Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1860-03-01
CONGRESS.
,.,,oRrEp FOR THE ALEXANDRIA GAZETTE.
s.rats. Wednesday, February 30.

lKEPOhlED A0-'
Senate, Wednesday, February 30.
Tho lobbies of the galleries, as also those
.hs Senate floor, were very much crowd
u A portion of the gentlenen's gallery
Gu. reserved for members of the Pennsylva-
"a' Ios;slature, large number Of whom oc-
eupied them. ~
eu NJ Gwin. from the Committee on Finance,
-.anrted back the House bill, without amend
'ant. making appropriations for invalid and
me- lahar nensious for the year ending June 81,
Ts6O. which was read third time ana pass
Mr. Gwin. from the same Committee re-
noTted back the military Academy .appro..
ppy;ation bill. 1t was laid over, notices OF
amendment being gwen.
Mr.. Mason, of Va, introduced resolu-
finn requesting the President to communi-
70 10 the Senate such information as
- NAV have received from the Governor OF
Tsxas' relative to the troubles on the Rio
(irande
The Senate then took up bill for the
.a,,;ssion of Kansas into the Union under
,hs constitution framed at Wyandotte.
Mr. Seward said that he had already anti
.;nated the arguments which led him to be-
Gaya that Kansas should be at once admitted.
ne would speak on this occasion OF the gene
al notifies. 1t would be sad if his inter
nretation of the "feverish dream winch
pow afflicted the public mind should tend to
srcite rather than allay the feeling. Where
syar one ruiltless slave existed he was the
snb;ect of two opinions, one that he was
tightly aud the other that he was wrongly
hsld in seryitude. Every consideration of
slavery must take the rights of the slave as
the basis of just thought. 10 the slave
States the laborer was merely property
without relations, rights or sympathies, and
was not the subject of rights-but OF sale,
henuest, transfer and theft. The State
nro,eets not the man rs such. but the proper
~ which another man has in him. In the
one case capital invested in slaves becomes
potical power, in the other, labor was the
SYNONYM of power, and hence one class OF
States might be called capital States and
the other class 'labor" States. This sla-
very question was question worldwide,
and one which met every nation in its on
ward progress. Our fathers met the ques-
ton and settled it, They declared IN the
Declaration of Independence, and meant
what they said, that, ''aU men were tree
and equal" When they met TO form the
Federal Government, slavery came up un-
der several aspects, and it was agreed that
three fifths of the slaves should be repre-
sented in the Federal Government, that
fugitive slaves should be delivered up, that
the North West should be dedicated to free
labor. and the South West allowed TO remain
slave as it was; and that until 1908 the slave
trade should not be prohibited, but after
that period it should cease. 50 the matter
continued until the acquisition OF Louisiana,
and further settlements brought up the con-
test of 1920.
The Missouri question of 1920 was the
question Of 1860, not only in principle, but
in the very spot of that conflict. lthad been
forced to vast proportions by the interest un-
born millions had in its decision. The dis
cussion of this question had shown three
things. lst. that the capital States could
easily combine in defence even OF their ex-
trinsic interests. I'd. that the labor" States
have natural loyalty to that Union. 3rd.
that the Capital States have nataral facill-
ty of alarming the loyalty of the labor :
States, to the Union.
He sketched after the Black Republican
fashion the political aspects which the ques-
ton had assumed since 1920, and declared
that after Clay and Webster had carried
through the compromise of 1850, aud the
country settled down into a quiet acquies-
snce in these measures, the measure had been
reopened by the passage of the kansas-Ne-
braska bill
The Wings in this hall, in an hour of
strange bewilderment concurred, and the
Wing party went down never to rise again.
lie declared that out Of this action had grown
the present agitation OF the question, and
despairing of popular majority. the Dem
ocratc party now masked itself behind the
Supreme Court, as if it were possible that
the National Legislature could not have
powers of legislation which were possessed
BY a tribunal which could never have any
but collateral jurisdiction over the subject,
and then only if the subject matter was over
500. without the intervention OF jury OF
twelve men.
The democracy had now attempted 10
frighten the loyalty of the north. The north
had suffered much for the Union. Foreign
nations wondered why the advance OF slave
~ was permitted; why its assaults were so
long suffered They did not know how pa
tient and long suffering the north had been,
fearing lest contrary course might endan-
ger the Union. They had been told that to
save the Union they must sacrifice some
of their devotion to liberty. But now they
understood it, and they were determined to
save liberty and the Union together.
The choice of the nation was now between
the Democratic party and the Republican
party. lie knew no distinctive principle OF
the Republican party, except to resist by all
legal and constitutional means. the extension
of slavery. 1t was charged that the Repub-
licans were hostile to the South. This was
not so. The Republicans were majority OF
the North, and controlled it; and if the charge
were true, the North was hostile to the South.
This was untrue because the men OF the
North were brothers of their Southern
neighbors.
TWAS also charged that the Republicans
were sectional. Were not the Democrats
equally 50? Give the Republican party
free speech-free opportunity to spread their
sentiments at the South, and 1t would be
buta short time before there would be more
Republicans in the South than there were
Democrats in the North (Applause.l But
the Republican party had to meet also, an
other issue, menaces of disunion, stronger
than ever before, and from higher quarters
than ever. 1t was only delayed until the
Il Al Stra.