The national era. [volume], May 23, 1850, Page 82, Image 2

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ccjit the chick, it would he agreeable to know
whether a viper hud impregnated the egg.
itut there is a still further objection, of whose
soundnr.-s I have no doubt; but should 1 he in
error in regard to it, the mistake will not invalidate
any other argument. The parties to that
agreement stipulat d on the ground of mutuality,
without which all contracts are void. Some States
were to be admitted to strengthen the hands of slavery,
anfl some of freedom. A line of demarcation
was drawu Now. on investigation, I believe it
will most conclusively appear that there is not
an inch of Texnn territory north of the stipulated
line. It all belongs to New Mexico, as much as
Nantucket or Berkshire belongs to Massachusetts.
It was a mistake on the part of the contracting
parties; if, on the part of Texas, it was not something
worse than a mistake. The mutuality,
theu. fails 'I'he contract \n nudum jnctum. Texas
can give nothing for what she was to receive ; and
is, therefore, entitled to receive nothing bat what
she has got.
In regard to M the business of seeing that fugitives
are delivered op," Mr. Webster says: " My
friend at the head of the Judiciary Committee.
(Mr. Butler of South Carolina. | has a bill on the
Bubject now before the Seqpte, with Rome amendments
to it, which I propose to support, with all
its provisions, to the fullest extent."
Here is Mr. Butler's bill, with Mr. Mason's
amendments:
A mix
To provide tor the more effectual execution of lite 3d
clause of the Ml section of the 41ti article of the foilstitution
of the ('ailed Males.
Be it eiuLCtot Ay the Snmte ami llitu i rof llejireiental res
of the United State I e>f America in t'anerei .i uneinblel,
That when s peric.n hrld In service or lalair in any State or
Territory of the United States, under the law.t ol such State
or Territory, shall t scape into any other of the said State*
or Territories, the persou to whom srich service or labor may
be due, his or her agent or attorney, is hereby ein|>o*rred to
seise or arrest such fugitive fr nn service or lals.r. aud take
him or her before any judge of the circuit or district courts
of the United States, or before any commissioner, or clerk
of such courts, or marshal thereof, or any postmaster of the
United States, ur collector of the customs vt the United
States, residing or being within such Slav nliereiu sueh
seir.ure or arrest shall be made, and upon proof to the satisfaction
of said judge, commissioner, clerk, marshal, postmaster,
or Colleetor, as ths ease may be, either by oral testimony
or affidavit taken hefure and certified by any person
authorized to administer an oath under the la?s of the
United State.*, or of any State, that the person so seized or
arrested, under the laws of the State or Territory from
which he or she lied, owe service or lab >r t> the | srson
claiming him or her, it shall he the duty of such j'olge, eom
1 -i?a ... ....n??t .. i
certificate thereof to such rltimuit, liix or tier agent or attorney,
which certificate shall he a cuffieient warrant for
taking and removing such fugitive from service or labor to
the State or Territory from which he or she tied.
Sue. 1 And be it further enueted, That when a |>er-on held
to service or labor, as mentioned in the flr.?t section of this
act, shall escape froin such service or labor, as therein mentioned,
the person to whom such service or lalstr may ! *
due, his or h?r agent or attoruey, uiay apply to any one of
the oflcers of the United States named In said section, other
than a marshal of the United States, for a warrant to seize
and arrest such fugitive, and upon affidavit lieing made liefore
such officer, (each of whom for the purposes of this act
is hereby authorized to administer an oath or affirmation,) ,
by such claimant, his or her agent, that such person does, I
under the laws of the .state or ferritory from which he or
she tied, ow# service or labor to such claimant, it shall he, I
^ oiwle.the duty of such officer, to ion I liefure (
whom simfl application and atlAtavic is 6i*s-, s \ - Si - .
warran' to any marshal of any "I the courts of the United I
_ s- .is* y and arrest such allvg-d fugitive, sod I rng J
* p i i r ffirr )i>TtDSiltXi on a Aa^f V" la \t. s
rant, hef.ire the offlc-r issuing such warrant, or tither of the
officers mentioned in said first Motion, except the marshal to
whom the said warrant is directed, which said warrant or
authority the said marshal is hereby authorized and directed
in all things to obey.
M?o it And tie it turthcr enueletl, Tbat upon affidavit
m ole as aforesaid by the claimantof such fugitive his agent
or attorney, after such certificate has lieen issued, that he
has reason to apprehend that such fugitive will be rescued
hy force from his or their possession, before he can he taken
beyond the limits of the Stale in which the arrest is mails,
it shall lie the duty of the officer makinr the arrest to retain
such fugitive in his custody, and to remove him to the State
whence he tied, and there to deliver him to -aid claimant,
his agent, or attorney. And to this end, the officer aforesaid
is hereby authorized and requited to employ so many per
sons as he may deem necessary to overcome such force, and
to retain them in his service so long as circumstances may
require. The said officer and his assistants, while so employed,
to receive the same compensation am) to lie allowed
the same expenses as arc now allowed liy law fir transportation
of criminals, to lie certified hy the judge of f lie district
within which the arrest is made, and paid out of the treasury
of the United States: Pioriilel, That, before such
charges are incurred the claimant, his agent or attorney,
shall secure to said officer payment of the same, and in case
no actual force be opposed, then they shall be paid by such
claimant, bis agent or at orncy.
Sac. 4 And be it fwther tmirteil, When a warrant shall
have been issued by any of the officers under the second s*otion
?f this act, and (here shall he no marshal or deputy
marshal within ten miles of the place where such warrant is
issued, it shall be the duty of the officer issuing the same,
at the request of the claimant, his agent or attorney, to a|ipoiut
some tit and discreet person, who shall he willing to
act as marshal, for the purpose of executing suid warrant;
and such person so appointed shall, to the extent of executing
said warrant, and detaining and transporting the fugi
tire named therein, hare all the power and authority, and
he, with ilia assistants, entitle ! to the name compensation
ami e*|M?naee provided in thin net in i-iinen win-re the service*
are performed by the marshal* of the tvurta.
Sri1 f>. Ami be ,I fuilhn ramie,I, That any person who
shall kniiwlnidy and wiltitifly olmtrurtor hinder such claitnaut,
hi* atcent or attorney,or anv person or persons assisting
biin, her, or them, in so serving or arresting such fugitive
from service or laleir, or shall rescue *uch fugitive from
SOoh claimant, hi* agent or attorney, whan *o arrested, purenaiit
to the authority herein given or declared, or shad aid,
atwl, or aaaiat *uch person .to owiug Hervice or labor to escape
from nuch claimant, hi* ?? lit or attorney,or shall liarbor
or conceal *och perenn, after notice that he or ahe was a
fugitive from labor. ? apoenitl, 'hall, lor either of the aaid
offence*, forfeit and pay the mini of one thoiiaainl debar*,
which penalty may be recovered by and for the lament of
such claimant , by action of debt in any court proper to try
the same, saving. moreover, to the person claiming snch la
bor or nervier, hi* right of action for, on account of, the *aid
injuries. or cither ot them.
