IiATES OF ANTBRUSING.
Fo y ones or less constitute half a square. Ten WIN
ni w ore then fear, coastitnte a square.
g osq , oneday— Maw" may day— , ll o . 2 t ,
one aeon. 1.00 g g one week.—. 1.26
one month— . 2.00 " one month... 3.00
three months. 3.00 c , three months. 3.00
onmonths_. 4.00 , C MIX months... B.or
one 4,00 one year.— 10.00
thinness notices inserted in the LOGELD EOLEME, or
beime nu ...sieges and deaths, FIVE ossra PEE LINE for each
insertion to nierolearitsand others advertisingby the yen
liberal to. is will be oifered.
, rr rie anintierofinuiertions must be designatedon the
drertisemen t,
Jr . ? . % I m mo and Deaths will be inserted at the earn
ite r m regu lar oivertisements.
Vatrizt tt' Union.
FRIDAY MORNING, JAN. 25, 1861.
THE NATIONAL CRISIS.
SPEECH OF HON. WM. BIGLER,
OF PENNSYLVANIA,
IN THE SENATE, January 21, 1861
The senate havingunder consideration the joint reso
lution {S. No_ 54) proposing certain amendments to the
Constitution, the pending question Wag on Mr. BIG
LER'S amendment to the amendment of Mr. Clam—
Mr. BIGLER said :
Mr. PRESIDENT: After the solemn scene pre
sented here this morning, f confess I scarcely
have the heart to approach the consideration of
this subject. The solicitude—the universal
and solemn solicitude, not to say alarm, that
Pe
Trades the popular mind in my State, touch
ing the present distracted and imperiled condi.
tion of the country, and the importunities
which reach me daily on that absorbing topic,
must plead my apology to the Senate for the
onmss i sn of my opinions and feelings at this
time. I shall probably never claim their at
tention again, and I shall be as brief as I pro
perly can. It is mainly my purpose to deal
with the eventful and inauspicious present,
an d, as far as that is possible, with the motes
rious and gloomy future of our country and
Government.
I shall not repeat at length the oft-told and
familiar stories of the establishment of colonies
On this continent; of their early history; their
doings and sufferings, their progress and pros
perity; of the means by which they were in
duced to embrace the institutionnow the subject
of unhappy, If not fatal, controversy between
the States of the Confederacy; nor how those
colonies in the coarse of time threw off their
allegiance to the mother country; how their
repessentatives assembled in Independence
Hall, at Philadelphia, in 1776, and absolved
themselves from their former allegiance to Great
Britain; how the people of all the States, north
and south, made common cause in the privations
and sufferings that followed; how after a strug
gle of seven years, their independence was fully
established ; how they formed a Confederacy of
States for the mutual benefit of all; how and
why that Confederacy failed to answer the
purposes for which it WaS designed; and how,
in 1787, these thirteen separate and independ
ent States, by their representatives, assembled
in convention at Philadelphia, in order to "form
a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure
doneat r ie tranquility, provide for the common
defence, promote the general welfare, and secure
the blessings of liberty ;" nor how in that work,
Madison,
Randolph, Pinckney, Rutledge and
others of the South, and Franklin, Sherman,
Gerry, Paterson and others of the North, sat
side by side, day after day, in solemn conclave
over the affairs of the nation; how the individ
uality of the States was preserved and dis
tinguished ; how each expressed its views by
a single vote, the smallest being equal to the
greatest ; and how it was agreed that when nine
out of the thirteen should unite on conditions
of a more perfect Union, that that Union should
Supereede the old form of Government, and be
binding on those States only who might adopt
it, leaving the ' opportunity for four of those
independent parties to remain as separate States
or sovereignties -Stasi& Of the new Union
" Nor need I relate the history of the accept
ance of those new conditions, or call attention
to the extreme caution and qualification with
which they were accepted by New York, Vir
ginia, au' other States, and how Rhode Wand
and North Carolina remained out of the new
Confederacy for two years or more, and were
noticed by Congress as separate and independ
tut Powers; nor more than state the political
problem about amending the Constitution, to
show what care was taken to retain power in
the States over the popular will of the whole
masses of pople of all the States, consisting in
the fact that amendments to the Constitution
can be defeated by the votes of one thirtieth of
the electors of the United States, and at the
same time that amendments can be carried
against the will of the majority. This would
be by the small States, to the number of one
fourth, uniting against the large States,.andby
a close vote within each State ; on the other
hand, the united vote of one-fourth of the lar
gest States, cast together, would make .more
than a majority of all the votes, whilst the
remaining three-fourths would carry the
alstendment.
