Indiana State Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 2, Indianapolis, Marion County, 21 June 1849 — Page 1

' COL. IlE.TO.VS SPEECH, (Concluitd.) And now I have arrived at a point which claims particular attention. It will be remembered by all that after the -rejection of the Texas treaty in 4 4, Tarious propositions were submitted in Congress fur her adnisioti, ami that every proposition contained some plan for dividing her into free and slave territory. Every body will remember this. Now, I do not recollect a single instance in which the constitutionality of euch propositions were disputed, or a aingle instance in which it was deemed an inu!t to the slave-holding States to see slavery excluded from any part of it. These propositions were particularly numerous in the session of 1341-5, which ended with two propositionstnacted into two alternative resolutions one to run the compromise line through the S:ate, the other to negotiate with her upon the subject. Sir. Calhoun ie!ectcd the former a full proof that neither himself, nor the majority of the two houses of Congress, nor the President of the United Sutjs, who approved their resolutions, paw anything ja .them either unconstitutional or insultin to the States, or tending to disunion. I myself made or. if th.-we proposition. It w.u to divide by a parallel of longitude. It propose!' to Texas that she should surrender to the United States all the territory west cf the 100th parallel of longitude, which was to be free soil that on the eat side to be slave soil. I I proposed to limit ßlavery by a line north and south, and that upon negotiation with Texas; and if any person wishes to know my principles about the extension of slavery west into New Mexico, they raiy see it in that proposition. I thought it right then ; and do not change my opinions of right to suit calculations or circumstances. What i more, I never beard of any body that thought I was wrong then ; and the only di fibre nee between my proposition and .Mr. Calhoun's act was, that I was in faver of limiting elavery by a line drawn north and south, and that by negotiation with the State to be affected. Mr. Calhoun divided the free and slave soil of the Slate itself by a line drawn east and west, and accordingly did so divide it ; and the Slate so stands at this day. The difference between us was the difference between a longitudinal and latitudinal line, and between taking the boundary of a State, upon negotiation with her, for the boundary between fr;e and slave coil, and running the line through the State itself. It is absurd to deny to Congress the power to legislate as it pleases upon the subject of slavery in territories; it has exercised the power, and with, the sanction of all authorities, state and federal, from the foundation to the present time, and never had it questioned until Mr. Calhoun put forth those unfortunate resolutions, from which be had to back out nnder his own mor'ifying contradictions. It is absurd to claim it for the territories. They have no form of government but that which Congress gives them, and no legislative power but that which Congress allows them. Congress governs the territory as it pleaaes, and in a way incompatible with the constitution, and of this any State that has been a territory is a complete example, arid our own as much so as any. Congress has the power to prohibit or admit slavery, and no one else. It is not in the territories ; for their governments are the creatures of Congress, and its deputies, so far as any legislative power is concerned. It is not in the States separately; and this leads to one of the grossest delusions which has grown

out of the political metaphysics of Mr. Calhoun. lie claims a right for the citizens of the slave States to remove to New Mexico aarLCal&rnia with their slave property. This is a profound error. The prop erty is in the law which creates it, and the law can not be carried an inch beyond the limits of the State which enacts it. No citizen of any State can carry any property, derived from a law of lhat State, an inch beyond the boundary line- of the State which creates it. The instant he passes that boundary, to settle with his property, it becomes subject to anoiher; law, if there is one, and is without law if there is none. This is the case with all with the northern man, with his corporations and franchises with the southern man and his slaves. This is the law of the land, and let one try it that disputes it. We, in Missouri, are well 6itua'.ed to make the experiment conveniently, and in .11 its forms. Let any one of Mr. Calhoun's followers try it, and he will soon see what becomes of bis property, his slave property. Let him remove to Iowa ; he will meet there the 8th section of the act of Congress of March Gth, 1920 the Calhonn proviso; and will in vain, invoke State rights ai.d Missouri statutes. Let him remove to TTfinoisT he will find there the Jefferson proviso, in the form of the ordinance of 1737. Let him remove to Kentucky ; the law of Kentucky takes hold of his slaves, and converts the chattel interest of the Missouri slave into real estate; for, in Kentucky, slaves are now made real estate, and placed on the footing of land, as they are in Louisiana. Let him move into Arkansas ; his chattel slave will remain chattel, but by virtue of Arkansas law, and subject to its regulation.' Finally, let him remove west, and settle in the territory of Nebraska, when it shall be created ; and the Calhoun proviso will be on him again, and his property will evaporate, thus, a citizen of Missouri cannot set out of his own State, on any one of its four sides, with his Blave property, without having its character altered, or holding it by another law ; and twice he will lose it on two sidea of his State,-on contiguous territory he will lose it under an act of Congress, which became a law under the advice and opinion of Mr. Calhoun, in his high character of cabinet minister, and assisting at a council armed with the veto power. This is the case of the Missouri citizen, and has been ever since Missouri was a State; and no one ever thought the State sovereignty insulted, or felt himself bound to dissolve the Union on account of it. No! the citizens of the States cannot carry the laws of their States with them to Oregon and California; and if they could, what a Dabei of slave law would be there! Fourteen States, each carrying a code different, in many respects, from each other; and all to be exercised by the same judges, in territories where there is no slave law. What absurdity ! No such thing can be done. The only effect of carrying slaves there would be to set thpm free. It would be in vain to invoke the constitution, and say it acknowledges property in slaves. It does so: but that is confined to States. , --- And now we arrive at substance at a practical point. Congress has the constitutional power to abolish elavery in territories; but she has no slave territory in which to exercise the power. We hate no territory but the remainder of Louisiana north and west of Missouri, that in California, New Mexico and Oregon, and that north of Wisconsin, now Minnesota. In Louisiana, north and west of us, it was abolished by Congrats in 1820. In the territory north of Wisconsin, now Minnesota, it was abolished by the Jefferson proviso of J797. In Oregon it was abolishrd by Congress in ISIS, by what you may call the Benton proviso, if you please. In New Mexico and California it was abolished by the Mexican govern ment in ls2y confirmed in 10.37, and ao-ain in 1841 Here are the decrees, the originals of which I have read in the authentic bound volumes of the Mexican laws, and which were produced in the Senate of the United Suites by Mr. Vix, of New York: ' '. - ' Translation 1, Decree of I2r. ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. - The Preident of :hm United Mexicaa State to the inhabitant of the Repobliet . Deiiine to signalize, io the- veil 1329. the anniversarv of independence, by a act cf national justice and beneficence, which may lend to the benefit and auppmt of to important s foi i which may strengthen more and more ibe pounc tranquility ? wnirh may co-or..ertt it) the igiraurtuemnt of the Republic t and whirh mar restore to an onfortur.ite portion cf it inhabitant! tbe sacred rtahta which na ture pave tbem, and tne nation protected br wise and lust lwf, in conformity to the provUions of the 30th ilicleef tn constüntir actj exercising the extraordinary power wnic ar conceited lo me, an deetrei !. Slavery is abo'i-thed in the Republic. 2. Those who until t..Jay have been otuilereJ ilaves, are consequently free. -- ,.'. 3. vvben the condition'nf the tieasnty will peimit, the ownrra ci tne suves win be inüerr.mked in tne manner which halt be provided by law. - . ; Mexico, lilh September. I S29. A. D. ' - JOSE MARIA. DE BOCA N EG R A . " Tfin!ain.3-f:iareTy i forever abtihef!. without any exception, in the who! rennhlici April a. l$T7. Colter 'mif Law and Drereea of the Gener! Congtes of the United Mexican Ftito, volume 8, naze 201 TiaB;tifn The mattet of ah ret manumitted bv the preeit Jsw or by the decree of the !5'h of September, 1S29 H.II indemriSed, fce. Collection of Laws and Decreet &e . vol. S, patt 2011 This ia the decree, and this is the act of C'n2rc?s confirming if, abolishing alivcry throughout the Mex ican l epiibiic. The constitution of 1311, does not abolish slavery, for that was done before, but prohib jr i.ituro e?iatiisnment. Ilms, there is no slavrry iiuw ju Mexico and California ; nrsd conseqnently none in any territory belonging to the united States; and consequently, nothing practical, or real, in the whole

Pnblishcd every Thursday. ' slavery question, for the people of the United States to qnarrel about. There is no slavery now by law in any territory ; and it cannot get there by law, except by act of Contrrcss; and no such act will be passed, or even asked frv. The dogma of, ri') power ip Congress to legislate upon slavery in territories, killj that pretensioo. No legal establishment of slavery in California and New Mexico is then to be looked for. That is rertain. Equally certain it will never bo established in either of them in point of fact. The people of both territories the old inhabitants are un-vnimously against it. Of tlic new emigrants, all those from Europp, Asia, Mexico, Central and South America, and all those from the non-s!avcholding part of the United States, will bo unanimously against it. There remains, then, to overbalance all this unanimous mass, only the emigrants from the slaveholding parts of the United States in itself the smallest branch of the emigration, and it divided on the question many going fur the express purpose of getting rid of slavery nnd very few fo far in love with it as to go that distance for the pleasure of having a law-suit with his own negro, nnd with the certainty of coming out second best in the contest. There is, then, n slavery at this time, cither in New Mf xico or California, in law or in fact ; and will never be either, in Jaw or in fact. What, then, is all the present uproar about ! Abstraction ! the abstract right of doing what cannot be done ! the"inu't to theovereignty of the State, where there is no insult! all abstraction! and no reality, substance, or practice in it. The Romans had a class of disputes which they called de lan caprina that is to eay, about goat'g wool ; and as the goat has no wool, th dispute was about nothing. So it is of this dispute among1 us about excluding elavery from New Mexico and California. There is nono there to exclude, and the dispute now Mging is about nothing. .The Missouri resolutions were copied from those of Calhoun; and I do not believe thcro exceeded half a dozen members in the two Houses, all told, who were in the secret, either of the origin" or design of that proceeding. They were copied from Calhoun and to see their design you must know his. His were aimed at the Union at the harmony and stahility of the Union and at the members from the slaveholding States who would not follow his lead myself especially. This makes it my duty to epeak of hiro, and to show his design in bringing forward the resolutions from which he was bo suddenly backed out in the Senate, and which some half a dozen members have succeeded in passing through the Missouri Legislature. This carries me rather far back, but I will make rapid work, and short work. Mr. Calhoun came into public li'e to be Fresidcnt of the United Stales. Tbe weird sisters, in the ßhape of the old man that taught him grammar, had whispered in bis ear thou shall b: President. Upon that oracular revelation he commenced Iiis political career, and has toiled at its fulfilment for forty years at first openly, and, it may be fairly, by putting himself at the head of all the movements which promised advancement in the public favor. In 1816 protection of domestic industry was popular : he put himself at the head of the protective policy, and went for the minimum provision the cotton 'mpuirrtum -which was the father of all the rest, and the only real. Injury to the cotton growers by suppressing for thirty yean that clays of cotton goods which was of most universal nfce, and of the largest cotton consumption the corduroys and velvets so universally worn before 1316 so .totally suppressed tinder the Calhoun minimum of that year and just beginning to'nppear nam under the tariff of 13-16. At the same time (1816.) a national bank the State banks having failed, and brought odium on the State institutions was much called for Mr. Calhoun put himself at the head of the call, and carried through the bank charter. About the same time internal' improvement, by the federal aavarnmpnt. hernmp rwiniil.Tr? be sfi?M fin ort "TVo ' 6nbject; and, in