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-- - . - - . - .------"-.- - - a. raie will cling to tie Pillars of Elie Temple of udour'LI fa, we wl iitraturut fle lu iw, W. F. DURISOE, Proprietor. EDGEFIELD S. C., MARCH 29, 1854. W. F.- I DURISOEPProprietor.- -- THE EDGEFIELD ADVERTI SER IS PUBLISHED EVLRY WEDNESDAY B7 W. r. DURISOE, Proprietor. ARTHUR SIXKINS, Editor. TERMS. Two DOLLARS per year, if paid in advance-Two DoLLaRS and FwrY CrNTS if not paid? within six months-and THREs DOLLARS if 4t paid before the -expiration of the year. All subscriptions not distinct IV limitetd at tile time of subscribing, will he consid ed as made for an indefinite period, and will be con tinued until all arreartges are paid, or at tile option of the Publisher. Stipscriptions from other States must invariably be accompanied with the cash or .. eference to some one known to its. ADVERTISEMENTS will be conspictnoustly inserted at 75 cents per Square (l2 lines or less) for the first insertion, and 371 cents for each subsequet insertion When only published Mionithly or Quarterly $1, per squsre will be charged. All Advertisemnents not having the desired number of insertimis marked on the margin. will be continued until forbid and charged scrorii~v. Those deisring to advertise hy the-year can do so on theral terms-it being distinctly understood that con racts for yearly advertising are confined to tile fume diate, legitimate business of the firn or ineividul contracting.- Transient Advertisements must be paid for inl advance. -or announcing a Candidate, Three Dollars, in ad vance. For Advertising Fstrays Tolled,Two ollars, to be eid by the Magistrate advertising. SPEECH OF HON. P. S. BROOKS, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. In the House of Represettatives U. States March 15, 1851, on the bill providitg ' er ritorial Governments for iNebraska and Kansas. Mr. BRooKs said : Mr. Chairman, I desire to express my views upon the bill whiieh is engrossing the thoughts of every Member on this floor, and I wish to do so before the ground is altogether covered by the arnV of speakers who are holdirg themselves itn re serve. Should aught of intemperante of language' escape mie in time remarks I ami about to make, I trust that it may be regard ed as directed towards pritiiles and poi tions, and not to the persons ft omt whomi tle. proceed. I have lived long enough to learn, that to do justice to the opinions and evei prejudices of others, is the surest way to secure atjust consideration of my own. Nor, sir, does it jutmipl with my humor or my appreeiation of honor to assail those who, I in obedience to a local semtinmett, are averse to a resort btt too c'ommnoi inl a warmer hit itude. Jt is a cheap diplIy of chivalry to ftvhen no risk is inctrred; and, for my own part, I would prefer the conditiOni o him w'ho bears the wound than of iitmi bv whom it is, under stch elircumstances, need. lesulv inflicted. I am frank to avow my belief that it would have been wiser aid itn better ketepmimtg with the genieral interests of the couitiy, had the hill providing Territorial Governmtmienits for Nebraska and lnsas beet delaved until the pressing wInts of the people of those Ter ritori-s had c:used them to a1pply to Conl gress for relief. The frietnds of the bill maintain that the so-Lcalled Missouri compromise line has heen supt-reeded by subsequeit acts of legislatiomn which are iticonsistent with it, and that it is therefore virtually ainulled. I wotld have preferred to continue ill this attitude. It would have given us the advantages of a defensive osition. But, sir, the bill is before us, and it becomes us of the South to avail otrselves of the op pirltune occa-:sion,. to bring bacek congressiont to) reassert the great cons1titutionatl primnciple, thatt as th p-eople are Ite source of all polit ical power, they have in the capacity o1 .sovere-igmn States, te inherent right of self governmtent, andl to reg tinl our constitutintal ight to g~o with our pr-operty, of evemy de scription, upon any part of the public do We rejoice to unite with otur brethirent of the WVet im so patriotic an eniterprise, and we rejoice thmat the stars of the Constitution amnd of empire, are minglinig their rays to gether in the WVest. We rejoice upotn this coinicitdence of-opittioni between the pi-ople of two greatt sections, which are detstinled to grow together. imn prosperity amnd wvealth, amnd which God has united itn a commeton initerest, b~y that great 'ighwvay of commnerce whticht Is-inigs the treasures of the WVest imnto the Jltp of the South. Was the Wu1ilmnot proviso . itncorporated into the hill, I apprehtemnd tha;t no obstacle would lbe intergesed to its pas sage by those wvho no oppose it. But, sir, a certain frattertnity, who with Imhule pre tensions, have atssumtedI to be thme onlyi relia bile expounders of thte Consttution-thae dis coverers of a htighter lawt thatn thte law of God, ini obedienice to the peculiar tenets of hbien they are required to love their breth retn in black nmore than thtose of the same coslor as themtselves-te-jl us in samntmnious tones of. senatorial digntity to " maintainu * plighted fatith." 