Year: 1859

!
| prive them of their property. Could the
| South be patient under these circumstances,
and could they be blamed for taking means
for their defence. We of the South want
| peace. Let the North stand by the compact of
our fathers. Applause on the Southern side.
Virginia has hung the traitor Brown, and
if they could get hold of Seward, they
will hang him. Laughter and applause
Mr. Morris of Pennsylvania said, that, oc-
cupying perfectly independent position, he
was at,lberty to vote on all questions accord
ing to his sense of duty to his country. lie
was opposed to all unnecessary agitation Of the
| subject of slavery and did not wish to discuss
it unless it came before them in a Legitimate
way. This wicked administration counte-
nanced every act of violence and fraud on the
people of Kansas, and brought into Congress
constitution fraudulent from the beginning to
the end. HIS friend, Mr.. Sherman, here stood
nobly firm for the rights of the people against
the government, standing up tor law, order,
concord, and peace, and for this the gentle
man should have his vote, SO long as there
was any probability of his election. An
objection has been urged that Mr.. Sherman
| signed the recommendation of Helpers book.
He Morris did not sign nor had he read the
! book. So far as he understood, it was almost
exclusively addressed to Southern men, and
showed the experience of Southern men as to
the value of Southern labor. Gentlemen mag
| Nifty the book and make it formidable engine
| of mischief to the head of the country. What
had the South to do with Helpers book
Were they, as a college of Jesuits, to expur.
gate the literature of the book, and were they
to act as censors of every incendiary work
| 1t was a most extraordinary proceeding, and
| lifted Helper into a consequence he never
dreamed of obtaining. Who repealed the
Missouri compromise, and broke the bonds of
peace The democratic party. Who got up
the Kansas Nebraska billa The democratic
| party. Who refused to carry out the povisionS
| of that bill, deluding Kansas by saying she
| should have free expression of her will, and
then denying it? The Democratic party
| Who brought the slavery question here's The
Democratic party. And yet gentlemen were
to sit in this hall and hear the whole North ac-
cused of acts of conspirators against the
United States. Was it fair, was it honorable
and fair dealing, that the proceedings of small
| bodies of men i'll the North should be taken as
indices of all those living in that section? His
constituents were eminently loyal, and he in.
sisted they should not be made palticeps crin,i-
MS !; and it was libel and calumny to hold
them and the North responsible for the action
| of band of bad men. 1t might as reasonably
be charged that the whole South were respon-
sible for the ordinance passed by South Caro-.
| lima, multiplying laws of the United States, and
| providing for an armed resistance. The man
| then President was citizen of Tennessee,
| and he in dealing with the subject met re-
| sponse not only from the East and West, but
from the South. He would never despair of
making the Constitution and the Union per-
| petual, and hoped they would all live together
| as band Of brothers.


Mr.. Moore of Alabama in reply to Mr.
Morris, said that such a charge as the gentle
man maintained, had never been made by the
| SOUTH on the entire people of the north. He
| knew there were men in the north as true to
| the Constitution as in the SOUTH but when it
| was said that in the north there was no SYM
pathy for John Brown, it was libel. The
papers of the north were full of demonstrations
| of sympathy, and some were were in mourn
ing for Brown, Mr.. Greeley, a prominent
organ of the Republican party, said in his pa
per that in future Brown will be held in glory
and honor. So far as he knew those he rep
| presented, he expressed his deliberate convic.
ton that the success of purely sectional
party would virtually be a dissolution of the
Union. Ii the Republican party could be de.
teated, the Union would be preserved. But if
such party were to succeed the sooner the
Union is dissolved the better.


MIR. Corwin of Ohio suggested that the
House should take the course reSorted to when
the New Jersey contested election case pre-
vented prompt organization. On that occa-
sion, the venerable John Quincy Adams was
elected Chairman until the Speaker was
chosen. 1t had been his fortune to witness
here every one of the crises to which refer
ence had been made in the debate He was
here during the notification times in 1850. If
gentlemen could summon to their aid the
calm and wise course which animated gentle
men in those times, all unpleasant feeling
would be removed. Applause. He had
heard with infinite pain the repeated threats
that If the Republican party were successful
in the Presidential election, the South would
be willing to encoonter abe fatal consequences
of dissolution of the Union.


Mr.. Lamar Of Mississippi.-Did not Ex-
President Fillmore make that very threat?


Mr.. Corwin replied that he dared say that
such an assertion was made prior to Mr.. Fill
more's election as Vice President He did
express in a formal manner every opinion held
by the Republican party at this day, but it was
found when he succeeded to the Presidency,
that he so administered the government as to
secure the appreciation of every conservative
man north and south, for his impartiality. So
it would happen to every man who comes into
the presidency. No matter what specuations
he may have previously expressed he would
execute his constitutional powers. He did not
think it fair to judge the Republican party by
what Mr.. Seward or any other man said. He
had never read the speech of that senator
which was so repeatedly quoted from There
were thousands of men who vote with the Re
publicans who bad never read it, for there were
men in thht party who do not consider them
selves worshippers of any idol AS to the
charge that Mr.. Seward was implicated in the
conduct of Brown, Mr.. Corwin said no man
could be convicted on such questionable testi-
mony as was sought to be produced. He
thought that this mode of eliminating men
ought to be put away. He said the principles
of the Republican party were those of the
the trainers of the constitution. AS to Help
er's book it would not change the opinion of
anv one.


Mr.. Stanton explained that when certain
members signed their names recommending
the book, its compilation was not completed.
1t was TO be made up of statistics from Help
er's book and quotations from the fathers of
the Republic The superintendance of the
book was in the hands of men in whom they
had confidence.


Mr.. Cox of Ohio, asked Mr.. Sherman
whether he believed in the constitutionality of
the fugitive slave law.


Mr.. Sherman declined as he did the other
day, to reply to any interrogatories, and re-
ferred to his public remarks for the last four
years. He did not expect the support of gen.
tlemen on that side of the House.


Adjourned