Sbc f>. Ami be ilfurther ramie,!, That alien said |>ers?n
in seised or arrested, under and by virtue of the naid warrant
by *ueli inamhal, ami i* brought liefore either of the
officer* aforesaid, other than naid inamhal, it. nhall lie elie
duty of nuch officer to proceed in the cane ot nuch |>er*on, in
the sain* way an he is directed and authorised to do when
such pemon i* seised and arrented by the |i?r?on claimitiir
him, or by bin or her agent or attorney, and in lirmipht before
nuch officer under the provision* of the lirnt neeliim of
this act.
AMKNDMKNTS
lulrudrd lo br I" <>l<oifil III/ Mr, Mtitm In Ihr hill <N V'.'t) In
yrovidl for Ihr morr rlfrrlunl rrmihnn of Ihr third rlnu <r
of Ihr itrond irctiun of Ihr fourth nrlii /# of Ihr t'omUtuHon
ofthr Uniml Nlutr*.
At the end of Mention f>, add:
And ?nv person or persons offending seainst tlie provisions
of this Mention, to h- moreover detuned ?uiltv of m mindemeitnor,
or in ol>?truetiu|c tlie one execution t,t the laws of
the United States, and up ni conviction tliereof slmil be tineil
in the sum of one thousand dollars, one half whereof shall
he to the u?e of the informer; slid shall also he iiitprisonej
for the term of twelve months.
At the end of section 6, add: 9
And in no trial or hearing under this act shall the testimony
of such fugitive be admitted in evidence.
It will be observed that the first section of the
bill, after constituting the judges of the courts,
the seventeen thousand postmasters, the collectors,
bic., as tribunals, without ?;?;*?/, for the delivery
of anybody, who is sworn by anybody, anywhere,
to be a fugitive slave, refers to the heforolneutioned
ollieers in the words " residing or being
within such Stale where such seizure or arrest
is made." That is, the judge, postmaster,
collector, &c , need not he an inhabitant of the
State, or hold his otiiee in the State, where the
seizure is made; but it is sufficient if he is such
officer anywhere within the United States. Mr.
Butler or Mr Mason, therefore, may send the
postmaster of his own city or village, into Massachusetts,
with an agent or attorney, who brings
his atlidavit from South Carolina or Virginia, in
his pocket; the agent or attorney may arrest
anybody, at any time, carry him before his accomplice,
go through with the judicial forms, and
hurry him to the South ; the ollicer, after his judicial
functions are discharged, turning haihtf,
protecting the prey and speeding the Might!
Still further; this bill derides the trial, by jury,
secured by the Constitution. A man may not lose
a horse without a right to this trial; hut he may
his freedom. Mr. Webster spoke for the South
and for slavery ; not for the North and for freedom,
when he abandoned this right. Such an
abandonment, it would he impossible to Iwlieve
of one who has earned such fame as Defender of
the Constitution ; it would he more reasonable to
suppose the existence of some strange misapprehension,
had not Mr. Webster, with that precision
and strength which are so peculiarly his
own, declared his determination to Bupport this
hideous hill, " with all its provisions to the fullest
extent," when, at the same moment, another
bill, of which he took no notice, was pending hefore
the Senate, introduced by Mr. Seward of
New York, securing the invaluable privilege of
a jury trial.
I disdain to avail myself, in a sober argument,
of the popular sensitiveness on thin subject; ami
I acknowledge my obligations to the Constitution
while it is suffered to lust. Put still I soy, that
the man who can read this bill without having
his blood boil in his veins, has a power of refrigeration
that would cool the tropios.
I cannot doubt that Mr. Webster will yet see
the necessity of reconsidering bis position, on
this whole <|uestion.
Mr. Welwter says "It is my firm opinion,
this day, that within the last twenty years as
much money has been collected and paid to the
abolition societies abolii ion presses, and abolition
lecturers as would purchase the freedom of every
slave, man, woman, nud child, in the State of
Maryland, and send them all to Liberia."
The total number of slaves in Maryland, according
to the last census, amounted to WMOfi.
At $2f?0 apiece,?which is but about half the
value commonly assigned to Southern slaves by
Southern men,?this would be t22,:t7BlT>?. Allowing
sno each for transportation to Liberia,
without any provision for them nfter their arrival
there, the whole sum would be ?,.,5,tt.'?s,iioo?
In ronnd numbers twenty-five millions of dollars!
more than a million and a quarter in each year,
and about thirty-five hundred dollars per day.
I had not supposed the abolitionists had such resources
at their command.
I have dwelt thus long upon Mr Webster's
speech, because in oonneclion with his two votes
in favor of Mr Koote's oommittee of compromise,
which votes, had thev been the other way, would
have utterly <jefeute<l the committee, it is eonaid
ered to have done more to jeopard the great cause
Of freedom in the territories, than any other
vent of this disastrous session. I have spoken
t?f Mr Webster by name, and, I trust in none
I
but respectful terms. I might hare introduced
other mimes, or examined his positions without
mentioning hitn. i hare taken what seemed to
me the more manly course; and if these views
should ever by chance fall under his eye, I believe
he has magnanimity enough to respect me
more for the frankness I hare used. If I am
wrong, I will not add to an error of judgment,
the meanness of a clandestine attack If I am
right, no one can complain ; for w.- must all how
before the majesty of Truth.
I hare now noticed the principal events which
have taken place in Congress, and which hove led
to what military men would evil the ''demoralization
" of many of the rank and file of its members
Some recent movements have brought vividly
to mind certain historic?1 recollections in regard
to the African slave trade, now execrated
by all civilized nations. When the immortal
Wilherforce exposed to public gaze the seeretsof
that horrid traffic, his biographer says, "The
first hurst of generous Indignation promised
nothing less than the instant abolition of the
trade, hut wrfffs/i/e jealousy had taken the alarm,
and the defenders of the West India system
found themselves strengthened by the independent
alliance of eoinnwrcuil men/'? Life of ll'i/Vrforc,
vol. /, '-'91.
Again, opposition to Wilherforce's motion
" arose amongst the Guinea m-rchnnt?"?"reinforced
however, before long by the great body of
West iiaiiit pianiers.?fin.
The Corporation of Liverpool spent, first and
last, npw irds of .Cltt,000 in defence of n traffic
which even the gravity and calm newt of judicial
decisions have Hince pronounced ' infernal"
" Besides printing work* in defence of the slave
trade and remunerating their nuthors; paying
thp expenses of delegates to attend in London
and w.ttcli Mr. Wilberforce'a proceedings, they
pensioned the widows of Norris and Gree, and
voted plate to Mr. Penny, for their exertions in
this cause"?Hail., jaige "t IS.
It is said that the Corporation of Liverpool, nt
this time, "believed firmly that the very existence
of the oily depended upon the continuance
of the traffic," Look at Liverpool now, and reflect
what greater rewards, even of a temporal
nature, God reserves for men that abjure dishonesty
and crime.
All collateral motives were brought to hear
upon the subject, just as they are at the present
time. The Guinea trade was defended "as a
nursery for seamen ?7W, ;?'/>
Kvcn as late as l^lti, the same class of men, in
the same country, opposed tbeabolition of "white
slavery' in Algiers from the same base motives
of interest It was thought that the danger of
navigating the Mediterranean, caused by the
Harbary corsairs, was advantageous to British
commerce; because if might deter the merchant
ships of other nations from visiting it. After
Lord Kxmouth had compelled the Algerincs to
liberate their Furopean slaves, he proceeded
[ against Tunis and Tripoli. In giving an account
of what he had done, he defends his conduct
" upon general principles," hut adds, "as applying
*?o our own country, forex* /.retain.} it may
not tie borne out, the oh! mercantile intert.il heuig
v. o?,/ >?<? gmj
So after Admiral lllake, iu the time of Cromwell.
had attacked Tunis, he says, in his despatch
to Secretary Thurloe, "And now seeing it hath
pleased God soe signally to justify us herein, I hope
his highness will not he offended at it, nor any who
regard duly the honor of the nation, although I
e.rjiect lo have I If clamors of intkrkstkp mkn."?
