The voice of freedom. [volume], February 09, 1839, Image 1

About The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848

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THE
WO
FMEEBOI
1LU Oh
ALLEN &, POLANP, Publishers. Published under the sanction of the Vermont Anti-Slavery Society. CHAUNCEY L KNAPP, Editor.
VOLUME I. MONTPELIER, VERMONT, FEBRUARY , 1839. v IV UMBER 6
For The Voice of Freedom.
GOV. CAMP'S ADDRESS)
Delivered at the semi-annual meeting of the Orleans
County Anti-Slavery Society, at Coventry, Jan. 18,
1839.
Mh. Jefferson. " What an incomprehensible ma
rliine is man! Who can endure trial, famine, stripes, im-
prisonraent, and death itself, in vindication of his own lib
erty, ana uie jicai iiiuuieiii. i.c uct w uu iuubq iiiuiives
Whose power supported him through his trial, and inflict
on his fellow-man a bondage, one hour of which is fraught
with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebel
lion to oppose."
, tit- . . 1 . i! 1 II il. . . l ,
" vvnn wnat execrauon suuuiu me siaiesman De loaued,
who, permitting one-half of the citizens to trample on the
rights of the others, transforms those into despots and these
Into enemies, destroys the morals of one part and the amor
patrice of the other." -
" Indeed I tremble for my country when I recollect that
God is just! that his justice cannot sleep forever."
Gov. Ritneh. " These tenets then, viz: opposition to
slavery at home, which by the blessing of Providence has
been rendered effectual ; opposition to the admission into
the Union of new glavcholding states, and opposition to
slavery m the JJistrict of Uolumbra, the very hearth and
domestic altar of the national honor; have ever been and
are the cherished doctrines of our State. Let us, fellow
citizens, stand by and maintain them, unshrinkingly and
perseveringly. While we admit and scrupulously respect
the constitutional rights of other states, on this momentous
subject, let us not either by fear or interest be driven from
aught of that spirit of independence and veneration for free
dom which hag ever characterized our beloved common
wealth. " Above all let us never yield up the right of the free
discussion of any evil which may arise in the land or any
part of it, convinced that the moment we do, the bond of
Union is broken." .
Mr. Webster. " On the general question of slavery ,
a great portion of the community is thoroughly excited. It
has arrested the religious feelings of the country; it has la
ken strong hold on the consciences of men. He is a rash
man, indeed, little conversant with human nature, espe
cially has he a very erroneous estimate of the character of
the people of this country, who suppose! that a feeling of
wis kind is to be trifled with or despised. It will causo it'
self to be respected."
Bible. " Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor
and not suffer sin upon him. Open thy mouth for the
uumo pieaa tne cause of the poor and needy."
" Now hear me, therefore, and deliver the cantive aeain
which ye have taken captive of your brethren, for the fierce
wrath of the Lord is upon you.
" Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteous-
ness and his chambers by wrong, that useth his neighbor's
service without wages and giveth him not for his work.
" The time of this ignorance God winked at; but now
commandeth all men every where to repent."
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
" All things whatsoever ye would that men should do
to yoUi do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the
Prophets."
These selections are adduced as authorities for the lead
ing sentiments in the following address.
CHARACTERISTIC FEATURE OF SLAVERY.
The grand distinguishing ohnrnntoristie of lavery i booh
in the fact, that it endeavors to reduce intelligent and re
sponsible beings to the conditions of goods and chattels.
Those whom God has endowed with immortal souls, made
subject to His laws, and redeemed from the consequences
of violating them by the sacrifice of His Son, are deprived
of all opportunity of becoming acquainted with their rela
tions to Him, or the way of salvation which He has provi
ded. All the aspirations of an immortal mind in them are
repressed; all the kindly feelings, created to multiply and
refine the enjoyments of social and domestic life, are rude
ly uprooted; all the ties of nature are broken asunder, and
those which the institutions of society create or confirm,
are,to the slave unknown, or known only to add another
bitter ingredient to his cup of woe. The man degenerates
to a mere animal, without the instinct of the brute, and but
the glimmering light of unassisted reason to guide him.