'Tey olbject to the- bill 1st. Because of thme assumption that it was the original policy of the country to exclude savaery from time Territories held in cotmmoni by the States. ~2d. Because of an act of legislation in 1820, the consideration of which has beemn enjoyed by the slave States, and the hentefits of w~hich have not yet accrued to the Itre Statas. 2d. Because of the assumed antagonism of the free and slave labor, and that thte ad missioni of slaves into these Territories will resutlt in the exclusiont of foreign emiigrantts. Anid 4th. Because of the immorality and the inexpediency of slavery. I prps to reply to the objections in the order, in, which they are stated, arti dI inivite .yoar attention, first, to that which is based upon whatt is assumed to have beemn the ori gintal policy of the country. It is not sur prisitng that among a peoiple who have just * emerged fromt a wastinig anud protracted war, wvaged in the defemnce of their own liberty, that in the tirst enjoyment of that liberty, tmatny should have been precipitated into ex. travatganes of opinion anad of act. There was amn exultant feeling of triumph, natural yet da mro, which jnervaded every rank of society, and the prosperity of tile Amei can States was never imore critically perilled than at that period of time which intervenes between the termination of the war of Inde. pendence and the adoption of the Federal Constitution. While the States were employed in a com mon resistance to a coimmion enemy, they were secure agqitst rivalries and jealousies amongst themselves. But with the relaxa. tions of peace came the intoxications of liberty. We were then in " the infancy of the science of constitutions and coifedera. eies;" and never was our victory complete until the liberty we had achieved had been regulated by law, and the rights of the States ill relations to each other and to the General Govermnent, then about to lie established, had heen defined and guarantied by a writ. ten Constitutimn. That the light of liberty during this inter val should have been reflected from the white to the black man is but natural ; and that mnei high in fame for widomn and patriotism, have uttered sentiments adverse to the ex tension of slav. ry, 'it would be unfair and untrue to denv. Mr. Mason, of Virginia, in the Federal Convention, avow ed the opinion that slaves " bring the judgment of heaven on a coun rv. As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and efl'cts. Providence punishes natiormal sins by national calamities. He lamiented, how e0er, that some of our Eastein brethren had, from a lust of gain, embarked inl this nefari ous traffic." Mr. Ellsworih, of Contnecticut, said : "Let us not itteri-tidle. As population increases, poor laborers w ill be so pletty as to render slaves useless. Slavery, in time, will not be a speck in tihe coumitry." Authority may be "adduced in suppott of a thousami exploded theories. Authority, and high authority, nmav be brought for con verting this Government into a consolidated despotism, authority for givimg the President a life tenor of office; and authority for con erring upon him the appointment ofmenmbers o. the other branch of this Congress. And to what does this authority amount I You 11mv as well give the authority of Quakers agminst war, and tihe authority of Shays's rebellion against the hlessings of the very liberty we had achieved IV revolution. of what weight is the authority of Mr. Masoun minl Virgimmia now, that the judgment of Ieaven is visited upon the owners of slaves? And of what weight imn Connecti. cut is the whoksome renimstrAnce KfMr Ellswortb, let us not iitermeddle ? Sir, tihe judgment of Heaven has fallen uponi our lad, amid ill such pletteous showers Of' prosperity and of greatness, that the na iritis of the Old World turn their eyes upon us inl admiration and amazement. Our staple priodnectionis-tle productions of our slaves -fill every market inl both hemispheres. They have so interwoven themselves wvith the occuiatinimis, the habits, and the necessi ties of man, that a failure of the slave crops of America would threaten revolution in Europe, aid bring ruin upon thousands of our own countrymen, who, in their blind fianaticisim, would niow spoil the udder which has fed and fattenied theim. The policy of a Govermnent is not to be learned from kolated opinions, irresponsibly given ini loose debate, but by its solemn en actients, exect *ed in proper-form, and by competent authority. Buit, sir, since this point has beeni made, we may leatrn mnre of the policy of the. countrmy by examinming the opinmionis of othier aemtlmmemi of theO Federil Convention. il Mr. Sherman, of Connecticut, observed that " the abolition of slavery seemed to be going1 on in time Unmited States, and that the gonod sense of the several States wvould, pmo baly, bmy degrees complete it." M r. Dickinsoni, of Dela ware, " considered it ina~dmissib'le, on every prmipille of honor arid safety, that the importationa of slaves should be authorized to time States by thme Const itumt imn." Mr. Luther Martin, of M.iryland, .wfrs for prohibiting thme imiportationi of slaves. " It was inconsistent with thme principles of tihe Revtolutionm, anmd dishonorab!e to time Ameri cmn character, to have such a feature in the Constitutiont." Mr. Gerry, of Massaeusetts, thought we "had mnothimng to do with the coniduct of time States as to siaves, but ought to lbe careful nt to give alny sanictiomn to it." Mr. Lngdon, of New Ihampshire, was