Nor, air, need I tell the story of the subse
quent career of our country under this new
compact; how it has grown, as it were, by
magic, from thirteen feeble colonies, with three
million inhabitants, to thirty-three independent
sovereign States, embracing a population of
over thirty-one million. Nor how all the mem
bers of the Confederacy, and the people, North
and South, made common cause, in 1812,
against a foreign foe, contributing, with un
surpassed zeal and generosity, money for the
common Treasury, and men for the field of
battle ; and how these men stood or fell to
gether. Nor how, at a later date in the history
of the country, in the war with Mexico, north
ern and southern men rushed with unsurpassed
zeal to the flag of the country, and followed
it, and planted it wherever the rights and the
honor of the nation required. Then there was
no talk of North and South, of East and West;
none of slaveocracy, and none of sectionalism.
All was forgotten in the common cause of the
country. Away down at Vera Cruz, beneath
the rays of a tropical sun, were beheld the
northern and the southern soldier and sailor
in cordial fellowship and co-operation. And
then, again, on the rugged highways toward
the City of Mexico, Was heard the steady tread
of the Palmetto boy, and the Pennsylvania
volunteer, side by side and shoulder to shoul
der, moving against a foreign foe with unfal
tering zeal and courage. No thought of do
mestic feud or geographical distinctions dis
turbed that harmonious band. Their thoughts
turned to the triumph and glory of the arms of
a common country. Nor, sir, need I call to
mind the distinguished heroes and prtriota of
the Revolution, and of the subsequent strug
gles, to show that the South, equally with the
North, and the North equally with the South,
have contributed to establish our independence,
and to build up our great country and Govern
ment.
Nor, Mr. President, is it my purpose to trace
in minute and elaborate detail the inauspicious
events of the last fifteen years, which have
brought our once happy country to the very
verge of civil war audits countless horrors and
ravages. A glance at each of these is enough
for my purpose. One after another they have
followed so closely down the current of time
that the popular mind has seldom had time to
become . composed, whilst it, has often been so
agitated and maddened :that reason and judg
ment have yielded to passion and prejudice.
Igor, sir, shall_liattempt to trace the history
of these events with the view of fastening the
res ponsibility on this party or on that, by an
elaborate array :otworical bets.. I shall
only look at these.thinge 80 tar as it MaYseela
'necessary to Impress men with )I€l l , B #,X,thetr
f T es ponsibilitie s to 04 '06414.1,2,A4P013Pnt
critical t.,poeh, and for itia - Ptioose•enbr e e
these points the popular * judißeit,jai,oo far
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VOL. 3.
matured to be disturbed by any argument of
mine. Nor is it essential to my purpose •to
know what thatjudgment is. The Union must
be saved, no matter whose measures and policy
have endangered it. The country must-be res
cued from the disasters of civil war and anar
chy, no matter whose folly and madness have
produced the impending peril. History will
take care of this. And as for the public men
of the present day, it were wiser for them to
think of what history is to say of them, than to
indulge in dreamy anticipations about the White
House, first class missions, and Cabinet places.
They have a chance for glorious or inglorious
history, but none, none, sir, to gain the great
prize of American ambition. If the statesmen
of the present day, the men of these presents,
should prove themselves incapable of perform
ing the great mission of preserving the insti
tutions transmitted tq them by the fathers, the
sooner their names are forgotten the brighter
will be their country's history.
The fundamental cause of the imperiled con
dition of the country is the institution of
African servitude, or rather the unnecessary
hostility to that institution-on the part of those
who have no connection with it,, no duties to
perform about it, and no responsibilities to bear
RS to the right or wrong of it. Each event,
touching the extension, contraction, or con
trol of this institution, as it has presented itself,
has added to the mutual exasperation and strife
between the North and the South, until men
have become convinced that to have peace, as
to all things else, the North and the South must
be completely separated as to this institution
of slavery. From- 1820 to 1845 we - had com
parative peace, except only the agitation kept
up by a small band of Aholitiouiets, in the
. North, who wrote and harangued against colo
nization, and in favor of immediate and uncon
ditional emancipation of African staves every
where. But the annexation- of Texas—they
say that she will need annexing again • soon—
the consequent war with vexico, and the ac
quisition of new territorf; renewed the strife
in. Congress once more; and by 1850 the coun
try witnessed a scene not entirely dissimilar to
that which now surrounds us. The first attempt
at adjustment was: that of the Senator from
-Illinois, [Mr. Dovexas,] on the basis of the plan
which had given. the :mink,* peace In 1820;
but it is a matter of history that this proposi
:tion was - voted against by the northern members
of both branches of Congress, with fewexcep
tionst and defeated. The - anti-elavery, men
opposed its adoption in 1820; resisted its ex
tension to the Pacific ocean in .1848 :- and . con
tended against its repeal in 1854. This means
of adjustment being rejected, another was
absolutely necessary ; and . the compromise
measures of 1850 were the offspring of- the
wisest heads and the purest hearts in the land.
