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PRICE 1011^^ CENTS. 
 
 SPEECHES 
 
 OF 
 
 • / 
 
 HOI. JOHN C. CALHOUN, 
 
 AND 
 
 HON. DANIEL WEBSTER, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MARCH, 1850. 
 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 STRINGER & TOWNSEND, 222 BROADWAY. 
 
 1850. 
 
 Hon. HENRY CLAY'S SPEECH on his Compromise Resolutions on Slavery, just published. Price 
 cents, 25 copies for $1. $3 perlOO-Uniform with th'i! 
 

 ^Itasant (Critiral unit liittbntical 93onk. 
 
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 LIVING AUTHORS OF AMERICA. 
 
 FIRST SERIES. 
 
 BY THOMAS POWELL,. 
 
 Author. OF "Living Authors of England," &c. 
 
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 In this interesting and highly amusing production, the distinctive literary 
 characteristics of the following American writers are portrayed, viz : 
 
 COOPER. 
 EMERSON. 
 WILLIS. 
 POE. 
 
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 NOTICES OF THE PRESS, 
 
 " To deal, thus, under his own name in wholesale criticism of living authors, is the 
 act of a bold and independent spirit ; there be those, who invariably attribute all 
 personal criticism, whether pro or con, to personal prejudice or favoritism. So do 
 not we; for we think that Mr. Powell has played his difficult part boldly and in- 
 dependently, and we believe that his real opinions are here set down in all honesty ; 
 and we further think that the book itself testifies to that honesty of purpose. As 
 a critic, Mr. Powell is evidently a man of very delicate and refined taste, minute 
 exceptions and drawing close definitions ; not, however, to the exclusion of broad 
 views at times. His defect, we think, as a judge, lies in his seizing at once, and too 
 strongly, on his autlior's weak point, whatever it be, and suflFering his keen per- 
 ception of that deficiency to blind him to the presence of other and counterbalancing 
 merits." — Era. 
 
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 illustrated by anecdotes of the literati, and plentifully mingled with piquant ex- 
 tracts from the writings of the authors in question. To the public generally it will 
 prove an attractive volume, for the author has been well seconded by publishers in 
 the ailmiruble style in whicii they have brouglit out the volume, the paper, print, 
 and binding, being unexceptionable." — JVeaVs Gazette. 
 
 " In these days of literary toadyism, it is really refreshing to find an author suffi- 
 ciently independent and bold to express his unbiased opinion of the mental calibre 
 of contemporary writers. Mr. Powell, is evidently of this class of independent 
 thinkers. Ami a most capital work he has presented to the American people. It 
 is a production that stamps him at once a scholar able to discern the faults and 
 peculiarities of authors, without indulging in abuse and spleen toward the literati 
 who have in the present volume c.une under his se.irching analysis and criticism. 
 The style of Mr. Powell, is exceeilingly )>iquaut and readable, and from a cursory 
 examination of the book, we are inclined to think his views of our literary men 
 honest and mainly correct." — Picaifune. 
 
 STRINGER & TOWNSEND, Publishers, 
 
 222 Broadwav, New York. 
 
 \v\' 
 
;-.\,,-. -OV/H 
 
 A D D R ^ 
 
 OF THE '^^'J^^IA - ;.'•.' '^^ 
 
 HON. JOHN c. crrro'uN 
 
 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. 
 
 [READ FOR HIM BY HON. MR. MASON, MARCH 4. 1850.] 
 
 I HAVE, Senators, believed from the first that the agitation of the subject of slavery 
 would, if not prevented by some timely and effective measure, end in disunion. Enter- 
 taining this opinion, I have, on all proper occasions, endeavored to call the attention 
 of both the two great parties which divide the country, to adopt some measure to pre- 
 Tent so great a disaster, but without success. The agitation has been permitted to pro- 
 ceed, with almost no attempt to resist it, until it has reached a period when it can no 
 longer be disguised or denied that the Union is in danger. You have thus had forced 
 upon you the greatest and the gravest question that ever can come under your con- 
 sideration. How can the Union be preserved ? 
 
 To give a satisfactory answer to this mighty question, it is indispensable to have an 
 accurate and thorough knowledge of the nature and the character of the cause by 
 which the Union is endangered. Without such knowledge it is impossible to pronounce, 
 with any certainty, by what measure it can be saved; just as it would be impossible 
 for a physican to pronounce, in the case of some dangerous disease, with any certainty, 
 by what remedy the patient could be saved, without similar knowledge of the nature 
 and character of the cause of the disease. The first question, then, presented for con- 
 sideration, in the investigation I propose, in order to obtain such knowledge, is — what 
 is it that has endangered the Union .' 
 
 To this question there can be but one answer — that the immediate cause is, the al- 
 most universal discontent which pervades all the states composing the Southern section 
 of the Union. This widely extended discontent is not of recent origin It commenced 
 with the agitation of the slavery question, and has been increasing ever since. The 
 next question is, — What has caused this wide-diffused and almost universal discontent? 
 
 It is a great mistake to suppose, as is by some, that it originated with demagogues, 
 who excited the discontent with the intention of aiding their personal advancement, 
 or with disappointed, ambitious individuals, who resorted to it as the means of raising 
 their fallen fortunes. There is no foundation for this opinion. On the contrary, all 
 the great political influences of the section were arrayed against excitement, and 
 exerted to the utmost to keep the people quiet. The great mass of the people of the 
 South were divided, as in the other section, into AVhigs and Democrats. The leaders 
 and the presses of both parties in the South were very solicitous to prevent excitement 
 and restore quiet ; because it was seen that the effects of the former would necessarily 
 tend to weaken, if not destroy, the political ties which united them with their respective 
 parties in the other section. Those who know the strength of party ties will readily 
 appreciate the immense force which this cause exerted against agitation, and in favor 
 of preserving quiet. But, as great as it was, it was not sufficiently so to prevent the 
 wide-spread discontent which now pervades the section. No ; some cause far deeper 
 and more powerful must exist to produce a discontent so wide and deep, than the ©ne 
 inferred. The question then recurs, what is the cause of this discontent .' It will be 
 found in the belief of the people of the Southern states, as prevalent as the discontent 
 itself, that they cannot remain, as things now are, consistently with honor and safety, 
 in the Union. The next question, then, to be considered, is, what has caused this be- 
 lief? 
 
 One of the causes is, undoubtedly, to be traced to the long continued agitation of the 
 slave question on the part of the North, and the many aggressions which they have 
 
made on the rights of the South, during the time. I will not enumerate them at pre- 
 sent, us it will be done hereafter in its proper place. 
 
 There is another, lying back of it, but with which this is intimately connected, that 
 may be regarded as the great and primary cause. It is to be found in the fact that the 
 equilibrium between the two sections in the government, as it stood wlien the constitu- 
 tion was ratified and the government put in action, has been destroyed. At that time, 
 there was nearly a perfect equilibrium between the two, which afforded ample means 
 to each to protect itself agaiust the aggression of the other ; but as it now stands, one 
 section has exclusive power of controlling the government, which leaves the other 
 without any adequate means of protecting itself against its encroachment and oppres- 
 sion. To place this subject distinctly before you, I have. Senators, prepared a brief 
 statistical statement, showing the relative weight of the two sections in the government, 
 under the first census of IT'JO, and the last census of 1840. 
 
 According to the former the population of the United States, including Vermont, 
 Kentucky and Tennessee, which then were in their incipient condition of becoming 
 states but were not actually admitted, amounted to 3,'J2'J,827. Of this number the 
 Northern states had 1,977,899, and the Southern 1,952,072, making a difterence of only 
 26,827 in favor of the former states. The number of states, including Vermont, Ken- 
 tucky and Tennessee, was sixteen, of wliich eight, including Vermont, belonged to the 
 Northern section, and eight, including Kentucky and Tennessee, to the Southern, mak- 
 ing an equal division of the states between the two sections, under the first census. 
 There was a small preponderance in the House of Representatives, and in the electoral 
 coUe'^e, in fovor of the Northern, owing to the fact that, according to the provisions of 
 the constitution, in estimating federal numbers five slaves count but three ; but it was 
 too small to affect sensibly the perfect equilibrium of numbers which, with that excep- 
 tion, existed at that time— a true, perfect e(iuilibrium. Such was the equality of the 
 two sections when the states composing them agreed to enter into a federal Union. 
 Since then the equilibrium between them has been greatly disturbed. 
 
 According to the last census, the aggregate population of the United States amounted 
 to 17 063 357, of which the Northern section contained 9,728,920, and the Southern 
 7 334'437i making a difference, in round numbers, of 2,400,000. The number of states 
 had increased from sixteen to twenty-si.T, making an addition of ten states. In the 
 mean time ihe position of Delaware had become doubtful, as lo which section she pro- 
 perly belon"-ed. Considering her as neutral, the Northern states will have thirteen, 
 and the Southern states twelve, making a difference in the Senate of two Senators m 
 favor of the former. According to the apportionment under the census of 1843, there_ were 
 223 members of the House of Representatives, of which the Northern states had 135, and 
 the Southern states) considering Delaware as neutral) 87 ; making a difference in favor 
 of the former in the House of Representatives, of 48; the difterence in the Senate of 
 two members added to this, gives to the North in the electoral college a majority of 50. 
 Since the census of 1840, four states have been added to the Union; Iowa, A\isconsin, 
 Florida and Texas They leave the difference in the Senate as it stood when the cen- 
 sus was taken, but add two to the side of the North in the House, making the present 
 maiority in the House, in its favor, of 50, and in the electoral college, of 52. 
 
 The result of the whole is to give the Northern section a predominance in every de- 
 partment of the government, and thus concentrate in it the two elements which consti- 
 tute the federal government— majority of states, and a majority of their population, 
 estimated in federal numbers. Whatever section concentrates the two in itself must 
 possess control of the entire government. , , , ^. ^ r ♦!,„ „„, 
 
 But we are just at the close of the sixth decade, and the commencement of the sev- 
 enth The census is to be taken this year, which must add greatly to the decided prc- 
 Donderance of the North in the House of Representatives, and in the electoral college. 
 The prospect is, also, that a great increase will be added to its present preponderance 
 durinc the period of the decade, by the addition of new states. Two territories— Ore- 
 eon and Minnesota- are already in progress, and strenuous efforts are making to bring 
 in three additional states from the territory recently conquered from Mexico, which, if 
 successful will add three other states in a short time to the Northern section, making 
 five states', and increasing its present number of states from 15 to 20, and of its Sena- 
 tors from SI) to 40. On tbe contrary, there is not a single territory in progress in the 
 Southern section, and no certainty that any additional state will bo added to it during 
 
 The^prospect then is, that the two sections in the Senate, should the efforts now made 
 to exclude the South from the ncwlv conquered territories succeed, will stand, before 
 the end of the decade, twenty Northern Slates to twelve Southern (conceding Delaware 
 as neutral ) and forty Northern Senators to twenty-four Southern. This great in- 
 crease of Senators added to the great increase of members of the House of Representa- 
 
tives, and electoral college, on the part of the North, which must take place upon the 
 next decade, will effectually r.ud eventually destroy the equilibrium which existed when 
 the government commenced. 
 
 Had this destruction been the operation of time, without the interference of govern- 
 ment, the South would have had no re^tson to complain ; but such was not the fact. It 
 was caused by tlie legislation of this Government, which was appointed as tlic common 
 agent of all, and charged with the piotection of the interests and security of all. The 
 legislation by wluch it has been ciFecl.ed may be classed under three heads. The first 
 is that series of acts by which the South has been excluded from the common territory 
 belonging to all of the states, as the members of the federal Union, which has had the 
 effect of extending vastly the portion allotted to the Northern section, and restricting 
 within narrow limits the portion left the South. The next consists in adopting a sys- 
 tem of revenue and disbursements by which an undue proportion of the burthen of 
 taxation has been imposed upon the South, and an undue proportion of its proceeds ap- 
 propriated to the North ; and the last in a system of political measures by which the 
 original character of the Government has been radically changed. 
 
 I propose to bestow upon each of these, in order as they stand, a few remarks, with 
 the view of showing that it is owing to the action of this Oovernment that the equilib- 
 rium between the two sections has been destroyed; and the whole power of the system 
 centred in a sectional majority. 
 
 The first of the series of acts by which the South was deprived of its due share of the 
 territories originated with the confederacy which preceded the existence of this Govern- 
 ment. It is to be found in the provisions of the ordinance of 1787. Its cfect was to 
 exclude the South entirely from that vast and fertile region which lies between the 
 Ohio and the Mississippi, now embracing five states and one territory. The next of the 
 series is the Missouri compromise, which excluded the South from that large portion of 
 Louisiana which lies North of 36 30, excepting what is included in thestate of Missouri. 
 The last of the series excludes the South from the whole of the Oregon territory. All 
 these in the slang of the day were what is called slave territory, and not free soil ; that 
 is, territories belonging to slaveholding powers, and open to the emigration of masters 
 with their slaves. By these several acts the South was excluded from 1,23S,025 square 
 miles, an extent of country considerably exceeding the entire valley of the Mississippi. 
 To the South was left the portion of the territory of Lotiisiana lying South of 30 80, 
 and the portion North of it included in the state of Missouri; the portion lying South 
 of 36 30, includes the state of Louisiana and Arkansas, and the territory lying West of 
 the latter and South of 36 80 called the Indian country. A portion lying South of this, 
 with the territory of Florida, now the State, makes in the whole 283,503 square miles. 
 — To this must be added the territoi-y acquired with Texas. If the whole should be 
 added to the Southern section, it would make an increase of 325,520, which would make 
 tlie whole left to the South 009,023. But a large part of Texas is still in contest be- 
 tween the two sections, which leaves uncertain what will be the real extent of the por- 
 tion of her territory that may be left to the South. 
 
 I have not included the territory recently acquired by the treaty with Mexico. The 
 North is making the most strenuous efforts to appropriate the whole to herself, by ex- 
 cluding the South from every foot of it. If she should succeed, it will add to that from 
 which Southern laws have already been excluded 527,078 square miles, and would in- 
 crease the whole the North ha;; appropriated to herself, to 1,704,023, not including the 
 portion which she may succeed in excluding us from in Texas. To sum up the whole, 
 the United States, since they declared their independence, have acquired 2,373,046 
 square miles of territory, from which the North will have excluded the South, if she 
 should succeed in monopolizing the newly acquired territories, about three-fourths of 
 the whole, and leave the South but about one-fourth. 
 
 Such is the first and great cause that has destroyed the equilibrium between the two 
 sections in the government. 
 
 The next is the system of revenue and disbursements which has been adopted by the 
 Government. It is well known that the main source from which the goTernmeut has 
 derived its revenue is the duties on imports. I shall not undertake to show tliat all 
 such duties must necessarily fall mainly on the exporting states, and that the South, 
 yis the great exporting portion of the Union, has in reality paid vastly more tiian her 
 due proportion of the revenue, because I deem it unnecessary, as the subject 'as on so 
 many occasions been fully discussed. Nor shall I, for the same reason, undertake to 
 show tliat a far greater portion of the revenue has been disbursed at the North than its 
 due share ; and that the joint effect of tliese causes has been to transfer a vast amount 
 from the South to the Nortli, which, under an equal system of revenue and disburse- 
 ment, would not have been lost to her. .If to this be added that many of the duties 
 were imposed, not for revenue but for protection, that is, intended to put money, 
 
not into the treasury, but directly into the pocket of the manufacturers, some concep- 
 tion may be formed of the immense amount wliich in the long course of so many j'ears 
 has been transferred from the South to the North. There are no data by which it can 
 be estimated with any certainty ; hut it is safe to say that it amounts to hundreds of 
 millions of dollars. Under the most moderate estimate, it would be sufficient to add 
 greatly to the wealth of the North, and by that greatly increase her population, by at- 
 tracting emigration from all quarters in that direction. 
 
 This, coni)iined with tlie great and primary cause, amply explains why the North 
 has acquired a preponderance over every department of the government, \)y its dispro- 
 portionate increase of population and states. The former, as has been shown, has in- 
 creased, in fifty years, 2,400,000 over that of the South. This increase of population, 
 during so long a period, is satisfactorily accounted for by the number of emigrants, and 
 the increase of their descendants, which has been attracted to the Northern section 
 from Europe and the Southern section, in consequence of the advantages derived ft-om 
 the causes assigned. If they had not existed — if the South had retained all the capital 
 which has been extracted from her by the fiscal action of the government, and if they 
 had not been excluded, by the ordinance of 1787 and the Missouri compromise, from the 
 region lying between the Ohio and the Mississippi, and between the Mississippi and the 
 Rocky Mountains, North of 36 30, it scarcely admits of a doubt that she would have 
 divided the emigration with the North, and by retaining her own people, would have 
 at Ifast equalled the North in population, under the census of 1840, and pr<jbably un- 
 der tliat about to be taken. She would also, if she had retained her equal rights in 
 those territories, have maintained an equality in the number of states with the North, 
 and have preserved the equilibrium between the two sections that existed at the com- 
 mencement of the government. The loss, then, of the equilibrium, is to be attributed 
 to the action of this Government. 
 