strenuous foir givimng this power (prohmibitimn the imp1ortation) of slaves) to thme Genmeral Government. " Hie could not withm a gooid comscience leave it with the States, who wol hngo on n ith the traffic, without -tha~t -hywill themselves cease to import slaves." The opinion of Mr. Mason has already beeni given. All this is plain enough, amnd puts time gen eral dlispositiont of the convention, to pre vent time itmportatiotn of slaves, beyond ques. tion. * Un where wvere time Carolimnas and Geor. gia ? Mr. Rutledgze said : " The question at pre. sent, is, whether time Southertn Stats shall or shall not be parties to thme Unionm? .lf the Northern States consult their interests the) will tnt oppose time increase of slaves, wvhicli will increase time commodities of which time) will become the carriers." Mr. Piunckney said : " South Carolinn never can receive the plan (time Costitutiom 'if it prohibits the slave trade. In every pro posed extension of the powers of Congress that State had expressly and watchfully ex eepted that of tmeddling with the tranisporta tion of negroes." General Pinickney " declared it to be his firm opitnion that, if himself and all his col leagues were to sign thme Constitution, ant use thmeir personal influence, it would be o no avail towards obtainimng the assemnt o their constituents. South Carolimna an< Georgia could not do without slaves." Mr. Williamson, of North Carolina " thought that time Southern States could no be membes of tim nioni t he clause (m restricting importations) should be rejected. Mr. Baldwin, of Georgia, bad national objects alone to be before the con vention ; not such as like the present, 'Which were of a local nature. Georgia was de cided on this point." Well, sir, with these points of difference so fully expressed, so strongly urged on the one side, and sternly resisted onl the other, what was the result ? A few other extracts expressive of the pci. icy of the country, will explaiin : Mr Sherman said " it is better to let the Southern States import slaves than to part with them, if they made that a sine qua non.' Mr. Gouverneur Morris said," these things form a bargain animonig the'- northern attd southern States." Mr. Elisworth said " If we do not agree on this middle and moderate ground, he was afraid we should lose two btaltes, with such others as may be disposed to stand aloof; should fly into a variety of shapes and di rections, and, nost probably, confederations -and not without bloodshed." Now, sir, we begin to see sonikhat more of the "policy of the countr,"' and the ex planation of the whole matter is simply this: The northern States having founid slaves unprofitable to them, judged they would be so with us at the Sobili. Under this mistake they vielded to the obstinacy. (if you please) of the Carolinas antd Georgia, and the im. portation oif slaves was authorized by law until 1808, a period of twenty years. Delaware, Maryland an( Virgina, were then indifferent on the subject; for they, too, had found them unprofitable, and kiew that they could sell off to the States fu; ther south, Iupon better teris; if the idiportatioti from Africa was prohibited. About this time Mr. Jefferson said of to bacco: It is a culture productive of infinite wreteltedness ; those employed in it.are in a continued state of exhaustion, heyond' the powers of nature to support. Little-food of any kind is raised by ltem, (tobacco grow ers) so that men and animals on these farms are badly fi'd, aid the earth is rapidly im poverished." Nor was tihe right to import slaves all that the pro-slavery States retained anid secured by the compact ; for, though they were in a minority in the convention, yet so confident was the Northi of the entire worthlessness of slaves, and so pertinacious the pro-slavery States in their refusal to enter the Union up. ott any other terms than those which now appear in tihe compact, that theg guarantied to all the States -qual rigmas m Aiublic domain ; and by the second section of the four th article of the Constitution, contracted to deliver up our runaways atid, if necessary, to protect us and all the States against any kind of " dome tic violence," Yet we are now told that it was the policy of the country to exclude slavery from all nationmal territory. Sir, there is a suspicious sound in that word nalional, which jars upon Southern ears, and when coupled with tihe doctrines it inculeates, comes athwart the gale like the low whistle of the bandit, and admonishes hionest tmen to look well to the security of their estates. It is worse than absurd to quote the indi vidual opinions of any man agailnst the in stitution of slavery Vhiclh were expressed before those great staples which are now grown so abundantly in the South and South west, entered as controlling elements into the commerce of the world. In every as pm'et wvhich you tmay view it, the appearance is different. TI he destruction biy thne war of the little commerce w~e possessed, together with the absence of that great staple wvhich has sitnce given emi loymnen t to millions, hand well nigh rendered property itn slaves not on1ly valueless, but an absolute incumbratnce. Thne times were propitious both to schemes of emianciationl, and to the entertainment of sentimetnts of pseudo-philatnthropy. Lands were abutndant, labor cheap, the cotton gin