Thnrloe,s State Pufttrs, Vol II, jiage :<!)(>
And is Commerce, the daughter of Freedom,
thos forever to lift her parricidal hand against
the parent that bore her? Are rich men forever
to use their "thirty pieces of silver," or their
"ten thousand pounds sterling," or their hundreds
of thousands of dollars, to reward the Judases
for betraying their 8 tviour ? Viewed by
the light of our increased knowledge, and by our
more elevated standard of duty, the extension of
slavery into California or New M exico, at the present
time, or even the sufferance of it there, is a
vastly greater crime than was the African slave
trade itself, in the last century; and I would
rather meet the doom of posterity, or of heaven,
for being engaged in the traffic then, than for
being accessary to its propagation now.
Let those who aid, abet, or connive at slavery
extension now, as they read the damning sentence
which history has awarded against the act
ore, anouorH ana conntvpr* m me Airic m iraue,
hut chnnt*r the uorws. and they will ho rending of
themselves. Should our now territories he hereafter
filled with groaning bondmen, should they
become an American Egypt, tyrannized over by
ten thousand Pharaohs, it will be no defence
for those who permitted it, to say. " We hoped,
we supposed, we trusted, that slavery could not
go there;" Nemesis, as she plies her scorpion
lash, will reply, " You might how male, it c-.rtuw
On this great question of freedom or slavery,
1 have observed with grief, nay, with anguish,
iKnt wo, ?t tho Moo*K, *?!< "?)? up inU Uontllo j>.??
ties, hurl criminations and recriminations to and
fro,and expend that strength for the ruin of each
other, which should he directed against, the enemies
of Liberty; while, at the South, whenever
slavery is in jeopardy, all party lines are obliterated,
dissensions are healed, enemies become
friends, and all are found in a solid column, with
an unbroken front. Arc the children of darkness
to be forever so much wiser than the children
of light ? In the recent choice of delegates
for the Nashville Convention, I have not seen a
single instance where Whig and Democrat have
not l>een chosen ns though they wore Siamese
twins, and must go together. Hut here it often
happens, that as soon as one party is known to be
in favor of one man, this act alone is deemed a
sullioient reason why another party should oppose
him. Why can we not combine for the sacred
cause of freedom, ns they combine for slavery
? No thought or desire is further from my
mind tlmn that, of interfering with any man's
right of suffrage; hut if (which is by no means
impossible, nor perhaps improbable.) the fate of
New Mexico should lie decided by one vote, and
my vote should have Iteen the cause of a vacancy
in any Congressional district that niitrKt. have a.-nt
A friend to freedom, I should Bay, with Cain,
" My punishment is greater than I can boar"'
On the subject of the present, alienation anil
discord between the North and the South, I wish
to say that I have as strong a desire for reconciliation
and amity as any one can have. There is
no jnevnutry sacrifice within the limits of the
Constitution, which I would not willingly make
for so desirable an object. Public revenues I
would appropriate, private taxation I would endure.
to relieve this otherwise thrice-glorious
llepublio from the calamity and the wrong of
slavery. I would not only resist the devil, hut if
he will tlee from me, I will build a bridge of gold
to facilitate his escape I mention this to prove
that it is not the value, in money, of territorial
freedom, for which I contend, but its value in
flmr'iclnr, in justice, in hum/in Iuiiijhmsx. While I
utterly deny the claim set up by the South, yet I
would gladly consent that my Southern fellow-citizens
should go to the territories and carry there
every kind of property which I can carry ; 1 would
then give to the Southern Slates their full share
of all the income ever to be derived from the
sales of the public lands, or the leasing of the
public mines , and whatever, after this deduction,
was left in the public treasury, should be appropriated
for the whole nation, as has been the
i ? 'I'u_> .,<
pf .irm r nrrri.uiurv-. J ?i??< m unimorim iuii *m
excluding slavery from the territories, I would
give the South a double share, or even n threetold
share, of nil the income that may ever he derived
from them. Pecuniary surrenders I would
gladly make fur the sake of pence, hut not for
peace itself would I surrender Liberty.
It would he to suppose our merchants and manufacturers
void of common foresight, could they
helicve that concession now will bring security
hereafter. fly yielding the moral question, they
jeopard their pecuniary interests. Should the
South succeed in their present attempt upon the
territories, they will Impatiently await the retirement
of (Jen Taylor from the Kxecutivc Chair,
to add the" State of Cuba," with its .KM),(MM) slaves,
its ignonnce and its demoralisation, to their roll
of triumph. California will he a free trade State,
by the most certain of all biases. They will have
nothing to sell hut gold; they will have everything
to buy,? cradles and outline, and all between
If New Mexico is slave, it will also be free trade;
and Cuha aseertailyas either,?though in that
island faciliti.s for smuggling will reduce the
difference between taritT and free trade to nothing.
A surrender therefore, by our Northern
business men, will he most disastrous to the very
business that tempts them to surrender. Will
they take no warning from the fact that their apathy
in regard to Texas repealed the tariff of
1842? This is a low motive, I admit; but it {pay
he set as a back-fire to the motive by which some
of them appear to bo inlluenoed. There was no
need, not a shadow of need, of perilling any principle,
nor any interest. Had the North stood
! firm, had thov been true to the great prineiples
j they have ?o often And ho solemnly proclaim til,
the waves of Southern violence would have utruck
harmless at their feet Ho i* not learned in the
weather who does not know that Htormw from the
South, though violent, are short. We are assailed
now because we have yielded before. The compromise
of isjo begat the nullifioation of IM'J;
the compromise of |STJ inspired the mad exploit
of compassing Tex**, which our greater mail newt
made snne. The moral paralysis which failed to
onpose the Mexican w ir. has given us the territories
If the territories are now surrendered,
we shall have t'uha, and an indefinite career of
j aid of slavery will Its opened uu our
i Nouthwestern border. Kvery new concession
transfers strength from our side to the side of our
opponents, and if we cannot arrest our own course
when wo are just entering the rapids, how can wo
THE NATIONAL ER
arrest it when we come near the verge of the cataract
? 'i'hc South may rule the Uuion, but they
cannot divide it. Their whole Atlantic .seaboard
is open to attack, and powerless for defence; and
the Mississippi river may as easily be divided
physically as politically into independent portions.
With these advantages, let us never stress upon
their righ's, but let us maintain our own.
Pellow-citiicns, I would gladly relieve the darkness
of this picture by some gleams of light.
There are two hopes which, as yet, are not wholly
extinguished in my mind. Beyond all question a
compromise bill will be reported by the commit tee of
i thirteen, in which free California will be made
: to carry as great a burden of slavery as she
ican bear. It is still jiosxifth that the Flouso
will treat as it deserves this adulterous union.
A single vote may the turn scale, and Massachusetts
may give that vote. Not improltahly,
too, the fate of the bill may depend
upon the earnestness and decision..with which
Northern constituencies make their sentiments
known to their representatives, whether by peti[
lions. by private letters, or by public resolutions.
