The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-03-13
THE NATIONAL ERA: WASHINGTON, D. G, MARCH 49, 1856.

Constitution-a free State. Societies were organ
lied in the Northern States for the purpose of aid
I ing emigrants to go there, with the ayowed pur-
/ nose of making Kansas free State. That they
had an undoubted right to do. You had invited
| them to do it by your Kansas and Nebraska bill.
| The Senator from Tennessee however, made q
wonderful discovery when he ascertained that the
authors of these Emigrant Aid Societies looked to
4 a remunerative pecuniary return Grant it; plead
guilty to that charge. l admit they organized
the societies for the purpose of sending emigrants
into that Territory to settle it, and by their votes
1 establish Freedom there; and they hoped to estab
4 lish Freedom, to take up lands, and that by such
/ means there would be pecuniary remunerative
i return. The Senator need not have gone great
/ way to prove that. They themselves published
| it in all their handbills and newspapers. They
/ proclaimed it in all their public meetings. They
| invited everybody to subscribe to aid in sending
! emigrants there. For what purpose To make
Kansas free State and they held out the hope
/ that the project would not only result in that,
but would be profitable investment, and would
1 make remunerative pecuniary returns. Is there
| ANYTHING new in thatr The Senator from Ten
nessee says he never before heard of such thing
| in the United States.
do not wish to be unkind or uncourteous to
the Senator though he did not come at me in the
| smoothest possible form. | can tell him that he
| has not read the history of the United States if
| he never heard read of such societies before.
There is hardly one of the old States Of the Union
that was not settled by societies similar to these.
| The State of New Hampshire, the State of Vir-
| ginia, the State of Maryland, and all the early
| Colonies; were planted by the aid of societies
which were substantially Emigrant Aid Societies
| in the old country. If you look at their char
tiers, you will find that, almost without excep-
tion if not entirely without exception, there was
always the hope of pecuniary remunerative re-
| turns.
| The Senator may find the same thing at later
day. Did he ever hear of the little State called
| Ohio? How was that settlsd2 1t was settled
| by means of an Emigrant Aid Society of New Eng
| land The first white men who planted
themselves upon the soil of Ohio went from New
England under the auspices of Just exactly such
| society, not called in 80 many words an Emil
grant Aid Society, but substantially that They
were societies which looked to the colonization
of the Western Territories, and, beyond that,
looked to a compensation which to come
back to them. That is what the Emigrant Aid
Societies formed for the settlement of Kansas
| have done. will yield to the Senator from Ten
nesSee everything that he claimed on that point
| am sorry that he took so much time to prove
| what everybody admitted and what any one
who had anything to do with those societies
would have told him was intended, expected, and
hoped by them.
| Sir, let me ask you did you see anything wrong,
| anything criminal, in this Did you not invite
dom to go there and compete with Slavery? Did
| you not tell us that all you wanted fair
field? For what purpose did these men go to
Kansas :? They went in order, by the influence
OF their opinions expressed at the ballot-box, to
lay the foundations Of free institutions in that
great country; and have no doubt they believe
| in their hearts that in doing so, they were doing
a meritorious and patriotic act
Mr.. President it cannot have escaped your ear,
| it cannot have escaped the ear of any honorable
Senator who is within the sound of my voice, that
when the subject of Slavery is introduced, gentle
men from those States in which it exists turn
| around and say, reproachfuly, ave found the
institution; we did not bring it here it was en-
| tailed upon us by the cupidity of Eastern mer-
| chants; it was entailed upon us by the British
Crown; it was entailcd upon us by those who had
| the control and agency of things long before
came upon the stage of being" Grant 1t. I am
willing to give to gentlemen who are disposed 10
make such plea, all that they can take by it
and what is the lesson that it teaches us? Sir, it
| teaches u.s. who in this our day occupy these
seats, that if in the coming future it shall be so
destined in the councils of Omnipotence that the
Territory of Kansas shall groan under the blight
ing influence of the institution of Slavery, those
| who feel its whitening effects may not stand up
and reproach our posterity by telling them, Your
fathers forced it on this soil.Y No, sir; we wish
to stand clear of that reproach which is so often
and so freely cast on our fathers.
In the very debate which took place in the
Senate on the Kansas BILL if mistake not, in the
speech of an honorable Senator from North Caro-
lima OR. Badger)-not now a member of this
body-that very reproach was hurled back on the
inhabitants of the free States and they were told
that it was to their agency and their cupdty that
| the South owed the existence of the institution
| among them. / do not remember, sir, during the
many years that have been at this Capitol to
have met with more than three individuals who
have not been willing to admit, and have not
admitted, that if the question of Slavery were a
new one, for the first time introduced and if the
question was submitted to them they
about to plant themselves the virgin soil Of
their native State, and they had the control of it,
they would not have Slavery with them. If they
would not have it with them, if it were origi-
nal question in their own State, ask them, in
the name Of justice, in the name of humanity, in
| the name Of that Christianity which teaches US
"to do unto others as we would they should do
shnto u.s." why should they seek now to fasten it
upon another Territory? Sir, the position which
I occupy and which is occupied by those with
whom act, is, that it may never be reproach
to or to posterity, that through our agency
and through our want of fidelity to the principles
which we profess, this institution which we con-
denim shall be fastened upon this Territory.
Mr.. BUTLER. Will the Senator allow me to
give him a matter of statistics1
Mr.. HALE. Certainly.
Mr.. BUTLER. knew the Senator would do it,
because he is a ready man. At one time, sir,
thought it probable that / might have to go to
Boston to perform duty which my friend from
Georgia Mr. TooMBs] has done so much better
than could; and with that view / prepared my
self with some statistics this subject, which
desire to present. / desire to state them now
for know OF no other way of getting them before
a certain class, unless through the speech of the
Senator from New Hampshire. He says that, so
far from being tainted with the sin and agency of
introducing Slavery, the North would hold them
| selves bound by all the obligations to which he
has referred. With the view which have men
toned, sent to the custom house in Charleston
to obtain certain information. Most of the regis
tiers were lost but from those that remained
obtained some information which will state
When the slave trade was suppressed, it was
suppressed by the common vote of the North and
the South and when it was restored, it was
stored by the common vote of the North and the
South but after it restored, it was through
Northern merchants that slaves were taken from
Africa. They were brought in Northern vessels.
Out of forty thousand-that was the number, for
recollect it expressly thirds were for the
North. Five thousand were account of ono
Northern State, six thousand account of an
other, and but two thousand on account of South
Carolina So far as regards the sin of bringing
them here, / do not think that are to be re-
sponsible if we should attempts TO throw it back
on those who introduced them.
Mr.. HALE. Mr.. President, am glad to have
this piece of information. 1t was the very train
of argument which l was pursuing. l said that
you reproached our fathers, and justly, have no
doubt. have no doubt the Senator is hstori-
| cally correct.
Mr. RJITIER What have stated is accord