—■=gg^Bgßgg | " 1 jiiae—-s=g i, i m , i, mn
THE STAR OFV THE NORTH.
I.W. Wttiir ProprtoUr.] Truth aid Right—Gad aid ar Cnitry. ~ [twa 0llars par ia am
VOLUME 6.
THE STAR OF THE NORTH
It published every Thursday Morning, by
It. W. WEAVER.
011 ICE—Up stairs, in the new brick building
on the south side of Main street, third
square beluw Market.
TXRMS:— Two Dollars per annum, if paid
within six months from the time of sub
scribing ; two dollars and fifty cents if aot
paid within the year. No subscription re- \
ce.ved for a less period than six months: no :
discontinuance permitted un'il all arrearages
"are paid, unless t the option of the editor.
ALVF.RTIBEMXNTS not exceeding one square
wiH be inserted three limes for one dollar,
and twenty-five cents for each additional in
sertion. A liberal discount will be made to
those who advertise by the year.
•m il i i •
SPEECH OF
lion. Ilendrick B. Wright
On the Nebraska Bill, delivered in the House
of Congress, April 4 th 1854.
Mr. WRIGHT, of Pennsylvania, arose and
said: I had not designed, Mr. Chairman, to
say anything upon the subject of the Nebras
ka and Kansas bill. 1 bad made up my
mind to vote in favor of that bill, provided
the Clay ton amendment be rescinded, and
cot to trouble the House with any observa
tions upon it But, sir, fortunately or unfor
tunately, my disrict adjoins the one whiih
is the residence of Mr. David Wilmol, the
Mher of the Wilntot proviso, and which is
how represented by niy colleague, [Mr.
GROW ] Mr. Wilmol has been engaged du
ring the pruent week in agitating this sub
ject within* e limits of my district, and it
tnerefore become me to defend myself. I
have not risen to make a charge against any
one. lam acting upon the detensive. On
Tuesday last a large meeting, or what is
represented by the public prints to have been
a large meeting, waaAald in the city ot Car
bondale, Luzerne is a portion
of the district that to rep
resent. He made meeting,
and the first it was the
receipt of three I presented
to the House yesterday, signed by one hun
dred and four leading and prominent citi
zens of that place, asking that this bill may
become a law; so that 1 think the impress
ion made by Mr. Wilmol in tire city of Car-
Dor.daie did not come up to the expectation
of the enemies of the bill.
Mr. Chairman, as I have already said,
I here is one feature in this bill that should
be amended. I hope it will be done. I do
nol say thai ilshal. be a sine qua noa Willi me
that that provision shall be amended ; but I
know that I could nol vote for the bill with
the clause as it stands, and sustain myself in
my district, without great difficulty. I bave
lire pledge, however, ol Ihe chairman of the
Committee on Territories, that the clause, so
far as he is concerned, shall be amended.
Mr. WASHBURNK, of Illinois. What
clause is that?
Mr. WRIGHT. The clause which was
changed by the Clayton amendment. If
that clause is stricken oat, I am ready to sus
tain the bill by my vote in the House, and
before the country. 1 ant ready to sustain it
because it involves a great, and important,
and mighty principle—the principle of Slate
rights arid popular sovereignty. Upon that
foundation lam ready to stand or fall. 1
say, here, to-day. in rny place in the Amer
can Congress, that 1 would rather be stticken
down as an advocate of popular sovereignty,
then be returned again to Ibis House for hav
ing sustained a position hostile to that great
priticii'ta- Therefore, so far as regards my
return to this House, it is a matter which 1
care not. I reject such a consideration as a
natter of no earthly importance. I shall
(how this committee that there has never
been any portion of territory acquired by
this Goverumeut but through the most severe
opposition, and 1 might say, almost at the
point of the bayonet. There never has been
• Territory organized under this Govern
nent that has not met with the strongest op
position in this House. There has uever
been a State organised which, when ma
king application for admission into this Un
ion, but has met with the same opposition i
and to-morrow, If Spain ware to give us
dteds of cession of the Island of Cuba, and
her Britanio Majesty were to give us deeeds
of caaeion of Canada East and Weal, there
woold be a party that would vole against ac
cepting either, with or with or without sla
very , and if they did not vote against ac
cepting, it would be in opposition to all for
mer precedents in onr history, where the
question of organizing Territories has been
brought in issue. Ido not know why this is.
