'.: ~ - 4 SPEEClH lOF HON. C,JR., ....,....A... .....~ ~ JR. ~SLAVERY~1. YI.S, ~~~~~ HaAV:E I.U 90 DELIVERED AdT HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA, SEPTEMBER 5TH, 1859. and independent States, composing a confederation, not a consolidation, a union, not a nation called the United States. Constituents,whom it is my proie and honor to represent ill that high council-chamber of sovereignties, the Sen ate of the United States! Friends-for such, I trust, you all are, either personally o)r politically-many of you friends of my childhood and manhood, to whom I am indebted for all the hohors I have enjoyed. Friends, constituents, fellow-citizens of Alabama and of the United States:'These are the chords that bind me to you, and I name them in the order of their strength. I'am attached to you -as citizens of the United States, for it is, accordingi to our fathers' covenant, our country, for whose "colrn-. mon'defence and general welfare" all patriots should labor. I am more attached to you as fellow-citizens of Alabama, for to her I owe my first, last and highest allegiance. I am yet more attached to you as constituents, for I am ylour honored servant, as well as fellow-citizen,.. to whose hands the rights, interests and honor of Alabama are confided. But I am most attached to you as friends, for who can define the duties and obligations of fried(lship? I come to speak of principles, not persons, of measures, not men; and if in-my unpremeditat ed language %my words should grate harshly upon the ears of any, I trust it will not be re gar(ded as intentionally offensive. I appear by request to speak of that everrecurring, interminable and all-absorbing thenme of SLAVERY, as your counselor, not your cham pion. I should not have volunteered to counsel you, for nothing is more dii'icl to any. buat a vain man, or more dangerous to-any but a.des perate politician, than to advise the people hoax to act in great emergencies. To magnify my embarrassment, I am forewarned, by some Democratic presses and leaders, that the plinci VILLE, Monday, Sept. 5, I859. rsigned listened with great pleas~peech, delivered in the Court d endorsing~ as we cordially do, ed and believing that your fellow s of the State, whodid no t ening you, will derive both plea)m a perusal and sludy. of your ally of it for publication. ,ge have the honor to remain Yours respectfully,' Wm. FLEMING, L. P. WALKER, ROBT. FEAIN., 1. A. LANIER, E. D. TRACY, W. W. GARTH, W. J. SAFFOLD, STEPHEN W. HARRIS. JAs. H. SOCRUGSR, S. PETEr, S. S. SCOTT, E. WALLACE, JNO. GILL SHORTER, *of Eufaula. C. J. COLCOCK, REUB&14 CHAPMAN, HUNTSVILLE, Sept. 6, 1859. GEN"rLEmEN:-I am highly honored, as well as gratified by your note of yesterday, endorsing the sentiments of myspeech, and requesting a copy ofit for publication. As it was unwritten, and my language,tor, the most part, unpremeditated, I cannot report it literally, but ctn, from my notes, present the facts, and arguments used and Will endeavor to do so, after the lapse of a week or ten days. Other engagements will prevent an earlier compli ance wi th your request. I have the honM' to be Your fellow citizen, ~ C. C. CLAY, JR. Messrs. J. H. ScRitGs, S. PFrrE, S. S. SCOTT, WM. FLEXI,NG, L. P. WALKER, and others. SPEECH. ALABBAMIA NS: I salute you as fellow-citizens, 9 constituents and friends. Feilow-citizens of . the United States, which, whether contempla e 5d in its material or moral aspect, deserves, as received from foreign nations, the name GREA REPUBJic! Fellow-citizens of one of thirty-three free, sovereign ail~ ~ ~~W =EDgYAa ... ~ I I. - I '1 E.C C' *, - i I A 0 O lq CORRUMPONDENCE. k 1 I I I%*.e 2,'i - ltl I t" ples and sentiments, entertained;y me and sent Deputies, teplbed (} these discordant re atvowed last winter, have been already con- commendations by rejecting the proposed Yt demned( by a ma ority of that party and of the tio?at and by authorizing the intimated Jfederal people of this State. Every man has more or government. The credentials of the deputies less respect for public opinion andl desire fQr define their duties. They are before me, but public approbation; and it too often happens, one will speak the purposes and principles of that those holding or seeking office a'iit plib- all. The credentials fronm Massachusetts were lie opinion and court public, approbation re- "for the sole purpose of revising the articles. of gardless of their own principles or of popular Confederation, to render the/ fedeiral constitutionl rights. I respect pulblic opinions but my own ad(lequate to the preservation of the Umiion." conscience more. I desire public approbation, Such is, substantially, the language of the cre and while holding office, will st'ive to merit it; dentials fiom each state. All exclude the word but never, never will I surrender my prineiples National and use the word ]*e(eral, thereby to popular clamor or the dictation of any party. shoing that the States knew the difference be Many of you know, that from my youth I havte tween -i _rational and a I'edee?al government lived a f)emocrat of the straitest sect. I am, and chose the latter. Yet, strange to tell, not have always been, and expect ever to be, a withstanding the express instructions to fo)rm States' ]iqhts i )enmoerat. I never was, am not a fete('rls1government, on the day the convention and never will be a 3A(zonal Democrat. This nmet,29thl' May 1(87, Mr. Randolph of a. —tihe declaration may put me out of the pale of the I Stlite w lclic hd I)een the herald and pioneer of I)einocratic party, as threatened by some of its free republican go(lvernmnent — minoved resoIlutions, professed oiritns, but hear before you strike, proposing that n(ationial goernmeinlt which his you uncaleulating and ireal Democrats, who fol- own and eeiey othel Staite had refused to auov- palrty for thle pbiilic we al aiid not for pelf thorize the Conventtion to fiamei! Ie propo,ed or powe. That I-od(l cIvlzobnca does not beleone / ilza/lonal erx('e,e jMcit-/tt/lzczly/ ynd;ilproperly to the political vocabulavy of this I tion(t legi.statule, A,hich legis.ture'"shlll have e eountry. The fi'imeri of the Constitution and the right to legislate i all cases in which the of the Union rejected it. It has been foisted harmony of tlhe U. S. may be interrupted l)by into our party nomienelatuire l)y those who the exerciseO' irdiidiual leqislation, and toney/wouldll conv-ert the general governnient of the I(tive all laws p)a'ssed( by the sere)erl states, conU nited Statei into a consolidate(d democracy, tra,vening in the opiiioi oqf the national leqislaani-d has been ignorantly or carelessly accepted lte7(, the articles of the union or any treaty ,,r tolerated by iiny strict constructionists iinder the Union." This resolution will suffice nid true States' Iights men. It is unf)rtunate to.show- what was to be the character of the lat the Conv-ention that fraieid the Constitu- atiocis government. Mr. Randolph, whei l.on sat in secret, that its proceedlings were dvocatinr them, said, "his resolutions were (crefully concealed for miany years. iand are, not ialleclc t.or ( fedielalqoverniment; he neant L 1t; but iinperfectlv revealed. Ilad it been a stfroqlc consolidated uinion, iin which the idea of ,,lin to all to hear and report its debates, the st(,es slho?ld be nearll annihilated." Mr. Mad}(,,,rnment would have started and the people ison said that bv the "resolve of having a iav —,);tild have kept it in the right direction.- tioi.(l governliment" "it was then intended to'opN\,oe would then have been guilty of such era(te the exclusion ofa federal qovernitmeit."],hlr'ses as the 2\htioiial Governiiient, the ea- JusloeRea, said "A stade yoverniment is incomt;o).;l Congress, or the -(ttioiial DemoiratiA?)atible nith a national qoveernment." Mr. tIamj,:r'y. To prove this I iiivoke the aid of his- ilton, said, ",te must establish a general and natorv. tio?lltl government and annihlilate the state dis k meeting of deputies fiom several States, at tin(tionts and state operations. I believe the Ainnpolis, in 1786, reconmmended the ai)ppoint- Britis7 qovei-nment forms the best model the world ment of Comniissionersa'to devise such nthei ever poliect" * * * "and this provisions, as shall appear to theim iecessaryto truth g adually gains grotund." render the constitittion of the.felde)al qoveilt?ment It did gain ground so far that it was resolved n-Idequate to the exigencies oftthe ZTiioni." The to adopt the national form, eiving to a national Congriess t)f the Confederation, in 1787, recom- legislature power to revise and annul state laws imencded a convention ot I)elegates, to be ap- and to supervise and direct the domestic interpointed l) the States, "as the most probable ests of the people; thus making the States denietnr, of establishiiiig in these States a firm. pondlent provinces of a central, consolidated, cat.ioil o ~-ernineft thus expressing a wisah iational government. Nothing but fear of its to exchange the then fe7le) (l for a natiotal gov- rejection by the States, atd the heroic opposierment. Fearino, probably, to wound the tion offthe deputies from Connecticut and New pride of the St ites, Congiress added another ob- Jersey, prevented the convention from finally ject ot the Convention to be, to "render the adopting such a government, and caused it to fe[deral consti tution adequate to tho exigeneies obey instructions.and frame ourfederal constiof government." Lach of the twelve States that tution. Mr. Patterson, of N. J., said: "Let Wi~if # 42tgp-ft'' 1s'l*"/ tt' 1 4 I I? I I i 0 f '? 4., '.... I-, I"..,,.EoRY. 'uu " UtXCLU~~'' 3 - -.. Federaists during the Administration of WVashr ington. But, still manynationalists at heart, i aoo thoudgh fe'derals.iby profession,.by arrogating a fofr tC'hn o or ess Aat l: powers and; exercising r:nsthem:i- adoptinng thehl?ions and Sedit'mn laws, aC wfi made do Ltiheine: federaih't O'6di'ous, -altli'oh a, g toOd word, expressiveof the':tue nature of our e -government. HOne, the real fderalists form, ed a n.w anti-nationsl party,. called, o'a under - the lead of Toman Jefferso:i':anda; oMr. Calhoun always called-temselves'R'Publi cans. T what was the original Staes' Righte Mr.Sf Democratec party name, and it.