Litchfield enquirer., 1861-02-07

sirn of one little North American Republic" !" but as the flag of the United States, feared for the Power whose symbol it is, honored by thou sand recolections, endeared by thousand asso- ciations and, perhaps, not less glorieus in the sight of the civilized world when slavery sn1A have ceased to recognize that banner as US eh'- blem.
 It has been said, indeed, that the dismempsr- ., npent which have been considering IS iloI .ne only one that may occur and sandfy gsn'ieinen, whose homes are to the northward oi Masoh @ aiiu Dixon'seiine, but whose princfptes. |otia soei to have sprung from more cohgehiai eou'hein soil. have expressed an anxiety to escape rom further. union with New England do not won- der when such expressions fall from the lips of any one who, in this age of the world, and bred amid free institutions, has nevertheless censen- ted to become the apologist of slavery. But, sir what would this nation without the New Eng land influence which has permeated it's whole life? Go out from her borders, and follow the parallels of latitude westward to the Pacifc.- Wherever along your pathway you find, mingled in their justest proportions, reverence for law and love of civil liberty; wherever you find the highest social order resting securely upon the broadest democracy; wherever industry is most prevalent, and reaps the most ample rewards wherever villages cluster thickest, and churches most abound, and school houses stand most ire quent; wherever Christianity assumes her purest form, and education is most widely disseminated, there, sff, everywhere there you behold the foot prints of New England. And at home, among her mountains and along her valleys, dwells to- day a people unsurpassed, in everything that makes nation great. by any people on this earth. Cast by accident upon bleak and com paratively sterile region, they found themselves confronted by the hostile clements of nature, and defed and conquered them. They have J1xL l 1,;I fields, and the desolate swamps into fair mead ows. They have chained the rushing rivers, and compelled them to drive the machinery of a thou sand manufactories, whose product is borne by their commerce to the farthest regions of the globe. They have dotted the land all oyer with villages, where the hum of industry never ceases except for the old New England Sabbath rest Their government is the purest democracy the world ever saw their social order as perfect as any that ever prevailed in human society. From every hilltop you can count the spires of many churches in every hamlet the school-house, free to all, has it's place. The people who dwell there are quiet, loyal, lawabiding men, pursuing their avocations in peace, and drcading commotion and civil strife. But the blood of the old Iron sides is in their veins, and in their minds the memories of Marstorf Moor mingle with those of Lexington and Bunker Hill. The impulse which lies deepest in their hearts is not the miserable fiction mis-called Honor, but the living and eter- nal verity of Duty at whose call they will if need be, lay down the implements of peace, and walk as calmly up to the cannons mouth as they now do to their daily toil Sir, the United States of America cannot afford to lose New England, and the sons of New England, scattered all over the broad North and West, cannot sunder the tie which binds them to the hearth-stone of civil lb- erty on this western continent.
 But am wandering from my purpose. have now considered the avowed reasons for this re- volt it's real origin, the object of it's authors, and the results to which it ends. It remains for me to ascertain, if can, the most effective meth ods for its suppression. Great channes in the condition of affairs have occurred since the early sessions of the committee. When we first met, no State had attempted to withdraw from the Union; no Federal forts captured 7; no rebel can- non fired upon the national flag. Six weeks ago, we might properly have discussed alleged griey- ances; it may now be appropriate that prsimi- nary measures of different character be taken. If l have correctly judged of the origin and character of this sedition, it may we'll be doubted whether there is not more need of the interven- tion of the judicial and executive departments to which alone belong the trial and pnnishIn ent of crimes-than of the legislative
 But the subject is before Congress, and VIC are asked to compromise. And to compromise what
 Not questions of financial, commercial, or indus trial policy, but our convictions of moral recti- . This is what constitutes the grave character of the issue now before us. In matters of revenue ln matters of finance, ill all matters of mere ex- pedlency, concessions and compromises may safely enough be made; but know of only one rule of civil conduct when moral duties are nee
 essariy brought into the field of political action
 and that rule is to do right. To ingraft upor the Constitution express recognition of prop erty in man, and to pledge the power of this Gov ernment unalterably for the preservation and protection of that property in all the Federal Territories where slave labor be profitably employed, would be, in my judgment, q mon- strous iniquity, abhorred of God, and deserving the cxecration of the civilized world.
 The gentleman from Virginia MR. MILLsoS1 reprobates the phrase "property in man," and, in the next breath, claims to have won a victory by the decision in the Dred Scott case, whose cardinal principle is the recognition of this very !" property in man. turn to the laws of his own State; 1 find there that a slave is chattel personal thing to be sold at auction, to be de- yised by will, to descend by inheritance, to be bought and sold, to be levied upon in execution; and am asked to consent that the Constitution of the United States shall be so changed-I will not say amended-as to go on unalterably for ever, fostering, nourishing, and protecting this system in Territories which, by the organic law of Spanish Republic, were to be always free Such is the proposition of tho venerable Senator rom hentucky, substantially reproduced Tn the resolution suggested by the gentleman from Lou : isana. Sir, cannot accede to it. The authori- ty of that Senator is of no avail in question of this character ;; and nothing that has occurred since my association with Congress, has filled me with such profound regret, as this last act of his long, useful and honorable public life.
 Why, sir, do gentlemen think that the freemen of the North are all knaves and hypocrites as we'll as towards? For six years have the sup porters of Mir. Douglas been denouncing this idea of protection to slave property in the Territories Because their leader deserts theDl, do you expect that they, too, will repudiate the principles which
 have grown to be part of their intellectual be- ing? For six years have the supporters of Mr. Lincoln been striving to secure those Territories from the pernicious influences of the system of bondage They have been doing this because they thought it best for the whole country that such a result should be attained; best for the Territories, best for posterity; they have been doing this because they thought that the exten- sion of slavery by the national authority would bring down the vengeance of Heaven upon a guilty land because they saw that wherever the institution was most powerful, civil liberty whose elements, as have before said, are free. dom of speech, freedom of the press, and free dom of elections, could not exist. And in al this they have been exceedingly in earnest.- They have won great victory; they have cleo ted President of like political faith with them
 selves; and now you gravely ask them to turr
 'neir packs upon all their past professions, tc renoonce the principles by whose utterance they e nate ootalned power, and to make themselves q
 Auochefy ana hlsslng to the whole civ 7ed world