Nashville daily patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1855-1857, 1856-05-19

State. We demanded few days since his
authority for making this statement and
repeat the demand this morning. We shall
continue to repeat it until he adduces proof
or retracts the charge
/ But there have been Tennessee Congress
men and politicians who have admitted the
! constitutional power of Congress over the
question of slavery in the territories, and
so recorded their votes on the proposition
which presented the question in its most
odiouS form-Viz the Wilmot Proviso.
| The first on the roll is
JAMES K. POLK,
who, in I847, approved the Oregon bill,
which contained this odious and unconsti-
tutional clause; next in order is
CAVE JOHNSON,
now President of the Bank of Tennessee,
who voted for the same bill which Mr.. Polk
sanctioned; next we have
AARON V. BROWN,
an aspirant before the Cincinnati Conven-
ton, who did likewise; then comes
JULIUS W. BLACKWELL,
a star whose light has been quenched in
obscurity, but who voted with his colleagues
for the Oregon bill in Al; next in the pro-
cesson of Southern men dangerous to the
South" is
BARCLAY MARTIN,
President Pierce's U. S. Mail agent, who
cast a similar vote; following him we have
LUCIEN B. CHASE,
author of the History of the Polk Admin
istration, at present a resident of New York
city, but at the time he exhibited himself
as "a dangerous man to the South, a rep
resentative in Congress from this State; he
is succeeded by
FRED. P. STANTON,
for ten years Democratic Congressman
from the Memphis district; he voted for the
Oregon bill, with the Wilmot Proviso an
nexed; behind him in the march is
ALyAN CULLOM,
a Democratic Congressman, who has squat
ted on the other side of one of his native
mountains in the 4th district, and been qui-
escent for some years; he was one of the
Tennessee dangerous men," he voted twice
for the Wilmot Proviso; in the same cat
egory is
GEORGE W. JONES,
in the language Of another, the goose
which cackles at the door of the treasury
vault" notorious as a Southern supporter
of the Squatter Sovereignty doctrine, with
two votes on record in favor of the Will
mot Proviso, he may be reckoned as rery
dangerous to the South" last but not
least in this dread array of dangerous
men" is
ANDREW JOHNSON,
the present Governor of Tennessee, and
Cincinnati aSpirant; he voted three times for
the Wilmot Proviso, and so doubtful are
his doctines on the slavery question, that
many slaveholding members of his own
party regard him as extremely dangerous
to the South"
Our neighbor himself has a record upon
this power of Congress over slavery. He
has prepared a bitter potion for other lips;
we return it to his own, and intend that be
shalt drain the last cursed dreg. In the
Nashville Union of March 6, lS47, while
the Three Million Bill was pending in the
Senate, we find HIM admitting "the pow
er Of Congress TO establish or prohibit
slavery in the territory of the United
States" and according to his own admis-
sion, he is doing to the south more dam
age, and is more dangerous, than the Alb
olltionist of the North" Here is the un-
welcome souvenir
We do not regard the ADOPTION OF THE
"WIIMoT PRovIso" BY CONGRESS AS OF VITAL
CONSEQUENCE. The treaty making power is
vested by the Constitution in the President
aud Senate. Congress cannot Iegislate before
the territory IL acquired. Whether at a fu:gre
time slaueTy shall Be extended or fired, belop or
ADORE the latitude Of SO degrees so minutes
North, is not a matter for the a6solute dstermiI
nation of the present Congress, but clearly efa
future Congress, when the subject shall be
brought up for consideration. II the Wilmot
Proviso should have passed both Houses at the
present session, il may be rescinded at any fu-
ture session. II any territory Be acquired
from AerioO By treaty, IL oiH be incumbent on
any FUTURE CONGRESS 20 DECIDE rhether and 10
what ertent, SLAVERY SHALL EXIST IN
SUCH ACQUIRED TERRITORY.
Viewing the matter in this light, we hope
10 hear that the "Three Million Bill" has be-
cume law. We would, Of course, rather have
il without the Wimot Proviso, but that pro-
viso, if adopted, will not be binding on any
future Congress.
In IS47 the Union and American was
"eicarly' of the opinion that Congress had
power to determine the existence Of slavery
in the territories. And now it assumes to
estimate the orthodoxy Of Others
~. The Rlaet Rannhlipana ~ Illinois