Year: 1861

tne otate AaRlng Jur1sQlctlon o1 the crime

 and if any question of law shall arise during

 such examination, it may be taken on excep-

 tions by writ of errorto the circuit court.

 There is no action of the committee which l more deeply regret than the report of this bill. regard it as an attempt at fragrant usurpation by the Federal Government of powers that prop erly belong only to the States. By the theory of our system, the highest duty of the State au- thority is to protect the person of the citizen. The bill before the House strikes down tho very capacity to perform that duty. Its legal effect is to suspend the writ of habeas corpus from the State judiciary in all cases ofrequisition for the surrender of alleged criminals; and to wrench from the State executive functions which have been exercised thereby for sixty. four years, in order to devolve those functions upon a Federal judge appointed by the President of the United States, and holding office for life. 1 believe it's practical operation will be disastrous for in- stead of the trifing differences which now exist between certain Governors, it tends to collision between the Federal and State authorities which ought, if possible, to be carefully avoided. z~ Nor do approve the object of the bill. It has been very generally held by the Governors, that no surrender should be made upon requisition for the commission of an act which was not crime by the laws of the State on whose execu- tive the requisition was made. l believe that decision to be right. It is expected to reverse

 

 constituted. The object for which the reversal is sought is, mainly, that acquisitions upon in dictments for what are called offences against slave property, and for the publication of such printed matter as the laws of certain States may denominate incendiary, shall be made effective by the surrender, through the Federal judges, of the persons accused. Indictments have been found against citizens who had never been in the jurisdiction where the crime was alleged to have been committed at all; the only presence therein being such as was derived, by construction, from the mailing by the accused ofa newspaper in the State of New York to friend subscriber south of Mason and Dixon's line; and the bill, as far as possible sanctions this infamous prac- tice, by providing that the mere finding of the indictment shall be prima facie evidence before the Federal judge of the presence of the accused at the place where the crime is alleged to have been committed. Every man shall be presumed to be innocent till his guilt is proved is tho maxim of the common law; the bill reverses it squarely. 1 have nothing to say of the laws which the citizens of the slaveholding States may choose to make for the preservation of their system of society; but 1 must protest against the practical extension of those laws all over the Republic, through the intervention of the Federal courts.

 MT. Speaker, have now stated very fully the course which intend to pursue regarding the propositions submitted by the chairman of the committe It remains for me to consider what ought to be done for the preservation of the Re- public. It is question involving, at this hour, terrible responsibilities. Good men. brave men, wise men, may we'll hesitate and doubt But, sir, there is principle which will guide safe ly in the darkest hour. It is simply to do ight. The one great revelation Of history, which, above all others, exhibits its awful presence amid the changes of rising and of falling nations, is, that God governs in the affairs of men, and that the nu,hc co1h o1, nal law cannot prosper. It is because have learned this, that dare not make another com promise with slavery. And why should we con- promise? The people have elected President of signal integrity, and holding just and corsti tutional opinions. Forthwith armed rebellion springs up all along the Gulf, and with sabre hrandished in our faces, and bayonet pointed at our breasts, demands compromise. Other States, catching the infection, threaten to join the insur gent ranks unless VIC compromise. Compromise what, sir? Not petition for redress of grey- has been laid upon our table, but the soft appIi- ances that are brought to bear upon this great Government are drilled troops and loaded cannon.

 The venerable Senator from Rhode Island re- marked in his place the other day ' I am afraid to compromise, lest l demoralize the Govern mcnt.'' share in that fear. Suppose we yield ; sacrifice the moral convictions of the North, and the revOlted States return to their allegiance :; the tariff bill of the gentleman from Vermont is taken from the table of the Senate and passed :: forthwith the hosts of sedtion rallied, seces- sion raises it's hideous front, and amid the clang- or of arms sounding from the Gulf, the industrial interests of the nation irlmolated upon the alters of treason. Will Pennsylvania stand halt ing and trembling then? After peace has been restored by the new surrender, the homestead bill is reached upon the Calendar of the Senate, guns roar from Fort Moultrie, bayonets bristle at Pensacola, batteries are planted on the banks of the Mississippi, and amid shouts of ''com- promise the Government yields once more, and the free emigrant of every section is sacrificed to the plantation. On which side will the North west be then

 \ compromise new is but the establishment of | sedition as an elementary principle in our sys- tenn. Let the slave holding States rcnounce their mischicvous heresy of secession; let them return to their allegiance; let them propose, the only useful amendment to the Constitution, an express provision therein that State shall withdraw from the Union without the consent of all it's members: let them then make known, i'll the res pectful manner, due to every Government, what | arc their desires; and have no doubt that am- pie security will be given for all their rights and even interests. But so long as open rebellion on the one hand, and threatened rebellion on the other, are the means of redress relied on, there is course left for the Government but tile vim dication of it's dignity by an exhibition of it's strength Sir, there never wicked re- bellion since the angels rcvolted as that which now threatens to devastate this fair land. A country such as God never before gave to any people; Constitution the envy and admiration of the world a freedom combined in such just measure with civil order as no other nation was ever blessed withal past full of glorious recol- lections; present wherein plenty is pouring her richest bounty into the lap of peace future glowing with immortal hopes these, all these are to be thrown away, and the hell-fres of civil war to be kindled up, that a Toombs may be lord of the ascendant in Georgia, or Rhett realize his visions of ambition in South Carolina Others may do as they choose; I, for one, dare not compound with treason so full of unnatural guilt.

 THE PEACE CONVENTION at Washington ad- heres to the resolution to sit with closed doors, but we are, nevertheless, enabled this morning | to give an account of the proceedings. The Con- mittee on Organization, appointed on Monday, reported in favor of Ex-President John Tyler of Virginia, for President, and J. C. Wright, of Ohio, for Secretary. The report was unanimous ly concurred in, and MT. Tyler, on taking the chair, made speech which had the happiest eff feet on the Convention. At it's conclusion he was | generally congratulated, and most of the Dele gates announced their readiness to follow where | Virginia would lead. The regular business of the Convention was not proceeded with, the ex- cuse being that the Delegates from several States