unknown, sugar uncultivated biy us, the to b:ceco market overstocked, and the profitable culture of rice thought to be confined to tide water swanmps; and, as a corollary to these p1o~Istbtes, the negro almost too expensive an article for a poor man to keep. The moral and intellec tual character of the tiegro ,bis peculiar adaptatirin to the culture of our piincipal staples, tIhe staples of themselves in a measure, and the great and vanried uses to which they have since beetn applied, were then wholly unknow n. The territorial expansion of our country its nume~rical strength, and our magnificent comnmerce, l.ad never been foreshadow~ed by the most fervid imagination. In 1741, but eight bales of Cotton were exported from Amnerica. In 1791.,(an interval'oif fifty years) but forty-seven bales. The invention of WVhit tney came into use in 1793, and our present production is upwards of three' millions of bales, worth over a hundred niilliotns of dol lars, and which tie ingenuity of man has amp. plied to almost every conceivalle purpose. The acquisition of land from France and Sp-ain, h-as added other sta ples to our e xports; and time has revealed the fact, that the ele vation anid Christianization of the negro is only to be effected by his servitude to a su perier race, anid the ameliorating influen ce of atn itntelligence borrowed from the wvhite man. Blut, sir, we repudiate all authority but thne Constitution. In by that instrument it catn be shown that wve of the Sonth have beeni comtmitted to an odious inequality of right in the public domain, then we will submit ; but so long as wve are able to hold with onie hand this charter of our eqnal rights before the eyes of our children, and to defend it with the other, you will fimnd anly and every authority other than the Constitution insufficient to re strain us. I will next proceed to the second objection to the bill, whieh is because of an act of legis lation, passed itn 1820, the cotsideration of I w hich has 'been enjoyed by the South, and r the benefits of which have not yet accrued r to the free States. We are asked to revere the provisions of the act of March 6, 1820, as sacredly binding upon honor, and told that a , refusal involves the turpitude of fraud. tSince thne first atssemblage of Delegates , frotm A merican Stnate to confer upon mat ters affecting me general welmire, quesuons connected with the iristitution of slavery have been the never failing source of sectional dis agreement and legislative contention. The foundations of this.Government have been threatened by its thries, and as often has re pose been re-establisied by the magic of com promise. It was compromised in the Con gress of the Confederytion, and opened again in the Federal Convention. After eliciting much of eloquence, and much of patriotism, it was seemingly settled by the adoption of the Constitution, but again disturbed by the acquisition of teiritory from France. Here again the fires of discord were smothered over only to break.out with fiercer violence upon the organizatioiI of territory acquired of Mexico. A gain the virtues r compromise were in voked, and with a t inphant success, which was heralded forth tj the world as a specific against the ills of Stte. But three short years have pased, a d again the snbject is before us, with its*xtremes as thoroughly charged with opposte qualities as bWfore the equilibrium had been created by the aid of compromise. 11iihearsal of the general history of the severuid compromises is made to show that there is no manner of 'affinity between slavery andcornpromise. We are warned by the past of the entire insufficiency of compromise to secare a finality of the sub ject, and I submit that it is more manly, wis er, and more hones from henceforth to es chew the word. The question of avory w-is legally set tled when the States, which were then par. ties to the compact, ratified the Constitution. It thereby became a part and parcel of the sbipreme law of the land, and no graver leg islative mistake, none so dangerous to the South, or so eibarassing to the Constitu tion-loving portion of the North, was ever committed, as when the stern letter of the constitution was forgotten in the. delusive attractions of a hollow compronmise. But, sir were we, for the sake of argument to admit the constitutionality of the. act, known as the Missouri compromise, 't would pot, in justice,. strengthen the positions of the opponents of this hill. In fact, it weak. ens them, and exposes their entire insinceri ty ; because it is in proof of record that the very men who are &ying out the bond! the bond! have, on every occasion and oppor tunity, violated its spirit and meaning, and, in their interference: ith the slave-trade in the District of Cohfuli, and in the matter of California, the ve bond itself. I know it MlIL )l te.pmople of. Cali fornia excluded slavery Ty their own consi tution; but the Journal of *this House will show, by the voting, which is therein recor ded, that the price of her admissions was the exclusion of slavery. Were we to grant that the " Missouri bond," (as it is some where called,) was contitutional and fair, the opponents of this bill are stopped from pleading it ini the present issue, by the fact that ihey themselves have uniformly disre garded it-s provisons. It is, I believe, a uni versally