But the peace that followed: was brief. The
legislation of 1854. in. some measure renewed
the excitement ; and the cotemporaneous organ
ization of a sectional, anti-slavery party,' since
known as the. Republican party, gave- embodi
ment .and force to the new agitation. •Next
name 'the struggle - between - the North , and the
'South- for -ascendancy :in - -Kansas, With its
countless excesses, outrages, usurpations,-sedi
tious: and crimes ; next the struggle about the
admission of the State of Kansas; aad-in 1858
came the era of the dogma of an "irrepressible
conflict" between the institutions of the States,
enunciated by the President elect, - Mr. Lincoln,
and the distinguised Senator from -New. York, -
[Mr. SEWARD.] Then followed the John Brown
raid in the State of Virginia; and next the
developments of the mischievous - doctrines of
the Helper-book, endorsed by sixty-nine mem
bers of Congress ; and the vote of sixty Repub
lican members of Congress for the Blake reso
lution, to say nothing of the unjust and highly
offensive attack made on southern men and
southern institutions, in this body, by the Sen
ator from Massachusetts, LMr. SUMNE R.] Since
then the sectional party of whose origin I have
' spoken, have carried the elections in the North
like a tornado ; and now their President elect,
with the dogmas of his party as his guide, is
awaiting the 4th of March to take possession
of the Government; and though a -million of
men more voted against than for him,he is
constitutionally elected , and must hold he of-
The southern people, to .a great extent, be
lieve that those dogmas are to beearried out by
the incoming Administration, and that they are
inconsistent with the contititutional rights of
the people of fifteen of the sovereign States of
the Union ; that those fifteen States are to be
deprived of their just rights under the Consti
tution, and thereby rendered less than equals
in the Confederacy, which constitutes, in their
opinion, a degree of dishonor and humiliation
to which they will not submit, preferring the
dissolution of the Union, and some say. .even
civil war, pestilence and famine. South Caro
lina already denies her.allegiance to the United
States; and Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and
Georgia have also in solemn convention de
clared their determination to throw off their
allegiance to this Government. and resist its
authority; and the ten vacant seats on this
side tell the story of the progress of the revo
lution in terms more significant than any I can
employ. Meanwhile, mutual jealousy, discord
and strife are inflaming the whole land. So
stand parties arrayed, and so stand the affairs
of our distracted country at this hour.
Our mission—a holy and sacred one—is to
avert the impending calamities. Our task is to
perpetuate the institutions left us by the fath
ers, Are we equal to it ? Can it be performed ?
Will it be performed? What sacrifices will it
require? Must countless treasure be expended,
and rivers of blood be shed ? No, sir
.; none of
these things; none of the priceless sacrifices
made for its establishment are necessary—
none, sir. It only requires that opinion, party
and prejudice should be mutually abandoned
to attain the priceless end. No man honor's or
conscience need be harmed in this sacred work.
I have previously declared the opinion that
the proper and safe mode of doing this, could
that be brought about with suMmynt prompti
tude to meet the exigencies of the times, would
be a convention of the States—rmean all the
States—to Meet as our fathers met in Phila
delphia in 1787. A body thus constituted
would reflect the real sentiments of the people,
and the cool judgment and patriotism of the
land ; and I cannot doubt that the result would
be the adoption of new bonds of Union, under
which all the States could live for many gene
rations in harmony. if not till the end of time.
But the crisis is upon us ; the exigencies ad
mit of no delay. The dissatisfied States demand
immediate assurance of justice and equality
within the Union, and the, return of good will
and fraternity among the people, else they se
parate at once, and possibly forever, from the
Government of the United States, whatever the
hazards or sacrifices may be. Action—prompt
action and thorough, is imperatively demanded
on all sides, The proposition of the Senator
from Kentucky to tato the,sense. of the people
immediately.on measures of adjustment, which,
it is believed, would arrest the progress of dis
solution, and ultimately restore peace and good
Will, is, to .my mind, the most auspicious step
we can take, I am of those:: who believe his
.measures will be accepted by the northern peo
ple, whatever the politicians. may say or. do to
the contrary; and wb,y should they sot he sob
mittsd ? Why should we not make atleast this
effort 19 save the .Union tin God's name, are
HA_RRISBURG, PA., FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 1861.
we to stand idly by and see this great Govern
ment broken into fragments, and possibly the
whole nation plunged into an internecine war?
If there be not statesmanship, love of country,
magnanimity, and justice enough in Congress
to save the Government, let us say so to the
people, and call upon them to come to the res
cue. But why should any man object to the
reference of this question to the popular will
in the several States; or who will say that he
will not obey that will, whatever it may be ?
Certainly no Senator will assume ground so
untenable. I can readily see why Senators
might be unwilling to accept these propositions
for the people ; but I can see no just reason for
refusing the people the opportunity to accept
them for themselves and for their repreSenta
tives. Does any man doubt the intelligence
and .patriotism of the people; or will anyone
say he does not seek the counsel and advice of
his constituents in these times of trouble ? It.
seems to me that Senators on the other side,
whether the propositions of the Senator from
Kentucky or those proposed by myself, be ac
ceptable or not, should not inffitate to trust
them to the people. lam quite sure, under
similar circumstances, I should he very willing
to take and abide the judgment of those I rep
resent. Were it the question of adopting the
resolutions as amendments to the Constitution,
to be referred to the States for retiftention,
members might well insist onshaiting just such
propositions as met s tkeitsown judgment; but
if they believe any measure of peace necessary,
•I cannot see why they should refuse to refer
the , propositions to the people, although they
themselves might be unwilling to accept them.