IS'ib, as Secretary at War, made an elaborate report in favor of a general system of roads and canals, pervading all parts of the. Union. In 1819-20 the Missouri controversy raged, and the whole north stood up as one man for curtailing the area of slave soil;hc took the free soil current and expunged elave soil from all the territories of the United States by, joining in the abolition of slavery in Upper' Louisiana; giving Texas to the King of Spain, and giving .the rest of Louisiana to the Indians. At the 6atne time Jackson became the favorite of the people for President: he withheld and post poned his own pretensions to the rretidency, became the advocate of Jackson, went upon his ticket, and was elected Vice President with him. But this was the end of his popular movements to pain the Presidency. He expected to succeed Jackson, and that he would only have to wait and serve eight years. That was only one year longer than Jacob had to wait and serve Laban for Rachel. But oh! the disappointments in love and politics ! Like Jacob, when ho woke up, he found it was Leah t a little magician of the north had got into the bed, and was to be Jackson's successor ! Unlike Jacob, he could not wait and serve another long eight years, and determined to clutch the prize' at once. Then carne nullification No. 1, (pretexted by that tariff of which he himself was the main author,) and that scheme for dissolving the Union' which Jackson's proclamation put dowr. The tariff failed to bear him through : a more inflam mable subject was wanted and that was found in the sensitive question of slavery. Then camo that long succession of abolition plots for blowing up slavery m the United otates, compared to which all the po pish plots in England tor blowing up the prolestant religion the gunpowder, rye-house, meal-tub, and other plots, 60 formidable in their day were tame and impotent inventions. First, there was the Lon don abolition plot of Ashbel Smith, John Andrews. and Lord Aberdeen, for lighting the train of abolition in Texas and thence running it into the United States, where it was to explode and blow all up ! and to prevent winch it became a case of "self-defence," admitting of no delay, to jerk Texas instanter, by treaty, out oi iiieir nanus, Deioro tne pii was ripesomething like jerking the fuse out oi the 1 aded bomb betöre it would explode. The treaty did not stand the jerk, nnd was broke; and the plot evapo rated without harm. Una (irecn had, been paid a thousand dollars, by the Tyler administration, ocl of the United States treasury, for bringinsr that plot from Ixmdon ; but it was money lost. Then came the World's Convention plot, also located in London, for the abolition of slavery throughout the world the U. S. inclusively, but it came up feebly, and had no run. Ihcn came the Incendiary transportation mail matter plot : and that, for a while, threatened to break up the transportation of tue mails, and to leave the two halves of the Union in a state of non-Intercourse. It ripened into, a bill for searching the mails and then expired. Then came the incendiary petitions plot : that occupied the time of Congress for Bevcral years, and considerably alarmed the country, until every body saw it was a game, performed by two seta of players, playing into each others' hands, for their own benefit at homej and getting up an agitatioa of which the public peace and the public business, was the victim. It then died out. Thus alljhe abolition plots pretexts for a second nullification failed TItey were, what the New York law reform statute abolishing law latin, interprets the writ of nt exeat to be, no go ! - ' - In the mran lime there was an epiode which will require a full history some day, but which can only bo hinted at now. to complete the picture. It hap pened that after Mr. Van Euren' election, Mr. Cal houn became a sort of a supporter of his administration ; and, upon the principle that one good turn detvps another,, expected his support for the succession. . That Involved a scheme for northern votes, There was a slave subject which presented it tho liberation or American staves by the British atithori ties in the Bahama If lands who had revolted against tri t r owners, committed murder and piracy, and car ried their master's vessels into British ports. When these enormities occurred, Mr. Calhoun took up the cause of the South with justice and vehemence, and I stood by him. When he took it into his head to bf-comc Van Buren's successor, he abnndoncd the South, and 1Tr mo and a few others alone, by the side of the ill-fated owners of the Comet, Encomium. Creole, Enterprise, and others. In his new-born zeal ihcn to please the North he shot ahead he must

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INDIANAPOLIS, alwaye be ahead beating Woodbury, Buchanan and other northern Senators .n his votes and speeches on the northern side of-the question. Some view of his maybe seen in my speech on the Ashburtun treaty : but the subject requires separate examina tion, and shall receive it ; but not now. It will be a nrious episode, and will place Mr. Calhoun i second time where he was in 18rJ- JO on the northern side f the slavery question! but only f r abrief space, Mr, Van Buren preferred to try to be his own sue- ! cessor ; and the lexas treaty having gone over with- , out makin? its author President, and the Mexican war promising a large crop of popular presidential candidates, a new political test beceme necessary ; ; '. ... J and, the tariff question being settled by the act of 81(i, a recourse to slavery and aboht on became mispensable. Hence the firebrand resolutions of 1847 a fire brand which has had the singular fate of dyng out where it was put, and of raising a conflagra tion a thousand miles off. i The design of these resolutions is now the ques tion ; and that design is apparent in the character and words of the resolutions themselves in the pre vious course .of Mr. Calhoun, which I hive just fainty sketched and in his subsequent conduct, which is yet to be exhibited. The resolutions then point directly to the subver sion or. the Union, it is their language. And for what cause 1 For a cause so absurd, and unfounded, so contradicted by his own conduct, and by the whole etion or the government from its foundation.lo the present day, that, being confronted with hisowneonuct, he has never cared to ask a vote upon his rcsoutions. . - ' ' .;. '-. ; . 1 have no new opinions to express .about the'desijjn of those resolutions. 