SPEECH ,^1 OF .u HON. LAWEENCE O'B: BEANCH, OF NORTH CAROLINA, ON <^^.3 THE PHESIDENTIAL ELECTION. DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JULY 24, 185®. WAgHiNGTON : MINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE Or*f ICE. 1856. rk '^ THE PEESIDENTIAL ELECTION. The House being in the Committee of the Whole on the Slate of tlie Union, Mr. BRANCH said: Mr. Chairman: A great and vital contest has cmKimenced, and is now raging before tiie people of this country. If we estimate its importance by the magnitude of the results to flow from it, such a one has not, in my opinion, occurred since the establishment of the Government. The portentous flag of Black Republicanism has been raised, and around it have rallied not only the fanatical and political Abolitionists who profess- edly aim at the total abolition of negro slavery everywhere, but also a body of men far more dangerous, who would reach the same result by rendering odious and proscribing the slaveholder, and limiting the influence and checking thegrowth of those States in which negro slavery exists. Under the folds of this flag are found those who would refuse equal privileges to the citizens of the different sections of the Confederacy, and who seek to destroy the equality of the States of the Union. The party formed of such materials, and aiming at such objects, is, of course, and must always remain, strictly sectional in its organiza- tion. It has no existence out of the non-slave- holding States. But as those States have a large majority of Congress, and of the electoral college, its success in getting entire control of the Govern- ment is not at all impossible, nor, under the state of things now existing, at all improbable. I am no disunionist, nor alarmist. Nor is Mr. Fill- more. But he has warned us against the election of Fremont, and tells us that one of the conse- quences must be a dissolution of the Union. Mr. A. K. MARSHALL. T think the gentle- man from North Carolina does not correctly state Mr. Fillmore's position. He says that, if Mr. Fremont carries out the pohcy of appointing none but northern men to his Cabinet, it would cause a dissolution of the Union. Mr. BRANCH. My friend from Kentucky is correct as far as he goes. But Mr. Fillmore says Mr. Fremont would necessarily take all his high oflicers from the North, and that such a course would dissolve the Union. I understand him to intimate very distinctly that the South ought not to remain in the Union under such circumstances. Against such a party, openly avowing such a purpose, the friends of the Union and the Con- stitution should be indissolubly united. Certainly nothing less than the arrant folly of the mad- man could produce division in the minority sec- tion at such a crisis. The noble and patriotic citizen of the North, who, scorning the dema- gogue cry of " slaveocracy " and "southern domination," stands upon the Constitution and fights for the Union, regardless of sections, en- counters prejudices which demagogues excite against him. fie maintains a cause which the ignorant and uninformed in his own section have been taught to believe hostile to their own inter- ests. Ignorance, malice, and fanaticism taunt him as a doughface and a traitor. He withstands it all, because he is conscious of right, and fear- less of consequences. But when he finds him- self vilified at the North, and unsupported at the South — when he sees a powerful party organized in his own section, for the avowed purpose of giving that section preeminence over the South, and its citizens preference over the citizens of the South; and when he sees a large party at the South refusing to cooperate with him to defeat that party, because he cannot, consistendy with the principles on which he has planted himself, advocate a discrimination between the foreign- born and native-born citizen, he may falter in his efforts. When he sees a large part of the South advocating a discrimination between the citizens of the country, therein differing from the Black Republicans only as to the class against whom the principle is applied, may he not commence to inquire whether our aims are more justifiable and constitutional, in this respect, than those of the Black Republicans ? We have slaves to perforna our labor, and no foreigners. The North has no slaves, and its labor is performed by foreigners. The North may claim that the Con'vtituticn guar- anties to its foreign labor as much as it guarauUes to us our slave labor; and the foreign laborer being as indispensabio to the North aa the slave is to the South, the nortliern statesman may ] refuse to defend us from unjust discriniinaiion so Ions: as we insist on a discrimination against, himself and his own section. By such a course 1 of reasonina:, a ]nr^i' number of voters at the j Nortli, whi) would otherwise act with us, may be kept from the polls, or driven into the ranks of the Hlaek Republicans; whilst another Iart::e number of intellisjeiit and inlhuntial men, dis- gusted or alarmed at the folly and ingratitude j under the influence of which we refuse, on ac- 1 count of minor questions, to give an effective j support to the only parly which has a national ori;anization,anil holds out any hope of defeating . Black Uepubiicunism, will stand aloof from the ', contest. ! The continuance of Mr. Fillmore on the list of; candidates is dividing the friends of the Consti- : tution and the Union. Without a possibility of success, he has not friends enough in some of ; the norihern States to make it worth while to run | an electoral ticket in his favor. Without a reason- : able prospect of carrying one single electoral vote, [ he yet has friends enough in many of those States ] to cancel the Democratic ni;!Jorities. The whole country knows that the great bulk of the Know Kothings North have, through their convention, nominated Fremont, and tliat the small portion of the party v,-ho arc supporting Mr. Fillmore I have, under all circumstances, refused to sup]5ort that gentleman. Hence, it is a well-known fact, that two thirds of Mr. Fillmore's friends at tiie North, if compelled to choose between Mr. Buch- anan and Mr. Fremont, would vote for the : former. I The joy of the Black Ilepublicans at the con- ' tinuance of Mr. Fillmore in the field is not re- strained even by obvious considemtions of pru- dence and policy. As showing how they chuckle over our divisions, and what effect in th(;ir favor they expect from it, 1 present extracts from the i two leauing papers of that parly: I " Such is tlio progmiiiini," of the next prnsideiitial cam- ' pai^ii ; nnd we are In-e lo onnlcss iliat we are nin^l tli;iiik- fiil \o .Mr. Fillmore and his friends for haviiiij prnijuci'd this result, or course, iiolKxIy will vote for Mr. l'"illniore who would not, in the existiiigr staic of alihirs, liave voled for j tlie Uemocraile instead of the Kepubiican ticket; and, I Ihcrefon;, it necessarily follows, that the third party will draw votes only from the D(!mocratie ticket. Tlie only question of principle involved in the next contest is the extension of shivery, by the direct legislation of Congress, into territory now lice ihronsjh the repeal of ilie Missouri c(inipronii-e. niaile in pood laiiii in J»-20, and rcsUluncc to that act of bad faith. i •'Oi' course, with three licket.s in the field, tlie triumph ' of llioi/i York Couyicr and Emiuirer, MurclfJi>, 1 ».'>(). *' The friends of fre« Kansas would have a hard baule llli« iimuiuii It their adversaries were united ; liut with the noinnaUon of Fillmore and IJone^on at I'hiladelphia, anil of men iipially oli^-erpiidus to slavery at Cincinnati, we oil(lit to lie ahle to irhimph on the direct vote of the people. Blioiild tie- t illinore divrsion throw the electoral vote of |'enn-\ . . ni,. ond .Nuw Jersey n, the Democratic ticket, we must l.iK. ..or ehaiite m the lli.use, where we have so recently earned the Hpoiiker, and where we should start wtlh tJlc vote of thirteen RJtateit certain, und a tic in three or four others, f think our chance there would be woitii that of both the opposing parlies togi'ther. " 'I'he nominations just made ought to unite the North on the Kepubiican platform, while dividing the South belween the two pro-slavery parlies." — A'ew York Tribune o/ March 1, 1S56. The friends of Mr. Fillmore at the South should take warning; and now, before the healed feelings of partisans have supplanted the' .''ober calculations of judgment, they should di;termine that no re- membrance of former contests with the Demo- cratic party shall prevent them from casting their votes for Mr. Buchanan, and appealing to their associates at the North to do likewise. Itis obviou.si, Mr. Chairman, that some excuse is necessary for dividing the South at this fearful juncture. Unable to deny the palpable facts to which I have alluded; compelled to admit that the Democratic party is the only parly that pos- sesses strength in every Stale of the Union, and can hold out any hope of unitinir the patriotism of the whole country against the supporters of Fremont; and compelled, too, to admit the sound- ness of the principles for which the Democratic parly is contending, at least so far as the ques- tions connected with slavery are concerned, the southern supporters of Mr. Fillmore are driven to rely on a few frivolous charges against Mr. Buchanan, personally, lo furnish an excuse for their extraordinary conduct. I propose todevole a few moments, and but a few moments, to their examination. 