-is-t be regret, v sb fed that it was -not idhzred to.- andSlot -ow t'he e name of the-States Rights' Deinci, acy;because our States ar:'really Republics, notDe n- moraciesg a'd thbeir general governmelt is au s' nUnion of Republics, not a National Dnemoeracy. , The majority party in the North,- mliscalling itself Republican, termed by us Black Republi can, would make our general government a National Democracy if they could. They claim for it national powers-;over domestic- interests' and private and public property. They claim: absolute power over-the territories and other' fproperty of the U. S., over the )District of Co wlnumbia, dock-yards, forts, arsenals, navy yards,: p&c.; and, therefore, insist that-Congress should pr ohibit or abolish slavery in all those - places They claim power in Congress to discriminate in favor of Northern ag'ainst Southern interests, in many other ways; as by protective tariffs, fishing bountieS, ship-building. monopolies-, coasting-trade monopolies, pensions, -internal improvements, foreign mail steamer-monopolies, donations of public lands int"fee farims, insane asylums aud agricultural colleges. By such measures the Northern States (or a majority party in them) would consolidate or national ize the federal government, aggrandize theme: selves and -impoverish and oppress the South. They can control Congress, for they have a majority of six votes in the Senate and of fifty seven in the HIouse of Representatives, with as surance of ever increasing majorities, and, like the large States in the federal convention, they do not fear their own power and would enlarge it illimitably. On the contrary, the majority party in the Southern'States, like the snall gtates of that Convention, knowing that the South is weak in Congress.and unable to secure a fair division of the treasury, territory or other property of the United States, have opposed those me asures. r In a speech in April 1856, I showed how Congress had, up to June 1846, appropriated in -fortifications for defence of Northern more than double the amount expended upon Southern coasts; $10 inl Northern to $1 for Southern internal improvements; $W4 in Northern to $1 in Southern pensions- two acres of public.land for Northern to one for Southern works; $10,000,? 000 in direct bounties to N~orthern cod-fisher: US, consid Wes- weat wi ath - ere. By otuereidenti'als se m.selethst ahe ba sis o ouS tire.eent authority ins tuhi o wr anne rliohn f ie h narticle p of t he present we k de r us dti; noertow ter and anmend tpheine stchyparts weik t he :', appear defecive,, 1: A e/nm/hib iUk~ f r oea,inal goverofnt? in goevernmen- henin kt Tdeuties of th i ne s ti o kep to . ties jit re ibr f ral purp'osel. i Wie,o'idHte c.;thr *overei.~pty m.'f" one; ai. -,and o: et an dnihi bt e te tttoover i setgesa of tourr tater owho sent us here?:" - - St n t abs -t t - - tMr. SherIan a nd Judge E' mnyapth8 of hConn., vigaorously upported Mr. Putteron, aiaed'by a .: rameriC Of the codvep.fionk M, LAh ~siranl~: ds' ptl ared: "Had the oeliastsre of N; Y. appre hended thatp eir pow ers would-ha vebeeva on: i strued to extend to t he formation of a ni nnn .t. goveernment,.no deleg ates, would have fappeared ()n the Ifart o'f that state.' NAeo plans, annihila-; tiny the rights of t e states, (- unless upon evi dent necessity) can neyer succeeda." l might quote other extracts from the debates, showing that the. federal Convention was-divided into two parties,-the nationalists, who favored a con * solidated detmoracy of an American nation, with absolute power in the majority ofCongres to control the affairs of'states and people, and the jfederalists, who wished to'preserve the in dependence and sovereignty of the States, and limit the powers of Congress to matters of cont.meo interest, mainly external to the States. The federal party ultimately triumphed over the nationc adid formed a confederation,, not a consolidation, an.union not a nation; and, ap propriately, called the charter of its powers, the Constitution of the United States of Amer ica. They carefully expurgated it of the term national, and of every synonymous word, and adopted throughout- the precise languag to convey the idea'of federal system. Now, mark and Sake'warning of these facts: The large States favored'the consolidated or NA TIONAL government, the small States the limited FEDERAL form; showing the universal inclina tion of the strong to increase their power, and the natural repugnance of the weak to entrust ing the strong with power. I doubt not the pa triotism of Randolph, Hamilton, Madison, and other advocates of a Nationcd government. They thought it necessary to keep- the. States together and enable.them to resist foreign ag gression, and they trusted to the' magnanimity of the great States not to abuse the interests of their weaker sisters. I doubt not that many patriots are now Nationalists. This'same division of States add of parties, into.advocates of national and advocates of fed-, oral powers of government, has continued ever since,mand exists to-dally..The NVationalist~ of ~',the Federal Convention dropped that name, ira-<; mediately on thae adoption of the Constitution, **a' and~took thatof their opponents, and all wrereW 4 -- i i I i 8 d i 9 s a p t c d ?r i ",i I ,I. I. 11 N I - I "Z - i, 4-1 k , j zl , A f I PI I I',i p I I ll l,ii" I li F"14 N I - ll ei-!i" ~'" ~!~ 4 4 amen, while'10 Southern industrial inte"rest had square rca 9lnce 3 thctm any bounty; liad built alightfor..,every tW time the bagow fain 1&4,0 sq'uar ty odd isles ofNortbei'n coast, to, guidehe mar- inil, '2(),Ol.equare mes having added iner, while for hundreds of miles of Quern These esti roast not a warninc' beac e'eed him' and ins, tea *y+qt ut cloae had xterted numberless miIlns'from' the 1yapp?oxte h'e th South in indirect bountiea to t'hern mann- All thisss'he f of eonessiayi' by th factures aud, shipping intereats'NQrthern a- South4thet conipoim'sesma rice has 8triy,ea to aproriatall. the lands and to secure.peLe an4,.reit for the ith'andYr most of the other property of the U.5,; South- tcrl qoncord,, betwec em amb*itie. haselutched at its highest ores rth nd South kllwas claimed by th nd ouors., For the fist, fifty years of our North (;rthe "riglits offree present goycranient but thr northern men men and fr Jabor." In'se, same spirit they were chosen resident —— the two Adanises and clamied protecon for all Nthern industrial Van Buren-and each for enL one tern; while itere8ts-,m&nucturei, eries' fehip build there were five Southern men elepted Preside, oasti trace, ., by prOece tariffs *ch for two terms. But the North ha. made bounces and moopol, the cxpese of the South pay dearly for hono?s in' the common slave labor. treasui'e and the comm6n tertory. I have epit- In proof, hear an' cxti.t from thaddress of mized an exhibit of the unequal div'ision of. the' "Home Iague," in treasure. A yet larger share of territory has "iow, neither the farmer ner mechanic are contented 'lean appropiated by the North. "to be diil'ranchlsed, and debaned the privileges offlee Th,.e anti-slavder agitation Originated in North- "men, whilst a"po'rtion of their countrn, Possessing "a sure market for the ProduLtS of th"ir 5iv'es, deny' n avarice, an as been kept up to serge that "them the right of ving by free labor unless reduced passion. It is usual to date its birth from the "to the degradation of working for the sante' miserable Missouri restriction; but it was bern before the "subsistence allowed to slaves even e,we,4. COtjtu Union and will, I fear, survive it. Pending the' "ionally, the oiener' of a thonsnd I s, "chattets of or labor-saving mchLn's.as' they are called Revolution, the North-western territory, belong- "at the outh (!)..has surely no more right ti) be pro mg to Virginia, excited "the lucrative desires" "tectea than the'free4armer, with a thownd cattle or of the North-eastern people (as Mr. Madispn "the free manufacrer, with a thou'nd l,00, chatter said) to a degree threatening the ()onfedcracy. is d'eto all-we mean ai~a,', At the conclusion of the peace of'83, the North "tiveprotection, whether it is by favorable ebmate or 'lad but 164,081 square miles-she South 647,- "a peculiar chartered grant, or a discriminattng tariff 202 square miles of territory. To satisfy those "WREREva L,Asoa, the great element of ocr growth desires and consolida'te the Union, Virginia "and independence as a ition, 5Uatvy "AND mOTEUTiON, MERE TH'PaoTaci UAND OF Go - the North-western territory to the Oon- "aNMENT SHOULD 5 STai'rcED OUT,'ith a wise be y, and the ordinance of'87 secured it all "neilcence. Let this princ toevetrh.e slavery therein for- "adhered to, and there a'id steadily a' iVi'dio grew to 425,761 sq. me. "inte'ference of one portion' of our' citizens, wi the and the South shrank to 385,521 square miles. "rights and prit,itegcs We enThis was the first step of Abolition, and "view.f iera rien( 8erioiisiv, to ta's 's first tei?rte4trn;ioo by,ongress against slavery. Mark and5t" due to 4ll. * * next acquired, was, inents: ponder those wise and just senti by'the Missouri restriction, so partitioned, that ever Zabo,r" * * "ruir the Noith took (exclusive of Oregon) 659,138 tci'on, ekereTiri PROTECT!G OF G0YRN square miles and the South 225,456 square MEET *kould be tretcked i." Now consider miles. This was the second bold stride of Ab- the perverted use of those aound sentiments.. lition and i4tervention by Oongress against sla- It is not meant that &ur edera1 government very. The acq'u,isitionsf Oregon, Florida and should give protecti to a, or that jes proCece Texas, wcre