admitted principle of justice and of law, that in every dependent covenant a fail ure of performance by one of the parties to it releases the other from all obligations to its terms. For upwards of thirty years has the South acqniesced in this Missouri line-which was t first forced upon her by a iorthern ma jority-and not ini a singile instance have we attempted to overleap it. Believing that we would be excluded by natural laws, which, north of 361 30', are adverse to the proftablenesss of slave labor, wve became reconciled to a law~ which we know to be unconstitutional. Continually harassed al most beyond endurance, -we wvere willing, for the seke of quiet, to adopt this line as a inal settlement of the question. Actuated by these considerations, we ha:ve made re peated offers to extend the line to the Pa eiic ocean-offers which vindicate our fideli ty to the contract, and which, had they' been necepted in the good faith in which they were tendered, might have given stability to the adjustment. Oit the loth August, 1848, an amend ment to the Oregon bill, then before the Senate, was offered, providing for the exten sion of the compromise line to the Pacitic ; and passed that body, by a vote of 33 yeas and 21 nays. The nays wvere: "Messrs. Allen, A therton, Baldwin, Brad bury, IBreese, Clarke, Corwin, Daviis of Massachusetts, Dayton, Dix, Diodge, Felch, Greene, H ale, Hamilim, Miller, Niles, Phelps, U pham, W alker, and W ebster-2 1." Th'~e bill thus amended was sent to this House, and rejected by the Free-Soil vote, which was un~anious1 against it. My immedilate predecessor moved to amend a hill, originiatinig in this Rouse, which [pro vided a territorial government for Oregon, and in which the Wihnot proviso was incor porated, by declaring the effect that, inas much as slavery waus excluded from Oregon by operation of the lawv known as the Mis souri Compromise, wve were content to abide by its te'rms; and it was promptly rejected, as insufficient for the purposes and designs of Free-Soilers. *In 1850, wvhen the bill for the admission of California was before the Senate, Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, moved to amend, by making 3640 30' the southern boundary of the State; and it was lost-23 yeas, 33 nays. Amendments to the same effect were subsequently twice offered;~ fti-st by Mr. Foote, of Mississippi, and again by Mr. TFur ney, of Tennessee, and both rejected. But why multiply instancesi I have referred to but one which occurred in this House, because we all know that for years the only hope of the South has been in the conserva tism of the Senate. For upwards of thirty years has the South, in observance of an acquiescence unwisely yielded, submitted to tme insult of an exclusion, and, by a geogra phical line, from a common territory, secur ed by common treasure ; while the Free. soilers of the Northm, in obedience to the dy ing injunction of tjmeir great captain, to " persevere," have persevered ini their en croachments to the south of the line. Our section of the country has been, hroughouat this entire neriod, flooded with inflammatory character. The peace of our society, and the security of our lives and property endangered by fanatical emissaries; our deluded slaves enticed away under the cover of night, and their owners murdered in the broad light of day, in endeavoring to secure them; our-people insulted, thruih their Representatives on this floor, by poti tions crammed with falsehood and slander, and the bond itself cancelled by an attempt to fix the Wilmot proviso upon Arkansas and Texas. But, sir worse than 2l, as if to mortify sensibilities made acute by grief, to grind insults into hearts made tender by sorrow urd to rob the widowed southern mother of her only consolation-the consolation that her husband or child had died in the cause of his whole country ; while the gore of the eroes of Tennessee,- of .Mississippi, and Carolina was wet upon the plains of Mexi. co-a bill was introduced, in the hot haste of avaricious cupidity, and Oassed this House, which excluded their kindred of the South from the very territory which had been purchased with their blood. Nor, sir, is this all ; for, in violation of the spirit and letter of the compromise which authorised the admission of Missouri as a State, within one year from its date this Rouse refused her admission; liecause her people had, by their State constitution, ex duded free negroes from her borders. The Free-Soilers have presunmed to legislate upon ilavery within this Distict; have endeavored ix their doctrines upon forts and public 7rounds in every quarter of the country, and ave dared to let the pollution of their hounghts rest upon the grave of Washington, ;hielded though it be by the sovereignty of Virginia. I submit, sir. that I have shown an entire railure of coisiderition. All this, and much miore liesides,-which will be made appear rrom the record of the country by others wvho will fdilo w me, and the boadunimpeach. ?d by the* South. But, sir, wd are told that this is no viola. ion of the contract; fdr although the act of 820 prohibits slavery north of the line, et it leaves the question open south of the ine. Sir, I will not argue a proposition so perfidionsly monstrous. It is enough, if any hing he wanting, to satisfy any honest man of the utter folly of compromise; and