'I cave my opinion of them at the time they weie introduced, and in rxany ways, and among the rest in a letter to the peoplo of Oregon, and another to the people of Howard county. The people of Oregon had formed a provisional gov ernment, and inserted in their articles of government fundamental act, fur the prohibition of slavery, co pied from the Jefferson proviso of 1787. The House of Representatives had passed a bill, session of 46 -'17, to establish a territorial government for Oregon, sanctioning their articles of trovernment with the proviso against slavery in it. This bill was defeated n the Senate just twelve days after Mr. Calhoun brooglit in his fire-brand resolutions, and in giving an account of that defeat to the people of Oregon, in a etter which was then nublished, I said : "Your fundamental art nenint that institution, copied from the ordinance of I7e7 the work of the South in the Trent day of the South, prohibiting slavery in a terri tory lar le northern than your will not be abrogated: nor is that t'ie intention of the prima mover of the amendment. Upon the record the judiciary committee of the Se trite ia the outhor of the amendment; but not so the tact. T. hat committee is only midwife lo it. lis author is the same mind that generated tho 'fire-brand resolutionti,' of which I tend you a copy ; and the amendment i its leeiiimnte derivation. Oregon is not the object. Tho ino-. rabid propagandist of lavery cannot expect to plant it on the rhores M the racihe, in the latitude oi W isconsin and Lak ol the Woods. A home agitation. for election and disunion purposes, is allihat is intended by thrusting lhat l:re-tranl question into your bill ; and, at the nextsesxion, when it is thrust in again, we-will scoure"itmt."' A home agitation for election and disunion pur poses, is what I told them the object of these resolniona was. Uass and Butler were defeated upon tests framed out of these resolutions; but the election part of the object was against all northern men, and to bring forward Mr. Calhoun himself as the Southern candidate. Failing in this obiect, to ret himself nominated, the next design of the resolutions came into play; and this brinss me to the meetinrr of southern members of Congress, got up and conducted by Mr. Calhoun. It Was a meeting with closed doors every citizen, not an actual member from a slaveholding State, was excluded even Mr. Bibb, of T . i r ci. i ? j.niucjijr, a wtnej-senator, pdo wiiT-KajijmrceQ -qui under the soeciol decision of iTr. Calhoun himself. Members came upon invitation. I was not invited, and would not have gone if I had been. uen. Houston was not invited, but went without invitation; and moved the opening of the doors to the public which was voted down. I have been told that disunion was expressly discussed : and that would seem to flow, as a regular consequence, from the fundamental proposition of the original address, drawn up by Mr. 'Cal houn, and assimilating its importance to the declara tion of wrongs which separated the American colo nies from Great Britain, and giving a higher impor tance to the present cVisis, as going buy ortd the for mer, and involving not merely rights, but lya and property every thing the safety of the South and all. The paragraph which contained this declaration was this : "We, whose names are hereunto annexed, address you in discharge of what we believe to be a solemn duty, on the most important subject ever presented tor your con sideration, not excepting the declaration which separated . a . m . a a t . . a you ana inc oiner united colonies jrom the parent covmru. That invoiced your independence ; but this your all, not excepting even your sat et it. Wm allude to the contlict be tween -the two great section of the Union, growing out of a difference of feeling and opinion in reference to the relation existing between the two races, the European and African, which inhabit the southern section, and the acts of agression and encroachment to which it has led." . From this" strong language, exalting the crisis above that of the revolution, it would naturally be supposed that the remedy was to be the same; and so it was understood by many, and the words struck out The same conclusion would seem naturally to result from a concluding part of the address, in which una nitnity was invoked, consequences disregarded, the Union treated as hypothetically worso than useless, called a sword to assault, and not a shield to defend. and in which it was left to the North td count its value. This is the paragraph which contained these expressions . "As the assailed, you would stand justified by all laws human and divine, in repelling a blow so dangerous without looking to consequences, and resort to all means necessary for lhat purpose. Your assnilnnts, and not you, would be responsible for consequences. Tit wouh le fur them, and not for you, to count the value of tit Union. Without your rights, it would be worse than useless a ticord- to assault, and not a shield to defend you." The most significant of these phrases were struck out, doubtless because the'y more than squinted in fact looked straight at disunion. " The striking oat of these passages, shows that "the majority of the meeting dissented from 'Mr. Calhoun's views, and caused to be exdunced from his address the anti union passages. The majority were doubtless in fa vor of preserving the Union : but that isnotthet.res ent inquiry. The present inquiry is into Mr. Cal houn's designs his design in his resolutions of Feb ruary, 1847; and. everything that occurred in the meeting, and especially the passages expunged from his address, show that his deliberate design was wha his resolutions hypothetically imported the subver sion of the Union. The paragraph assimilating the condition of the South in relation to the North, to that of the colonies at the declaration of independ ence, was awfully eijrnificant, ar.d dreadfully false No wonder it was expunged. Compnre the list of grievances which he drew up, and which constitute the staple of his address that was published com pare this with the list of grievances against Great Britain, drawn by Mr. Jefferson and prefixed to the declaration of independence and then see what truth there was in Mr. Calhoun's reckless comparison. Ac cording to his assertion the southern grievances were not only equal, but greater than those enumerated by Mr. Jefferson. The declaration of independence is in every house ; but there is another place where the lis? Is most perfect the preamble to the constitution of Virginia also 'drawn by Mr. Jefferson, and where 'an item suppressed in the national declaration of independence, to gratify some extreme soul hern .friends, was retained in all its vigor by his native State," That item was thii : "By prompting our negroes to rise in arms among us those very negroes, whom, by an inhuman uso of his negative, he hath refused us permission to exclude by law." What a contrast ! The king's refusal to authorize tho exclusion of Uvea from Virginia ; then one of the causes of separation, inserted in her declaration of wrongs, prefixed to her constitution the nominal exclusion by law of sla very from a territory where it is not, nnd cann't be, . e e . .i a now a cause oi separation oi ins souuicrn iro.n me

