Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1856-09-05

would settle all these questions. lie de-
prcca,ed the idea of holding out anything
Ike concession to the House.
Mr.. Brown (Buchananitc, of Miss. pur-
sued similar line Of argumant. He was
willing to admit that these laws wero mn
constitutional, and that therefore Congress
ros bound 10 Llot them ow ef the statute
Jook,. Some Of them were unJus, and out
rageous, to be sure, but some Of the laws
of Virginia might be outrageous, too. Was
that reason why Congress should inter
pose to prevent their execution The peo-
pie who make their own laws are the best
judges of what laws they need and after
giving them the right to make their own
laws, Congress had no Pouer to interfere
and overturn them.
Mr.. WELLER stated that he had intro
duccd his bill without consultation with
any of his political associates, and he re-
gretted that he ,ras not sustained by them
in his desire to adopt conciiiatory course
towards the House. While he entertained
great regard for their opinions, be was
compelled to differ from them in this mat
ter He was actuated By desire to wipe
out of the statute book of one of the Terri
tories laws which, in his judgment, were
clearly unconstitutional, and at the same
time, as chairman of the committee on
military affairs, was anxious to do all in
his power TO facilitate the passage of the
army appropriation bill. He would COM
promise whenever it could be done with
out the sacrifice of principle-but when
he had brought forward his bill, actuated
by these motives, he was not met BY a
spirit of concliation or compromise on
The o.hor side of the chamber. The Sen
ator from Massachusetts, had proposed an
an endment to the bill, which he (Mr.
Wilson, knew could never receive the
sanction of the majority in the Senate,
with whom he (Mr. Weller) was political
ly affiliated. When he found that his ef-
fort to settle the unfortunate difficulty be-
tween the two Houses was thus met with
opposition from his own party friends, and
was met by the other side of the chamber
with attempts to lad it down with OBJ
noxious amendments, so as to prevent its
passage, he had no other compromise to
offer He had no exasperated feelings
against the House, but the matter had
now become contest of physical endu-
rance, and be was content to let things
take their course, and see which House
would first yield.
Mr. Hunter renewed his motion to lay
on the table, and it was agreed to-. Yeas
%, Nays IL.
Yeas-Messrs. Adams, Allen, Bayard, Ben
jamin, Bisgs, Bigler, Bright. Brodhead Brown,
Butler. Cass, Clay. Dodge. Douglas, Geyer.
Hunter, Iverson, Johnson, Jones. Tenn, NAL
lory, Mason, Pearce, Pratt, Pugh. Reid.Sebas-
tian, Toucey and Weller. (aIl Buchananites.)
Nays-Messrs. Bell. Tenn. Clayton. Crit.
tenden. Foot, Foster, Harlan, Houston, Sew
ard Trumbull, Wade and Wilson.
The Senate then proceeded to consider
the army bill.
Mr.. Clayton proceeded to comment with
much severity on what he termed the in
famous Mrs Of the Kansas legislature, say
ing they should be repealed before the
adjournment of Congress and if the
Senate refused to take that step, the re-
spons'bi7dy teou'd rest upon them. One of
these laws sentenced q man to hard labor
for not less than t,co yeurs for discussing
the question whether Slavery does or does
not legally exist in Kansas. 1t was not
less than two years, and it might be fifty
years, and if a man should live to the age
of Metbuseleh, he might be confined 900
and odd years for that offence. This was
as tyrannical an act as was ever passed by
the Stuarts, Tudors or Plantaganets, of
England. These taws also require test
oaths to support the fugitive slave law;
and there we're hundreds oil honeat men
in the Union, who, while they never in
tended to resist that law, would never
take an oath to support it. Such laws as
these he characterized as infamous and
and there we're others as bad
as these and unless the committee should
90 the ,eaole length and repeal these aJona-
inaJle ld~s, the responsibility will rest
upon the Senate as well as the House.
Mr.. WILSON read extracts from the
Globe, of the debate in for
mer years uaon the appropriation bills, to
show that the course of the House in in
serting the Kansas proviso was neither
nor supplementary, and
that the Senator from Virginia himself
Mr.. Hunter) had voted for measures of
general legislation, when inserted in ap-
preparation bills. Then there was no
pre,ence that such action was fac,ious or
revolutionary; but now the cry is raised
that the responsibility of defeating the ar
my bill must res. upon the House of Rep
in consequence of its provi-