(do not know why there should be, in this
country, even a respectable party that should
be opposed to tha acquisition of territory or
tha extension of tha area of fraadom. I do
not know why it should be ao; but to it it,
and such is the undeniable fact. There is
BO disputing this fact.
On Ihe 23d of October, 1803, the Senate
bill to enable tha President of lha United
Btales to lake possession of lite territory ce
ded to the United States by France passed
this House by a vote of 89 yeas and 23 nays.
That is, after lha territory had been purchas
ed from France, comprising that great valley
of the Mississippi, of which tbo French
Minister said, when expostulating with Na
poleon Bonapart against its cession to this
country, that it bad territory sufficient to sup
ply fifty millions of human beings with al<
necessaries that the wants of man could da.
aim- After this territory had been purchas
ed and paid for by the Uniied States, either
ha money or by their bonds, on the day to
1 here relayed, them wen twenty-
BLOOMSBURG, COLUMBIA COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY. APRIL 27, 1854.
three gentlemen who voted agaitat taking
possession of it. Louisiana waa admitted
into the Union on the Blh of April, 1819.
Oc the qoeation of the admission of that
State, I find, by the reference to the printed
JonrnaJa of thie Bouse, that the vote waa 79
yeas and II nays.
On the 26tb of February, 182!, the State
of Missouri was admitted into lbs Union by
, a vote of yeas 87, nays 81. On the 13th ol
I June, 1836, the State of Michigan was ad
mitted into the Union by a vote of yaaa 133,
nays 45. On the 15tb -of June, 1836, the
State of Arkansas waa admitted into (be Un
ion by a vote of 143 yeas to 50 nays. I
have other references hers with regard to
the vote of this House, to which, however, 1
shall not direct attention, because it is not
necessary to establish the position which I
assume in iny argument. Bat I havesbown
this committe enough to inform them of the
fact that it has made no difference with re
gard to the admission of States into the Un
ion, or the organization of terrirory There
has been that steady, unyielding determina
tion on the part of the minority in Congress
generally, to resist everything which looked
towards the establishment of Territories, the
erection of new States, or the extension of
the area of freedom. We meet with the
same determination here in the bill that .has
been reported in this Congress. To-day the
argument assumes'this shape ; to morrow it
assumes another shape. But there is always
an argument, or a pretext of an argument in
opposition to the extension of territory.
I belong, Mr. Chairman, to the progress
ive party in this land. Ido not deny it. I
acknowledge it openly, and above board. I
do not conceal it. And the man who does
not belong to the progressive party of the
age, is far in the rear. The destiny of the
nation is not confined to its present limes. lis
march is onward. The feeling is fully real
ized here ; and its influence spread over the
whole globe itself.
Why, sir, the objection to Ibis bill? Why
is it that we hear agitation on all sides of us.
The gentlemen from North Carolina who
has just taken bis seat, [Mr. CUNGNAN.] has
already inlormed this committee that lie en
tenanted doubts with reference to the sin
cerity of gentlemen, because their position
changed as it became necessary to change
them in order that lliey might carry out that
hostility to the measure which would have a
tendency to defeat it. Is there any differ
eneff between this bill and the bills that have
been heretofore presented with reference to
the organization of Territories! The very
words of the sixth section of the bill that
has been reported by the Committee on Ter
ritories in the House were in the bills organ
izing Utah and New Mexico. The very
words are preserved verbatim. Ann I want
here the indulgence of tbecommiitee to te
fer them to the sixth section of ihe bill, be
cause 1 regard that as the prominent fea
ture of the compromise of 1850. The sixth
section is in these words ;
" That the legislative power of the Ter
titory shall extend to the rightful subjects 'of
legislation consistent witb the Constitution of
the United States, aud the provisions of this
act."
The Legislative power of the Territory
as regards all consistent constitutional legis
lation is vested in the people of ihe Territo
ry. And these words which 1 have referred
to, and read to the commiuee, are the very
words contained in the two bills lo which 1
have already made reference—namely Ihe
bills organizing the Territories of New Mex
ico and Ulah.
