Year: 1861

VI HaliollS. lie \JullnSOn) Claimed


that the power to enforce the laws


was expressly delegated by the State,


to the General Government, and i


any State sets itself up in opposition


to this power it is aggression and re


bcllion. If the government fails t
perform its duty in this respect it il


at All end. He called attention t.
Jackson's and Webster's views upol
this subject. The Government wa,
called into existence by all the States
and a single State could not break i
up. The Constitution intended that il
should be perpetual.


He argued if South Carolina re
fused to permit the federal courts tc
sit in that State, or the carrying o.
mails, or the collection of the revc
nue., the government has a right t
enforce the laws. If South Carolina
scccdes and undertakes to drive the
government from its property, it is
levying war, and that is treason, moth
ing less. Madison, Washington and
Jefferson denied the right of scces
sion yet we are told that State can
go out of the Union regardless of con
sequences to the other States. The
question is, whether other States will
tolerate secession. If South Carolina
is out of the Union, and about to form
an alliance inlmical to the rest of the
States, the government has q right
to conquer and hold her as province
He referred to the expense of acquir
ing California, Texas and Louisiana
and the admission of these States into
the Union, not for their own only, bu
for the benefit of all the States. YET
these States may say to-day, we viii
go out on our own volition. What al
illogical argument The compact was
reciprocal, and they have no right tc
go out.


He quoted Governor Gist's message
to show that it was the intention OF
South Carolina to drag her sister
States into common ruin. So far as
Tennessee was concerned, she could
not be dragged into a Southern, or
any other confederacy until she has
time to consider, and he would tell
his Northern friends that Tennessee
could not be driven ont of the CON
fcderacy either. If the Abolitionists
wanted to abolish slavery, their first
step should be to bring about disunion
The existence Of slavery demands the
preservation Of the Union. The bor-
der States would be unprotected in
case of disunion. He would rather
see a consolidated government than
thirty-three petty, wrangling powers


He avOwed in his place that he
would never enter into any govern
mcnt, North or South, less Democratic
than the one under which we now live
Never ! Never He read extracts
from the Georgia papers suggesting
IA monarchical government, and said
the South had better bear the ills they
have than fly to those they know not Of,


In the Senate, on a later day, a bill
was reported from the Committee on
Territories to provide for the Terrific
rial Government Of Arizonia, &c, and
taken up.


Mr.. Green explained the bill. He
said it was i'll the usual form, and
there was nothing Objectionable to it.
1t was necessity for the Territorial
Government there.


Mr.. Brown moved to add section,
that the act of the Legislature of New
Mexico for the protection of slave
property be in force in this Territory.


Mr.. Trumbull moved to amend, that
the law which was in the said Terri
tory at the time Of the annexation,
remain in force until it becomes a
State.


Mr. Doolittle said we had lived to-
gether for eighty years in pcece.
Peace was based on two ideas: lst.
That the Federal Government, not
citizens of non-slavcholding States,
should make aggrcsSions on slavery
in the States, and the other, that
neither the Federal Government, nor
the citizens Of the slayeho!ding States,
should make aggression, nor under
take to overthrow freedom in the Ter
ritories. If these conditions were
broken, there cannot be peace. He
said the Constitution was the SUI
preme law Of the land and of every
State, and if the Constitution contains
any language which would abolish
slavery in a Territory, it would abol.
ish it in State. He then referred to
the Dred Scott decision, and claimed
that there was nothing in that decis-
ion to lead any one to infer that the
Constitution establishes slavery in
any territory nothing that justifies
men in saying that the Constitution
enters the territory acquired from
Mexico, and abolishes Mexican law
and establishes Il law guaranteeing
the right to take and hold slaves in
this territory. He argued that if we
should annex Canada, the Constitu-
tion had no power of its own force, to
repeal the laws there in regard to
slavery, which had been in force a
hundred years. He said the Senator
from Tennessee (Nicholson) had said
there was great alarm at the South
from the free States, and said he APP
pretended the time would come when
the free States would attempt to
amend the Constitution SO as to eX-
tinguish slavery. Why did not the
Senator from Tennessee, if he wished
to allay the alarm, quote in his speech
that part of the Republican platform
which declares an essential principle
to be the maintenance of State rights
in order to maintain the balance of
power, and denounce the invasion of
any State, on no matter.what pretext
Why did not the Senator quote from
the speeches of the President elect,
when he had declared over and over
again that he did not intend or wish
to interfere with slavery in the States.
(Mr. Doolittle then read from Lincoln's
speeches where he had declared he
had no purpose, directly or indirectly,
to interfere with slavery in the States
He believed he had no lawful ri hit
to do so, nor had he any inclination
SO to do.)


Mr. Doolittle said the Republican