This may be called an extraordinary step; it
may be said it is irregular ; that it is without
warrant in the Constitution. My answer to all
this is, that the times are irregular; the nature
of the case requires extraordinary measures;
and certainly there is nothing in the Constitu
tion denying the right to Congress to submit
propositions to the decision of the people—the
power that created the Constitution. Did it
propose the exercise of a final and binding no
tion by. Congress', then the questions of power
and propriety might well be raised. But as it
is a proposition to consult the power that makes
constitutions, I do' not see that it can be re
garded as the exercise of a dangerous authority.
But perhaps gentlemen on the other side may
be flattering themselves with the idea that there
is no real danger to the stability of the Govern
ment, nor the peace of the nation. Or, per
b4ps, they have concluded that even if it so be
that the country is in peril, they have had no
hand iu producing that state of affairs, and
should make no sacrifices to avert the danger.
Both conclusions would be alike fallacious.—
The Union is in imminent danger of permanent
and disastrous disruption, and the country - of
civil war ; and the men on the other side have
a large share,l say much the largest share, of
the responsiility to bear. Ido not say that
the fault is all on one aide, or that either is
blameless. Were the sacred challenge invoked
in this body, "whosoever is without sin amongst
you, let him east the first stone," I should have
no fear of whizzing missiles from the other side
of the Chamber; nor do I believe there would
be many discharged from this.
As I said before, I consider the war of crim
ination and recrimination about slavery the
root of the evil that besets our country ; and
the organization of a sectional party based on
that issue, deriving its vital energies from that
question, as the effective means by which the
country has been brought to the brink of de
struction ' • and of these things I shall speak
more at length hereafter. This is my view,
expressed in no unkind spirit, and only be
cause I would impress upon Senators on the
other side, and upon the men they represent,
the duty of concession at their hands. The
proposition of the Senator from Kentucky pre
sents the means of doing this without much
sacrifice of feeling or pride or principle. It is
a proposition, so far as the territories are con
cerned, simply to divide—to give . all North of
36° 30' to the North, excluding slavery, and
to give all South of that line to the South, for
her institutions, during the territorial condi
tion ; and on either side of the line, as every
body knows, when the Territories become sov
ereign States, they can have slavery or not, as
they please' Is there any thing unreasonable
in the scheme ? Can anything be more simple
and. just? It involves no dishonor, and the
sacrifice of no admitted right, nor does it ex
tend slavery one foot, or add one slave to the
number now in bondage. It is an adjustment
eu . terms that must commend themselves to all
frir-minded men. We cannot agree about the
management of this joint estate. We have
kept up a. protracted and angry controversy
about its management; and the Senator from
Kentucky proposes to divide it on the parallel
of 36° 30 1 , giving the free States about nine
hundred thousand square miles, and the slave
holding States about two hundred and eighty
thousand square miles. Surely the North
should not complain of a division so generous
to her. If we were about to make a peaceable
division, no one would offer the South less, and
no umpire would award them less. But here
seems to be a peculiar sensitiveness on the
other side about the- terms to be employed in
expressing this division. Why should that be
so ? Is it not intended so be a. division in good
faith, and that each section shall have its share
during the continuance of the territorial con
dition If so, why not say so ? There is a
perfect willingness to interdict slavery on the
North side. Then why not recognize and
maintain it on the South ? Surely no honora
ble man will seek to have both bides of the bar
gain.
If it be said that by this division, according
to your doctrine, you yield theright to exclude
slavery from two hundred and eighty thousand
square miles south of the line, southern men
reply that., according to their doctrine—and,
in my judgment, the true doctrine—they yield
the right to go into nine hundred thousand
square miles north of the line. As for the ques
tion of future acquisitions, I would not stand
upon that point ; though I think it the part of
wisdom to make the settlement final. The
junior Senator from California
t iMr. LATIUM]
fears that this feature of the a justment may
restrain future acquisitions. Be it so. I think
experience is demonstrating that we have quite
as much country as we are capable of govern
ing_ But he bases his opinion on the hypoth
esis that the present state of feeling between
the North and the South is to continue, and
that as men and parties now stand arrayed, so
they are to stand for centuries to come. The
experience of the world, and especially thatof
our own. country, is against the assumption.