Well, it is objected, by those who are op
posed lo this bill, that there it a repeal of
the Missouri Compromise. A repeal of what
compromise? Who gave the act of 1820
the name of a compromise? Who gave the
name of compromise to an ordinary act of
legislation ? The very men called this a
compromise, which they have incessantly
opposed in Congress and out of Congress
ever since the enactment, at different limes
nnder different names, but uniform, steady,
and persevering at,ill times. And when was
that act rf 1820 ever adhered to, either by
Congress or by the people of the American
nation ? It has been a dead letter npon the
statute-book for the last thirty years. In 18.
48, when the Territory of Oregon wa* about
to be organized, tbe men who called that
measure a compromise voted against its ex
tension to the Pacific, upon lbs ground that
it was aot a compromise.
What power has this body—l speak of the
Congress ol the United Slates—to fix any
line of demaikation passing over the terri
tory of a new State, defining on which side
slavery shall or shall not be tulerated ? 1
understand that the Government ta the pro
prietor of tha public domain. It may use it
in certain ways, and make alt needlul rules
and regulations in regard to it. It may make
military roads over it. and erect military
defenses; but tbe jurisdiction of Ibe territory
in the Slates. Congress is a trustee for them
only.
The faatona ordinance of 1787, dnelared
that slavery should not exist north of the
Ohio river. The first Territorial Legislature
which met under that law, as an organized
Territory, enacted laws which provided for
the surrender of the slave lo his master, and
subjected him letbe dominion of bis will:
and that, too, within a free Territory. I bave
not the statlue-book, but I can refer this
commit'.# to it, which shows that slavery ex
isted after tha adoption of that ordinance,
north of tbe Ohio river. That ordinance
waa treated as a dead-latler, from tbe reas
on that both tha law and tha ordinance en
oroachad opoo '.ha popolu will.
The power which makes • statute ean re
peal it. The power which makes a statute
exceeding Ihe limits of tha Constitution,
makes a statute which is null and void.—
This no man will pretend to deny—lawyer
or layman.
Bat, sir, thare teat a Missouri compromise,
as Mr. Niles says in his Register, to wbi oh I
refer, but only to a simile paragraph. Mis
souri was a party to that compromise. To
tha act of 1820 neither Missouri, or any
other State or person, was a party, and there
fore it was not a compromise.
Mr. Niles says, tri hi* Weekly Register of
the date Of 3d March, 18211
"The Missouri question is at last settled,
so far as it depends upon the act of Congress.
The manner of it has not pleased either par
ty, and some express the opinion that the
Legislature of Missouri will refuse to lo ac
cept the condition, but we cannot believe
that it is possible." ■-
There was a compromise, and the Mis
souri was a party tb it. It wan when Mis
souri came here asking lo be ad .nitted as a
State. She might well have exclaimed,
though, in the terms imposed, in the lan
guage of St. Paul to the Governor of the
Roman Province, "Would that thou wert
not almost, but altogether9Bch as 1 am this
day, save these bonds."
She had upon her statute-book a law pro
hibiting the emigration of free negroes with
in her borders; and who but the people
of ihe State of Missouri was interested in
this quesiion ? She was informed by Con.
great that this feature must be siricken out
before she could be admitted. She yielded.
But, sir, she wa* humiliated before the power
of the National Government. Sis did oon
senl to abandon her own right of popular
sovereignty, and struck out this clause.—
There was a compromise—a forced compro
mise ; such a compromise as power alone
dictates to weakness—such a compromise
us the superior alor.e has the right to impose
upon die interior. But it was, nevertheless,
a compromise, because Missouri acceded
to it. Rathet than not come into the Union
at all, she consented to take the terms of the
Government: and Mr. Monroe, the then
President Of the United Smtes, issued his
proclamation, declaring that Missouri, hav
ing complied with ihe requisitions of Con
gress, a* contained in the proposition repor
ted by Mr. Clay, who was Chairman of the
Committee to which the matter was refer
red, WHS now one of the sovereign States of
the Union. There was a compromise, be
cause Missouri was a party lo it as welt as
the National Government. But there was no
compromise made previous tolhat lime ; and
what has been designated as a compromise,
was simply an act of ordinary legislation,
having no feature about it which could be
tortured into a compact of two or more pat
ties.
