The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1861-04-17

| maue only Tor the purpose OF getting NORTH
ern votes. When you had accomplished
your object, you abandoned all idea of pas
sing the bill, if indeed you ever entertain,d
it, for fear it might disturb the peace Of the
Union. Hence thought the Senator from
Kentucky, Mr.. Brsckinridgel did you great
injustice tho other day, when he said that
you had not abated one iota from the plat
form Of your party, or the creed Of the
Republican organization. think that you
| have abated much You have abandoned
the aggressive policy Of abolishiag slavery
| in all the country south of the 81 parallel
You have made further sacrifices than that
for the sake Of peace and the Union. I
give you credit for them. You have pas
sed Territorial Bills organizing the Terrific
| ries Of Colorado, Nevada, Dekota, on the
principle of--what? The Nebraska viii
lainy," if I may be permitted to repea. the
polite language Of the Senator from Wis
consin | never deemed myself at liberty
/ J use the word in the Senate before; but,
inaSmuch as the Senator used it, and ap.
pealed to the Chair to know whether it wcs
any violation of decorum, and silence gave
consent, suppose now may be permitted
to say that you organized oil the Terrific.
cipln of the "Nehlask" vilainv ~
Mr. HswE Now, really, Mr.. President let
me assure the Senator that did not cut that
coat for him at all, nor for the Nebraska Bill;
spoke of an &C. of the Government of the
United states imposing slavery upon a Terrific
rv as vilainous act, and not the mere enact.
ment of n law organizing Territory and omit
ting to exclude slavery. l should not, out of
Difference to the Senator, have spoken Of such
an act as a vilainous one.
Mr. DorGLAs am very glad. Mr., Pres.
dent, to hear that explanston,and take it in all
sincerity. thought the gentleman was man
of too much intelligence ever to have said or
though. that the Nebraska bill was villainy;
and did not expect to hear that from him, and
/ am very glad, therefore, to be corrected I
know that some politicians, for political effect.
were in the habit of so representing it some
years ago, in order to get votes, but never
supposed my of them believed it. The Sera
tor Il erefore, referred to an act Of the Fed.
eral Government to establish slavery in Ter
rtory. do not know what act of this Federal
Government he refers to- | am not aware thas
the Government ever passed Gn act estab.
fishing slavery anywhere. never heard of
such law. The Federal Government has
passed acts to prohibit slavery in some places.
but never to establish it, to ,intIin it. to pro.
Senator was mistaken in using the word "yil.
lainy" in this connection. for it seems none had
ever occurred. 1t was merely laDsuS i;a9ue.
and therefore, of course, the reporters will not
keep it in the report
It is true that in the beginning Of tn Gov
ernment slavery was prohibited bv law in the
territories northwest of the ohio river. That
prohibition continued up to 1853, when Mime.
sot' was admitted into the nion; that is, it
continued within the limits Of each Territory
until it became State hat prohibition Of
Congress never ceased uutil 1853 In 1920
Congress passed an act to prohibit north Of 36
deg. so min. within the Louisina purchase -
This prohibition continued until i. WAS practi.
caIly superseded by the compromise measures
of 1890, and on the statute book until removed
in 8 by the act called the Nebraska bill
In lS4a Congress passed An act prneibtlng
slavery in Oregon. That continued till 1859
when Oregon become Stat. Hence, FROM
the beginning of this Government down to $50.
slavery was prohibited by Congress in some
portion of the T.rrtorites of the United
States. But now. for the first time in the his.
tory of this Government. there is not a foot of
ground in America where slavery is prohibited
bv act of Congress You Of the other side Of
the Chamber, by the unanimous vote Of every
Republican in this body and every Republican
lied all the Territories of the United States on
the prime pie of n"nir tervention by Congress
with the question of slavery, leaving the peo-
pie to do as they please, subject to the limita
tons Of the Constitutions. Hence think the
Senator from Kentucky fell into grave error
of fact, as we'll rs OF in. when he said the 9TH
er day that you had not abated one jot of your
creed; that you had not abandoned your aggres.
sive policy in the territories. nnd that you
were now pursuing the policy Of excluding the
southern people from all the Territories Of tho
United States. You have by unanimous vote
this year declared in the most solemn form that
such is no longer the policy Of your party. The
Senator from Kentucky was led into this error
by rending tho Chicago platform. He read tie
platform adopted before election as evidence
ofwhat the party intended to do after election.
That was q great mist Ike. What YOU may
have said before election was one thing. What
YOU felt it your duty rs patriots to do immedi.
atey after the election was a very different
thing. After having secured the power, you
went to work and organized all the Territories
that we have now got, on the rinciple of non
Intervention and popular sovereignty, according
to the model Of the compromise measures of
1850, and thekansas, Nebraska bill of 1854,
without prohibiting slavery anywhere. Hence
we are bound to infer and forced to admit. as
sn act of simple justice, that you have aban-
doned your crusade against .avery in the Ter
ritores and have recognized the rights Of slave
holders to an equal participation in all the Ter
ritores OF tie United States. In fact. there
never has been a time, since the Government
was founded, when the right OF shareholders to
emigrate to the Territories ana rry with them
their slaves, and hold them on an equal footing
with all other property, was so fully and dis
tinctly recognized in all the Territories as at
this time, and that, too, BY the unanimous vote
OF the Republican party in both Houses of Con-
gress.
The Senator from Kentucky has told YOU
that the southern States now in the Uuiou will
never be satisfied to remain in il unless they
get terms that will 1--WE them either right, in
common with all other States, to cmierate into
the Territories, that will secure to them their
rights in the Territories on the principle of
All equitable division. These are the only
terms on which, as he says, those southern
States now in the Union will consent to remain.
| wish to call the attention of that distinguished
Senator to the fact that, under the law, as is
now stands, the Soutl, have all the rights which
he claims. First, southern men ave the ri gh,
to emigrate into all the Territories, and carry
their slave property with them, on An equality
with the citiz MS of other States secondly,
they have an equitable partition OF the Terri
tories assigned by law, all slave territory up to
81 deg. instead Of IS deg. 80 min half de-
gree more than they claim. The Senator wss
mistaken, therefore, both in law and fact, in
supposing that the South have been excluded.
He will not say the Kansas Nebraska bill ex-
cluded the South, nor that the compromise
measures Of 1850 excluded them; nor can he
say that the territorial bills passed this year ex1
clnde hem; for they are al on the same basis.
so far as the question of slavery in the Terri
tories is concerned. The Senator from Ken
tucky, supposing that the Republicans had not
yielded these points, gives US these emphatic
warning:
"WhatSoever settlement may lie made of
other questions, this must be settled upon terms
that will give them lthe SOUTH either a right.