The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-06-20

out several weeks before the. passage OF =
= law /; and that the same, or perhaps anotht
law, subjects any non-resident's slsyes ths
e may be sold in the Territory to further "a
of fifteen dollars each. They therefore g
Congress for relief
The committee are satisfied that the Hie
p morialists are entitled to relief Its certain
~ against the the policy of the. United States
, as well as the dictates of common justice. I
dthotc any Territorial Legislature to tax tn
property of residents higher than IN
same property of resident citizens"
10 dfLoag Territorial Legislature" II
he true that a Territory is sovereign, that Con
gress has no control over it, then to talk abou
what You will aloU it to do is altogether on
OF the record 1t does not ask you What it ma,
do; but it tells you what it will do, it bein;
sovereign according to the claim of my distin
gulshed friend from Illinois. But the repor
proceeds
he provisionary authority appointed an
der the act of 22d February, 1919, having
PASSED an ordinance providing for the natural
zation OF the inhabitants of Florida, and the
Gity Council Of St. Augustine having imposed
py ordinance certain taxes upon the inhabitants
an act OF Congress was passed on the 9TH o
may, 1922, repeating both ordinances, and ma
KING the execution penal" (See 9Th vol
Laws United States, page IS, chap 86.)
That Is the law which first read.
The committee think Congress should al
ways protect that property of the citizens Of
tne United States when subjected to the oper-
a'lon OF unjust legislation by the territorial
governments. In the case above referred to,
mat principle of protection is asserted and
maintained in practice The same principle
requires the same practice now; and for that
purpose the committee herewith report a bill. -
r mus the committee asserted the obligation
VI congress t" give protection to property
ay, sir, to slave property IN the Territories
ana 70 do 1t by direct action. This bill. re-
peat again, so far as my researches have gone
passed both Houses of Congress, there being
no dissenting voice, and Congress being at that
DAY adorned by the illustrious names which ]
have repeated before. Then if in 1860 we have
come to the point of denying this protection,
instead OF making the sdxance movement
which some OF my friends tell me we have
made, insist that we have refrigerated ineon-
celvably. In 1884 Congress did give, by dir.
| ect act, protection to slave property. CLAW
and Webster, and Calhoun and FORSYTH. and
! Felix Grundy and Samuel l.. Southland. and
| Silas Wright, and all these illustrous men an
pear, so far as the record shows, have voted
| for the laws. There was not opposition
enough in either House of Congress to call the
yeas and nays, and have, therefore, applied
the rule that all voted for it. They sent it to
the great sage of the Hermitage, and he gave
his approval to the law which read before
| you o-day. And yet, in 1860, when | com.
and demand no more than that, Republicans
call me terrible extremist, and nv Demo.
cratic friends give me the feeblest Imaginable
support. Oh, God to what depths of infmy
are we sinking in the South if we allow these
things. No, sir, as long as the God who gave
me tongue to speak, allows me to stand on
this floor, or anywhere else on the surface of
! this habitable globe. to enunciate the convic-
/ tons Of my heart, |, at least, will stand up
and denand-not ask, not beg, but demand
that Justice to the section from which come,
| which am willing to accord with free heart
/ to every other section Of this Union.
| Mr.. President, in the days Of which have
| spoken, Congress, as | have shown, was
crowded with orators and statesmen. Jack
/ son guided the helm, and Webster Clay, and
/ Calhoun, directed the storm. In those DAYS,
| the Government was administered with
power, wisdom, and energy, which, | think,
| the Government has not known since that
time. In those good old days we were not
told to wait and daily, and rely upon courts
| for protection. Oh, no, sir I; in those days we
were not to rely upon the Constitution and
| the common law; but the bold men who had
! the Government in their hands said ave
will administer it for the equal benefit Of all
the South shall have equal rights with the
North the East with the Vest Now, when
the South comes here through her Senators
and Representatives and demands equal JUS
tice, equal rights, and equal protection, you
get up all manner of special pleadings you
say, ''wait and daily, do not insist now per-
haps the next Year, or the year or two or
three or four years hence, we vii, do you JUS
tice" Sir this is not the language in which
the old patriots of 1922 and 1887 spoke. As
have shown you, when the illustrious men
of that day were asked for justice, Congress
granted it. Even when jackson, the indomi-
| table and immortal jackson himself, had CIV
en- approval to an ordinance Of Florida in den
ial of the rights Of citizens, Congress over
threw it, and jackson bowed in submission to
the authority of Congress. Fourteen years
afterwards, when he came to be President,
Congress substituted legislation in palpable
and direct violation of his own ordinances,
and he approved it as Presidents ! hare
shown you that to be true by the record !; and
it was maintained by both the executive and
! legislative branches OF the Government. in
the most palpable manner, that Congress not
only had the right, but that Congress was in
duty bound to protect the property right OF
| the citizeus in the Territories. Congress did
afford protection, with the sanction of all the
illustrious men of that day.
All ask You to do is to repeat the same
thing to-day. Kansas, more unjustly and
with less shadow of authority than Florida,
has overturned the legislation of Congress,
thrown herself directly in the face and the
teeth Of your legislation, nullified your act,
substituted her own laws iii place of yours
yet what are you doing by the resolutions I'M
der discussion to-day You say, "wait and
see whether Kansas will either fail or refuse
to give adequate protection to slavery" How
long are you going to wait What has Kan
sas done ? What have not other Territories
done ? They have not only failed and re-
fused to give protection to slave property, but
they have nullifed the acts of Congress they
have reversed the whole order of things, and
substituted their own legislation in place of
YOURS. They have gone further they have
repealed the fugitive slave law palpabiy in
contradiction and defiance of it: and vet we
are asked to vote for resolutions which say,
well, if Kansas fails or refuses, then Con-
gress, in some vague way, will interpose its
authority, and set all things right
Sir, if Congress does not interpose at this
precise point, Congress never will iuterpose.
Mr.. President, | cannot allow myself to be
humbugged in this way. There is nothing in
these resolutions. If we mean to meet the
proposition fairly and squarely, then let us
vote as the men of 1884 did. Let us rote as
Clay and Calhoun, and Forsyth and Southland,
and Grundy, and all the illustrious inen of
that day did let US vote as jackson APP
proved, to overturn the unjust legislation in
its place. This is what We ought to do. Ii
we cannot be brought to this point, there is
nothing which We can do. ] would not give
a snap Of my finger for these resolutions. |
reject these resolutions not in disrespect, OF
cousre, to the gentleman who Offered them,
but because there is nothing in them You
tell me you will give me protection for nv
property in the Territories when the Terrific
| rial Legislature fails or refuses to do 50 and
this you tell me in full view of the fact that
they have not only failed and refused, but
that they have in every way denied your au-
thority. and passed statute In derogation Of
your authority and set you at defiance and
still You are waiting to see whether they will
not fail and refuse to give protection to slave
property.
Mr.. President, if time permitted i'll did not
! feel that the Senate was wearied, | would pass
| from the consideration Of these points to the
matter of the Anterior resolutions, which
| came upin 1888. | have before me a synop
sis of these resolutions and the action upon
them. suppose had better not detain the
Senate now by discussing them. The resolu-
tons, however, substantially carried out the
IDEAS which have promulgated to-day.
In the Congressional Globe, for ths Twen-
ty-Fifth Congress, third session. volune7 on
page %, we find, in the proceedings Of the
| House of Representatives, of Tuesday, De-
cember II, 1888, that Mr.. Atherton, of New
Hampshire proposed series Of five resolu-
tions in defense of the rights of the South
This was ut time when Abolition petitions
were being received by Congress against the
maintenance Of slavery in the District of CO.