Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1860-03-30

enocl IndIhOO III piONeinoHI ~ 0Ai0 HA
of transaoting business.
WASHINGTON. March %.
SEsArE.-Mr Yulee of Fla. from the Post
Office Committee, reported bill in relation t
undelivered letters. II provides that persons
| by endorsing their names on letters sent, car
have them returned free of additional charge
where undelivered. The bill was passed.
The homestead bill was taken up, when
Mr.. Wade moved to substitute the House bill
Mr.. Clingman explained the amendment
offered by him, which proposes to give at
| once, to every man in the United States, who
comes within the provisions OF the bill, a
warrant for leo acres at once, with power to
retain the land, or sell it out if unsuita-
! BILE. The present bill requires a man to
work five years continuously on the land, in
| order TO get title.
Mr.. Pugh Of Ohio, spoke in favor Of the
passage of homestead bill.
Mr.. Hale of n H., spoke on the same side.
Mr.. Wade of Ohio, advocated the N Jtion
to take up the House bill, which he showed
to be more liberal than the Senate bill.
Mr.. johnson of Ark. opposed Mr.. Wade's
motion, and referred to Mr.. Hale's remarks
as insincere and demagogueical-he wanted
to hold on the canaille of New England by
the cry of " free homes for free men, fearful
that, under the pressure of starvation, they
would desert him and his party.
Mr.. johnson Of Tennessee, knew the House
bill could not pass this body, and the true
friends of the Homestead principle should
take that which they could Cct. He opposed
making this party question
Mr. Wade withdrew his motion.
Mr. Wigfall of Texas, regarded the matter
as party question, involving as it did, the
power of the Federal Government. If this
Government was eleemosynary-it establish
ed to provide for the halt, blind, lame, deaf,
&C.; if it could give land to the landless, why
not niggers to the niggerless? 1t might re-
open the African Slave trade on missionary
grounds, and bring negroes here TO be con-
verted Mr.. Wigfall went into the powers
of the Federal Government, and contended
that as the trustee of the sovereign States, 1t
had no right to vote away their lands. In
the course of his remarks, he said It Is non
sense to talk of State committing treason.
The thing is impossible. He owed allegiance
10 the State of Texas, which, conformity with
the other States. exercised the same portion
of the sovereign power Whenever she de-
declared the Federal Government no longer
her agent, then it would be his duty to.
return to his State. and if he should be cap
tured fighting under the flag of the Lone
Star, under the law operations he could not
be treated as C. traitor.
Mr.. johnson Of Tenn, remarked that
there were precedents for the policy proposed
in the bill.
Mr.. Wigfill was sorry TO hear any demo-
crat refer to precedents. If they are accep-
ted. banks. tariffs, internal improvements,
&c, could be justified He then denounced
the policy of New England, which by fede
raj legislation, had got rich and kept the
other sections poor He thought nothing
better could occur than a dissolution OF the
Union. New England would then beg the
South to come back-her spindles would
cease to turn. and her ships rot at the
wharves, her sailors and operatives turned
out to starve. would burn and steal. He al
so drew picture Of mob of deceived and
1nf1riated people, bearing on poles the heads
of Seward and Hale. If these men only
knew the South was in earnest they would
keep quiet. They were not the men to COIN
their hearts blood into drachmas. He de
MED that these were threats-the day Of
farces has gone bv. He would speak his mind
freely, and say he believed no black Repub-
lican ever could be inaugurated President.
Northern men talk Of subduing the South,
but he believed a Southern army would win
ter in Boston before a Northern one could
reach Texas He would like to know
how they were going to take the South p
Let them look around the Chamber,
and thew would see on the Republican
side but one man who ever saw the flashing
of a gun. while he particularized numbers on
the democratic side who had rendered signal
military service. The military chest was
the first matter of consideration in war, and
where would the North get the money to fill
it? The South could send out her cotton,
tobacco. &c, in the bottoms that would car
~ them the cheapest. Where would The
senator from Rhode Island (Slmmons) get
the money for his calico? They might talk
of blockading the Southern ports, but their
officers and men would want money, and
where could they get it? Cotton was hlng,
and without 1t Queen NlctorIa's crown was
not safe. The Union was nothing more than
a compact between confederates, which the
North had broken, and then tried to persuade
US that it was Of divine origin. Our fathers
shed their blood, not for this Union, but for
liberty. He compared the federal govern
ment TO a lens, which concentrated and ap-
piled the powers conferred by the sovereign
States, as the lens concentrated the rays OF
the sun. They admired not the lens, but
the glorous orb from which 1t derived It's
power. The ancestors of New England went
to Holland, but as the Dutch would not let
them persecute anybody, they came to the
North. They drove out Roger Sherman and
the Baptists, and spread themselves over that
country. They thought it useless to dig for
what the soil could produce, and have since
lived off their neighbors. He went into an
argument to show that the slave States prop
erly speaking, are the only free States. Mr..
Wigfall concluded by denOuncing the home
stead bill as unconstitutional.
The subject was postponed till Monday