.cm HOLLINGER pH8.5 MILL RUN F3.1543 SUPREMACY OF THE CONSTITUTION AND LAWS. SPEECH OF HON. LEWIS D; CAMPBELL, , i/>, OF OHIO, In the House of Representatives, IN REPLY TO HIS COLLEAGUE, MR. J. R. GIDDINGS, The Senate^s Amendments to the Deficieri^^jSf^ is^S-^^^V^nsideration, Mr. PHELPS obtained the floor on the con- clusion of Mr. GiDDiXGs's remarks, but yielded to Mr. Campbell, of Ohio, for explanation. Mr. CAMPBELL said: Mr. Speaker: I regret the sudden indisposi- tion of my colleague, [Mr. Giddings,] which in- terrupted his remarks on the principles of this bill, this morning. I regret, also, that he should, under the peculiar circumstances which surround the question before the House, have deemed it necessary to indulge in such a line of remark as would seem to assail my course as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, in recommending that the House concur in those amendments of the Senate which provide appropriations to pay the necessary expenses of the Army and of the Judiciary. His motives in doing this, and in refuaJH^ me, as the chair- man of that committee and as his colleague, the slight privilege of a brief explanation, are best known to himself. Yesterday, when this subject was before the House, whilst I was en- titled to the floor, I yielded to him, frequently, without limit or condition, for such explana- tions or remarks as he desired to submit. His refusal to return me the courtesy to-day, in the face of these facts, has imposed on me the ne- cessity of throwing myself upon the liberality of my friend from Missouri, [Mr. Phelps.] It will be remembered that, at the time my colleague became suddenly ill, he remarked that I was a very young man, and intimated that, therefore, it was to be presumed the other gentlemen of the Committee of Ways and Means had " drawn the wool over my eyes," and that I did not comprehend the objects of the ap- propriations which we had recommended, nor the responsibilites which I had incurred. Mr. GIDDINGS. Will my friend permit me to explain ? Mr. CAMPBELL. Certainly. I am never ^&^§^:*5 i'tioC^^s?^tend to my col- league that ^wwfiptesyr Mr. GIDDINGS. I am sorry my colleague should have conceived that I made such a remark. My idea was, and I think my words were, not that he was a young man, but that he was comparatively a young member, and that he never served before upon the Com- mittee of Ways and Means. Mr. CAMPBELL. My colleague is correct. I never before served on that important com- mittee — never upon any other committee having charge of any interests of great magnitude. I claim also to be a young man ; there is, there- fore, no difiiculty between us on these points. I admit, too, that he is a man of age and ex- perience, both in the House and out of it. True, Mr. Speaker, the Committee of Ways and Means bear an important relation to the great interests of our country. Their position is one of the highest responsibility, and no one knows better than the Speaker that I did not desire to occupy a place upon it. It is at all times surrounded by embarrassments ; and these are now greatly enhanced by the threat- ening aspect of our affairs at home and abroad, as well as by the peculiar complexion of parties upon this floor, and th^r relation to the Execu- tive branch of the Government. Having, how- ever, accepted it, and assumed these responsi- bilities, I have felt constrained by a sense of public duty to discard, as far as possible, mere partisan feeling, and to make an effort to dis- charge its functions with fidelity to every por- tion of the country, North and South, East and West ; and to every branch of the national service, without reference to differences of opin- ion upon the sectional issues which unfortunate- ly destroy that fraternal feeling which ought to prevail. Sir, my colleague, in the debate of yesterday, \ propounded to me, as chairman of the com- mittee, a question of much significance. Con- sidering his excited manner at the time, and the tone in which it was uttered, the inference seems plain, that he intended to create the im- pression that I had recommended to this House an appropriation of $27,000, to defray what he alleged were the corrupt expenditures of the Marshal of the Southern District of Ohio, in the reclamation of certain fugitives from Slavery. I have a few v/ords to say on this particular point, because the question of my colleague may carry with it an influence prejudicial to the committee, and because his position involves a principle of the utmost importance to the public. One amendment of the Senate appropriates $200,000 for the expenses of the Judiciary. The sum is necessary to pa/ the services ren- dered in your Federal courts, by judg.es, jurors, marshals, witnesses, &c. The Committee of Ways and Meaos, composed as it of six mem- bers opposed to the AdriJinistralion to three in favor of it, without a dissenting vote, recom- mended the appropriation. I can inform my colleague now, that the estimate