1. It is said that, forty-four years ago, he de- clared that if he had a drop of Democratic blood in his veins he would let it out. It is strange that persons, who have themselves always displayed such mortal aversion to Democratic blood, and everything else Democratic, should urge such a charge against Mr. Buchanan. But it is not true that he ever made such a declaration. Mr. Bufth- anan himself, many years ago, publicly, in the newspapers, pronounced it false; and a large number of his neighbors, over their signatures, also pronounced it false. Not a parlicle of proof has ever been adduced lo establish its truth. 2. It is said he was a Federalist. Heshouldered his musket, as a ]irivate, and marched lo Balti- more, to defend it against the British. If he was a Federalist, it is a pity there were not more Federalists of the same sort in the country. 3. It is said that he approved certain resolu- tions passed by a public meeting in Lancaster, in 1819, disapproving of slavery in the Territo- ries. That was thirty-seven j-ears ago. Mr. Buchanan may have been at the meeting; he may have been on the committee, and still not have approved the resolutions, as every one knows who has been in the haiiit of attending political meetings. Few of us would like to be held responsible for all that was said and done at all the public meetings we have ever attended. But, admitting that he did then ajiprove them, he has been in public life continuously since that time. He has been a member of Congress almost con- stantly since the slavery agitation connnenced, and not a single vole has he ever given hostile to southern institutions. Throughout all that agita- tion he has uniformly sustained the rights of the slaveholding States, and commanded the confi- dence of the pur(;st slalcsmen of the South. For more than thirty years he has been conspicuously before ihc^country as a public officer, having Toted in Congress on almost every question that ' has ever arisen in resrard to the institution of slavery, and never, until it beca«ne necessary for the Know Nothings of the South to frame an excuse for dividing the South, did any southern man charge him with being unsound on the slavery question. ' If further proof were needed of the high posi- tion he occupies on this question, it will be found in his letter to the Democratic State convention of Pennsylvania, written shortly before his nom- ination, and in his letter accepting the nomina- tion for the Presidency, and pledging himself to carry out the principles set forth in the Demo- cratic platform. The Lancaster resolutions date back thirty- seven years, whilst Mr. Buchanan was a mere youth, and before the slavery agitation had as- sumed anything like its present form. In 1838, nearly twenty years afterwards, when in the prime of life, and a candidate for Congress, and when the abolition societies at the North were at the very height of their treasonable efforts against the South, Mr. Fillmore deliberately wrote as follows to an abolition society: Buffalo, October 17, 1838. Sir: Your communication of tlie 1.5tt) instant, as chair- man of a committee appointed by " The Anii Slacerij So- ciety of the coun'y of Erie," lias just come to hand. You solicit my answer to the following interrogatories: 1. Do you believe that petitions to (Congress on the sub- ject of slavery and the slave trade ought to be received, read, and respectfully considered by the representatives of the people ? 2. Are you opposed to the annexation of Te.\as to this Union, under any circumstances, so long as slaves arc held therein ? 3. Arc \'ou in favor of Congress exercising all the consti- tutional power it possesses to abolish tlie internal slave trade between the States.' 4. Are you in favor of immediate legislation for tlie abo- lition of slavery in the District of Columbia .' I am much engaged, and have no time to enter into an argument, or to explain at length my reasons for my opin- ion. I shall therefore content myself, for the present, by answering all your interrogatories in the afflrmatire, and leave for some future occasion a more extended discussion on the subject. MILLARD FILLMORE. He was elected to Congress, and throughout his whole career there uniformly voted with Giddings, Sla.de, Adams, and the worst enemies of the iSouth. Whilst Mr. Fillmorewas thus cordially endors- ing the doctrines of the extreme Abolitionists, and, as a member of Congress, was on all occasions voting with Adams, Giddings, and Slade, Mr. Buchanan, both in Congress and at Kome in the midst of his constituents, was contending against these doctrines, and in favor of the constitutional rights of the South. On the 18th of August, 1838, Mr. Buchanan addressed .his fellow-citizens at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on the political cjues- tions in issue in tlie State elections then pending. It will be observed that this speech was almost cotemporaneons with Mr. Fillmore's Erie letter: and the contrast is most striking between the broad and comprehensive views of the statesman, and the narrow and illiberal dogmas of the aboli- tion candidate for Congress. The whole speech will be found in Niles's Register, volume 55, page 90. Mr. Buchanan said: " There was one subject of vital importance to the peace and prosperity of the Union, which had not occupied much of the attention of the former speakers, and therefore he would make a few remarks upon it. He referred to aboli- tion. Was Joseph Ritner (then running for Governor) an Abolitiouist? 1'liis was a mo.-t ii.lcresting question. If he was, then no friend to the existence of our glorious Union ouglit to vote in lavi)r of his election as Governor." * * " lieforo the spirit of abolitioni.-m had been conjured np from its dark abode by political fanatics and hot-headed enthusiasts, all was comparatively peaceful and tranquil in. the southern States. Slavery had been most unfortunately introduced into these States by our Rritlsh forefathers. It was there at the adoption of the Federal Constitution; and this Constitution ilid Jiot merely leave it there, but expressly guarantied to the slavi;holding States their property in slaves, and the exclusive dominion over the question of slavery within their respective borders. Such is the clear language of the Constitution itself, and such was the coti- struction the first Congress placed upon it. AVithoiit this solemn constitutional compact the southern States would never have been parties to the Union ; and the blessings and benefits which it has conferred, and will confer, not only upon our own country, but the whole human race, would never have been realized, 'i'hose in the free States who determine to violate this compact must determine to dissolve the Union. The one is the necessary consequence of the other." ******** "At the session of 1835-'3G, (the Congress immediately preceding Mr. Fillmore's Erie letter,) the question of aboli- tion had occupied much of the time and attention of Con- gress. It had been discussed in every possible aspect. Petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District of Colum- bia, got up and circulated by the anti-slavery societies, poured into Congress from the free States. This was the only mode in which the Abolitionists could agitate the ques- tion in Congress, because no fanatic, to Mr. B.'s knowl- edge, had been so mad as to contend that Congress had any power over slavery within the slave States themselves. Petitions to abolish slavery in tlie District of Columbia formed part of the grand scheme of agitation by which the Abolitionists expected to accomplisli their purposes. Throughout the spring, summer, and autumn of 1835, a combined attempt was made upon the southern States, not only by agitation in the Nortli, but by scattering over Uie Soiith, through the post office, and by traveling agents, the vilest publications and pictorial representations. He had himself seen many of them. Their natural eflect was to pio'duce dissatisfaction and revolt among the slaves, and to incite their wild passions to vengeance." He then goes on to depict the horrors of ser- vile insurrection, and to denounce the Abolition- ists: "Under the influence of the feelings excited by these causes, the southern members of Congress reached Wash- iimton in December, 1835. Many of them, with sorrow and anguish of heart, declared that if the southern States could not remain in the Union without having their do- nie?tic peace continually disturbed by the attempts of the Abolitionists, the great law of self preservation would com- pel them to separate from the North. Immediately after the commencement of the session, and throughout its con- tinuance, the Abolitionists, intent upon their object, sent immense number of petitions to Congress for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, couched in lan- guage calculated to exasperate the southern members." ( It was under these circumstances that Mr. Fillmore wrote his Erie letter.) '• What did they ask .' That in the District, ten miles square, ceded to Congress by two slaveholding States, and surrounded by them, slavery should be abol- ished." He then goes on to denounce in strong lan- guage the abolition of slavery in the District of ij Columbia, and concludes this branch of the sub- ject, as follows: " Impelled by these motives, the Senate, upon his mo- tion, after the petitions had been received, rejected the prayer of the petitioners by a vote of thirty four to six, and refused to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia." * * * "Thus stood the question on the 4th of July, 1836, when Copgress adjourned. The members of Congress from the slaveholding States and their