so divided That the North got 415,- my hand should be stretched t t sAc~ter and 467 square mile, the, South 271,268 square secure aU'our citizeni' i? the en,,:e,t of wIL(Lt miles. This was the the third advance of Ah- belonys to them-their menerv-* and maid oh'tion' and intcrventio'n by eongress against servants as well as c(4t and . Tkat is all' slavery. I ask for the out, but that will not satis The Mexican conquests engrossed by the the North.. Its protecti just read, means, b North added to her limits 587,648 square miles.'mg interpreted, thi& "Sour frieads', if you This was the boldest nd longest step yet made will pay a tax on all the salt, your families, jb1 tAhbeOltO'1 if as now maintained by nearly slaves and cattle consume, to be given as bonn North, the non-interi,ention, then inaugu. ty to our fishermen for catching ,,pur' rated,, means permissive intervention by squat- ship-masters for carr,"'in gyourofton rise e te5Oveeifl5 against slary. sugar to New York, double the eight an'Eng The South has grown from 647,202 to 882,- lish vessel would chargepay our mantur 245 square miles; having added but 235,043 ers from fifty to five hundred pe cent. sore for K I the Uni(u!m, subitted t positive isterent-ion bVy |r h CFngrsh olagainst her, in prohibitii Slavery i sall the North West:erittry-in I4. territory Naih of h3630\ —in Oregon- territory —in'ex wlas norath of that linw-ad a:coording to the Douglas' construction &greed't intcrv,nto~ agaiinstu' slavery in all "Mexiean territory, by m t b l e t i b t Cor.asso Ag9 ts, the i'nhOabitant* thereof: to whereby she has gi]vei:?up of her exclusive teL o rito ry to the North,-61,671 square ilts, ' of other d,vc-holding tritory, belonging -in common ta) all the St?es slz, oo square miles, andyin slav'h iing an'd non slaveholding terri fy, 1,X3,9;a i te miles, -an spire twelvefod.grear than all' the Nol th'n S ites at the peaceof'83.: Die North c rn States never ceded 6r yieldeid onfbot of teO ritory to the UnitedStates. The Soatlth for the'ake of peace, quiet and the Union, has subtLnitted to interve'ntion in her domestic affairs against her by collections and disbursements of reveniue un der laws as iniquitions and oppressive as tose of any Kingdom. of Europe. For illustration,: you have been taxed on all your salt to raise a bounty for New Englalid codfiehermen t6 an amount exceeding $13,000,000; you are not al lowed to send a bale of cotton to New York or bring a box of goods back, in any foreign ves sel; or buy a foreign vessel tor -that purpose. But have all these concessions given us peace or saved us from antislavery agitation, wrong and injury? No. In the lt Congress of the Union (1790) petitions praying the aboli tion of slavery were presented, and have been renewed,at short intervals, ever since. - A large I majority of Northern Congressmen insisted on v iterven)tion 4by Congress against the admission of Missouri. in 1820, in violation of the Missou ri restriction, miscalled compr gise, and she was at last, gotten into the Union by stratagem. A large minority of Northern Congressmen urged like intervention against admitti n g ..Ark., andFlal,, and a larg e majority agaoinst admitting Texas: In the meantime, the first general abolition - ciety, was formed in 1832, in Boston, and the se cond, in i833, in New York —each pledging its members to labor for "the abolition of slaver qin the U S., and the elevation of free negro es to "eq ual civil and political rights a nd pro i egeS with the whites," and, for those ends to arve to "get the subject of slaveryfully before Congrfes," and, thro' it, abolish slavery:in theJdistriet of Columbia, and the inter-state Slave trade, and prohibit it in the Territories. They besieged Congress with petitions, which, in 1830, were so numerous and offensive to the South, that her representatives demanded. and obtained the adoption of the famoUs21st rule, "that no petition, memorial, or other paper, praying the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia or any State or Territory, or the slave trade between the States a~nd territories of.the U. S., Clotehing, ironor wooden utensils, for field or fireside, thani French-or English would as-k buy all ships. boats-sar,letaler'- water-craft. o -f I us at our, pric im prove oous fhrormn arivers, -w e' d ere-and giv e to fre oioil f n d Ifre la-n ebor a ll' to tenie leUnite St"",utt chrei ei gives me les pin,thnthearAk,aid.in lremao-tagist we-will not. ipnterfere:ih slavery ini the;S,-iium ern cStns but-wilt prswtect dit thbdereia q by letting it-alonve, nThat is the adeqwua s peth veprote t ion promised thae South, by th,ise whwo s)oke of theoCfnednati of p stat teo "as aointertioni.bi, and gaese,d tehemstlvo oe c f opnn -being t br(otiolat aibgo ro v acht is now, we arent(ld, the wbhtes, wea, fr yee Jfm C A gress! 8.8 ~;: I hav e received many Suo Cpalg fi)r prote tiaon to feortheri t i ndus try; soC metimes, I regret to:e-de — riahtioshe calling themselves TDeyn crate. By strivingto prevent wasteful ex pen ditures, bav an~0nstittiona appropriations for rivers, harbor an d liloe works, pe ns ions, oean mails, insane asvluims, agricultural colleges, tree farms for free labor, free schooling for free Africans; and'su-ch measures of.miscalled pro= iection of industry; and'by claiming adequate rotect,ion ito Southern labor- that is, praeven ion by Congre ss o f robbery or theft of South ern property in States and territoriesT-I have ~been justly proscribed as not a nationtal ]Demo c~-at, and unjustly assailed as atn ultraist, ex tremist, abstractionist, sectionalist and disor~ gganizer, wanting in exp~nsive patriotism! I .,bshall, probably,~ bear thse opprobious names to my grave; yet, God knows, I have spoken and acted for conscience and my countrys,'sake-in cludin-g all the Unite4 States. But the worst ever said of me is. that by my vote for the Nebraska-Kansas act, I s,urrender ed the constitutional right of the people of Ala bama 1o protection by Congress of their proper ty in the common territories, to the discretion of' squstter-sovereignty! I repel the charge as false andi'lde?rous..ffensive to me'as this charge is, it gives me less pain, than to hear my constituents say'well done; bad as squat ter-sovereignty is, it cannot be worse than in tervenntion by Congress; we are all pledged by the Cincinnati platform to non-intervention by 'Congress, even-to protect: for peace and par ty's sake, let us surrender 4hat abstract right and hush agit Jtion.' ~tgnorant or corrupt ser vants may be supplanted by wiser and better men;- but what hope is there for the countr when the people become so demoralized and, debased is to fear to demandc their acknow ledged rights'! 'The whole history of Congressional action, touching the-territories asad slavery, negatives the eonstruiction, lately- given by Nudge Doug las and Ats followers to the Nebraska-Kansas act, trai1s it teaches by example, the folly of ~!eding ~ights for the ~ko of peace.an the union. The South for her own peace and quiet and I I,, 4' 5 I i 11 II, 0 in which -it now exist s, shall be.'we.ivea byth 1i i,' 1836 of, Flor'idi;'. Hou.e, or eLtertai,ed' in. any way uWt/e-r of. i I4ere sl[ i Ab)olition did not abtndon the abstrac't right of ing.' The tt of grace itowards theSuth was, ietition, even to destroy out' practical ri g/ht tow pleiJ, ig ldr edliess a(,t t:jiatji tpreelohe o ife or pro(perty, but:,enouritged' y'cthe conce - e $xulutb hty troi the terr,itori f'eh6 sions. of suchleadig Southronsas Oaiy", of Ks,, i Mexico Etd Utah in their.ran:sc. a. re aiad Bcntin of MiSsouri, 0ontiu'e toe'elamoi'tr't iuse dntis,Sok'i -'8States' a f,ed;'i fieedom qf petition,"' tiitird Decembe 44, easc they wed jolig s w t vwhlen onamation of J. Q. Adams; tie Costv'dic- initer ret'.tioi given by Fathr s Na tive' of Southern fisk tihe ruie uwas resein4ied4 ot ti,ee l causes, providin,g,t t'lgisl with the-he4p of S:)thern vo'ts! Grant the tiveapowerofth territory] sil!; xte'd to - abets'act right of peition.(we were toad) and rightlful sul0Ots of legislati ]it with the North will be ratisfied and abolition will the Constitutin ofthe U. s.. and paiioi die of starvatiton' "The next C.ongress showed'(iof this act" and "said territory, or any On the fialseness of such predictions, and your of the same, shalt be received into thee UO then representative (lion. R. 0hapman) vain- with or'withiumt slavery, as:eir onitution ly tried to renew the rule. Abolition beat himl, may prescribe at th me of. ion and with the aid of gouthern; votes, and hlai ever "tiat the,Coiistitution and lawsof i{IU', since sat, with confident security and insolent not locally ]inapplicahle shall have the same power in the very citadel of our Constitutional force and eit"t - within said':]territory' as else. rights, in view ot Virginia, the largest slave- where within tho U S8,"'outhern.opponents holding state, and iuntme midst of the slavehol- of that (comproniise. oRqcted not only that the ders of thl-e Districet, scattering "firebrands, ai- Sluth conceded too much,. but got nothitg.