The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1854-04-05

ing 10 the COnStltutiou-iofihS Poiioh VI
the North, was ever committed, as when
the stern letter Of the Constitution was
! forgotten in the delusive attractions of q
hollow compromise.
But, sir, were we, for the sake Of ar
gument, to admit the constitulionaltv Of
the act, known as the Missouri oompro-
mise, it would not, in justice, strengthen
the position Of tho opponents of this bill.
In fact, 1t wcakens them, and exposes their
insincerity; because it is proof Of record
that the very men who are crying out,
the bond! the bond have, on every oc-
casion, and opportunity, violated its spirit
and meaning, and, in their interference
with the slave trade in the District of Co
lumbia, and in the matter of California,
the very bond itself know it will be
replied, that tie people Of California ex-
cluded slavery 10y their own constitution :;
but the Journal of this House will show,
10y the voting, which is therein recorded,
that the price of her admission was the
exclusion Of slavery. Were we to grant
that the missouri bond," (as it is some
where called, was constitutional and fair,
the opponents ofths bill are stopped from
pleading il in the present issue, by the
fact that they themselves have uniformly
di>rcgarlrd its provisions. 1t is, believe,
II universally admitted principle of justice
and Of law, that in every dependent CO.
rcmant failure ofpertormance by one Of
the parties to it releases the other from all
obligations TO its terms.
For upwards of thirty years has the
South acquieSced in this Missouri line
which was at first forced upon her by a
northern majority-and not in single
instance have we attempted to overleap
it. Believing that we would be excluded
by natural laws, which, north Of 3G deg.
90 min., are adverse to the pre- titabeness
of slave labor, we became reconciled to a
law which we knew to be unconstitu-
tioual. Continually harrassed almost he
vond endurance, we were willing for the
sake of quiet, to adopt this line as final
settlement of the question. Actuated by
these considerations, we have made re-
pcatrd offers to extend the line to the Pa.
citic ocean-oiierS which vindicate our fl.
deity to tie contract, and which, had
they been accepted in the good faith in
which thcY were rendered, might have
given stability to the adjustment.
On the l0th August, l849, an amend
rnent to the Oregon bill, then before the
Senate, was offered, providing for the ex-
tension of the compromise line to the Pa
cifc, and passed that body, by a vote of
33 Yeas, and p nays. The nays were
Messrs. Allen, Atherton, Baldwin,
Bradbury, BreeSc, Clarke, Corwin, Davis,
of Massachusetts, Dayton, Dix, Dodge,
FeIch, Greene, Hale, UamIin, Miller,
Niles, Phelps, Upham, Walker and Web
stcr-2l."
The bill thus amended was sent to this
House, and re- jected 10y the Free-so vote,
which WAS unanimous ag linst It.
My immediate predecessor moved to a.
mend n bill originating in the House,
which provided territorial government
for Oregon, and in which the Wilmot
p?oviso was incorporated, by declaring
in effect that inasmuch as slavery was
excluded from O. cgon by operation Of the
law known as the Missouri Compromise;
we were content to abide by its terms ;
and it WAS promptly rejected as insuffici-
ent for the purposes and designs of Free
sOilers.
In 1850, when the bill for the admis-
sion of California MAS before the Senate,
Mr.. Davis, Of Mississippi, moved to a.
mend, by making 36 deg. 80 min. the
Southern boundary. Of the State; and
it WAS lost-53 Yeas, 33 nays.
Amendments to the same effect, were
subsequently twice offered; first by Mr..
Foo:c, of Mississippi, and again by Mr..
Turney, of Tennessee, and both rejected
But why multiply instances. have re-
fcrred to but one which occurred in this
House, because we all know that for years,
the only hope of the South has been in
! the conservatism Of the Senate. For up
wards Of thirty years has the South, in
observance of an acquicscence uuwisey
yielded, submitted to the insult Of an ex-
clusion, and by geographical line, from
common territory, secured by common
treasure; while the Free-soilers II the
North, in obedience to the dying injunc
ton OF their great captain, to "persevere,"
have persevered in their encroachmcnts
10 the South of the line.
Our section of the country has been,
throughout this entire period, flooded
with abolition prints and publications Of
the most inilamatory character. The peace
of our society, and the security Of our lives
and property, endangered by fanatical
emissaries; our Celuded slaves enticed a.
way under the cover of night, and their
owners murdered, in the broad light of
day, in endeavoring to secure them; our
people insuIted, though their Representa-
tves on this floor, by petitions crammed
with talsehood and SANDER, and the bond
itself concealed by an attempt to fix the
WIImot proviso upon Arkansas and Tex
as.
But, sir, worse than all, as il to morti-
fy sensibiities made accute 10y grief, TO
grind insults into hearts made tender by
sorrow, and to rob the widowed southern
mother of her only consolation--the coll
ISOLATION that her husband or child had
died i'll the cause of his whole country,
while the gore OF the heroes Of Tennes-
seq, of Mississippi, and Carolina was wet
upon the plains of Mexico--a bill was in.