Passion and sense alternately sway 'his physical powers,
and render him necessarily groveling, disgusting and vi
cious. Is it strange that this unnatural metamorphosis
should exhibit him a demon in malignity, or a brute in stu
pidity? About three millions of wretched, degraded and danger
ous beings of this description are now in the United States.
CHARACTER OF SLAVEHOLDERS.
But the curse of slavery is not confined to its immediate
victims. Like the fabled Upas, it blasts by its pestilential
touch or its noxious effluvia every thing within the sphere
of its influence. The masters and mistresses, the owners
. of these three millions of human cattle, have not learned to
play the tyrant without suffering fearful inroads upon their
intellectual and moral faculties. They have been taught
from earliest infancy to look upon the blacks as an inferior
race, made only for the benefit of their masters; that to
them belong no rights entitled to respect; that all they, by
their labor, may acquire, is the property of their masters
and that it is not only lawful, but absolutely necessary, by
the severity of corporeal punishment, to exact from them
implicit obedience. Every generous aspiration after free
dom is denounced, and every attempt to rise from his state
of hopeless degradation is considered treason to his master,
and sure to bring exemplary punishment. Witnessing the
constant occurrence of acts, comparatively innocent, but
considered and treated as crimes, has blunted the sensibili
ties even of children, nnd they have grown to man's estate
utterly unimpressible by the monitions of either justice or
compassion for the blacks, and ready to acquiesce in all the
malignant hatred which they have seen generally exhibited
by others. This has given to the slaveholder a character
marked by haughty insolence, impatience of control, and
love of domination. Quick and irascible in temper, though
haply strong and confiding in his attachments, he is a slave
to that vain-glorious and spurious principle of honor which
is exceedingly keen in finding out intended insult, and
nromnt in an appeal to force for redress. Persons of this
description would be likely to storm and threaten at every
instance of opposition, and talk long and loud about their
rights, and their intention to -defend them. Bred in af
fluence and freedom from labor, if favored with the means
of mental culture, the southern planters would naturally
make great advances in science, and become eminent schol
ars and statesmen ; but their characters being based upon
erroneous moral principles, they must ordinarily prove re
ally unkind, though hospitable neighbors, unstable friends,
dangerous counsellors, and despotic rulers.
LICENTIOUSNESS.
Another evil which has grown out of the pernicious in
utitution of slavery, is the great degree of licentiousness
which prevails in all sloveholding communities. There is
no safeguard for female virtue, and the easy terms on which
passion may purchase us gratification, insures a vigorou
growth of all those propensities in which man is nearest al
lied to the brute. This is often latal to all parties, both
bond and free; it infuses poison into the cup of connubial
happiness, invades the family circlo and murders its do.
mestic joys, snaps the ties of kindred and affection, and
proves destructive to the eeneral interests of society. The
instances of fathers selling their own yellow offspring into
foreign servitude are not unfreqnent " like angel's visits
few and far between," and this circumstance most vividly
depicts that wretched and awfully hopeless state of society
which provides such victims and exacts such a sacrifice.
INTER-STATE SLAVE TRADE.
Another formidable evil, the legitimate fruit of slavery
is found in the domestic slave trade; which has within
few years grown to such a magnitude as to cast a shade o
gloom over our whole land. It has been computed by
Virginian that at least forty thousand slaves have been ex-
ported in a single year from that state alone. The traffic
is also flourishing in Maryland, the District of Columbia
North Carolina and Kentucky, so that probably eighty or
a hundred thousand are now annually torn from thci
friends and their native land, and sent to hopeless and ag
gravated servitude in the swamps and plains of the new
states of the south-west. The fertility of soil in these new
states, fraudulently or forcibly taken from the aborigines
and recently opened to cultivation, the value and impor-
tance of their products, the unusual exposures to which
the slaves are subjected, the awful state of mental suffering
they bring along with them, the dread prospects of hope-
less despair which lie before them combining to shorten
life and terminate their pain, insure a continuance of this
traffic, unless the people, aroused to a sense of their guilt
and danger, or the vials of Almighty wrath in righteous in
dignation poured upon our guilty land, shall end it. 'Well
may the patriot exclaim with Jefferson: " Indeed I trcm
ble for my country when I recollect that God is just, and
that his justice cannot sleep forever."