#save rows and death" throughout the South.'The the fu,,itive slave act and the bate promise of South is paying, annually, into the fedeal tie Nirth not to prevefnt slavery in State or treasury three dollars to one paid by the Northl territ,ory formed of Utah and New Mexico-by for printing, publishing and circulating among Congressional intervention. But, that was us incendiary documents tending to excite tr- thought by some'to be worth a great deal, he son, murder and insurrection., Thus, we suf- cause itsecured the right to carry-.Iav ito them. fered Abolition to achieve its primary object When it was suggested, that squatter esoer by getting "the subject of Slavery fully before eigns m'ight deny that right by territorial leg Congress." The I'ilmot proviso passed the islation, it was replied, ohl no, it would not be lIlouse ofRepresentatives, in 1847, with but " rightful legislation, con.istent with the Consti three dissenting votes from the North-in or- tution." Such became throughout the South der to forestall us from any share of Mexican the accepted construction ofth6.non-intve territory acquired by Treaty of 2d February tion of the Compromise measures. It was to 1848declaring "there shall be neither slave- right the wrong, or cure the mischief, of Con ry nor involuntary servitude in any territory on gress legislating against slavery in organizing the continent of 4merica, which shall hereaf:- territories or rejecting States. In accordance ter be acquired by, or annexed to, the U.S." &e. I with-this idea of non-intefvention, it was in But for the aid of Northern Democratic votes in troduced into the Nebraska-Kansas act of 1854. the Senate, that would then have been made the In it were inserted the provisions just quotes, law of the land. Here was i&tervention attempted and another repealing the Missouri restriction, by Congress against the South. Deserted even and defining non-intervention, as follows:. by our allies, the Democracy of the North, we "That the Constitution and laws of the U. S., not lo barely succeeded in defeating that Proviso, till "cally inspplicable, shall have the same force and effect 1850, when, in consideration of concessions by::with in said territory as elsewhere except the 8th sec the South, the cost of which is yet untold and,, tion of the act preparatory to the admission of Missouri incalculable.~,""~ she -"~' obtained from, thorth- the "'into the Union,' approved March 6, 1820, which being incalculable, she obtained from thmeorth the,inconsistent with thepwiciple of r-ein'tevention by; te-last "ftial adjustment.",Congresis~ wi~thslaher,i'ncl' o f b last Compromise- the last "final adjutment." ongreswithlaveryitheStates and territories, as For these great concessions the South got the recognized'y the Jegislation of 1850, oommo called pledge of non-iztervention by Congress with (" the compromise Measures, is hereby decl,red mopera lavery in the territories of New Me,ico an "tie an d void; nt t bi true int nt anw' in eani Utah, and a eswt fugsaivee]Jie a#, t/7t;,~.r aee did that nwn'_eno eanl frhatwas the "threofperfeclyfree toform and regula te ro wrong it was intended to remedy? Intervention "mestic tnstitutio in their on way, subjt, only to b —- Con-r~s.....: —-, ~,.......:-,~._,,....~_ I"the Coattitution oft UT. S.; Provded, tlhat otiiug yCongress against slavery as in the Nort.h heoreicon dshae onSred to ri'ot' X Lest territory, b the Ordinance of'87, ill tb /'thefrce antaids-ot reg w jor,xg L ty y or, rstriatoz of,/' r/or to the act of ~,?vh, 18>P ei.aproteot>. 1820, ID Texa~ te].riDo'.F b. h~k' arsticietion in'45 f establishi'g,.p. rohibitfng or'abhab's'ngsalavery.'... :n Oregon territory by like restriction in Here, the wrong to be remedied was Con848-interventon by refusing admission I gressional intervention against slavery, by the - Missouri, in 1820, in * ad-l Missouri restriction, whichembracedlthe very i~,.,., 11 A.. -!'~ hi JX / #I .,,I;,: c,~w.# i. rial-O*ssented hMr. Cass. If the Constitution does riot permit, they fromu Gen". Cass's theory of territorial'or" squat-have not got it. ter sovereignty." He voted, o~ 26 Feb'y, 1849, Mr. Badger. That is clear. in'the Senate, for the Walker amendment giv- Mr. Cass. Behind that stands the other question ng the Presiden~t almost unlimited Dower cz- which must be discussed here; and I, for one, am deter in g the..e~ident.,nlimited.,..'.ower,ex- mined that my constituents shall know my views on'the ecuIire,lX~i'ati~ gnd jssa4 over tnWei*nter'aas point. It is one on which the lion. Senateor fromn Xiss., L -k 11 .-1 L k 8 n- auithor of the bill and its leafing adi those able and~ can' i*:'g g ei.. ation of' its P,Ieanln(?'-:rect'them ft':: erred? He knew tlie'gret interests of t?it South, intlaeir opinion, coild0onry be mi tained bv the ill a ititerprete ihi' and would }l,s efft!ly destryed;:' atter om e T t s-lbsover eig powersbythevWHl')t ro; eoandhe knew their dee'~licitude to,.: South tagainst both, akn: hopeof. by passing hise bill. If a tr friemi t6 ii: or the South, would he not':, hive saved the; from the fatal pit which he *awr' hem approa1h ing, by saying:'You mnisundersand tt t n hef tllhe bill; I wrote it and oughtoto\ its ~ so and efe~n, md I assure' tOon. Cass's'onstruection: it is correct? Was it ti part of a faithful alli'to dig e pit, conceal it and lead them into'id The.:-seou' er was given in the san,e sentence and same words over all the domestic relations-"to.omt angd ree ytitae' them "in their oce yt, si' ct only to the Constitutiop of the United xws." eSurely, by no fair construction could 0wet be derived under those words, "form and-regu late," to destroy, or abolish, or prohibit tihe domestic relations of husband, father, or imas ter; and, yet, more surely, no- greater power was given thereby over that or master andrser vant than over the other domestic re~lift.A That was the opinion and argument of South ern Senator s wh o supporte d the bill. But, w e now'are given reasons for thinking those words adelusion t ind snare! Ah! we are adjured, ye& commanded, even by Southern men, by our love of the Union and the -tNation al Democr a-t cy," to hush murmurings, hide the fraud, ade the treachery, and take the consequences'o. But you may ask, how o uld yi6u and othe r Soutliern Senators vote for that delegeratoto et power over the domesfid iintitutions to the ter ritories, when Gen. (ass,'said their Legislatures might, in virtue thereof, get power to prohibit or abolish slavery? Because he qualified that assertion by those potential words, ",o the Cbn, i ,stitution permits it," and immediately added, "if the Constitution does' not pemit, they have not got it. Mr. Badger,said mttait is clear," and all thought that none would deny it, who rev erenced the Constitution. Although I thdtik-Ut and tink Gen. asis's opinion of territointial' sovereignty a mischievous here sy, I thought and think him a patriot and hone'u'an; who would not only submit to, but support, theoCrnstitution of his country. We gave no *urs that were not "subject onby tO the Co#t/tlon of the Uniated States." Those words efved as an amalgam to'unite Northern.and Siouthern: pro-slavery, and anti-slavery, pro-squatter ai;' anlti-squatter-sovereignty retel wh~.revertsced the Constitution,' and meant to sust:ain it.' Atll professed to be willing to leave it, "unit 1lhe ConStitution, to be deided by {he lawvtribaeati' and mrself differ. * * It is whether, by virtne of the Can PtitutiOII of the U. S., there is a kind of motive power in slavery thatimmediately spreads it over any te oitor, or by virtue of which any slave may be taken to A My terrftorv of the United States as soon ah it is annexed Mr. Butler. I wish to save myself. I am perfectly ,'illing Io vote f)r the claUse [that quoted by me] as podified by the Hon. S-n. from Ill., tbh chairman of'the -coumimittee on Territories EIMr. IMugl'as,] but withe very -clear judgment that, if Congress has not constons!l ~compl)etency to legislate either one way or the other_ .either to introduce or prohibit slavery in the territories :a terriooverument has no derivative authorityo to ,do so from any act which Calc pass." Mr- Brown. Certainly sot. Mr. Butler. I am perfectly wiling to leave th'is -tion under the constitution. Mr. Dawson. That is where it ought to be left Mr. Butler. I am perfectly willing, to leave it under the Constitution, to be decided by the law tribunals of the country; and that is where it ought to be left. If in, process of settlement, the people of these territories .shall,be prepared to assumt upon themselves the attri buteE of a evee state,they can then, certainly,either exclude or admit MaveAy.. I presume that will not be denied by any ones. Dwring their growthaand before they undertake to lwcdo;e a state, can they assume to exercise a power wltich Congress itself, under the Con stitut:oei, cannot (. i)'fcr upon them? They can have no derivative powyer on the subject from an act of ours." Mr. Ca."s. That is a matter to be argutied. I differ from the Honi. Senator in toto. Mr. Douglas did not say he differed'from him in toto or in pait. On 24th Feb. 1854, Mr. Brown spoke at length in support of his and Mr. Butler's position; quoting the authority of Mr. Calhoun, that "the territory is open to all citizens of the U.S., and m?st remai', ope, and ~cannot be closed but by the people of the territo.-. WHEN THEY COME TO FORM THEIR OWN CONSTI'v.UTOIN; declaring that in voting "to leave the l people perfectly fi'ee to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject ,owly to the Cojstitution of the U. S.," he gave amo,more right to destroy the domestic relation ofjnaster and slave than that of parent and child or husband and wife. 