from the De- partment of the Interior, upon which our action was predicated, did not embrace the costs, to which he alludes, of the marshal in arresting and returning the slaves in the late exciting case at Cincinnati. Those accounts are noi yet audited. Nor does it embrace a single dollar for the payment of those other items of costs, to which gentlemen have referred, speci- fied in the letter of Mr. Whittlesey, the Comp- troller, which exposes abuses iu the courts. Those claims have all been suspended by the Department, as gentlemen ought to know. Sir, your Committee of Ways and Means are entitled to common justice — if not fair treat- ment — by this side of the House. The system upon which appropriations are always made ought to be understood. A brief explanation will show how grossly unfair it is to hold the Committee of Ways and Means of this House accountable for the disbursement of the public funds by the Executive Departments. This House has before it the various appro- priation bills. One is for the support of the Army, another for the Navy, and others for the civil and diplomatic service, including the salaries to judges, marshals, &c. These bills, if passed, furnish the money in advance, to be disbursed between the 30th day of June, 1856, and the 1st day of July, 1837. Such has been the system always. Now, sir, suppose my col- league, during the discussion of one of these bills, reported from our committee, inquires of me whether any of the money embraced in its provisions will be used to execute the Fugitive Slave Law, and to return fugitives to bondage: if he does, I must answer that I do not know. Would he thereupon seek to make the impres- sion that, being a young member of the com- mittee, I come before the House and the coun- try, displaying disgraceful ignorance ? Why must I answer, ''I do not know?" Because the money is appropriated for the service of the future, and my vision is not far-reaching enough to enable me to inform the House that in thai future any slave will run away — that his master will follow him — that the marshal will catch him — that the commissioner will render a decree to return him — and that the accounting officers will pass the accounts. Any gentleman who propounds such a question to me, either ex- hibits a dispostion to place me in a false posi- tion, or betrays a want of acquaintance with the practical workings of our Government. Again, sir, there are gentlemen on this floor, from another section of this Union, who are, upon a principle, quite as much opposed to the laws punishing those engaged in the slave trade, as my colleague is to the Fugitive Slave Law. Suppose one of these follows the prece- dent set by my colleague with the inquiry, " Will any of ;the appropriations you recom- mend be applied to the enforcement of these laws punishing the slave trade as piracy ?" I must answer him as I do my colleague, " I do not know ; " because I cannot tell whether, be- tween July 1, 1856, and July 1, 1857, any per- son will be guilty of a breach of those laws, or there will occur any necessity for prosecutions. If my colleague, or any other member, will give me proof that they could give correct informa- tion in response to questions such' as these, which they may feel disposed to propound to me, I shall take great pleasure in withdrawing from the delicate post which I occupy, and in using my feeble influence in having it assigned to him. If the power to foretell the events of the future is indispensable to the proper dis- charge of the duties of the Ways and Means Committee, I certainly am misplaced. Gentle- men may find, in my colleagues on the com- mittee, and in me^!9i&^ta which might, perhaps, show that the Speaker erred in the organiza- tion of the House in assigning to us the posi- tions we respectively occupy. Certainly neither of us claim to be possessed of those high attri- butes of Deity which can discern the events of the iiiture. My colleague, I repeat, says truly that I am a young member of the committee. We Sill know that he is an old member of the House, and an ever-vigilant sentinel over the cause of Human Freedom and the rights of the down- trodden slave. Feeling that, on account of my youth and inexperience, I might be embar rassed in the new position assigned me, I thought I might in some respects be guided by his footsteps. In reference to appropriation bills, I looked into his record, as well as that of others, for lights to direct me in this new field of duty. Sir, it was but two years ago that there was much excitement in this city, and throughout the whole country, on account of the arrest of a colored man, who, being held in Slavery within view of the flag of Freedom which floats over this Hall, fled from his master. One An- iliony Burns, leavino^ his chains and his master behind bim in Virginia, reached Massachu- setts. The discovery of this fact caused much commotion in this national metropolis. Sena- tors and Representatives were excited, and there was '' running to and fro" in the avenues leading from the halls of legislation to the Presidential mansion I Cabinet councils were convened, to consider measures to return him. ..