A few years since the slave growing stales were making
rapid advances toward a condition which promised a speedy
abolition of slavery within their limits; but this trade, eve
ry where, except in our own free, happy, blessed, chris
tian land, denounced as piracy, has put them back to the
farthest point of opposition. Good, merchantable slaves
fitted for the southern market, of either hex, from ten to
thirty years of age, will readily command on an average six
hundred dollars; so that noble, high-minded, ehivalric
Virginia, by this nefarious business, annually brings to her
coffers twenty-four millions. Can her sons give up this
traffic, now so profitable, merely on the ground of its being
inhuman and rebellious against God? Can they "undo the
heavy burdens and let the oppressed go free," merely be-
cause God commands it? " The love of money is the root
of all evil," and slavery in all its aspects is a visible and
abiding proof of the truth of this text.
Should tiia soiun-'wesi.era' suites ever Become replenished
with slaves, so as no longer to furnish an acceptable mar
ket, the extensive country of Texas, treacherously wrested
from Mexico, a free state, by the arms and arts of renegade
Americans, and doomed hereafter to be cursed with slave'
ry, opens another and ample field which avarice and inge
nuity combined cannot immediately fill.
MOBOCR AC Y.
Another evil of great magnitude and of an aspect exceed'
ingly portentous and threatening, is found in the hostility
manifested in the slaveholding states against that portion
of the population of the other states who have dared to
think and speak and write upon the subject of slavery.
Thanks be to God, some have dared thus to do, and have
published the sentiments of abhorrence which the subject
inspired. They have, in the midst of contumely and re
proach, prosecuted their researches, and effectually expo
sed the abominations they discovered. These expositions
have gone abroad and shed their light on many parts of our
land. Like the Ephesian craftsmen, when exposed by tho
intrepid Apostle, the Hotspurs of the south are thoroughly
aroused, and by clamor, riot and mobocracy, threaten with
some awful doom all who shall have the temerity to con
tinue the investigation. Decency, humanhy, order, law
and the constitution have been trampled upon in their mad
career. Their course has been marked by the wanton
waste of property, invasion of personal liberty, violation of
personal security, and the destruction of life itbelf; indica
ting that they want no additional infusion of any malignant
spirit, they only want the power to accomplish all they
have threatened. The Lynch law operations in some of
the states, the riots and mobs in others, the denunciations
of Hon. Senators and Representatives in Congress, the
solemn and repeated enaction of a gag law, through whose
operation the prayers of the people are spurned by the
people's servants, are palpable and awful indications of the
presence and power of a fell spirit, engendered in the hot
bed of slavery, which a righteous God is suffering to scourge
us. These dire portents of evil are magnified a thousand
fold by the fact that a necromantic influence is exerted by
the Representatives of the slave states over those who, in
this particular at least, misrepresent the free ones.
PERNICIOUS INFLUENCE OF SLAVERY UPON CON
GRESS. The House of Representatives consists of two hundred
and forty-two members, there being one hundred from the
slave states, and one hundred and fortv-two from the oth
ers. The nearly universal sentiment of the free states is
that slavery is an evil and a bitter thing, and ought to be
abolished; that freedom of speech and of the press, and of
the right of petition, as guaranteed by the constitution, are
of paramount value, and ought to be held sacred ; yet seventy-eight
only of their one hundred and forty-two Repre
sentatives were found at their posts on the 12th Dec. last,
ready, to assert and maintain these sentiments. What but
magic could make three from Maine, four from New Hamp
shire, four from Connecticut, twenty-ono from New York,
thirteen from Pennsylvania, six from Ohio, three from Illi
nois, and one from Michigan, quail bofore the Juggernaut
of slavery, yield up their own rights, and trample on those
of their constituents? The vote was upon the passage of
the latter clause of the fifth of the Atherton series of reso
lutions, in the following words: " That every petition, me
morial, resolution, proposition or pnper, touching, or rela
ting in any way or to any extent whatever to slavery as a-
foresaid, or the abolition thorcof, shall, on the presentation
thereof, without any further action thereon, be laid on the
table, without printing, reading, debate, or reference."