ad. monishes W6 to blot out that which is a ralsehood upon our statutes. The authority of Mr.. Monroe, and the the southern members of his Cabinet, (Mr. Cl ir.iiad Mr Ciiifrdj is iven for the constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise. Mr. Calhoun always denied that the compremise had the authority of iis sanction. In his speech in the Senate ,f 7th June, 1848, lie said 4xpressly that it was " carried by northern votes, aid opposed ulnost unanimously by the South, but yet cquiesced in by us from love for the Uiion." It may he that the President, as well as Mr. Wirt and Mr. Crawford, acquiesced from the same motive. But again we are told that the South hap iad the full enjoyment of the benefits of the ompromise, for that under it four slave States have been admitted into the Union, while the free States have but Iowa. To this it is sufficient to reply, that out of the North west Territory (once the property of a iave State,) four free States had been pre. viously carved out, and their admission into the Union secured a preponderance of politi. cal power to the noti-slaveholding States in this House. Wisconsin has since been ad. ded ; and, in violation of the ordinance of 1787, wvhich testricted the number of States to be create& out of the Northwvest Territory to five, an io more, a part of this territory has been inrown with Minnesota, which will result ini securing to the free Stat~s the political powver of six States; one~ mxore than was stipulated in the oirdillance. Mr. Chairman, the end of the whole mat ter is, the question admits of no compromise. The men of the North regatrd slavery as a moral, a social, and a political evil. We re gard it a moral, sociail, and political good If both are sincere, (and I believe that thou sands are, who, ignorant of the character of the negro and the workinigs of the :,ystem, juge of the institution by false standards and prejndiced symnpath':es,) then no0 coin promise should be toleratid. There is ino middle ground betweedf right and wrong ; and those of us whom desire to perpetuate this Government, whether fron the North or South, have no alternative but to take this question of slavery buck to where it was left hy the Constitution. Here wve "will find authority to sustain us! aainst assaults from every quairter. Hern we finid au'thority for the equal rights to the States, and here authorily fomr the citizen o1 any State removing with his property of an: description into the territ.,ry of the Unitet States. We are not asked to legislate slavery int< Nebraska and Kansas, but to carry out good old republican principle, that the peopl shall decide for thiemselves the character o their municip~al Government, and be left in free condition to elect for themselves, whet they multiply iito States, slavery or na slavery. The bill is in entire consonance with ou republican theory, and a recurrence to th< true doctrines of the Constitution. It pur sues the same line of p.mlicy which obtainet in regard to Utah, wvhich lies north of 3B 30, anid in reference to New Mexico, nearl: all of which lies south of that line, and il reference to both of which the question a issue was left exclusively to the judgemient c their own people. It is a policy utterly irreconcilable witi the provisions of the Missouri compromise inconsistent with its spirit and letter, and it its effect, nullifies and obliterates it. I next approached the argument urgedi opposition to thte hill-that the admission c slaves wvilh operate to the exclusion oh foreigi itmmigrants; and [ quote as my text the foi lowing paragraph of a remarkable manifestc which invokes the outward pressure of hire, letterwrites, and the " conductors of newt papers in the German and other foreign latm guages." upon the nation of Congress: A- I VISA A I I I A" 4 F&"N b - -. tory, patriotic statesmen have anticipated that a free, industrious, and enlightened pop ulation will extract abundant treasures of individual and public wealth. There it has -been expected freedom-loving emigrants from Europe, and energetic and intelligent labor ers from our own land, will find homes of cumfort and fields of useful enterprise. If this bill shall become a law, all such expecta tion will turn to grievous disappointment. 'rhe blight of slavery will cover the land. The homestead law, should Congress enact one, will be worthless there. Freemen, un less pressed by a hard and cruel necessity will not and should not work beside slaves." I do nut say that such would be the effect, but if any earthly consideration could induce me to cast my vote in favor of inflicting the Wilmot proviso upon a territorial bill, it would be the consideration that unnaturalized for. eigners should be excluded as well as slaves [revere, with a patriotic gratitude, the memo ries of those illustrious characters who never became American citizens, but whose names are a part of the history of American liberty. I-ppreciate the worth ofhundreds of merito rious citizens who first saw the light of day in foreign climes, and cherish for them all those elevated sentiments which are awakend by the word countryman. I rejoice in the equality of their social and legal rights, and am not jealous of their political advancement. And yet, sir, so firm is my conviction that the liberties and institutions of our - country are in