constituents had a riiht to expect peace. The qiiestiim had been fully dis- cussed, and deliberately decided by overwhelming majori- ties, and the South had reason to hope that the minority would acquiesce, at least for a season, in the will of a ma- jority." But Mr. Fillmore and the abolition societies at the North would not allow peace and quiet to the 6 South, but persisted in an agitation of the ques- 1' tion which has icpontedly hroiijrlit tho Union to |! the l-riiik of ilt\stiuction. WhiTc is tiie fticiid ofj Mr. Fillmore who will ever a^nin charire Mr. Buchnnnii with unsomidni'.ss on this qiustion .' | 4. It is said Mr. Buchanan i.s favoralde to filli- t bustcring; and the ijianifisto of the Ostend con- jl ference is cited as proviiiij that lio favors attempts to acquire the Island of Cuba by that means. Mr. y Buchanan's letter accepting tin; nomination ut- terly refutes any such charge. In it he says: " :=lioul(i I tie plnocd in llie exfcutive rh.iir, I Ktiall use my bi'sl exiTlions lo ciillivale peace and fric^nilsliip with all naliiiii<. iM-lifvini: iliis to he our Itighcst policy as well as our most nnpi-ralivc duty." From a statesman of his conservative eharacler, whose experience in the conduct of our foreign affairs is unequaled, and whose prudence is pro- verl)ial, no such declaration would be needed to satisfy the country that in his hands its peace and honor would be equally safe. Tlie manifesto of the Ostend conference de- clared that the possession of tlie Island of Cuba was of great importance to the commerce and the security of this country; that our Government ought to acquire it by purchase, if possible, and could afioid to give for it a very high price; iliat if Spain should refuse to sell it to us, it ought lo become the fixed policy of this Government, that in no event would we permit it to pass into the hands of a maritime Power, commanding, as it does, the whole of our southern coasts on the Atlantic and the Gulf, and shutting up the whole of our Gulf Slates, including the mouth of the Mississippi, in the event of war between us and the PnWer ])ossessing it. Such were the senti- ments I avowed to my own constituents. i\nd 1 go further and say, iliat if Spain should attempt to pursue such a course with the island as to render it a dangerous neighbor lo us, the great law of self-preservation would imperatively de- mand of us to interpose and prevent it. If there is a party in this country entertaining diflerent sentiments, I would like to hear them avowed. AVhilst IMr. Fillmore was President, the best appointed and most formidable fillibustering ex- fiedition that was ever fitted out from our shores eft the Mississippi river almo.st, if not quite, without opposition from the Government. It was that l.-d by Lopez for the conquest of the Island of Cuba. 1 do not censure Mr. Fillmore for it. He no doubt did all he fell juslifit d in doing to arrest it. He issued Jiis proclamation warning the adventurers that they need not expect the aid of their Government ifihcy nn.t thi- fate they might reasonably expeci. That was doing no more than it was strictly his duly lo do, both as a faithful President and n bem.'volent individual. But the then editor of the Union, Andnw J. Donelson, now ihe candidate for Vice President on the ticket with Mr. Fillmore, thought otherwise, and day after day, thnuigh the columns of the Uni.in, denounced Mr. Fillnior.; for "truckling •ubsi rvieney" to Spain, and for piu-iilanimously abandoning American citizens to Spanish ven- geance. Indeed, of all the violent abusi' heaped on Mr. Fillmore by Mr. Donelsun, ihrough tfie Union, none was njore iint to 8Uj>i")res8 filhliusiering. 6. It is charged thai in his speech on the inde- 1 pendent Treasury, Mr. Buchanan contended that ten cents per day was sufficient wages for a labor- ing man. It is a sufficient reply to this to say, that no such thing is in that or any other speech of Mr. Buchanan; and his enemies, having been repeatedly challenged to point it out, have not been able to do so. The whole basis of the charge is that he advocated the independent Treasury. The enemies of that UK.asure contended that it would reduce the wages of labor; Mr. Buchanan denied it. The measure has been the law of the land for ten years, and experience has shown that Mr. Buchanan was correct. The wages of labor and prices of produce have never been so high, nor the country so exempt from disastrous com- mercial revulsions, as they have been under the operation of the independent Treasury. 6. The charge of bargain and intrigue against Mr. Clay. Mr. Clay, "in his lifetime, and his friends, including Prentice, his biographer, hav- ing exonerated Mr. Buchanan from all that was improper in that matter, it is too late to found on it a new charge, at least without some new evi- dence. These frivolous charges are only intended, as I remarked just now, to excuse the Know Nothings for dividing the South, and lo draw oil' public at- tention at the South from exposure brought upon the Know Nothing party by the proceedings of this Congress, and the verification of every charge made by us against it last summer. But 1 do not intend to be ]daced on the defens- ive, nor, by any such clatter of small-arms, to be drawn off from the exposure of the misdeeds of " the order" of this Congress. Let us briefly trace its origin and history. In the presidential election of 1852, the friends of General Scott made the most des]ierate efforts to secure the votes of the Roman Catholic and foreign-born population of the country. General Scott himself wrote letters, and made speeches throughout that portion of the country in which they are numerous, abounding in fulsome flattery and disgusting adulation of those classes, and afiected a fondness for " the rich Irish brogiie" and " sweet German accent," which no pelting storm nor howling wind could ever prevent him from distinguishing from the coarse and vulgar English of the native-born American. In a speech at Cleveland he said: '■ Fellow citizens— when 1 say lellow-eiti/.ens I mean nalivo and adopted cili/.eiis as well as all who intend to bccoMie citizens of this ifieat and "jlorious country— F Uiank you lor the eniliusiastio ri'cepiion yon have given nie. [Cheers.] But there is one thing I resret ui visiting tliis heaulil'ul city, and thai is. the rain. 1 was pained thai, while 1 was eonilbrtably sheltered in a coverid carriage, vou should have heen e.'iposed to rain and inuil. " Fellow citizens, I have ihonaht a man <'onld hardly call liini.self a cilizenof this great country wilhonl passing' over Ihe^ie great lakes, of which this is ju.-tly eelehiated as one of the most heautinil of the whole West. [• Vou are wel- come here,' IVoni an irishman] I hear that rich lirogiie-— I love to hear it ; it makes me ri'memher imhle deeds ot Irislimen, many of whom 1 have led lo bailie and to vic- tory. [(ire.it cheering. J"' If in his ardor he did not actually vituperate the natives of the country, their exploits as sol- diers, their virtues as citizens, and the simple vigor of their languaije, were overlooked and de- spised, and the Irishman or German who had '* passed over tiiese gjrat lakes" was, inhisesti- maiion, a better citizen than a native of my State who had never seen them. In that celebrated letter in which he accepted the nomination, " with the resolutions annexed," he declared that, if elected to the Presidency, he would favor such a change in the naturalization laws as would " give to all foreigners the right of citizenship who shall faithfully serve, in time of war, one year on board of our public ships or in our land forces," thus proposing to give to a for- eigner, who had served one year in the Mediter- ranean, or on the coast of Africa, or in Mexico, who had never been in this country, nor attended an election, and who of course had no opportu- nity to learn anything of our laws and customs, the full rights of citizenship. He proposed to let such a foreigner vote the very first day his foot ever trod on American soil. Nine tenths of those who are now so clamorous for " Americans to rule America" were the warm friends of Gen- eral Scott, defended this letter from the attacks of the Democrats, and gave to the people as many assurances of his soundness as they now ffive of the sounSness of Mr. Fillmore. So much for the foreigners in 1852. The Roman Catholics were equally courted. One of the reasons urged by those who are now Know Nothings against the election of General Pierce was, that the State in which he lived (New Hampshire) excluded them from office. The Louisville Journal, then one of the leading Scott papers, and now one of the leading Know Nothing organs, said: •'They (the American people) will not consent that the iVew Hampshire Democracy, who recently voted, by an overwhelrain? majority, in favor of Catholic disability to hold office, shall have the honor to give a President to the nation. They would greatly prefer that this honor shall be accorded to some State not disgraced by such, abominable •li^otry.'' General Pierce's friends proved that he was op- posed to excluding Roman Catholics from office on account of their religion, and that he had done all he could to get the disabiUty removed; there- upon the same editor said: " If that was all that General Pierce could say or do towards relieving New Hampshire of a disgrace that causes her to be regarded with scorn by every liberal-minded man in the United States and in the world, we ask if he is fit to be President?" The constitution of North Carolina had, at one lime, like that of New Hampshire, contained a clause excluding Catholics from holding office. 