The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-07-03


stale OF th~ onion,
Mr. BURLINGAME said:
Mr. CHAIRMAN: The House will bear witness
that have not pressed myself upon its deliber
ATOMS ] never before asked its indulgence.
have assailed no man; nor have | sought tc
bring reproach upon any mans State. But
while such has been my course. as well as the
course Of my colleagues from Massachusetts
upon this floor, certain members have seen Fl
10 assail the State which we represent, not onl,
with words, but with blows.
la remembrance of these things, and seizine
the first opportunity which has presented itse
for long time, / stand here to-day % say q
word for old Massachusetts-not that she needs
II; no, sir; for in all that constitutes true great
nrss-in all that gives abiding strength-iu
great qualities Of head and heart-in moral
power-iE material prosperity-in intellectual
resources and physical ability-by the general
judgment of mankind, according to her popu
lation, she is the first State. There does not
live the man anywhere, who knows anything
10 whom praise OF Massachusetts would not be
needless. She is as far beyond that as she il
beyond censure. Members here may sneer al
her-they may praise her past at the expense
Of her present; but | say, with full convic
ton Of its truth, that Massachusetts, in her
present performances, is even greater than in
her past recollections. And when have said
this, what more can | say?.
Sir, although | am here as her Youngest and
humblest member, yet, rs her Representative,
feel that | am the peer of any man upon this
floor. Occupying that high standpoint, with
modesty, but with frmness, / cast down her
glove to the whole band of her assailants.
She has been assailed in the House and out
of the House. at the other end of the Capitol,
and AT the other end Of the avenue. There
have been brought against her general charges
and specific charges. / am sorry to find at the
head Of the list of her ASSISTANTS the President
Of The United States, who not only assails Mas
sachmsetis, but the whole North. He defends
one section of the Union at the expense of the
other he declares that one section has ever
been mindful of its constitutional obligations,
and that the other has moi. lie declares that,
II one section Of our country were foreign
country, the other would have Just cause Of war
against it. And TO sustain these remarkable
declarations, he goes into elaborate perver-
sion of history, such as that Virginia ceded her
lands against the interests of the South, for the
benefit of the North; when the truth is. she
coded her lands, as New Y ork and other States
did, for the benefit OF the whole country. She
gave her lands TO Freedom, because she thought
Freedom was better than Slavery-because it
WAS the policy of the times, and events have
vindicated that policy.
Ii is a perversion of history, when he says
that the territory of the country has been &C
quired more for the benefit Of the North than
for the South; he says that substantially Sir,
out of the territory thus acquired, FIVE slave
States, with pledge for four more, aud two
free States, have come into the Union: and
one of these, we all know, fougat its way
through a compromise degrading 10 the North.
The North does not object to the acquisition
Of territory, when it is desired, but she desires
that it shall be free. II such complexion had
been given to it, how different would have been
the fortunes of the Republic today This may
be ascertalned by comparing the progress Of
ONO with that of any slave State in the Missis-
sippi valley. 1t will appear more clearly bv
comparing the free with the slave regions. /
have not time TO do more than to present
general picture.
Freedom and Slavery started together in the
great race on this continent. In the very year
the Pilgrim Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock,
slaves landed in Virginia. Freedom has gone
on. rampling down barbarism, and planting
States-bIilding the symbols of its faith by
every lake, and every river, until now the sons
Of the Pilgrims stand by the shores of the Pa
cifc. Slavery has also made its way toward
the setting sun. 1t has reached the Rio Grande
ON the South and the groans of its victims,
and the ciank OF its chains, may be heard as it
slowly ascends the Western tributaries of the
mississippi river. Freedom has left the land
bespangled with free schools, and filed the
whole heavens with the shining towers of re
hgion and civilization. Slavery has left DESC
lation, ignorance, and death, in its path. When
we look at these things; when we see what the
country would have been, had Freedom been
gwen To the Territories; when we think what
81 would have been but for this blight in the
bosom oil the country; that the whole South
that fair land God has blessed so much-would
have been covered with cities, and villages,
and railroads, and that in the country in the
place OF twenty-five millions OF people, thirty
i've millions would have hailed the rising morn
exulting in republican liberty-when we think
of these things, how must every honest man
how must every man with brains in his head,
or heart in his bosom-regret that the policy
of old Virginia, in her better days, did no., 70
S come tn "nma'ing pOllsaEa and ..s
1t is n pervo- --sned -
Presidents sunnsion of history, l say, when the
onnoa,t intimates that the adoption of the
Constitution abrogated the Ordinance of 1881
1t was recognised by the first Congress which
assembled under the Constitutions and it has
been sanctioned by nearly every President, from
Washington down. Ii is a perversion of his
tory when the President intimates that the Mis-
sour Compromise was made against the inter
ests Of the South, and for the benefit of the
North. The truth-the unmistakable truth is
that IT was forced by the South on the North
1t received the almost united vote of the South
It was claimed as a victory of the South. The
men who voted for 1t were sustained In the
South and those who voted for it in the NORTH
passed into oblivion; and though some of then
are physically alive to-day, they are as poiti
caly dead as are the President and his imme
date advisers. Not only has the President per
verted history, but he has turned sectionalist
He has become the champion of sectionalism
lie makes the extraordinary declaration tina
IL State is refused admission into the Uniol
because her Constitution embraced Slavery a
an institution, then one section of the countr
would of necessity be compelled to dissolve it
connection with the people of the other section
What does he mean? Does he mean to say tina
there are traitors in the South? Does he mea
60 say. If they were voted down, that then the
ought not to submit? If he does, and if the
mean to hack him in the declaration, then
say the quicker we try the strength of this grea
Government The better. Not only has he sal
that, but members have said on this,floor, agai
and again, that if the Fugitive Slave Law
which has nothing sacred about (which
deem ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS South Carolin
deems unconstitutional that law be repea
ed, that this Union will then cease to exist.
Mr.. KEITT. l wish to know from the gel
tleman from Massachusetts, by what authorit
he says South Carolina holds the Fugitive Slav
Law TO be unconstitutional?
Mr.. BURLINGAME. By the authority of tn
Charleston Mercury
Taking that paper from his pocket, Mr. L
read the following:
ofIse action OF Massachusetts IN the abrogaiion of n,
TUsiIi-e Slave Law. We nave complaint To make
was from the hrsI miserable illusion and wors in IN
for u infringement upon The mosi cher slr