 But while these measures were destroying the equilibrium between the two sections, 
 the action of Government was leading to a radical change in its diameter by concen- 
 trating all the power of the sj'stcm in itself The occasion will not permit me to trace 
 the measures by which this great change has been consummated. If it did, it would 
 not be difficult to show that the process commenced at an early period of the govern- 
 ment ; that it proceeded almost without interruption, step by step, until it absorbed, 
 virtually, its entire powers Without, however, going through the whole process to 
 establish the fact, it may be done satisfactorily by a very short statement. 
 
 That this government claims, and practically maintains, the right to decide in the 
 last resort, as to the extent of its powers, will scarcely be denied by any one conversant 
 with the political history of the country. It is equally certain that it also claims the 
 right to resort to force, to maititain whatever power she claims against all opposition. 
 Indeed, it is apparent from what we daily hear, that this has become the prevailing and 
 fixed opinion of a great majority of the community. Now, I ask, what limitation can 
 pos.sil)ly be placed upon the powers of a government claiming and exercising such 
 rights .' And, if none can be, how can the separate government of the states maintain 
 and protect the powers reserved to them by the constitution, or the people of the several 
 states maintain those which are reserved to them, and among tliem, their sovereign 
 powers, by which they ordained and established, not only their separate state constitu- 
 tions and governments, but also the constitution and government of the United States.' 
 But if they have no constitutional means of maintaining them against the right claimed 
 by this government, it necessarily follows that they hold them at its pleastire and dis- 
 cretion, and that all the powers of the system are, in reality, concentrated in it. It also 
 follows that the character of the government has been changed in consequence, from a 
 fe<leral republic, as it originally came from the hands of its framers, and that it has 
 been changed into a great national consolidated democrucy. It has, indeed, at present, 
 all tlie ch.irafleristics of the latter, and not one ol the former, although it still retains 
 its outward form. 
 
 The result of the whole of these causes combined, is that the North has acquired n de- 
 cided ascendancy over every department of this government, and through it, a control 
 overall the powers of the system. A single section, governed by the will ot the nun^f^rical 
 majority, has now, in fact, the control of the government, and tlie entire powers of the 
 system. What was once a constitutional /'e<leral rej>ublic, is now converted, in reality, 
 into one as absolute as that of the autocrat of Russia, and as desj»otic in its tendency as 
 any absolute government that ever existed. 
 
 As, then, the North has tlie absolute control over the government, it is manifest that 
 on all questions between it and the South, where there is a diversity of interests, the 
 interest of the latter will be sacrificed to the former, however oppressive the eflect.s may 
 be, as the South possesses no means by whicli it can resist, through the action of the 
 government But if there were no questions of vital importance to the South, in refer- 
 
ence to whicli there was a diversity of views between the two sections, this state of 
 things might be endured, without the hazard of destruction by the South. But such is 
 not the fact. There is a question of vital importance to the Southern section, in refer- 
 ence to which the views and feelings of the two sections are opposite and hostile as they 
 can possibly be. 
 
 I refer to the relation between the two races in the Southern section, which consti- 
 tutes a vital portion of her social organization. Every portion of the North Entertains 
 views and feelings more or less hostile to it. Those most opposed and hostile regard it 
 as a sin, and consider themselves under the most sacred obligation to use every effort 
 to destroy it. Indeed, to the extent that they conceive they have power, they regard 
 themselves as implicated in the sin, and responsible for suppressing it, by the use of all 
 and every means. Those less opposed and hostile regard it as a crime — an offence 
 against humanity, as they call it, and although not so fanatical, feel themselves bound 
 to use all efforts to effect 'the same object. While those who are least opposed and ho^^ 
 tile regard it as a blot and a stain on the character of what they call the nation, ana 
 feel themselves accordingly bound to give it no countenance or support. On the con- 
 trary, the Southern section regards the relation as one which cannot be destroyed with- 
 out subjecting the two races to the greatest calamity, and the section to poverty, deso- 
 lation and wretchedness, and accordingly feel bound, .by every consideration of interest, 
 safety and duty, to defend it. 
 
 This hostile feeling on the part of the North toward the social organization of the 
 South, long lay dormant ; but it only required some cause, which would make the im- 
 pression on those who felt most intensely that they were responsible for its continu- 
 ance, to call it into action. The increasing power of this government, and of the control 
 of the Northern section over all of it, furnished the cause. It was they made an im- 
 pression on the minds of many, that there was little or no restraint to prevent the gov- 
 ernment to do whatever it might choose to do. This was sufficient of itself to put the 
 most fanatical portion of the North in action, for the purpose of destroying the existing 
 relation between the two races in the South. 
 
 The first organized movement toward it commenced in 1835. Then, for the first time, 
 societies were organized, presses established, lecturers sent forth to excite the people 
 of the North, and incendiary publications scattered over the whole South through the 
 mail. The South was thoroughly aroused; meetings were held everywhere, and reso- 
 lutions adopted, calling upon the North to apply a remedy to arrest the threatened 
 evil, and pledging themselves to adopt measures for their own protection if it was not 
 arrested. At the meeting of Congress, petitions poured in from the North, calling up- 
 on Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and to prohibit what they 
 called the internal slave trade between the states, avowing at the same time that their 
 ultimate object was to abolish slavery not only in the District but in the states, and 
 throughout the Union. At this period, the number engaged in the agitation was small, 
 and it possessed little or no personal influence. 
 
 Neither party in Congress had, at that time, any sympathy with them or their cause. 
 The members of each party presented their petitions with great reluctance. Neverthe^ 
 less, as small and as contemptible as the party then was, both of the great parties of 
 the North dreaded them. They felt that, though small, they were organized in refer- 
 ence to a subject which had a great and a commanding influence over the Northern 
 mind. Each pa. ^y, on that account, feared to oppose their petitions, lest the opposite 
 party should take advantage of the one who opposed by favoring them. Tlie effect was 
 that both united in insisting that the petitions should be received, and Congress take 
 jurisdiction of the subject for which they prayed ; and, to justify their course, took the 
 extraordinary ground that Congress was bound to receive petitions on every subject, 
 however ol)jectionable it might be, and whether they had or had not jurisdiction ove?*, 
 the subject. These views prevailed in the House of Representatives, and partially in, 
 the Senate, and thus the party succeeded, in their first movement, in gaining what 
 they proposed — a position in Congress from which the agitation could be extended over 
 the whole Union. This was the commencement of the agitation which hns ever since 
 continued, and which, as it is now acknowledged, has endangered the Union itself. _ 
 
 As to myself, I believed, at that early period, if the party who got up the petitions 
 should succcetl in getting Congress to take jurisdiction, that agitation would follow, 
 and that it would, in the end, if not arrested, destroy the Union. I then so expressed 
 myself in debate, and called upon botli parties to take ground against taking jurisdic- 
 tion, but in vain. Had my voice been heard, and Congress refused taking jurisdiction 
 by the united votes of all parties, the agitation which followed would have been pre- 
 vented, and the fanatic movements accompanying the agitation, which have brought us 
 to our present perilous condition, would have become extinct from the want of some- 
 thing to feed the flame. That was the time for the North to show her devotion to 
 
the Union ; but unfortunately, both of the great parties of that section were so intent 
 on obtaining .>r retaining party ascendency, tliat all other considerations were over- 
 looked or forgotten. 
 
 What have since followed are but natural consequences. With the success of their first 
 movement, this small fanatical party began to acquire strength, and with that, to be- 
 come an object of courtsliip to both of the great parties. The necessary consequence 
 was, a farther increase of power, and a gradual tainting of tlie opinions of both of the 
 other parties with their doctrines, until the infection has extended over both, and the 
 great mass of the population of the North, who, whatever may be their opinion of the 
 original abolition party, which still keeps up its distinctive organization, hardly 
 ever fail, when it conies to acting, to co-operate in carrying out their measures. With 
 the increase ol their influence, tliey extend the sphere of tlieir action. — In a short pe- 
 riod after they had commenced their first movement, they had acquired sufficient influ- 
 ence to induce the Legislatures of most of the Northern states to pass acts which, in 
 effect, abrogated the provision of the constitution that provides for the delivering up of 
 fugitive slaves. 
 
 Not long after, petitions followed to abolish slavery in forts, magazines and dock- 
 
 j, anda^' ''icr places where Congress had exclusive power of legislation. This 
 
 was foUowc ' ^ petitions, and resolutions of Legislatures of the Northern States, and 
 
 yards, 
 
 I 
 
 opular meetings, to exclude the Southern states from all territories acquired, or to 
 _e acquired, and to prevent the admission of any state hereafter into the Union which 
 by its constitution does not prohibit slavery. And Congress is invoked to do all this 
 expressly with the view of the final abolition of slavery in the States. That has been 
 avowed to be the ultimate object, from the beginning of the agitation until the- present 
 time, and yet the great body of both parties of the North, with the full knowledge of 
 the fact, although disowning the abolitionists, have co-operated with them in almost all 
 their measures. 
 
 Such is a brief history of the agitation, so far as it has yet advanced. Now, I ask. 
 Senators, what is there to prevent its farther progress, until it fulfills the ultimate end 
 proposed, unless some decisive measure should be adopted to prevent it .' Has any one 
 of the causes, which have added to its increase from its original small and contemptible 
 beginning, until it has attained its present magnitude, diminished in force .= Is the 
 original cause of the movement— that slavery is a sin, and ought to be suppressed— 
 •weaker now than at the commencement .' Or is the abolition party less numerous or 
 influential .' Or have they less influence over elections .' or less control over the two 
 great parties of the North in elections .' Or has the South greater means of influencing 
 or controlling the movements of this government now than it had when the agitation 
 commenced .' To all these questions but one answer can be given. No. No. No. The 
 very reverse is true. Instead of weaker, all the elements in favor of agitation are 
 8trMn;^er now than they were in 188-), when the agitation first commenced. While all 
 th.- eknicnts of influence on the part of the South are weaker. I .again ask, what is to 
 stop this agitation, unless something decisive is done, until the great and final object 
 at which it aims— the abolition of slavery in the South— is consummated .' Is it then, 
 not certain that, if something decisive is not now done to arrest it, the South will be 
 forced to choose between abolition and secession .' Indeed, as events are now moving, 
 it will not require the South to secede, to dissolve the Union; agitation will of itself 
 eflfect it, of which its past history furnishes abundant proof, as I shall next proceed to 
 show. 
 
 It is a great mistake to suppose that disunion can be effected by a single blow. The 
 cords which bind these States together in one common union are far too numerous and 
 powerful for that. Disunion must be the work of time. It is only through a long 
 
 Srocess and in succession that the cords can snap, until the whole fabric falls asun- 
 er. Already the agitation of the slavery question has snapped some of the most im- 
 portant, and has greatly weakened all the others, as I shall proceed to show. 
 
 The conls that bind the states together are not only many, but various in character. 
 Among thorn some are spiritu.al or ecclesiastical; some political; others social; others 
 appertain to the benefits conferred by the Union; and others to the feelings of duty 
 and obligation. 
 
 The strongest of those of a spiritual and ecclesinstic.il nature consisted in the unity 
 of the great religious denominations, all of which originally embraced the Uui.m. All 
 these denominations, with the exception, perhaps, of the Catholic*, were organized 
 Tcry much upon the principle of our political institutions. Beginning with smaller 
 meetings, corresponding with the political divisions of the country, their organization 
 terminate<l in one great centr.al assemblage, corresponding very much with the cliarac- 
 ter of Congress. .\t these meetings the principal clergymen and lay members of the 
 respective denominations from all parts of the Union met, to transact business relating 
 
to their common concerns. It was not confined to what appertained to the doctrines 
 and discipline of the respective denominations, but extended to plans for disseminating 
 the Bible, establishing missionaries, distributing tracts, and establishing presses for 
 the publication of tracts, newspapers and periodicals, with a view of diffusing religious 
 information, and for tlie support of the doctrines and creeds of the denomination. All 
 this combined contributed greatly to strengthen the bonds of the Union. The strong 
 ties which held each denomination together, formed a strong cerd to liold the whole 
 Union together ; but as powerful as they were, they have not been able to resist the 
 explosive eflect of slavery agitation. 
 
 The first of these cords which snapped under its explosive force was that of the power- 
 ful Methodist Episcopal Church. The numerous and strong ties which held it together 
 are all broken, and its unity gone. They now form separate churches, and instead of 
 that feeling of attachment and devotion to the interests of the whole church, which was 
 formerly felt, they are now arrayed into two hostile bodies, engaged in litigation about 
 what was formerly their common property. 
 
 The next cord that snapped was that of the Baptists, one of the largest and most 
 respectable of the denominations ; that of tlie Presbyterians is not entirely snapped, 
 but some of its strands have given way; that of the Episcopal church is the only one of 
 the four great Protestant denominations which remains unbroken and entire. The 
 strongest cord of a political character consi.sts of the many and strong tics that have 
 held together the two great parties, which have, with some modifications, existed 
 from the beginning of the government. They both extended to every portion of the 
 Union, and had strongly contributed to hold all its parts together. But this powerful 
 cord has proved no better than the spiritual. It resisted for a long time the explosive 
 tendency of the agitation, but has finally snapped under its force — if not entirely, nearly 
 so. Nor is there one of the remaining cords which has not been greatly weakened. To 
 this extent the Union has already been destroyed by agitation, in the only way it can 
 be, by snapping asunder and weakening the cords which bind it together. 
 
 If tlie agitation goes on, the same force acting with increased intensity as has been 
 shown, there will be nothing left to hold the states together, except force — But surely 
 that can, with no propriety of language, be called a Union, when the only means by 
 which the weaker is lield connected witli the stronger portion is force. It may, indeed, 
 keep them connected, bu^t the connection will partake much more of the character of 
 subjugation on the part of the weaker to the stronger, than the Union of free indepen- 
 dent and sovereign, states in one federal union, as they stood in the early stages of the 
 Government, and which only is worthy of the sacred name of union. 
 
 Having now. Senators, explained what it is that endangers the Union, and traced it 
 to its cause, and explained its nature and character, the great question again recurs, 
 how can the Union be saved .' To this I answer, there is but one way by which it can 
 be, and that is, by adopting such measures as will satisfy the states belonging to the 
 Southern section that they can remain in the Union consistently with their honor and 
 their safety. There is again, only one way by which that can be effected, and that is, 
 by removing the causes by which this belief has b«en produced. Do that, and discon- 
 tent will cease, harmony and kind feelings between the sections be restored, and every 
 apprehension of danger to the Union be removed. The question then is : By what means 
 can this be done .' I5ut before I undertake to answer this question, I propose to show 
 by what it cannot be done. 
 
 It cannot then be done by eulogies on the Union, however splendid or numerous. 
 The cry of Union ! Union! the glorious Union ! can no more prevent disunion than the 
 cry of health! health! glorious health! on the part of the physician, can save a patient 
 lying dangerously ill. So long as the Union, instead of being regarded as a protector, 
 is regarded in the opposite character by not much less than a majority of the states, it 
 will be in vain to attempt to concentrate them by pronouncing eulogies on it. 
 
 Besides, tliis cry of Union comes commonly from those whom we cannot believe to be 
 sincere. It usually comes from our assailants, but we cannot believe them to be sincere ; 
 for if they loved the Union, they would necessarily be devoted to the constitution. It made 
 the Union, and to destroy the constitution would be to destroy the Union. But the 
 only reliable and certain evidence of devotion to the constitution is, to abstain on the 
 one hand from violating it, and to repel, on the other, all attempts to violate it. It is 
 only by faithfully performing those high duties, that the constitution can be preserved, 
 and with it the Union. 
 
 But how then stands the profession of devotion to the Union by our assailants, when 
 brought to this test.' Have they abstained from violating the constitution.' Let the 
 many acts passed by the Northci'n states to set aside and annul the clause of the consti- 
 tution providing for the delivery up of fugitive slaves, answer. I cite this, not that it 
 is the only instance (for tliere are many others), but becaiise the violation in this parti- 
 cular is too notorious and palpable to be denied. Again, have they stood forth faith- 
 
8 
 
 fully to repel violations of the constitution? Let their course in reference to the 
 agitation of the slavery question, which was commenced and has been carried on for 
 fil'tecn years, avowedly for the purpose of abolishing slavery in the states— an object all 
 acknowledge to be unconstitutional— answer. Let them show a single instance, during 
 this long period, in wliich they have denounced the agitators, or their many attempts 
 to effect what is admitted to be unconstitutional, or a single measure which they have 
 brought forward for fhat purpose. How can we, with all those facts before ns, believe 
 that they are sincere in their professions of devotion to the Union ; or avoid believing 
 that, by assuming the cloak of patriotism, their profession is but intended to increase 
 the vigor of their assaults, and to weaken the force of our resistance.' 
 
 Nor can we regard the profession of devotion to the Union, on the part of those who 
 are not our assailants, as sincere, when they pronounce eulogies upon the Union evi- 
 dently with the intent of charging us with disunion, without uttering one word of 
 denunciation against our assailants. If friends of the Union, their course should be to 
 unite with us in repelling these assaults, and denouncing the authors as enemies of the 
 Union. Why they avoid this, and pursue the course they obviously do, it is for them 
 to explain. 
 