Let every lover of freedom do his best and his
roost.
.Should the North fail, I have still one hope
more, t is that New Mexico will do for herself
what we shall have busely failed to do for her. If
both these hopes fail, our country is doomed to
run its unobstructed career of conquest, of despotism,
and of infamy.
I have now, my fellow-citizens, given yon my
"Views and Opinions "on the present crisis in
our public affairs. Had ! regarded my own feelings
I should have spoken less at length; but the
subject h is commanded nit. I trust I have spoken
respectfully towards those from whom 1 dvseent,
wIi.Ip snivikinor mv own sentiments justly and
I truly. 1 Imre u.vcd no naperitjr, for nil my emo!
lions have been of grief and not of anger My
' words hive been cool as the telegraph wires,
| while my feelings have been like the lightning
that runs through them. The idea that Massachusetts
should contribute, or consent, to the extension
of 1 Ionian Slavery !?is it. not enough, not
merely to arouse the living froui their torpor, hut
the dead froui their graves! Were I to help it, j
nay, did I not oppose it with all the powers anil |
faculties which God has given me, I should see
myriads of agonized faces glaring out upon me
from the future, more terrible than Duncan s nt
Macbeth; and I would rather feel an assassin's
poignard in inv breast than forever hereafter to
see "the air-drawn dagger'' of a guilty imagination.
In Massachusetts, the great drama of the
It evolution begun. Some of its heroes yetsurvive
amongst us. At Lexington, at Concord, and on
Hunker Hill, the grass still grows greener where
the soil was fattened with the blood of our fa|
fliers. If in the providence of Gi*I, we must be
Vanquished in this contest, let it be by force of
the overmastering and inscrutable powers above
us, and not by our own base desertion.
I am. gentlemen your much honored, obliged
and obedient servant, Horace Mann.
H1K IN A1I'CfiVAL' EKA.
f * ^.. *4 ? 4
WASHINGTON, MAY SI, 18.10
(ROW UK D.
Long speeches, long letters, and long articles,
crowd UN. Wo have not noticed hall the matters
we intended to notice in this number?hut the
paper won't stretch to suit our desires.
DIR. PALFREY.
"Are the children of darkness to be forever so
much wiser than the children of light? In the
recent choice of delegates for the Nashville Convention,
I have not Ncen a single instance where
i Whig and Democrat have not been chosen as
| though they were Siamese twins and must go tog'
thcr. Hut here it often happens, that us soon
as one parry is known to he in favor of one man,
this act alone is deemed a sufficient reason why
another party should oppose him. Why can we
not combine for the sacred cause of freedom, as
they combine for slavery ? No thought or desire
is further from my mind than that of interfering
with any man's right of suffrage; but if (which is
by no means impossible or perhaps improbable)
the fate of New Mexico should be decided by one
vote, and my vote should have been the cause of a
vacancy in auy Congressional District that might
have sent a friend to freedom, I should say with
Cain, 'My punishment ia greater than I can
hear.' "?of IIoTtie. Mtum.
Another trial for a Representative in the Hli
District of Massachusetts is to be held on the 27th
of this month. We hope each voter in that district
will ponder the impressive ne.l ?rf.ropriatc
remarks of Mr. Mann. The hour has
come when every district in the country should
i i>
dom may be saved or lout by a single voto. While
in Iloston a few days since, we were informed
that the Democrats, anxious that the contest,
which has so long deprived Mnsinohmetls of her
full voice in the settlement of the controversy
between freedom and slavery now pending in
Congress, should bo closed, had comu to the conelusion
to make no nomination. If they adhere
to this reasonable and patriotic policy, there will
probably he an election on the i?7lh instant.
There will he, unless the scattering votes should
prevent; but, as in the absence of any third regular
nomination, no good object could possibly be
accomplished by such a course, while immense
evil would result, we cannot believe that it will be
adopted. People will vote for one or the other of
the candidates, or stay at home. Who will he the
successful candidate ? Who ought to bo? The
remainder of this session, ami the whole of the
next session of the present Congress, will, in all
probability, be chiefly occupied in the settlement
of the present eontroversy concerning California
and the Territories. Who more distinctively, moro
eminently, more ably, represents I tie real sentiment
of the Anti-Slavery voters of the llh District in
Massachusetts than Palfrey ? Who would more
ijuiekly perceive ' new dangers to freeedom,"
more intelligently guard against them, more
firmly resist insidious or open attempts to extort
degrading concessions, more bravely disregard
party interests and obligations, when they eontlicted
with truth and freedom? Let every voter
before he doposites his ballot, answer these ?|ucbtions
to his own conscience, and if John G. Pai.i
ri v be not returned to his seat in Congress, we
shall confess that we have greatly misjudged the
intelligence of the People of the Fourth District
Tin: PuiMocNr ani> his Cahinkt.?People are
beginning to tin I out that the President has a
will of his own. Some of his considerate friends,
us wen as ins enemies, nave neen i eying ior n long
while to break up his Cabinet, ami the R'jiuhlic,
his specinl organ, w:w induced to join in the attempt.
Hut, unexpectedly, the editors of that
paper found themselves obliged to sell out on
pain of open and contemptuous repudiation ; and
as for the rest of the disaffected, they urc dis
missed with the following Huena Vista declaration,
from the ,Vitional Iatrlh'*rnrrr of the l lth
"We therefore now state, on thr authority oj I hf
Frisi'hnl, tlint la lends no count'nance ^to any atIuntil,
fiom whatever i/aarler it com-s,lo dinluih or
uiis'ttl> his Aifminis!ration as it is. All the statements
or inferences to tho contrary are utterly
without foundation.''
Mr. Clay's very kind presumption that some
new light had dawned upon the mind of General
Taylor, since he sent* in his California message,
and recommended the plan of non-action, turns
out to be groundless.
Rowdyism in Nkw Yokr?As we were absent
luring the late disorderly proceedings in New
York against the freedom of discussion, we had
no opportunity for comment upon them. Passing
through that city at the time, we became a witness
of the first riotous demonstration against the
meeting in the Tabernacle of those Abolitionists
who are represented particularly by Mr.
Garrison. It was a contemptible affair. Half a
! dozen notice officers faithful and resolute would
at any moment have rlc?irc?l the platform of the
rowdies, an I rc8tore?I order to the meeting. Our
rentiers are aware that the subsequent meetings
of the Soeiety were constantly disturbed by Uyutlers
and his gang, until it became impossible to
proceed with business, and it was obliged to adjourn.
The same scoundrels undertook to disturb the
anniversary of the American and Foreign AntiHlavery
Society, held in the Tabernacle in the
afternoon of the same day on which the meeting
of tha other Society had been thrown into such
confusion, hut they were speedily overawed by
the friends of order and by the preaeuc.c of the
police in strong force
A, WASHINGTON, I
These riotous proceeding" were instigated by
the diabolical course of Bamett't Herald, which
for some time before the anniversaries, openly appealed
to the mob to put down free discussion.
The people did not respond to its appeals, but its
i few creatures of the baser sort were emboldened
| to come forward to the rescue of the Bible, the
Sabbath, and the Churches. That they were
permitted to disturb and break up peaceable assemblages
of the People, reflects the deepest
; dishonor upon the Mayor aud the police of the
city of New York. No matter what Mr. Gurri;
son's sentiments are, the man who would prevent.
him by violence from giving them free expres:
sion, is a fool or a tyrant, tit inmate for a mad;
house or jail,
OH .YI BUS BILL - DISSENTERS.