'Ideny [said he] that the right to regulate carries "along with it the right to destroy. The right to regu"late the relation between master and servant no more Aenbitles the Deginating power to destroy that relation "than does the power to regulate the relation between "'husban. and wife authorize destruction ofthatrelation. "Ais well might the territorial legislature take a wife "fren her husband, under pretence of ra'ulating their "relations, as to take a servant from his master under "pretence of regulating that relation. * * f I af "thought that, ia 0otung for the bill as it now stands, "I was conceding the right oqf the people in he territo"ry, daring their territorial existence, to exclrde s an "very, I would Withhold my vote.". w He added, that he was willing to leave the question of territorial power, as provided by the bill, to the decision of the Supreme Court. Senators Butler, Hunter, Mason, and others might be quoted to the same effect; but the views of Senators Brown and Butler show those of all Southern States Rights' men who voted for the bill. Was it not the duty of Senator Donalds,. the Al 4,i ), I I, , g!t I ., /s IF~ .,l I -- 4- it) of the country,"'w,hether Congress, or its crea-' tare, a territorial*kislatture, could prohibit or abolish slavery m t'he ommona territory of the States ofthe Union. And, as Senator Benj,a nin said, last wintel, in the Senate, in reply to if Senator Douglas b "Nobody anticipatedl at the time, tllat-aftelithiis final settlement, an attemlt woul d be made to legislate in 4)pposition to the.pricip)le settled by the Supreme Court; andL of course. to mnenmber from tle Soutli could for a moment, have entertained the idea of the Senator from Iginoist 4hat the' peole of the Territory, after the deei.ioa of -ge que.,tion in favor of the Sot.th,.hodld tavg. the right- to legi.late m opposit ion to the princi ple thu.s guararteed."' Nobody then even reareed that Mr. Douglas would ever tolerate such iniquitous and atrc cious us.urpation of power by a territorial leg islat'ure. On the contrary, he heard the decla tihs of Senators, in 1854, just quoted as well ats similar avowals from other Sena{~rs, that the legislature of Kansas could have fand exer cise no power, beyond that given by Congress, or inconsistent with the Constitution, and never expressed a- dissenting bpinion. He heard Senator Butler, on 25th February, 1854, say further: "I know, sir, that it hlas been said, that we are part ing with a great )owe- in giving the people of the ter ritories the riglht to regullatethlieir own concerns, accord ing to their ownii opinions, independent of the control of Congress. I admit of no such principle. Justice to my self, the honest conviction of my own mind, as well as the authority of great minds, who have expressed themselvesi on this subject, will never allow me to assent to the doctrine that the first cominers upon the soil of a ter ritory can appropriate it, and become sovereigns ov er it. No, sir, the Federal Government stands in the relation of a guardian to a ward. Look at the bill as it stands. It prescribes government for the ]eople of Nebraska And Kansas; but, if this spontaneou~, this inherent popul a r sovereignty is to s prin g up the monment the people settle iala territory, and assemble to form a government, why have aniy bill to put them into operation at all?You give them a chart and say they must obey it. Sup ose that the first act you get from the territory of Nebraska or Kansas, is hine declaring that no slaveholder shall be eligible to office in either of those territories, or that no one professing the Catholic religion, or that no Jew shall be eligible to office, or that the Mormons shallhave a preference, would you tolerate it? According to some notions that I have heard expressed, having put this machinery of government in operation, you have no power to control it. In'othe words, it is contended, that thougha territorl government is one unlder a power of attorney, emanating from a principal, yet, as soon as the power of attorney is signed by the principal, it becomes irrevocable, and that then the attorney can do anything which, he pleases, without the controlling or- revoking power of the pricipal. If that were the case, I might hesitate to trust the people withi the unlimited powers which some seem to think have bmen devolved ona them in this bill, but WHICH CANNOT BB IWLI, EITHEI FROM THE OPINIONS EXPRESSEDHERE, OR FROM THE DESIGNS OF THE BILL ITSELF. E d Why did Sen. Douglas suffer that frank and noble man, who disdained to deceive others, thus unwittingly, to decei ve himself?o Why bert that gallant patriot, who lived and would hae.died for his mother State, unconsciously to commend the poisoned chalice to her lips, with persuasive words of filial piety? Gentlemen, Mr. Douglasdid not- intend to mingle the oilson in our cup that he has lately founa there-. He - was not the particepe erimtnis to that horrible parricide he would now impu te to us. I,Th onot believe he meant to betrty UMs to the ruin of ou r State s and the Sout, and inveigle us into the violation of our oaths to support the Sonsti - tution, by delegatiai ute nstiltutionae il po wers, or pled aint ourselnt Ts suffer our ag ent, the ter rit r ia legislature, to exert uncontitet ionutao powers even against our own States. The So u th was the paity ironged ad iiNjured, for whose re drew the.Nebraska-Kanssa bill was,- intro duced. Hden presenti, her tor fn n h riniter ests, accepted the remedy tendered by'Mr., Doug las, telling him what then cieved itn wI: and h ow i t would oper ate and o e silentlyaclqo iereif in their i nterpretation. Sen. Butler, speaking for the South, said to him,'by your bJill we give the Legislatures,J of Kansas and Nebraska a chart and say they must obey it-they - are our agents, whom we may and must control?' Sen. Douglas did not gainsay this.cnastruction of his bill, and is bound by it, both,by legal and by moral principles. He has changed, not South ern supporters of his bill. Again, Sen. I)ouglas, himself, denied the sov ereignty of i territory and asserted its subor dination to the will of Congress, in a report made by him to the Senate, in March, 185(, in which he said: "The sovereignty of a TArritory remains in abeyance su.spernded in the United States, in trwtstsfor the people until they shall lee admitted into the U~n~ion as a State. — Inthe nmeantime,. they are admitted to enjoy qnd exer cise all the rights and privileges of self.govergrnent, in subordination to the Constitution of the U. S. and int obe dienice to the organic law, passed by Congress ill ptirsu ance ofthatinistrument. These rights and privileges, are all derived from the constitution, through the act of Congress, and must,be exercised and enjoyed in subjec tion to all the limitations and restrictions whiclh that Constitution imposes." In April, 1856, Sen. Brown, commenting on this report said: "And if, as is pertinently said in another part of the same report, "the rights and privileges" ofthe people of the Territory "are all derived from the Constitution thro' the acts of Congress" and "they have no inherent sovereign right to annul the laws," which Congress has given them, it becomes equally clear, that they have no authority,'derived from any quarter, either the Constitution, the acts of congress, or the God of nature, during their period of territorial existence, to exclude.slavery. Such is my understanding of the report; such I believe to be the true intent and mea ing7 of its author; and, so understanding and so believintg, I give to the report my cordial and unqualified endorsement and approl~al." Mr. Douglas accepted this compliment as his just due, and tacitly acknowledged that "to be the triae intent and meaening of its author," himself. On 12 June, 1857, when canvras~sing Illinois, he repelled the idea of territorial sovereignty and asserted the doctrine of Sen. Butler, that the territorial government is our agentl whom I A 1 1. I t5 1. 'I r 10 Congress may and must control, by declaring partial," tending to fortify his assertion of that in favor of repealing the organic act of Utah, concession. He prudently omits his mocking "blotting the territorial government out of ex- challenge to us, to try to intervene to protect istence," "bringing it under the sole and exclt- our property from confiscation by Brown and sive jurisdiction of the U. S.," "in order that Lane's party in Kansas. Every Southern Sen persons and property may be protected, and ator in'54, who took part in the debate of Feb. justice administered, and crimes punished un- last, denied that he made or intended to make der the laws prescribed by Congress in such that concession, ini the Nebraska-Kansas bill; cases." I yet Sen. D.,'by tiose extracts tries to prove the He attempted to avoid the inconsistency of falseness or error of their assertions. And his views of the power and duty of Congress to- some presses, with those unfair and partial ex wards Utah and towards Kansas, when presen- tracts, furnished them by himn, are engag ed in ted to the Senate, on 23 February last, by Sen. the unenviable work of sustaining him and his Green, in these words: "In the case of Utah, late construction, by defaming them and trying he wanted persons and property protected." * * to show how they intentionally bartered s()uth "To do that, he wanted Congress to intervene ern Rights and abdicated their'sworn duty to and protect property. Now, in the most palpa- defend them by authorizing Territorial Legis ble case in which slave property may be de. latures to violate them at pleasure. IHe and stroyed in Kansas and Nebraska, he says we they have put in that dishonorable'category (by have no right to interfere." Mr. Douglas, re- use of one of those partial extracts) A. P. But plied, "I argued that we ought to repeal the or- ler, who~ever'paltered in a double sense,' or ganic act [of Utah] because they were aliens changed his course for popular favor or presi enemies and outlaws; noton account of their dcntial preferment. If you knew the men, you religion; not on account of their domestic insti- would stake the word ofthe dead Butler against' tutions; I never expressed any opinion as to that of the living I)6uglas. Yet those presses what we ought to do in regard to their domes- not only discredit him, but Benjamin, Davis, tic institutions; but I would repeal that act be- Brown, Hunter, Mason, Green-yea, all the cause they were in a'state of rebellion, defying Southern States rights Senators, in order to the authority of the U. S." prop up Mr. Douglas while pulling down the Well,'under the authority of the United verykeystone of our federal fabric, the equality States, declared in the Constitution, as expoun- of the States and of the people I ded by the U. S. Supreme Court, vou may carry But, say the supporters of Judge Douglas, and hold slaves in Kansas. What could be there is a Badger-Proviso, pledging Congress more rebellious or defiant of that authority, not to intervene, either to protect, establish, than for the Territorial legislature to destroy prohibit or abolish slavery.' It does not; but it your property?