The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1861-03-12
oPINIoNs OF SENATORS.


The following sketch of debate in the .. S.
Senate will show in what light southern Senators
view the work of the so-ealled Peace Conference :
In the Senate, Mr. Hunter said the proposition
of the Peace Conference would put the South IN a
worse position than it now occupied under the
Constitution and the bred Scott decision. 1t pro
hbited slavery North of $3.50 and gave the
South the chance of another lawsuit as to their
rights in the territory South of that PARALLEL 1t
provided that the status OF persons held to service
should not be changed when they reached the Ter
ritories Thus STAKEHOLDER might not be able to
emancipato his slave if the law Of the State from
which he came prohibited it. This use Of the
word status attempt to evade the plain and
manly propositions offered by Mr. Crittenden.
If this amendment adopted, the question OF
the right of master to his property would have
to be adjudicated before Territorial courts without
appeal to the Supreme Court Of the United States.
he Judges of these would be the appolntees
of party which asserted that the normal condl-
ton of the Territories would be that Of freedom.
He objected to the proposition further because 1t
made no provision for future Territories The
provision that no Territory should be acquired
without the consent ola majority of the represent
atives Of both sections would ehectuay exclude
the South from any Territory, for it not to be
supposed that the twenty or thirty free States
soon to be in the Union would allow the few re-
naming slave States to control their wishes as to
the acquisition OF Territory.
The clause making it the duty of Congress to
pass laws prohibiting the importation Of slaves
from beyond the limits of the United States, would
prevent the interchange Of slaves between the
border States and the Southern Confederacy.
The clause that Congress shall provide by law
for securing to- the citizens Of each State the pr-
vieges and imnunties Of citizens In the several
States would give Congress the power to Interfere
in belonging to the States, and would open
the slave States to tie intrusion of abolition ennis
sarieS.
He thought they should enter upon no ex-
periments. The Propositions never passed
upon as a whole by the conference, and he knew
that the majority Of the Virginia delegation were
very decidedly opposed to them. Many Of the
States had declared for the Crittenden resolutions,
and he had therefore offered them as an amend
ment.
Mr. Crittenden defended the report as satisfac-
tory to all sections Of the country. Now the
time for mediation and pacifcaton. The provis-
ion in regard to the acquisition of Territory would
sufficiently protect the South At any rate he
wished to settle the difficulties of the present, and
would be willing to meet the future when it
came.
MIR Mason said he could not agree to one of
these propositions Before he could assent to any
amendments to the Constitution he wished to I'M
derstand them clearly. He went into history of
the appointment of the Conference Convention,
and expressed his great respect for the gentlemen
composing it. But he bound by his obliga-
tons to the Constitution not to concur in their
ton. These propositions give security to the
rights of the South but took away what little they
now had. He examined the details of the pro-
positions at length and condemned the whole pro-
ject.
Messrs. Mason and Crittenden, in which Nj Bragg
participated The latter thought the Constitutions
al amendments ought to be clear, and if it was the
intention to recognize slavery, it should have been
stated in plain terms.
The discussion continued by Nessrs. Pueh,
Baker, Green and Lane. The latter declared the
report of the Peace Conference a cheas, humbug
and deception.