Could I believe this, then indeed would I despair
of the Bepublio. But I trust that the slavery
agitation will soon culminate and recede, and
that the. American people will embrace other
ideas and topics. But the North need not ob
ject to this provision.; for if ever the question
should be presented in a sectional point of. - view,
that section would have control of it, and in no
way could new domain be forced upon it,. Could
this territorial point be gained, Mr. President,
I feel. confident that. all else in the programme
would follow. The interdiction against the
right of Congress to interfere with slavery in
the places under its exclusive jurisdiotion,.and.
in this District; and against any future right to .
interfere with slavery within the States, , seems
less objectionable. • • As forthe rendition of fu-
gitive slaves, the Constitution is sufficient as
it is; and if amended at all, in my judgment, it
should impose the duty of returning fugitives
on the States as well as on Congress ; and
surely all will agree that the service of the
President should be limited to a single term,
and that the slave trade should be forever in
terdicted_
But the territorial question is the great ob
stacle in the way of peace; for it is through
that feature of the adjustment that the South
is to have that recognition of their rights and
equality necessary to relieve their honor and
allay their apprehensions. For myself, Mr.
President, I hold that the people of the south
ern States, with their slaves, have a just and
constitutional right to go into the common Ter
ritories, there to hold, use, and enjoy all pro
perty of whatsoever kind known to the laws of
the State whence they emigrated. This prin
ciple was clearly laid down by the Supreme
Court. in the case of . Dred Scott. But Ido not
rest my plea for the -South on that decision
alone. I found it on the broad principles of
equity and jtistiCe, The Territories were 'ac
quired by .the .expenditure of common blood
and treasure, and are; therefore, the common
property of all; and so long as they so remain,
if open to occupancy stall, they must be open
to all. The States are equals by the express
language of the Constitution, and that principle
of equality must prevail in the enjoyment of a
common estate. The right rests on the great
principle of equity, as old as human govern
ment, and almost as sacred as divine truth.
How palpably unjust it woulcl be for the two
great States of New York and Pennsylvania to
seize upon a large district of this common
estate, and then prescribe onerous conditions
for emigrants from the small States of New
Jersey and Delaware; and yet this is precisely
the right claimed in the Republican platform,
to wit; that the northern States have a major
ity in Congress, shall lay down the law to the
effect that the emigrant from a slaveholding
State shall not go into the common Territories
unless he leaves his slave property behind. To
my mind, Mr. President, this is the point at
which the Republican creed is fatally at fault,
and at which their gravest responsibilities
begin; and at which the work of saving the
Union must begin. Here their creed encounters
both justice and law. The justice of the case
is apparent to everybody; and the law is found
in the Dred Scott decision. In that case the
effect of an act of Congress interdicting slavery
necessarily mem and the decision is clear and
emphatic that Congress has no right to pass
such a law, and it was therefore null and void.
I will not parade the language of the court, so
often presented, and so. familiar to Senators.
But it is said that the court was divided,—
What of that, sir? A majority make the court,
and when the majority speak the law is de
clared. Congress is divided about the passage
of laws; but when the majority speak, though
that majority consists 'of one vote only, the law
is enacted, and none but a madman would for
that reason doubt its validity. Sad will be the
day, and deep. the demoralization, when men go
behind the face of the law to inquire how le
gislators were divided, and behind decisions to
see WV the judges differed, in order to find
pretexts evade or the law. But, not
withstanding this decision, it is an article of the
Republican faith, that this unconstitutional and
unjust thing shall be dune; and more; when
almost ready to grasp the power to do this
thing, you flatter yourselves that you have had
no part in imperiling the Union ; express
surprise at the clamor that is raised in the
South, and talk freely about rebellion and
treason; about the execution of the laws, and
fidelity to the Constitution, and about the chas
tisement due to the seditious and disobedient.
That is all very right and proper; but it would
be well for them to put themselves right before
they attempt to punish others. Let them take
the beam out of their own eye, and then they
will see more clearly to remove the mote out of
their brother's eye. Your members of Con
gress, with scarce an exception, are pledged to
deny to the alavehulder the right to go into the
common Territories, unless he leave his slave
property behind him, notwithstanding the
Constitution, as defined by the court., and the
equity so manifestly in his favor. Even your
President elect has said that, were he a member
of Congress, he would vote for such a law, the
decision of he court to the contrary. This is
the worst part of his record, and I regret its
existence; for he is the President elect, accord.
lug to the Constitution, and must hold the office.
My logic, Mr. President, is, that if we are for
the Constitution at all, we must sustain every
feature of it; and we must accept its meaning
at the hands of those who have the right to
expound it; .and I say further, that you might
as well discuss the principles of the Christian
religion with the infidel who denies the Bible,
as Amerioan polities with the man who will not
take the Constitution for his guide. I talk thus
plainly, because I would have men realize the
responsibilities of their teachings, and ponder
On their Consequcnces. Let them take warning
from the voice of Webster, at Capon Springs,
in 1851: "A bargain broken on one side, is
broken on all sides." A solution for the awk
ward. dilemma of the Republican party is fur
nished in the resolutions now pending before
the Senate. Will they accept relief in that
way ? Will Senators on the other side permit
the people to decide ? If not, the issue must
be with them and the constituents ; and let them
be prepared for the consequences.
The unfaithful execution of the fugitive slave
law, though at times greatly exaggerated in its
extent, is cause of grievous complaint on the
part of southern friends. It is said in extenua
tion of this wrong, that so far as State laws are
inconsistent with the Constitution, they are
null and void : and can, therefore, do no harm.