-Despatches were sent from Executive authority, upon the lightning's wing, that the law shovld be exei:uted! The Army, the Navy, the Judi- ciary, were called on to execute the order! The press informed us that the court-rooms of Boston were guarded and surrounded by a host of deputy marshals under arms — that the streets of that great commercial emporium were block- ed up by armed troops of the Federal Govern- ment, whereby merchants pursuing their lawful vocations were prevented from getting to bank to meet their engagements on the last day of grace! All this occurred, sir, in your city of Boston. Congress had made the law, and that Constitution which we have all sworn to sup- port had provided a tribunal to expound it and a jiower to execute it! The Burns case was adju- dicated pursuant to the provisions of that law, and he decreed a slave ! Then, sir, a national vessel, built by money appropriated by Congress, with the stars and stripes floating from its mast, and manned by officers and crew paid from your National Treasury, bore that slave from that scene of excitement. Federal troops kept back the mighty masses, as he was removed from the court through Boston Common, under the branches of those wide-spreading, iron- bound elms, in whose shade the Adamses coun- selled with their compatriots in the stirring times of 1776! The vessel detailed for this peculiar service by our President received her interesting cargo, in the person of Burns! Her sails were filled with the free breezes of heaven, and she sped her way from that harbor, into which the tea. had been thrown by those strong arms which first struck for American independ- ence. What may have been the reflections which ran through the mind of that poor slave, if enlightened by historic knowledge of revolu- tionary incidents, when his eye rested for the last time upon Faneuil Hall, or the monument of Bunker Hill, as he was borne away to Slavery, God only knows! The law — inexorable law — to which even the " God-given rights" of indi- viduals to " life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," are made to yield, for the purposes of " governments instituted among men" — de- manded that Burns should be taken from Bos- ton, and carried back to the shores of Virginia. He was returned to Slavery under the provisions of that law, the passage of which no one, not even my colleague, opposed wiih more deter- mination, because of its objectionable details, than I did in this Hou.se in 1850. The law was executed, as all our laws are required to be, until they are repealed by the law-making power, or declared unconstitutional (and there- fore void) by the courts, whose high preroga- tive it is to expound them, Mr. Speaker, through what instrumentalities did the Government pay the expenses of return- ing Burns to Slavery ? Not less ih&nffty tliou- sand dollars, I am informed, were taken from our Treasury to foot the bills for the reclama- tion of that one slave ! By what authority was the money appropriated ? In vindication of the committee, at the head of which I have had the honor to be placed, and by way of repelling any imputation which my colleague may have, unin- tentionally or otherwise, cast upon me, I assert the fact, that he approved, by his vote, the ap- propriation bill which provided the ways and means to take Burns back to Slavery, and to execute the Fugitive Slave Law ! That by his vote the money was furnished which paid for the manacles — if any were used — on that mem- orable occasion Mr. GIDDINGS. I think the gentleman is quite mistaken, I wish to explain. My col- league seems to insist Mr. CAMPBELL. I do not wish to insist on depriving my colleague of the right to ex- plain. If he desires the floor, he knows I al- ways yield to him. Mr. GIDDINGS. My colleague seems to in- sist that I had some personal allusion to him. Now, I discard that idea. If the opposite party, when they had the power to cheat the House, drew a,n appropriation to cover that expense, I knew they would do it; but I did not expect that my colleague, when he was appointed the head of the Committee of Ways and Means, would follow their example. I expected he would look out for himself. Mr. CAMPBELL. I will look out for myself; but, if my colleague rises for the purpose of charging me with an eft'ort to cheat the House, he is trespassing upon my courtesy, and Mr. GIDDINGS. Oh, no; no Mr. PHELPS. I desire, Mr. Speaker, to say .merely this one word : that when the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Giddings] charges that the ma- jority of the last Congress had any disposition to or did practice any fraud on this House, he charges that which is untrue. The expendiiures arising from the execution of the Fugitive Slave Law are paid out of the Judiciary