 Nor can the Union be saved by invoking the name of the illustrious Southerner whose 
 mortal remains repose on the western bank of the Potomac. He was one of us — a slave- 
 holder and a planter. We have studied his history, and find nothing in it to justify sub- 
 mission to wrong. On the contrary, his great fame rests on the solid foundation, that 
 while he was careful to avoid doing wrong to others, he was prompt and decided in 
 repelling wrong. I trust that, in this respect, we profited by his example. 
 
 Nor can we find anything in his history to deter us from seceding from the Union, 
 should it fail to fulfill' the objects for which it was instituted, by being permanently and 
 hopelessly converted into the means of oppression instead of protection. On the con- 
 trary we find much in his example to encourage us, should we be forced to the extremity 
 of deciding between submission and disunion. • 
 
 There existed then as well as now, a union — that between the parent country and 
 her then colonies. It was a union that had much to endear H to the people of the 
 colonies. Under its protecting and superintending care the colonies were planted and 
 grew up and prospered through a long course of years, until they became populous and 
 wealthy. Its benefits were not limited to them. Their extensive agricultural and 
 other productions gave birth to a flourishing commerce, which richly rewar<led the 
 parent country for the trouble and expense of establishing and protecting them. 
 Washington was born, and nurtured, and grew up to manhood under that union. 
 He acquired his early distinction in its service ; and there is every reason to believe 
 that he was devotedly attached to it. But his devotion was a rational one. He was 
 attached to it, not as an end, but as a means to an end. When it failed to fulfill its end, 
 and, instead of affording protection, was converted into the means of oppressing the 
 colonies, ho did not hesitate to draw his sword, and head the great movement by which 
 that union was forever severed, and the independence of these states established. This 
 iras the great and crowning glory of his life, which has spread his fame over the whole 
 globe, and will transmit it to the latest posterity. 
 
 Nor can the plan proposed by the distinguished Senator from Kentucky, or that of 
 the administration, save the Union. I shall pass by, without remark, the plan pro- 
 posed by the Senator, and proceed directly to tlie consideration of that of the adminis- 
 tration. I however assure the distinguished and able Senator that, in taking this 
 course, no disrespect whatever is intended to him or to his plan. I have adopted it, 
 because so many Senators of distinguished abilities, who were present when he delivered 
 his speech and explanation of his plan, and who were fully capable to do justice to the 
 gid(! they su] port, have replied to him. 
 
 Tlie plan of the administration cannot save the Union, because it can have no effect 
 toward satisfying the states composing the Southern section of the Union, that they can 
 consistently with safety and honor remain in tlie Union. It is, in fact, but a modifica- 
 tion of the'Wilmot proviso. It propo.'<e« to effect tiie same object— to exclude the South 
 from all the territory acquired by the Mexican treaty. It is well known that the 
 South is united against the Wilmot proviso, and has committed itself by solemn resolu- 
 tions to resist, should it be adopted. Its opposition is not to the name, but to that 
 •which it proposes to effect That the Southern states hold it' to be unconstitutional, 
 unjust, inconsistent with their equality as members of the common Union, and calcu- 
 lated to destroy irretrievably the ei|uiiibrium between the two sections. These objec- 
 tions equally apply to wiiat, for brevity, I will call the Executive provi.so. There is no 
 difference bitwocn it and the Wilmot, except in the mode of effecting the object ; and 
 in that respect, I must say, that the latter is much the least objectionable. It goes to 
 its ibject openly, boldly and directly. It claims for Congre.is unlimited power over the 
 territories, and proposes to assert it over the territories acquired from Mexico, by » 
 
positive prohibition of slavery. Not so the Executive proviso. It takes an indirect 
 course, and in order to elude the Wilmot proviso, and thereby avoid encountering the 
 united and determined resistance of the South, it denies, by implication, the authority 
 of Congress to legislate for the territories, and claims the right as belonging exclusively 
 to the inhabitants of the territories. But to effect tlie object of excluding the South, it 
 takes care, in the mean time, of letting in emigrants from the Northern states, and other 
 quarters, except emigrants from the South, which it takes special care to exclude, by 
 holding up to them the dread of liaving their slaves liberated under the Mexican laws. 
 The necessary consequence is, to exclude the South from the territory, just as effectu- 
 ally as would tlie Wilmot proviso. The only difference in this respect is, that what 
 one proposes to eifect directly and openly, the other proposes to effect indirectly and 
 covertly. 
 
 But the Executive proviso is more objectionable still than the Wilmot, in another 
 and more important particular. The latter, to effect its object, inflicts a dangerous 
 wound upon the constitution, by depriving the Southern states, as joint partners and 
 owners of the territories, of their rights in them ; but it inflicts no greater wound than 
 is absolutely necessary to effect its object. The former, on the contrary, while it 
 inflicts the same wound, inflicts others equally great, and if possible greater, as I shall 
 next proceed to explain. 
 
 In claiming the right for the inhabitants, instead of Congress, to legislate over the 
 territories, in tlie Executive proviso, it assumes that the sovereignty over the terri- 
 tories is vested in the former; or, to express it in the language used in a resolution 
 offered by one of the Senators from Texas, (Gen. Houston, now absent,) " they have the 
 same inherent right of self-government as the people in the states." The assumption 
 is utterly false, unconstitutional, without example, and contrary to the entire practice 
 of the government, from its commencement to the present time, as I shall next proceed 
 to show. 
 
 The recent movement of individuals in California to form a constitution and a state 
 government, and to appoint Senators and Representatives, is the first fruit '4' tliis 
 monstrous assumption. If the individuals who Iiave made this movement haii gnne 
 into California as adventurers, and if, as such, they had conquered the territory ,"aiid 
 established their independence, the sovereignty of the country would have been vested 
 in them as a separate and independent community. In that case they would have had 
 the right to form a constitution and to establish a government for themselves — and if, 
 after that, they had thought proper to apply to Congress for admission into the Union 
 as a sovereign and independent state, all this would have been regular and according 
 to established principles. But such is not the case. It was the United States who con- 
 quered California, and finally acquired it by treaty. The sovereignty, of course, is 
 vested in them, and not in the individuals who have attempted to form a constitution 
 as a state without their consent. All this is clear beyond controversy, unless it can 
 be shown that they have since lost or been divested of their sovereignty. 
 
 Nor is it less clear that the power of legislating over the territory is vested in Con- 
 gress, and not, as is assumed, in the inhabitants of the territories. None can deny that 
 the Government of the United States have the power to acquire territories, either by 
 war or by treaty ; but if the power to acquire exists, it belongs to Congress to carry it 
 into execution. On this point there can be no doubt, for the constitution expressly 
 provides that Congress shall have power " to make all laws which sh all be neces- 
 sary and proper to carry into execution the foregoing powers," (those vested in Con- 
 gress) " and all other powers vested by this constitution in the government of the 
 United States, or in any department or oificer thereof" It matters not, then, where 
 the power is vested ; for if vested at all in the government of the United States or any 
 of its departments or officers, the power carrying it into execution is clearly vested in 
 Congress. But this important proviso, while it gives to Congress the power of legis- 
 lating over territories, imposes important restrictions on its exercise, by restricting 
 Congress to p.assing laws necessary and proper for carrying the power into execution. 
 The prohibition extends, not only to all laws not suitable or appropriate to the object, 
 but also to all that are unjust, unequal or unfair, for all such laws would be unnecessary 
 and improper, and therefore, unconstitutional. 
 
 Having now established beyond controversy that the sovereignty over the territories 
 is vested in the United States — that is, in the several states composing the Union — and 
 that the power of legislating over them is expressly vested in Congress, it follows that 
 the individuals in California wlio have undertaken to form a constitution and a state, 
 and to exercise the power of le.^islation, without the consent of Congress, have usurped 
 the sovereignty of the states and tlie authority of Congress, and have acted in open de- 
 fiance of both. In other words, wliat they have done is revolutionary and rebellious in 
 its character, anarchical in its tendency, and calculated to lead to the most dangerous 
 consequences. Had they acted from premeditation and design, it would have been in 
 
10 
 
 fact an actual rebellion, but such is not the case. The blame lies much less upon them, 
 than upon those who liave induceil them to take a course so unconstitutional and dan- 
 gerous. They have been led into it by language held here, and the course pursued by 
 the executive branch of the government. 
 
 I liave not seen the answer of the Executive to the calls made by the two houses of 
 Congress, for information as to the course which it took, or the part which it acted, in 
 reference to what was done in California. 1 understand the answers have not yet been 
 printed. But there is enough known to justify the a.«sertion that those who profess to 
 represent and act under the authority of the Executive have advised, aided and en- 
 couraged the movement which terminated in forming what they call a constitution and 
 a state. General Riley, who professed to act as civil Governor, called the Convention, 
 determined on the number and distribution of the delegates, appointed the time and place 
 of its meetings, was present during the session, and gave its proceedings liis approbation 
 and .sanction. If he acted witliout authority, he ought to have been tried, or at least 
 reprimanded and disarmed Neitlier having been done, the presumption is that his 
 course has been approved. This, of itself, is sufficient to identify tlie Executive with 
 his acts, and to make it resjtonsible for them. 1 touch not tlie question whether General 
 Riluy was appointed, or received the instructions under which he professed to act, from 
 the present Executive or its predecessor. If from the former, it would implicate the pre- 
 ceding as well as the present administration. If not, the responsibility rests exclusively 
 on tJie present. 
 
 It is manifest, from this statement, that the Executive Department has undertaken to 
 perform acts, preparatory to the meeting of the individuals, to form their so-called con- 
 stitution and State government, whicli appertained exclusively to Congress. Indeed, they 
 are identical in many respects with the provisions adopted by Congress, when it gives 
 permission to a territory to form a constitution and government, in order to be admitted 
 as a State into the Union. 
 
 Having now shown that the assumption upon which the Executive ami the individuals 
 in California acted, throughout this whole affair, is informal, unconstitutional, and 
 dangerous, it remains to make a few remarks, in order to show that what has been done 
 is contrary to the entire practice of government, from its cpmmencement to the present 
 time. 
 
 From its commencement until the time when Michigan was admitted, tlie practice was 
 uniform. Territorial governments were first organized by Congress. The government 
 of the United States appointed the governors, judges, secretaries, marshals, and other 
 officers, and the inhabitants of the territory were represented by legislative bodies, 
 whose acts were subject to the revision of Congress. This state of things continued un- 
 til the government of a territory applied to Congress to permit its inhabitants to form 
 a constitution and government, preparatory to admission into the Union. The prelimi- 
 nary act to giving permission was to ascertain whether the inhabitants were sufficiently 
 numerous to autliorizc them to be formed into a State. This was done by taking a cen- 
 sus. That being done, and the number proving sufficient, permission was granted. 
 The act granting it fixed all the preliminaries — the time and place of holding the con- 
 vention ; the qualification of the voters ; establishing its boundaries, and all other 
 measures necessary to be settled previous to admission. The act giving permission ne- 
 cessarily withdraws tlic sovereignty of the United States, and leaves the inliabitants of 
 the incipient State as free to form their constitution and government as were the origi- 
 nal States of the Union after they had declared their independence. At this stage, the 
 inhabitants of the territory became for the first time a people, in legal and constitu- 
 tional language. Prior to tliis, they were, by the old acts of Congress, called inhabi- 
 tants, and not people. All this is perfectly consistent with the sovereignty of the 
 United States, with the powers of Congress, and with the right of a people to self-go- 
 Ternmcnt. 
 
 Michigan was the first case in which there was any departure from the uniform rule 
 of acting. Hers was a very slight departure from established usage. The ordinance of 
 '87 secured to her tlie right of becoming a State, when she should liave t)(>,0CK3 inhabi- 
 tants. Owing to some neglect. Congress delayed taking the census. In the mean time, 
 her population increased until it clearly exceeded nu)re than twice the number which 
 entitled her to admission. At this stage she formed a constitution and gDvernment 
 ■without the census being taken by the United States, and Congress received the admis- 
 sion witliout going through the formality of taking it, as there wa.s no tloubt she had 
 more than a sufficient number to entitle her to admission She was not admitted at the 
 first se8sit)n she applied, owing to some difficulty respecting the boundary between her 
 and Ohio. The great irregularity, as to her admission, took place at the next session, 
 but on a point which can liave no possible connection with the case of California. 
 
 The irregularity in all otlicr cases that liave since occurred, is of a similar character. 
 In all, there existed territorial governments, established by Congress, with ofiicers ap- 
 
11 
 
 pointed by the United States. In all, the territorial government took the lead in call- 
 ing conventions, and fixing preliminaries, preparatory to the formation of a constitution 
 and admission into the Union. They all recognized the sovereignty of the United 
 States, and the authority of Congress over the territories ; and, whenever there was 
 any departure from established usage, it was done on the presumed consent of Congress, 
 and not in defiance of its authority, or the sovereignty of the United States over the ter- 
 ritories. In this respect California stands alone, without usage or a single example to 
 cover her case. 
 
 It belongs now, Senators, for you to decide what part you will act in reference to this 
 unprecedented transaction. The Executive has laid the paper purporting to be the 
 constitution of California before you, and asks you to admit her into the Union as a State, 
 and the question is, will you or will you not admit her .' It is a grave question, and 
 there rests upon you a heavy responsibility. Much, very much will depend upon your 
 decision. If you admit her, you endorse and give your sanction to all that has been 
 done. Are you prepared to do so .' Are you prepared to surrender your power of 
 legislation for the territories — a power expressly vested in Congress by the constitu- 
 tion, as has been fully established .-' Can you, consistent with your oath to support the 
 constitution, surrender it .' Are you prepared to admit that the inhabitants of the ter- 
 ritories possess the sovereignty over them; and that any number, more or less, may 
 claim any extent of territory tiiey please ; may form a constitution and government, 
 and erect it into a a State, without asking your permission .'' Are you prepared to sur- 
 render the sovereignty of the United States over whatever territory may be hereafter 
 acquired, to tlie first adventurers who may rush into it .' Are you prepared to surren- 
 der virtually to the Executive department all the powers which you have heretofore 
 exercised over the territories .■' If not, how can you, consistently with your duty and 
 your oath to support the constitution, give your assent to the admission of California 
 as a State, under a pretended constitution and /overnment .■' 
 
 Can you believe tliat the project of a constitution which they have adopted has the least 
 validity ? Can you believe that there is such a state in reality as the state of California ? 
 No; there is no such state. It has no legal or constitutional existence. It has no 
 validity, and can have none, without your sanction". How then, can you admit it as a 
 state, when, according to the provisions of the constitution, j'our power is limited to 
 admitting new states.' That is, they must be states, existing states, independent of 
 your sanction, before you can admit them. AVhen you give your permission to the in- 
 habitants of a territory to form a constitution and a state, the constitution and state 
 they form derive their authority from the people, and not from you. The state, before 
 admitted, is actually a state, and does not become so by the act of admission, as would 
 be the case with California, should you admit her, contrary to constitutional i^rovi- 
 sions and established usages heretofore. 
 
 The Senators on the other side of the chamber must permit me to make a few remarks 
 in this connection, particularly applicable to them. With the exception of a few Sena- 
 tors from the South, sitting on that side of the chamber, when the Oregon question was 
 before this body, not two years since, you took, if I mistake not, universally, the 
 ground that Congress had the sole and absolute power of legislating for the territories. 
 How, then, can you now, after the short interval which has elapsed, abandon the 
 ground which you then took, and thereby virtually admit that the power of legislating, 
 instead of being in Congress, is in the inhabitants of the territories.' How can you 
 justify and sanction by your votes the acts of the Executive, which are in direct dero- 
 gation to Avhat you then contended for .' But, to approach still nearer to the present 
 time, how can you, after condemning, a little more than a year since, the grounds taken 
 by the party which you defeated at the last election, wheel round and support by your 
 votes the grounds which, as explained by the candidate of the party at the last elec- 
 tion, are identical with those on which the Executive has acted in reference to Califor- 
 nia .' What are we to understand by all this .' Must we conclude that there is no sin- 
 cerity, no faith, in the acts and declaration of public men, and that all is mere acting 
 or hollow professions .' Or are we to conclude that the exclusion of the South from the 
 territories acquired from Mexico is an object of so paramount a character in your esti- 
 mation that right, justice, constitution and consistency must all yield, when they stand 
 in the way of our exclusion .' 
 
 But, it may be asked, what is to be done with California, should she not be admit- 
 ted .' I answer, remand her back to the territorial condition, as was done in the case 
 of Tennessee, in tlie early stage of tlie government. Congress, in her case, had esta- 
 blished a territorial government, in the usual form, with a Governor, Judges, and other 
 officers appointed by the United States. She was entitled, under the deed of cession, 
 to be admitted into the Union ns a state, as soon as slie had G0,()00 inhabitants. The 
 territorial government believing it had the number, took a census, by which it appear- 
 ed it exceeded it. She then formed a constitution as a state, and applied for admission. 
 
12 
 
 Congress refused to admit her, on the grounds that the census should be taken by the 
 United States, and that Congress had not determined whether the territory should be 
 formed into one or two states, as it was authorized to do, under the cession. She re- 
 turned quietly to her territorial condition. An act was pas.sed to take a census by the 
 United States, and providing that tlie territory should form one state. All afterward 
 was regularly conducted, and the territory admitted as a state in due form. The ir- 
 regularities in the ca.se of California are immeasurably greater, and afford a much 
 strjnger reinun for pursuing tiie same course. But, it may be said, California may not 
 submit. Til it is not probable, but, if she should not, when she refuses, it will then be 
 the time for us to decide what is to be done. 
 