To my mind, Mr. President, this is no answer,
and no amend for the wrong. It may be some
kind of law; but it is bad morals, and enmity
rather than comity. Any and all attempts to
embarrass the execution of the Constitution is
bad faith, and betrays an unfriendly spirit, well
calculated to awaken distrust and retaliation at
the hands of the injured parties ; and I hesitate
not to say that all statutes wearing even an un
friendly appearance to the Constitution should
be promptly repealed. But some of those
statutes are manifestly in clear conflict with
the letter and spirit of the Constitution; while
others, less offensive in appearance, are liable
to be perverted into means of mischief and
wrong. For instance : the Supreme Court has
held that the owner of a fugitive slave has a
right, by virtue of the Constitution, to possess
himself of his slave wherever he can find him;
and yet nearly all the personal liberty bills in
the North punish the owner for arresting his
slave in a manner to produce
.tumult or riot.
All agree that tumult and riot should be pre
vented; but who does not know that half a
dozen of abolitionists, and an, equal number of
free negroes, can get up a riot anywhere on the
occasion of the arrest of a fugitive, and thus
give the owner penalties instead of property.
My Awn State has been arraigned on this point;
and candor requires me to say that she is not
entirely blameless. A part of her statute of
1847 nius been the Means of mischief and wrong,
and ought. to be repealed. But justice to her
requires, that I should also say; that so long as
she was left to the performance of. this duty of
returning fugitives, in her own way; there was
little, if any; cause of . complaint. - Mire .than
one hundred and fifty years ago, the provincial
authorities of Pennsyvania recognised the right
of the owner to the service of his slave ; and in
the law of 1780, abolishing slavery, she yro
vided for the return of fugitives slaves, and
manifested her high spirit of comity by provi
ding for the transit of slaves through her limits,
and for a temporary sojurn of the winters with
their slaves and servants, for a term not ex
ceeding six months. Her law of 1826 was
passed at the instance of the slaveholding State
of 'Maryland, and under the auspices of com
missioners appointed on the part of that State;
and, singularly enough, that law contains some
of the provisions complained of at this day. It
punished kidnapping, and forbade State officers
tQ execute thg fugitive slave law of 1793; but
its own provisions for (he return of fugitives
were simple and direct, and convenient of exe
cution ; and the State officers and magistrates
were required to execute it under heavy penal
ties. From that time down to IM2, when the
decision of the case of Prigg against the Com
monwealth of Pennsylvania was announced,
there was but little cause of complaint. But
that decision released State officers from all
obligations to execute the law of Congress ; and
held that the State laws on that subject were
null and void, though adopted in good faith to
secure the return of fugitive slaves ; that the
jurisdiction of the subject was not coseurrent,
but belonged exclusively to Congress, or rather
that Congress, having legislated for the execu
tion of that part of the Constitution, State legis
lation was inadmissible. It was held in addi
tion, that the owner had a perfect right to
possess himself of his fugitive without process,
and in disregard of all State statutes.
The effect of this decision was felt immedi
ately in the States of Maryland and Virginia.
It threw about the law of 1793 the utmost in
convenience of execution. In the State of
Pennsylvania, for instance, Federal process
could only be had at Pittsburg or Philadelphia,
with an intervening distance, bordering on slave
States, of four hundred miles; and, hence claim
ants of fugitives, instead of applying for pro -
ease, made arrangements for discovering and
recapturing their fugitives without process and
without trial. This was done by the establish
ment of agencies, and alleged slaves were picked
up everywhere with impunity, and carried off
without the presentation of the slightest evi.
dence that the persons were slaves, or if slaves,
that they were to be returned to their real
owners. This proceeding became exceedingly
distasteful to the people, and a subject of gen
eral clamor even among those who were most
desirous to execute the Constitution and keep
faith with the slave States. Nor, sir, will it do
to say that there are no instances in which free
negroes were carried off. As I have before
Wheeled on this floor, I know that one was
carried from my own county, well known to be
free, through the agency of a base man in a
neighboring county. The consequence of these
things was the law of 1547, enacted in pursu
ance of a very general public sentiment. This
law punishes kidnapping; and that is right.
No slave State will object to that. It relieves
State offieere *tem the duty. of executing the
law ,of Congress. That can be no subject of
complaint, because the Supreme Court says
such was the intention of the Constitution. It
denied the use of the county prisons for the
detention of fugitives during trial. After the
adoption of the fugitive slave law of 1850, this
provision was repealed, and the use of prisons
permitted to facilitate the execution of the law
of Congress. The worst feature of it in existence
at present is that which punishes the owner
who may arrest his fugitive without process
under the law, and thereby producing tumult
and riot ; and this, I say, ought to he promptly
repealed,, for the reason that it is liable to
abuse. But, sir, it is not true that there is any
want of disposition with the great mass of
people that constitute that State to observe, in
good faith, every obligation imposed upon them
by the Constitution. They intend to perform
their part. Nay, more, sir; they desire to
avoid even the appearance of wrong; and had
the State been permitted to follow her own just
policy, no man ever would have had sufficient
ground for complaint against her.