1 find in the National Intelligencer of 4th Septem- ber, 1852, a defense of Governor Graham, the candidate for Vice President, against what was then considered by his friends a most heinous charge — a suspicion that he was in favor of ex- cJuding Catholic* from office. I read from it as follows: " GovKRNOR GiiAHAM AND Reugious Tests.— Several of the Democratic presses, perceiving that their candidate for the Presidency is likely to be prejudiced by the odious religious test in the constitution of New Hampshire, aflect to believe that Governor Graham, the Whig candidate for Vice President, is not as tolerant as he should be, and one of them has even gone so far as to declare that Mr. Graham was opposed to the reform in the constitution of North Carolina, by which a similar restriction was abrogated." 5- * * * " In an address to the people, dated June, ia33, while the election of Governor Graham was pending, they (his friends) declared that it was a ' disgrace to any free people to tyrannize over the consciences of others,' and pronounced the obnoxious provision ' an odious restric- tion upon conscience.'" The article quotes, in his further defense, an address signed by Governor Graham and others, dated January, 1834, as follows: "The thirty-second article of the constitution excludes from civil office all who may deny the truth of the Protestant religion. This has no practical efiect, for the plain reason that there is no tribunal established by the constitution to determine a man's faith. It is an odious badge of prejudice, which the enlightened liberality of the present day should scorn to wear. It is an unjust imputation against the Catholics of this State to attach to them any such disquali- fication. The patriotism, personal virtues, and ability, and the disinterested public services of a single individual in the State, brand with falsehood the idle fears that are implied by this paper restriction . How far it is consistent with the spirit of Protestantism itself— how far it is compatible with the bill of rights, which declares 'that all men have a nat- ural and inalienable right to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience,' we leave to tliat bigotry which would perpetuate this stigma." Up to this period Catholics and foreigners were in high favor. In two years from that time we find these same persons swearing voters, on the Holy Bible, to exclude from all offices all Roman Catholics, and even those having Roman Cath- olic wives or parents; inflicting on the rebellious member who should vote for a Catholic, or con- tinue one in office under him, " cruel and unusual punishments," such as the Constitution forbids the courts to inflict, and such as no humane jury- man woald prescribe for a thief or a robber; post- ing him from council to council as a liar and a traitor, as a dangerous and outlawed runaway- negro would be posted from cross-road to cross- road ; demanding of every true and faithful "brother" to shun and despise him, and to use every possible effort to reduce him and his family i to beggary and starvation. The foreigners and Roman Catholics refused to take the bait held out to them, and, as was alleged by General Scott's friends, generally voted for General Pierce — thus proving that, as a class, they are not so easily duped by politicians and misled by demagogues as the Know Nothings allege. Having wooed warmly. General Scott's friends hated intensely the classes who had thus, inno- cently on their part, been made the object of so much lust. The same individuals who had endeav- ored, two years before, to bring about such a change in the naturahzation law as to permit a foreigner to be naturalized on one year's service in the Army or Navy, proposed, in 1854, that no foreigner should ever be permitted to vote. And those who, in 1852, had contended that General Pierce ought not to be elected President, because his State retained in its constitution a clause excluding Catholics from office, endeavored, in 1854, with just as much appearance of sincerity, to convince the people that to permit Catholics to hold office was in effect to place the country I under the dominion of the Pope of Rome. Such was the origin of the party; and there is too much reason to believe that it arose more from spite and disappointment, than from solici- tude about our institutions or our religion. The party spi-ang up in the North just pre- vious to the passage of the Kansas and Nebraska bill in May, 1854. In the midst of the excite- ment produced by the passage of that bill, the elections for members of the present House took place; and availing itself thereof, it defeated the Democratic party in every northern State. Of the one hundred and forty-three members of this House from the North, ninety-one were elected as Know Nothings; and of these ninety-one. aetnUy-Jive voted for Mr. Banks, also a Know Nothini:, for Speaker. Every Black Republican •voted with them; not a single Democrat voted for him. A list of the names having been read on this floor in April last, by my friend from Tennessee, [Mr. Smith,] and properly corrected, I will append it lo mv printed speech as nulhentic. On the 26th January, the gentleman from In- diana, [Mr. Diss,] now at the head of the Fill- more electoral ticket in that State, introduced into this House the following resolution, which, it will be observed, goes further than the Black Republican platform: »• Resolved, Tlinl said restriction (the Missouri compro- mise) oujht to Ik- rc'storod, as an act of justiot" to all the people of the I'liiteil States, as a proper vindication of the WiMloin, patriotism, and plighted honor of the great states- Dieu who imposed it. and ;is a necessary and certain means of leviving that concord and harmony among the States of the American L'liion which are essential to the welfare of our people, and the perpetuity of our institutions." On this resolution, every Democrat in the House voted "No." Only three northern Know Nothings voted against it— eighty-eight of them, with all the Black Republicans, voting for it, or absent. On the bill to admit Kansas into the Union on the revolutionary Topeka constitution, got up by the Free-Soil party in that Territory, the vote was about the same. All the Black Republicans, and all the northern Know Nothings, except seven, voting for its admission; and all the Dem- ocrats, except one, voting against it. j It was known to well-informed persons at the ; South, at the time these individuals were elected to Congress, that they were Free-Soilers, and ; that on Free-Soil principles they had defeated j sound national Democrats. But the elections were pending in the South; and the fact was boldly and unblushingly denied by the Know j Nothings, in the full trust that the rottenness of their associates could not be exposed until it was | too late to affect our elections. I happen to have before me the North Carolina Star, the news- Saper organ of " the order" in my State, for larch 17, 1855, in which I find the following editorial: I "New Hampshire Election. — An election was held in I New Hampshire, on the lUth. for Governor, inenihers of the Legislature, Congress, &c., and, from the returns already received, there is no doubt of the entire success of the American party. " Of the members of the Legislature, the Know Nothings have elected one hundred and twenty three, the Democrats twenty-nine, and the Whi^r; three, so far as heard from. All the Know Nothing members of Congress arc said to be elected. Ileineinber this is Mr. Pierce's Slate, and may, therefore, be regarded as an abandonment of tlie linn of Pierce, Forney, Seward, &. Co. This American victory oeeurrcd on tin; fame day the Virginia American candidate wa* nominated. 'I'he former may be taken as a precursor of the renult of the latter." The members of this House whose election was thus greeted in a southern State, are among the most unwavering of the Free-Soil jnajority; and the next thing we heard of that glorious Know N(Hhing Legislature was, that it had eloct- •d Joii.M P. IIalk, and another like him, to the United States Senate. Such were the means resorted to to blind the people of the South lo the uppiilling dangers into whi<:h Know .N'othingi.sm was prcci|)ilating the country, and the: SdUh in particular. Is not the charge, made last bunnner, that the triumph of li Know Nothingism at the North was the triumph of Aboliticniisin, fully proven by every test vote yet taken in this House .' And " the end ia not yet." Day by day the country is being precip- itated towards revolution by the blind and frenzied Free-Soil fanaticism of tin; Know Nothing ma- jority of this House. Even now we are threat- ened with a consummation of the fell purpose to paralyze the Government of the country by re- fusing supplies to carry it on, unless the Dem- ocratic Senate and Democratic President will permit this House to dictat3 legislation incom- patible with the peace of the country, if not destructive of the Union. The gentleman from Indiana, [Mr. Dukn,] who stands at the head of the Fillmore electoral ticket of his Slate, openly proclaims that he will never agree to appropriate a dollar to carry on the Government, unless it is coupled witii the restoration of the Missouri restriction. It will not be forgotten how boldly it was denied last summer, and with what assur- ance it was declared by the initialed, that a third degree Know Nothing could not be an Aboli- tionist. "The order" having proved so potent a lever at the North for raising into power