greater danger- from the influx of a foreign population than from every other catise united, that I avow in my place an en. tire readiness so to amend the naturalization laws, and extent the period of political pu pilage, as will eecure a better knowledge of our Lheory of gavernment, and give some pr'aiise that th'e privilege of.citizenship will be rightly npprtciated,and not abused. I would int deny to any man who, upon fith in our laws, has settled among us, with a bona Jide intention of permanent residence, the legal or political rights of a naturalized citizen. But, sir, emigration is ,increasing into'an evil; and it is tiue to prepare against it.. "Jam pridem Syrus in Tiferim defluxit Orontes, et linguam, et mores,et cumn tibicitie chordas obliquas." Things are not as they were. In the earlier days of this Republic we needed an increase of population for the security of our own people, and the development of the resources of.the country. We were then.in t eglition to Ameicanize by example. qd ailisptiion. Wi-w'ere a wholes'ome is tanci froim European associations and policy. Our owi people were less pragmnitical and foreigners less impudent. But, sir, our danger now is not from weakness, but from unwieldly and unregu lted strent'h. The question with the states man is riot whence to draw a population, but how to regulate and discipline that which we have; how to preserve to the people the fullest enjoyment of property, of life, and of liberty, and yet to restrain them within the wholesome limits of constitutional law. They who guide the ship of State will I find their powers of government sounded to the highest key in controlling the elements of fanaticism and propagandism which are of home production, without the inflamnmato ry influence of irresponsible conductors of newspapers or mobs-who mistake rant for reason, and license for liberty. Such is the infatuation of a portion of those who oppose this bill, that, with the history of the foreign population in America fresh in their nmemories-a history wvhich, at the North, is but a succession of riots and of mobs, in which private houses have been in vaded, public edifices demolished, railroads subverted, churches burned, and our citizens murdered--that they condescend to appeal even to those outcasts from the purilieus of the cities of the Old World, to bring their influence to bear upon'this Federal Legis lature. cInmpursuance of ther maidness they have cnrbtdto swell this tide of corruption, wvhich threatens their present peace and so ciety, and whlich threatens us all in prospec tive, by gratuitous donations of publie land, to any and every f'oreigner, upon the sole condition-'of actual settlement. Will it be said by Free-Soilers, in support of their philanthropy, that they desired thus to provide homes for the negro as well as for the whites i Then the proposition amounts to this, that wve of the South, after being robbed of our slaves, are asked by the Xbolitionists and Free-Soilers to relieve them of a population which they have cor rupte~d into nuisances, by setting apart a poto fterritory, of which we are joint ptt onrfr the benefit of these very-rund ways and -free negroes, wvhile our slaves and ourselves are to be dleliberately excluded. ISir, the Free-Soilers but reveal the politi cal use of slavery when they make th~eir ap peals to foreigners for its restriction ; and they hut expose their counterfeited philan thropy wvhen they say ' freemen, unless Spressed by a hard .and cruel necessity, will not, and should -not, work besic'es slaves." IWhere, sir is their regard for their bretherni of the same color as themselves at the South, iknthey will fix upon us what they hold to be a "hard and cruel necessity I" This senti ment bears the ear-marks of northern phil. anthropy, and is a pregnant commentary upon the immaculate doctrines they profest "to behold in every man a brother." I kniow sir, that the equality-loving Free-Soilers eo the North, " unless pressed by a hard and cruel necessity," refuse to work beside slaves IAnd I know that, after seducing them from their homes of cheerfulness and comfort al the South, they are left to starve in thi ',streets, while the freedom-loving emigranl from Europe monopolize every evenue el thrift and of employment; and I also knowv that hundreds who are now dragging out fmiserable existence, in wvant and in crime would joyfully return to their former owneri -could they by honest labor but secure the necessary means. Let Free-Soilers comi to the South, sir, and we will show then the white and the black man in a relatiot of frerndship never dreamed of in their philo soanhy We will show them slaves,-devotec LU LsUV sissas1y 5Iau rOsLe, eG . eIJ . family honor of their masters. Aid we wll show them,- in every.-gentleman, a manwirho will pour out 'his money,. and peril.hishife, if needs .be, to protect his bondsman from cruelty and injustice. A majority- of our best men, and many of our ablest men lare labored side by side with their slaves thron years of enjoyment, of usefulness, and re-'. pectability. 