Arkansas true Democrat., 1859-04-13

'i0 oOAiSdtloh lS upon ~ OngFeSs, the $Ii- preme court has already decided tilat we are entitled to protection. The territorial le- glslature, repeat again, which denies 1t to us, IS your creature; you made it, and you can unmake it. 1t lives upon your breath; 1t exists by your forbearance; and l, for one, am not content to be thus con- promised out of my constitutional rights rights secured to me by my'forefatbers, and guarantied by the decision of the supreme court of the United States. I agreed to vention but | never agreed. after we had established rights by the decision of the supreme court, we were to be de- prived of those rights by congressional compromise If, as the supreme court has decided, the obligation is upon YOU to pro- fect my property, no agreement among po- liticians or parties can discharge you from that obligation.
 have heard 1t said Mr. President. that when we come here with bill asking pro- tection for our slave property in the terri tories, the dominant party of the north will take the other side of the proposition, and abolish slavery in the territories. Impo- tent threat. lmpotent appeal to cowardlv fears! Have VOL any higher right to abol- ish slavery. because ask protection for it. than you would have if 1 asked nothing? Does the mere fact of my coming and ask Ing for my constitutional rights open the door to you to destroy my rights? Sup pose the Senator from Massachusetts, who represents very important commercial in- terest very important commercial marine, should come and ask you to amend and forlty your laws in reference to the coast wise trade; and should tell you that there were pirates in the Gulf, seizing his ships, plunderlng the cargo, and murlering the crews, scuttlng the vessels; and suppose he came with bill asking protection; want to know If that would conferupon you any light to turn pirate yourselves, scuttle his ship, murder th7 crew. and steal the cargo? No, sir. If t were case fairly stasod and honestly fortified you woulI saw. ' the ob- hgatlon is upon ls 10 give alequa,e aul sufficient p.o.e 10 this property. and We will do 1t by the nava, aa3 military power oi the governments" anl have |. sir less right to demand protection loE my slave property in tile territories. aul ought i to be content to take less? Ii i come and ask you to discharge youg constitutional obligation. can you any more turn pi lte in my case than you could turn pirate in the case of the Senator from Massachusetts? line obligation to protect is one thing; the power to destroy is altogether a different thing. l say, again, the threat that, if we come and demand protection for our slave property, you will take the converse of the proposition, and pass anti-slavery laws, passes me by as the idle wind It is an impotent threat; and it appeals to cowardice and the meanest passions of the southern people.
 give you warning now, that if Kansas egisate in spirit of hostility to slavery, the State which l represent, and, in my opinion, a vast majority of the southern people, will come to Congress, and demand oI you, in obedience to the written consti- tution as expounded by the illustrious men who adorn the supreme bench of the Unit ed States, that you annul their legislation, and substitute instead laws giving adequate and sufficient protection to slave property. When you have done that, you will have discharged your duty, and your whole duty; and, when you do less, you are derelict in your duty, under the constitution of the United States
 When we came into this Union, Mr. Pre- sldent, we came as equals. Mine was not one of the original States; but the act which admits her admits her on footing of equa- lity with the original States Therefore she stands in the Union to-day claiming all the rights, all the privileges, all the i'm munlties, which belong to any one of the slsterhood and, much as 1 honor her. 1 would never plant my foot ou her soil again, 50 help me God, if she consented to take less than that
 We ask nothing which we are not willing to give. We ask nothing that we are not willing to yield. Come and demand pro- tecton for your property, upon the high seas or i'll the territories, and l shall be ready to give it; not with stinted measure, but 1 will give you that sort of protection which will secure you in the peaceable, quet, and happy enjoyment of your pro- perty. W hen 1 come as an equal, and de- nand the same thing, 1 want to know whe- tner you will measure to me that equal jus tice for which, l tell you, 1 have always been ready and am still ready and shall re- nam ready to mete out to you.
 l hope that on these points I am under stood. | do not wish to weary the Senate with a long speech on this or any other question. l know how speedily the hours fly, anu how impatient the Senate is tc transact its business; but this, repeat again, Is an element which must enter into the next presidential contest; you cannot keep It out; and before we enter on the threshold of that contest, 1t is right for all who feel as do, that they neither want tc cheat nor be cheated-to understand where they are. l think 1 understand the posi- tlon of the Senator from Illinois, Mir Douglas, and l dissent from 1t. If 1 un. derstand him, he thinks that a territorial legislature may, by non-action or by un- friendly action, rightfully exclude slavery 1 do not think so. But if territorial legis lation is to be the end of legislation, he is right. If your doctrine of non-interven. tion shall be carried to the extent of allow ing territorial legislature, by non-action or unfriendly action, to annul decision o1 the supreme court, then l say to the Senate and to the world that the Senator from II. linois is right by non-acton, by unfriend- ly action within the limitation of constitu tional power, the territorial legislature car exclude slavery. But it is question o- power; not of right What 1 want tt know is, whether you will interpose agains power and in favor of right; or whethe you will stand by, dissenting in words iron the Senator from Illinois, and vet, for al practical purposes, sustaining him by re iuslng to lnterpose your authority to over throw the unconstitutiona and tvrannica acts oi your creature-the territorial legis lature. The Senator thinks the lerislatur has the right, by non-action or unfriendl action, to exclude me, with my slaves You tell me you do not think so. Bu what matters it to me what you think. i you will do nothing to secure me in m, rights? If the territorial legislature refuse to act, will you act? Ii 1t pass unfriendl acts, will you pass friendly? If it pas laws hostile to slavery, will you annul them and substitute laws, ,favoring slavery in thei Steadr Iii yOu cannot oiya a fl ro,o t;,-o n ',