Washington sentinel., 1854-06-18
THE LAST MARES NEST.


BILL These men, though they are constantly
boasting of purer morality than has beer
vouchedsafed to others, pay no attention to the
restraints which candor and fair dealing impose.
Whilst preaching higher law, they repudiate
all law. Whilst declaiming on phianthrophy.
they recommend the most inhuman actions, and
never hesitate to use any species of falsehood
and deception which may serve even tempo
rary purpose. When their knavery is de
tected and exposed, they meet detection and
exposure with an unblushing front that proves
that they have lost all sense Of shame.
Finding that the public sentiment of the
north was setting against any attempt to con-
tinue the anti-slavery agitation, the freesoilers
and abolitionists made a desperate attempt to
regain their lost ground. The weapon they
used was bold, unblushing falsehood They
charged that fraud had been practised in the
passage Of the Nebraska bill by misrepresen.
tation of its provisions in the House of Rep
resentatives. They even avowed that Mr..
Richardson, of Illinois, who had charge OF
the bilb practised deception in stating tha,
the bill he presented was the Senate bill with
the Clayton amendment omitted. The public
records affirm the contrary, and prove the utter
and entire falsehood of the abolition averment.
But they cared nothing for that. They knew
that their narrow-minded, fanatical, and un-
principled followers, would take up the false
clamor, impress it on the minds of others, and
scatter it in thousand places where exposure
would never reach.
1t is needless for US to say that Mr.. Richard
sons statement, as to the character of the Ne
braska bill introduced by him, was literally
and strictly true. 1t was the Senates bill with
the Clayton amendment omitted. The bill
originally presented to the Senate gave the
right Of voting and of holding Office not only
to native and naturalized citizens resident in
the two Territories, but to such foreigners as
had declared their intention to become natu-
rallied and had taken an oath to support the
Constitution of the United States and the pro.
visions of the bill which gave them the right
to vote and hold Office. The Clayton amend.
ment did not add to the bill, but it altered the
bill, by striking out that portion Of it which
conferred the right of suffrage and of holding
Office on those of foreign birth who had ex-
pressed their intention to become naturalized
in the proper legal manner. Mr.. Richardson's
bill reinstated tie clause which had been
stricken out in the Senate, on the motion of
Mr.. Clayton, of Delaware, and was, therefore
the Senate's bill, without the Clayton amend
ment.
On Tuesday last the abolition organ in this
city came out with this announcement:
"AS ASTOUNDING DEvELopMESr.-THE
CLAYTON AMENDMENT NOT OMIrTED.-FoR-
EIeSERs EXCLUDED NOT ONLY FROM SUFFRAGE
BUT SETTLEMENT"
Under this imposing caption, the abolition
organ contained long article calculated to
fix in the minds of its readers the belief that
Mr.. Richardson had deceived the House of
Representatives. But by Thursday it found
that it had gone too far. and with very
bad grace admitted that the sections of the bill
which prescribes the qualification of voters are
the same as the section in the Senate biz, be.
fore Mr.. Clayton's amendment. After having
made this admission, an unsophisticated mind
would have supposed that the abolition organ
would have asked forgiveness, and then have
remained silent But no; it undertakes to
prove that the Clayton amendment was a part
OF the bill before Mr.. Clayton offered it in the
Senate, and that it is now substantially part
of the law, although it was stricken out in the
House of Representatives
In order to sustain this new position the free.
coil and abolition presses contend that the Ne
braska bill, without the Clayton amendment
practically excludes unnaturalzed foreigners
from the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas
This makes it necessary, if they were men of
honor on fair dealing to retract the false charge
that the House of Representatives and the
country were misled by trick. In the first
instance these men attempted to apologize for
their want OF vigilance by stating that Mr..
Richardson had thrown them off their guard.
and that the haste with which the Nebraska
bill was passed, did not give an opportunity for
them to examine its merits. These statements
bear the stamp of ialsehood, for Mr.. Richard.
sons bill was reported as early as the 3lst of
January. But what excuse can they give now?
They charge that the original bill Of Senator
Douglas contained the essence Of the Clayton
amendment. Now, that bill was brought for.
ward at the very beginning of the year, and
was published in nearly every newspaper in the
United States. Why then, did not the free.
soil and abolition presses sound the alarm to
foreigners. Day after day their columns teemed
with denunciations Of the bill, and of all who
sustained it; but no intimation was given that
!. contained the principle ofthe Clayton amend
men.
This whole clamor is an after-thought, mis-
erable trick intended to cheat foreign voters
and betray them into the hands Of their worst
spsmisa. The Nebraska bill does give the