appropriation, which has always, up to this session, been made in the civil and diplomatic bill — or has been for several years past. I desire to repel the charge. I was a member of the Committee of Ways and Means at that time, and a member of the House ; and I was far from practicing any fraud on the House. Mr. GIDDINGS. I meant that their fraud was political — nothing more. Mr. CAMPBELL. My colleague has dis- claimed any charge of a purpose on my part to practice any fraud. Certainly he will not un- derstand me as taking the floor in any spirit of personal unkindness towards him, whatever may have been his purpose or intention in in- volving me, either directly or indirectly, in the charge of having recommended to this House an appropriation of money to pay what he as- serts are the corrupt expenditures on the part of the Marshal of the Southern District of Ohio. I have arisen with no design whatever to treat him unkindly, nor will I intentionally exhibit any want of courtesy. But, Mr. Speaker, it is due to the Committee of Ways and Means, and due to myself, that, in the face of such an im- putation as that which seemed to be made by the question and remarks of my colleague, I should vindicate my position. I do that in part by showing that my colleague, who is regarded as sleepless on the watchtower of Freedom here, has voted for the appropriation bills since the day the Fugitive Slave Law was passed, and under which the expenses of its execution have been defrayed, until the year 1855 ; and that it has been through the aid of his vote, the money was taken from the Treasury of the Uni- ted States to return Anthony Burns and others to Slavery. Mr. GIDDINGS, (Mr. Campbell yielding to him for explanation.) Will my colleague per- mit me merely to say, that my impression is, that I have never voted for these appropriation bills since 1850. I may have done so ; I am not certain. But I give it as my impression, that I never voted for a bill containing appro- priations to pay the expenditures under the Fugitive Slave Law. I have voted against it. Still, I may have been deceived. Mr. CAMPBELL. The Journal shows the facts. As I have already stated, the appropri- ation in the bill I have reported, and for which ,my colleague seems to reprimand me, is like those for which he voted. It is an appropria- tion, in gross, for the execution of all the laivs of Congress, as it ought to be ; because the committee has no right to propose an appro- priation of money to execute one law, and re- fuse the supplies to execute another. Through every appropriation bill, commenc- ing in 1850, after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, to 1855, the money has been fur- nished to execute all laws, including that which is odious to my colleague, and to me, and to our constituents. He voted for them. He voted for the bill in 1850. He voted for it in 1851. In 1852 and 1853, there was not even a division called, so unanimous was the House in voting the appropriation bill. The bill, in 1854, con- taining the appropriation out of which the $50,000 to defray the expenses for returning Anthony Burns to slavery were paid, part of which came from the pockets of my colleague's constituents on the Western Reserve, was voted for by him. Following out the system, thus supported by him, of naaking appropriations for the execution of all the laws of the land, the Committee of Ways and Means has recom- mended the general appropriation, which is now so much opposed by him. Having left such a record, my honorable colleague seems to arraign me before the House and the coun- try ; and the proof shows that I have done nothing more than follow his illustrious exam- ple. During the discussion of the bills for which he voted, he did not inquire of the chair- man of the Ways and Means Committee, to as- certain whether they contained any appropria- tion for which the expenses of executing the Fugitive Slave Law would be paid. No, sir ; these searching, and, to some extent, embar- rassing inquiries, seem to have been reserved for my special benefit. They are put at me, " a very young member of the committee," very adroitly, by my colleague, who has twenty years' experience on this floor, under circum- stances of a peculiar character. Yielding the floor to him, without restriction, yesterday, I requested of him this morning a few moments for explanation, which he peremptorily refused. These facts, in connection with others, of re- cent occurrence, would indicate a disposition to make political, if not personal, war upon me, and to withhold from me the right of self-de- fence. My colleague, however, asserted yesterday a rule of political action which I will notice briefly, because it involves a principle as erro- neous as it is dangerous in its tendency. I in- quired of him whether, if he were President of the United States, having taken the oath to support the Constitution, and see that the laws be faithfully exeaUed, he would refuse to exe- cute the' Fugitive Slave Law? He replied : "/ lonuld do as Thomas Jefferson did. When I found an unconstittitional laio upon the statute- hook, I loould treat it as such.