The true Democrat., 1856-04-22
' etter of Hon. Alfred B. Green. wood of Arkansas to his Consti- tuentS.

Letter of Hon. Alfred B. Greer
 wood of Arkansas to his Const
 tuents.
 FELLOW CITIZENS: Having been twice hor
 nd with your confidence, and having had n
 Ynnortunity to visit you in person since the Tt
 Tion of constituent and representative hs
 r.ted between us, and believing that it is tn
 ht of the people to know how their publ
 rants have discharged the duties confide
 s,ch respectively, I have thought proper |
 ,io0t this mode to make known to you how
 Hin what manner have discharged tn
 I h and important trusts confided to me a
 r,nr representative in the Congress of the Unit
 II s States.
 In calling me from a position which the peo
 k rs of the toarth judicial circuit had generousI,
 .tned me, to assume the more responsibl,
 Umlditficut duties of repr sentative of d free
 H ,oTrhteGed, and generous people, I was awar,
 inc responsibilities that attached to m, o.iiou; l, however, entered upon the discharg, \ ,he duties the people of my district as E -pef me, not without distrust as to my ah rT to discharge those duties to the satisfactio, II f the people or to myself. I, however. took | my seat, determined to watch, with a vioilanr ar. any movement that might in the least dc. Z Z1rped then \ 5nl now, to represent; and, if possible to ST | ;,Huence legislation that we might be benefit. \ ed thereby.
 \ The first great question that presented itself | hrmv consideration during the first session ot | t5e thirty third Congress was those bills to | firm territorial governments for the territories | of Kansas and Nebraska. By the terms of \ ,fo,e bjllS that odiouS restriction. forced unon | the south in 1920 known as the Missouri con-
 romise, was Tn express terms repealed That
 compromise was virtually abrogated by those
 series of measures known as the compromises I ofl850. The question was whether we should so shape our legislation as to conform to the principles involved in those compromises of that year? was of opinion, that those con- | promises were but mockery, unless all subse- | Quent legislation was made to conform to them. I You will recollect the excitement througbout F the country in 1850, as we'll as in 1854. when \ the Kansas N ebraska bill was under discus. son l advocated and voted for the Kansas. | Nebraska bill. The question may be asked what did the south gain by the passage ofthose bills? l answer, that the south recovered in part, only what she was almost forced to sur bender by the terms of the Missouri restriction passed III l02O to save the Union. I say we only recovered part of what we lost in 1920: slavery existed in all that territory which we ac- qmred by the treaty of1803 Missouri, and the territory now composing Kansas and Nebraska, were also part ofthe territory acquired by that treaty and by the terms ofthe Missouri restriction itwas provided, that slavery should never ex ist north ot latitude 36 deg. 30 min. It will also be recollected that there was no express provision that slavery should exist south of that line, but simply non-intervention by Congress. IL will also be remembered ttat when our own State asked for admission into the Union upon equal terms with the other States the deposition We met with from the free-soil and abolition party of the north, who are now so Clamorous for the restoration of that line. The Kansas \ Nebraska bill did not propose to e- gslate slavery into those territories although the south had right, in justice, to demand .to be placed back in the possession of those rights taken from us in 1920; nor did those bills propose to nhlblt slavery therefrom, but sim ply provided to leave the people, who might set. te m those terrltones to arrange their own do- mestc concerns m their own way subject only to the constitution of the United States. And for asking this simple act of justice, the fanat- lca howl was heard all over the land, denouuc- ling the administration and the democratic party, branding them with faithlessness for in. tcrenng with what they were pleased to term atme-honored compromise; and charging Us Uth a breach of good faith. We said to them that we were willing, and had been willing, as ameaNure ot compromise only of the whole question forever, to extend that line to the Pa .chtocean; but they indignantly refused it. We O tended that, If that compromise was ri 5ht l 1920, 1t was right to extend it's provisions to al the territory that We subsequently, acquired. Although we hear the abolition cry now in fl- ror of the compromise ot 1920, large vote of that party Was Cast against 1t the next year after Is adoption, when Missouri was finally admitted into the Union And yet we hear tAI- party boasting of their sincerity and geuer- oslty 10 the South. The South has never ask ed anything that the constitution did not give her. and she never will. Nor will she ina glne, ever submit to anything that is wrong, let t come from what quarter 1t may.
 The Kansas N ebraska bill Was passed by handsome majority, thus establishing, for the nFst time the great principle of non interven- Congress shall not nor has 1t the power to, legslate upon the subject of slavery ln the territories, but leaving the whole subject to the people who may settle therein, and who alone are to be affected by the institution, to determine whether they will have slavery or not, thus leaving the people free to go into the common domain from all portions of this vast country, and to carry with them property of every description, without reserve; and when the people meet in convention to form a State constitution, preparatory to admission into the Cnon as State, they can then coolly and de- hberately determine whether slavery shall eX- ist there or not. To this liberal and just prn- cple It seems to me every man ought heartily 10 subscribe.
 hold that the people who may settle the are just as capable of self-government as they were in the States; and by emigranting to the great west Is no evidence that they have lost their reason, but rather convincing proof to the contrary. Upon the passage of these bills, the country would have been quiet, and the territories settled up gradually as other territories of the United States, had 1t not been for the abolition element of the north. Being defeated in their effort to pre- vent the passage of this bill, in order to still keep up the agitation of the slavery question, they formed emigration aid societies, for the arowed purpose of preventing the bona fde set ter in the territory of Kansas from a fair parti- cpatlon in the formation of government of his choice
 This aid shipped hundreds of persons to Kan sas not for the purpose of settling the coun- try ln good faith, but to take part in the cleo tons, and to secure, if possible, free-sol who would cooperate with Reeder, the then Governor of the territory. This abolition party being defeated in their efforts to prevent the passage of the bill, as we'll as in their effort to abolitionize the country by means Of their aid societies, now fall back, and declare that they will refuse to admit any more slave States into the Union. This is, and will be, the final and last effort of this party to defeat the will of the people. What will be the re- suit of such movement, time alone will de- EeIop There sno conjecturingas to the length this ianatcal spirit will be carried. They are now engaged in Congress in an effort to oust General Whitfield, the regularly elected dele gate to Congress, and put in his place the noto- Hous Reeder, who was not even voted for on the day fixed by law for the election. Should such an outrage be perpetrated, 1 fear it will be attended with consequences of the most dis astTouS character; and 1t will be difficult to re- straln our peaceful citizens of Kansas and elRe-