JUNE 21, 1819. northern States ! Surely tho. Father rf hisrountry had, in his nrnd's eye, this address of Mr. Calhoun when, in his farwell to his children, he warned them orrainst .tbe misrepresentations of designing men who, for their own ends, would raise up sectional differences for tho purpose of alienating one part of j the Union from another. His pn-pheti vision foresaw the present state of things when he wrote this pararrra nh : - "In contemplating the caunes which may disturb our tinton, n occur, as a matter or serious concern, that any 6round 8,"uld have been furnished lor characteriainjr, Parl'es bJ geographical discriminations, northern and 3n",:',T'c "u w?a a.es,?"'n;.mcn mr andMVflr In rrr hAlisT ilmt liier im runt rtiffAe ence oi local interests and views. One of the expcdi. ' ents of party, to acquire influence within particular dis tricts,' is to misrepresent the opinions -and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much qgainsl the jealousies and heart-burnings ' which spring from these misrtpreiei)tntioos : they' lend to render alien to each otl-r those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection ' This malediction oi the Father of Jiis country falls upon Calhoun falls upon the twenty years promoter of hatred and alienation between the north and the south. From thn . faHnesj of the heart,' the mouth speaketh ! and for twenty years the mouth of Calhoun has . poured forth-' the .language of disunion. Surely the Holy Scriptures are right : and deadly "enmity to the Union tnnst be in lhat heart from which its death knell is daily sounded. Mr. Calhonn is balked in his mode rf proceeding. Ie finds a difficulty in the first step. The experience of the fjrst nullification has convinced h'm that one State, and that a small one is too narrow a. foundation to build upon. He needs a broader foundation, and ever since the Texas annexation treaty of 1844, he has mancevred tor a southern convention, m order lo unite all the southern States under his control. He wants convention. .He is great upon a smsll body where he can work upon individuals, in detail, and by units. . He is great then. A southern convention was bis plan at the rejection of the Texas treaty of 3-11: 1 contributed to break up that plan. At the passing of the Oregon bill in the summer of 1814, he led for the convention a?a in ; and a subscription paper was cautiously circulated in the House of Representatives for signatures. It was "no go." But et subscribers were got, and the paper was sup pressed. This brings us to the last winter's work the meeting convoked of members of Congress from the Biaveholding States. Its object had been stated. and I do not repeat it. I only name it as a part of the machinery for getting up a southern convention t was in fact a sort of a southern convention itself a caucus convention intended to p-re tho way for the real convention, and to call it. It was intended to combine whigs and democrats, and bring the whole under the control of the head contriver. It was a failure. The whigs hauled off from it; and only a pari of the democracy remained, and many of them for innocent,and laudable purposes. Nothinjj came from this Congress convention but an emaculated addrees, and deprived of the venom in its head, and of the .sting, in its tail, and proposing nothing. The contrivance for tho southern convention had failed again : and his last resource was in Swite legisla tures, and county meetings. The fire braod resolu tions were to be adopted in State legislatures, and county meetings got up to stimulate the people. I omit other States. The resolutions were adopted in Missouri immediately after the failure of the Con gress caucus, and after the publication of the address about as soon as they could be known. The resoutions bad laid in a torpid state all the winter, lhey had slept during the time they should hare leen awake, and in my bands at Washington, if they were intended tor my guidance. They were passed after Congress adjourned; and the county meetings imme diately started. This was in accordance to the practice elsewhere; and, -if they still go on, should confiTm" To "Accomac,'vvhTch Itava " n t-laafctlba Joeril-Xif . doing a wronjr thing in the right way. They pro pose a convention of the State, to be called at a spe cial session of the general assembly, to decide funda mentally on the course of action. That, at least, is consulting the people fairly, and ffivin? them a. chance to decide understanding. This is their re solution : uResolved, That the danger of the State, and the safe ty and welfare of the people of Virginia, call for a con vention, to be assembled as soon as the legislature can pass a bill for that purpose, to determine upon the whole question of encroachment by the Federal Government, and by the "Free Soil" States and the people of the north, on the institution of slavery in the States, Territories, and Districts of the United Slates; that it is full lime for the State to decide what will be its action final ly, on this subject ; and to inform its citizens and sub jects whsiher they will be authorized to reaist, if they are required by federal legisla'inn to submit to the oppression of a majority in Congress, and that a State Con vention, organized according lo law, cau best settle tne rule of conduct for the citizen." The Accomac meeting reports its proceedings to Mr. Calhoun; and that is rieht again. He is the chief of the movement, and hia adjuncts should re port to him. I deem it most unfortunate that the General Assembly of Misiouri should have adopted Mr. Calhoun's resolutions. I am certain not six members of the body had the scienter of their origin and design, or meant harm to the country or myself. But that is no impediment to their evil effect. J hey are the act of the General Assembly. Upon the re cord, they are the will of the State. Abroad, they are the pledge of the State to back Mr. Calhoun in his designs to put the State under his lead and to stop my opposition to his mad career. And, although I know that the event will deceive his hopes, yet the mischief will be done in the fatal encouragement be will receive, before another General Assembly can correct the error. ' I consider my proposition the one with which I commenced my speech now made good, namely. that the resolutions of the General Assembly of which I complain, are copied from those of Mr. Calhoun that to understand their design, you must un derstand his design and that, from the words of his own resolution, and from his conduct for twenty years past, the subversion of the Union is intended. In the execution of this design I cannot be on instrument, nor can I believe that the' people, or the mass of the General Assembly wish it ; and I deem it right to have a full understanding with my constituents on tho whole matter.I theref1 'e appeal 'from the instructions I have