But, Mr. President, the organization of a
geographical party; that organization against
which George Washington warned his country,
was the fatal day for the Republic. I have
been in the habit of saying, sir, everywhere on
the stump, that such an organization was in
consistent with the peace of the nation ; that a
political association so hostile to the institu
tions of another section of the country that it
could have no recognition and no members in
the assaulted section, must necessarily be an
agent of alienation oltitl hostility among the
people. George Washington and Andrew Jack
son both foresaw this, and men on the other
side should have heeded their warnings. It
will not do to say that it never was intended to
be a sectional party ; that it is based on great
truths that can be and ought to be universal.
Sir, disguise it as we may, the Republican or
ganization has had, and has now, but one vital
spark of existence, and that is prejudice and
hostility to admitted rights—to the institution
of slavery—an institution recognized by the
fathers. I know, sir, it is said, in mitigation,
that they never intend to exercise any uncon
stitutional right; that its purpose is not to in
terfere with slavery in the States. But, Mr.
President, tell me when or where a Republican
meeting has been held, since the dawn of that
party, where the impression was not left, either
by its proceedings or in the language of the
orators, that in some way or other the Republi
can organization was the agency through which
slavery was to be abolished everywhere? This
was not always done directly and in plain
terms; men occupying the position of states
men dare not do this; but they would talk
about an irrepressible conflict between the local
institutions of the States. They would say
they did not expect the house to fall, but they
did expect it to become all one thing or all the
other—all slave or all free ; and who could
imagine that they intended to intimate that the
States should all become slave? Then, sir,
they would talk about hemming slavery in with
a cordon of fire, so that it might perish by its
own blasting effects.
It is idle, Mr. President, it would be unmanly
at a time like this, to close our eyes to the
manifest effects of what men have said and
done. This kind of mysterious teaching of the
Republican leaders was necessary to draw to
them the support of the old anti-slavery party
of the North. Without that support, they
could not succeed ; and they could not get that
support, without, to a greater or less extent,
identifying thernsdrets With the doctrines of
abolitionism, and of aggression upon slavery
everywhere. Now, sir, if these doctrines are
not to be carried out, why not say so? Can
not men rise above the ordinary position of
partizans, and say frankly and emphatically
that they do not intend , either by direct or in
direct means, to interfere with the rights of
the Southern States, or attempt to deny to them
perfect equality -notonly ae members of the
Confederacy, but in the use and enjoyment of
our common Territories ? Let the President
elect say this, and the skies will brighten.—
Come, Senators," let justice be done though
the-heavens fa ll let the South have her share
of the common estate; and as sheds the weaker
-party, give her prompt and efficient guarantees
.against More ititexterened and against future
PIFUMED EVERY MORNING,
SUNDAYS ZECIIPTED,
BY 0. BARRETT & CO
Pin DAILY PATRIOT AND VISIoR will be eerved to eab
aoribers residing. in the Borough for six ospfopien mom
payable to the Clanler. Mall rubeeribers, 70111 ROL
RARE PER AMNON.
Two Weitivir will be published as heretofore, semi
weekly during the session of the Legislature, and once I
week the remainder of the year, for two dollars in ad
vance, gr goo dollars at the expiration of the year:
Connected with this entablishmeat is an eatenalve
JOB OFFICE, containing a variety of plain and fancy
type, unequalled by any establishment in the interior of
the State, for which the patronage of the public la or
(kited.
NO. 123
aggression, as far as that can be done ;' and we
shall have peace again. Without it, without
concesaion and compromise, our destiny is
ia
cvitable—,dissolution, civil war, and anarchy
are before us.
To my own mind, Mr. President, a still
greater source of evil, of alienation, and hos
tility, than all these, is the habit which prevails
in the North of branding slavery and slave
holders with opprobrious epithets, and denoun
cing slaveholaers as barbarians and criminals,
for doing that which it was agreed they might
do. This is the exhaustless fountain from
which flow the bitter waters of discord, which
are poisoning all the channels of intercourse,
commercial, political, and social, between the
northern and the southern States, wielding an
influence more poisonous and blighting than
the shades of the deadly upas. Southern men,
from notions of pride and dignity, give less
prominence to this idea; but no man who has
associated with them as I have, could fail to
discover its effect upon their feelings. A south
ern man, once a member of this body, but not
now here, because his State claims to be out of
the Union touchingly remarked to me on this
floor : " Zook at our case ; look at my State,"
said he ; " the present generation there have
had nothing to do with establishing slavery;
we inherited it; we believe it to be right; we do
just what it was agreed we might do at the time
the Confederacy was made, and what the north
ern States were mainly doing at that time ; and
yet, sir, for doing this thing, we find ourselves
branded as barbarians, and our institution
talked about as a twin relic of barbarism and
polygamy, and we as men favoring a lower
order of civilization than that enjoyed in the
North, and as living in the daily practice of
oppression and wrong. Now, eir,' said be,
" I care little about your territorial question ;
we have a clear constitutional right in the
Territories, and it ought to be recognized, but
it is not a valuable right; nor have I any fear
of violence at the hands of northern people ;
with me it is the wear and tear of feeling; it is
the attempt at humiliation and inequality in
thi Government that has alienated Me. I won/4
rather have," said he, "relations with any other
men on the face of the earth, than with those
claiming to be my brethren and part of. the
same common Government, who thus outrage
my feelings and estimate me politically and
morally as beneath their position."