It has beer, denied by Statesmen in this
country lhat Congress has Ihe power even to
organize a territory. I bave read with a great
deal ol pleasure and saiitfaciiuri a very able
speech made by the honorable gentleman
of Ohio [Mr. DISNEY] during the last Con
gress upon this subject, in which he takes
the ground thai the power is not m Congress
according to the language of tha Constitu
tion, even to organize a Territory ; and the
inference be draws from the argument is,
that the power is vested in tbe people of the
Territory. That is the view I take of tbe
matter. I hold lhat the pioneers who go lo
1 a Territory have the right to settle there, and
take with them any property they may choose
and lo make their own laws, subjects, how
ever, to the constitutional restraints as to
their republican character. I ask whether
my friend from South Carolina, [Mr. RBETT,]
now sitting before me, has not just as rnuclt
right lo go into with his property
as 1 have to go there from Pennsylvania with
my properly ? Slaves in the South are prop
erty. We have what we call properly in Ihe
North, and there is no bond of mutual un
ion if I may go to the Territory of Kansas
with my property, and a southern gentle
man must at the same time be prohibited
from going tiiere with his. Where is the
mutuality of such a principle ? Partial
would be tbat legislation il Conures* should
assume ot rather usurp the power of deter
mining what shall and wnat shall not be
properly within the limits of a sovereign
State. The southern States came into the
Union originally when all the State* helJ
stave*—each a sovereign government of it
self. There was not n State in the Union in
1776 but wa* a slaveholding State. I be
lieve that I am correct in regard to that. The
Uuion was formed ; the compact was made,
and now shall it be said lhat the northern
States, after they have abolished slavery
from their statute books, blotted it out for
ever, shall, in a spirit of dictation towards
the southern States, coerce them who were
also a parly to the compact J It cannot be;
and the people of trie North , with enlarged
judgement, with the beoefit conferred on
them by common school* and education
wherever this question it presented to them
in its proper light, must come to the conclu
sion that the sensible view is tha only oue
that can be taken of any subject, either ol
morals, poltiio* or religion.
It has been sa>d that it is the friends of this
bill who have sought to agitate tbe quesiion
of slavery. 1 like to see agitation. I like
agitation, for it always resu
ure of truth. deny
the bill, or those utio the
House in tbe same shape—
its features of popular
ed with other territorial biUa I deny that tha
[^endemen^vbo^iaf^rou^r^h^bdlTaiT
Congress ate agitators. But call them so if
you please. lam willing la agitate on this
or any other question whiclislioi ta truth.—
There has never been a gram princible set
tied in the world but what has been lha re
sult ot agitation. There was great agitation
at Runnyraeda where the Ceqtmont of Eng
land summoned Ktug John ,1o meet dram,
and when they rang from him Magna Char
ta, the bill of rights, lha bnttwark ol English
liberty. There was great agitation (hare at
that time—and why! Bscaqoe lha same
principle waa involved tbqtjf now involv
ed in (he Kansas and ReSr&M biff. There
was agitation al the lime theyjtbrew the lea
overboard at Boston, and (Me was agita
tion at Faneuil Hall. And thro was agita
tion in Virginia when Patrick Henry made
that great appeal— 'as for me (ive me lib
erty, or give me death I" Tiire was agi
tation when Jackson put hieb ck upon the
Constitution, and his face ag inst the en
croachment of the Federal Government,
and when, like an old Romar as he was,
vetoed ihe United Stales Blah bill, and I
Maysville road bill there stagnation then,
but il settled a great principle And what
was the prinoiple f II waa Congress |
had no right to encroach up 4h the power
of the Slates and populai iovereignty.—
There was a land mark established by Jack
son in those two vetoes, which have done
more toward the establishment of Slate
rights in this Uuion than all giber things
which have occurred since m"foundation
ol the Government'
But Congress, in its wisdom, may assume
the power lo pass laws wiih regard to the
Territories of Kansas and Nebraska; but be
cause they do ; does ihat determine their
power to do so ? Let Congress pause and in
quuire into the constitutionality of the act
before they assert that they have the right to
legislate for the sovereign people of s free
Territory. I ean never give my assent to
such doctrine; I can never yield to a ques
tion of lhat kind, because, if there ia any
people on the face of God's earth who bave
just cause to be proud of their high and ek"
ailed po.- ilioi:, it is the peopfegif this laiitti
ami because the power is in theil hands, and
not in a superior body. Ami the moment
you say, by legislative enactment, that ques
tions ot local law can. he .Kansas
and Nebraska by Congress, and not by the
people, you destroy ihe very fundamental
principle of the Government that has been
adopted from the Revoletion down to the
present time. This is a bill of popular sov
ereignty. It is a bill under which the pion
eer who may go from my district to seek a
western home, has a right to go there, not
under the dictation of this government, but
as a free man, surrounded by the constitu
tional rights of his own State, and clothed
with the panopoly of her power; and he
who would curtail or abridge any of those
rights ol the freemen of the country, does
not in my humble opinion—and I say it
without any design to give offense—enter
tain a just conception with regard to those
principles npon which this Government is
founded.
