The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-02-13


my objects to exclude the idea of legislation
by Congress. The resolution is silent on
the subject. @
Mr.. HARLAN. Printed propositions have
been laid on our desks, coming from the 9TH
or side ofthe Chamber, proposing to amend
the resolutions of the Senator from Kentucky
| CT do not now see them, hence cannot re-
cite their provisions0 but their effect would
be to conform the Senator's proposition to
the requirements of the Breckinridge plat
form. And the proposition, as it stands
as it seems to me-recognize slavery as ex-
istins in the Territories south of 36deg.
3Omin. and provides that it shall continue
during the existence of the territorial gov
! ernment. The Senate has heard the propo-
| sition which came from the Senator froiIi
Virginia to-day, which is an elegant de-
mand over that of any other Senator who
has spoken on this subject.
ask then Mr. President, if it can be ex
pected that a triumphant party-I may say
a union of parties, so far as that principle
of the right to exclude slavery from the Ter
ritories is concerned, unprecedented in the
| history of this country--will humble them
selves at the feet OF a minority that is SO
very small? Will any honorable man con-
sent to humiliate himself
Mr.. PUGH. l should like to interrupt
the Senator a moment, with his promis-
sion a a-s.s .at
Mr.. HARLAN. Certainly.
Mr.. PUGH. heard him indistinctly be-
fore; but. as he has repeated it, wish to
ask him question. understand him to
say that the supporters of Mr.. DoUGLAs in
in the last campaign maintained the power
of Congress to exclude slavery from the Ter
ritories. &s
Mr.. HARLAN. No, sir. @
Mr.. PUGH. Certainly not one of them, to
my knowledge, ever admitted it. af
Mr.. HARLAN. My statement was, that
the friends of Mr.. DoUGLAs in the recent ell
ection, maintained the right to exclude sla
very from the Territories.
Mr. PUGH. Or to admit it, as the pco-
| pie choose.
Mr. HARLAN. And, as means for its
exclusion, would use the Territorial Legisla-
ture The main point at issue was can
slavery be rightfully excluded9 The Re-
publicans said it could. The Douglas Dem :
ocrats in my part of the country also main
tained that it could; and that the means
they would select was preferable, considered
in the light Of efficiency, to the means pro-
posed by the Republicans. "Why," said
they, 'look at your northern hordes, mil
lions of men, free to emigrate; throw open
the Territories, and allow the people who
enter them to exercise their own choice on
this subject; and can you doubt, educated
as the great majority of the settlers will have
been, that they will remove slavery from
every Territory organized under the juris-
diction of the United States?"
Mr. PUGH. l hope the Senator will al
low me to interpose.
Mr.. HARLAN. Certainly.
Mr.. PUGH. | tllia,a can speak for the
Democracy of Iowa better than he can. In
the first place, was very well acquainted
before, and at the time, with the delegates
in the Charleston and Baltimore conventions
| All that we have ever claimed was, that the
people of the Territories should have the
right TO exclude it or to admit it, at will and
as for any assertion that the Democracy of
| the North meant to exclude slavery as a
proposition, and ayailed themselves of the
doctrine of popular sovereignty for that pur
pose, it is an invention of the enemy.
Mr.. HARLAN. do not say that either
the Senator, or any of his party friends, de-
sired to exclude slavery from the Territories.
am inclined to think some of them do not
entertain such desire, especially those Of
! them who, though residing in the free States,
are the owners of slaves. The point of prin-
ciple, however, cannot be evaded. The right
to exclude slarery from the Territories was
maintained by the Douglas Democracy all
over the Union. 1t was so announced by
that eminent gentleman in the city of New
Orleans, in Baltimore, at Norfolk, and every
where over the Union; and doubt not he is
indebted to that frankness for the smallness
of the vote polled for him in the slaveholding
States. The principle then maintained by
them was, that slavery might be rightfully
and constitutionally excluded from the Ter.
ritories. Sol was by the Republican party.
The Republican party say it may be done by
Congress or Territorial Legislature. The
Douglas Democrats say it may be done by q
Territorial Legislature only.
Now, sir, that vote, repeat, amounts to
more than three and a third million; and the
united vote for both the opposing parties,
and their proportion Of the fusion votes, did
not amount to one and half million. The
proposition here, then, is, that We shall sur
render; and the question that was pro-
pounding to the Senator from Kentucky was,
whether it was probable, judged in the light
of history, that such mass offreemen would,
under the threats that are here presented,
surrender to a minority so very small? Why
not harmonize on proposition that requires
no humiliation, no surrender from either the
victors or the vanquished? Why not har-
monize on the proposition defended by my
colleague and other eminent Republicans in