Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-12-25
MR.. HALE ON THE PRESIDENT.

SENATE, December 6, 1858.
The Presidents annual message having been
read
Mr.. Bigler offered the following orders:
"Ordered, That the message and accompanying
documents be printed.
ordered, That twenty thousand additional
copies Of the message and accompanying docu.
ments be printed, for the use of the Senate"
Mr.. HALE If the President in this message,
had confined himself to what | believe to be his
constitutional prerogatiye-that is, from time to
time to give to the Congress information of the
Union, and recommend to their consideration
such measures as he shall Judge necessary and eN'
pedient," let the character of those measures be
what it might, l should not have felt called upon
to say anything on this occasion but / think the
President has abused his constitutional preroga.
tive. and gone out of the way to interpo!ate a
statement Of transactions that have long since
transpireo, and that have nothing to do with any
recommendation which he has seen fit to make,
and which %tatement, in my humble Judgment, is
not consistent with the truth of history.
The President has undertaken, too, to give o
judicial exposition OF what the Supreme Court has
decided. He says that court has decided 'that
all <dWeTlCdu CillLeus udNe an eHutl TIpul U ldht
inte the Territories whatever is held as property
thers. under the guardianship of the Federal Con-
stitxtior, 80 long as the Territorial condition shall
remain" ! do not know but that the Supreme
Court of the United States may thus decide when
such n question shall be presented, but it is news
to me that they have decided it l have seen
nothing Of that sort. The decision to which the
President refers is obnoxious to censure enough.
in my humble judgment but | think no member
Of that court will ever say they have made such q
decision as the President asserts, Let me here
say, once for all - l had hoped we were done
with the bred Scott decision-tha | can tell the
President, and whoever sees fit to bring that de
cision before theCongress of the American people,
aud to challenge for i, the respect which is due to
. ~solemnly nd udicnted decision Of that high tri
bunal. tina t whenever they do it, instead Of com
manding or olici,ing respect for the decision, they
will only lessen the hold which the tribunal tina
makes it has upon the public confidence and thu
respect for the community.
There is another matter. The President says
at was the rests lance to rightful authority, ant
the preserving attempts to establish n revolution
ary Government under the Topeka Constitution
which caused the people Of Kansas to commit thu
grave error Of refusing to vote for delegates to the
Convention to frame a Constitution, under q law
not denied to be fair and just in its provisions
This refusal to vote has been the prolific source Of
all the evils which have followed"
Now, sir does no. the president of the United
State krows that the refusal to vote, on the par
Of these people, was not what he says il was; buI
1t was because they had no opportunity il they die
vote to have their votes fairly counted ? Does tn,
President undertake to say that the refusal o
these men to vote was q resistance to rightful au
thority7 Does he not know that whenever Their
was anything approaching a fair opportunity 70
the people of that Territory to vote. hey did SO
Why. they improved the FIRST opportunity an,
tie result Of the first attempt of that people. wbel
1t could be fairly exercised, was o rebuke of hin
and ali his measures.
The President again. in his message. undertake
to reiterate what. / venture TO say, il he does 10
know is no. true. everybody else does. and tina
Il. that the great question Of the right 20 intro
duec Slavery into the Territory was, as he says
fairly Submitted 10 that people aud because tbos
men refused to vote when IL was thus fairly SUI
mitted to them. they we're guilty of the crime @
treason. or Of opposition to tbe Governmeat-
treason, [ think il has been called on many occa
sssBsI
Nov, sir. il is too late 10 the dag to make an,
each assertion, because the facts are too psipsbi
for anybody to eontsad before this eo0atry tbs
the psopss OF ksssss eYer had, under the subuis
sion Of the Lcconptou Constitution, the right 4