Being absent from the city when the Omnibus
bill was reported from the Committee of 1 hirteen,
we had no means of judging of the character
of the dissent of Southern members, except
* 1 ' 0,1, imnrpssion
j through the telegrapnic rrprio. ?r
i was that the objections taken to the bill by the
South were exaggerated, n"d ?n examining carefully
the full account of the debate that followed
the report of the Committee, we find that we were
not mistaken.
A brief review of it will serve to show the position
of Senators in relation to it.
Mr. Clemens of Alabama gave notice of his in!
trillion to offer, at the proper time, the following
amendment?
' That the line of :0" .10' north latitude shall
be, and the same is hereby declared to be. the
southern boundary line of the said State of California."
Subsequently, Mr. Clemens made sundry objections
to the measures reported by the Committee,
prefacing them with the remark, that, as he
inhmhd to vot* against tfi'W, he did not choose
to appear to sanction them by his silence.
After all, it was against the report, rather than
against the bills, that his assaults were aimed; and
it is by no means certain that Mr. Clemens, if a
few alterations be made in the latter, will not sustain
them
Mr. Phelps of Vermont, a inpmbor of the Committee,
said that, as lit had anticipated, it was his
misfortune to ditTer from the Committee on most
of the prominent features of the report. He did
not go into particulars, or intimate whether his
dissent in opinion would lead him to oppose the
bill. Since then, tuffering greatly from illhealth,
he has gone borne to Vermont, ami the
'pi Oinirwtt*j Jtu he will b: oic, ?
jirogress of the controversy.
. mvuu^i ** lYjhtita J vo sAA. C?
he was not of the majority of the Committee by
which the report hail been sanctioned?he had
not been able to concur in the principal measures
recommended It was evident that he would not
commit himself against the bills, but that he regarded
them as measures to be held under consideration,
with a view of making them still more
acceptable to the Sooth.
Mr. Cooper of Pennsylvania said that in the
main he concurred in the recommendations of the
report anJ in its provisions; from some he dissented.
The main feature of the provisions referred
to is, the total abandonment of the Wilmot
Proviso. Another important feature is, stringent
measures for the reclamation of alleged fugitives
from service or labor, without allowing th<m the
benefit of hnlxws corpus or tri/il hy jury.
Mr. Downs of Louisiana said that his objections
to the admission of California with her
present boundaries were not yet removed , still,
he iudicated no invincible opposition to the report
and bills of the Committee.
Mr. P>crrien of Georgia, another member of
the Committee, did not concur in every measure
recommended?but, he trusted that the hills
in their progress through the Senate would be so
modified as to relieve his mind from embarrassment.
Mr. Mangnm of North Carolina sustained the
report.
Mr. Foote advocated compromise and concilianun.
Mr. Yuloe of Florida would not lose a moment
in declaring that the measures proponed by the
Committee could not receive his support or vote.
Mr. Itorland of Arkansas avowed his opposition
to every essential part of the plan of compro
tni.se?to the admission of California with hei
present boundaries?to the reasons in the reporl
for the omission of the Wilmot Proviso in th?
Territorial provisions?to the reduction of the
Ixmndariea of Texas?to the measure in regard tc
the reclamation of fugitives from lal>or. Wc set
not how Mr Borland can retreat from his posi
tion of antagonism to tho bills, or how they can
he modified so as to accommodate him.
Mr. Houston of Texas favored the report?
was for compromise and the Union
Mr. Cass was pained to see gentlemen committhemselves
so hastily against the report, and
Messrs Dickinson and Bright declared their in
tention to stand by It.
Mr. Davis of Mississippi said that he was glad
to learn that a majority of the members of the
Committee were opposed to the bills, hut he hatl
no objection to the printing.
Now, what man, who is familiar with Southern
tactics, believes iu the strength of the opposition
indicated by these declarations? Messrs. Yulee
and Borland have committed themselves against
the bills, so positively, so unqualifiedly, that wc
see not how they can retreat without the deepest
discredit to themselves but, as to the other dissentients,
they remain open to conviction, expecting
to obtain certain important modifications
Their position was pretty clearly disclosed lu$l
Wednesday, on a motion submittal by Mr Dong
las of Illinois, to lay the Omnibus bill on the ta
Me, for the purpose of taking up ami considering
separately the hill for the admission of Californin
a* ? State. Mr. Douglas said that he intended
the motion as a test of the sense of the Senate
Had the Southern Senators cherished any invincible
repugnance to the report and measures ol
tho Committee of Thirteen, they would have
sustained the motion; but, with a single exception,
they voted against it. The yeas and nays
were as follows:
Yf.as?Messrs. Baldwin, Benton, Bradbury,
Chase, Clarke, Cooper, Corwin, Davis of Massachusetts,
Dayton. Dodge of Wisconsin, Douglas,
Felch, Greene, Male, Miller, Norris, Seward,
Shields, Smith, Spruauce, Walee, Walker, Webster,
Ynlee?24.
Navh?Messrs. Atchison, Bell, Berrien, Borland,
Bright, t 'sss, Clay, Clemens, Davis of Mississippi,
D.iwhoii, Dickinson, Dodge of Iowa,
Downs. Klmore, Foots, Houston, 11 unior, Jones,
King, Miingum, Morton, Pratt, Kusk, Snult*,
Sturgeon, Turney, Underwood, Whitcoinh?28.
Yulce, the only 8oathern man (excepting Mr
Benton) voting to lay upon tho tAlde.
The inference is plain the slaveholding members
are determined to hold the measures of the
Committee under consideration for the purpose
of extorting further sacrifices from the North
They are not satisfied with tho abandonment ol
the Wilmot Proviso, with the purchase of the
fraudulent claim of Texas, with the denial ol
hal?at rotjtut and jury trial to persons on trial for
their Freedom : they have resolved, if possible, tc
divide California, with a view to obtain a harbor
fur niiiTor* nn the Pacific, and to wrinir from the
i North a provision virtually affirming the right t<
cirry slavce into the Territories, and hold therr
there. The amendment of which Mr. Clemens gavi
notice reveals their poliey in regard to California
nod the following extract from the proceedings o
the Senate laat Wednesday show what they wis!
in relation to tbo Territories :
Mr. Davia of Mississippi. I move to amend thi
10th section of the hill, line 6, by striking out th<
words" in respect to Afrioan slavery," and in
serting, "with those rights of property whict
grow out of the institution of slavery, as it existi
in any of the States of tha Union."
| The section, if amended as proposed, wouk
read as follows:
ski . io. Ami be u, 4-f, That the legia'ativi
power of said Territory shall extend to all right
ful subjects of legislation, consistent with thi
Constitution of the Uaitsd States and the provi
sions of this sot; but no law shall be passed in
terfering with the primary disposal of the soil
nor with those rights of property which grow ou
$
). C., MAY 23, 1850.
of the institution of African slavery, as it exists
in any of the States of the Union. No tax shall
he imposed upon the property of the United
States, &o |
Mr. Douglas. Is it in order to ask for a division
of the question ?
The Presiding Officer It is not.
