Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1862-05-08
SIP z T. Q Ell
OF
HON. J. J. CRITTENDEN,
OF KENTUCKY,
On the Abolition of Slavery In the Dis
trict of Columbia.


Deteered IN he Hguse Of Representatives. on he 1ih
ddy V 1prH, 1869.
The House, as in Committee Of the Whole,
having under consideration the bill for the alb
oliti n of slavery in the District of Columbia,
Mr. CRlTTENDEN said:
Mr.. CnARMAN: There is no allectation
in my saying that rise with reluctance
and diffidence to address the House on
the question presented by this bill. |
have almost feared, sir, to speak upon
any of the great questions which have
been presented to this House during tho
present session-during, indeed, l may
say, the present Congress. They have
been of a character so momentous that
have dreaded even to give my poor coun-
sells upon the subject under consideration.
We require all the wisdom and tempe
rance of the country to guide us safely.
We are upon no summer sea, sir. We
are in the midst of the storm of war, our
country convulsed from one end to the
other, and the issue doubtful; no man
could tell what was reserved for us in
the destiny OF nations. 1t was enough
to awe all men, and to put all men upon
the deepest sense Of their responsibility.
l have felt it, sir, to an oppressive de-
gree. The situation was novel to me,
novel to the Congress of the United
States; without parallel, perhaps, [
might say, in the history of the who c
world. Where did rebellion ever assume
such gigantic proportions as it has as
sumed here? Where was there ever so
much to be destroyed, not merely in the
material prosperity of the country, but
in institutions such as afforded the great
est and the only promise to mankind of
any great amelioration Of their condition?
There cannot be situations Of more re-
sponsibility than those wc occupy or
have occupied.
But, sir, | do not propose to expcnd
my time on these generalities rte i'm
mediate question before us is the abolition
of slavery in the District of Columbia.
That is the object proposed in the bill
under consideration. 1t has been a ques
tion fora long time agitating the country
For the first thirty or forty years of oul
existence as Il nation, the records Of Con
gress bear no evidence of any suclf mo
tion ever having been made, of any
m asure ever having been proposed fol
the abolition OF slavery here, or to change
the condition in which the Government
accepted and found it. 1t was only, sir,
when now spirit sprung up in the land,
when new agitation commenced for the
abolition of slavery generally, that this
feeling concentrated, in some degree, up
on the District of Columbia, an from
that time down to the present. with an
always rersevering purpose. this mea-
sure has been pressed. 1t has been re-
lected time and again. 1t has been Judged
imp poltic by our predecessors, or beyond
their power. For one reason or another,
Congress has always refused to act upon
the subject. These are the lessons of the
past. In the earliest and purest and best
and palmieSt days of the Republic nc
attempt was ever made to pass such a
measure; and for the last twenty-five OF
thirty years it has been presented only
to be rejected. The Senate Of the United
States has now given its sanction to the
measure, and it is before you for your
final consideration.
Mr.. Chairman, l have lived long
enough, perhaps, to pay more than due
attention to the past, and to rely with
more than due confidence upon the les
sons of the past. The experience of our
predecessors is against it; all have de-
termined against it. We have had times
of peace and times of war, but we have
had no times in which the Congress OF
the United States would approve of this
measure. We have actual experience and
proof of that. Why should we do it
now? Is there anything particularly aus
picious to the measure at this time? Is
there any particular advantage to be de-
rived from it at this particular moment,
that now, at this time, we should adopt
the rejected of all the past? What are
the particular considerations and motives
that induce it? OF all inauspicious times,
it seems to me that this is the most in
auspicious for the measure which we are
called upon to adopt. We are not only
engaged in this tremendous war, now,
l trust. coming to its end, but we are en-
gagged in war founded upon the appre-
hension of the people that it is the in
tention Of Congress ultimately to violate
tho constitutional rights OF the different
States in adopting or rejecting slavery
as they please. 1t is that apprehension
that has kindled this war. No one viii
dispute that. Whether it was the rca
motive with this or that leader, o.
whether they had other or more traitorou'
views, it is not necessary to determine.
The masses of the people, so far a
they were influenced by any political con
sideratons, were, | say, influenced t
unite in this rebellion by the apprehen
sion of such an intention on the part o
Congress. | believe then, and | believ
now. that they are mistaken, and tha
the Congress Of the United States vii
not exercise any such unconstitutiona
power over them. But that was thci
d apprehension. They are now laborint
under that apprehension. Uudcr tina
apprehension they have fought with fur,
against us. Out of that apprehension
has been attempted to be deduced by tn
leaders Of the rebellion every motive t,
continued resistance and to everlastns
hostility to us. This is our condition
now, and it is under these circumstance
, that this bill is introduced, and we ar
+ asked to pass it. What will be the ef
feet Of it? Will it not, in the minds o
I.l. 4 II.