Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1861-02-08
MIR. VAN WYCk,S SPEECH.

| NM VAN WECk'S SPEECH.
In the House Of Representatives, on tn
29th, Hon. c. Ii. VAN WYCK, of the I0tl
District, n. Y, made noble speech From
the report of it we give extracts below. Re
ferring to the presentation by Hon. Johr
Quincy Adams, in 1912, of petition of 4
persons in Hayerhill Mass for dissolution Of
the Union, the Indignation which it aroused
and the fact that the whole North and South
were opposed to dissolution, Mr.. Van Wyck
quoted from many southern men, (AIcssrs.
Hopkins, Wise and Gilmer, of Virginia
Mr.. Merriwether of Ga; Messrs. Campbell,
Rhett and Others of South Carolina Messrs.
Marshall and Underwood of Kentucky, all
denying the power Of Congress or the States
to effect dissolution, and claiming that
dissolution of the Union was 4 dissolution
Of slavery
"You say remova! Of the cause Of danger will
produce peace Granted But the cause is not
in the agitation, bat in Slavery itself. Wo ask
you not to remove, but 10 cease your determina-
iOH W eDIedu IL. Inc ConditlOu OF all tne Ierri-
tories we now own is settled and VIC had hoped
the inordinate desire TO plunder cur weak neigh
bors was subdued; but the Vice President, in a
letter to the Governor of Kentucky. said:
The southern States cannot afford to be shut
off from all possibility of expansion to the tropics
by the hostile action Of the Federal Government"
This key uRlooks the southern mind and pas
sions. Dreams OF Cuba, Mexico, the Central and
South American States festoon the bloody machin-
ations of southern traitors, they rendered gor-
geous the unholy schemes Of Burr and his conied-
crates While groaning Of your burdens, you are
boasting Of the great power Of cotton. We have
to deal with facts not with fancies; realities
not theories. Have We Government and shall
free white men regulate its action and control its
destiny? Grant, if you please, that slavery is
right, you insist that the Territories belong to
the whole country; shall not the sovereign people
of the whole republic control them The majority,
constitutionally expressed, must govern What do
you mean when you talk Of the brute force of
maiOrities which is manifested without force and
exercised without violence You are not excluded
from the Territories. OF your : 00) 600 scarcely
800, 90 are owners of slaves. The hearth stones
of many solitary cabins, far away toward the ighr
Of the setting san, cheered by the songs which
the migrant learned in his southern home. 4 fir
proportion Of the population in California are
from the South. The policy OF the dominant party
must prevail In 1920, 1t said that slavery should
not 90 north Of Sc . so; in 1854 it reversed that
policy, and said that free labor or slave labor
should be baptized in blood the plains of Kansas
From ls56 the treasury and the sword were
used 10 suJdus US and afterwards New Mexico
surrendered to slavery; we submitted 10 the
brute force of mGjorities then. We wave 10 ruf-
fans threat or braggart, boast. We a.c oaly
mating for another expression OF the will Of the
American people.
We are told we must submit, because We have
been misrcpresented at home and abroad. We
neither created nor contributed to your iruo-
rance; you have created this storm, now bend be-
fore its fury or break You have been shern Of
your strength by your own Dcliiah, and rowni
your blindness would wrap your arms around the
pillars Of the republic, and perish in its ruins
This hour slavery in the language Of the high
wayman is demanding cur money or our life, our
government or our principles. lie commented on
the demands Of the South, that free speech and
free press should be curtailed, and on the remark
Of MIR Douglas that Nr. Lincoln dare not 90 by
the graves Of his fathers in kentucky. Then be
referred 10 the power Of the American flag 10 pro-
tect Martin Gotta in the Mediterranean, and wish
ed its aid for Abraham Lincoln and every citizen
in the Republic. You ask US to compromise -
What have we to concede We have done you 10
wrong, and propose none
You have been compromising for years ; the
vembcr last. You have proposed no compromise
which does not involve a surrender part
that avail you If your present position is correct,
that one State, however Insignificant sac may be,
can destroy the whole fabric You, who have
yiolsted the constitution, and have set the laws at
defiance, demanding constitutional guarantees
that We will do neither Do you propose any
concession to the North Any security to liberty
and life Of the northern men in the slave States;
of property in books; of freedom Of speech and
press. as already secured by the constitution ?
You say that you concede TO freedom the erritory
north Of 81 80. We have a double title 10 that
alre ady-frst by purchase and thea by conquest
We bought it when took Missouri into the In
ion as a slave state, and then conquered it in
the strife Ct civil war. All our future acquisi-
tions must be in the direction of tho tropics, aLt
you demand its unconditional surrender 20 slavery
You want Us to surrender TO men who themselves
are compromise breakers. You have been telling
Us, for years, that all geographical lines were sec
tional and dangerous. In 1920 you established
the Missouri line to save The Union; in 1854 you
destroyed it to save the Union; and now you can
the salvation Of the republic only through It's
re-establishment and perpetuity, with the new
and startling condition annexed, that slavery must
be forever protected in all our future acquisitions
Believe not in reconstruction; the compromises OF
the present constitution once lost, you never can
regain. Think you that another Senate can be
found whore Florida and Delaware can equal New
York and Pennsylvania
You are opposed to the Army and Navy, be-
cause, you boldly assert, that enforcement Of
the laws m cans a coercion of the States but you
we're willing to send troops 2000 miles over prai-
rie and deserts to coerce our brethren in Utah ;
you sent the army into Kansas You have used
the troops to enforce the fugitive slave law and to
rescue the arsenal at Harpers Ferry from John
Brown. The camp had no terrors for you then ;
but now you oppose coercion; yet by force Of
armed men, you seize the forts and navy yards,
and trample the Stars and Stripes in the dust. We
do not mean to be driven from the Union by force.
Do you desire peacoablo secession "a conven-
ton Of the States would possibly lid you de-
part in peace.
Mr. Va2 Wyck was in favor Of purchasing the
slaves Of the border States and furnishing them a
home in Central America, and spoke Of the folly
of destroying the last home of the oppressed. the
last hope Of freemon, because some men believed
in universal liberty, and that the time o! return
ing reason o. avenging justice would come.