Speaking of agitation A J feoqjd Jlfiprv.my,
desk, the other morning, the prooeedings ,of
a meeting held in the district represented
by my colleague upon tbe left, (Mr. TROUT)
and among the renolulions adopted at that
meeting, there wa* one to which I desire to
call ihe attention of the committee, to show
them in what chaste and modest language
men ia this Hall, acting under the sanctity
ot a constitutional oath, are denounced as
"traiiors" and "scoundrels." I want to
show you how we are regarded in some por
tions of our own State for standing up for
this great principle of pogajar rights and
sovereignly. 1 hold in' the pro.
ceeding ol a meeting held county of
Beaver; and I will read two of the resolu
tions as an earnest of what they all are;
"Itcsolved, That Stephen A. Douglas aud
the other demagogues in Congress, who are
favoring the proposed outrage, deserve the
execration of all ■■ fix disgra
cing their official positions by urging one
pottion of tha Union into the guilt of a breach
of faith toward another portion, lhat .would
disgrace a cnniuniiy of freebooters."
So much-for that, tbe resolution is in Mill
choice language;
" Resolved, That we will bold every Sen
ater and member of Congress from a free
Stale, who shall give countenance to this
threatened outrage upon our rights, as a trai
tor gully "f betraying the cause of Itberiy
for gold, ortell-pronioliun, or both-"
These resolutions <vsre (tossed at a meet
ing held in the only Free-Soil district in the
State ol Pannaylvmiia,fo*l t'eiievs that tha on*
represented by my colleague (Mr. TROUT)
ia the only one in the Slate where there is a
Free-Soil majority. In there resolutions
they say that Mr. Douglass is a "traitor," and
tbat every member ol Congress from a free
State, who shall "give countenance lo the
outrage," is a "traitor guilty of hetrayiog the
cume of liberty for gold, or self-promofiou,
or both.'* Is that agitation 1 Ido uot know
what more insulting ;ermt could be culled
from tbe vocabulary of the English language,
than those contained in these resolutions.— I
That insti in this House, acting nnder the
•auction of an oath, under what they regard
as a constitutional duly in reference to a great
and important question ; are not only to be
denounced us demsgogues," but as "traitors,"
and "freebooters,'' is not to be quietly endu
red. Tbe motives which impel such con
duet are badge* of a darker aga and lass en
ightsned than the present. 1 knew vary
| well that my honorable friend [Mr. TROUT]
who represents t hat dialriot had no part or
parcel in anything of this kind. I should
have referred to the resolutions if they had
bean presented from my own district, and in
the same language. I have done it only to
show to what extremes the Free-Soil party in
Pennsylvania have gone in lhair opposition
to Ibis bill.
Now I contend that was the quarter from
which agitation comes. The agitation was
certainly not commenced upon the part of
members of Congress, who present the bill
here in (be same language precisely as the
bill o rgani'zing the Territories of Utah and
New Mexico, and against which not a
murmur was heard The agitation brought
to bear against this Mil is created by its
enemies and in opposition to popular pow
er. I have heard it said a thousand limes
that the two great political parties met at
Baltimore in convention and resolved not
to agitate. I ask this committee, I ask the
nation, if the two parlies that met in Bal
timore previous to the last presidential can
vass, did uot pass resolves, that no more
territory should be organized or oo more
States should be admitted into the Union?
But these conveniions regard slavery agita
ion as a finality. They so treated it. The
moment that there is an effort made here
to establish what comes within the proper
and legitimate definition of popular right,
agitation most necessarily follow, and it
cannot be avoided. It is the best and wi
sest legislation that ever meets with the se
verest opposition. If has ever been and
will continue to be so.
I will now refer to another section of
this bill to show upon what terms this Ter
ritory shall come in as a State It is con
tained in the first section in these wotds.