^' My colleague doubtless intended that the House should draw the inference (as it did) that he would sustain a President in refusing to execute any law which he (the President) deemed unconstitutional, although the Supreme Court might have deci- ded otherwise. Sir, I am against this " one man power," and will in no manner sustain such a principle as is here declared. A Presi- dent who would act upon it, would usurp the powers of, and render subservient to his will, our judicial tribunals. If his opinions of the constitutionality of acts of Congress are to ex- tend beyond his right to veto, if he may nullify at pleasure the solemn decisions of the courts in regard to the constitutionality of the Fugi- tive Slave Law, he may assume the same pre- rogative in regard to any other law passed by the Senate and House of Representatives, ap- proved by a President, and confirmed by ju- dicial decisions. Thus, sir, upon the principle laid down by my colleague, the President might concentrate in himself all the powers of Gov- ernment, and reduce us to a practical despot- ism. If he may thus nullify one law, v/hich is objectionable to him, why may he not Ind defi- ance to all other laws ? If, therefore, gentlemen expect me, as chair- man of the Committee of Ways and Means, to wil.hhoM from the Executive the money neces- sary to execute any one of the laws on the statute-book, merely because in my judgmerit, or in the President's, it may be deemed uncon- stitutional or inexpedient, I say now, unequiv- ocally, they will be disappointed. The com- mittee is not, nor should not be, invested with the high powers which would enable it to r-ver- rule the decisions of the courts, and block the wheels of Government. Our duties in the com- *nittee room are clearly defined. We have no right to originate and report a bill repealing or modifyiJiff the Fugitive Slave Law, or the Nebraska-Kansas act. Should we do this, we would receive, properly, a rebuke from the House for usurping the powers which, under its rules, belong to other committees. Having no power to act on the subject directly, how can gentlemen insinuate that, in violation of the provisions of the rules of the House, we should, in a clandestine or indirect manner, nullify those laws by withholding a report in favor of appropriations which may be necessary to execute them ? I ask nothing for the com- mittee, or for myself, from those disposed to make war upon this point, but fair, honest, and maniy dealing. If there are laws in force odious to gentlemen, let them demand their repeal. Let these exciting sectional questions be met in the spirit of true statesmanship — in the bold and independent spirit of an honest sincerity! My constituents, sir, are in favor, as I am, of a modification of the Fugitive Slave Law, so as to secure the trial by jury, &c. The law, as it stands, is odious to them. It is odious in its details to me. But, sir, I will not strike at it in any cowardly spirit. I cannot consent to secrete myself in the Ways and Means Committee room, and there play the nullifier, by refusing to report the ordinary ap- propriation bills, without which there must be an end to our Government, because the means may thus be furnished to execute a law upon our statute-book, the vitality of which is ac- knowledged by our courts, for the only reason that my colleague and I and our constituents ■were opposed to its enactment. I may not comprehend the policy which my honorable colleague seems to propose. Does he propose a modification or repeal of the Fugi- tive Slave Law, or of the Kansas act? If he does, let him report his bills through the ap- propriate committees, and put them to a vote, rather than attack them indirectly in a manner tending, if not designed, to place me and my colleagues of the committee in a false light be- fore the country. At the State Convention in Ohio, last July, my venerable colleague was on the committee which made a platform for the Republican party. He reported no proposition to modify or repeal the Fugitive Slave Law. He was a conspicuous member of the National Conven- tion of Republicans which lately promnlged another platform from Pittsburgh. There is in that, I believe, not a word of complaint against that law. It is therefore " strange — 'tis passing strange," that in view of these thingp he should have arraigned me on a charge of reporting bills which may provide the means, if occasion demands, for the execu- tion of a law which he has not proposed to modify or repeal as a member of this body. I marvel at the course of gentlemen in this re- spect, when- I observe that the National Con- vention of that great party of which they are members has proposed no changes in that law through the process of that legitimate, open, and statesmanlike system of legislation