 Having now shown what cannot save the Union, I return to the question with which 
 I commenced— How can the Union be saved > There is but one way by whicli it can, 
 ■with any certainty, be saved, and that is by a full and final settlement, on the princi- 
 ples of justifc, of all the questions at issue between the two sections. The South asks 
 for justice, simple justice, and less she ought not to take. She hag no compromise to 
 offer but the constitution, and no concessions or surrender to make. She has already 
 surrendered so much, that she has little left to surrender. Such a settlement would 
 go to the root of the evil, remove all cau.se of discontent, and satisfy the South that she 
 could remain honestly and safely in the Union, and thereby restore the liarmony and 
 fraternal feelings between the sections which existed anterior to the Missouri agitation. 
 Nothing else can. with any certainty, finally and forever settle the question at issue, 
 terminate agitation, and save the Uiiion, 
 
 But can this be done .' Yes, easily ; not by the weaker party, for it can of itself do 
 nothing— not even protect itself— but by the stronger. The North has only to will it, 
 to do justice, and perform her duty, in order to accomplish it — to do justice by conced- 
 ing to the South an equal right in the acquired territory; and to do her duty by caus- 
 ing the stipulations relative to fugitive slaves to be faithfully fulfilled— to cease the 
 agitation of the slave question, and provide for the insertion of a provision in the con- 
 stitution, by an amendment, which will restore in substance the power she possessed 
 of protecting herself before the eq||ilibrium between the sections was destroyed by the 
 action of this government. There will be no difficulty in devising such a provision — 
 one that will protect the South, and whicli at the same time will improve and strength- 
 en the government, instead of impairing or weakening it. 
 
 But will the North agree to do this .' It is for her to answer this question. But I will 
 say she cannot refuse if she has half the love of the Union which she professes to have, 
 or without justly exposing hersell' to the charge that her love of power and aggrandize- 
 ment is far greater than her love of the Union. At all events, the responsibility of 
 saving the Union is on the North, and not the South. The South cannot save it by 
 any act of hers, and the Nortli may save it without any sacrifice whatever, unless to 
 do justice and to perform her duties under the constitution be regarded by her as a 
 sacrifice. 
 
 It is time. Senators, that there should be an open and manly avowal on all sides 
 as to what is to be done. If tlie question is not now settled, it is uncertain whether 
 it ever can hereafter be, and we, as the representatives of the states of this Union, 
 regarded as governments, should come to a distinct understanding as to our respec- 
 tive views, in order to ascertain whether the great questions at issue between the two 
 sections can be settled or not. If you who represent the stronger portion cannot 
 agree to settle them on the broad principle of justice and duty, say so, and let the 
 states we represent agree to separate and part in peace. 
 
 If you are willing we should part in peace, tell us so, and wo shall know what to 
 do when you reduce tlie question to submission or resistance. If you remain silent, 
 you then comjiel us to infer wliat you intend. In that case California will become the 
 test question. If you admit her under all the difficulties that opj)osc her admission, 
 you compel us to infer that you intend to exeluile us from the wliolc of the acquired 
 territories, with the intention of destroying irretrievably the equilibrium between the 
 two sections. \\e would be blind, not to perceive, in tliat c.a.se, that j-our real objects 
 are power and aggrandizement; and infatuated, not to act accordingly. 
 
 I have now. Senators, done my duty, in expressing my opinions fully, freely and 
 candidly on this soU'iun occasion. In doing so, 1 have been governed by the motives 
 whicli have governed me in all tlie stages of the agitation of the slavery question since 
 its commencement ; and exerted myself to arrest it, witli the intention of saving the 
 Union, if it could be ilone; and, if it cannot, to save the section where it has pleased 
 Providence to cast my lot, and which 1 sincerely believe has justice and the constitu- 
 tion on its side. Having faithfully done my duty to the best of my ability, both to 
 the Union and my section, throughout the whole of this agitation, I shall have the con- 
 solation, let what will come, that I am free from all responsibility. 
 
SPEECH 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HON. DANIEL WEBSTER, 
 
 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. 
 
 [DELIVERc:D march 7, 1800.] 
 
 The Vice President stated the first business before the Senate to be the unfinished 
 business of yesterday — the motion to refer to the Committee on Territories the message 
 of the President of tlie United States, transmitting the constitution of California, upon 
 which the Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. Walker] had the floor. 
 
 Mr AValker. — Mr. President, this audience has not this morning assembled to hear 
 me. There is but one man, in my opinion, who could have attracted them, and they 
 expect to hear him. I feel it my duty, as well as my pleasure, to yield the floor to the 
 honorable senator from Massachusetts, as I understand it is not material with him 
 upon which of the two questions before the Senate he speaks. 
 
 Mr. Webster. — Before I go on I must return my thanks to the Senator from Wiscon- 
 sin [Mr. Walker] and the Senator from New York [Mr. Seward] for their kind 
 courtesy in allowing me to address the Senate tliis njprning. 
 
 I wish to speak to-day, not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a Northern man, but as 
 an American, and a member of the Senate of the United States. It is fortunate there 
 is a Senate of the United States — a body not moved from its propriety, not lost to a just 
 sense of its own dignity or its own high responsibility — a body to which the country 
 looks with confidence — wise, moderate, patriotic, and with true feeling. It is not to be 
 denied that we live in the midst of strong agitations, and in the midst of very consider- 
 able dangers to our institutions of government. The imprisoned winds are let loose. 
 " The East, the North, and the stormy South, are all combined to make the whole ocean 
 toss its billows to the skies, and disclose its profoundcst depths." I do not aflect to hold, 
 or to be fit to hold, the helm in this combat with the political elements ; but I have a 
 duty to perform, and I mean to perform it with fidelity — not without a sense of sur- 
 rounding dangers, but not without hope. I have a part to act, not for my own security 
 or safety — for I am looking out for no fragment upon which to float away from the 
 wreck, if wreck is to ensue — but for the good of the whole and the preservation of the 
 "whole. There is that which will keep me to my duty during this struggle, whether the 
 sun and the stars shall appear or shall not appear for many days. 
 
 I speak to day for the preservation of the Union, "Hear me for my cause." I speak 
 to-day from a solicitous and anxious desire for the restoration to the country of that 
 quiet and that harmony which make the blessings of this Union so rich and so dear to 
 us all. " Believe me for mine honor." These are the topics that I propose to myself 
 to discuss. These arc the motives and the sole motives to influence me to communicate 
 my opinions to the Senate and to the country ; and if I can do any thing, however little, 
 for the promotion of these ends, I shall have accomplished all tliat I wish. 
 
 j\lr. President, it may not be amiss to recur very briefly to the events, equally sudden 
 and extraordinary, wliich have brought the i)olitical condition of this country to be 
 what it now is. In May, 1846, the United States declared war against Mexico. Our 
 armies, then on the frontiers, entered the }>rovinces of that republic, met and defeated 
 all her troops, penetrated her mountain passes, and occupied her capital. The marine 
 forces of the United States took possession of her purts and towns on the Atlantic and 
 the Pacific. In less than two years a treaty was negotiated, bj' which Mexico ceded to 
 the United States a vast extent of territory, extending for seven or eight liundred miles 
 along the shores of the Pacific, running back over the mountains and across the deserts, 
 till it reached the frontier State of Texas. It so happened that, in the distracted and 
 feeble state of the Mexican government, before the declaration of war by the United 
 States against Alcxico jjad become known in California, t he people of California, under 
 the direction of American officers, perhaps — Colonel Doniphan in particular — over- 
 turned the existing provincial government of California, ofMciicau authority, and run 
 
14 
 
 up an independent flag. When the news arrived at San Francisco, that war had been 
 declared by the Unite<l States against Mexico, this indepeudent flag was pulled down, 
 and the stars and stripes of this government hoisted in its stead. So, sir, before the 
 war was over, the powers of tlie United States, military' and naval, had possession of 
 Upper California, and a great rush of emigrants, from various portions of the world, 
 took place into Califoiiiia in 184G and 1857. 
 
 And now behold another wonder. In January 1848, the Mormons it is said, or some 
 of them, ni ule a discovery of an extraordinary rich mine of gold — or rather of a very 
 great quau ity of gold, liardly fitted to be called a mine, because it lay so near the sur- 
 face — at ti.v lower part of the South or American branch of the Sacramento. They 
 cndeavore 1 to conceal their discovery, and did so for some time. Near the same time 
 anotlier disc jvery — perhaps of greater importance — was made of gold in a higher part 
 of the American brancli of the Sacramento, and near to tiie fort so called. Tlie fame of 
 those discoveries spread far and wide. This excited more and more that spirit of emi- 
 gration tow.irds California wliicli had already taken place. Persons crowded in hun- 
 dreds and Hocks towards tlie Bay of San Francisco. Tliis, as I liave said, t(jok place in 
 the winter and sj>riiig of 1848. Tlie " diggings'' commenced in the spring of that year ; 
 and from tliat time to this, the search for gold has been prosecuted with a success not 
 heretofore known in the history of the globe. We all know how incredulous the Ameri- 
 can public was of the accounts wliich first reached us of this discovery. But we all 
 know that they received and continue to receive daily confirmation ; and down to the 
 present moment, I suppose that the assurances are as strong, after the experience of 
 those several months, that there are mines of gold apparently inexhaustible in the re- 
 gions near San Francisco, in California, as they were at any period of the early trans- 
 mission to us of those accounts. 
 
 It so happened that, although in a time of peace, it became a very great subject for 
 legislative consideration and legislative decision to provide a proper territorial govern- 
 ment for California ; but differences of opinion in the councils of the government pre- 
 vented the establishment of any such territorial government for California at the last 
 session of Congress. Under this state of things, the inhabitants of San Francisco and 
 California, then amounting to a great number of persons, in the summer of last year, 
 {hough I it their duty to establish «► local government. Under the proclamation of 
 General Riley, the people chose delegates to a convention, and that convention met 
 at Monterey. They framed a constitution for the State of California. It was adopted 
 by the people of California in their primary character. Desirous of immediate con- 
 nection with the United States, senators were appointed, and representatives chosen, 
 who have come hither, bringing with them the authenticated constitution of the State 
 of California, and they now present themselves, asking, in behalf of that State, that it 
 may be admitted into the Union as one of the United States. This constitution con- 
 tains an express prohibition against slavery or involuntary servitude in the State of 
 California. It is said, and I suppose truly, that of the members who composed the 
 convention, some thirty Avere natives and had been residents of the slaveholding 
 States, and the residue, perhaps about twenty, were not such. 
 Mr. Half: — Will the honorable Senator give way till order is restored .' 
 Mr. Cass — I trust, Mr. President, that the scene of the other day will not be renewed 
 to-day. The Sergcant-at-Arms should display more energy, and take care to preserre 
 order. 
 
 The Vice President — The Scrgcant-at-Arms will close the doors, and permit no 
 more to be admitted. 
 Order being restored, 
 
 Mr. Weii-<ter resumed. It is this circumstance that has contributed to raise — I do 
 not say that it has wholly raised — a dispute upon the propriety of the admission of 
 California into the Union un<lcr tliese circumstances. 
 
 It is not to be denied, Mr. President — nobody thinks of denying — that, whatever 
 reasons were assigned for the commencement of the late war with Mexico, it was pros- 
 ecuted for tlie acquisition of territory, and under tiie argument that the cession of ter- 
 ritory was the only form in wliich proper compensation could be made to the United 
 States by Mexico for various claims an<l demands which the people of tliis country had 
 against her. At any rate, it will be found that President Polk, in a message at the 
 commencement of the session in December, 1847. avowed that the war was to be 
 prosecuted till some acquisition of territory was obtained. And as the acquisition was 
 south of the line of the United States, in warm climates and countries, it was naturally 
 expcctetl, I suppose, by the South, that whatever acquisitions were made in tiiat region 
 would be added to the slaveholding part of the United States. Events have turned 
 out as was not expected, and that ex|pectalioii has not been realized; and therefore, in 
 some degree, disuppointmont and surprise have been excited. In other words, it is 
 obvious that the question wliich has so long liarasscd the country, and at some timci 
 very seriously alarmed the minds of wise and good men, has come upon us for a fresh 
 discussion — the question of slavery in these United States 
 
15 
 
 Now. sir, I propose, perhaps at some little expense to the attention of the Senate, to 
 review historically this question of slavery, which, partly in consequence of its own acts, 
 and partly in consequence of the manner in which it has been discussed in one and the 
 other portions of the country, has been the source of so much alienation and unkind 
 feeling in different portions of the United States. We all know that slavery has existed 
 in the world from time immemorial. There was slavery in the earliest history of ori- 
 ental nations. There Avas slavery among the Jews. The theocratic government of that 
 people made no injunctions against it. There was slavery among the Greeks ; and the 
 ingenious philosophy of the Greeks found, or sought to find, a justification of it exactly up- 
 on the grounds which have been assumed for such a justification in this country, that 
 is, a natural and original diflerence between the races of mankind— the inferiority of 
 the colored or black race to the white. The Greeks justified their system of slavery 
 upon that ground precisely. They held the Africans and some portions of the Asiatic 
 tribes to be inferior to the white race. They did not show, I think, by any close pro- 
 cess of logic, that, if that were true, the more intelligent and the stronger had therefore 
 the riglit to subjugate the weaker. A more manly philosophy and jurisprudence of 
 the Romans placed the justification on entirely different grounds. The Roman jurists, 
 from the very first dawn to the f\ill of the empire, admitted that slavery was against the 
 natural law, by which they maintained that all men, of whatever clime, color, or ca- 
 pacity, were equal. But they justified slavery, first, upon the authority of the laws of 
 nations, arguing, and arguing truly, that at that day the conventional law of nations 
 admitted that captives in war— whose lives, according to the notion of that time, were 
 at the absolute disposal of the captor— might, in exchange for exemption fr(fm death, be 
 made slaves for life, and that that servitude might descend to their posterity. The 
 jurists of Rome also maintained that by the civil law there might be servitude and 
 slavery, personal and hereditary : first, by the voluntary act of the individual, who 
 might sell himself into slavery ; secondly, by his being received into a state of servitude 
 by his creditors, to satisfy the debts he had incurred ; and thirdly, by being placed m 
 a state of servitude or slavery for crime. 
 
 At the introduction of Christianity into the world, the Roman empire was full of 
 slaves. I suppose there is to be found no injunction against that relation between man 
 and man in the teachings of the Gospel by Jesus Christ, or by any of his apostle.s. The 
 object of the instructions given to mankind by the founder of Christianity was to touch 
 the heart, purify the soul, and improve the lives of individual men. That object went 
 directly to the first foundation of the political and social relations of men, to raise the 
 individual heart and mind of man. Now, sir, upon the general nature, and character, 
 and lawfulness of slavery, there exists a wide difference of opinion between the North- 
 ern portion of this country and the Southern. It is said, on the other side, that if not 
 the subject of any injunction, or any direct prohibition in the New Testament, slavery 
 is a wrong ; that it is founded merely in the right of the strongest ; that it is oppres- 
 sion ; it is like all unjust wars ; like all those confl-cts by which mighty nations sub- 
 ject weaker nations to their will. They think slavery, in its nature— whatever can be 
 said of it in the modifications which take place in it in fact— is not according to the 
 " meek spirit" of the apostle ; it is not " kindly affection ;" it does not " seek another's, 
 and not its own ;" it does not " let the oppressed go free."' These are sentiments that 
 are cherished, recently with greatly augmented force, among the people of the North- 
 ern states. They have taken hold of the religious sentiment of that part of the country, 
 as they have more or less taken hold of the religious feelings of a considerable portion 
 of mankind. 
 
 The South, upon the other side, having been accustomed to this relation between the 
 races all their lives, from their birth— having been taught, in general, to treat the sub- 
 jects of this bondage with care and kindness, and I believe, in general, to feel for them 
 great care and kindness — have not taken this view of the subject which I have men- 
 tioned. There are thousands of religious men, with consciences as tender as those of 
 any of their brethren at the North, who do not see the unlawfulness of slavery ; and 
 there are more, thousands, perhaps, that, whatever they may think of it in its origin, 
 and as a matter depending upon natural right, yet take things as they are, find slavery 
 to be an establislied relation of society where they live, and see no way in which— let 
 their opinions upon the abstract question be what they may — it is in the power of the 
 present generation to relieve themselves from this relation. And, in this respect, can- 
 dor obliges me to say that I believe they are just as conscientious, many of tlicni — and 
 of the religious people, all of them- as we are in the North, holding different senti- 
 ments. 
 
 Why, sir, the honorable member from South Carolina [Mr. Calhoun] the other day al- 
 luded to the separation of that great religious community, the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. That separation was brought about by differences of opinion upon this par- 
 ticular subject of slavery. I felt great concern, as that dispute went on, about the re- 
 sult. I was anxious— I was in hope— that the differences of opinion might be healed ; 
 because I look upon that religious community as one of the great props of religion and 
 
16 
 
 morals throughout the whole country, from Maine to New Orleans. The result was 
 against my wishes and against ray hopes. I have read all their proceedings, all their 
 arguments ; but I have never yet been able to come to the conclusion that there was any 
 real ground for that separation — in other words, that any good could be produced by 
 that separation. 
 