Unhappily, Mr. President, this feeling is too
wide and too general. I say it is the seat of
the disease which is exhausting the vitals of
our Republic. How to remove it, God only
knows. The expression of sentiment, under
our institutions, cannot be suppressed, and can
be but slightly restrained ; and I had refetence
to this feeling mainly when I remarked, on the
11th of December, that whatever remedial were
adopted ought to be complete and final, reaching
the root of the disease, and separating.the
question of slavery entirely from popular elec
tions in the North, in order that the Palle
mind may be at rest, and that those men itho
are sincere, conscientious enemies of slavery
—for a large body of them are so—shouldfeel
themselves entirely separated from the idtiltnii-
Lion ;- that they have no connection with it ;ISO
responsibility to bear, and no duties to perform.
Thus`separated, possibly they 'would cease tlieir
aggressions on their southern friends ; or, per
haps, they would turn their attention to a wider
field, and look to the elevation of the condition
of the African in Cuba, where they could wage
war, if war they must have, without making it
upon their kindred (4 , 11 4 4 their brethren ; where
there would be no compeets to violate, and no
fraternal blood to shed; or to the still wider
field presented in the native land of the African,
and where they would find a still lower grade
of degradation. Surely, whets they shall have
occupied those fields, and elevated the native
African to the condition of the descendants of
that country in the southern States, no one will
Object to their efforts to elevate and relieve the
condition of the African slave in America.—
But it seems to me that true philanthropy and
humanity require that they should take hold of
the disease where it is worst, The skillful
physician would do this. The philanthropist
ought to exert himself in the field where suffer
ing humanity needs his aid the most. Then let
them labor to bring the African in his native
country or in Cuba up to the- condition of the
southern slave ; and when they shall halte done
that, then let them turn their attention to the
descendants of Africa in the North—the free
negroes, a degraded and suffering race, and see
what they can do for them.
Sir, I do not wish to be understood as an ad
vocate for African slavery. I am not; but I
cannot See the Ofitelty or the political or moral
evil in it that men on the other side attribute
to it. They do not intend to give the negro
political equality in this country. They will
not dare say they do ; nor do they intend him
to Kars Social equality. What then remains to
him ? Physical existence, and nothing else.
Such liberty is a delusion and a fraud—the
word of promise to the ear, to be broken to
the hope. Suppose the proposition were sub
mitted, at points in the North, where large
numbers of free negroes are found, to appoint
respectable and responsible white men as guar
dians for each family, to direct their physical
efforts for an animal existence; to see that
their labor was properly directed, so that their
earnings might be applied to the use of the
family ; to take care of the aged, and feed and
clothe the young : would that be a very cruel
proposition ? Certainly not ; and yet, stripped
of occasional abuses of the institution by the
violent separation of families, and the recog
nition of an unpleasant principle, and this is
about all there is in the institution Of slavery
in the South. It is the application of a supe
rior intellectual ability to direct the muscular
efforts of these men to secure sbsistence.
But in God's name, if this agitation is to go
on, if a party in one section of the country is
to be organized and derive its vital spark of
existence from this agitation, let us know what
is to be accomplished; what good end is to re
sult from it; what can be done for the white
or black race by it? In what possible way is
the condition of either to bo improved? Would
you make the slaves free men ? Unless you
mean this you mean nothing. If free men,
how, when and where ? You acknowledge the
restrictions of the Constitution as to the slave
States. But suppose this were removed, and
the southern people were to say, here are•our
slaves ; we set then free ; they must be elOthed
and fed ; come and take them ; then what would
you do ? Nothing, gentlemen ; absolutely :no
thing. The most abolitionized State in 'the
Union would not agree to receive her quota
of slaves in order to give them freedom--
They could not be brought North; and if such
a thing were possible, every- sane man must
know that their condition would be infinitely
worse. They would not only be slaves, but
miserable, starving, degraded slaves. As was
well remarked by the Senator from Virginia,
the other day, in tra'cing the consequences of
war between the two sections, and justly deny
ing the right and possibility of subduing the
South, if you had the South subdued, what,
would you do with the slaves ? He said, as I
say, you would have to retain them there; and
if the South were conquered provinces of the
North, the institution of slavery would have to
be maintained and the right! of priperty:in
'slaves recognized. What a hazard wo are run-