-refusing citizens of the U.S. does say that "nothing herein contained shall the enjoyment of a right guarantied by the be construed to revive or put in force any law lighliest law of the land-the Constitution?- or regulation whih may have existed, prior to (C'ircumstances alter cases: in this case our ox is the act of 6th March, 1820, either protecting, gored, in that of Utah the Northern ox is establishing, prohibiting orabolishing slavery." gored. What law or regulation? The Frenchi or Span I trust I have shown by the political history ish law, existing in 1803, when we acquired the ()f intervention, and of non-intervention, as ex- Territory? Northern men said:'we repeal the pressed in the Compromise measures of'50 and Missourirestriction,therebyconcedingyourright the Nebraska-Kansas act of'54, as construed to enter Kansas, with slave propertv; but that l>y Southern supporters, and even by Mr. Doug- will be construed to revive the old trench and las, its author, that the South did not thereby Spanish Slave Codes and thereby legislate Sla concede Squatter Sovereignty, or territorial So- very into it; and you ought not to ask us to do vereignty, or the right of Territorial legisla- that.' Southern mdn replied,'oh, no, we have tures to use the sovereign power of abolishing, just said, by the Douglas amendment, we do prohibiting or destroying( rights of property, not intend or mean by this act to legislate sla free from any restraint by the Constitutional very into any territory, and, therefore, even ac guardian, -the Congress of the IT. S. Such a cording to the rule of common law, it would concession by Southern Sena~rs can only be not revive those laws; but by the civil law, unmade to appear by garbling their.speeches and der which slavery existed in those Territories presenting some glittering generalities or care- in 1803, the repeal of a repealing statute does less expressions about "popular sovereignty" or not revive the former law; and, therefore, it "leaving the question to be settled by~the Su- would be mere tautology to repeat that we do preme Court." I hold in my hand a pamphlet not intend to legislate Slavery into Kansas.'copy of so much of the late debate in U.S. Sen- Our Northern allies replied, then, aave us ate between Mr. Douglas and others, as suits against the false charge of Abolitionists by his. purpose, to which are appended extracts, adopting this Proviso. And, for that purpos& which he says he believes "to be fair and im- Mr. Badger offered the Proviso, prepared by I t I I r i i 0 I 'I 0!Ili" 11 ~.Tr. Stuart of Mich- Such is the history of that' Territory to exclude Slavery when prepared Provis), which passed without any public dis- by numnbers to laiim admission into the Union cussion; and which neither altered nor qualified and forming a Constitution for their future the "initent and meaning' of the act as previ- State. That is my reading and interpretation. ously expressed. Such is the substance of Mr. I know that it does use these words: "that ev B.'s subsequent explanation of it. We did not ery citizen and every section of the country has and do not ask Cong,ress to legislate slavery into a right to demand and insist upon an equality any Territory, or to enact a "slave code" as of rights and privileges, and to complete and' Mr. Douglas and Black Republicans allege. — ample protection of persons and property from Neither do we aek, as the North has too often domestic violence and foreign aggression," and and too successfully done, protection of our I have yet to learn that Southern men and their property y taxing others to swell our profits property are excepted, or miay not claim pro (as by fishing bounties or coast-trade or ship tection by the federal government, in the terri building monopolies,) or by prohibiting others tories, as well as the District of Columbia, or from entering the territories with us (as by elsewhere, within federal jurisdiction. Ordinances of'87 or Restrictions of 1820,) but Some demagogue may ask, will youiforce slh only protection against robbery, fraud, or "un-'ery on acu unwilliny people? Will you not let friendly leg islation." the majority of the residents:in a territory.;,ex Again we are told that the "National Demo- ercise that great American ight of self-govern crati Convention" at Cincinnati, in'56, pledged ment, through their agent, the legislature, by us to' the Douglas theory of Congressional non- excluding slavery? I reply to both questions, intervention to protect Southern' property no. And these are mny reasons. To define against Squatter.q-)oliation. If his Southern property, or declare what shall, or shall not, be suipporters do not beware how they echo such property, or to confiscate property, is an attrib assertions, they will make a confession of Abo- ute of sovereignty. It does not belong to our lititon faith.'That Platformi procl-ainis-"Noin- free republican governments, either Federal or interference by Cong,ress with Slavery in State State, much less to our dependent territorial and Territory, and in the District of Columbia." governments. Your Leg,i:lature cannot abolish Can the inhal)itants of the District (which has slavery, for it is not sovereign. It can only be no lc,,egislature or legislative power,) in virtue of done by the only sovereigltty we recognize, the some inherent, or Ileaveii born sovereignty,rise people, acting through a (Conrvention in forming in their majesty, and, by their declared will, their organic law. It cannot be done by Con liberate all the slaves therein-whether of in- gress, for it has less power over property than habitants, or of Cong,ressmien sqjourning thiere? your Legislature, and is miore restricted by its And is Congress plediged by its Nebraska Kain- charter, the Constitution. Least of all can it sas.act, and are its Democratic members pledged( be done by a territorial legislaLture, for it is but by that Platform, not to intervene to protect? the servant of servants, subordinate to the will Then, indeed, will be accomplishled the oft-re- of Congress, which is the creature of the States. peated wish, that I have read and heard, fronm and subordinate to their will, the Constituti n * Abolitionists, of'severing the National [as they of the Unite( States. Until it becomes a State, ' call it] Government from all connection with the territory is the common property of all til(? slavery,as Mr. Sumner expressed it,'erasingl States, in -.which each lhas an undivided e(iuait * the blot of Slavery from our National brow.' i part, and equal right of possession, use.and en The black republicans will all shake hands joyment, with every other State. Until they with the South on this. The Cincinnati PIltt- form a State of the territory, they can no more form proves to much against us, I trow, even in exclude any State, or the people thereof, an'l the opinion of Southern anti-Protectioiists, if their property, from it, than the tenant can ex Congress cannot stay the hands of Abolition in pcl or exclude his landlord. If this was a a the District. If they can populariz7 this idea, Iioitel instead of a federal government, formiled then Abolition will soon achieve its declared by ati Aemerict Nation a, instead of separate, ill purpose-"write in letters o'flashiung fire, over dependent nations or States, for latiotnal pt!"' the gateway of the National Capitol,'No ad- poses, instead of federal, then there would lie mittance for Slavery." If this constructton of reason for insisting that the will of the m'ijoritv the Non-intervention of that Platform lbecorrect, of the inhabitants of a territory, should prevail the South cannot stand on it; it will fall pnless I even to the exclusion of the property of the braced by some other plank. Until this defect minority. But such i. not the fact: the was pointed out by-Mr. Douglastandrecognized general government is not National, but by Southern men, I had regarded it as sountd lederal, the will of the numerical majority of beyond doubt! I tho't it meant the non-inter- the people of the Uniondoes notprevwl, unless vention of the Kansasact —that Congress should the will of the numerical majority of States not legislate slavery into or out of any State or anon sent; and the will of both combined cannot Territory or out of the District of Columbia- prevail over any reserved right of the smalle't and only recognized the right of inhabitants of JState or of its ullmlvlcst citizen. TIec fcderal I I v t fi I I 12 I' government was notformed on the principle,of my oath to F-upport that Constitution and auet 'the greatest good to the greatest number," ting its violation by Sqkitter Sovereigns who or "',the right of the majority to' go,tern." If may defy its aunhority". No aspirant for the then the territories belong to the States of Presidency, and no p.at...balli fthe sake of the Union, they should be governed in the the Presidency or the Uliion,inter'vene he,tween spirit of the federal Constitution, for the corn- me and my Godl, my c(on,-ience or mv State.mon or equal use and benefit of each and I cannot sit still, as your.' sator anld coiunteevery State; and no majority of inlhabitants, nance the destructi(;n of wur rights of prophowever great- can violate the reserved rights ertvy to.preserve which'tie Constitution was of the l*ast State or its citizen' - Whatever a fran,ied and the Union was formned, until concitizen of any State may holtas'ioperty there- vince(l that squiatter-so,v()'cignty is,superior to in, he may hold as property in a. territory till the Constitution. Mr. )tiulass did not quite it becomes a State. To contend'f(or a territori- assert that in the Senate lwst winter or bt)efore the al Legislative power'to confiscate or abolish or pdople of Illinois, in'57;* b)ut his po)sitiou was exclude