The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-03-28

the negro to another extent than the one ad
mitted by himself Of his inalienabe right t,
liberty, have done any wrong or violates
any principle Of the Declaration of IRtlepen
dence? The good of society requires you b
hang white man, and you hang him. Th
good Of society requires us to ensiave the blacl
man, and we enslays him.
Speaking ofthe Declaration of independents
beg to say to that Senator, and Others VIII
constantly allude to it. that it is of authorit,
only as an argument. The Declaration of In
dependence IS the memorandum upon which
is founded the contract entered into by tn
States. 1t is not the contract itself, nor is i
any part of il. The Declaration of Indepen
dence was addressed to the king and the Par
Lament and the people Of Great Britain.
simply formed basis of action, when the con
vention was assembled to make the Fedora
Constitution The Constitution is the con
tract, the Constitution is the compact, the Con
stitution is the bargain into which we entered
and it is. useless to read to me the mere me
moranda on which the contract was based TO
the purpose of overthrOwing the contract it
SELF Every lawyer knows, that whateve
may have been the basis Of contract, it il
not binding on the parties after the contrac
itself has been written out, signed, sealed, ant
delivered. 1t is the Constitution which i.
binding. I make these remarks simply t
show that Senators waste great deal of tint
Unnecessarily in reading the Declaration o
independence even if their const. uction o
its language, is right, which by no means ad
init; but, even admitting that their construc
ton is right, want my rights secured, guar
antied, and protected, as it is provided in the
Constitution, and not as yol say it was sug
gested in the Declaration of Independence.
Mr.. President, the Senator from Delaware
Mr.. Salisbury took occasion the other day
to denounce these resolutions Of mine as mere
distractions. / beg to remind the Senator
that the resolutions call for direct, immediate
and positive legislation-legis' alton needed by
Us, and guaranteed, as | believe, to us by the
| Constitution. Shall be charged with bring
ing in list Of distractions when introduced
a proposition, as believe, at the right time and
in the right place, calling for such legislation
as the people whom represent absolutely re-
quire for the security Of their property? Is
that an abstraction which looks to positive
action on the part of this body which calls
on the Legislature and the Executive to give
us such laws as will afford US protection to
our lives, our liberties and our property Is
it ary more an abstraction that should call
for protection for my slaves, than that gentle
men from New England should call for pro-
lection for their shipping and their merchan-
disc Is it any more an abstraction that
should call for the protection Of my slave pro-
perty than that the Senator should move a
resolution looking to an improvement of the
breakwater in the Delaware Bay? These
are not distractions. / beg to remind the
Senator that these are resolutions which
look to positive legislation. purposely avoi-
ded subjecting myself to the imputation of hav-
ing brought mere distractions before the
Senate
Mr.. Salisbury. viii the Senator from
Mississippi allow me moment, as he has re-
ferred to a remark that made in reference to
his resolutions ?
Mr.. Brown. Certainly.
Mr.. Salisbury. What, Mr.. President, were
the contents Of the resolutions offered by the
Senator from Mississippi Did the resolutions
themselves propose any immediate legislation?
Not at all. They were simply declaratory of
certain principles, upon which there was a
division of opinion among the people of the
country. They declared, first, that the law
making power, wherever lodged, was bound
to protect slave property ; and that, if q Terri
.torial Legislature neglected to perform this
duty, which was incumbent on them, then it
would become the duty of the Federal Con-
gress to provide that protection. Did he show
single instance where any person protested
to be aggrieved by non-legislation, either by a
Territory or by Congress Did he present
petition from any STAKEHOLDER, in any part
OF the whole country, asking for this protection?
Did he cite single instance where wrong or
injury had been done by withholding this
- ~
solutions, in themselves, did not contemplate
legislative action, and proposed no immediate
legislative action. think, therefore, was right
IN declaring, as did, that the resolutions of the
Senator, as well as the resolutions of a kindred
character which were then before the Senate,
were simply resolutions in reference to alb
stract questions Of legal right.