Mr. Davis of Mississippi. Mr. President, I
will briefly state to the Senate my object in moving
this amendment. It is to test the sense of the
Senate upon a single question?the right to the
service of man; whether the property in slaves,
ns they exist in the Blaveholding States of the
Union, shall receive the same protection, shall
receive the same countenance in the Senate, and
elsewhere in the Government of the United
States, as other property. The language of the
hill, ns it stands, would seem to exclude property
growing out of the institution of African slavery
from that protection of the Territorial Legislature
which is to he accorded to all other species
i of property. As 1 propose to amend if, it will restrict
the Territorial Legislature from invading
tne rtgnt or tor innaniianTs 01 mc BiaTt-nv.?...R
Stat oh. guarantied tbem?their rights as they
hold thein under the Constitution?leaving the
j question to be decided according to the cardinal
principle of the Democratic party, when the people
composing the Territory coine to form a State
for themselves. It will leave them all the powers
necessary, not only for the preservation of their
property, but for preserving the peace of the Territory?those
powers essentially necessary to prevent
disorder, and which would be absolutely
necessary, with such property as that, to secure it
beneficially to the use of the owner. With this
brief explanation, I submit the amendment.
Three distinct bills are recommended by the
Committee?one, for the prohibition of the slave
trade in the District of Columbia, another, for the
; reclamation of fugitives from service or labor,
j another, for the admission of California, the or'
gsnir. ition of Territorial Governments without
| the Proviso for New Mexico and Utah, and the
purchase of the claim of Texas to New Mexico.
The last is the Omuibus bill, so-called : Mr. Clay
wishew it to be understood as a Compromise between
North and South, or, rather, between the
Nou-Slaveholding and theSlaveholding Interests.
Let us not be deceived by words. Three distinct
measures are proposed in this Omnibus bill:
First, the admission of California as a State.
What concession are slaveholders to make on this
point? They have always strenuously asserted
the right of the People of a Territory, on organizing
the form of a State Constitution, to determine
whether slavery shall be tolerated or prohibited
among them. The Californians have exercised
this rinht, freely, without interference, in
forbidding slavery. Compliance with their application
for admission as a State, decides no issue
between the North and South?is no victory of
I fucTt^fteff fco defeat of the ia(crr. ia%s South
I fields no pretensions ; the North secures no rijjht
' which has eVer^V.een "contested fnT&arton to
the admission of California as a State, there is no
compromise.
But, there are two ijuestions on which the
Slaveholding and NonSlaveholdiDg Interests
have been arrayed in distinct, absolute opposition?one,
relatiug to the prohibition by Consort ss of
slavery in the Territories ; the other, to the claim
of Texas to New Mexico. The slaveholders
have constantly insisted that Congress should establish
Government for the Territories, without
prohibiting slavery by positive act; and that the
claim of Texas should be recognised. The nonslaveholders
have constantly insisted on positive
prohibition by Congress of Territorial slavery,
and the non-recngnition of the claim of Texas.
Mr. Clay steps in as arbitrator, to settle the two
points in dispute, hy compromise. And what do
fommittno in thoir rpcrftrtis for
uc ttiiu u.o , ? ?. -1- o
the two parties, propose ? To take everything
from one, to give everything to the other?to
recognise the demands of one, to repudiate those
of the other?to decide on both points in favor of
the slaveholders, against the non-slaveholders.
For, the two distinct measures they propose, provide,
first for the establishment of Territorial
Governments without the Proviso, precisely what
slaveholders have demanded and non-slaveholders
resisted ; and for paying Texas a vast amount of
money for her claim to New Mexico, a claim
which the slaveholders have asserted to be valid,
<w?i ton slaveholders, to be fraudulent and
groundless.
And this Omnibus bill, one part of which recognises
rights about which there has been no dispute,
the other portions of which completely decide
two groat questions in controversy between
slaveholders ana non-Hiavenuiueni, iigiuii? ue ncraands
of the latter, in favor of those of the former,
is styled a comjnomit
Even the editor of the York Trifmne seems
half inclined to accept the bill, because lie imagines
' that it will secure New Mexico from the grasp of
Texas, and give her a chance for Freedom. A
precious chance, truly ! Suppose the bill passed.
1 New Mexico is contiguous with slaveholding territory,
and will be constantly exposed to slaveholding
immigration. Can she prevent it ? No.
Her Territorial Legislature is to be tied hand
and foot. The bill says that it shall pass no law
' "in respect to African slavery.'' The People
may see slaves brought into their Territory, kept
subject under the iron rule of their masters,
' worked in the mines, and yet they will be powerless?their
Legislature can pass no law to pro'
hibit the introduction ot slaves?none, to release
them from the power of their masters. It. may be
1 said that the courts will hear a demand for Free1
dom under the old Mexican laws. 1 tit, suppose
the judges should be from the Southern Stales,
and agree in opinion with the Southern Senators,
that the Constitution of the United States
abrogates all laws in the new Territories, conflicting
with the right of property in slaves?
Or, suppose, in common with the whole South,
they should assume the validity of the Texan
elaim to New Mexico, and predicate their decision
on the.*l!?th section of the Omnibus bill, which
provides as follows:
' " The United States cede to the State of Texas
' all right, claim, and title, which they have to any
territory lying south of the line aforesaid;"
(above 11? north latitude .) "and the said State
of Texas cedes to the Uuited States any right,
elaim, or title, which it has to any territory lying
? # it 1 1 ?)
norm 01 inc huh nor
They would argue that the Territory, before
its cession by Texas, belonged to that State, was,
therefore, shire territory, and that the rights of
property, existing antecedently therein, under
the Rorcreignty of Texas, were not affected hy
the mere net of cession. This, in fact, is the
ground already taken by Southern Senators.
And is it in this way, New Mexico is to be wired
from the curse of 6larery ?
Hut, we would call particular attention to the
beautiful illustration the bill affords of the doctriue
of Non-InU mm ion, as explained by its author,
General ('ass. This gentleman in tho beginning
of the session made a labored argument
to show that Congress had no power at all under
the Constitution, to establish government for
territory belonging to the United States. And
then, we find him an active and a concurring member
of the Committee of Thirteen, which reports
a bill proposing to do precisely what he spent
'r two days in showing conld not constitutionally he
done ? to establish Territorial Governments!
That is not all. In that two days' argument, he
1 KMinmliwi that t/> the Peonle of a Territory
alone, belonged the right, inherent and indefeasible,
to legislate on their own conoerna, to deter*
mine the character of their own institutions
' And next we find hiin pleading fur measures
recommended l?y the Committee of which be was
' a member, one of which repudiates this alleged
inherent and indefeasible right, and assumes for
1 Congress supreme power of legislation in the
Territories! Head what follows in the light of
| of the Cuss doctrine of Non-intervention :
"Src. 27. And be it further enacted,That the
l legislative jKJtrrr of the Ttm'ory shall trinul to all
1 ru;hijul suhjedt of legislation, consistent with the
I Constitution of the United Stater, and th' prons*ns
of this ad ; but no law shall he jiasted, interfering
? with the primary disposal of the soil, nor m reject
to African Slavery * # y#f/ (he lairs
9 passed hy the Isi(\slati<e Assm'dy and Governor
shatl he submitted to the Cos^rctr 01 the United
Stales, and, if dtsapjiroitd, shall he null and of no
t 'jM."