con- templated by our Constitution. If, however, this new issue, made by my col- leajiue with me yesterday, which seems to adopt nullification as the remedy, is to be a test of orthodoxy in the Republican party, let it be known. If that partv, or any other, intends to repeal or modify the Fugitive Slave Law, let it be openly avowed. If, sir, either of the parties which are to meet soon to nominate their can- didates, intend to skulk the direct question of modification or repeal, and to place themselves upon that principle of nullification which, in defiance of Constitutions and laws, and decis- ions of courts, requires the President, when in- augurated, to violate his solemn oath to exe- cute the laws, the country should know it. If any candidate claims for Presidential authori- ty this revolutionary, this despotic power, I wish to record my name as his uncompromi- sing foe. I am for maintaining the supremacy of the Constitution and the laws, and for de- fending each department of Government — Legislative, Executive, and Judicial — from any infringement which tends to consolidation. These are principles of national security, when the sectional storm rages most wildly. I have defended them in past life, and expect to maintain them in time to come, here and else- where. I have always held, and still maintain, that the enactments of Congress in reference to the absorbing question of Slavery — whether to ex- clude it from the Territories, or to give means to reclaim " fugitives " — are final when ap- proved by the President, until they are modified or repealed by the Legislative power, or made void by the decisions of our Supreme Court. That spirit which seeks to abrogate the laws made, in the manner provided by the Constitu- tion, in violation of its obligations, or through a forcible resistance of the lawfullyconstituted authorities of the Government, is that of "nul- lification and disunion 1" It leads us to bloody revolution — to civil war — to anarchy ! I cannot, will not, follow it. No party trammels can force me to pursue the path to which it points. I denounce it, sir, whether it displays its hideous head in Charleston, South Carolina, or in Bos- ton, Massachusetts. I denounce it, sir, this morn- 6 ing, when it seems to liave planted itself in the "young giant State" of the West which gave me birth, and which owes all her glorious pros- perity of the past, and all her hopes in prospect- ive, to a faithful adherence to the Constitution, to the supremacy of law, and to the Union of the States! I have sought the floor, Mr. Speaker, with no purpose of following my colleague through the meandrous route of his remarks. He has said much which, is my judgment, is not pertinent to the question before the House. He has dwelt with power upon the outrages in Kansas. When that subject is legitimately and directly before us, I expect to enter the field of discussion, and to go as far as the farthest in protecting the people of that Territory in the full enjoy- ment of their le?al and constitutional rights. Mr. GIDDINGS. Will my colleague permit me to ask him a question ? Mr. CAMPBELL. As many as you please to put. Mr. GIDDINGS. I merely wish to ask my colleague, if, as the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, he has guarded against paying these troops for enforcing the bogus Leg- islature of Kansas ; and whether he would be willing to make an appropriation for paying the expenses for carrying into execution the laws passed by that bogus Legislature. Mr. CAMPBELL. My colleague is an old member, and knows that the Committee of Ways and Means have no right to introduce into their appropriation bills, acts of special legislation. We did undertake to do it in this bill. When we had discovered that there was jrreat corrup- tion existing in our marine hospital system, we presented the facts and documents from the Treasui'y Department, so clearly showing the necessity of our proposed reform proviso, that iio member could hp^rbor a doubt ; yet the whole bill was rejected, with the aid of my colleague's vote, for the alleged reason that special legisla tion in an appropriation bill was a violation of the rules of the House. Mr. Speaker, my colleague objects also to the appropriation for the support of the Army ; and complains, perhaps with reason, that troops are quartered in or near Kansas. In defence of the Committee of Ways and Means, I have to say that the committee have no power to di- rect the movements of troops. That power be- longs to the Secretary of War, under the law. If you would restrict his powers in this regard, the bill for that purpose should originate with the Committee on Military Affairs, of which the honorable gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Quitman | is chairman, and not with the Com- mittee of Ways and Means. Mr. GIDDINGS, (Mr. Campbell yielding the floor to him.) Let me put the question directly to my colleagae : Will he vote to put money into the hands of the