 Sir, when questions of this kind take hold of the religious sentiments of mankind, 
 and come to be discussed in religious assemblies, by clergy and laity, there is always to 
 be expected, and always to be feared, a great degree of excitement. It is in the nature 
 of man, manifeated by his whole history, that religious disputes are apt to become 
 warm. Men's strength of conviction is proportioned to their view of the magnitude of 
 the question. 
 
 In all such disputes, there will sometimes be men to be found, with whom everything 
 will be absolutely wrong or absolutely right. They see the right clearly; they think 
 others ought to — and they are disposed to establish a broad line of distinction between 
 what they think right and what they hold to be wrong, aud they are not seldom willing 
 to establish that line upon their own conviction of the trutli and justice of their own opin- 
 ions. They are willing to mark and guard by placing along it a series of dogmas, as 
 lines of boundary are marked by setting posts and stones 
 
 Tliere are men who, with clear perceptions, as they think, of their own duty, do not 
 8ee how too hot a pursuit of one duty may involve them in the violation of others, or 
 how too warm an embraccment of one truth may lead them to disregard other truths 
 equally important. As I heard it stated strongly, sir, not many days ago, these per- 
 sons are disposed to mount upon some duty as a war-hovse, to drive furiously in, and 
 upon, and over, all other duties that may stand iu the way. 
 
 There are men who, in times of that sort, and in disputes of that sort, are of opinion 
 that human duties may be ascertained with the precision of mathematics. They deal 
 with morals as with mathematics, and they think that what is right may be distinguish- 
 ed from what is wrong with all the precision of an algebraic equation. They have, 
 therefore, none too much charity towards others who diflfer from them. They are apt 
 to think that nothing is good but what is perfectly good ; that tliere are no compromises 
 or modifications to be made in submission to difference of opinion, or in deference to 
 other men's judgment. If their perspicacious vision enables them to detect a spot on 
 the face of the sun, they think that a good reason why the sun should be struck down 
 from heaven. They prefer the chance of running into utter darkness, to living ia 
 heavenly light, if that heavenly light is to be not absolutely without any imperfection. 
 
 These are impatient men, too impatient always to give heed to the admonition of St. 
 Paul, that we are not " to do evil that good may come," too impatient to wait for the slow 
 progress of moral causes in t! ? improvement of mankind. They do not remember that 
 the doctrines and the miracles of Jesus Christ have, in 1800 years, converted only a small 
 portion of the human race ; and, among the nations converted to Christianity, they 
 forget how many vices and crimes, public and private, still prevail, and that many of 
 them — the public crimes especially — offences against the Christian religion, pass with- 
 out exciting particular regret or indignation. Tiiu.s wars are wago<l, and unjust 
 wars. I do not deny that tliere may be just wars ; there certainly are; but it was the 
 remark of an eminent person, not many years ago, upon the other side of the Atlantic, 
 that it was one of the greatest reproaches to human nature that wars were sometimes 
 necessary for the defence of nations — that they were sometimes called for against the in- 
 justice of other nations. 
 
 In this state of sentiment upon the general nature of slavery lies the cause for a great 
 portion of these unhappy divisions, exasperations, and reproaches, which find vent and 
 support in different parts of the Union. Slavery does exist in the United States. It 
 did exist in the States before the adoption of this constitution, and at the time of its 
 adoption And now let us consider, for a moment, what wa.s the state of sentiment in 
 the North and the South in regard to slavery at the time this constitution was adopted. 
 A remarkable change has taken place since. AVliat did the wise and gcmd men of all 
 parts of the country think of slavery? In what estimation did they hold it in 1787, 
 when this constitution was adopted.'' It will be found, sir, if we carry ourselves, by 
 historical research, back to that day, and ascertain men's opinions by authentic records 
 still existing among us, that there was no great diversity of opinion between the North 
 and the South upon the subject of slavery ; and it will be fouml that both parti^ of the 
 country held it equally an evil — a moral and political evil. It will not be found that 
 either at the North or at the South there was much— though there was sfme— invective 
 against slavery, as inhuman and cruel. The great ground of objection to it was politi- 
 cal ; that it weakened the social fabric ; that, taking the place of free labor, society was 
 less strong and labor less productive. Therefore we find from all the eminent men of the 
 South the clearest expression of their opinion that slavery was an evil ; and they ascribe 
 it — not without truth, and not without some acerbity of temper and force of language — 
 to the injurious policy of the mother country, which, to favor the navigator, had en- 
 tailed the evil upon the colonies. I need hardly refer to the publications of the day, or 
 
17 
 
 to the matters of history npon record. The most eminent men, nearly all the conspicu- 
 ous men, in all the South, held the same sentiments ; that slavery was an evil ; it was 
 a blight ; it was a blast ; it was a mildew; it was a scourge; it was a curse. There 
 were no terms of reprobation so violent in the North at that day as in the South. The 
 North was not so much excited against it as the South. And the reason was, I suppose, 
 that there was much less of it in the Nortli than in the South ; and the people did not 
 see, or did not think they saw, the evils so prominently as they were seen, or thought 
 to be seen, in the South. ' 
 
 Then, sir, when this constitution was formed, this was the light in which the conven- 
 tion viewed it. Tlie convention reflected the judgment and the sentiment of the great 
 men of the South. A member of the other House, whom I have not the honor to know, 
 in a recent speech, has collected extracts from these published documents. They prove 
 the truth of what I have said. The question then was how to deal with slavery, and 
 how to deal with it as an evil. They came to this general result : they thought that 
 slavery could not continue in tlie country if the importation of slaves should cease ; and 
 they therefore provided tliat for a certain period the importation of slaves might be pre- 
 vented by the action of tiie new government. Twenty years were proposed by some 
 gentleman— a northern gentlenan, I think. Many of the southern gentlemen opposed 
 it, as being too long. Mr. Madison especially was s-omewhat warm against it, and said 
 it would bring too great an amount of that mischief into the country to allow the impor- 
 tation of slaves for such a period ; because, in tlie whole of this discussion, when we are 
 considering the sentiments and opinions in which this constitutional provision origi- 
 nated, we must take along witli us the fact, that the conviction of all men w.i.s. ihat if 
 the importation of slaves ceased, the Aviiite race would multiply faster than the black 
 race, and that slavery would therefore gradually wear out and expire. 
 
 It may not be improper here to allude to that — I had almost said celebrated — opinion 
 of Mr. Madison. You observe, sir, that term slavery is not used in the constitution. 
 The constitution does not require that fugitive slaves shall be delivered up; it requires 
 that persons bound to service in one state, and escaping into another, shall be delivered 
 up. Mr. Madison opposed the introduction of tlie term slave or slavery into the consti- 
 tution ; for he said he did not wish to see it recognized by the constitution of the United 
 States of America that there could be property in man. 
 
 All this took place in the convention of 1787 ; but connected with this, and conten>- 
 poraneous with it, is another important consideration not sufficiently attended to. The 
 convention for forming this constitution assembled in Philadelphia in May, and sat un- 
 til December, 1787. During all that time, the Congress of the United States was in 
 session at New York. It was a matter of design, a,s we know, that the convention 
 should not assemble in the same State where Congress was holding its session. Almost 
 all the public men of the country, therefore, of distinction and eminence, were in one 
 or the other of these two assemblies; and I think it happened in some instances that 
 the same gentlemen were members of both. If I mistake not, such was the case with 
 Mr. lluFUs King, then a member of Congress from Massachusetts, and at the same 
 time a member from Massachusetts of the Convention which formed the Constitution. 
 It was in the summer of 1787, and at the very time when the Convention in Philadel- 
 phia was framing this Constitution, that the Congress in New York was framing the 
 ordinance of 1787. And they passed that ordinance on the 13th of July, 1787, at New 
 York — the very month, and perhaps the very day, in which these questions of the impor- 
 tation of slaves and the character of slavery were debated in the Convention in Pliiladel- 
 phia. So far as we can now learn, there was a perfect concurrence of opinion between 
 these respective bodies. It resulted in this : The ordinance of 1787, excluding slavery, 
 ■was applied to all the territory over which the Congress of the United States had juris- 
 diction ; that is, to all the territory Northwest of the Ohio. Three years before, Vir- 
 ginia and otlier States had made a cession of that great territory to the United States • 
 and a most magnificent act it was. I never reflect upon it without a disposition to do 
 honor ami justice — and justice would be the highest honor — to Virginia for tliat act of 
 cession of tlie Northwestern Territory. I will say, sir, tliat it is one of lier fairest 
 claims to the respect and gratitude of the United States, and that perhaps it is only 
 second to that other claim which attaches to her ; which is, that from her counsels, and 
 from the intelligence and patriotism of her leading statesmen, proceeded the first idea 
 put in practice for the formation of a general Constitution of the United States. 
 
 This ordinance of 1787, applyingthus to the whole territory over which the Congress 
 of the United States had any jurisdiction, was adopted nearly two years before the 
 Constitution of the United States went into operation; because the ordinance took ef- 
 fect immediately upon its passage, while the constitution, after having been framed, 
 was to bo sent to the States, to be debated in their conventions, and to be adopted 
 by them, and then the government was to be organized under it. This ordinance, 
 
18 
 
 therefore, was in full operation and force when the constitution was adopted and its 
 govornnicnt put in luotiun, in March or April, 1780. 
 
 Mr. i'rcsident, throe things are quite clear as historical truths : One is, that there 
 was an expectation that upon the ceasing of the importation of slaves from Africa, sla- 
 very would begin to run out. That was hoped and expected. Anutiier is, that so far 
 as there was any power in Congress to prevent the spread of slavery in the United 
 States that power was executed in the most absolute manner, ami to the fullest ex- 
 tent. An honorable <r;entleman, whose health does not allow him to be here to-day, 
 [Mr. Calhoun,] said the other day in a speech to the Senate — 
 
 A Senator, lie is here. 
 
 Jfr. Wkbster. I am very happy he is here. May he long be here in health, and in 
 the enjoyment of .strength to serve his country! The honorable member said that he 
 considered this as the first in a series of measures calculated to enfeeble the South, and 
 to deprive them of their just participation in the benefits and privileges of the govern- 
 ment, lie says, very properly, that it was done under the old confederation, and be- 
 fore this constitution went into effect. — My present purpose is oulj' to say that it was 
 done with the entire and unanimous concurrence of the whole South. There it stands. 
 The vote of every State in the Union wa.s unanimous in favor of that ordinance, with 
 the exception of a single individual, and that individual was a northern member — 
 while for that ordinance prohibiting slavery northwest of the Ohio, are the hand and 
 seal of every Southern member in Congress. This was the state of things, and the 
 state of opinion under which these two very important matters were arranged, and these 
 two important things done ; that is, the adoption of the constitution and the recognition 
 of slavery as it existed in the States, and the establishment of the ordinance prohibit- 
 ing to the full extent of all territory owned by the United States, the introduction or 
 existence of slavery. 
 
 And here, sir, we may pause. We may reflect for a moment upon that entire coin- 
 cidence and concurrence of sentiment between the North and tlie South upon this 
 question at the period of the adoption of the constitution. But opinion hua changed — 
 
 freatly changed — changed North and changed South. Slavery is not regardeil in the 
 outh 11 >w as it was then. I see before mo an honorable member of this body, [Mr. 
 Mason.] paying me the honor to listen to my remarks, who brings to nie freshly and 
 Tividly the sentiments of his great ancestor — so much distinguished in his day and 
 generation, so worthy to be succeeded by so worthy a grandson — with all the strength 
 and earnestness of the sentiments which he expressed in the convention in Philadel- 
 phia. 
 
 Here we may pause. There was a unanimity of sentiment, if not a general concur- 
 rence of sentiment, running through the whole community, but especially entertained 
 by the eminent men of all portions of this country, in regard to this subject. But soon 
 a chan;xe began. North and South. A change began, and a severance of opinion sooa 
 ghoweil it — the North growing much more strong and warm against slavery, and the 
 South growing much more ^trong and warm in its favor. There is no generation of 
 mankind who^e opinions are not subject to be influenced by what appears to be their 
 present and emergent interest. I impute to the Soutli no particular interested view in 
 the change which has now come over her. I impute to her. certainly, no dishonor- 
 able views. All that has h.'^ppened has been natural. It has followed causes which al- 
 ways influence the human mind and ojierate upon it. 
 
 What, tlicn, has been the cause which has created so warm a feeling in favor of sla- 
 very at tlie S(nith .' — which has changed the whole nomenclature of the South in rela- 
 tion to this subject.' — so that, instead of being referred to as an evil, a blight, a curse, 
 slavery lias now come to be an institution to bo cherished — not a scourge and a mis- 
 fortune to be deprecated, but a great political, social, ami moral blessing, as I think I 
 have heard it lately described. Well I sujipose that this is owing to the sudden, sur- 
 prising, ami rapid growth of the cotton planting interest in the South. So far as any 
 motive but honor and justice, and the general judgiuont lias acted in forming their 
 present opinions, this cotton interest has doubtless acted. It was this which gave to 
 the South a new desire to promote slavery, to spread it, and to use this species of 
 labor. — I again say that tlii.*! was produced by causes wliich we must always expect to 
 produce like efTccts. Men's interests became more deeply involved in it. It we look 
 Dftck to the histor}' of the conimorce of tliis country at the time of its commonoement, 
 wiiat were our exports : Cotton was iiardly raised at all. The tables will show that 
 the exportation of cotton in the years IT'.'O and ITVl was hardly more than forty or 
 fifty thousand ibdlars a year. It has gone on, increasing r.ipidly till it amount.^ now in 
 a year of large product and high prices, to more than ime huudred millions of d(dlnrs ! 
 Then there was more of flux, more of indigo, more of rice, more of almost anything 
 else exported from the South than of cotton. I think that 1 have hoard it said that, 
 when Mr. Jefl'erson negotiated the treaty of 1704 with rjreat Britain, he did not know 
 
19 
 
 that any cotton wis raised in this country ; and that when, under that treaty, which 
 gave the United States the right to carry their own products in their own ships to 
 British ports, a shipment of cotton was sent to En2:land, the British custom-houses re- 
 fused to admit it under the treaty, on tlie ground tliat there was none of tliat ai'ticle 
 raised in America. They would hardly say that now. — [Laughter.] Vr'ell, we all 
 know that this cotton age has become a golden age for our Southern brethren. — Vt gra- 
 tified their desire for improvement and for extending their operations. That desire 
 grew with wliat it fed upon ; and there soon came to be a greediness for other territory 
 — a new area, or new areas, for the cultivation of tlie cotton crop ; and measures were 
 brought about one after another, under the lead of Southern uentlcnieu at tlie heail of 
 the government (tliey have a ujajority concurring in both branches of the legislature), 
 to accomplish these ends. 
 
 The honorable Senator from South Carolina observed in his speech the other day 
 that tlie North have a A.^ed majority in every department of the government. If that 
 be true the North have acted very liberully and kindly, or else very weakly ; fur they 
 have never exerted the power which that majority gives them five times in the whole 
 history of the government. Whether they have been generous, or whether they were 
 outgeneralled. I will not stop to discuss ; but no one acquainteil with the history <>f his 
 countrj^ can deny that the general lead in the politics of this country, during three- 
 fourths of the period which has elapsed since the formation of this government, has 
 been a southern lead. 
 
 In 1802, in pursuit of the idea of opening new cotton regions, the United States ob- 
 tained tiie cession from Georgia of her western territory, now embracing the rich and 
 growing State of Alabama. In 1803, Louisiana was purchased from France, out of 
 which the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri, have been formed as slave- 
 holding States. In 1819 the cession of Florida was made, bringing another addition of 
 slaveholding property and territory. 
 
 The honorable Senator from South Carolina thought he saw in certain operations of 
 the government, such as the manner. of collecting the revenue, and the tendency of cer- 
 tain measures to promote immigration into the country, and so on, the causes for the 
 more rapid growth uf the North thau of the South. He thinks that they were not the 
 operations of time, but of the system of government whicli has been jiursued. That is 
 a matter of opinion. In a certain measure it may be so ; but it does seem to me that, 
 if any operations of the government can be shown to have promoted the population, and 
 growth, and wealth of the North, there are sundry important and distinct operations 
 of the Government, about which no man can doubt tending to promotCj and absolutely 
 known to have promoted, the slave States and the slave territory at tlie South. Allow 
 me to say that it was not time that brought Louisiana in. but the act of man ; it was not 
 by the silent operation of time that Florida came in, but by the act of man ; and, then, 
 to complete these acts of man, which have contributed so much to enlarge the area and 
 sphere of this institution of slavery, Texas— great, vast, illimitable Texas— was added 
 to the Union as a slave State in 1S45, and tliat, sir, pretty much closed the chapter and 
 settled the whole account. It closed the wliolc chapter and settled the whole account, 
 because the annexation of Texas, upon the conditions and under the guaranties upon 
 which she was admitted, did not leave an acre of land capable of being cultivated by 
 slave labor between this Capital and the Rio Grande or the Nueces, whichever is the 
 proper boundary of Tex.as. Not an acre remained from that moment, sir. The whole 
 country, from here to the western bouu'lary of Texas, was fixed, pledged, decided to be 
 slaveholding territory, by the most ample guaranties of law. 
 