the broken- down politicians of a defeated parly, it was seized on at the South as a means of performing the same office for a large number of aspirants, who, under every other name, had been rejected by the people of that section. It came silently and se- cretly; and until long after its establishment, and its lodges had been organized in every county, and in almost every neighborhood, we were igno- rant of its existence among us. I, myself, at the moment it was achieving, and until long after it had achieved the exploits at the North which filled this House with Abolitionists, entertained no more suspicion of its existence in our midst than. I have at this moment that Massachusetts emigrant aid societies are established in the city of my residence. It not only came secretly, but it came under the guise of an association, no way interfering in politics, except to prevent a repeti- tion of the discreditable scenes to which I nave alluded, as having occurred in 1852. Its friends professed to eschew all offices and promotion for themselves; denounced " the wild hunt after of- fice, which characterizes the age," and bewailed " the purer days of the Republic, when office sought the man, and not man the office." Such professions of moderation and disinterestedness disarmed suspicion. Thousands joined it who withdrew on ascertaining that, whilst the pretext was to keep foreigners and Roman Catholics out of office, the real object was to keep out Demo- crats; and that whilst ostensibly declining till of- fices for themselves, their main t'undamental prin- ciple — the one which could never be; violated by " a brother" with impunity — wasa preference of themselves and one another, not only for every office, but for every employment in the country. The elections at the North had been carried on extreme Free-Soil principlLS, as I have shown. They had taken place in the fall of lb54. The elections at the South were to come on in the summer of 1855. The northern Know Nothings had had a " good lime of it" in 1854, running on an extreme Free-Soil phitform; and the southern Know Nothings clninicd, and had accorded to them, a platform that it waa thought would give 9 them an equally " good time of it" in 1855. As no elections were pending at the North, the thing was easily arranged; and in June, 1855, the Phil- adelphia convention passed a set of resolutions embracing, among others, the celebrated twelfth section. I, for one, made no issue on that twelfth section. I told the people that if it was the doctrine of the party, and the party would abide by it, and we could be so assured, they might be safely trusted, as far as the slavery question was concerned. But I told them it was not the doctrine of the party — that it was only put forth to aiiect the southern elections; and as soon as they were over it would be repealed, as it had already been repudiated by the whole northern wing of the party. That, like every- thing else militating against their success, was broadly and boldly contradicted. As soon as the southern elections were over, the newspaper organ of the party in this city commenced to agitate in favor of striking out the twelfth section. A feeble echo came from the county town of one of the most patriotic counties in the district I have the honor to represent. From every part of the country, in a few in- stances even in those portions of the South in which " an intensely American feeling" pre- vailed, the cry was taken up. The national Know Nothing council met at Philadelphia in February, 1856. The North demanded the re- peal. Mr. Sheets, of Indiana, said: " He would assure the South, that the twelfth section must be got rid of. He was willing to accept a compro- mise, but the section must be got rid of. He was willing to accept the Washington platibnn, for, if there was any- thing in it, it was so covered up with verbiage that a Presi- dent would be elected before the people would find out what it was all about. [Tumultuous laughter.] Three southern States had been carried on the twelfth section. Repeal it, and we will give you the entire North. [Ap- plause."] The twelfth section was stricken out against the unanimous vote of the South, and the "ver- biage" platform alluded to by Mr. Sheets was adopted. Thereupon a large portion of the south- ern members seceded from the convention. They say now the verbiage platform is as good as the twelfth section. Then why did they secede when it tons adopted? After Mr. Fillmore was nominated, or rather when they saw that by returning they could effect that much-desired object, they returned to the convention, and Mr. Fillmore v/as nominated. Then it became the turn of the northern members to bolt, and they went off, carrying very nearly all the presidential strength of the party. Such is the great and harmonious national party which is to save the Union from sectional strife. Unable to save itself from strife and dissolution through forty-eight hours — its whole history is but a long tale of bolters and seceders, sub-bolters and new seceders. It affects to be national, and claims that in its embrace the Union would be secure. Their embrace must be more powerful than the feeble and relaxed ligaments that bind together the members of their own body. As well might the unhappy parents who wrangle and fight at every meeting around the domestic board, claim that they are teaching their children fraternal harmony and concord. Their example is more potent for evil than their precepts for good. The northern members who bolted when Fill- more was nominated, after having been insulted by the Black Republican convention, and spurned from their doors, have tamely fallen into the ranks of Fremont, and will no doubt labor the harder for the kicks they have received. Hear what Ford, one of the leading seceders from the Phila- delphia Know Nothing convention, said when admitted to the Black Republican convention: " The American party has a great work to do, and that work is to spread Americanism and resist slavery. [Ap- plause.] The power of the Pope and domestic slavery are linked together, [applause,] and they have upon eartii but one mission— the extinction of human liberty. The power of oppression is the same, whether it be foreign or domestic. Can we not combine for the overthrow of these powers of darkness.' [Applause.] Is it possible that the people of the North cannot unite for the overthrow of that hydra-headed monster — Popery and slavery .' [Applause.] I tell you that we can. [Great applause.] I tell you we udll unite. [Up- roarious cheering.] Let us inscribe upon our banners, and proclaim it to the enemies of liberty everywhere, tliat the American party was the first which proclaimed the princi- ples of freedom — [tremendous applause] — the first, any- where, to hold Uiat it has inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Whij; party has biddeu high for southern support. The Democrats have made bids for it. Every other party has bidden for it, till the American party sprang up. That party has said to the South, " We can no longer serve you :" and it was the first party that ever said this thing. [Applause.]" This is the same individual who figured con- spicuously in the Know Nothing convention of June, 1855, and who entertained and proclaimed there the same sentiments. After having been called to the confessional by Mr. Ford, in that convention, in regard to the repeal of the Mis- souri restriction, southern gentlemen returned home, and proclaimed to my people that the Know Nothing party of the North was sound, reliable, and patriotic. Thus ended, as j^redicted it would end, the at- tempt to form a national Know Nothing party. The Democratic party is the only party in the country standing upon the Constitution, and maintaining all its provisions, regardless of sec- tions or of sectional prejudices. It has existed since the foundation of the Government, main- taining itself through all the mutations of parties, of men, and of jjolitical issues. To say that it has occasionally done wrong is only to attribute to it the character which the Almighty has stamped on all his works. Nothing is infallible but the all-wise and unseen God. I claim not for the Democratic party any greater perfection than belongs to the fallible men of whom it is composed. But it has always maintained its strength equally over the whole Union, because its principles have always been tke principles of the Constitution, which was intended to guard, and protect, and foster the whole Uni.on alike. Whatever party undertakes to supplant it must necessarily become sectional, or one-ideaed, because it already occu- pies all the ground the Constitution affords for any party to stand on. The Know Nothing party has only suffered the fate of all its prede- cessors; and it has only met its fate more sud- denly and more disastrously than its predeces- sors, because it started as a sectional party, whilst all others have started as national, and have only become sectional after long years of defeat and disappointment. In the disastrous wreck at Philadelphia, in February last, the southern Know Nothings clung to the platform, (though they had bolted when it was adopted,) and floated oflf, with Mr. Fillmore for pilot, and a few northern friends of 10 Mr. Fillmore for companions in misfortune. I propose to exftmine tlial pliitform only so far as to see whillier it coniains niiyiliins: so important or so ur£;ent ns to roquire or jtistify the division of the Smith at this most fiarful Juncture. 