I
/
An utter repudiation of the doctrine of General
Case ! First, Congress is to oonfcr legislative
power ou the Territorial Government, define
its extent, impose specific limitations, and
then, it is to reserve to itself complete power of
revision And abrogation ! And General Cass,
with his usual facility, turns round, gives a flat
contradiction to his own theory, nnd supports a
measure that assumes for Congress a power which
he denounces as flagrantly unconstitutional and
despotic! His followers will doubtless deem it
an honor to wallow with him in the same slough
of lowly self-abnegation.
But, if the measures recommended hy the Committee
be so objectionable to non-slaveholders,
why are they opposed hy slaveholders ? For various
reasons. Some, hy multiplying their demands,
calculate upon wringing from the North a
still better bargain. Some, are willing to keep
all the questions open, for purposes of party agitation,
with a view to a dissolution of the Union,
or to the election of a President in 18.r>'J committed
body and soul to the Slave Power. Some
cannot hear the idea of free State preponderance
in the Senate, and therefore are hostile to any
measure which contemplates the admission of
uauiornia. l?ut, let no man oe aeceivea. ir
some slight modifications be conceded, we have no
doubt that the majority of Southern Senators
will ultimately support the measures of the
Committee of Thirteen, and carry them, through
the help of a few innocent gentlemen from the
North, who can point their constituents to the
speeches of Messrs. Davis, Clemens, and Yulee,
as evidences of the anti-slavery merits of the socalled
compromise.
THE SOUTHERN (IRGAN-TRIBl!LATI0N8 OF
TIIK PRESS.
We congratulate the South on the determination
of its leading men to meet the oppoueuts of
Slavery in the arena of Free Discussion ; and it
gives us pleasure to know that they have been
aided in coming to this reasonable conclusion Ly
the establishment at Washington of the Nn'tomil
Em. " There is no paper at the seat of Government,"
say the signers of the Southern address,
"through which we can bear or be heard faiiiy
and truly by the country. There is a paper here
which makes the abolition of slavery its main and
paramount end." "My object," says the lion
D. S. Kaufman of Texas, explaining in the ProSlavery
organ here his reasons for signing the
address concerning the paper," was to counteract
the effects of the purely Abolition press
lished here, and to have an organ in which might
of the most distinguished intellects of the South
on the one absorbing question." The editor of the
Pro-Slavery press in this city, commenting on a
similar statement in his columns by the Hon. Mr
Stantou of Tennessee, remarks?
" VVe do not object to the establishment, by the
signer# of the southern address, or n paper for
the objects stated in the address, if they thiuk it
is expedient to put the cause of the South upon
a like footing with the cause of Abolitionism,
The Abolitionists of the North?not the North
as a section?hare established a paper in this city
to advocate their peculiar and disorganizing principles.
And if the signers of the Southern address
think the movement of the Abolitionists of
such a formidable character ns to justify a resort
to a similar mode of counteracting them, instead
of relying upon the power of the South in debate,
as well as the press devoted to the just cause of
the South, we do not object."
We tender our sympathies to the Union. Once
before, in vindication of the Freedom of the
Press, we found it necessary to take sides with its
editor against the Senatorial proscription to
which he was subjected on account of an unfortunate
paragraph in his paper dealing too freely
with Senatorial motives. Although our courtesy
was unacknowledged on that occasion, we feel not
the less disposed now to vindicate his press
against the illiberal imputations of his Southern
friends who propose starting a new paper. " The
Abolition party," these gentlemen say, "can always
bo heard through its press at the seat of
Government, but through what organ or press at
Washington can Southern men communicate
with the world, or with each other, upon their
own neculiar interests?" The imputation against
our neighbor of the Pro-Slavery organ in unjust
and ungenerous. Not a more vigilant and loyal
champion of slaveholding rights, interests, doctrines,
claims, pretensions, breathes in the country.
Well does that venerable gentleman ask?
' What journal in this wide-spread land has
vindicated with greater spirit the rights of the
South? Who has repelled with more indomitable
energy the infamy of the Wilinot Proviso??
the threats to disturb slavery in the District of
Columbia ? Who has held up with more withering
scorn the men who have advocatod those
alarming measures ? What paper has lashed the
Abolitionists and Kree-Soilers, and the political
demagogues who have associated with them, more
severely than the Washington I/'iiow?"
Aye?and if the subjects of this terrible wrath
have escaped utter annihilation, it is only because
the Union does not happen to be a thunder-bearer.
The editors in great tribulation return to the
subject the next day, and in a joint editorial
magnify their doings and endurings in behalf of
slavery.
''We have exposed," says the senior editor,
"ami denounced the unnatural coalition which
has so long existed between the Whigs of the
South and the Abolitionists and Free-Soil Whigs
of the North We have exposed and denounced
the unnatural combination which bore upon its
banner, and supported at the ballot-box, the names
of a Southern slaveholder and a Northern Abolitionist,
for the two highest offices known to the
Constitution. And we have exposed and denounced
the unnatural alliance between theslavehohler
and the Abolitionist, its existing in the
present Cabinet, and its treachery to the interests
of the people of the Sooth in the promulgation
M nU Plippori Ul (1 pUIIUjr v? lllVM. ? niiw oniui, *./? ?not
fail to deprive the Souih of its just rights
under the Constitution, ?nd degrade it from that
position of equality which it has a right to claim
with the other sections of the Union.
" The senior editor of this paper has waged war
with Fanaticism for nearly thirty years?from the
moment that she showed her hideous front to a
startled nation. He warned his country of the
dangers which would arise from this alarming
question, in the midst of the controversy which
cau-ed Mr. Jefferson, with all his liberal ideas, to
sound the tocsin against the restriction which was
then threatened upon Missouri. On another
theatre, he has never failed to warn his countrymen
against the danger of meddling with this
peculiar institution of the South, if* has exhorted
his countrymen to beware of the only rock on
which the Uuion might he shipwrecked , an l at
every phasis of this question?whether it came in
the form of restriction upon Territories, or of
emancipication in this district, or after the Wilmot
Proviso was introduced into Congress?he
has wrestled with it."
The junior editor puts in his claim to the gratitude
of the South with equal pathos?
" And what has been the course of the junior
editor of this paper during the course of his public
career? During a period of six years, commencing
with the 1st session of the V?tith Congress,
he was a member of the House of Representatives
from New Hampshire. It was then that the agitation
of the slavery question assumed an importance
which alarmed the South. It was during
that period that the assaults of Messrs. Adams,
Giddings, and other abolitionists, upon the institutions
of the South, were carried to a degree
which justly excited and incensed the South ; ami
during (hat v holt jteriod Ike /nntor editor of this
;*t r a'til irilli the Soul hern delegation* on etrrj
*1 wit ton ajt'fting th>iT pen dun sectional interests.
Inuring the 1st seaeion of the 26th Congress he
roted for the adoption of the '.'1st rule, prohib,
iting the reception of abolition petitions, and in
subsequent sessions for its continuance, and against
its repeal. He toted against the repeal of that
rule when Mr. Clingtnan, now one of the actite
agents in getting up a Southern press, voted for
us repeal. Daring his whole congressional course,
he neter gate a tote inconsistent with the Missouri
Compromise, nor inconsistent with the prineiple
of non-interrention.''