his property, is to contend for not more indefensible and inexc(usable. According merely'self-government for the inhabitants, but to my understanding, it was this: Cneedlint, power to govern the States-tltheir landlords who the right to carry slave property into the terriown the territory! tory and the obligation of the Federal G(overn Neither the Kansas act, nor the Cincinnati ment to proteet it, and that Congress can confer Platform, recognize such sovereign power in and a territorial Government derive from it no territorial Legislatures. They admit, as Mr. power to exclude slavery, and that the territoBu charnan did, in accepting, that platform and rial g,overnmcnt has no greater or other power th e nomination for President -that the pec- than itderives from C(oTlress, yet he imaintains ple of a territory, like thoseof a State, shall de- that'the territorial Le,,i,la-ture ilav'rightfully, cide for themselves whether sla-verv shall o()r by non-action or unfrieni(llv lc'islationri, prevent shall not exist within their limits." As I have the hol(ling of such pr(.)l)erty iin the territory. said, the sovereign people ma:y do so, b)v a con- This doctrine carries its c,)Ii(leiniiiation on its vention, but their servant, a State Legislature, face. It assumes thiat the legislature may do cannot. In lke manner, when the residents of covertlv or in(lirectly, wht it itdanot do openly a territory have the requisite numbers to form or directly! This is.s bar1 in i(nials as in pola State, and become a e)cople in the I)o7iiic(1l itics. 1 have never helar(l of anythling to warsense of that word, they may in their Constitu- rant it in the political oi mi'al" c)de of anyll tion exclude slavery from their future State. country, worthy of the 1pe( (of hist()rv, save that This was what Mr. Buchanan neant,as explain- of craftv and trea'cher,:us SlIarta, where theft ed in his Inaugural Address, when he said of was applauded, if successilly c()ncealed. What this territorial power over slavery, "it is a jn- treachery, as well as liocke'y, to invite Southdieial question which legitimately )elongs to crn men to come with thei r pruperty into the the Supreme Court of the U. S., before whoin it commnon territories of the States, under the selis now pending and will, it is understood, be 1i emn guarantees of protection of a common Conspeedily and finally settled. To theii decision stitution, with a knowledge or belief that squatin common with all good citizens, I shall cheer- I ter-sovereignty may cunningly and rightfully fully submit, whatever this may be, though it excltudle or abolish their property! It remninds has ever been my individual opinion, that. un- me of the philanthropic and patriotic wish of der the Nel)raska-Kansas act, the appropriate -Ir. Corwin, after our gallant soldiers crossed period will be when the iiumiber of aetual resi- the RIio (,and-e'thiat the l,lexicans might dents in the territory slhall justify the formation welcoine them, with bloody hands, to hospita of a Constitution with a view to its admiissiion blle gcraves!' as a State into the Union." The Supreme It is revolutionary doctrine, striking at the Court did decide, that any citizen has a right to foundation of all government. Property is the carry slaves into and holl them in a territory, lisis of the social fabric.' To protect and p'e by virtue of the CoFtitution,and that Con,ress serve it, is the chief end of every government. is pleldged 1l) that Constitution to 2?rotect that In a staLte of nature, each man is lord of him property.. self and his possessions, subject to no power Yet, miany good citizens; even in the South, hIbt that of his God, and equal to the greatest insist tlhat (oigress shalr not dischar,e its C(n- of mcn. For what purpose does he yield to the stituitionail duty. i)eca*se they say it has Ipled o- eg,ovirnnent of men? For the better protection ed itself bv the Kansas act not to intervene to of his person and other property. Property is protect sla-e property! Can Congress relieve essential to lifc, for man catnnot live without itself frioiii its ctnastitutional obligatioins at dis- feodl and ruiment-to liberty, for no restriait is cretion9 Can ii ny or all parties relieve it of!o ty rannous and painful as that of hunger and! this obligation. Canthe great Deniocriatic Party cold to liappiness, for there can he no enjoy grant mc iiidlulgcnce for disloy~alty to my State, mcnt where the wants of nature are not sul) to my c(mscience, to, my (,od, iii not observinii plied. I laity, thecefore, say that propeirty is .:i ,7, t, . V 'Y I 'i, I I i .t jp r . 0 1 I .18 the life, liberty and happiness of man. To protect it, men unite under a common government, that may establish a2,Law, to be acknowledged by all as the rule of-::their controversies, to be expounded by Judges, to be defered to by all, and enforced by an executive, to be submitted to by all.. It is for the protection of property that allegiance is due, and when protection ceases allegiance ceases. No freeman will support a government that does no[ protect him. It is unconstitutional doctrine. C:ongress cannotdefine property except money-or discharge any article from being property. All powers delegated to it, or prohibited, were delegated or prohibited to protect persons or proaperty-and to secure equal protection t(i citizens of each and every State. Hene, all of our gov*rnments, state and federal,; are inhibited from ta~ ing private proert!/ for public use. withofut just compensation-froma makiDg unieasouable *!aros or ewe~re*.o/ the propel/ty of the people — front taking life., liberty or' prope,:ly, wit,/,out due process ot law. Hence, to prevent Congress~from abusing rights of property of any state or class of citizens, to benefit another state or class or citizens, it is provided, that all duties, imposts and excises shall be unijorm throughout the United States-that no capitation or other direct tax shall be laid unless inproportionato the census-that'no preJerence shall be given by any regulation of commerce, or revenue to theports of one state over those of another-all bankrupt laws shall be u,iiform throughout the U. S.-citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states-the enumera.tions in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people-the powers not delegated by the Constitution to the U.S., nor prohibited by it to the people are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people. While every guard'that wisdom could conceive or express was thrown around private property, equal care was taken to secure equality to the States in the use and enjoyment of public property. Every power given Congress is declared to be "for the cornmon defence and generalwelfare" -that is the defense and welfare of each Find every State, equally and alike. And respecting the ter ritory and other property of the U. S., it is declared, that'nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any parciular State." Of all property none was so careful~ guarded asthat of slaves. It alone, of all property, was given representation, both,in Congress and in the President: thereby pledging both President and Congress to guard and protect; for why give it a voice in legislation, if it was to be .dum~b, or a hand if it wax to be paralyzed? when its rights were assailed.! (Cimross is Wledged to protect it byr calling fourth" the m ili tia to. suppress idiurrection-by pre venting each State frou destro.ying or imyp airing it, bar any law or re gul ation disc harging from service any slaven bthat may escape into itp or from n ot deliveritsg pio up on claing of hie Imaster —by restraininig'Congress from prohibing the imp ortation of negro slabves fiLr twenty years, or till 1808, or imposing a tax or.dUty exceeding $10 for each slave. lItc.re, letmue~ digress a monlient to stay, that I deprecate tilo d is cu ssion o f the q u estion of repealing the foreign slato trtdethas l awsd,und will nlot tak e part in it,- because it tends to distract the counsels and div-ide the strength of the South, at s time when rights of immediate,and v it a ink portante are assailed: but I Will say publicly, |what I.have privately, that it is- unfor;tu n$1te fo~r the peace of the country, that the, IStates did not reserve exclusive centrol if the[foreign, as well as inter state. slave trade, andi while power ~yas given by that clause, to prohibit import'at}ion of slaves after 1807, I think Congress exceeded its poe~v r in declaring and punishing as piracoy the taking or receivinlg of neg-roes on a forelign shore, w,ith -intent to) make them slaves. While the last clause wa, under discussiionl in the federal convention, George Mason, of Var., urged as a reason-for immecliate proh'ib:ition of the foreign slave trader the probabxtle spread of slavery over the:terriries wiest of Va., N. C. Ga., now forming the slavreholding States of'Ky., Tenn., M~iss., and IAla. Atlluding; to) the prohibition of that.trado by Va., and.~Iaryland, he said: "All1 this will be in vailn, if South Carolina and Georgia he at lib-erty to ]impolt. The W~esternl people are allrgadly callings out for'slates for their new lands and still fill all that country with~ slaves, if they can be gotten through South Carolina and Georgi a.' But the framers of the C~onstitution refused to prevent its expansion offer the territories. thus while strong guards were thrown around private property, generally, especial and extraordinary prote;ction was provided for property in slaves, by malting it an element of federal power, recognizing.it as',. property to be taxed, to be imnported, to be de-., livered up on claim of the master, to be repr~ resented i'n Congress and in the Pre~sideat,*aid.