Mr.. Brown. Mr. President, | am very
sorry that my resolutions have been before
the Senate for nearly two months under de-
bate every week during that time, and that
the Senator has not found what is in them
The second resolution instructs the committee
on Territories to incorporate into any bill that
they may report for the Organization OF new
Territories positive protection to slave proper
perty. The Senator says l did not propose
any direct and immediate action.
Mr.. salisbury. But the Senator did not
show that there was single slave in any Ter
ritory that was about to be organized, so as
to prove the necessity for such legislation
MIR. Brown. | have not learned that nv
duty as legislator requires me to be abso-
lutely idle until somebody petitions me to be
active | knew my duty, sir, and l under
took to discharge it. My duty was, as | con
ceived, to see that adequate protection which
was extended to every other species of pro-
perty, should be afforded to slave property in
the Territory of Kansas. do not need to have
petitions sent to me to put my thoughts in
motion, and stir me up to the performance of
my constitutional duty. Sir, do we never legis-
late here except on petitions? 1.-THE Senator
hnew that the interest of Delaware was being
destroyed, if he knew it as a citizen and as
Senator, would he act ? or would he wait I'M
til somebody petitioned him to act? Would
he consider himself as bringing in In ahstrac-
ton ifhe proposed legislation which he knew,
as citizen and as a Senator his State reouir-
ed ?
Mr.. Salisbury. Now, beg leave to an
swer that question: and to show there is moth
ing parallel between the case which the resolu- |
ton of the Senator contemplates, and the case |
that he puts to me in reference to the interest |
of Delaware. Does the Senator know of a |
single ungorganzed Territory in the United |
States which is now being sought to be or |
ganized into Territory where there are any
slaves to be protected Does he know of one |
where single stakeholder exists whose rights /
are about to be injured by any action Of tie |
people of such Territory
NJ Brown. Yer, sir; l know that the |
rights of shareholders are not only about to be l
violated, but that they have been violated in /
the Territory of Kansas.
Mr.. Salisbury. There the Senator applies
It to organized territory. His resolutions are
u reference to unorganized territory
Mr. Brown. Ifthe neglect the cold neg
ect, Of Congress to afford protection to this
property in the organized Territories, has re-
suited in the exclusion Of slavery from them
III, saving only New Mexico, had l not
right to conclude that, if other Territories
we're organized without that protection, they
90 would be deprived Of this right ? If the
ION action, if the neglect of Congress, added
o the non-action and unfriendly action of Kan
las, Nebraska, Washington, California, and
Utah, has resulted in the exclusion of slavery
rom those Territories, and young States had
not q right to conclude that Pixies Peak.
Arizona, Jefferson, and Dacotah, and all the
'ther Territories about to De organized would
lso be deprived of slaves through the same
gencies Then was not right in the first in
lance to Insist that when you propose to or
anize Territories, you must incorporate the
rinciple Of protection into their charters p
Then, sir, as to the Territories already organi-
ed, proposed bill which 1 suppose nv
riend from Missouri, whom l do not
ee in his seat, the chairman of the Committee
N Territories, Mr.. Green, will take very
God care to lull to sleep, at least until after
he Charleston Convention. That bill was !,
Intended to overthrow the unfriendly and ,
legislation of Kansas and to
ford the slayeholding States their equal pri-
ileges in that Territory.
Now, sir, if the Senator from Delaware, and
thers, want to know what has been the action of
territorial Legislatures in reference to the
rejection of property of all kinds, let them
onsult this and other similar volumes. 1t is
he laws of Kansas. / have not the time to !
cad these laws; but, to show you that that
'erritorial Legislature felt itself called upon I
, protect everything else but slavery, will i
.ad the titles of some of their statutes. Here /
an act concerning apprentices ; an act con-
srning attorneys at law an act concerning (
Ills Of exchange and negotiable promissorv