The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-01-22
THE NATIONAL ERA: WASHINGTON, D. G, JANUARY 22 1857

the States, shall be preserved" Sir, we wen
before the country with this declaration that thu
Federal Constitution, the Constitution as it is
should be preserved and yet the President ha:
arraigncd us before the civilized world, anG
charged us with an attempt to undermine thu
Constitution and laws of our country, and doing
so for revolutionary purposes-purposes thai
will battle the fields of the country in blood in
volve cities in conhagration, and carry death
throughout the land
Senators have declared on this floor that we
have not dsclaimed the right to interfere with
! Slavery in the States. | understood the Senator
from Ohio Mr.. PUGH1 to say that we had not
made that disclaimer. say to that Senator
say to all, that it was intended by this express
sion, 4" The rights ofthe States shall be pre-
served" to cover that and all other questions
of State rights. Sir,rthe Republican party OF
1856, like the Republican party of 1900, is the
party of State rights. We believe the security
of Liberty in America depends upon the preser-
walton of our town authorities, of our county au-
thories, of our State rights and, if State rights
are broken down, if the Government is central
ized-ind it is tending i'll that dircction-we be-
lieve the liberty OF the country will be in peril
These doctrines we have avowed everywhere
before the people and in the public press We
vindicate the rights of the States-the right of
the Southern States, if they choose to hold men
in Slavery, and the right of Massachusetts, Yer
w
their own legislation the liberty of every man
that treads their soil, until his liberty has been
forfeited by due process of law.
Then we are charged in the message with
having entered upon path which has no pos
sible outlet but disunion. When the Republican
party was organized the avowal was made that
the Union must be maintained. The declaration
of Mr. Webster a" Liberty and Union, now and
forever one and inseparable )" the declaration
of Andrew Jackson, e" The Union must be pre-
served" were borne throughout the canvass on all
our banners. In the public press, and before the
people everywhere, the doctrine was maintained
that we were for the Union and if any men,
North or South, laid their hands upon it, they
should die, if we had the power, traitor deaths,
and leave traitor names in the history of the
Republic.
This charge of disuniOn made against the
Republican party by the President comes with
an ill grace from the chief of party which has
in its ranks every political disuniOnist of the
United States. The Senator from Georgia, CMr.
TOoMBs, not now here, declared, IF Fremont
were elected the Union would be dissolved, and
ought to be-" The Senator from Louisiana Mr..
SLIDELL, the organizer of Mr.. Buchanan's wing
| of the Democratic party, and its acknowledged
leader during the canvass, avOwed the same sem
timens. Governor Wise, whose indecent assaults
upon Colonel Fremont and his mother shocked
the feelings of every gentleman in America,
| tuTtdtcHtu W ulSSOlNc tic OUlOH, lie was Ttduy
to organize the militia of Virginia. to place them
upon war footing, and they were ready, he said,
to =" hew their bright way" through all opposing
| legions We are now told by the Richmond
ENQUIRER, that Wise who made the tour to Raleigh,
who called upon the grand juries and courts to
indct Bolts for defending the Union in his domin-
ions, that he only made these threats to preserve
the Union. The Richmond Enquirer of the 9th
of October last declared, that if Fremont were
elected, it would be the duty of the South 10 dis
solve the Union, and form Southern cOnfedera-
cy; and we were told further South, that if FIRE.
/ mont were elected, it would he their duty to
march on Washington and take possession of the
archives and Treasury Of the United States" for
getting that the treasures of the Treasury were
at Boston, New York, and Philadelphia in the
enemy's Countrywide North.
The President charges us with engaging in a
| sectional movement, which he tells US has been
| rebuked. The Senator from South Carolina Mr..
| BUTLER gave as a reason why the Republican
movement sectional, that both its candidates
were from the North. Has the Senator from
South Carolina forgotten that his own State in
1896, set the example of that species of section
alism, by voting for Pinckney and Jefferson, when
it should have voted for Adams and Pinckney :?
Has he forgotten that in 1872 the Federal party
supported De Witt Clinton, of New York, and
Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania, both of them from the
free States ? Has he forgotten that in 1925 Jack
| son and Calhoun, both Southern men, were sup
ported on one side, and Adams and Rush, both
Northern men, ON the other? Has he forgotten
that in 1896 the Wing party generally supported
General Harrison for the Presidency, and Mr..
Granger of New York, for the Vice Presidency
both frce-State mem Why this charge about
! sectionalism because both of the candidates hap
| pencd to be from the North Why may not the
West complain, if both of the candidates happen
to be from the Atlantic coast? Our early states
| hat f division SbOul1 ham
| pen il would not be between the South and the
| North but between the East and West. tell
the Senator from South Carolina, that we had
| candidates from the North bacause had no
| men from the South for either of those offices
| who would however much they might have
| agreed with u.s. venture to assume our position.
We should rejoice to have found Southern
man of talent, Of character and position before
the country, who would have taken our platform
| of principles and accepted our nomination for
either President or Vice President More than
one Southern man of high character was consult
| ed in regard to our movement. | will tell the
Senator the reason why Southern statesmen did
not venture to assume our position and accept Of
the nomination. They had no faith in our move
ment, no faith in its power no faith in the fidelity
to Freedom Of the people Of the North. remem-
Der the words of one Southern statesman who
was consulted in relation to this movement. A
few weeks before the close Of the last session, in
conversation with Mr.. Clayton, he said: You
| Northern people never stand by US when we stand
by YOU. Whenever any Southern statesman has
undertaken to stand by the rights of the North,
your people have forsaken him, and he has been
borne down" When we prove that we will stand
by Southern men who will stand by true national
principles when we establish that character for
ourselves in the North then we shall have South
ern men who will stand on true, broad and
national platform, that cOmprehends the whole
| tnc1ubinr the North If mamma tiops
were to be now made, believe we could find
more than one Southern man ready to stand
ppon the Philadelphia platform, and to accept
our nomination for the Presidency or the Vice
Presidency. f
The Senator from Virginia Mr.. MAsoS1 claims
that the South has constitutional right to the
expansion of Slavery, as political element, into
the Territories He assured the Senate that he
cared nothing about the distinctions We make be-
tween the Garrison Abolitonists the Radical
Abolitionsts, and the Republicans; that he held
opposition to the extension of Slavery in the Ter
ritOries to be a war upon Slavery in the States,
because they had constitutional right to the ex-
pansion of Slavery as a political element In
lS4S, the Senator from Virginia, who tells us that
it is matter of profound Indifference to him and
the people of his State whether we claim the pow
er to abolish Slavery in the States prohibit il
in the Territories voted to prohibit it in three hun
dred thousand square miles of our Territory. In
l84S this Senator voted to extend to the Pacific
ocean the Missouri Compromise approved the
9th of March, 1890 He voted for this PROPOSE
ton:
"That the eighth section of the Missouri Com.
promise act approved March 9th, 1920, be and
{ the same is hereby declared to extend to the
Pacific ocean and the said eighth section, to-
gsther with the Compromise therein effected, i:
, hereby revived and declared to be in full forcs
and binding for the future organization of thu