received, b'.cjnse they are in conflict with instructions already received and obeyed because they did not emanateLfrom any known desire, or .understood will, of the perple because they contatn unconstitutional expoeitlooa of tho constitution which I am sworn to support because they require mo to promote disunion because they pledge the State to co-operate with other States in eventual civil war because they are copied from resolutions hatched tor great mischief, which I have a right to oppose, and did oppose in my place or Senator in the Senate of the United States. and which I cannot cease to oppose without personal disgrace and oßicial dereliction of public duty and because I think it due to the people to give them an opportunity to consider of proceedings so gravely af fecting them, and on which they have not been con suited. I appeal to the people the whole body of the peo. nie. It is a question above party: and should be kept above it. . I mean to keep it there And now I have a secret to tell, in relation to these resolutions, which I have puarded lonjr enough. I m&tkcd their first appearance in tho General Assem bly, knew their ori2ia and design, and determined to let them go on. It so happens that there arc a few citizens in this State, successors to otliers who have passed away, and who are denominated in the Acco ran c resolutions, adjuncts to Mr. Calhoun. The de nomination is appropriate. Aeiunct ti.nclis!i) is from ad and' j uveitis, (Latin) and signifies joined to; which this set of citizens seem to be, both in soul and body, with respect to their southern leader. These few are in a state of permanent conspiracy against me, either on their own account, or that, of their leading friend a! the South," or both, and hatch a perpetual succession of plo?s against rrr. Tp go no further back, I referto the summer of 164 l, and the plot on tho Texas annexation question, which Z will call the jews-harp plot, in consideration of the music which was to be then made upon that instrument, and

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to discriminate it from others. The plot t-howed its head, but hid itself afterwards. It failed, and its contrivers went back into their perpetual state of incubation. When the Calhoun resolutions were moved in theGerera! Aesembly, and that was at the commencement of the session, I saw that a new plot was hatching, and determined to let it quit the shell. I knew that if I gave a hint of what they were about if I had communicated the tythe of what 1 have said to-day, it would have stopped the proceeding. But that would have done me no good. It would only have postponed, and changed the form of the work. I determined to let it go on, and to do nothing to alarm the operators; and forthat reason wrote not a wordnot a word on tho subject to any one of the hundred members who would tiave blown the resolutions sky high if they had known their origin and design. I did not even answer a letter from my friend who sits there (Lieut. Gov. Price.) The resolutions were introduced at the very beginning, of the pession : they lay torpid until its end. The plotters were awaiting" for the signal, from the leading friend'.' waiting the Calhoun address. The moment they got it, they acted, although it wos too lute for tho resolutions to have the effect of instructions. They were passed after Congress had adjourned, and after it must have been believed that the subject to which they relate had been disposed of; for it was notorious that the territorial government bills worein process of enactment, and in fact they only failed after midnight cn the last night of the ession, and that on disagreement between the two Houses : and their failure, on the 3d of March, was not known at Jefferson on the 7th the day of passing the resolutions. It was too late to pass the resolut ions for the purpose of instructing me how to vote at Washington. It was too late for that; but was early enough for the summer campaign at home: and, therefore, they were passed ! and now I have them. I mean the plotters; and between them, and me, henceforth and forever, a high wall and a deep ditch! and no communion, no compromise, no caucus with them. Nor does it require any boldness, on my part, to give them defiance. There are only abont a dozen of them a baker's dozen perhaps and half of them outside of the Legislature. Wo to the judges, if any 6uch there are in this work ! The children of Israel could not stand the government of judges; nor can we. Citizens! I have finished the view which I pro-' posed to take of the subjpet which has induced my appeal to the people; but there are "other matters upon which my constituents desire to hear from me, and in which desire it is light they should be gratified. " Barnburner." And what did I go to New York, for, last summer, but to use my utmost exertions to prevent Mr. VanBuren, and his friends, fror.i engaging in the Buffalo convention! I went there, that is certain. My public speeches show that I went for that object, and the newspapers, in tho interest, of those called barnburners, all assailed me for doing so, not wi:h billingsgate, and as blackguards,' but with keen reproaches for coming out of my State, contrary, te tho practice of my life, to interfere in the politics of another State, and that against those who had al ways been my friends. My answer was, lhat I came ' to use the privilege of an old friend to give my opinion that the seperate organization contemplated was wrong in principle, nnd would be injurious to those engaged in it; and, what was more, injurious to the great party to which they belonged. r Such" was the - object of my visit to New York, and such my reception. The event disappointed my hopes and expectations, and I had my trouble for my pains, and a good deal of newspaper condemnation into tfe bargain. All this was public and notorious, published in all the newspapers, and known to every body. ' There is not a man in Missouri, that does not know it. And now, what are we to think of the language applied to me! Why, that it is a most excellent thing for me. It . shows the character of the plotters, and that they will nullify nnd falsify public recorded history t to villify ' "The Wilmot Proviso." Well ! I think it is the Jeficrsonian proviso the same that Mr. Jefferson drew up for the north-western territory in 1784 which was adopted in the congress of the confederation in 1787, with the unanimous voice of the slave holding states was ratified by the Virginia General Assembly the 30th of December, 1783 which was applied by the congress of 1920 to all the upper half of Louisiana which was applied by the congress of 1343 to the Oregon territory which was reccommended for the new territories by the Missouri General Assembly, February 15th, 1817 and never attempted tobe condemned until Friday (a day of omen) the 19th of February, 1947 just four tiays