We should feel ourseltes guilty of most unneighborly
conduct, did we not add oar feeble
testimony to the great aereioeo of the Pro-8la1
tery organ in this city, in the eaasoof llnman
Bondage Had the question concerned thePreot'
dency, or eeeu the Public Printing, instead of
%
VOL. IV.
the supremacy of the Slave Power, It could not
hare manifested a more vehement interest and
anxiety. Absolute fealty to the Slave Interest
has been the law of its life; and its noble aim
has been to harmonize Democracy and Slavery
If it has failed, it is because its purpose* hav*
(rone "beyond all man's endeavors'' Still it eau
eay with Wolsey,
" Our endeavors
Have ever couie too abort of our deeiree.
Yet filled with our abilltiee "
In consideration of all this, we feci constrained
to plead for them, as Cromwell plead for the
fallen minister?
" Men eo noble,
Howerer faulty, jret ebould find respect
rur wu?i iurj uafc ihtii. * i in it cruelly
To load a falling man."
Hut, ia our sympathies -with our neighbors, we
had almost forgotten the Address of the Southern
Members of Congress, in behalf of the new paper.
They recognise the important fact that
" Public Opinion" "is the force which hus heen
most potent against us in the war now going on
against the institution of negro slavery."
" A common origin, a common language. haYe
made the English literature ours to a great extent,
and the efforts of the British Government
and people to mould the public opiuion of all who
speak the English language, have not heen vain
or fruitless. On the contrary, they have been
deeply felt wherever the English language is
spoken; and the more efficient and dangerous
because as yet, the South has tabu no strjis to ay.
juuiT ami plead at thf har of thf world, before wLii-h
she has been summoned, and by which she has
been tried already without a hearing. Secured
by constitutional guaranties, and independent of
all the world, so far as its domestic institutions
were concerned, tbe South hag reposed under the
consciousness of right and independence, and for
borne to plead at a bar which she knew hud no
jurisdiction over this particular subject, la this
tpa have, hem theoretically right, hut practically tiv
hanc made a great mistake?
We understand, then, that the slaveholders
have determined to change their position?that
they are about to " appear and plead at the bar
of the world"?and, in vindication of their right
to hold man as property, ami take the fruits of
his labor without wages, that the new Southern
organ is to be established.
"If," say the signers to the address, "as we
firmly believe, Truth is with us, there is nothing
to discourage us in such an effort. The eventual
strength of an opinion is to be measured, not by
the number who may entertain it, but by the
truth which sustains it. We believe?nay, we
know, that the Truth is with us, and therefore
we should not shrink from the contest."
Thts Is femnly, though somewhat over-conti
,l^? It
keen inquiry could be battled by haughty Reserve?that
Law was a barrier against Moral
Power?that Public Opinion could be silenced
by Violence. Of Opinion, it may be said, that
" its going forth is from the enda of the heavonand
its circuit unto the ends of it; and there is
nothing hid from the heat thereof." No Law can
long maintain what Public Opinion steadily condemns.
But the "Southern organ" must do something
more than maintain "the equality, the liberty,
the existence of fourteen or fifteen States, of
the Confederacy "?" the equality of their political
position in the Union"?the right of the
slaveholding States to be exempt from legislative
interference by Congress, or the free States with
their domestic concerns. On these points if will
find no opponents. It must therefore address
itself to the task of Vindicating the system of
Slavprv fin itrt nwn mpfita ns fin inatifntiftn
founded in justice, harmonizing with the Declaration
of Independence and the principles of Democracy,
with the code of Christianity and the
spirit of the age, promotive of the beat interests
of those who exercise and those who endure the
prerogatives it confers; in ? word, eminently tvvorable
to the physical, intellectual, ami spiritual
development of mankind.
There is another reason why we hail the establishment
of this Southern organ. As the slave
holders have had no special organ here, (except
the Union, which is so deeply intent on taking
care of Stato affairs,) we have heen obliged to
perform double duty, by publishing on both sides
of the question. We may now expect to be relieved
in this respect; or, at least, perhaps some
equitable arrangement, may he made, advantageous
to both parties, for the exchange of matter
between the two organs of Slavery nnd Freedom.
We hope Mr. Butler nnd his associates will accept
of our friendly courtesies in the spirit in
which they are tendered. Hostility to their
project was to be expected from the old establishments
here. Even towards no, philanthropic as
were our objects, and unlikely as it was that we
should interfere with their interests, they have
alwava ffiven the cold shouldpr. What. then.
may our Southern friends expect, proposing an
enterprise which crosses their track ?
If we can be of any service to them in their
novel enterprise, we hope they will freely command
us.
LETTER FROM THE HON. HORACE MANN TO
HIS CONSTITUENTS.
The Letter from the Hon. Horace Mann to his
constituents, published in this week's F.ru, presents
a bold and faithful view of the " New
Dangers to the Cause of Freedom,"' chief among
which is ranked the position of Mr Webster
on the Territorial Question. The Letter
is indeed chiefly devoted to a severe and
eloquent review of the late speech of that
Senator, and the policy it proclaimed. No one
who has read the resolutions recently passed hy
the Legislature of Massachusetts on the subject
of slavery, and is familiar with the general tone
of the Massachusetts press, can doubt that it
speaks the sentiments of the great majority of
the People of that Commonwealth.
Rut one paragraph in the Letter requiresfrom
us particular comment. Reviewing the proceeding
of the House, at the opening of the session.
Mr. Mann remarks?
" Within an hourafter the House was organiied.
ivir. itooi or unio suorutnt-u a resolution, insiruciing
(he Committee on Territories to report Territorial
bills, prohibiting slavery. Many true
friends to freedom believed this movement to l>e
ill-timed and unfortunate; and though the House
then refused, by a handsome vote, to lay the resolution
on the table, yet when it came up for consideration
again, the first decision was reverse./
hy about the same majority. There is abundant
proof that the latter vote did not express the true
sentiment of the House. Not a few voted against
the resolution avowedly because of its paternity
thus spiting a noble son on account of its obnoxious
father. Others repented of their votes a*
soon as they came to reflect that the record would
go where their explanation oould not accompany
Mr. Mann leaves it to be inferred that he
agreed with those who thought the movement of
Mr. Root " ill-timed and unfortunate." He
acknowledges and shows, however, the deplorahlr
results of laying the resolution on the table. The
failure of a movement is often received as evidence
of want of wisdom in its anthor, while
success satisfies everybody that it was well-timed
and well-planned. Mr. Root's resolution foiled,
not because it was "Ill-timed," bat precise// hecause
some of the Democratic members front the
North were pledged opponents of the Proviso,
nnd some of the Whigs from the same section,
pledged supporters of the President s policy of
non-action. These were the men who caused the
defeat of the resolution to them it was ill
timed " in the beginning of the session, and at
no period since woold they have deemed it w *
They stand opposed to the policy contem
plated by the resolution, and, therefore, to th'
? ?ill on* nrtf that
resolution itself. Mr. mauu n... ? - m
its Democrat* opponent*, are " true friend* t?
freedom" end, if he claim this praiae for i"
Whig opponent*, he will herd)/, we think, wn
tare to hum thnt their friendship has proved
serviceable in an/ reepect.
We hold thnt Mr. Hoot* resolution propose!
the trae polio/ la regard to the territories, and
ww introduced nt the right time. The Territories
were without government? propert/ and life i
in*.cure It was the dut/ of Congress to supply I
this want The Territories were eiempt from al- I