Daily Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1854-1855, 1855-02-02

F. ral ssistisps.
The minority ofihe Committee on Esdesai
Relations not being able concur either with
the rea soning or rhetoric Of the Report Of the
majority beg leave to submit the following.
We trust ii will not be expected ofus TO en-
ter into any detailed reply 70 the positions
assumed BY the authors Of that report. A.
friends of the Governor, - citizens Of free
State, and in some degree answerabie for its
character abroad,-as members Of the Sen
ate and therefore directly responsible for the
character Of its proceedings-we conceive
we shalt have discharged our full duty IN
the premises when we scquit ourselves o.
all participation in the report with whach
the majority have favored the Senate. AS
members Of the committee on Federal Re-
lations we should be unjust and uDgenerous
to those who alone are entitled to claim the
honor of that production, IL we did not thus
explicitly disavow any part in the just need
Of fame which doubtless awaits the author OF
that dignitied, able and luminous State paper.
The undersigned confess, that until informed
by the better knowledge of the majority,
they were not aware ofthe gross improprie.
ty of which the Governor Of free State had
been guilty in calling the attention Of its
Legislature to q subject intimately connect.
ed with'its future interests asis that Of the
Missouri Compromise Even now that the
unde rsiQned have had ali the benefit Of the
logic, wit, classical learning and satire,
which CLEAN and glisten from the pages Of
the report like lightning from the cloud, they
are still SO dull as not to perceive anything
particularly remarkable except covert
attack upon coordinate branch OF the
government, and commendable diligence
| in ignoring a great subject on which it 10
known that the policy Of the party to
which the authors Of that report belong
and the people Of Iowa, are directly at va
rance.
The party to subserve whose interests
that report was written, are in favor Of ex :
tending the area Of slavery; majority ofthe
people Of Iowa are now, and always have
been opposed to such extension; that party
is now diligently engaged all over the land
in talking about the repeal Of the Missouri
Compr. mise being dead issue; the people
of Iowa believe that repeal great outrage
designed to inure to the benefit the advocates
Of that peculiar institution, American slave
nv. 1t is natural, perhaps it is in a certain
sense proper, that where there are such u
great and radical differences between the
people of Iowa, and those who have hitherto
pretended to represent their wishes, that the
latter should wish to dodge any and all dis
cussion ola subject likely to prove so dam
aging TO their future plans. We dissent
from the assumption so coolly made in the
mslority's report that it is the business Of
tie Governors Of free states throughout the
length and breadth of this Republic to keep
their lips he metrically scaled on the subject
OF Matchmaking slavery, while every mes
sage emanating from the slave States goes
| forth filed with such sentiments as the
following, delivered by the Governor elect
oil South Carolina, on the 18th Of Decem.
Der, to the Legislature Of that great ma.
| ton:
upon the subject Of our national rela.
tons with the general government, have
but little to say. have no new opinions to
announce, and no specific remedy to pro-
pose, to meet the dangers which are before
us. The signs Of the times are open to your
Visions as they are to mine. We may in
terpret them differently, but to my mind
they indicate settled purpose on the part
of the Northern States to assail and degrade
or ruin the Southern States. How or
when the south shall meet to redress the
perils Of her condition, ] shall not venture
to anticipate. Time will demonstrate
whether our institutions intend to lit Us up
as people, promptly to protect our rights
and perpetuate our liberty, or whetherthey
will sink US down to the level OF degraded
and ruined provinces"
While such is the tone Of discourse uni
formly held by the Governors of slave States
| in addressing their legislatures and people
on the subject Of that peculiar institution,
American slavery, we rejoice that the free
State Of Iowa honors herself in Governor
who dares to speak the sentiments on the
same subject contained in his late inaugu-
raj address, the only sentiments orthy the
| lips Of G ,vernor or citizen Of free State
and which we devoutly pray may be adopt.
ed and held by the Governors and citizens
ofevery free State throughout the length
and breadth Of tbs land. The UNDER
signed are neither afraid nor ashamed to
avow, that regardless now of all tina,
miserable patch work, the compromise Of
1850, their position now is exactly what
that of Daniel Webster was in l848 as de-
fined by himself in the Senate ofthe United
States:
MY opposition to the increase Of slave
ry in this country, or of slave representation
in Congress, is general and immovable, it
has no reference to the lines Of latitude, or
the points Of the compass. l shall oppose
all such extensions in all things, under all cir
cumstances, eren against all inducements, a.
gaiast all combinations, against all compro-
Muses.
We have not forgotten while the Bill for
the organization Of the territories of Kansas
and Nebraska was on its passage through
the Senate, the repeal Of the Slavery Pro-