'e l But, sir, the; humanity. of Free-iler" would exclude the poor negro, who- oes. his condition to the cupidity of their adee.s tors, from " the rich lands of this large Ter ritory," and surrender it, without fear er ward, to the 'descendants.of, .possibly thi very Hessians-theminions of King George,. who warred against our liberties, when ,th negro, by his labor, fed the Continentalariy of America. - Sir, the jealousy of the political powerhof slavery is not to be covered by so flimsy a* vail; and let me tell those who are'sincere' in a morbid sympathy for imaginary suffe ings of slavery, and who, with incorrect tno. tives, indulge in schemes of restricting .it, that a better knowledge of .the workinga of the institution would tell thein that genuine philanthropy demands its extension. The operations of a great systemre be learned by an observation of the' op'a tion of smaller system. Ia.every section where is a scarcity of land "its value. is in creased. The poor, who might -desire. to enter it, are unable'to buy; and those who are there generally tempted, by an extrava. gance of price, to seed their ;fortunes jlse where. The men of wealth absorb th6ii.sal[ farms -into large estates, from which they are frequently absent, and the management. of which usually intrusted to agents, who have no interest in them beyond. their an nual wages* and a regard for their -profee sional reputation. The character of thiid reputation is too often deternined by no other consideration thani the, amount.df the, crops which are annnally raised. "Large-: gangs of negroqsi prescongregated upon: large estates, with no socialitercourse but with each other. They are thus. denied . the watchflri . dence of their master, and the elevating' in? floences of his association with them.. al to their owner, and proud. of their relaion0 to him, they are jealous of. a substtu. Wanting in mental resources, - imitatiA biy nature, and conscious of a natural inferidif and dependence upoi a superior race, -he* left to tli Ives, they become the in o the asianwn the e6'xu . fti suIFpeHis'vl in the scale of creation. But on the other hand, - where lands are abundant, they are also cheap. The poor man, when provided with a home, next loois around for somethiug upon uthich he shall expend his successive annual gains, and which will bring the greatest amount of com fort and convenience to his family and himself. Should his money- be invested in a negro, lie introduces it into his family cir cle. The same hand that prepares dailY food of the master, prepares that also of the* slave. They labor in the same field, drink. from the same spring of water, and worship' at the same altar. The negro is enlightened and enobled by the association, and an ex perienced Southern eye can tell at a glance, by the shining face, the-more athletic form, and jaunty air, that his home is upon a small Sfarm, and that the white man is the com'-. panion of his daily toil. Were Free-Soilers permitted to carry out their plans of restricting slavery to its present limits, the first effect in the South would be to expel our poor white population, who could not resist temptation of high. prices for their lands; and the second would be still lower to* degrade the negro, ,and more thoroughly to enslave him. I will now proceed to the argument urged in opposition to this bill, which is drawn from the assumed immorality, tyranny and expedi ency of slavery. It may be convenient to at tack a constitutional right by appeals to the passions, but so long as we are sustained at all points by the authority of law, we are not~ in very mnch daniger from sentiment. it may le that slavery was originally morally wrong; but we know that it existed before the Chris tiani era'-that it was sanctioned by ou r Savi our, w~no enjoined upon servants obedience to their masters; that itwas to be found in Greece and in Rome-that it has obtained in France, England, Spain, H olland, and Bra. zil, and other modern States, and that-the-re-. sponsibility Mits introduction in these States is upon those wvho have gone before us. It may be that the sovereignty of these States should have lbeen surrendered to the Gener al Government, yet it was not done. I lt may. be that property in slaves should have been prohibited by the Constitution; yet the importation of slaves was authorized by it until the year 1808 ain import dutty of $10 per-head was imposed, as on other-species of imiforted property ; and constitiutional-pro vision made whereby this property might be recovered, notwithstanding "ang law ot re gulation" to the contrary existing in the State where it may he fo'und.' It may be that the eqi rights of the.-States to the common ter ritory of all should haye been constitutional ly denied. Yet it is constitutional law. It is~ too late to inquire what'ought to have been done at the time this Government was estab lished-our sole- business is to know what wvas done. If the appointed dispensers of ordinary statute law wer~e permitted to question its policy 'and expediency we would soon be without law ; and if the disperr of consti tutional law are permitted to go behind the Constitution we will soon be plunged into anarchy and disunimn. Mr. Chairman, this cant abott the immo-" rality and horrible tyrrany of slavery may answer its purpose .among the masses of the' North, who have been systematicagly. deceiv ed, and for a purpose, but it is oufit aee here. If slavery be morally wroug1 theR. those gentlemen. who .so regard. it abould have paused before they tookh ahto ~support a Constitution whireJ -recognizes it as a right.'Tergay