" When admitted as a State or States" re
ferring to the territory of Nebraska and
j Kansas "the said Territory or any portion of
, the same shall be received |info the Union
\ with or without slavery aslheir constitution
inav prescribe at the time their admis
sion." IB
These Siaies may come Bo the Union
with or without slavery people
may have determined, formed the
constitution that is to the
admission of the Slate. HaaTiongress the
power ta say that that State shall come into
| the- Union with or without olavery f- If C<m
\ gresscau decide tha! question, then I con.
! teud that Congress can decide any olhei
j question with regard to local laws or legis
lation. But the bill provides that the ques
| lion of slavery, or ua slavery shall be vested
where it only belongs, in the popular sov.
ereignty. There il is safe. While Ido not
stop to argue the constitutionality of what is
called the Mistouri compromise—l call it
the Missouri law of 1820—I say that so far
as that is concerned, wherever it usurps the
principle of popular sovereignty il it not
bunting and lias no validity. Congress has
j not the power to legislate in regard to the
{ establishment of a line. This bill provides
- that power with regrrd to these local ques
tions shall be vested in the people ol the
Territory. There are gentlemen upon tnis
floor who say, that that privilege shall be
in ami from the people and vested some
where else. 1 ask tliem to pause and ex.
; amine the patent of iheir authority before
| they act. When has such a theory been
| regarded as orthordox in the history of the
: country? The very question that gave rise
j to the Revolution was because the English
| Government wnnld not permit the colonies
j to regulate their own local affairs. Congress
I has no more power to establish or to re
| strict slavery io a Territory or in a State
than to exercise it withiu the territory of
the Cnriadis. The very principle which is
conceded to the people of the Territory in
I this bill is ihe very principle which caused '
i the revolt of the colonies prior to 1776. It
' was contended by the colonists that they
' had a right of representation ; it was con
i tended that the intposiliou of onerous bur
' dens was placed upon them by the mother
: country ; it was ceiitende'i that they had
I lights which the mother country and the
' Government disregarded. In other words,
they were totally dependent. They had no
leature of sovereignty. Agitation, howev
er, changed the state of affairs. And this
was not the first instance wherein agitation
was attended wub good results. It was no:
either the last.
Now, sir, I said, with reference to another
pari of this bill, that there is a clause which
•tiould undoubtedly come out of it. lam
nut prepared, however, lo say it is sine qua
non with me lhat il snoiild. A large portion
ol the emigrant* who go lo all of our new
Territories aru alien* ; and 1 uiidtrsiatid thai
tliey have always been permitted, in all .the
Territories, whenever they havo filed their
declaration of intention to become citizens
of the United Stales, to participate in ihe
election*, and to lake a part in the affairs ol
Ihe Goverumeut. It ia right and proper thai
it should be so. 1 understand that this sys
tem has been pursued partly from usage and
partly bom the very necessities of the case.
Now, Mr. Chairman, there is no reason why
tha Territories of Kansas and Nebraska
should be restricted to a different rule from
lhat of the other Territories tbat bave been
hitherto admitted into the Union ; and inas
much as aliens who bad filed their declara
tion ul iriieniion to become citizens were
permitted to participate in the tormaiion of
territoral laws and in territorial elections,
the same rules should be applied lo the pres
ent organization ; and it ia extended by the
terms and provisions ol the original bill.—
How this amendment found its way into the
Senate bill, 1 am nol prepared to say. It was
iugralUKt lot so good purpooo. Of this there
can hardly be a question. Tha House bill
is free from the obnoxious feature ; end I
am fully satisfied that no territorial bill can
para the House of Representatives which
•hall exolude aliens from voting, after they
shall have taken the oath of intention. All
lha friends of the bill agree as to this.
I come now to speak, sir, of the general
features of the bill. I intend to cast my
vote for it; and I ray here, sir, that lam glad
ol the opportunity of recording my vote in
its favor. In doing so I record my vote in
favoi of a great prinoiple, which is religious
ly and politically right. I record my vote in
fuVbr of measure for extending equal rights
to all parts of this Confederacy ; in favor of
ihe right of permitting southern men, not to
have any advantages over the North, but to
have equal advantages with them. They
are entitled to il; but no more. Southern
and northern property should be alike free
to enter our Territories. To deny this, is to
restrict the sovereignly of the States, and
make them dependencies upon the General
Government.
If there is any one political privilege 1
claim as high and above all others, il is the
uutrammeled sovereignty of my own State.