Executive, for the purpose of enforcing the laws of the bogus Legislature of Kansas ? Mr. CAMPBELL. I will answer my col- league. One party asserts there is a bogus Leg- islature — the other, that it is genuiue, elected honestly and fairly. This House, after a long contest, have sent a commission of its own mem- bers to take testimony, and make report upon the issue. It is proper to withhold a decision of the question until their report is made. Should it be established that the Legislature was con- stituted by force, or in fraud of the fundamental law under which the Territory was org?.nized, I shall regard all the acts of the legislative body so formed as void— absolutely void — and would not vote a dollar to enforce them. Mr. GIDDINGS, (Mr. Campbell yielding the floor to him.) I cannot allow my colleague to escape my interrogatory. I ask him to answer the question distinctly. I put this question to him : Will you report funds to ba placed in the hands of the Executive, for enforcing the laws of this Legislature in Kansas? Mr. CAMPBELL. My colleague will never find me trying to escape from him. He may quiet his mind on that point. I will never rec- ommend nor vote a dollar to enforce any act of any body in that Territory, which has been organized by force, and in violation of the pro- visions of its orpranic law, Mr. GIDDINGS, (Mr. Campbell yielding him the floor.) Will my colleague answer my question directly? Mr. CAMPBELL. I have twice answered my colleague, and he is not satisfied. If he ex- pects rae, as a member of the National Legisla- ture, to decide upon a most important question, in the absence of the authentic evidence which is now being taken by a committee of this House, and to commit myself on mere newspaper or telegraphic report, I tell him he has mistaken his man. When your committee give us their report — when we shall have all the facts here before us in an authentic form — if it shall then appear that this was not a legally-constituted Legislature, I shall act and vote accordingly. Mr. GIDDINGS. (Mr. Campbell yielding the floor.) With ray colleague's permission, I want to know of him, if, with the history of the coun- try before him, he would refuse to vote the money for the carrying out these laws ? Mr. CAMPBELL. The question of my col- league has certainly no liberality or fairness in it. Newspaper reports, according to my expe- rierKje for the last few months, ought not to carry with them so much force as to justify us in de- ciding definitely a great national question like this. I do not regard the representations of the press and the lines of telegraph quite as reliable, in making up the "history of the country," as I should the report of the committee we have sent out. I deem it my duty, as a judge or juror summoned here, to reserve my judgment or verdict in reference to the great question iu issue, until our commissioners present their report of testimony. To relieve my colleague, however, I will say, that from my information, 'through 7 the press and private correspondence, I believe there have been gross wronr^s perpetrated in Kansas. I will not pronounce my final judg- ment, however, until the facts are presented by our absent committee. I deem this course alike due to the commission, to the dignity of this House which sent it, and to the importance of the question involved. Mr. Speaker, I was diverted by my colleague from a notice of the objections of gentlemen to th§ /'ienate's amendment, which proposes to ^.^tipply a deficiency in the Army appropriation. ' Some members deny the right of the Senate to amend our appropriation bills. Concurring in the opinion that it is the exclusive right of this House to originate bills, I cannot for a moment question the right of the Senate to amend them. The Senate amended this bill, on requestor the House Committee of Ways and Means, by ap- propriating nearly three hundred thousand dol- lars for a deficiency in the contingent fund of this House. That item was necessary to pay for the books whicb honorable members had voted to themselves — for the cushioned chairs on which they sit — for the lounges on which they luxuriate in their committee rooms — for the ice which cools the water they drink, &c. The Senate was not denounced here for that allow- ance. Oh, no ! thttt was a pressing necessity, and their amendment was carried without a dis- senting vote ! It was not until we reached the Senate's amendment which provided the means to pay for the pork and beans of the poor soldier who has been sent to defend the frontier, that honorable members discovered that the Sen- ate have perpetrated an outrage upon the constitutional rights of the House ! Then the cry is raised here : " lo ! the poor Indian ! " It is said that he is to be scalped through this amendment I and that freedom is to be " crushed out " in Kansas ! I am glad that my colleague's sytnpathy is aroused to-day for the "red American" — who was truly free, and "rative here, And