1. The first olii.xt is, that "Americans shall rule America." No oiu; ol>jects to that.; Amer- icans have always ruled America, ever since our forefathers declared their independence of the British crown. The great body of the people rule America. Thay are Americans, (not Know Nothings,) havin;^: American principles, Ameri- can ideas, and American interests. So long as the people rule, "Americans will rule America." If, nowever, it is meant to say, that a few foreign- born citizens holdins: office is incompatible with this great principle, I deny it. It is a great mis- take for a few office-holders or office-seekers to suppose that office-holders rule this country. If that was the case, the Government would have ceased to be the popular Government our fore- fathers establishcti, and it would be time for another revolution, i know that the little bust- ling politicians who are always after office, and who think that " thou shall not hold office "is the direst punishment that can be denounced against a citizen, flatter themselves that when they get into office they will rule the country. Bat theirs is a great error. The first appointment ever made by General Washington to his Cabinet was of Alexan- der Hamilton, a foreigner by birth, to be Secreta- ry of the Treasury. One of the first appointments hi made to the bench of the Supreme Court was of James Wilson, a foreigner by birth. The first appointment made by Mr. Jefferson was of Albert Gallatin to be Secretary of the Treasury. ; Every Administration from that day to this has | apj)0inled foreigners, and nobody has ever found J out, until Know Nothingism sprung up, that j Americans were not ruling America. If, when we were only five millions strong. General Wash- ington and Mr. Jefferson did not fear to appoint} them to the highest places, we need not fear to give them a few small offices, now that we are j twenty-five millions strong. ! 3. The denial to all foreigners of the right to j be naturalized, as heretofore, in five years; or, what is a practical denial, the extension of the | l)robation period from five to twenty-one years. They do not propose to exclude foreigners from , the country, but to admit them, (the old platform ! promised tliem protection and a friendly welcome, I and Mr. Fillmore, in one of his rj^cent speeches, i has repeated its languge;) and when they get here, to place them on a level, socially and po- j litically, with free negroes. If foreigners are , pouring into the country as rapidly as the Know | Nothings represent, we would, under the opera- • lion of this rule, liave among us, in a few years, •evcral millions of white; men, of the same color with ourselves, possessing equal intelligence, equal pride, and equal sensibility with ourselves, and yt.i degraded by the laws to the level of the | free negro. Who would t(jli;rate a proposition I to admit among ns such a number of free negroes .' 1 Not one. Yet it is jiroposed to make of all that' nutnber of foreigners the most bitter and implac- j a\Ac foes to us and our institutions. The free negro iH n ought never to have been passed. I condemn Mr. Fillmore for approving it. But what is to be thought of a party that attributes to others as a crime the act of its own candidate.' 4. The thirteenth article of the platform is a general indictment against the administration of General Pierce, containing many counts. The first count is for removing Know Nothings from office. Every Know Nothing is, or was, required, on initiation, to take an oath, as follows: " That you will not vote, nor give your influence, for any man for any office in the gift of the people, unless he be an Ainerican-born citizen, in favor of Americans ruling America;" that is, unless he is a Know Nothing, " nor if he be a Roman Catholic;" and "that you will support in all political matters, for all political offices, members of this order in preference to others." Having sworn to proscribe everybody differing from him in opinion, what right has tlic Know Nothing to complain if those difl'ering from him proscribo him? Again he swears: " That you will, in all polit- ical matters, so far as this Order is concerned, comply with the will of the majority, though it may conflict with your personal preferences;" that is, that he will submit himself implicitly to the will of "the Order," aiul vole as it direcls him. If the Know iXothing is right in proscribing the Roman Catholic, because he owes obedienca to the Pope in religious matters, the Democrats are certainly right to ])rnscribe the Know Noth- ing who has yielded up his freedom of judgment, and owes obedience to " the council" in political matters. Again he swears: "That if it maybe done legally, ycm will, when elected or appointed to any official sialion, conferring on you the ))owlt to do so, remove all foreigners, aliens, or Roman fe- ll Catholics (though they may be nativG-born) from office or place." Now, sir, I have never been a great admirer of the spoils system, as practiced by all parties to a certain extent, and by none to half the extent that the Know Nothings carry it — the practice of turning everybody dilTering from us out of office; but I do hold that no man who has taken this oath ought to be continued in office one moment, and allowed to turn out to starve, perhaps better men than himself, merely because they profess an unpopular religious faith, whilst perhaps he himself has no religion at all. The second count is on " a truckling subserv- iency to the stronger, and an insolent and cow- ardly bravado towards the weaker powers. " The language in which this count is couched must have been borrowed from Major Donelson's editorials against Mr. Fillmore, when the latter was making (no doubt honest) efforts to suppress fillibustering against the island of Cuba. " Truck- ling subserviency to Spanish despotism" was the sort of phrases in which he daily indulged. I may safely leave the brilliant conduct of our rela- tions with England, the unanimous commenda- tion bestowed on it by Senators, presses, and private individuals of all parties, and the suc- cessful and highly honorable settlement of our differences with that " stronger Power, "to refute the first charge. And I challenge the production of one instance of " insolent and cowardly bra- vado towards the weaker Powers." It is not true. Never have our foreign relations been on a better footing than they are at tliis moment. The third count is on the " reckless and unwise policy of the Administration," " as shown in the repeal of the Missouri compromise." For the sake of comparison, 1 here present the preamble to the Black Republican platform, of June 17, 1856: "Mr. Wilmot then submitted the following report : " The Platform. — This convention of delegates, assem- bled in pursuance of a call addressed to the people of the United States, without regard to past political differences or divisions, who are opposed to the repeal of the Missouri compromise, to the policy of the present Administration, to the e.vteusion of slavery into free Territory, in favor of the admission of Kansas as a free State, of restoring the action of the Fedi'ral Government to the principles of Washing- ton and Jiffi^rson, and for the purpose of presenting candi- dates for the orticBs of President and Vice President," &c. What difference is there between the two ? The Know Nothing platform says it ought not to have been repealed, but says nothing about the restoration of it. The Black Republican says it ought not to have been repealed, and says nothing about its restoration. This is the great and vital question which is agitating the country, and threatening to snap asunder the bonds of the Union, t ask again, wherein do the Know Noth- ings on this subject differ from the Black Repub- licans.' Can the Know Nothings, if they get into power, any more refuse to restore it than the Black Republicans? Both say it ought not to have been repealed. At a ratification meeting of the friends of Fill- more, just held in New Yorlc, at which several southern gentlemen, members of this House, were present, and addressed the people, Mr. Ketchum, one of the most influential of the per- sonal and political friends of Mr. Fillmore, spoke as follows:* If either gets into power, the Missouri restric- tion will, in my opinion, be restored. It cannot be otherwise; and I leave to others to penetrate the future, and tell us the consequences. Some of Mr. Fillmore's friends — the gentleman from Indiana, [Mr. Dunn,] for instance— say it shall be restored, and refuse to vote a dollar to carry on the Government until the refractory Senate and President yield their consent. Others of his friends desire its restoration, but seeing no pos- sibility of bringing the Senate to terms, are op- posed to agitating it during this Congress. The southern friends of Mr. Fillmore, who stand on this platform, admit that the Missouri conapro- mise was unjust and unconstitutional, and ought never to have been enacted, but seem to object to the repeal, because it " reopened sectional agita- tion." Does it never occur to such, that the surest possible mode which they could adopt to keep up and perpetuate that sectional agitation is to denounce the Kansas and Nebraska bill as a great wrong, and yet refuse to aid in its repeal.' Can they expect the agitation ever to cease so long as they continue to occupy that position? A bad law iTiay inflict on the country less injury than a long and angry agitation for its repeal; and if the Kansas and Nebraska bill were as bad as they represent it, they can never be justified in contributing to keep alive the strife which pre- vails in the country. But it