 -;• And I now say, as the proposition upon which 1 stand this day, and upon the truth 
 and firmness of which I intend to act until it is overthrown, that there is not at this 
 moment within the United States, or within the Territories, a single foot of land the 
 character of which, in regard to its being free-soil territory or slave territory, is not 
 fixed by some law, and some irrepealable law — a law beyond the power of the action of 
 this government. Now, is not that so with respect to Texas .' Indeed, it is most mani- 
 festly so. The honorable gentleman from Soutli Carolina, [Mr. Cai.iioux,] at the 
 time of the admission of Texas, lield an important post in the executive department of 
 government. He was Secretary of State. Another eminent person of great activity 
 and adroitness of powers — I mean the late Secretary of the Treasury, [Mr. Walker] — 
 was a leading member of this body : they took tlie lead in the business of annexation : 
 and I must say that they did their work faithfully — there was no botch in it. [Laugh- 
 ter.] They rounded it olTand made it as close joiners' work as ever was put together. 
 The resolutions of annexation were brought into Congress fitly joined together— com- 
 pact, firm, efficient, conclusive upon the great object which they had in view. Allow 
 me to read a resolution. It is the third clause in the second section of the resolutions 
 of the 1st of March, 184o. for the admission of Texas. That article reads in these 
 words — 
 
20 
 
 "Ni'w states of convenient size, not exceeding four in number, in adlition to said State of Texas, 
 and Iraving sutlicient population, may hereafter, by the consent of said State, be formed out of the ter- 
 ritory thereof, wliich shall he evititled to admission under the provisions of the federal constitution. 
 And 'siirii .-.tntes as may hp f.inneil out of that portion of said territory lying south of thirty-six degiees 
 thirty minntts nort^ latitude, comm(>nly known as the Mi.«souri coniproniife line, sliali he admitted 
 into the Union with or witiioul i.lavciy. as the peojile of each State asking admission may desire.' 
 
 And then there is a provision that such territory as lies north of thcMissouri com 
 prou:ise line shall be free States : — 
 
 "And such Slate or States as shall be formed out of said territoiy, r.crth of Faid^ !V^i8souri coni- 
 promi.-ie line, slavery or ii;voluutary servitude (except for crime) sliall he prohibited. 
 
 Well, now, what i.s here pledged, stipulated for, enacted, secured .' Why. it is that 
 all Texas south of 3t) deg 30 niin., which is nearly the whole of it, shall be adm'tted 
 into the Union as a State — it was a slave State, and therefore it all came in as a slave 
 State — and that new States shall be made out of it; and that such States, being formed 
 out oi' that portion of Texa.s which lies soutii of 80 deg. ■>0 min., may come in as slave 
 States, to tlie number of four, in addition to the State then in existence, and admitted 
 under the resolution. Now, sir, I know of no formula, no mode of legislatirju, which 
 can strengthen that resolution. I know no formal recognition of Congress that can add 
 a title to it. 
 
 I listeneil with respectful attention to my honorable friend from Tennessee, [Mr. 
 Bell], containing a proposition to recognize that stipulation with Texas. Why, sir, 
 any adilitional recognition of it would weitkcn its force, because it stands here upi^n the 
 ground of a compact for consideration. It is a law — a law founded in a contract with 
 Texas, and is destined to carry that contract into effect. Recognition of the contract, 
 for the purpose suggested, would not leave it as strong as it stands now upon the face 
 of the original resolution. 
 
 Now, I know of no way — I candidly confess I know cf no way — in which this govern- 
 ment, acting in good faith — as I trust it always will — can relieve itself from that com- 
 mitment, stij)ulation, and pledge, by any honest course of legislation upon it ; and 
 therefore I say that, so far as Texas is concerned — the whole of Tex.'ts south of 3*5 deg 
 30 min., which I suppose embraces all the slave territory — there is no land, not an 
 acre, the character of whieli is not established by law, and by law which cannot be re- 
 ^ealeil, without a violation of contract. 
 
 I hope, sir, it is now apparent that my proposition, so far as Texas is concerned, 
 is made plain. And, sir, the provision in these articles — as has been well suggest- 
 ed by my friend — that that part of Texas which lies north of 36 deg may be formed 
 into free states, is dependent likewise upon the consent of Texas, herself a slaveholding 
 ftate. 
 
 Well, now, how came it that the.-c laws — when it is said by the honorable Senator 
 from South Carolina that the free ; '.ates have the majority — how came it that these 
 resolutions of anmexation, such I have dcscribctl them, found a majority in both Houses 
 of Congress .' Why, sir, they found that majority by a vast addition of northern votes 
 to a great portion of the soutlierii votes. It was made up of northern votes. In the 
 House of Representatives it stood, I think, about eighty southern votes for the admis- 
 sion of Texas, and about fifty northern votes. 
 
 Mr. Dwis, of Mii-ssachusetts, (in his seat). All the Democrats were on one side. 
 
 Mr. Wrb«tkr. —I shall not forget that. [Laughter.] In the Senate the votes stood 
 27 for the admission of Texas, and 25 against it ; and of these 27 votes, constituting a 
 majority for its admission, not less than 13 of them came from the free states, and 4 of 
 them from New England. So you see one-half of all the votes of this body for the ad- 
 mission of Texas, with this immeasurable extent of slave territory, was formed by Free 
 Soil votes 
 
 Sir, th< re is not so remarkable a cliapter in our history of political votes, of political 
 parties, ot political men, as is atforded by this majority tor the admi-sion of lexns, with 
 this territorv that a bird cannot fly over in a week. [!.,aughter ] New Englan", . with 
 some of her v )tes, .•supported this measure. Three-quarters of the votes of liberty lov- 
 ing Connectictit were given for it in tlie other Hou.^e, and one-half here. And there 
 ■was one vote for it in Maine — not, I am li.ijipy to say, the vote of the honorable member 
 who addres.'^ed us day before yesterday, [.Mr. Hamlin], who was then a member of the 
 other Housf> from Maine l>ut there was one v ite fmrn that st ite ; ay, s.r. tiierc was 
 one vote for it in Mai<s.u'hu.«etts — a gentleuian then and now living in, and formerly 
 reprosentin;r a district in which the prevalence of tree sod soiitiiiieiits his for a couple 
 of years detVated the choice of any member of Congress. The body of eastern men who 
 gave their votes thus at that time, or sonn after, took upon themselves the nomencla- 
 ture fif the tiorthern ileinocracy. 1 liey were to wield the de.«iiny of tliis en)]>ire, ifl 
 may call ft ro[mblic an cmjiirc ; and their pnlicy was— ami they persisted in it — to bring 
 into this country all the territory they could. Thry did it under pledges — aKsolute 
 pledges — to .slavery, in c.-ise of Texas. And afterward.", in the case of thi.'< new conquest 
 irhen the honorable Senator from tJeorgia [Mr. Berrien], in March. 1847, moved that 
 
21 
 
 the Senate should declare that the war ought not to be prosecuted for the purpose of 
 acquisition, conquest, and the dismeiiiherment of Mexico — the same northern democracy 
 unanimously voted against it. It did not get a vote from them. It g-uited the views, 
 patriotism, and lofty sentiment of northern demorracv to bring in a world among the 
 mountains and valleys of New Mexico, or the northern part of Mexico, and then quar- 
 rel about it — to bring it in, and then put upon it the saving grace ot the Wilmot yn-ovi- 
 so ! [Laughter.] Why, sir, there were two very eminent and highly respectable per- 
 sons from the North and East, then holding a liigh position in this Senate — I refer (and 
 I do so with entire respect, for I entertain a high regard for both of them) to Mr. Dix, 
 of New York, and Mr. Niles, of Connecticut — who voted for the admission of Texas. 
 They would not have it otherwise than it stood, and would have it as it did st'nd. 
 Those two gentlemen would have the resolutions of annexation just as they are. vith 
 their eyes open to them. Why, sir, my honorable friend from Soutli Carolina [Mr. 
 Calhoun], who addressed us the other day, was tlien Secretary of State. His corres- 
 pondence had been published. His correspondence with Mr. Murphy, the charge d'af- 
 faires of the United States to Texas, was all before those gentlemen; and he hud the 
 boldness and candor to avow in that correspondence, and then to publish that coiies- 
 pondence, that the great object sought by the annexation of Texas was to strengMien 
 the slave interests of this country. 
 
 Mr Calhoun, (interposing). In thismatter which I consider of so much importance, 
 I deem it my duty to set the honorable Senator from Ma?sachusetts right. I did not 
 put it on the ground assumed by the Senator. I put it on this ground; that Great 
 Britain had announced to this government, in so mnny words, tliat lier object wis to 
 abolish slavery in Texas, and through Texas in tlie United States. And the ground I 
 put it upon was this : that if Great Britain succeeded in her object, it would be impos- 
 sible for our frontier to be secure asrainst the operations of abolitionists, and that 
 this government was bound to protect us. under the guarantees of tlie constitution, in 
 such a state of things. 
 
 Mr \VEB^iTKR. — I supposc it amounts to exactly the same thing. It was, tlint T^xas 
 must be obtained for tlie security of the South ; and that was the object set forth in the 
 correspondence. I have occasion to know that there repose in tlie State Department 
 strong letters from the very worthy gentleman who preceded the honorable Senator 
 from South Carolina in that office, to the United States minister in England, and I sup- 
 pose letters from the honorable senator himself to England, asserting to this extent the 
 sentiments of this government ; that Great Britain was not expecred to interfere to 
 take Texas out of the hands of the then existing government and make it a free country. 
 But my conclusion is this : that those gentlemen who compose the Northern Democra- 
 cy, when Texas was brought into the Union, saw it brought in, with all tlioir eyes 
 open, as a slave territory, and for the purpose of being maintained as a slave territory 
 to the Greek kahnd.1. JY.a;' they saw ; that they could not but see. I further think 
 that the honorable Senator, who was tlien Secretary of State, might liave, in some of 
 the correspondence, suggested to Mr. Murphy that it was not expedient to say too n.uch 
 about this subject, as it would create some alarm. But he avovred it openly and man- 
 fully — for what lie means he is very ready to say. 
 
 Mr. Cai.holn, (interposing). Always; alwaj-s. 
 
 Mr W .-TER. — This was in 1845 Then, in 1847, ^a^/Yz;<^f ^e/A/ between the United 
 States and Mexico, this proposition was brought forward by my friend from Georgia. 
 The northern democracy voted ngainstit. Their remedy was to apply to this conquest, 
 after it should come in, the Wihiiot Proviso! Well, what followed .- Why. those two 
 gentleman, worthy, honorable, and influential men, brought in Texas by their votes. 
 They prevented the passage of the resolution of the honorable Senator i'rom Georgia, 
 and then they went home and took the lead in the free-soil party ; and there they 
 stand Thev leave us here bound in honor and conscience by the resolutions of annexa- 
 tion ; they leavens here to take the odium of fulfilling the obligations in favor of sla- 
 very, which they voted us into, or else the greater odium of violating these obligations, 
 while they are at home making rousing and capital speeches for free soU and no sluvtry. 
 — [Laughter.] Therefore, I say, Mr. President, that there is no chapter in our history, 
 respecting public measures and public men, more full of what should create surprise, 
 and more full of what does create, in my mind, extreme mortification, than tlie conduct 
 of this northern democracy. 
 
 Sometimes, when a man is found in a new relation to tilings around him :ind to other 
 men, he says the world, has chani^ed. and that he has not changed. I believe, sir, that 
 our seli-respect leads us often to make that declaration, in regard to ourselves, when it 
 is not exactly true. An individual is more apt to change, perhaps, than all the v.orl(i 
 around him is to change; and under present circumstances, and under the responsi- 
 bility which I know I incur by what I am now stating iiere. I feel at libert}' to recur 
 to the various expressions and statements at various times of my own opinions, and 
 
22 
 
 resolutions respecting the admission of Texas, and all that has followed. As early as 
 183t), or the early part of ]H'M , it wiis a matter of conversation and correspondence be- 
 tween myself and Mjmc private friends. An honorable gentleman, long an acquaint- 
 ance and friend of mine, now pcrhajis in this chamber — 'leneral Hamilton, of South 
 Carolina — was knowing to that correspondence. I voted for the recognition of Texan 
 independence becau.sc 1 bi-licvcti it was an existing fact, surprising and astonishing as 
 it was, and I wished well to tho new republic. But I professed from the first an utter 
 opposition to bring her with iicr territory into the United States : and having occa- 
 sion, in ISoT, to meet some friends in Kew York, on some political occasion, 1 stated 
 my sentiments on that subject. It was the first time I had occasion to advert to it; 
 and if I might ask a friend near me to read an extract from that speech, I think it would 
 be proper to present it to the Senate, though it may be rather tedious. It v\-as de- 
 livered at Niblo's Garden in M^-iT . 
 
 Mr. Grekne read as follows : 
 
 '•Gentlemen, we all see that, by whomsoever possessed. Texas is likely to he a .slareholdinp coun- 
 try ; and I frankly avow my etmie unwillingness to do anything which shall extend the slavery of 
 the African race on this continent, or add other slaveholdingStates to the Union. 
 
 '' When I say that 1 regar ' iavery in itst-lf as a great moral, social, and political evil. I only use lan- 
 guage which lias been ailn|,ted by distinguished men. themselves citiicns of slaveholding States. 
 
 '• 1 shall do nothintr • efore. to favor or encourage its further extension. We have slavery already 
 among us.^The cc .ion found it among iis, it recognized it. and gave it solemn guarantiee. 
 
 " To the full cxtc .1 ul these guaranties, we are all hound in honor, in justice, iind by the constitution. 
 All the stipulations contained in the constitution in favor of the slaveliolding States which are already 
 in the Union ought to be fulfilled, and. so f;ir as depends on me. shall be fullilled iu the fullness of their 
 spirit and to the exactness of their letter. Slavery as it exists in the Slates is beyond the reach of 
 Congress. 
 
 •■ It is a concern of the States themselves. They have never submitted it to Congress, and Congress 
 has no rightful power over it. 
 
 " I shall concur, therefore, in no act. no measure, no menace, no indication of purpose, which shall 
 interfere or threaten to interfere with the exchisive authority of the several States over the subject of 
 slavery, as it exists within their respective limits. All this appears to me to be matter ol plain and im- 
 perative duty. 
 
 ■' But when we come to speak of admitting new States, the subject assumes an entirely different as- 
 pect. Our rights and our duties are then both different. 
 
 •■ 1 see, therefore, nojKilitical necessity for the annexation of Texas to the Union — no advantages to 
 be derived from it, and objections to it of a strong and. in my judgment, of a decisive character."' 
 
 Mr. Webstkr. I have nothing, sir, to add nor to take back from these sentiments. 
 That, sir, you will perceive, and the Senate will perceive, was in 1S37. The purpose 
 of immediately annexing Texas at that time was abandoned or postponed. It was not 
 revived with any vigor lor some years. In the mean time, it so happened that I had be- 
 come a member of the executive administration, and was there for a short period, in the 
 Department of State. The annexation of Texas was a common subject of conversation 
 — not confidential — with the President and heads of departments, as it was with other 
 public incMi. But no serious attempt was made to bring it about. 
 
 I left -lie Department of State in May, 1840, and shortly after I learned from a source 
 in no w"y connected with official information, that a design had been taken up to bring 
 Texas with her slave territory and population into the United States. 
 
 I was here in ^Vashington ; and persons are now here who well remember that we 
 had an arranged meeting for conversation upon it. I went home to Massachusetts, 
 and proelaimed the existence of that purpose; but I couM get very little attention. 
 Some V"uld not believe it, and some were engaged in tlieir own pursuits. They had 
 gone to their farms or tiieir merciiandise. It was impossible to raise any sentiment in 
 Kew Englanif or even Massachusetts, that shouhl combine the two parties against an- 
 nexation ; and, indeed, there was no hope, from the first, of bringing the northern 
 democracy into it. Even with the Whigs, and leading Whigs I am ashamed to any, 
 there was a great indifference concerning the annexation of Texas witli her slave terri- 
 tory into this Union. At that time I was out of Congress. The annexation resolutions 
 passed the 1st of March, 1845. The Legislature of Texas complied witli the conditions 
 and accepted the guaranties; for the phraseology ot the annexation resolutions is, that 
 Texas is to come in " on the conditions and under the guaranties herein prescribed." 
 