lo the inaiiutT bora as well as for the down-trodden African. Your Committee of Ways and Means are certainly not chargeable with any warlike disposition to- wards the remnant of these tribes of the forest who have been driven from their hunting- grounds to the far-off coast of the Pacific. Gen- tlemen should remember that only a few weeks ago the gentleman from Oregon, [Mr. Lane,] and the chairman of the Military Committee, [Mr. Quitman,] presented a bill to appropriate ^300,000 to suppress Indian hostilities in Ore- gon and Washington Territories. Although the language of the bill indicated warlike treat- ment of those tribes, my colleague made no ob- jection. The bill was about to pass unanimous- ly, when, on my application, it was sent to the Ways and Means Committee. On the sugges- tion of my honorable colleague of that com- mittee, [Mr. Cobb,] from Georgia, the phrase- ology was so changed before we reported it as to secure the expenditure of the money to the object of feeding, clothing, and treating with kindness the friendly tribes. In consequence of this change by that committee, the funds were placed under direction of the President, to the credit of the Department of the Interior, instead of that of War. At the same time, it is true, we sent gunpowder; but that was for the purpose of repelling the invasions of those hostile Indians who, under British influence and with British arms, descend upon our coast from Vancouver's Island, and massacre indis- criminately our pioneer friends who have gone there expecting the protection of the Govern- ment. Mr. Speaker, I, too, may have some feeling of friendship for the poor Indian. My colleague knew much of him from personal observation in the war of 1812. I was too young then, either to fight with the friendly tribes or against those employed by England to destroy the pioneer settlements of Ohio ; but, sir, after that war closed, I was led, in childhood, through the dark paths of the forest by the friendly hand of the Indian. I have read, too, the history of his wrongs; and there is no feeling of my heart which would lead me to a desire eithejr to kill or scalp him! Your statuary in the ro- tunda presents some points illustrative of his native disposition towards the white man, and of the treatment he has received in return at our hands, as a people, in ditt'erent periods of our national progress. Over the eastern door- way, he is represented with the ear of corn in his hand, extending it to the pilgrim father, when, after a long and turbulent voyage across the great ocean, half-famished, he first planted his foot upon the shores of America. The In- dian received the pilgrim fathers in friendship, and fed them. Look, sir, to your left, after adjournment, as you pass through that rotunda, at the elegant work of art (?) which ornaments another point to the westward. That represents a later pe- riod in the history of our progress. There is Boone, in the " dark and bloody " ground of Kentucky, his foot upon one dead Indian, shot by his unerring rifle, his arm raised, plunging his hunting-knife into the heart of another ! And now, sir, the destiny of the red man is cast upon the coast of the Pacific. Driven from one ocean bounding the continent west- ward to the other, he can go no further ! We have forced him to the jumping-ofif place! What wonder that he should grow desperate, and draw his knife in defence ? Sir, I cannot without emotion listen to the speeches of war- loving gentlemen on this floor, which tell us the only way to control the Indian is to kill and scalp him ! If that is to be our policy, when all but the last man shall be "scalped," I would suggest a design for an additional stat- uette, to be placed in one of the wings of the Capitol addition, when completed. Let it be fliat last man standing upon the rock against which the waves of the Pacific beat fearfully, with his arms folded with his native dignity, and his eye mournfully cast eastward towards the hunting grounds and the " green graves of his sires " from which he had been driven — ready, as the scalping-knife of the white man, and not the ear of corn, is presented to him, to take that one more bound westward neces- sary to exterminate the last of his race I Mr. Speaker, thanking my friend from Mis- LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS souri [. Illlilllilllllilllilllllilllilllil^^^^ have done. ''"'I'l'illiilllilllllilllilllil^^^^ to me in the 011 897 799 3 ^intain and uphoiu i/uc ot._^^, v.,.,v.»>,;y ^^ ^^ tution and laics; and I trust that all my acts may spring from that spirit of generous philanthropy which seeks, with law and order as its means, to elevate the whole human family, without regard to color or condition, in that scale of moral grandeur for which God designed man on the day of creation. WASHINGTON, D. C. UELL k BLANOHARD, PRINTERS. 1856. .. ■• ■ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 011897 799 3 # HOLUNGER pH8.5 MILL RUN F3-1543