The yeas were one hundred and twenty-seven ; nays,
seventy-eight; absent, thirty-snven.
Fifteen ware absent
from the free states, and twenty-two from the slave states
Fifty-fine from the former voted for the resolution, and
five from the latter voted against it. What is very re
markable, this is the fourth time a resolution of a simll
import has passed the House of Representatives, and
down-trodden people yet bear it. The remedy, however
is with them alone: they may, if they please, wither with
their rebukes these recreant Representatives, and regain
their rights. Will they not do so when their patience shall
have been tried a Utile longer?
TRICK OF SLAVE REPRESENTATIVES.
The grand cabalistic words used on these several occa
sions were, 'dissolve the Union,' 'Southern convention
'Southern rights,' &c; words of approved potency, as has
been frequently shewn, having often been tried, and never
failing to produce a marvelous effect upon certain members
who have secured an unimpeachable title to tho homely
but appropriate appellation of "Northern dough-faces.
Thus were rights, claimed by the American people as
inestimable and unalienable, not the gifts of the kings and
potentates of the earth, but of the King of Kings, offered
as a sacrifice on the polluted altar of slavery.
If "Freedom shriok'd when Kosciusco fell," well might
she lake her final flight when her last retreat was thus
treacherously betrayed by those who had been selected as
her special guardians!
Such are some of the features of American slavery, and
such are a few of the prominent evils which have grown
out of it.
ORIGINAL UNDERTAKING OF ABOLITIONISTS ENLAR
GED.
From this rapid and very imperfect sketch, we cannot
fail to discover that the enterprize undertaken by the
friends of the slave, has recently been enlarged a thousand
fold, and has had added to it an interest, new, deep and
thrilling, which must ere long bring to iti aid a host of la
borers, ardent and enterprizing, even all those who have
heretofore enjoyed the blessing of freedom, and would not
themselves become slaves. It was originally proposed to
give to two and a half millions of slaves the rights of free
men; but the slaveholders, maddened by the truths which
have been disseminated, now, in effect, declare, and have
as we have just seen, made fearful progress in attaining
their wishes, that some twelve or fifteen millions of free
men shall be reduced to a state of slavery! The decree has
gone forth, that the rights of petition, freedom ,of speech
and of the press, shall be essentially curtailed. With all
their pretensions to wisdom, with all their readily admit
ted and justly admired forensic talent, with all the advan
tage of having, as they boast, the right side of the ques
tion, sustained by law, constitution, and the Bible; they
have refused to enter the fair field of argument, and chosen
rather to assume the tone of dictation, denunciation and
abuse. To argument, they oppose bravado; to persuasion
vituperation; to entreaty, menace; and to onr humble pray
ers, contempt. " 55S "-.
WHAT SHALL BE DONE? '
Under the circumstances which have been detailed, a vi
tally important question is propounded to, and should be
answered by every stitesman, philosopher, patriot and
christian. Admitting that "righteousness exalteth a na
tion, but sin is a reproaii to any people;" that the foul
stain of slavery is bornejupon the national escutcheon and
contaminates the national character, we may well in
quire, how shall our beloved country repair the wrongs she
has committed, and so escape from the dreadful consequen
ces of her guiit and pollution?
SLAVERY CANNOT BE CURED BY LETTING IT ALONE
1. Slavery will not cease in consequence of our looking
at it in silence, deploring its presence among our fellow
citizens in other states, and hoping that it may be removed
by those immediately concerned, as soon as they shall see
it in its true light and realize the danger it threatens.
When our dwelling is on fire, we may as well fold our
hands and patiently wait, hoping that the fire will go out
of itself, and do but little damage. This let-a-lone policy
has prevailed too long already. Fearing to shock the jeal
ous sensitiveness of slaveholders, we of the north and west
have said by our practice, in obedience to their dictation
it is no concern of ours; if they will hold slaves, they
have the profit,' and theirs be the guilt and danger." In
this way many have quieted their consciences, not reflect
ing that all are implicated and that all must suffer, for "we
are one people, have one conntry, one hope, one destiny.'