 I happened to be returned to the Senate in March, 1845, and was here in December, 
 1845, when the acceptance by Texas of the conditions proposed by Congress was laid 
 before as by the President, and an act for the con.«unimation of the connexion w.a* be- 
 fore the two houses. Tlie connexion was completed. A final Law, rloing the deed of 
 annexation, was ultimately adoj)ted. When it was on its passage here, 1 exj>ressed my 
 Opposition, and recorded my vote : and there the vote stands, with the observations I 
 ma'le upon that occasion. It happened, between 18.?7 and this time, that, on various 
 occasions and opportunities, 1 h.ive expressed my entire opposition to the admissii>n of 
 slave states, or the ac'iuisition of new slave territory to be adde<l to the United States. 
 I know no oliange in my own sentiments or in my own purposes in tiiat respect. I will 
 onlv now, sir. read very briefly one other extract from a speech of mine, made at a con- 
 vention held in Springfield. Majisachusctts. September 27, 1847: 
 
23 
 
 '■ Wt hear much just now of a panaren for the dangers and evils of shvory and slave annexation. 
 which they call the • U'ilmot Proriso.' That certainly is a just sentiment, hut it is not a sentiment to 
 found any new party upon. It is not a sentiment on wliioh Massachusetts Whigs diti'er. There is not 
 a man in tliis hall who holds to.it more firmly than 1 do, nor one who adheres to it more than another. 
 
 ■■ I feel some little interest in this matter, s'ir. Did not I commit myself in 1338 to the whole doctrine 
 fully, entirely ? And I must be permitted to say that I cannot quite consent that more recent discover- 
 ers should claim the merit and take out a patent. 
 
 " 1 deny the priority of the invention, .\llow me to say, sir, it is not their thunder. 
 
 " We are to use the first and last and every occasion wjiich ofl'ers to oppose the extension of slave 
 power. 
 
 ■• But I speak of it here, as in Congress, as a political question — a question for statesmen to act upon. 
 We must so regard it. I certainly do not mean to say that it is less important in a moral point of vievir. 
 that it is not more important in many other points of view ; but. as a legislator, or in any official capa- 
 city. I must look at it, consider it. and decide it, as a matter of political action." 
 
 On other occasions, sir, and in debates here, I have expressed my determination to 
 vote for no acquisitions or annexations. North, South, East or West. My opinion has 
 been that w^e have territory enough, and that we should use the Spartan maxim : " Im- 
 prove, adorn what you have ; seek no further." 
 
 I think, sir, that it was on some observations I made here on the three million loan 
 bill, that I avowed that sentiment. It is short; and the sentiment has been avowed 
 quite as often, in as many places, and before as many of the people of the United States, 
 as any humble isentiment of mine has been avowed. 
 
 But now, sir, what is our condition .' Texas is in with all her territories, as a slave 
 State, with solemn pledges that if she is divided into many States, those States may 
 come in as slave States south of 36 deg. 30 min. How are we to deal with them? I 
 knoAV of no way of honorable legislation, but, when the time comes for enactment, to 
 carry into effect all that we have stipulated. I do not agree with my honorable friend 
 from Tennessee, that as soon as there is room for another representative, according to 
 numbers, we should create a new State. The truth, with regard to that, I think to be 
 this: When we have created new States out of Territories, we have generally gone 
 upon the idea that when there was population enougli to entitle them to a member — 00,000, 
 or some such number — we should create a State. It may be thought a different thing, 
 where a State is divided, and two or three are made out of one. It does not follow that 
 the same rule of apportionment must prevail. But that, sir, is a matter for the consi- 
 deration of Congress. When the proper time arrives, I maj' not be here. I may have 
 no vote to give on the occasion ; but I wish to be distinctly understood this day, that 
 according to my view of the matter, this government is solemnly pledged by law to 
 create new States out of Texas, with her consent, when her population shall justify 
 such a proceeding, and so far as those new States are formed out of Texan territory ly- 
 ing south of 30 degrees 30 minutes, to let them in as slave States. That is the meaning 
 of the resolution which our friends, the northern democracy, have left us here to fulfil 
 it. because I will not violate the faith of the government. 
 
 Now, sir, as to California and New Mexico : I hold slavery to be excluded from those 
 Territories by a law even superior to that which admits and sanctions slavery in Texas 
 — I mean the law of nature— the law of physical geography — the law of the formation of 
 the earth. That law settles forever, with a strength beyond all terms of human enactment, 
 that slavery cannot exist in California or New Mexico. Understand me. sir ; I mean sla- 
 very as we regard it — slaves in gross, of the colored race, transferable by sale and de- 
 livery as other property. I shall not contest the point. I leave that to the learned gentle- 
 men who undertake to discuss it ; biit I suppose there are no slaves of tliat description in 
 Mexico now, and suppose there never will be. I understand that this peonage, this sort of 
 feudal servitude in which men are sold for debt, exists in California and some parts of 
 Mexico. But what I mean to say is, that the existence of African slavery, as we see it here 
 among us, is as utterly impossible to find itself or to be found in Mexico, as any other 
 natural impossibility upon anything else. Why, sir, California and New Mexico are 
 Asiatic in their formation and their scenery. They are composed of vast ridges of 
 mountains, of an enormous height, sometimes broken by deep valleys. The sides of 
 these mountains are barren — entirely barren. Their tops are capped by perennial 
 snows. There may be in California, now made free by her constitution — and there are, 
 no doubt — some tracts of valuable land ; but it is much less valuable when you get into 
 New Mexico. Pray what is the evidence upon this subject, which any gentleman has 
 collected by information sought by himself, or stated by others .' I have read all I could 
 read, and learned all I could learn on the subject. What is there in New Mexico that 
 could by possibility induce anybody to go there with a slave .' There .are some narrow 
 slips of tillable land upon thc'borders of the rivers ; but the rivers themselves dry up 
 before midsummer. All that the native people can do is to raise some little articles — 
 some little wheat and other grain for their own use, and all that by irrigation. Who 
 expects to see a hundred black men cultivating tobacco, corn, cotton, rice, anything, on 
 lands in New Mexico, made fertile only by irrigation .' I look upon it, therefore, as a 
 ' fixed fact "—to use a current expression of the day— that both California and New 
 
24 
 
 Mexico arc destined to be free, so far as they are settled at all — which 1 believe, espe- 
 cially with regard to New Mexico, will be very little, for a great length of time — free 
 by the arrangement of things by the powers above us. 
 
 And I have therefore, sir, to say on this respect also, that this country, is fixed for 
 freedom to as many persons as shall ever live there by an irrepealablc law — a more 
 irrepealable law than the law which appeals to the right of holding slaves under legal 
 enactments. And 1 will say further, sir, that if a resolution or a law were now before 
 us to provide a territorial government for New Mexico, I would vote to put into it no pro- 
 hibition whatever. The use of such a prohibition would be idle as it respects any effect 
 npon the Territory. I would not take pains to re-affirm an ordinance of nature, nor to 
 re-enact the will of God. I would put in no Wilmot Proviso for the purpose of a taunt 
 and reproach — an evidence of superior votes or superior power — to wound the pride, 
 even — whetiier a just and rational pride, or an irrational pride — to wound the jiride 
 even — wliether a just or rational pride — to wound the jiride of the gentleman and peo- 
 ple of the Southern States. I have no such object and no such purpose. They would 
 think it a taunt and an indignity. They would think it to be an act taking away from 
 them what they regard as a proper equality or privilege. Whether they are expected 
 to realize any benefit from it or not, they would feel thac at least a theoretic wrong — 
 something derogatory, in some degree, more or less, to their character — had taken 
 place. I need not inflict any such wound upon the feelings of anybody, unless in a case 
 where something essentially important to the country and efficient to the preservation 
 of liberty and freedom is to be effected. Therefore I repeat, sir — and I repeat it be- 
 cause I wish to be understood about it — I do not propose to address the Senate often 
 upon this subject. I desire to pour out all my heart as plainly as possible. I say, there- 
 fore, sir, that if the proposition wore now here for a government for New McnIco, and 
 it was moved to insert a jirovisiou for the prohibition of slavery, I would nut vote for it. 
 
 Now, Mr. President, 1 have established, so far as I propose to go into any observations 
 to establish, the proposition with which I set out — upon which I mean to stand or to fall ; 
 that is, that the whole territory in the States of the United States, or in newly acquired 
 territories of the United States, has a fixed and settled character now — fixed and settled 
 fey law, whicli cannot be repealed, in the case of Texas, without violation of public 
 faith, and wliich cannot l)e repealed by any human power in regard to California and 
 New Mexico. Under one or the other of tliesc laws, every foot of territory in the States 
 or in the Territories has now received a fixed and decided character. Sir, if we were 
 now making a government for New Mexico, and anybody should propose the Wilmot 
 Proviso, I should treat it exactly as Mr. Polk treated that proposition for excluding 
 slaverj' from Oregon. Mr. Polk was known to be in opinion decidedly adverse to the 
 Wilmoe Proviso, liut he felt the necessity of a law for the government of the territory of 
 Oregon. .Vnd though tlie Wilmot Proviso was there, he knew that it wculd be a perfectly 
 nugatory Proviso ; and since it must be entirely nugatory, since it took away no de- 
 scribable, estimable, weighable, or tangible right of the South, he said he would sign 
 the bill for the sake of enacting a law for the government of the Territory, and let that 
 entirely useless — and in tiiat connexion entirely senseless — Proviso remain. For my- 
 self, I will say — we hear of the annexation of Canada — if there be any man, any of the 
 northern democracy, or any of the free soil party, who suppose it necessary to insert " 
 Wilmot Proviso in the territoral government of New Mexico, that man will of course 
 be of opinion that it is necessary to protect tlie everlasting snows of Canada from the 
 vote of slavery, by the same overpowering wing of an act of Congress. Now, sir, 
 wherever tlicre is a practical good to be done, wlierever there is an inch of land to be 
 stayed back from becoming a slave territory, I am ready to insert the principle of the 
 exclusion of slavery. I am pledged to tliat from IBoT — pledged to it again and again — 
 and I will perform those pledges. But 1 will not do a thing unnecessarily tliat wountls 
 the feelings of otiiers, or that dues disgrace to my own understanding. 
 
 Mr. President, in the excited times in which we live, there is a state found to exist 
 of mutual recrimination an<l recrimination between the South and the North. There 
 arc lists ofgrievancos produced by each ; and tiiese grievances, really I suppose, alienate 
 the minds of one portion of the country from the other, exasperate the feelings, subdue 
 the sense of fraternal connexion, of patriotic love, and mutual regard. I shall bestow 
 a little attenliun upun those various grievances, produced by the one side and the other. 
 I begin with the complaints of the South. 1 will not answer further than 1 have the 
 general stateiiicnt of the lionorable member from South Carolina [Mr. Calhoun], th&t 
 the Nort'i has grown upon tlie South, in consequence of the manner of administering 
 this gove:rnient, collecting its revenues, kc. They are disjtuted topics wliich I have 
 D*! inclin tion to enter into; but I will state these c(mi|daints, ami especially one com- 
 pl.Tint of the Soutii, wliicli lias, in my opinion, just foundation ; whicii is, that there bag 
 been found at tlie North, among iudiviiluals. and among the legislatures of the North, a 
 disinclin ition to perform fully their constitutional duties in regard to the return of 
 
25 
 
 persons bound to ser-vice who have escaped into those States. In that respect, it is my 
 judgment that the South is right and the North is wrong. Every member of every 
 northern legislature is bound by oath to support the constitution of the United States; 
 and this article of the constitution which says to these States that they sliall deliver 
 up fugitive slaves, is as binding in honor and iu conscience as any other article; and no 
 man fulfils his duty, under his oath, in any State legislature, who sets himself to work 
 to find excuses, evasions, escapes from his constitutional duty. I have always thought 
 that the constitution addressed itself to the legislatures of the States themselves, or to 
 the States themselves. It says that those persons escaping into other States shall be 
 delivered up; and 1 confess I have always been of opinion that that was an injunction 
 upon the States themselves. It is said that a person escaping into another State, and 
 becoming therefore within the jurisdiction of that State, shall be delivered up. It seems 
 to me that the plain import of the passage is, that the State itself, in obedience to the 
 injunction of the constitution, shall cause him to be delivered up. This is ray judg- 
 ment; I have always entertained it, and I entertain it now. But when the subject 
 came, some years before, under the consideration of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States, the majority of the judges held that the power to cause the fugitive from ser- 
 vice to be delivered up was a power to be exercised under the authority of this govern- 
 ment. I do not know upon the whole, that that may not have been a fortunate decision. 
 I do not say that it is not a legal decision. My habit is, to receive the results of judi- 
 cial deliberations and the solemnity of judicial decisions; but, as it now stands, the 
 business of seeing that these fugitives are delivered up resides in the power of Con- 
 gress and the national judicature. My friend at the head of the Judici.iry Committee 
 has a bill upon that subject now before the Senate, with some amendments to it which 
 have been offered. 
 
 I propose to support that bill, with all proper authority and provisions in it, to the 
 fullest extent — to the fullest extent. I desire to call the attention of nil sober men, in 
 the North — men carried away by no fanatical ideas — to tb.eir constitutional obligations 
 upon this question and in this respect. I put it to all sober and soun<l men in the 
 North, as a question of morals — a question of conscience— what right they Ikivc. in their 
 legislative capacities, any of them, to endeavor to get around this constitutii n, and 
 embarrass the free exercise of the rights secured by the constitution to .lU liorsons 
 whose slaves escape from them.' None at all — none at all. Neither in the lorum of 
 conscience, nor before the face of the constitution can they justify that, in my opinion. 
 Of course it is a matter for their own considerations. They, probably, in the turmoil 
 of thought, without having stopped to consider of it, fell, as it seems to me, into a cur- 
 rent of thought in whicli they imagined they found motive for their action; and they 
 neglected to investigate fully the real question of the case — to consider their constitu- 
 tional obligation, which, I am sure if they did consider, they would fulfil with nlacrity. 
 I therefore repeat, here is aground of complaint against the Noith, well-founded, which 
 ought to be remedied — which it is now in the power of the different departments of this 
 government to remove — which calls for the enactment of a proper law, authorizing the 
 judicatures of the several States of this government to do all that is necessary for the 
 recapture of fugitive slaves, and the restoration of them to those who claim them. 
 Wherever 1 go, and wherever I speak upon this subject — I speak here, and desire to 
 speak to the people of the whole North — I say that the South has been injured in this 
 respect. It has a right to complain. The North has been too careless upon what I 
 think the constitution peremptorily a'ud emphatically enjoins upon it as a duty. 
 
 Complaint is made again, sir, of the resolutions tb.at emanate from the several State 
 legislatures and are sent here to us, not only upon the subject of slavery in this Dis- 
 trict, but sometimes recommending Congress to consider the means of abolishing slavery 
 in the States. I should be very sorry to be called upon to present any resolution not 
 referable to any acknowledged power in Congress, and therefore should be very unwil- 
 ling to receive from Massachusetts instructions to present resolutions expressing any 
 opinion whatever upon slavery as it exists at the present moment in the States, for two 
 reasons. In the first place, I do not consider that the legislature of Massachusetts has 
 anything to do with it; and, in the next place, 1 do not consider that I, here, as her 
 representative, have anything to do with it. And if the legislatures of the States do 
 not like it, they have a great deal more power to put it down than I have to uphold it. 
 It lias become, in my opinion, quite too common a practice for State legislatures to pre- 
 sent resolutions upon all subjects, and instructing us here upon all subjects. There is 
 no public man that needs instruction more than I do, or needs information more than I 
 do, or desires it more than I do; but I do not like to have it come in too imperative 
 a shape. I noticed with pleasure some remarks made the other day, in the senate of 
 Massachusetts, by a young man of talent, standing, and character, for whom the best 
 hopes are entertained, upon this subject — I mean Mr. Hilliard. He told the senate of 
 Massachusetts that he would vote for no inst>'U(;tion« whatcvei' to be forwarded to 
 
26 
 
 members of Congress, nor for any resolutions whatever expressive of the sense of Mas- 
 sachusetts as to what her members of Congress ought to do. He said he saw no pro- 
 priety in one set of public servants giving instruction and reading a lecture to another 
 set of public servants— that to their own master all of them must stand or fall, and 
 that master is their constituents. I wish these sentiments could become more commoQ 
 — greatly more common. 
 
 1 have never entered into the question, and never shall, about the binding force of 
 instructions. I will say simply this : that if tlicre be any interest pending in either of 
 these bodies, where I am a member, and Massachusetts has in that question any par- 
 ticular interest of her own, not adverse to the general interest of the country, I shall 
 pursue her instructions with gladness of heart, and with all the efficiency that I can 
 bring to it. But if the question be one that affects her interests, and at the same time 
 aflfects the interests of the people of all the other states. I should feel myself no more 
 bound to regard her particular wishes and instructions than if I were chosen a referee 
 or an u-bitrator, to decide upon a question of important private rights, I should feel 
 myseli bound to regard the instructions of the man that appointed me. If there ever 
 Was a '.^'overnment on earth, it is this government — if there ever was a body upon earth, 
 it is tiiis body, which should consider itself as composed by an agreement of all : ap- 
 pointe 1 by sonic, but organized l)y general consent of all : sitting liere under obligation 
 of oath and conscience to do that which they consider as best for the good of the whole. 
 
