Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1854-02-18

commonly called the Compromise measures, and
is therefore declared imperative"
| Doubtless, Mr.. President, this provision oper-
ates as a repeal of this prohibition. The Senator
from Kentucky was right when no said it was in
effect the equivalent of his amendment. Those
who are willing to break up and destroy the old
compact Of 1920, can vote for this bill with full
assurance that such will be its effect But | APP
peal to them not to vote for this superscdu-e clause.
ask them not to incorporate into the legislation
OF the country declaration which every one knows
/ to be wholly untrue have said that this doc
trne OF supersedurc is new. have now proved
that 1t is plant of but ten days growth. IL was
never seen or heard Of until the 23d day Of Janu-
aary' 1854. 1t was upon that day that this tree Of
Upas was planted: we already sec its poison fruits
! The provision have quoted abrogatcs tho Mis-
souri, prohibition. II asserts right in the Ter
ritorinl Legislature to prohibit slavery The Sen
ator from illinois, in his speech, very careful
to assert no right of legislation in a Territorial
legislature oxcep. subject 20 the restrictions and
limitations Of the Constitution. We know well
enough what the understanding or claim Of south
crn gentlemen is in respect to these limitations and
restrictions. They insist that by them every Ter
ritorial Legislature is absolutely precuded from oil
power Of legislation for the prohibition of slavery.
warn gentlemen who propose TO support this
BILL that their votes for this prohibition will be re-
garded as admitting this claim.
have thus given a brief account Of the muta-
tons which tbs bill has undergone. have shown
the origin aud duration Of the preteuse that the
Missouri prohibition Is superseded by the legisla-
tion OF 1850. now appeal to the Senators who
SIT around me, and who with me participated in the
discussions Of 1851 ask them to say whether
any enc Of them imagined then, or believes now,
that the Missouri prohibition was superseded by
the LEGISLATION Of that year. Here, sir sits the
Senator from Virginia. Mr.. MAsoS will he say
that at any time before the ed of January, 1854,
he ever heard such proposition stated or main.
NNaaa af1s - h.N will
not say It, There Is no evidence that the asser-
tion was ever made before that day, when il made
its appearance in the Senator's bill. II is re-
markable circumstance, that 5000 copies of the
committees report have been printed by the order
OF the Senate, and know not how many for in
diyidual subscribers, and circulated through the
country, and sustaining the Lill upon the ground
that the Missouri prohibition is neither repealed
nor aiiirmed--whle the bill itself rs now amended
expressly abrogates that prohibition. The report
as circulated condemns the bill rs amended, and
tho bill amended cohtradicts the report circu
lated. All this must necessarily mslcad and con-
fuse the public judgment.
have now proved tha. the doct-ine Of super
sedure is novelty. will proceed to prove that
it is as groundlcss as it is novel;
The Senator from Illinois, in his speech the
other day, made general charge Of gross igno-
rance of the history and geography Of the country
against the signers Of the Independent Democratic
Address, and singled out several paragraphs Of
that address for special reprehension. 1t was
r2lor adTOt in tho Senator 10 mix the defense Of
his own bill with an attack upon two Senators
whose opinions on slavery questions are at var-
ancc with those most commonly received here
But this movement will not, | think, avail him
much. have no fears that he can relute any
statement. or ovcrturn any proposition of that ad
dress. Sir, he might well attack Gibraltar
True in all its statements, and iTefragabc, as
believe. in all its reasonings il is impregnable to
IuYy og al l.t.h hitn .t,Nst
The first specification under his general charge
lof ignorance and misrepresentation, denies the
truth Of q statement which | will now read:
"These acts were never supposed to abrogatc or
touch the existing exclusion of slavery from what
is now called Nebraska. They applied to the Ter
ritory acquired from Mexico, and 10 that only
They were intended n settlomeat Of the contro-
yersy growing out Of that acquisition, and of that
controversy only. They must stand or fall by
their own merits"
That the first sentence which have read is ab-
sOutely true, suppose no man now doubts
Senators who were here during the discussions of
1850, must remember that the report Of the Com
mittee of Thirteen distinctly stated that the COM
promise measures applied to the "ncwly acquired
territory" The honorable and distinguished Sem
ntor from Michigan sits near me, and can say
whether any syllable uttered in the Committee
Of Thirteen or elsewhere, to his knowledge, which
indicated any purpose to apply them to any other
Territory. If am in error, beg the Senator to
correct me. Mr., CAss remained silent ! am
right, then.
But the Senator from Illinois says that the ter
ritorial compromise acts did in fact apply TO other
territory than that acquired from Mexico. How
does he prove that? lie says that part of the
territory was acquired from Texas. But this very
territory which he gays was acquired from Texas
was acquired first from Mexico. After Mexico
ceded it to the United States Texas claimed that
that cession Injured to her benefit That claim,
only, was relnqushed to the United States. The
case, then stands thus: We acquired the territory
from Mexico; Texas claimed it, but gave up her
claim. This certainly does not dsproyc the as
scrtion that the territory acquired from Mex
leo, and as certainly it does not sustain the Sena-
tors assertion that it was acquired from Texas.
| The Senator next tells the Senate and the coun-
| try, that by the Utah act, there was included in
the Territory Of Utah II portion Of the old Louis
lana acquisition, covered by the Missouri prohib-
ition, which prohibition was annulled as to that
portion by the provisions Of that act. Every one
at all acquainted with our public history knows
that the dividing line between Spain and the
United States extended due north from the source
Of the Arkansas to the 42d parallel Of north lati-
tude. That arbitrary line left within the Louisi-
ana acquisition little valley in the midst of the
! Rocky Mountains, whore several branches OF the
Grand river, one of the affluents Of the Colorado,
take their rise. Ilore is the map. Here spreads
out the vast Territory of Utah, more than one hun
dred and eighty-sevon thousand square miles
Here is the little spot, hardly pins point upon
the map, which | cover with the tip Of my little
finger which, according to the boundary fixed by
the territorial bill, cut off from the Louisiana
acquisition aud included in Utah. The account
given Of it in the Senator's speech would lead one
u suppose that it was an important part of the
Louisiana acquisition. 1t is, in fact, not Of the
smallest consequence There are no inhabitants
there. tits, as have said secluded little valley
in the Rocky Mountains, visited once by Fremont,
and penetrated occasionally by wandering bands
Of Arapahoes and Utahs. The summit of the
Rocky Mountains was assigned as the eastern
limit Of Utah. That limit in consequence of the
curvature Of tho mountain range, happened to
include this valley, Nobody here, at the time OF
the passage of the Utah BILL ndverted to that fact
1t was known that The Rocky Mountain range was
very near the arbitrary line fixed by tho treaty,
and noloiy ever dreamed that the adoption Of
thnt dc sLnrIl Lnnndnru Of utnh .rn.,lA