But while we have been comparatively spectators of the
great drama in the south, the evil has increased, and final-
ly assumed an awfully portentous aspect. It is at this mo
ment rising and spreading, and must bo stopped, or, ere
ong, it will go forth as the resistless tornado, and pros
trate all that is fair and excellent in our land. It is vain to
hopo that sweet water will flow from a bitter fountain,
that sin will successfully admonish itself, or that slavehol-
ers will yield a practical obedience to the Divine injunc
tion, "all things whatsoever ye would that men should do
to you, do ye even so to them." While we have been
letting slavery alone, we have seen that tho cupidity of
slaveholders has forced the general government to drive into
exile, or to. death, the native Indians of the south-west,
that their fertile country might be opened to the further
progress of slavery. These rich lands have been eagerly
sought after by' speculators, and as they can be most cheap
ly cultivated by .slave labor, an active, interna, American
ave-trade has sprung up, distinguished by all the horrid
and revolting features of that heretofore styled Africsn, now
every where denounced and treated as piracy.
(Remainder next week.)
From the Friend of Man.
A Letter from A. Stewart, Esq.
2d Jan., 1S39.
Sir, The friends of tho outcast invited me,
sometime since in Lexon, Madison Co., near the
Oneida lake, to address them on the exciting sub
ject of stealing men, women, and children, and
cheating' tlie people out oi ttieir moor ior we.
You will suppose it a subject ot some interest.
On the 23d December last, it being the Sabbath.
nd a violent storm of wind and snow, I deliver-
d two discourses, nearly two hours long, each to
very intelligent and respectable audience. What
o you think the burden, of my attempt was on
this interesting occasion ? Why, to prove that
murder was wrong. I tried to prove if a man
was driven into my field, and compelled to work,
by tho whip, and if the man, or woman, or child,
under such circumstances should run away, if I
pursue with my dog?, nnd kill the person with the J
teeth of my bloodhounds, it is murder, or if I
shoot a person down while running, it is murder
or if, while chasing said person, he or she starves
to death tor lear 1 will kill him or her, when 1 find
them, it is murder. - I tried to satisfy the aud
ence it was wrong for me to take away a woman
from her children and husband, and bring her to
my house 500 miles from them, where she would
never see them more, and whip her severely to
niuive iier worn ior me ior nottiing, and ll sh
died ol a broken heart, I was her murderer.
tried to prove that ravishment of female virtue
was wrong. That adultery was wrong, that
stealing was wrong. That to steal a man. wo
man or child, though I had to pay another thief
something, was wrong. 1 held it wrong to steal
from thieves. I held if I was stole and sold, that
the buyer who bought me was as much a thief as
the thief who took me from my hotisei I held,
all the thieves in the World should get together an
agree that stealing was the corner stone of their
republican institutions, and that stealing men an
women was real republicanism itself, that stealing
was a Bible institution, and should pass laws de
claring that the legitimate end of all government
was to enable the strong ones to steal the weak
ones, in a community, yet notwithstanding all this
1 consider the stealing ol men and women, or thei
labor from them, as the greatest crime men could
commit against men : notwithstanding my voice
might be silenced and overwhelmed by a univer
sal burst of rage from all the thieves in the world
and their numerous friends.
I even Went so far as to say, that innocent per
sons had a better right to their own bodies and
limbs, than any body else, whether their hair was
long and straight, or short and curly.
1 he people in Lenox who attended the meet-
ng, it is believed, generally sympathized with me
in opinion, a number of persons were added to
the bociety, and a contribution taken up, and on
the whole I was much pleased with the firm and
true friends of the slave in Lexon, who feel that
the late election had shed important light on thei
path connected with theii duties to the down-trod
den. Business called me to Pulaski, Oswego
county, where the circuit court was in session on
Wednesday, the 26th ult., by invitation I address
ed our friends who are a firm and Spartan band
determined never to forsake the slave. The
night was stormy, it having snowed all day, the
meeting was not large, though respectable, a num
ber of persons were added to the Town Society
at the close of the meeting. livery thing look
promising where I have been of late.
In haste, your lnend,
ALVAN STEWART
Wm. Goodell, Esq.
