The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-03-21
ADMISSION OF KANSAS.
REMARKS OF SENATOR DAVIS,
OF MISSISSIPPI.
IN SENATE, FEBRUARY 29th 1850.


IN SENATE, FEBRUARY 18th 1850.
Nh. DAVIS said Mr. President-
Nh. GREEN Permit me to make motion
on which these remarks viii be more appro-
pirate and that IS to refer the bill to the Com
mittee on Territories.
THE PREsrDISG OFFICER, Or. Fitzpatrick
in the chair) That is the motion &hch the
Senator from Mississippi is entitled to the floor.
Mr.. DAVIS. When the Senator from New
York closed the studied and elaborate address
whice he delivered to-day, rose for the pur-
pose, not of replying to all the points which
he had made, wherein found rather those
generalities not sufficiently giitterinS to delude,
but only for the purpose Of noticing some OF
the salient positions which he assumed and to
one Of which the Senator from Illinois has
very happily responded-that wherein he
charged the democratic party with having
violated its faith which was pledged IN 1901
The Senator from Illinois performed his duty
on two occasions : first, his duty to the Whole
country, when he novel an amendment whlch
he believed would bring to it peace and a per
manent settlement of grave question next,
he performed the duty which he owed to him
self; for when the Congress enacted measures
and members, and pledged themselves to the
policy of non-interyention with slavery in the
Territories, he, being party to that transaction
owed it to himself, and discharged duty
which it imposed upon his honor, when he
moved to repeal the restriction in palpable vio-
lation of the agreement which was then made.
He has answered well as to that point, and
have nothing to add.
But the Senator from New York invokes
US by his love for the Uuion, and in the spirit
of fraternity. | have nothing to object to the
tone in which he has addressed US but I wish
We could have acts instead OF words Faith
might follow something more significant than
high-sounding professions Of attachment 70 the
Union, and fraternity to its various members
If the Senator would show 10 Us, by his a1-
herence to the Constitution, and his faithful
maintenance of the oath he has taken to sup
port it, that we may Eely on the pledge which
he gives US that the republican party, bound
by It's oath, cannot treSpass on the rights of
any section, our faith might follow, however
far behind such manifestations upon his own
part of the good faith which he proclaims to be
within the breast of his political party
But are we to believe these mere professions
of the lips whilst he proelaims opposition to
one of the most marked features Of the Con-
stitution ? whilst he and those with whom he
is associated, not only here, but at home, are
endeaVoring to tranple under foot the laws Of
the United States enacted in conformity
with the Constitution, and to secure one Of its
provisions provision So significant that it
has been remarked, and is a part Of history,
that the Union could not have been formed if
it had not been incorporated in the Constitu-
ton? The Oaths Of such mem become cheap
as custom-house oaths. and we are asked to
stake our future security on the mere guaran-
tee which such an oath gives
But the Senator from New York arraigns
those who speak in certain contingency of
providing for their own safety out of the In
ion, as being in opposition TO his love for the
Union and he manifests his ihcapacity to
understand our doctrine of State rights BY the
very simile which he employs when he speaks
OF our fathers buildinga temple wherein they
had collision of opinion as to whether the
marble should be white or whether it should
be manifold in its color, ana at last agreed to-
gsther-iorgetful that our fathers were occu-
pied in providing 3 common agent for the
States, not building up central government
to look over them Tie States remained each
its own temple. They mado an agent. The
controversy was as 70 the functions and pow
erS Of that agent-lot as to the nature Of the
temple in which they should preserve their
liberties That temple is the State govern
ments. Beneath them We st down as under
our own vine aud zig tree, secure in our power
70 maintain our rights
But the Senator asks, how is it that whilst
We are pr1fessing this general fraternity and
adherence b the Union. We still assert that Il
one of his party IS elected President we are
ready to dissolve the Union | DO not know
who has made that assertion, if it has been
made. However the language enp!oved NAV
have i;nperfsctly conveyed the idea, the post
ion was assumed as the Senator fairly presen-
ted it, under the conviction that they spoke OF
those who sought the Government to use it
for their destruction. That was the provoca-
eSn, that was the contingency, that, however
it may have been expressed, vas the idea
have seen embodied in every resolution Of that
kind wherever it has been passed. To ask US
that we shall sit still, under such govern
nleAt, IS IS though we we're to be asked to sit
III taiS Senate cnsIli11s sgT..;s ~
some one was destroying the foundation on
which it rested; to ask US to rely upon the
durability which that foundetion had when the
building was constructed 10 rely confidently
On the strength VIC knew it once to possess,
even when we had been advertised that that
foundation was being destroyed. Are we not
advertised that the Senator, and those with
whom he co-operates, are as sailing our consti-
tUtional rights. How, then. can we sit quietly
II, instead Of sitting here to admire the panel
and the plaster and the typical decorations of
the ceiling one, aware that he foundation was
being undermined, should walk out of the
chamber, would you arraign him for endeavor-
ing to destroy the building, or would you level
your charges against the sapper and mils, who
was at work on its foundation ? That is the
proposition
Who has been more industrious patient,
and skillful as sapper and miner against the
foundations of the Constitution than the Sena-
tor himself? Who has been in advance of
him in the fiery charges on the rights of the
States, and in assuming to the Federal Govern
ment the power to crush and coclce them :?
Even to-day he has repeated his Doctrines
He tells US this is Government we will learn
IS not merely government Of the States, but
a government of each individualof the peoE4e
of the United States and he refers to that
doctrine Of coercion which the great mind OF
Hamilton (the mighty intellect of New York,
which, in his day, ike the lens, gathered in
all which could illuminate the subject upon
which his mind was concentrateu) said was a
proposition not to provide for union of the
States, but fer their destruction. Such was
the view which he who Led the forces of
the strong Government party took of this
idea of enabling the Federal Government to
coerce State. Here the Senator, in advance
of that, still installing the fundamental prin
eiples on which our Government rests, talks
about the individual masses coercing the soy
ereign States of this Union. Sir, when it
comes to that, there will be an ''irTepressible
conflict indeed and have now the faith 1
have before announced, that, when it comes
to that, he will find men loyal to the Govern
ment and true to its institutions, residing
around his own home, who will arrest his
footsteps, and hold him prisoner in the name
of liberty and the Constitution.
There Is nothing, Mr. President, which has
led meFrto greater confusion Of ideas than this
term Of free st tes'' and slave States :" and
L trusted that the Senator, with his discrin-
mating and logical mind, was going to give US
something tangible, instead OF dealing in a
phrase never applicable. Heapplied another
but what was his phrase ? Capital States''
and labor States" And where is the State |
In which nobody labors? The Eallacy upon |
which the Senator hung adjective after adiec- |
tive was, that all the labor of the Southern |
States was performeI By negroes Did he not |
knew that tkc negroes. formed buta small
part Of the Southern States :? Did he sup
pose nobody labored but negro, there IF
so, he was less informed than had preyiouslv
believed him to be. Negro slavery exists in the
South, and by the existence of negro slavery
the white man is raised to the dignity of
freeman and an equal. Nowhere else will
you find every white man superior to neniaI
service. Nowhere else will you find every
white man recognized SO far as an equal as
never to be excluded from any mans house or
any mans table. Your own mental who
blacks your boots, drives your carriage. who
wears your livery, ard is your own in every
sense of the word, is not your equal: and
such is society wherever negro slavery is not
the substratum on which the white race is
elevated to its true dignity. We, however.
have no theory to press upon you; we leave
you to such institutions as you may perfer;
but when you assail ours, We come to the
indication of our institutions by showing you
hat all your phrases are false that we are