Daily national Democrat., 1858-12-18
senator iinmmond,s sneech.

The following extracts are taken from the
the recent speech of Senator Hammond. of
South Carolina. at Barnwell:
"But this bill, Kansas Nebraska bin
with these new features, neither of them ~
any practicable Importance, magnifed
and exaggerated by orators and news.
papers into great Southern victory. led the
South into the deIWSion that Kansas ,aioht he
made stare State, and induced it 10 joiH in n
false and useless issue, which has kent the
whole country in turmoil for the last four
years and gave fresh life and yigor to the
Abolition party
"IhrSugh the most disgusting, as ceH as
tragic scenes of force and fraud, the Territory
OF Kansas at last came before Congress for
admission as State with what is known as
the Lecompton Constitution, embodying
slavery among its provisions But at the
same Convention, by an ordinance, de.
manded of the United States some twenty.
three millions of acres of land instead OF
the four millions usually allowed to new
States containing public lands. II was almost
certain that a majority Of the people of Kan
sas mere opposed to this Constitution. but
would not vote on it, and this additional
nineteen millions, which, if allowed, would
probably have kept them again from the re.
cent polls, was what the South was expected
to pay for that worthless slavery clause
which would have been annulled as soon as
Kansas was admitted.
81 confess my opinion pds that the South
herself should kick that Constitution ont OF
Congress. But the South thought otherwise
"The only principle involved in this whole
Kansas affair-if an affair SO rotten from be
ginning to end can have aprinciple at all
was this: Would Congress admit q slave
State into the Union? The Senate said yes
The House, by adopting the Crittenden sub.
stitute, said yes, if we are assured that a
majority of the people of the State are in ia.
vor of it. For this substitute all the opposi.
tion voted iin both houses, SO that everv
member of Congress of all parties, first and
last, committed themselves to the principle
and policy that State should be admitted
into the Union, with or without slavery ac-
cording to the will of its own people-thus
reenacting one feature of the Kansas and Ne.
braska bill. / shouId myself hare been will
ing to rest there, and let Kansas rest also.
Whatever there Was Of principle or honor IN the
mater ,caS secured By tie U0tes already qiuen.
The English bill, however, came up in due
course, and voted for it cheerfullv, believ-
ing that it was better calculated than anv
that had been offered to close up this misera-
ble business which has furnished much the
most disgraceful chapter, so far, in our his
tory"
These extracts, says the Philadelphia
Press, are significant, and show that in the
South, as well as in the North, the real merits
OF the Kansas controversy are beginning to
be clearly understood and commented upon.
The theory which the Northern Democracy
have long maintained, that the idea of max
ing Kansas a slave State was a delusion. is
freely confessed, as well as the disgusting
as well as tragic scenes of force and fraud"
by which false and useless issue" has been
keptlup chiefly by the aid and influence of a
tells his constituents that he thought with
Douglas, Walker, Wise, and the anti-Le
compton Democracy, that the Lecompton
Constitution should have been "kicked out of
Congress" And he acknowledges that he
would have been willing to let the whole
question rest upon the basis of the Critten-
den Montgomery bill, which received the
support of every anti-Lecompton member of
the last Congress. Thus has leading South
ern statesman, in the very hot-bed of nullfi-
cation, frankly, fully, and freely confessed
the justice and wisdom of the anti Lecomp-
ton policy on this question.