is not a bad law. It was a great measure of justice and right. It was but the long deferred payment of a great debt due to the Constitution of the eountry. * " Since the speech was delivered, the House of Repre- sentatives, on motion of Mr. Dunn, of Indiana, who is at the head of the Fillmore electoral ticket of the State, has passed a bill restoring the Missouri compromise— -Mr. Ha- ven, of New York, the law partner and friend of Mr. Fill- more, voting for it." What was the Kansas and Nebraska bill, that it should be thus denounced ? The Missouri restric- tion had always been regarded, by many able statesmen of both sections, as a violation of the "As regards the question of slavery, Fillmore will sup- port the old compromises to which the faith of all sections of the country was pledged. If he had been in the pres- idential chair when the Kansas-Nebraska bill was passed, he would have vetoed it. And, genllciiien, why do the Republicans oppose him ? Simply because he is an honest man. [Cheers.] " Fillmore is censured because he signed the fugitive slave law; but he could not do otherwise, elected, as ha was, by the Whigs, whose principles *are opposed to the exercise of the veto power. He examined tlie lawfully. He may not have considered it the best law that crtuld have been made ; bnt it was his duty, as President and a Whig, to consider whether it was constitutional or not. He re- ferred it to the Attorney General, John J. Crittenden, to see if it was constitutional, and he declared that it was constitutional, and proved it in a very able and clear report. Ft was then referred to the Cabinet, and they unanimously decided it to be constitutional. Now, I ask the Republican party what Millard Fillmore could have done but sign the bill— advised by his Cabinet to do so — its constitutionality having been proved? I say, if he had not signed it, he would have deserved impeachment. [Loud cheers.] This is the only objection the Republican party dare to bring for- ward against Fillmore. The man who was born among us, who is bone of our bone, and come from the very loins of free labor, shall we give him up for Fremont? Shall wa make Fremont the standard bearer of freedom? [Voices. ' No, no,' ' Black Republicans.' Then groans were given for Fremont. 1" / 12 Constitution. The South had fnlt it as an odious badije of her iiittriority in thi' Union, and a slig- ma upon hor donK-stic institutions. Tliose at tlie Xorth, the whole of whose political princi- ples consisted of a niiili!::nant warfare upon the SQUtlit-rn .section, liad never roi;;'arded it in prac- tice, had repudiaii'd ;uid .spit upon it from the day of its adoption, down to 1851), and had never vahied it exce|)t as a stinsjing reproach to the I South, to be perpetuated in the statute-book, only for the ffraiifiealion of sectional mali£:nity. A, lar^e and patriotic party at theNorth, (the Dem-i ocratic party,) though believing: it to have been unconstitutional and unjust, yet, with theSouth, labored tor its enforcement whilst it was on the statute-book, and with us voted for its extension to our acquisitions from Mexico. Tiiey (the i •whole South and tiie Democratic party of the [ NortJi) failed in theirelforts, and it was repeatedly rejected and repudiated on direct votes in Con- gress. Even the Nashville convention, which was denounced asa treasonable conspiracy against the Union, demandid nothinff but the application of its princioies to the new Territories. | TIuis stood tiie Missouri compromise at the' commencement of the memorable session of Con- gress of 1850. The friends of the Union and the Constitution wished a settlement on the princi- ples of that compromise; the enemies of the Constitution, and contemners of a constitutional union of equal States, refused to accede to such a settlement. j During the session of 1850, the compromise mca.sures were passed. Many in the South op- posed that settlement on the allegation that their section was called on to yield everything, and to receive no substantial concession. Tlie whole South, as WQ all remember, was agitated on the subject. The present leader of the Know Nothing party, standing now on a platform denouncing the repeal of tlie Missouri compromise, contended then that the compromise measures repealed the odious Missouri compromise, and that that was a substantial concession to our section. One of my predecessors on this floor, having opposed the conii>romise of 1850, was denounced for it at home on that ground, by leading members of the present Know Nothing party of the district. At the next presidential election, in 1852, both the groat parties of the country agreed to make the compromise of 1H50 "a finality." At that election, General Pierce was chosen President, and came into office with a distinct pledge to re- gard tiiecomj.romise of 1850as "a finality, "and to carry out its jirovisions. During his term, in 1854, it be.-i<>ii ol Missouri into- Ihe I.MK.ii. a|i(irov.Ml Mareh (J, IMO, whieh, hciiij,- incou- •bteiit wall III., priiieiplc o| non iniirventioii hy (Jongiess wUh -liiv.ry III ilic Stalls ami Terrilorie-i, as recognised by thr h-Ki-lation or If-.M), .•on.iiionly railed the eoniprouiisc Dicui-uren. i« liiT(h> dei-larcd iii.i|iiTative and void." ' It was not the Kansas and Nebraska bill that repealed iIjc Missouri compromise; it was re-/. pealed by the compromise of 1850, and the Kan- sas and Nebraska liill simply declared the fact that it had been repealed, and excepted it out of the clause of the bill extending the con!al of the Missouri compro- mise was a wrong, the wrong was perpetrated by the com|iromise of 1850, signed and ,ip[>roved by Mr. Fillmore, ami eoiistituting the mam ground on which his tVieiids claim for him the confidence and support of tin; South. It was no sectional measure; it was a tribute to tlie Constitution, a 13 pledge of peace, an offering to the great principle that the people are capable of self-government, and entitled to manage their own affairs in such manner as they deem best. But if it was a wrong, it was a wrong in favor of the South, and that section, at least, cannot complain of the in- jury. It IS further objected to the Kansas and Ne- braska bill, that it establishes over those Terri- tories what is called "squatter sovereignty." That phrase, in connection with the politics of the country, originated from the admission of California into the Union The people of that State, shortly after its acquisition t'rom Mexico, in advance of the establishment of any govern- ment by Congress, and without its authority or consent, assumed to organize a government for themselves, formed a constitution, and applied for admission into the Union. This unauthorized assumption of sovereign \iower by the squatters on the public land was denominated squatter soi^er- eignty. It is the only instance in our history in which such a thing has been done or attempted. The " squatter sovereignty" was recognized, and the State thus formed was admitted intp the Union by an act of Congress stg?ierf and approved by Mr. Fillmore. In the case of Kansas and Ne- braska, no such thing has been done or attempted, and, as in most of the other counts of their in- dictment, they charge against us what their can- didate has done. But it is said the bill allows the people resylent there to prohibit the introduction of slavery be- fore their admission into the Union. It contains no such feature. The thirty-second section de- clares its intent to be " to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United Slates.'^ If the Con- stitution allows them to prohibit slavery, then the bill permits it: if the Constitution does not allow them to prohibit slavery, then the bill does not permit it. The power of the people during the existence of their territorial government is a judicial question to be settled by the courts, if a case should ever arise involving the question ; and whatever Congress might have said in the bill it could not have altered the Constitution, nor taken tlie question out of the hands of the courts. Whatever may be the decision of the courts, I will be content; for I regard the great main feature of the bill as infinitely transcending in. importance any of the minor questions that can be raised under it. And i would rather trust the question to the people of the Territory than to such a Congress as we now have, and are liable to have at any time in the future. The next specification in the indictment is, that unnaturalized foreigners were allowed to vote at the first election in Kansas and Nebraska. I do not approve such a provision, and would not vote for it, unless compelled to take it in order to get what I regarded a good provision of greater importance. I certainly would not have voted against the Kansas and Nebraska bill on account of it. When the Kansas and Nebraska bill was introduced, it encountered the most violent oppo- sition from the|Free-Soilers and Abolitionists — the enemies of the compromise of 1850 — because it proposed to carry out the provisions of that com- promise. It was important, in order that a fair issue might be presented between those who were in favor of sustaining the compromise of 1850, on the one side, and those who wished to deny to the South the most important boon granted to it by that compromise on the other, that the bill should be made strictly conformable to precedents in all its other details. Otherwise, the friends of the compromise of 1850 might be divided about details having no bearing on the main issue. The bill for establishing a territorial govern- ment for Washington