Compared with this all other considerattous
are subordinate and inferior. To the Gener
al Government my Stale owes no natural or
conventional allegiance. She is no slave to
Federal power. As a party io the Federal
compact, she is bound by her covenant. To
tha terms and conditions of Ihe bond sha is
responsible, but not one inch further. Bhc
is sovereign. She is supreme. What she
has conceded to the General Government is
written. What she has reserved in hers.—
That power is in her people. The public
domain of this nation belongs, in common,
to the people of all tbe States. Congress is
tbe trustee ; but every inch of lha toil it
vested, in fee, in the Slates.
Congress may make all riMessary regula
tions over the territory as property ; the jur
isdiction of the same is in the people. The
hardy pioneer who emigrates Irom my
district, and tellies on the prairies of Kansas
or Nebraska, goes there, not aa the slave of
Federul power, but as a freeman. He goes
there not only protected in his life and his
liberty, bin in also. He renoun
ces no allegiance to the good old Common
wealth of Pennsylvania j hat in the journey
of his adventures and his trials he is her
citizen, and he walks clothed in the panoply
of her power. Her constitution and her flag
protect him. To him sha is the cloud by
dav and the pillar ol fire by night; and un
til he assumes a new position, by participa
ting in the formation of a new government,
his relations to his State are unchanged.—
Concede that Congress may intervene, and
Slate sovereignly is annihilated. It is an
insslt to talk about it. Congress legislate for
the freemen of a Territory ! When and
where did the States clothe this body with
that power ? In what section or article ol
the Constitution is it written } The dqctrine
is buried in the grave of the Capulets. Jack
son did its funeral obsequies. The veto of
the bank bill and the Maysville road bill
sealed forever and encroachment pf Federal
power upon the States. Abolition may plead
in vain for its- restoration- il cannot be ac
complished.
The firat gun of the Revolution sounded
the note of popular sovereignty ; tbe last
one, at the gates of Mexico, reechoed tbe
principle. The power of Congress to legis
late on the subject of slavery in the Territo
ries is imbecile. It is barren. She may
make all "needful rules and regulations,'
but 1 deny her jurisdiction. That belong*
of right to tbe people of the Territories; not
1 to the Federal government.
So far, sir, as my own action is concerned
in this measure of popular sovereignty and
State rights, 1 am amenable only to the one
bunJred thousand people of the twelfth oou
gressiunable district of Pennsylvania. My
political account current is with ibern ; but,
sir, as I live, I would ten thousand times
rather full the advocate of popular freedom,
than to be returned here upon the issue that ,
1 had supported a projeot of law which
aimed a blow at the constitutional power of
my State, and the natural and the unaliena
ble rights of her uili/ens. My Slate, sir, is
no provincial establishment. She does no
tribute to Coe-ar. She has a flag of her own
and she has the moral and physical power
to au-tain il. She ia a party to the general
compact, but not a slave lo it. Standing as
she does, midwap, in her geographical pos
ition, she has no sympathies with fanaticism
from the North, nor abstractions from the
South. She is under the influences of neith
er. This is why she may he called the
keystone of the arch.
Hui, sir, while I am a Pennnylranian my -
relf, and feel all llie local pride a Pennsyl
vaman should, who honors his Stale and her
institutions and laws, still I claim to be an
American citizen, in its broadest sense, and
when southern institutions areasasiled 1 will
defend them. Southern rights are as sacred
as northern, and he who would trample 011
tbeto because of power and numerical
strength, is without justification. There may
be a difference of opiuion between nothern
and southern men as to the power of Con
gress orer the Territories. But all who feel
an interest in this bill must see the absolute
necessity of making mutual ooncessious.—
Those of us from the northern Slates who
are willing logo band io hand with their
southern friends, in carrying oat the great
measure of populsr sorereignty, should be
met on mutusl ground. Mutual goodwill
can only effect our common objects. South
era meb my distinguish between tha rules
NUMBER 14
of power applioable to States and Territories.
I hold that tha lame rale applies equally to
both the States and Territories. Upon that
ground I take my stand. Upon that ground
lam ready to meat my constituents. And
on the irane as to wheaihor they are for pep,
ular freedom or oentral power, I am read Ml
meet them.