Mil. ADAMS' SPEECH,
Explanatory of his position with respect to the
Abolition of Slavery in the District of Colum
lia. Delivered in the House of Representatives
of the United states, Jan. 21, l&Jl).
From the National Intelligencer.
IN THE HOUSE, Jan. 21.
The Speaker proceeded to call for the presen
tation of petitions, when the following were pre
sented, viz,
From Maine, by Messrs. Evans, Robinson, Da-
vee, Anderson, and JNoyes.
from JNew Hampshire, by Mr. Lushman
From Massachusetts, by Messrs. Fletcher,
Grennel, Reed, and Gushing.
JUr. Adams said he had many petitions to pre
sent ; but, before offering them, he had to request
of the House permission to make a statement in
relation to their presentation by him. He wishe
to present the true position in which he stood
because he had reason to believe it was not cor
rectly understood by either of the great parties in
to which the nation was divided on those great
questions which were now so deeply agitating the
country
Ihe Chair here interposed, and said that Mr,
Adams could not proceed without leave of the
House.
Cries of Leave ! leave ! No ! no ! Order !
Mr. Adams said his position was not under
stood, and hence it happened that scarcely a day
passed but he received from the southern portion
of the United States letters similar to one which
he had read to the House some days ago.
The Sneaker interposed. Mr. A. must con
fine himself to the presentation of petitions, and
briefly state their contents, unless the House give
permission to do otherwise.
Mr. Adams. I have received a number ot. let
ters threatening assassination if I continue to pre
sent abolition petitions. . Whether they are quiz
zes, (as they have been called by gentlemen.) or
whether they are designed merely to intimidate,
or whether they do, indeed, indicate a serious in
tention to carry out the threats they contain, 1
express no opinion ; but i asK oi tne House per
mission to make a statement.
TCries of hear him ! hear him ! no .' order !1
Mr. Grenncll inquired whether his colleague
bad not a right to make the statement referred to ?
t was a matter which involved a question ol priv
ilege.
The Chair quoted the 4Sth rule, which says:
"Petitions, memorials and other papers, addres
sed to the House, shall be presented by the Speak
er, or by a member in his place, a brief statement
of the contents thereof shall be made verbally by
the introducer; they shall not be debated on the
dav of their being nresented : nor on any day as
signed by the House for the receipt of petitions af
ter the first thirty days of the session, unless
where the House shall direct otherwise, but shall
lie on the table, to betaken up in 'the order in
which they were presented.
Mr. Adams commenced presenting petitions ;
when
Mr. Grennell moved that the rules of tho House
be suspended, to give an opportunity to his ven
erable colleague to make the statement he desired.
The Speaker said that the Chair wished, for its
own government, to know the character of the
statement the gentleman desired to make.
Mr. Griffin, of South Carolina," desired the
eas and nays on suspending the rules.
Mr. Urennell referred to what Mr. Adams iad
stated as to his position not being known in the
country, and the threats of assassination which
were directed against his life. lie hoped tho
House would, in courtesy, permit him to piakg
the statement he had indicated.
Mr, Perkins wished to know what the subject
was on which the gentleman desired to address!
the House?
The Speaker said it was impossible for tlirt
Chair to anticipate what statement the gentleman;
from Mass. was going to make(i
The yeas and nays were ordered.
Mr. Dromgoole inquired whether the statement
was one which was expected to involve a quea
tion of privilege, and to require any proceeding
on the part of the House against those who had
written the threatening letters referred to ? If it
was the gentleman should have his vote most viU
lingly.
Mr. Adams said it was not his purpose to raisd
the question of privilege. He had no wish td
lay on the Clerk's table, or to have read to thtJ
House, any one of the numerous letters he waa
continually receiving, of a tenor similar to ona
which now lay before him. But if the House!
should refuse him leave to make the statement he
desired, he should be compelled to raise the quest
tion of privilege hereafter.
The question being taken, it was decided by
yeas and nays in the affirmative: yeas 117, naya
53.
So leave was granted.