Territory had then but recently passed, and had become a law by thb APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE OF Mr. FiLLMORE. It was taken as the precedent on which to frame the measure. I place side by side, for comparison, the sections of the two bills, in regard to the quali- fications of voters: Kansas and Nebraska hill. jyashin^ton bill. "That every free vvliite "That every white male male inhabitant above the inhabitant above the age or age of twenty-one ycars,who twenty-one years, who shall shall be an actual resident of have been a resident of said said Territory, and shall pos- Territory at the time of the sess the qualifications here- passage of this act, and shall inafter prescribed, shall be possess the qualifications entitled to vote at the first liereiiiafter prescribed, shall election, and shall be eligible be entitled to vote at the first to any office within the said election, and shall be eligible Territory; but the qualifica- to any office within the said tions of voters, and of hold- Territory ; but the qualifica- ing olfice, at all subsequent tions of voters, and of hold- elections, shall be such as ing office, at all subsequent shall be prescribed by the elections, shall be such as Legislative Assembly : Pro- shall be prescribed by tha vided, That the right of suf- Legislative Assembly: Pro- frage and of holding office ruled, That the right of suf- shall be exercised only by frage and of holding office citizens of the United Slates, shall be exercised only by and those who shjvll have de- citizens of the United States clared, on oath, their inten- above the age of twenty-one tion to become such, and years, and those above that shall have taken an oath to age who shall have declared support the Constitution of on oatli their intention to be- the United States and the come such, and shall have provisions of this act.'"— taken an oath to support the StiUules at Large, vol. 10, Constitution of the United page 2So. States, and the provisions of this act." — Statutes atLarge, vol. 10, p., 174. Comment is unnecessary. But not content with letting unnaturalized for- eigners vote, for which there was some excuse, as they had voluntarily come to our country, and formally declared their intention to cast their lots among us, Mr. Fillmore approved and signed the bills for the admission of Utah and New Mexico, both of which contained the following: " Sec. 5. Every free white male inhabitant above the age of twenty- one years, who shall have been a resident of said Territory at the time of the passage of this act, shall be entitled to vote at the first election, and shall be ehgible to any office within the said Territory." ***** ■'Provided, That the right of suffrage, and of holding office, shall be exercised only by citizens of the United States, including those recognized as citizens hy the treaty with the Republic of Mexico, concluded February 2, 1848." — Stat- wtes at Large, vol. 9, p. 454, Utah bill; vol. 9, p. 449, iVei» Mexico bill. Approved September 9, 1850. To show that we were under no treaty obliga- tion to permit them to vote, nor even allow them to become citizens, except when we thought proper, I give the article of the treaty with Mexico re- lating to the subject; " Mexicans ***** gi,aii be incorporated into the Union of the United States, and be admitted at the proper time, (to be judged of by the Congress of the United States,) to the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the United States, according to the principles of the 14 ConMilMtou.-'— Treaty with Mexico, Statutci at Large, vol. ft, p. 930. If it is so shocking to permit foreigners to vote who liave voluntiirily come to our country, and i filed their intention to make it the home of them- 1 selves and their children, what is to be thought of Mr. Fillmore for permitting foreigners to vote i who had not come in voluntarily, but had been ] whipped in, conquered by our arms, and forced | into subjection to our laws ? I It may be as well to remark, that the first Legis- \ lature of Kansas, in prescribing the qualifications of voters, excluded all foreigners from voting who had not been naturalized. (Laws of Kansas, " Elections," section 11.) So that the ills so con- fidently predicted have !iot flowed from permitting them to vote at the first election. The next specification is on the " corruptions which pervade some of the departments of the Government. " Shades of Gardiner and Galphin ! Whither have you fled, that your deeds are so Boon forgotten ! ! If any one thing above all others signalized tlie administration of Mr. Fill- more, and distinguished it from all its predeces- sors and successor, it was " the corruptions which pervaded some of the departments;" not confined to subordinates and contractors, but reaching to the very highest oflicers under him intrusted with the management of affairs. 1 wish I had the figures and the facts illustrating Galphin- ism and Gardinerism; but I have not, and must pass them by. If it had been known that Mr. Fillmore would be the candidate, this count would certainly never have been placed in the indict- ment. For integrity, industry, and fidelity to the public interests, 1 believe this Administration may safely challenge a comparison with any of its predecessors, and I shall remain of that opin- ion until something more than a vague and unsup- ported charge can be shown against it. Mr. Chairman, on a full examination, I find little in this platform to approve, and nothing that the warmest Know Notliing — the most ardent crusader against foreigners and the Pope — must not admit to be of less importance than the defeat of the Black Republican candidate. I appeal to no section of the country, but to the friends of the Constitution and the Union everywhere, to lay aside — or at least to postpone for a time — bicker- ings on minor questions, and come up to the great work of maintaining the Constitution and the Union of (jur fathers. Bad men are assailing them; laborious men are sapping their founda- tions; and able men are striving to destroy the fraternal feeling, without which the Union would be a curse. Can we not unite to drive out the vermin that are tearing out the cement which binds together the massive blocks of the edifice ? If we cannot, then arc we unworthy the legacy our fathers gave us. If foreignism and Catholicism are evils, they are northern, not southern evils. We of the Soutn are notafllicted — if their presence is an affliction — with any considerable quantity of either. The great body of the Know Nothings north have refused to let their southern allies rid them of their evils, unless they are permitted in turn to rid us of what they regard as our peculiar evil — slavery. Failing to get the consent of their south- ern assoctates to any such i:eci])rocity of kind offici's, they have abandoned " the order," and joined with the Black Republicans in a war on the South. Let the southern Know Nothings in like manner cease their war upon the " pecu- liar institution" of the North, and uniting, for the time being at least, with the Democratic party, aid us to achieve a victory over sectionalism and fanaticism — aid us to maintain the Constitution and the Union — aid us to strike down the trea- sonable flag of Black Republicanism, with its sixteen stars, and bear aloft that old flag of thirty- one stars, whose increasing galaxy is emblematic of the increasing glories of the Republic. Let ' them conquer themselves, and all the old preju- dices of party, and aid us to achieve the salvation of the Republic by the triumphant election of • BucHANAM and Breckinridge. APPENDIX. Extract from the speech of Hon. Samuel Ji. Smith, of Ten- nessee, delivered in the House of Rejnescniatives, ^ipril 4; 185« " Now, wlio, I ask, were those who elected that gentle- man, [Mr. Banks .•■] I liave belbro me llie naiiies of seventy- live members, cleciedas Know Nolhin^s, who voted /or the gentleman t'rom Massachusetts (or Spualier. On tlie final ballot it will thus be seen thai, of those elected to this House by the Know Nothings, or Americans, s:eventy-tive voted for the gciitU;nian from Mussachust^tts [Mr. Banks] for Speaker; and that gentlemen may examine the classifi- cation 1 have made, and correct any error that may be in it. i give the names as follows : '• Know Nothings, or Americans, voting for Banks on tb« final ballot: "'Messrs. Albright, Allison, Ball, Barbour, Bennett of New York, Bingham, Bishop, Bradsliavv, Bulhiiton, Burlin- game, Campbell of Pennsylvania, Campbell of Ohio, Chaf Ice, Clark of Connecticut, Clavvson, Colfax, Coniins, t^o- vode, Oagin, (^umback, IJamrell, Davis of Massachusetts, Dean, De VViU, ])iek, Dodd, Durfee, Edie, Flagler, Gallo- way, Grow, Hall, Harlan, Holloway, Howard, King. Unapp. Knight, Knowlton, Knox, Kunkel,Ijeiter, Mace, .Nlatteson, ' McCarly, Miller of New York, Morrill, Norton, Pearcc, I Pelton, Pennington, Perry, Pike, Purviance, Kitchie, Koli» bins, Roberts, Robison, Sage, Sapp, fSliern)an, Stantoi^ 1 Stranahan, 'J'appan, Thorington, 'I'hnrston, 'I'odd, Traftom. I Tyson, VValbridge, Waldron, Watson, VVtlch, Wood, ani j VVoodrutr. '• 'J'o the first list must be added the name of Mr. Speaker Banks, who, it is well known, was the champion of <•< ; Oirft'rin this House during the Thirty-Third Congress. The Speaker of this House, at his election, received the vote* 1 of seventy-five members who were elected by the Know- Nolhings, and twenty eight who were elected by the Aboli- tionists, or Republicans, and did not receive the TOte of a single member of the Democratic party." iii