The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1854-06-06

ry, owned IN common, tnun tho tcrrUory norm
west Of the Ohio, and tho Constitution con-
tains no provision and no authority for tho ac-
QUESTION or possession of any other Territory
The committee willporceive that tho viows
entertain of the subject, whose history have
analyzsd and spread QUITE their contemplation
lead mo to regard ovory attompt by tho Slave
States to extend their institution into new ter
ritory, as violating and destroying tho moral
force of tho compact by which the fugitive
slavo provision of the Constitution was made
binding upon the free States. a1
The committee will suffer me to say that
perhaps, should not have felt constrained tc
epter inte this protrac.cd debate, had not cen
ceived the district which | represent on thi:
foort to be particularly responsible for the great
compromise or interchange of equisalent obla-
cations, between the North and South on which
rs I4lavo shown, the Union and tho Const.tu-
tion rest Massachusetts was represented in
tho old Congress, in July, 1887, by but two de-
legntes, both of whom resided almost in sight
| from my doors--Saruel Holten, of Danvcrs
afterwards a member of this House, under the
Constitution, and Nathan Dane, of Beverly -
The unsurpassed legal learning of the latter
enabled him to draft tho immortal ordinance oi
1887, in its final shape, as one of the committe
Of five that reported it. He was responsible for
the arrangement that terminated The conflict
between tho two sections of tho Union. Bo-
sides them there was another dis distinguishod per-
son, whose name sheds lnstre upon tho annals
of the county in which reside, and tho district
L haeo the honoR ~ represent in this House,
Manossoh Cutler. of Hamilton, Massachusetts,,
was in New York, at tho time, in attendance
upon the old Congress, aud urging the settle
ment Of the territorial question. lilo had be.
fore become deeply interested in the settle
ment of the Northwest Territory. 1t has been
well said, that beneath the shelter of the COW
cred wagon, in which he started his village
home in Massachusetts to found Marietta, the
imperial State Of Ohio was wrapped up. lie
was indeed a remarkable msn--having adorn-
ed, in the course of his extraordinary life, each
of the thrco learned professions After the es-
tablishmcnt of the Constitution, he became a
momber of this House, from tho district rep
resent As naturalist and man of general
science, he has had few supcriors in our histo-
ry. He was truly philosopher and a patriarch.
| lio was moro than n statesman. He was the
| founder Of State. The sixth section of the
ordinance of 1887 was have no doubt, the ro-
suit, in part, of his cxertions; and, as his sue
ccssor on this floor. l have felt it my duty to
explain it in this debate
| But must hasten to tho subsequent epocbs
in our constitutional history at which compro-
| misses or compacts were made between the two
great sections. | shall not enter into tho de-
tails ofthe Missouri compromise-tha hes been
and will be dono, by others. Suffice il to say
in continuation of my argument, that, in my
view Of the transaction, the Missouri compro.
mise was renewal, on another sphere. in ref
erenco 10 a territory that had been the common
property Oft the Union by subsequent events, of
the great compact of the ordinance of 1851
/ o,,I - IL la,
AS in the beginning. tho desperate and well
was brought to tavoraDlc Issde, IN Iuc 0rny
practicable way that is, by fixing line; beyond
which slavery could not go, and placing the
FREQ States again uddcr tho bonds of tho fugi-
two slave obligation. The bed of tho Ohio
River had been the boundary originally agreed
upon in 1857. rs tho line, cast of the Mississip-
| pi, beyond which slavery could not extend.
As no such natural demarkation existed 10
tho west of that river, parallel of latitude was
adopted: and as Missouri. where the right TO
hold slaves had occurred to actual proprietors
under the treaty of cession from France, was
nearly all above the parallel of the mouth of
the Ohio in order to make AZ equitable parti-
ton tho parallel of 81 9 80, which is lower
than the mouth of tho Ohio. was adopted from
tho western border of tho Missouri, over the
territory cedcd By Franco. The country a.
L
property rights had accrued there, and tho al
ustment was proper one, and in duo time,
acquiesced in by the whole country. The re-
stric,ion of SO 30, and the fugitive slave OBJ
ligation are coupled together in tho Missouri
compromise act precisely in the ordinance ol
| l7S7. Indeed the eighth section of tho act
admitting Missouri, which is the compromise
is mutatis mutandis, literal copy of the sixth
article of the ordinance 1887, II is in these
words:
'AnS be a. further enacted, That in all that torrio
ry ceded by France TO the United states under the
nnmc of Louisiana which lies north of 36 80 north
latitude not included within the limits of the State
contemplated by this act sla' cry and involuntar,
seTvitude, otherwise than in the punishment of
crimes whereof the patics shall have been duly con
yicted, shall he, and Is hereby. forever Prohibited
Prorided alpags, That any person escaping into tho
same f,om whom labor service is lawfully claimed
in any State or Territory of the United States sucl
fugitive may he lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed
to the person aming his or her labor service
foresnid." rs
Finally the compromises Of 1850 were basod
upon tho same principle of territorial arrange
mont or dcmarkation. They indorsed, in EN-
phatic language, tho Missouri compromise
projected the limo of 36 30', bat mado up fo
ii by allowing slavery to get into Utah and
Now Mexico, il it could; and reimposed will
as many of US then Ihnnght, aud still think, NJ
unnecessary and uncalled for harshness, no
to say inhumanity. tho fugitive slave oblga
ton upon tho FREQ States.
| have now shown Mr. Chairman, that tho
restriction of slavery in the Missouri comprom
ise, instead of being, as some maintain uncon
stitutional, is tho very principle upon whicl
tho Constitution was established. Tho combal
which it removed and extended, is tho solid
basement story upon which tho who'e struc
turo stands. The spirit and csscucc of tha,
compact run through tho entire capstitu,ional
history Of tho country. You can chase the
genius and tho head of tho Constitution in thi.
feature of our political systcm from turret tc
foundation. stone. The bill before US repud-
ates this fundamental principle.
"a GENTLEMAN intorrnpting.) Then why
not extend it to tho Paciicl
Mr.. UPIIAM. / didnot moan to say a word
on that subject; but must protest, with al
possible Difference to my excellent friend who
has introduced it. thatI am filled with amaze.
mont, and have boon during all tho debate:
which have taken place upon this question, tc
hear gentlemen who advocate this b II upon
ground of congressional non intervention
lcOmnlain of ~ bccausa wc did not run tho linz