Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1860-08-01
Mr.. Bell and the "Atherton ResOIutiOns."


The Fnorr in pretending to ventlate the record Of
Bell concludes he is an Aboltonist on account oil bis
having voted against the second branch OF the NTH reso
luton Of the Anterior SERIES 1t says:
THE second branch Of the fifth resolution OF the cee-
brated series offered by Mr. Atherton, on the lin De-
cember 1888 in the House of Representatives reads as
follows:
"Apd that every petition memorial, resolution pro-
position or paper touching relating in any way or TO
any extent whatever slavery as aforesaid or the ADO
lton thereof SHALL presentation thereof without any
further action thereon, be laid upon the table, Withou
being debated printed, or referred
"Mr Bell in company with ]. 2. Adams, j. K Gid
dings and the inevitable Sade, voted in the negative
The ENQUIRER states Mr.. Bells vote correctly He did
vote against the foregoing esoluoDi but he voted oi
ell the other resolutions of the SERIES And where were
HENRY A. wIsE and other Southern men at that time
Why Mr. Wise refused though present in his seat in the
House. to vote for either of the AertOH resolutions
Though present in his seat he refused to vote Tor OF
against any of them Though present in bis seat he re-
fused to vote for he second branch of the fifth resoiu
ton" in the Anterior SERIES which is quoted above and
which the Enquirer denOunces Mr.. Bell as an Abolition
ist for voting against
Why did Henry A. Wise refuse to vote for 1.-THE second
branch of the fifth resolution" respecting Abolition peti
tionsY The following extract from the Congressiona
Globe Sd Session. 25th Congress, page 2s, will show;
"Mr JKNxITER inquired If the affirmation of this Las
proposition WodHot be identical Dih virtual reeeP
ton Of all petitions on the ABOLITION Of Slavery %
1.-THE CHAIR replied that that question which
! each gentleman must interpret for himself.
"Mr PoPE said he wished to be excused from voting
upon this proposition The had voted for all the others
on the ground that he did not cish 10 affirm the reeeP
/ fnrfha n
consistent NTH the propositions already adopted Any
81 vote he could give would be misconstrued.
| when Mr.. WIsE's called, that gentleman
'rose and said that PROPOSITION ADMITS THE Right
OF PETITION ON SUBJECT he should refuse to vote
| 'upon it."
There it isl The proposition-that Is, "the second
branch of the fifth resoutiOn"-which the Enquirer ar
ragns MrBel as an AJotionistfor voting against was
not voted for or against by Mr. Wise, upon the ground
that said proposition admits the right Of petition on
tie subject of slavery" Now may not Mr. Bell have voted
against 1t for the same reasong And was it not more
manly to vote against than not to vote at a Indeed
if Mr. Wise himself believed he says he did that the
second branch of the fifth resolution" admitted the
right of petition the subject Of slavery, was it not
his solemn duty heldDg the views he did to vote, as Mr.
Bell did, fatty and plumply against it?
Now, while the Enquirer is engaged in the delightful
pasue of charging AbOltonism on Mr.. Bell, for voting
against resolution which Wise says admits the right
of petition" let it. also in fairness and justice,
arraisn Henry A. Wise for AboEtonism, ikewse-for,
so far as this matter is he is deep in the me
as Mr. Bell is in the mud Indeed these A:herton
luton which the Enquirer says are Southern in their
character Mr. Wise denounced at the time they were pen
ding as ',piot sprung upon The SOHih"-as having sold
the South" He said "Thsss not Southern resolutions,
aud rspudiate them 1eh" Suppose, then, Mr.. Bell
had voted against the whole Of them he would only have
been carrying out the Southern policy Of Henry A.Wse,
himself We have placed the Enquirer in ridiculous
and pable diemma-let it eItricate ITSELF il it
But admit, for the sake argument that Mr.. Bell did
favor the reception of Abolition petitions. lie did only
what the Democracy have been doing consistently for
nearly twenty years The 2lstrue-the rule against the
reception of Abolition petitions-was repealed, we
believe in the wear 1912 and though the DemocrG-
cy have been in power almost since that rule has
never been restored There has not been, since lS42
any attempt on the part Of any Democrat Northern
Southern to procure the restoration Of that rule Now,
if that rule was so good rue-so judieous, and wise
and Southern rule and necessary to the protection Of
Southern rights and interests why have not the DemOc
racy restored II! why a east nave nut the ooutneTu
Democracy made little attempt toward securing its
restoration And yet they have done nothing of the
sort-they have there in Congress for nearly twenty
years. and allowed the reception of Abolition petitions
WITHOUT utterng word in opposition to the practice =
Aud yet in the face of this fact they have the unpara
elled mpudence to arragn and dsnounce Mr.. Bell as an
AboIiioisi for doing once, twenty years ago what
ey have been uniformly and consistently doing for the
VII ole of eighteen years. Hypocrites aud dssembers
all, upon whose heads should quickly fall the thun
drbolts of the peoples righteous indguatona people
sceiyed, betrayed imposed upon as no people on the
f zee Of the earth were before
Rnt nnnngh ON this snbect for the nresent