after tho date of the Missouri reccommendations when Mr. Calhoun brought in his resolutions declaring it unconstitutional, iusulting to the States, and subversive of the Union. I think Mr. Jefferson, and not Davy Wilmot, was the author of this proviso, and that it should bear his name, and not Davy's. With respect to the character of the proviso, if it should be prescribed by Congress for any new territory, I think it will remain just what it has been for sixty years a constitutional provision, made in pursuance to the constitution; and that, being so made it is binding upon all law abiding citizens, and. that its resistance by force and arms, militarily, would be high treason against the United States, and punishable by death under the laws of tho land. With respect to the expediency of the act, there is no necessity for if, and there are prudential reasons why it should not be passed. California and New Mexico are now free from slavery both by law and by fact; and will forever remain free from it, both by law and ia fact. - As a general proposition unnecessary laws ought not to be passed; but if it is passed, it is an empty provision, having no practical effect .whatever.'- To make an issue against it between north and sooth, is unwjse, for it is an issue about nothing, and on the pa ft of the south an issue made for defeat, for Deleware has instructed for it; and that insures a nv-jority in the Senate for the proviso, there being already a large majority.in tbe House of Representatives instructed for it. - ,m ' But there is a stronger reason to claim forbearance. This proviso is the last card in Calhoun's hand! his last stake in the slippery game which he has been playing. ' Take that last card from him, and his game is up: bankruptcy comes upon him political bankruptcyand lie must be driven .to take the act. He will have to haul down his sign close his doors shut up shop and give in a schedule of his effects and stock in trade: and a beautiful 'schedule it will be. Let us see 6ome of the items of it a few, by way of sample. Imprimis. United Statibok charter in 1816 oppontion to It when be joined Jackson .130 recruiter for 12 yean to th Bank when he turned fint Jackon, 1834. Item. Protective tariff and eolton minimum in 1816 j and nullification and disunion for the tame in JS30. Item. General internal improvement by the federal goveinnrrent in 1S23 denial cf the whoU power afteiwaid and dmUsion of half the power at the Memphis convention.. ' Item. Solemn wiii ten opinion in Mr. Monroe 'i cabinet ia f. vor of the- power of Cone' t abolih alavery in (ertitolies, and in favor of the exercise of that power over thewho of Upper LouUiana not to and west of Missouri, together with the reaolulioni in (he Senate of the United States in 1S47, denjlnf that power In toto:Nola. bene; The wiitten opinion if lost or mislaid, bat iti existence can be proved, and ihtt is good both in law and equity. " Item. Opinion in Mr. Mouroe'a cabinet in 1S19, in favor of giving away Texat when wc rwmersed her, and the London abolition plot invented aftei waid to get up a tUvery agitation for political purpose in getting her back. Item. Alt tbe abolition plot invented for ten years and charred upon Lotd Abetdrea, the Woi Id's Convention, incendiary petition, and incendiaiy corarwioicaji s through the mail. Hem. Tbe diplomatic correspondence wiih foieign eovetumentf on the ait t ject of slavery while Secietaiy of Slata under (or over) Mr. Tyler, and e?jcilly the autograph letter cf 40 foolep page to the Kh'g of the French, to iod -e-trinata him in the new and ublirne science of ncgro-ology. Item. Speeches and resolutions against the conduct of Girat Britain in piolecting and Iibeiating slaves guilty of I iiacy and murder on bran) American abipi, going fiom one poit of the United States to another, and aVmand for ledirt and Mjbequent contradiction of all auch speeches and resolution, at tbe Astiburtou tieaty. Item. New mode of amending the Constitution of the Uric4 States on the siihjpct of internal imj roremcut, by making inland aca outof a liver and three Slate invented ai is- Mrmphi Convention; Jtim. Ofpoi'ion to the highway of naii ns between St. Louis and San Franci-co, becau pait of it will bae tj go thiough free ott and bcaidr, whrn the Union ia dissolved, the read will be on the wrong side of Hie line. Utm. Tbo boii ci of 3,010 followers itiewtd along my

political path since tbe first cotn r.eucement of cullificaliaa and disunion ia 1S30. Hem. The aimy of political martyrs preparing to match t tbe Southern Cotirention, preceded by the foilom hope fiora Missouri, and barin f ;r its baooer the Accomac retolution. Drive him to the schedule, and tho country will have peace ! . ily opinion-." They are wanted. Heretofore the public acts of public men have 6tood for their opinions; it has been only the new men, unknown by their acts, that have been subjected to political catechism. Ttiir y years, almost, I have been in the. Senate; and during that time have 'rays been a voter, and often a speaker on this subject of elavery ; and commenced with it in my own State. I was politically born out of a ßlave agitation out of the Tvlipsouri restriction controversy, aud have acted an op;n part on it from the time it began to the present day. Bly writings had some influence on the formation of the constitution in this State. They were pretty well known then, though forgotten now. They contributed to keep off restriction, and to insert the clause in the constitution for the sanction of slavery. I urged the putting it in the constitution, for the express purpose of giving security to property, and preventing agitation. I wanted peace from the question

at home, and contributed to provide for it, by contrib uting to put that clause in the constitution ; and now it is hard that we should have an agitation imwrted, or transported upon us, to harass us about slavery, when we have taken Euch care to keep out agitation. My votes in Congress have been consistent with my conduct at home non-interference, no agitation security to property and tranquility to the people. In thirty veara I have not given a vote that has been complained of. I have voted thirty years, avoiding all extremes, and giving satisfaction. Tbe old generation, and the generation that has been borne during Ikat time, ought to consider this, no far as to let it stand as the evidence of my opinions. But it will not do. Finding nothing in the past to condemn,some people must go into futurity, to see if anything cau be found there I and even into my bosom, to 6ee' if anythinjr is hid there, winch can be condemned. Very good ; they chall know my opinion. And first, they may see them in my public acts in my proposals for the admission of Texas, five years ago, in which I proposed td limit the western extension of slavery by a longitudinal line, I believe the lOpdth degree of west