As 1 raid before, it is to me a matter if in
difference whether I am returned bare or
not. If I should be, it mutt be as • Nation
al Democrat. I base the proud satisfaction
tfest I have stood here vindicating and sus
taining (ha principle* for which our fathers
fought m the Revolution—the principle of
self-government in ail its length and breadth
If in this there is error, ihen have I offended
The question of consolidation and oeurrali
ration was fully canvassed ia 1800. The al
ien and sedition laws were repealed. Jeff,
arson triumphed, w hen first elected as Pres
ident of the United Slates, over the elder
Adams ; and from that day to the present
time there has been a studied ant! persever
ing resistance to that principle. That is tha
dociriue which we have always maintained
in Pennsylvania as one of tha great funda
ments! principles of Government. In a con
versaiion tne other day, which I had with
the honorable George M. Dallas, in the oily
of Philadelphia, he remarked that tha peo
ple of Pennsylvania was. somewhat alow In
coming to a correct conclusion as to some of
the great leading political measures of tha
day, but that, during his long experience,
he had never found the people of Penhsyl*
vania, on a great national question, wrong,
after mature deliberatiou ; and that when
the conclusion was reached, it was like lha
laws of the Medes and Persians, unchange
able. That sturdy German population of
the old Commonwealth, when they get their
ni '"ds fixed on the question of popular rights
and popular sovereignty, from their decision
there is no appeal: there is no writ of error
no certiorari lies to that court; it is firm,
fixed, and established, and ever on the side
of popular power.
I have observed with a great deal of satis
faction, that, Ihe other day, in the Senate of
Pennsylvania, when the resolution* were up
against Nebraska, there were but three in
dividuals of itie Democratic parly who vo
ted in favor of them ; and when those res
ojulions went to (Jie popular .branch, tha
House of Representatives, I find that, by a
vote ol two to one, they refused to taka
them up for consideration. That, in my
opinion, determines and settles the conrso
of policy that that State will pursue on tha
questions involved io the bill which wa
have now under discusion.
I omitted lo mention, in the forepart of
my remarks, the course pursued by gentle
men in Congress with regard to the question
of aalioual defense, and the declaration of
war by this Government. There never has
been, I Delieve, a necessity on tbe part of
the Government for a declaration of war,
but what it has been opposed by a minority
in Congress- On the vote for the declaration
ol war in 1812, the yeas were 79, the nays
49! When England had asserted the right
to search our vessels, dishonor our flag, im
press our seamen, and do other acts of vio
lenoe which according to tha laws of uation*
were just cause for war, there were forty
nine gentlemen of this House who voted a
gainst the declaration. I shall not stop to
name them, or stale to what parly they be
longed. When it became necessary lo pre
serve our national character and dignity in
reference to Ihe difficulty with the Republic
of Mexico, I find, by reference, that whan
the question came up, there were fourteen
gentlemen who voted against the declaration
of war. So it it seen that we are always di
vided, whether the question be war or peace;
whether it be the acquisition of territorial
the organization of territorial governments,
or the admission of Slates injo the Union-
There is alwav* a division tif opinion in tha
Congress of the United States.
By a reference back lo the many acts and
resolves of Congress iu regard lo these meas
ures of war, and the acqusition and organ
ization of territory, you will find, sir, no in
stance were there has been a unanimoia
vote on the part of tbe House. We cannot
expect it, if Congress abail meet here for tha
next one hundred years. Opposition will a
gain be shown whenever these questions a
rise for defending national hor.or, acquiring
or organizing territory, the admission of
Statas, or, in a ward, whenever and wherev
er the point shall be popular power on one
side and consolidation on the other. There
will be an opposition strong and vindic
tive,
Tba joint resolution to admit Texas into
the Union, approved December 29, 1845,
passed tho House of Representatives on the
16th December, 1845, by a vote of yaaa 141
nays 58. Evan in this act, sir where an in
diqwndsm Government sought to make an
alliance, and merge her former political ex
istence, there were gentlemen in CongreM
who refused to accept the proposition—re
spectable, 100, in point ef numbers. There
has been, however, oo popular evidenoe or
demonstration which would show them to
havn been in the right, and tha majority in
tba wrong.
Bui, iir, my time haa expired, and I
leave the subject, but under hope that
when tho Terriiories of Kanaae and Ne
braska shall be establish'*!, that the peo
ple who may reaide within their reapee
live limits may not be deprived, by Con
*res f of the power to make their own
lawa in their own way ; and aa to alavery
it shall be Iter them to ear whether tfcfy
will or will not tojarat# it,
~ , n