Mr. Adams than said : I am grateful to tliS
House for the indulgence they have granted me
and, in return, I will endeavor, as far as in my
power, to confine myself to the partiuular object
lor which 1 requested liberty to speak, namely, to
state to the House and to the country the position
in which jl siuno, in relation to tne presentation oi
petitions against slavery and the slave trade, and
all the other classes of petitions which the House
has determined shall be laid on the table without
further action thereon; Alsb, iny reasons for of'
fering the resolutions I have done, in regard to
the conduct of one of our ministers abroad ; which
resolutions now stand first on the calendar of busi
ness, occupying, by the rules of the House, the
morning hour, and which I did hope Would have
come up for discussion last week ; and, in the lust
place, the rounds on which I have offered anotln
cr class of petitions, viz. those which pray for tho
recognition of the independence of the Kepublic
of Haiti. 1 name these three things, because
they are the grounds of the letters I have receive
ed from various quarters of the country, with post
marks, showing that they have been mailed at
places very distant from each other, containing
many of them, positive threats of assassination:
others of them filled with friendly advice assure
ing me that if I continue to present petitions sihT
liar to those 1 have heretolore presented in this
House, my days are numbered, and I shall never
survive the present session. These come profess
edly from friends ; and they recommend me to.
cease from thus giving occasion to many to put an
end to my life. Some of them are in the form of
direct challenges to a duel, a laugh of which
character is one I now hold in my hand. It is a
challenge to fight with rifles ; the time and place
designated, the day and the spot ; and an assur
ance is added that, if I refuse, I shall be murdered.
in the streets or in the dark. One letter of that
description comes with a known name attached
to it the name of a person well known to me,
I have no doubt it is a forgery ; or, as it has been
denominated here, a "quiz;'' for we have a new
alphabetical language among us, and a threat of
murder and an act of forgery, are, in the modern
dialect a "quiz" and a "hoax." I presume I should
have been at libejty, under the rules of the House,
to consider each of these letters as a breach of
privilege, and thus to have consumed much of the
time of the House. I determined not to do this.
I do not complain of any of these letters. I do
not wish to inquire whether they are quizzes or
hoaxes, or solemn threats. I shall not troubld the
House with them, however protracted the corres
pondence shall be, (a correspondence all on one
side, however;) for there is scarcely a day passes
but I receive one or more of the same description.
1 have, therefore, requested an opportunity to
state my motives, and the position m which 1
stand, in relation to the presentation of petitions,
and my entire course, in regard to them and to the
resor ions I have presented.
t perfectly well known to the House, anl
partially known to tho country, that from the first
moment that general resolution was adopted under
the screw of the previous question, without allow
ing a word of debate, proscribing the considera
tion of petitions on the subject of slavery, I declar
ed myself against it in as strong terms as lan
guage could supply. Believing it to be uncon
stitutional, I have opposed and resisted it from
that day to this. But I believe it is equally well
cnown to the House, and partially-known, also, to
the country, that, in regard to petitions for the ab
olition of slavery, I said, from the very first mo
ment I offered any of them, that I was not prepar
ed to grant the prayer they contained. I have so
declared repeatedly m this House. Ut all the
anti-slavery petitions I have presented1, here, it ia
only those against the annexation of Texas (which
consider now out of the question) and those
which call for the prohibition of the internal slave
trade between the States, which" I have been wil
ling to vote for. I have repeatedly said that I
would- vote against all the others, unless on a
free and full discussion of the whole subject in
this House ! shall see that I can change my o-
pinion. I now directly say to this House, to tha
country, and to the world, that I havs notchang-
d my opinion ; and it the question wert to be put
this day, I would vote against it. I wish tha
members of the Anti-Slavery Sooiety and the Ab
olitionists, and people of all descriptions, to know
this.
Since the question wus 'first agitated in this
House, I have had abundant reason to see the in
convenience and the injury to the whole country
i a siaveiioiaing spot m wnicn to noia me ses-
ons of Congress. Were it in my power, I
ould remove the seat of Government to a plaot?
here slavery does not exist. As at present mh
ised, however, I do not believe that would ba
constitutional ; if it could bo done, I should ba
ready to re-cede, to-morrow, this District to thJ
States of Virginia and Maryland, and to remove
the scat of Government; but as I do not believe it