The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-10-09

luu, upon eAdullndItOu, IudI Tue senator nom
Virginia Mr.. HUNTER was right when he said
that I" for the last five or six years, most of our
general legislation for the navy aud army was
made in the appropriation bills" find that the
act abolishing fogging in the navy was carried
! upon an appropriation BILL and that the venera-
/ BILE Senator from Michigan Mr. CAss] voted for
! it, although he now joins in denouncing the
| House for this attempt upon the army bill to ar
| rest the further execution, by the army in Kan
sas, of laws which he has pronounced upon this
| floor :" a disgrace to the country and the age"
| Sir if the Senator could vote to put upon an ap-
preparation bill an act prohibiting the inhuman
and degrading system of fogging under the ma
tional flag upon the SEAS surely he should not
denounce as supplementary or " revolution
airy" this attempt to engraft upon the army ap-
preparation bill provision forbidding the Presi-
dent to execute with the bayonet the law by
which women-yes, sir, women-may be punished
by stripes not exceeding ttoenty-one." Shall your
| dragons stand guard, while these " t0enty-one
stripes" are laid on the back of woman?
| Having demonstrated, Mr.. President, that the
| Senators from Virginia and Connecticut and their
associates here, by their speeches and votes
have sustained, fully sustained, the action of the
House; having demonstrated that their new born
| zeal for parliamentary law and constitutional
modes of legislation is all pretence, mere hol-
low-hearted pretence, now pass to the consider
| alton of the provisions of the proviso-to the
discussion of the precise issues that divide the
| two Houses and the members in both Houses.
| The people of the United States are practical
people and tell Senators upon the other side of
the Chamber, that the practical sense of the coun-
| try will decide this issue-nOt upon petty consti-
tutional bubbles, not upon the technicalities of
| parliamentary law, but upon the substance of
| the prOviso itself
| Yesterday, Mr.. President, the Senator from
California, [Mr. WELLER without consultation
| with his political associates, introduced lis bill
| to extend over Kansas the provisions of the Con-
sttution of the United States. That the Senator
intended to repeal some few of the obnoxious
| enactments of the Kansas Legislature which he
| denounced as infamous ia disgrace to the
country, to this age, or any age u have no
| doubt. But his bill does not fully accomplish
| that object. Why does not the Senator clearly
and distinctly point out the acts he intends to
| abrogate? Why resort to this declaration of
general principles? Why re-enact the Constitu-
| ton in Kansas The Senator from South Caro-
| lima Mr.. BUTLER] has characterized the bill as
| declaration of abstract principles. With a jul
| dietary which Lecompte presides-a judge
| who DEGREES printing presses and hotels to be
nusances to be put down by cannon shot-a
| judge who instructs juries to indict Governors,
| Senators, and Representatives, for high treason
and constructive treason-I am sure these laws
| will be pronounced in harmony with the abstract
| declarations embodied in the bill of the Senator
| from California. The Senator tells us to-day
| that his proposition was not received on this side
| of the Chamber in good faith. The Senator is
| mistaken. We all welcomed his bill. moved
two additional sections, to secure completely the
| object he sought to secure. If the Senator and
| his associates wished to pass his bill, they could
easily have voted down my amendments. He
knows, they know, that we should vote for his
BILL even if it could not be amended. But | can
tell the Senator why this bill goes to the table
to- day. and by his consent. His bill was met by
the resistance of Senators on his side of the
Chamber-Senators that are Obeyed quite as
implicitly here as they are on the plantation.
debate sprung up, and Senators his side of
the Chamber were illustrating the beauties of
that Squatter Sovereignty which the people of
Kansas have found delusion and a snare. Your
leaders were mortified and alarmed. The Sena-
tor from Virginia Mr.. HUNTER came to the res
cue The Senate adjourned in hot haste, and
Senators hurried into secret conclave, where it
was determined to strangle the Senator's bant-
ling. This morning, the Senator from California
came in here and, in the face OF the country as
sisted in the mmolation. Sir the good inten-
tons of the Senator-the measure he had in q
moment of independence conceved-are all to-
day inundated upon the altar of party expe-
diency
The Senator from Virginia Mr.. MASON rose,
and censured not only the Senators upon this side
sas laws infamous, but chided in no gentle terms
the venerable Senators from Michigan Mr.. CAss
and Delaware, Mr.. CLAYToN,] and the Senator
from California Mr.. WELLER, for proclaiming
these enactments disgrace to the age in which
we live. That Senator confessed that he had
not read these laws, yet with sublime audacity
he stood up before the Senate, and presumed to
rebuke Senators on this side of the Chamber,
who have read these laws, who have studied and
mastered this whole Kansas question, and the
distinguished Senators from Delaware and Mich
igan, whose attachments contribute so much to
adorn the Senate.
But we have no right, the Senator from Vir-
ginia tells us, to denounce these laws, because
they were made by portion of the American
people. No right to denounce laws that would
give darker hue to the bloody code of Draco,
because American citizens made them But the
Senator, after announcing this singular doctrine,
forgot to act up to it; for he declared that we
had " laws in the Northern States that made the
worst breed of men earth" Will the Senator
designate these laws which make this vile breed
of men? If we have such laws point them out
donounce them-brand them-hold them up to
the scorn of the universe until the people shall
blot them out of the statute books. l know the
Senator from Virginia has associated with this
breed of men from the North and he has seen
them "turn pale as cream-faced looms" at the
nod of their masters. Sir, the laws of the North
did not make these men. They have been de-
based by the Slave Power, until,
."Panl and apt they lose no chance to show
To what base depths aposacy can SO.
The Senator from Virginia will repeal no laws,
until the House backs square down. He wonld
have the people of the Territories amend their
own laws, if they do not like them. If that Sem
ator had condescended to examine the subject,
so that he would be authorized to give opinions
entitled to consideration here or in the country,
he would have made the discovery that the Free
State people of Kansas are completely disfran-
chised by these laws-that they have no power
to right their wrongs-no power to frame and
control the Government of that Territory The
Free State men of Kansas, who went into the
Territory after you had legisated Freedom out,
under the delusive promise that they could shape
its future, disfranchised and powerless. The
murdered Dow, the murdered Barber, the MUIR
dered Brown, and the murdered Hoyt, who sleep
in their bloody shrouds baneath the virgin soil
of Kansas, have much power to legally shape
its future as have the Free State men who yet
linger upon the soil, DISTINGUISHED, dishonored,
and degraded.
On the Both of March, 1855, the people of Kan
sas were summoned to the polls to elect Legis-
lative Assembly. Five thousand armed men
from Missouri rushed into the Territory, seized
the electoral urns, and by force and fraud elected
a Legislature That Legislature assembled, and
proceeded to cOnsummate the work of conquest
This invasion, this usurpation, this legislation,
has been upheld by the Executive, by the army
of the United States. The House of Representa-
tives declares that the President shall no longer
uphold this usurpation, these enactments, with
tie army. The Senate insists that the President
shall uphold this usqrpation, these enactments,
with the bayonet Let US examine the acts of
these usurpers which Senators will not repeal
which they insist shall be upheld and enforced