The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1860-07-06
SPEECH OF
SENATOR CLINGMAN
OF NORTH CAROLINA,
On the subject OF the proposed
doctrine OF the inlerVen-
tiOM TO protect Slavery
ian the Territories.
SPEECH OF
NNN ~ ~ ~ ~

i'm the Territories.
N~>>N~> N~>NN~
The Senate having under consideration the
.esolutions offered by Mr.. DAVIS, of Mississippi
Mr.. CLTNGMAN said
Mr. PRESIDENT Most of the speech of theSen.
ator fromMiss. (Alr. DavIs,) l cordially approve
There are one or two points however, IN which
differ with him and, notwithstanding The
lateness OF the hour, If Senators will indulge
me, shalt endeavor to state them. II | under
stand his resolutions Alright, they contemplate
intervention by Congress for the protection, 10
the Territories, OF property IN slaves. For
some years past, we have stood on the docrlne
OF non-Intervention, and there is no middle
ground which we can take.
The Senator from Mississippi says that he does
not approve OF slave code. Well, sir, what
are we to understand by slave code | take
II to be legislation to protect, or to regulate
property in slaves. II you depart from the
principle OF non-intervsntion, and legislate to
protect property in slaves, you necessarily make
some sort Of slave code, and il may be either
short one or long one
| am opposed to departing, at this time, from
the policy of non-interventIon. was not one
of the original advocates of that measure. On
the contrary, twelve or fifteen years ago, IN
common with the great body Of the South, /
maintained the opinion that the Federal Gov
ernment had complete jurisdiction over the Ter
rtories and I voted for the extension of the
Missouri compromise hne to the Pacific. That
necessarily implied two things first, that Con-
greSs had power to prohibit slavery IN the ter
sSfrel, ttlut - isof pots'sE ~ TStdoHSd
or protect it because the original Missouri
compromise line declared, in the exact terms of
the Wilmot proviso, that north OF the line of
&c deg. 30 min. slavery or involuntary serVi-
tude never should exist, while it was allowed
10 remain south OF 1t. Every one of US who
voted tor the extension oil that line thereby ne
cessarily admitted that this Government had au-
ihorlty to establish or protect the Constitution ;
and if we had denied the power, we could not
have given the vote. | am free to say, that /,
subsequently changed my oplnion and prior to
the decision in the Dred Scott case / published
my views in accordance with the doctrine laid
down in that decision, as | understand it. That
however, is merely personal to myself, and can
not affect the Senate.
But. sir, 10 IS+7, General Cass brought for
ward the non-intervention doctrine. He was
sustained BY Daniel S. Dickinson and by John
c. Calhoun, and other distinguished statesmen !;
and though was then an opponent of it, [ am
Tree TO say that ! believe IFS advocates were
perhaps nearer right than | was. So remarka-
5ie was the statement of Mr.. Calhoun at that
time that shall ask the indulgence of the SEN
ate for single moment while | read few ex-
tracts from his speech. Some Of his remarks
were almost prophetic, and anything from him
has great weight with gentlemen OF the school
o which the Senator from Mississippi and my
sel belong. In his opening remarks in his
speech of June 9th, ,l848, he SAID
"There Is a very striking difference between the
position tn which the slaYeh olding and non-slave
holding States stand in refer to the subject
der consideration. The former desire no action of
the Government; demand no law to give them any
advantage in the Territory about To be es tab ished
willing TO leave 1t, and other Territories beon-
ging TO the United States, open TO all their tizens
so long they continue to be Territories, nd when
they cease to be So to leave il to their nh abtants
10 form such governments may suit them, with
ont restriction copditon, except that imposed by
the Constitution as a prerequisite for admission
into the Union. In short, they are win to leave
the whole subject where the Constitution and the
great and fundamental principles of segove rnment
pla ce it,"
What further did he Say7
" Nor should the North fear that, by leaving it
where Justice and the Constitution leave it, she
would be excluded from her full share of the TIE rri
torres In my opinion, II 1t be left there, climate,
SOIL, and other clrcu instances, would fix the line
between the siaveholdng and non-slav ehodng
States in about So deg. 80 min. 1t may zig-zag
little, to accommodate itself 10 circumstances some
times passing to the north and others to the south
OF II but hat would matter little, and would be
more satisfactory TO ALL and tend less to alienation
betwuen the two great sections than rigid,
straight artificial line, prescribed by act of Con-
gress'"
"But go further, and hold that justice and the
Constitution are the easiest and safest guard on
which the question be settled, regarded in ref
erence to party. 1t may be settled on that ground
simply by non.acton--by leaving the Territories
Tree and open to the emigration of all the world,
iongas they continue SO and when they become
States, to adopt whatever constitution they please,
with the single restriction to be republican, in
der to their admission into the Union. Ii a party
caEnot safely take this broad and solid position, and
maintain It, what other it take and main
taiE 2"
Remember this was an earnest exhortation to
Inc Democratic party, prior to the assemblage
oi Its national convention in that year.
'li i cannot maintain itself by an appeal to the