Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1856-02-09


has constituted so important an element Of
your prosperity as well as of ours-that sys
tenn which God in his infinite wisdom has per
mitted to be built up in our country to pro
mote, foster, and carry forward its great desti
ny-should meet mere tolerance at your hands
in the States in which it exists. No, sir we
would be craven, We would be traitors to our
constitutional rights, if we did not ask of you
what we have right to demand the benefits
of the great system of government which your
fathers and our fathers established We de.
mand it. We demand its benefits as well for
our property as for yours, within the legitimate
sphere of its action. We will not be content,
we ought not to be content, with anything less
We are willing to meet you here as indepen-
dent and patriotic men, aud stand as equals
upon level, face to face and eye to eye but
We do not intend that you shall be our supe-
riors--that you shall reap all the advantages
OF our common Government We want its
benefits also, and we insist upon them You
deprive Us of most of our constitutional rights
when you refuse to us all and every of the
blessings which those institutions were intend
ed to secure TO all the citizens of every State.
| Do not be mistaken let not gentlemen deceive
| themselves with the idea that we are asking
|
tutions in the States. We demand all ou: con-
stitutional rights-I say, We demand them
| Here the hammer fell
Mr.. GROW: The gentleman from Missis-
| sippi Mr.. QurrNANl complains of remarks made
by me yesterday, and refers the agitation which
exists in the country at the present moment
back to the year 1885, instead of to the repeal
Of the Missouri compromise In 1919, gentle
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souri, compromise was constitutional or not
whether or not it was violation of your con-
Stitutional rights under this SGovernment-your
/ fathers agreed with our fathers, on the 9th of
| March, 1920, that they would give up that
constitutional right-if they had it-and that
slavery should be forever after excluded from
the territory north of the line SO deg 80 min
| OF the one hundred and three gentlemen who
| then represented the South in this House and
in the senate, but forty-six voted against this
/ line. Among the number who sustained it was
! your own immortal Clay He declared in the
Senate of the United States, in 1850. that
a majority OF southern members sustained that
wrong-himSelf among the number" Whether
/ It's passage was or was not a violation Of
constitutional right, it was "a fair bargain"
and good faith required that it should be OBJ
Z
liuquiSh all right to carry slavery north of the
line of SO deg. 80 min. and after ayailing
yourselves of all the advantages secured by that
arrangement to you, after converting every
foot of territory south of that line into slave
territory, you came here, and by force of num-
! berS struck down that bargain which your IA
therS made, and which was religiouSly obsery-
ed for over third of 4 century
Nr nI- ITAT m ~, ,-.,-. -.
Clay voted for the Missouri Compromise
line
Mr.. GROW. do assert that Mr.. Clay
says he voted for the line of Sc deg 80 min.
Mr. HARRIS. of Illinois. He never did
say so.
Mr.. GROW. And that majority of south
ern members in the House and in the Senate
voted for it,
Mr.. BOWIE, Mr.. Clay has stated that
he did R0t vote for that line he was not pre-
sent, bat he thought that if he had been he
would very likely have done so.
Mr. GROW. | refer to speech made by
Mr.. CLAY in the Senate of the United States
on the 9th Of March, 1850, in which he saws
that dmoHg those ,cAo agrco9 10 that Ene trcre
Il ssGforitv Of soxtAcrR memb<rs." and that =. I
Aare no aarfAiy d0Rh tAat 1 rated im oommoa
Of tie lac Of Sc deg 80 RiH" That is the
language Of Mr.. Clay, in 1850, in the Senate
Of the United States And, although he can
not speak to-day with living voice, he does
speak through the records of his country and
| trust that no man will stand here 10 contra
dict his own declaration.
Mr.. HARRIS. VIII the gentleman allow
NE 10 interrupt him
Mr. GROW M I cannot now
Mr.. HARRIS The gentleman dares con-
tradiction of the statement that Mr. Clay vo-
ted for the line Of 36 deg. so min. | wish to
furnish contradiction
Mr.. GROW. You may do so when get
through
Mr.. HARRIS. You challenge contradic-
ton. and wish to make it.
Ms. GROW. No, sir, only refer to the
record. One word now in reply to the charge
of northern aggreSsionS upon the South, made
by the gentleman from Mississippi, Mr. Our
MAN, for whom | entertain the kindeSt feel
ngs; and the remarks may make trust win
not be considered as in any way rejecting per
sonally upon any southern man We expect
men coming here-reared under the influences
which surround them-impreSsed with the in
fueRces of the society in which they liFe-to
hold views upon slavery differing from ours
With that we find no fanlt but we claim the
right to hold the sentiments inculcated bv the
education of our childhood and influences which
hare surrounded our lives, and that Ee shall
be allowed TO express them here OF elsewhere
with the same freedom as q southern man ex-
presses his, without being disfranchised there
for under this Government
Sir. what are the northern aggreSsious that
the gentleman Sr@sks of LET me- Sax In tha
Mr. QUITMAN, (interupting I desire
TO ask the gentleman from Pennsylvania this
question whether be himself was not elected
as 3 member of this House On the principle
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