~ to be restrained from insurrection, by Congress-. through the militia. And to secure justice: and equality to all the States, respecting pttblic property it was ~provided, that, in canoeing ~: of thle Territory or other property of the tnited:! States,it should~be done with strict regard~ to the claims of each and every State and for the: equal, benefit of each and every State.'laere~ fore, in the language of Mr. Calhoun —the ~reat * est iiitellect, ini my Opinion, that this country.has lproduced,-"it the Territories belong toi thwe i.* IUnited' States, if the ownership, domiwmu emd, 14 Is an insult to her Riepreaenttivs to ohiarge. them with abdicatingvthe power, or abnegating the'?u~- of protection of hot,roperty by:ou", gress'.; If they did so by the Kansas act, it is tht that extent null and Void, because unconsti' tutional, and the South is not bound by it, and should not/abideit. If they'did so ignorantly' t or wiltully, they are unworthy of your eoniideuce and o:1 iouhould withdraw the^4ru~t so'un,wtfortunately] conflded to them. If you yield this demand, it will prove an irreparable injury,-' You cann)t (lo it without sinking into deserved i,lnveovirity and degradation. You will not do it, if the spirit of your sires still lives in their sons@ ~..... e: The Federal-flag that floats over Northern thoy pr yin every sea, is an enalgn of its"re-. et edtlti~. Format protection we fought the ar,. of 1812-'scourged tihe'i Mediterranean pirates and the Ba~rbary States for harboring them-: ldrove the South Sea buccaneers from their hi-. 'din - lalces —bombllarded ably demot shed ~ town-'ldemauded and extorted from Austrian despotism the surrender of Martin Kostna, a: foreigner, who had taken only initiatory steps tomatrds his natur ali zati on here. Yea, the f negroes of Liberia, sent there by the misguided philanthropy of colonizationists, beneath that flag find shelter and prokction for their perssons and property against the attacks of their barbarous brethren of Africa, at the expense of federal treasure, ]ths of which is collected frotm the South! And while protection is afforded to Northern men and foreigners and even free noe groes, on the high seas or foreign shores, shall it be denied to Southern men,in their own fields and by their own fir-sides,at home, in the cornmon territories of the United StatesI Never, never, bywmay consent. 1 feel the respect and attachment that is due to the Northern Democracy, who have proven their fidelity to us and loyalty to our common Constitution in the past. I believe it to be the only Northern party from which we can hope for anything we desire, and when we separate from them, we sever the last lin k o f federal, miscalled National, parties, and, perhaps, the strongest ligament of the Union itself. I know that~ that .~arty, now reduced to a small minority in the N~orth and beleagured by our and their foes, is menaced with destruction. While contemplating their past ~power and present weakness, the exultant declrtation of the resolute leader df those foes, Mr. Seward, uttered in my hearing eighteen months ago, recurs to me.. "All parties (said he) in this country tht have tolerated the extension of slavery, except one, has perishe5 for that error already. That last one —~e Democratic party —is hurrying on, irretrievably, toward the same TO preserve our allies, by sceding to the demand of Mr. Seward, the acknowledged leader of our enemies, Cong~ress must prohibit, To preserve them, according to the demand of Mr. nr ter'rlttor ofer the. b. an htate8'.of the nionipat, theu Ufitlner the Territouries, nor tih eir legi slatu re caf eaercise an y d-twerd bhit wn rzt is whbordinate to theme But if th e r e veree be true, if the dorsniot Bid adeigntv aover the terriendles beg in t Ie t in o eabi t rnt tt Nh- D th enigrs excludoe whoom they plas. Iand Whate tbey pletased. But in that cweisverthee t would ter sea r t h be terrrtries oif h eaves, ies, the strongest nn~i~ent we:-quired them?~andl pelmitted theml ti be imhabitl. The fir stonhelf oal ensqu a otters wetitdubeions e the s ofv ereigns, witn full mnoritiyn. ionyidthviesrighty over athem.i e pt/ ioe thenco mo menatghd wit entruycionto the cornt mint terr ito nfntte h.rS., and a riw eht of protectioond. e mp nsperti there bsot lgrese, ofuaranted chonfis ion, Mr. Se wared in mythea eighSiupnremerCsourt, remed o decision all good pitmens uande uhtl ssufeAite hthat we must surren der,' I am toldtOr the exke of our northern allies gldf the pe aaera Tation of the Democratic th artyo uthe ofUeirnT Judp re oDoue as dby aen tsasurmender. and his mouthnin s m dap ootfrs re.que o t.hey ies it i s a n nstract ri ght, of Jo-a practical omaksu e. IIf p v, it has become of by the expalsion of slav~ery froli Kalnsas by do mextie violence, and;legislativ-e menaces. On the 23rd February last, Setn. Green, stated in~ tise Senates, that the territorial ledgisla~ture of Kansas had passed an. act de61a rin, that fromh and after its date, slavrery should cease to exist in Kansas.'Senl. Douglas, with seesming, joy and triumph, thereupon mocked us with thle question;'"When- will the time for Ckmgressional'hnterference come, if manumitting all your' Slave and confiscating all your property does not; constitute sufficient cause'for prorapt action?'" The act did not become a lasw, and effeet-wh~t he shouted over too soon, because the Federal Governor did not approve this "'unfriendt~ legislation." It is no mere abstract right, mn Kansas, aecording to the testimony of Sendeors and other prominent~ men, who fr'om personal knowledge'assure me slave labor there would be more profitable than in Alabama. Bu t Me value of the principle is far greater than that of territories or slaves, — it is [inestimable. The corner stone of our political -itstitutions is protection of persons and prope rty. We are asked to yield this rightt of protection by Congas, in the commnon terrtories, to cbnvent to outlawry there, Xo endure the manumission of our slaves and confiscation of our property,' without uzmgu redress or remedy of C~ongress, and bepatiet under the mockery ol~pro~essed friends and foes it the North when w4 complain of sueh wron~! if oUr N~orthern. allies demand or requelt this, they ask or'require too much of {heir eqwrlal-more than magnanimous men would clama of the'ir'inferiors. It is an insult to the 8out~ to match such a demand or requesL ~? I. 0 * e Douglas, Congress must not, protect. Coming o from a professed ally and friend, this proposi tion is not less odious and offensive than that of our enemy. Mr. Seward denies your right to protection in the territories by any power, Federal, Territorial or State, and gives you fair warding, that if you enter them, you shall be robbed of your property. Mr. Douglat admits your right, thlirowi'open the territories by repeal of all prohibitions, and invites you to enter, but authorizes squatter-sovereignty to prepare a pi t fall for your destruction, and promises to stand by, not merely a passive spectator, but an ac tive abettor, to arrest the protecting hand of sour constitutional guardian; the Congress of the United States. Give me an open enemy rather than a treacherous ally. To consent to either proposition is to submit to dishonor and ruin. Protection in She enjoyment of equal rights and privleges of per ysons and ov, was the purpose of the Union and pledge of the C.onstitution. If -any party refuse it, t o any section or State of the Union, let it die. If thie Federal Government, under the control of the North, refuse it to the South, or under the control of the South refuse it to the North,the bond that connects us is thereby broken, and the injured section can have no worthy motive fib preserving the Union. The exaction of support wiithout affording protection, is the extremest tyranny of government. I trust, the South is not willing to'submit to it. I hope, the Democracy of the North are not willing to demand it. Certainly, Mr. Douglas, although their able and honred leader for several years past, cannot bring them to demand of us concessions, which would be fatal to us and fruitless to them. * I need not now tell you, that I will not shpport Mr. Douglas or any one on his plat form, althou gh nominated by the fnanimenan vote of the harlestononntion, of the hrl )eesa o m osratic party, or any o t he r party whatever.-n I lovGthe Demnocratic part for its priniple-s. I will not abando n th ose pInciples for policy. I prefer the righ t, even t'it h defeat, to the exp edient, with se u ccess. I prefer truth to tri umph. I lov e the Union of the con.stitutionpwt Union of etual, independent sand sovereign States; but I lov e my nat ive State, "my nursing mother and 4hy grave," yet more; Snd I should be a faithless and dishonored guardian of her r ig hts, d id I consent to abdi cat e the power and abandon the duty o f Congress. t o prote ct the property of her citizens, whenever or by whomsoe thssed w sever sailed, werever th e f ederal flag flits. Protection is an inherent right of citize nshipe guaranteedmby the Federal Constlitution, as expounded by the-Federal Supreme Court,and when you surrendef it, you will ceas6 to be freemen and to deserve the rights, privileges and immunities of freemen. As your trustee and servant, I will not do 80, -at the bidof squatter-sovereignty, National INemol'or State Rights Democracy-yea, at thib4dding of the Legislature or the people of Alabama. If commanded to do 8o, I will resign my trust, retire to the deepest seclusion of private life, and hiding my face in sjame and humiliation and sealing my lipswlth snlence about such cheap and worthlessI things as State rights or fremen's rights, become a quiet passenger on the ill-fated bark of'tho South, as it drifts ingloriously down the stream of Time into the black and tideless sea of infamy and oblivion. * Since this speech was delivered I have read Mr. D.'s article in Harper in which he clearly asserts the supremacy of the Territorial Legislature, within its limits, over both Federal and State government. DEZMOiAT P]INT, —IUTNTSTILLB,.LABAXMA.' C . ..;, 110' I ,,.-III- jr-., ol -. .0 o 'P . I I 0 0 1. 0 . - l a