Weekly American. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1858-1858, 1858-04-24

| PoiShiShb Wao uOb Icuuhy hbTccu 10 uhu OC-
casion to show in a debate here eleven years ago,
| when this same question was before the Senate. /
| then read the remarks made IN the convention by
the distinguished ancestors of the Senator from
| Virginia, who urged US the other day to go back
to the ways Of "the fathers" upon this slavery
question. Upon this demand of South Carolina
and Georgia to withhold the power from Congress
for twenty years, Virginia then said, by Colonel
Mason:
Thisinfernal traffic originated in the avarice of
British merchants. The British Government con.
ftantly checked the attempts of Virginia to put
q stop to it. The present question concerns not
the importing States alone, but the whole Union.
The evil Of having slaves was experienced during
! the late war. Had slaves been treated as they
might have been by the enemy, they would have
proved dangerous instruments in their hands.
But their folly dealt by the slaves as it did by
the Tories. He mentioned the dangerous insur-
'rections of the slaves in Greece and Sicily; and
the instructions given by Cromwell to the COM
missioners sent to Virginia, to arm the servants
and slaves, in case other means of obtaining its
submission should fail. Maryland and Virginia,
'he said, had already prohibited the importation
| Of slaves expressly North Carolina has done
the same in substance. All this would be in vain
if South Carolina and Georgia be at liberty to i'm
port. The Western people are already calling
| out for slaves for their new lands, and will fill
that country with slaves, if they can be got
through South Carolina and Georgia. Slavery
dscourages arts and manufactures. The poor
| despise labor when performed by slaves. They
prevent the emigration of whites, who really en-
rich and strengthen a country. They produce
the most pernicious effects on manners. Every
master of slaves is born petty tyrant. They
bring the Judgment of Heaven upon a country.
! As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in
the next world, they must be in this. BY an in.
evtable chain Of causes and effects, Providence
Furnishes national sins by national calamities He
| 'lamented that some of our Eastern brethren had,
as from lust Of gain, embarked in the nefarious
traffic. As to the States being. in possession of
the right to import this was the case with many
'other rights, now to be properly given up. He
held it essential in every point of view, that the
General Government should have power to pre-
went the increase of slavery"
This argument as well as all other extracts I
have made from revolutionary documents, shows
the determination of our ancestors that the Gen
eral Government should have power to prevent
the increase of slavery" No arguments in this
Senate, or reasoning in the court below us, can
conceal these facts. The feeling against slavery,
instead of being stronger now than when the Con.
stitution was framed, as the court have argued, l
think is Just the reverse; for slavery has become
| IL .Ia ~ tI,a
Constitution than it was before; and interest has
a powerful influence upon the minds of men, even
in such questions 1t is from interest that the
igrants from Southern States who are not slave
holders desire Kansas to be free State. The
stakeholder, from the same calculation of interest
wants the uncultivated lands to be withheld from
the free laborers, and reserved for the profitable
employment of his slaves, when, by their growth
or importation, he may have sufficient slaves tc
cultivate them. The difference between the two
classes Of men is that the free laborer is here now
and wants the land for cultivation the slave labor
is subject to all the contingencies Of distant flu
ture. The moral aspects of the question should
be considered elsewhere; the Senate is not the
place TO discuss or decided such questions. will
say a single word in answer to the repeated
charges from the other side Of the Chamber, that
Senator'S on this side are all rabid Abolitonists.
do not believe there is one here who can truth
fully be called rabid Abolitionist. I know am
not one, never was, and never expect to be- in the
sense in which that term is used by Senators Of
the Democratic side Of the Chamber.
So far as my vote in this body may contribute
to affect the measures of this Government it shall
be given in the spirit Of the Constitution under
which we live-interfcring with no questions de-
signed 10 be left with the States. / believe this
will best promote the happiness Of all classes and
races of men among u.s. and, while believe that
slaves are held in some States where the people
would be better off without them, Il is their bust
ness, and not mine. l shall not interfere with
such questions myself, or act with any party who
may propose such interference, II any such should
ever exist.
1 can see no real cause of irritation between
the two sections if those living upon the borders
between the slave and free States will observe the
bligatons of good neighborhood in their inter.
course with each other. With such disposition
to observe the obligations imposed by the Consti.
tuition, can see no reason why the South should
be annoyed with the sentiments of the people of
distant States. What could the people Of Rhode
Island do to annoy themH They could not mo.
lest them II they would, and would not II they
could. Why this denuncation Of the Northern
States-distant States-for any opinions they may
entertain on the question Of slavery They are
not responsible for the irritation which arises be-
tween the people in the immediate neighborhood
of slaves. see no disposition at home, and have
seen none for thirty years, to produce irritation
at the South. As to this controversy about Kan.
sas, it is made by the South itself.
IL this suitable place to try the experiment Of
forcing slavery into Territory, a country with
out laws, and where the only power which has a
right to govern has abdicated government for l
insist, whatever may be said about popular sover-
eighty that this government has the constitutional
power to govern the Territories. We may, as
we have done, authorize a Territorial Legisla-
ture to participate, when given number Of in
habitants have settled there but this Kansas
Nebraska act is the first instance in our history
where power was delegated to Legislature with
out reference to the population, and without con-
troll on the part Of this Government over their lie.