longitude next in rny votes upon th Oregon bill, in which I opposed the introduction of ßlavery there and, again in my letter to the people of Oregon, in whxh I declared mycelf to be no propagandist of slavery. These were public acts. Cut you want public declarations of personal sentiments; very good ; you shall have them. My personal sentiments, then, are against the institution of slavery, and agfinst its introduction into places in which it does not exist. If there was no slavery in Missouri to-day, I ßhould oppose its coming in; if thera was none in the United States, I should oppose its coming into the United States; as there is none iu New Mexico or California, I am against sending it to those territories, and could not vote for euch a measure: a declaration which costs me but little, the whole dispute now being about the abstract right of carrying slaves there without the exercise of the tight. No one asks for a law for the exercise of the right, and cannot ask it in the face of fhe dogma which denies the power to grant it. States do as they please. These are my principles, and they reduce the difference between Mr. Calhoun and myself to the difference between refusing and not asking. And for this the Union is to be subverted ! Ob! metaphysics! political metaphysics! far better stick to the innocent busioees- of amending the constitution by pulling three Slates and a river together. If any one wishes to know still more about my i principles on slavery, I will give him a reference: he may find them in Tucker's edition of Blackatone'a Commentaries, . (appendix to the second volume,) where I imbibed them forty-four years ago, when a studenfet law, and have held fast to them ever since II but the remedy; and the difficulty of that is one of the evils itself, of ßlavery, and one of the arguments against one set of people putting it upon another, and a distant set cf people, and especially while they are lifting their imploring hands agiinst it. . ' To finish this personal exposition, I have to say that my profession and conduct no unusual thing with frail hnmanity Co cot agree. I hbb born li the inheritance of slave.", and have never been without ihern I have bought some, but only on their own entreaty ,ändto' 'save them from execution sales; I have sold some, but only for misconduct. I have had two taken from me by the abolitionists, anu never inquired after them, and liberated a third who would not go with them. I have slaves now in Kentucky, who were elevated to the dignity of real estate, by being moved from Missouri to Kentucky; and will have to descend next fall to the low degree of a chattel interest, in spite of the laws of Kentucky, when I shall remove them back to Missouri. And I hava slaves in Washington City perhaps the only member of Congress that has any there and am not the least afraid that Congress will pass any law to affect this property either there or here. I have mrde no slave speeches in Congress, and do not mean lo make them. Property is timid, and b'avo property above all. It is not right to disturb the quietude of the owner to harass him with groundless apprehensions. It is a pnvnte wrong to disturo a single individual, by making him believe, untruly, . l l . : : i . u - tnni nis property is insecure, xi uocuiue u puutic evil to disturb a whole community. It creates a gen eral uneasiness, generates animosities, deranges busi ness, and often leads to hasty and improvident legislation. I have seen no danger to the slave property of any State in this Union by the action of Congress, and cannot contribute to aiarm the couDtry by en gaging in discussions which assert or imply danger. Hut I tiave a6tili higher reason tor not engaging in these discussions. We are a republic the head of that form of government and owe a great example to a struggling and agonized world. All the Ameri can States of Spanish orign, in spite of the difference of religion, language, manners, customs, nave imi tated our example. L.urope is now attempting to imitate it. Liberty is now struggling in ancient empires, and her votaries are looking to us for the exemplification of the blessings of- which ehe is in snafch, and for an argument in favor of her efforts; what do they see. 7 wrangling and strife, and bitter denunciations, and threats of separation. They eee a quarrel about slavery! to them a strange and in comprehensible cause of quarrel. They see slavery and disunion coupled in one eternal wrangle, lhey see us almost in a state of disorginization legisla tion paralvzcd distant territories left without gov ernment insult, violence, outrrge on the floors of Congress disunion threatened. Their hearts aro chilled at thia sad spectacle; their enemies rejoice at it: and by every mail ship that leaves our shores the representatives of the crowned heads of Europe send forth the record of our debate to encourage the enemies, and to confound the friends of freedom. France all parts of Italyeven the papal States; all parts of Germany even tho old and gloomy empire of Austria ; ell, all are struggling for liberty, and turning anxious looks to us fur aid aud succor, cot by arms, for that they know to be impossible, but for the moral aid of a grand example. Tbey look in vain. Our example is against them; and if the present struggle for liberty shall again miscarry in Europe, we may take to ourselves a large share of the blame. Once called tbe model republic by our friends, we aro now bo called in derision by our foes; and the slavery discussions and dissensions quoted as the proofs of the impracticable form cf government which we have adopted. I cannot engage in such discussions, nor do anything to depress the cause of struggling freedom throughout Europe. Nor can I disparage the work, or abuse the gift of our ancestors. Never ha there appeared upon earth a body of men who left a richer inheritance, or a nobler example to their posterity. Wisdom, modesty, decorum, fjrbearance, dignity, moderation, pervaded all their works, and characterized all their conduct. They conducted a revolution with the order of cn old established government: lhey founded a cew government with tho wisdom of s-.ges ; they administered it in their day with temperance and judgment. Theyjef.utlie admiration, and the envy vf the friends of freedom throughout the world. And are'wc, tlieir posterity, in the second generation, to spoil this rich inheritance mar this noble work -discredit this great example and throw the weight of the republic against the friends of republicanism in their deadly struggle! I cannot do It. Taught to admire the founders of cur government in my early youth, I reverence them now : t-night'to. value their work then, I worship it now: a Üoiiruor for thirty years, I cannot degrade the Senate l engaging in slavery and disunion diversions. Silence euch debate is my prayer; and if that cannot be done, I silence myself.