 Then, sir, there arc those abolition societies, of wiiich 1 am very unwilling to speak, 
 but in regard to wliich I have very fixed notions and opinions. I do not think them 
 useful. I think their operations for the last twenty years have produced nothing that 
 is good or valuable. At the same time I know that thousands of them are very honest 
 and good men, perfectly well-meaning. They have excited feelings. They think they 
 must do sometliing for the cause of liberty, and in their sphere of action they do not 
 see what else they can do, but to contribute to an abolition press or an abolition soci- 
 ety, or to pay an abolition lecturer. I do not mean to impute gross motives even to the 
 leaders of those societies ; but I am not })lind to the consequences ; I cannot but see 
 what mischief their interference with the South has accomplished. Is it not plain to 
 every man .' Let any gentleman who doubts all tiiis recur to the debates in the Vir- 
 ginia house of delegates in l!S:12. Sec with what freedom the proposition made by Mr. 
 Randolph for the gradual abolition of slavery was discussed in that house of delegates. 
 Everybody spoke of slavery as they thought; and very ignominious and disreputable 
 names and epithets were applied to it freely. The debates of the house of delegates 
 were all published. They were read l>y every colored man who coul 1 read; and if 
 there was not a colored man who couM read, they were read by white men to colored 
 men who could not read. At that time, Virginia was not unwilling or afraid to discuss 
 this whole question, and to let that particular part of her population know as much of 
 it as they could learn. That was in 1S32. 
 
 As haa been said by the honorable member from South Carolina, these abolition so- 
 cieties commenced their course of action in 183-5. It is said — with what truth I know 
 not — that they sent incendiary publications into the slave states. At any event, they 
 attempted to arouse, and did arouse a very strong feeling — in other words, created a 
 great sensation in the North against slavery. What was the result .' The bands of 
 slavery were bound tighter. The rivets were more strongly fastened. Public of)inion 
 in Virginia, just then opening to the free discussion of this question, drew back and 
 shut itself up in it>s castle. 1 wish to know now whether anybody in Virginia can talk 
 as Mr. Randolph and Gov. >IcL>owcll talked in Virginia.' They talked openly, and 
 sent their remarks to the press in 1.S32, we all know ; and we all know the cause. 
 Everything that the agitating people have done has been not to enlarge, but to re- 
 strain ; not to set free, but to bind faster the slave population of the South. That is my 
 judgment. 
 
 As I have said, I know many of them in my own neighborhood are very honest and 
 good people — misled, as I think, by a strange enthusiasm ; but wishing to do some- 
 thing, they feel called upon to contribute, and they do contribute. It is my firm opin- 
 ion this day, that within the last twenty years as much money has been collecte<l and 
 paid to abolition societies, abolition j>resses, anil abolition lecturers, as would purchase 
 the freedom of every slave — man, woman, and child — in the state of Maryland, and send 
 them all to Liberia : I have no doubt of it. I have not learned that the benevolence of 
 these abolition societies has at any time taken that particular ttirn. 
 
 Again, sir, the violence of the press is comjilained of The press is violent every- 
 where. There are outrages — reprcjaches in the North against the South, and reproaches 
 in not much better taste in the South against the North. Tlie extremists of both par- 
 ties of the country are violent They mistake loud and violent talk for eloquence and 
 for reason. Tiiey think he who talks loudest reasons the best. We must expect that 
 where the press i% free, as it is licre, and always will be — for, with all its licentious- 
 
27 
 
 ness, and all its evils, an entire and absolute freedom of the press is essential for the 
 preservation of the government on the basis of a free constitution — wherever that ex- 
 ists there will be foolish paragraphs and violent paragraphs in the press, as there are, 
 I am sorry to say, foolish speeches and violent speeches in the houses of Congress. In 
 short, sir, I must say that, in my opinion, the vernacular tongue of the country has 
 become greatly vitiated, depraved, and corrupted by the style of the Congress debates. 
 [Laughter.] And if it were possible for our debates in Congress to vitiate the princi- 
 ples of the people as much as they have depraved their tastes, I should cry out, God 
 save the Republic ! Well, sir, in all this I see no solid grievance within the redress of 
 government — produced by the South — but the single one to which I have referred — the 
 want of a proper regard for the injunctions of the constitution about the restoration of 
 fugitive slaves. 
 
 Now, sir, there are complaints of the North against the South. I need not go- over 
 them particularly. The first and the gravest "is— considering that the North entered 
 into the constitution recognizing the existence of slavery in the states, and recognizing 
 the right, to a certain extent, of the representation of slaves in Congress, under a state 
 of sentiment and expectation which does not now exist — that the North, by events, by 
 circumstances, by the eagerness of the South to acquire territory and to extend a slave 
 population, finds itself, in regard to the respective influence of the South and North, of 
 the free states and slave states, where it never did expect to find itself when they en- 
 tered into the constitution. They complain, therefore, th.at instead of being regarded 
 as an evil, as it was then — an evil which all hoped would go out gradually — it "is now 
 regarded by the South and cherished as an institution to be preserved and extended, 
 and is an institution which the South has extended to the utmost of its power, by the 
 acquisition of new territory. 
 
 Then, sir, passing from that, everybody in the North reads — everbody reads what- 
 soever the newspapers contain ; and the newspapers, some of them, and especially 
 ttose presses to which I have alluded, are careful to spread among the people every 
 reproachful sentiment uttered by any Southern man, high or low, against the North. 
 Everything that is calculated to exasperate — everything that is calculated to alienate — 
 and there are many such things, as everybody will admit, in the South, or some por- 
 tions of it — is spread abroad among a reading people. And they do exasperate — they 
 do alienate — they do produce a mischievous effect upon the public mind of the North. 
 I would not notice things of this sort, appearing in obscure quarters ; but one thing 
 has occurred in this debate which struck me very forcibly. 
 
 The honorable Senator from Louisiana [Mr. Downs] addressed us here the other day 
 upon this subject. I suppose there is not a more amiable or worthy gentleman in this 
 chamber. I suppose there is not a gentleman more slow to give offence to anybody. 
 He did not mean in his remarks to give offence to anybody. What did he say .' He 
 undertook to run a contrast between the slaves of the South and the laboring people 
 of the North, giving the preference in all points — in condition, comfort and happiness 
 — to the slaves of the South. I repeat, sir, that he did not suppose he was giving any 
 offence or doing any injustice. He was expressing his opinions. But does ho know 
 how a remark of that sort will be received by the laboring people of the North .' Who 
 are the laboring people of the North .' They are the North. They are the people who 
 •cultivate their farms with their own hands — freeholders — educated men — independent 
 men ; and let me say, sir, that five-sixths of the whole property of the North is in the 
 liands of the laborers of the North. They cultivate their farms ; they educate their 
 •children; they provide means of independence. If they are not freeholders, they 
 earn wages. Wages accumulate, and are turned into capital. New freeholders and 
 new small capitalists are created. That is the condition of things at the North. x\nd 
 what can these people think, when so respectable and worthy a gentleman as the mem- 
 ber from Louisiana undertakes to prove that the absolute ignorance and abject slavery 
 of the South are more in conformity with the high purposes of immortal, rational hu- 
 man beings than the educated and independent condition of free laborers of the North ! 
 Now, sir, so tar as any of these grievances have their foundation in matters of law, 
 they can be redressed. So far as they have their foundation in matters of opinion, in 
 sentiments, in mutual crimination and recrimination, all we can do is to endeavor to 
 allay them — to endeavor to cultivate a better feeling and more fraternal sentiment be- 
 tween the South and the North. 
 
 Mr. President, I should much prefer to have heard from every member upon this 
 floor declarations of opinion that this Union could never be dissolved, than the decla- 
 ration of opinions that in any case, under the pressure of any circumstances, such a 
 dissolution was possible. I hear with pain, and anguish, and distress, the word se- 
 cession, when it falls from the lips of those who are eminent, patriotic, known to the 
 country, and known all over the world, for their political services. Secession! 
 Peaceable secession ! Sir, your eyes and mine are never destined to see that miracle. 
 
2S 
 
 The disraembcrnijiit of this vast country without convulsion! The breaking up of the 
 fountains of the ;;re;it deep without ruffling the surface I Who is foolish enough — I beg 
 everybody's pardon — who is ft)olisli enough to expect to see any such thing ? Sir, he who 
 sees these States, now revolving in harmonj' around one common centre, and expects 
 to sec them quit their places, and fly off, witliout CDUvul^ions, may look out the next day 
 to se<' Jie heavenly bmlies ru-^h from their spheres, and jostle against each other in the 
 realn.'-- of space, without producing a crush of the universe. Such a tiling as peacea- 
 ble S( ossion ! It is utterly impossible. Is this constitution under which we live here, 
 covering this whole country, to be thawed and melted away by secession, as the snowe 
 on the mountains are melted under the influence of a vernal sun, to disappear almost 
 unobs-rved, and to die off"! No, sir; no, sir. 
 
 I w'U not state what might produce the disruption of these states. I see it as plainly 
 as I sn; the sun in heaven; and should it happen, it must produce such a war as I will 
 not dv.scribc, in its two-fold cliaracter. Peaceable secession ! Peaceable secession ! A 
 concurrent agreement of all the members of this great republic to separate! A volun- 
 tary separation, witli alimony on the one side or the otiier!— What would be the re- 
 sult .' Where is the line to be drawn .' What states are to be associated .' What is to 
 remain America.' What am I to be .' Where is the flag to remain .' Where is the ea- 
 gle still to tower .' or is he to cower, and shrink, and fall to the ground r Why sir, our 
 ancestors, our fathers and grandfatliers, those of them who still remain auiongst us, by 
 reason of prolonged life, would rebuke us and reproach us, and our children and grand- 
 children would cry out shame uptm tis, if we of this generation should bring dishonor 
 npon those ensigns of the honor and power and harmony of the Union, which we see 
 aroun 1 us now, witli so much joy and gratitmle. What is to become of the army .' 
 What is to become of the navy .' What is to become of the public lands .' How is each 
 of the thirty states to defend itself.' Nay, although the idea has been suggested dis- 
 tinctly, that there is to be a Southern confederacy — I do not mean when I allude to 
 this, t!iat any body contemplates it here or elsewhere ; I only me.an to say that I have 
 heard it suggested — I am sure that the idea cannot be entertained, even in the ilream 
 of the wildest imagination. But if any separation is looked to, it must be one including 
 the slave states, on the one side, and the free states on tlie other. 
 
 Sir, I may express myself too strongly ; but some things — some moral things — are 
 almost as impossible as natural and physical things; and I hold the idea tha' a separa- 
 tion of those states into those which are free to form one government, and tho.se which 
 are slaveholding to form another government, is a moral impossibility. AVe could not 
 separate tlicm by any suc!i line if we were to try. We could not sit down here and 
 draw a line of separation tliat would suit any five men in the country. There arc nat- 
 ural causes which bind together and keep us together; so that we could not break them 
 if wc would, and I hope that we would not break them if we could. 
 
 Looking over tlie face of this country at the present moment, nobody can see where its 
 population exists, where its population is most growing, without being compelled to 
 admit that ere long America will be in the valley of the Mississippi. Now, I beg to 
 know what tiic wihlcst enthusia>t has to say upon the possibility of cutting off" half of 
 that river, leaving the free states at its sources and amongst its branches, and slave 
 states down near its mouth. Remember, sir, remember — let me say to the people of 
 this Cduntry— that there, in the Northwest, is to be the storehouse of the population 
 of America. There are already five millions of freemen in the free states n^rth of the 
 river Ohio. Does any body suppose that tliis population can be severed by a line that 
 divides them from a foreign and alien government, down somewhere — the L"rd knows 
 where — on the lower brances of the Mississippi .' What will become of the Missouri.' 
 Shall she join with the slave state iirnniiiLisniuni ? Shall the man from the Yellow- 
 Stone be connected in the new Republic with the man who lives on the southern ex- 
 trcmiPy of Florida.' I am ashamed to pursue tliis line of remark. I dislike it. I 
 have an utter disgust for it. I had rather hear of natural blasts and mildews, of war, 
 pestilence and famine, than to hear gentlemen talk of secession, of breaking up this 
 great government, of dismemberingfhis great country. It would be to astonish Europe 
 with an act of folly such as Europa for two centuries has never beheld in any country. 
 No, sir; gentlemen are not serious when tliey talk of secession and dissolution. 
 
 I hear that there is to be a (,'onvention at Nashville. I am one who believes that 
 if those worthy gentlemen meet at all at Nashville in Convention, their object will be 
 to adopt counsels of moderation— to advise the South to forbearance and ni-ileration, 
 and to advise the North to princiides of forbearance and moderation, inculcating prin- 
 ciples of brotherly love and affection, and attacliment in every part of our common 
 country. I believe, if they meet at all, they will meet for such purposes ; for, cer- 
 tainly, sir, if they meet for any purposes hostile to this Union, they have been singu- 
 larly unfortunate and inappropriate in their selection of a place of meeting. I re- 
 member that when the treaty was concluded between France and Englanrl, at the 
 
29 
 
 peace of Amiens, a stern old Englishman, an oiator ■who disapproved of the terms of 
 that peace, as dishonorable to England, said, in the House of Commons, that if King 
 William could know the terms of that treaty, he -would turn in his coffin. Let 
 me commend that saying in all its emphasis, and all its force, if anybody should think 
 of meeting at Nashville, fo' the purpose of concerting measures for the overthrow of 
 the Union of these States ver the bones of Andrew Jackson! 
 
 Sir, 1 wish to make two remarks, and hasten to a conclusion. I wish to say, in re- 
 gard to Texas, that, if it should be hereafter, at any time, the pleasure of tlie gov- 
 ernment of Texas to cede to the United States a portion, larger oi' smaller, which lies 
 adjoining to New Mexico, and north of the o4th degree of north latitude, for a fair 
 equivalent in money, for the payment of her debts, 1 think it an object well worthy 
 the consideration of this body. I concur in it myself; and if I should be in the pul)lic 
 counsels of the nation at that time, it would give me great pleasure to aid in the con- 
 summation of such an arrangement. 
 
 I have one other remark to make. In my observations upon slavery, as it has existed 
 in the country, or as it now exists, 1 have expressed no opinion of the mode of its 
 extinction or amelioration. I will say, however,— thoxigh I have nothing to propose on 
 that subject, because 1 do not feel myself so competent as gentlemen who are them- 
 selves more intimately connected with slavery — tliat if any gentleman from the South 
 shall propose a scheme of colonization, to be carried on by this government upon a large 
 scale, for the transportation of the free colored people to any colony, or to any place in 
 the world, 1 should be quite disposed to incur almost any degree of expense to accom- 
 plish that object. Nay, sir, following an example set here more tlian twenty years ago 
 by a great man, a Senator from New York, 1 would propose to return to Virginia, and 
 to the South through her, all the moneys received from the sale of the territory ceded 
 by her to this government, for any such purpose — to deal beneficially in any way with 
 the free colored people of the Southern States. There have been received into the 
 treasury of the United States, eighty millions of dollars, the proceeds of the public 
 lands ceded by Virginia, which have been already sold ; and if the residue shall be sold 
 at the same rate, the whole will amount to more than two hundred millions of dollars. 
 Now, if Virginia and the South see fit to make any proposition to relieve themselves 
 from the burden of their free colored population, they have my free consent that this 
 government should pay them, out of these proceeds, any sum of money adequate to 
 that end. 
 
 Now, Mr. President, I draw these observations to a close. I have spoken freely ; I 
 meant to do so. I have not sought to make any display — to enliven the occasion by 
 any animated discussion. I have sought only to speak my sentiments freely and at 
 large — being desirous, once and for all, to let the Senate know, to let the country know, 
 the opinions and sentiments which I entertain upon these subjects. These opinions are 
 not likely to be suddenly changed. 
 
 If there be any future services whicii I can render to the country, consistently with 
 these opinions and sentiments, I shall cheerfully render them. If there be none, I 
 shall still be glad to have had the opportunity to disburden my conscience, and from 
 the bottom of my heart to make known evei-y political sentiment upon this subject 
 
 And now, Mr. President, instead of speaking of the possibility or utility of seces- 
 sion — instead of dwelling in these caverns of darkness — instead of groping with 
 these ideas, so full of all that is horrid and horrible — let us come out into the 
 light of day, and cherish those hopes that belong to us ; let us devote ourselves 
 to those great objects that are fit fir our consideration and our acti on — let us 
 raise our conceptions to the magnitude and the importance of the duties that are de- 
 volved upon us ; let our comprehension lie as broad as the country for which we act, 
 and our aspirations as high as its certain destiny. Never did there devolve on any 
 generation of men higher trusts than are now devolved on us for the preservation of 
 this constitution, and the harmony and happiness of all that live under it. It is a 
 great, popular, constitutional government, guarded by legislation, law, anil judicature, 
 defended l»y the holy affections of the people. No nidnarchical throne presses these 
 States together ; no iron chain of despotic power encircles them ; they live and stand 
 upon a government, popular in its form, representative in its character, founded on 
 principles of equality, calculated to last, we hope, forever. In all its history it has 
 been beneficent. It bus trodden down no man's liberty ; it has crushed no State ; it 
 has been in all its influences 'j^nevolent :ind beneficent — promotive of the general pros- 
 perity, the general ghn-y, and the general renown. And at last it has received a vast 
 addition (.f territory. It was large before; it was now become vastly larger. This re- 
 public now stands with a vaat breadth across the wliole continent. The two great seas 
 of the world wash the one and the other shore. Wu may realise the description of the 
 ornamental edging on the buckler of Achilles : — 
 
30 
 
 " Xow the broad shield complete, the artist crowr.'d 
 VVith his last hand, and pourd the ocean round ; 
 in livinft silver seem'd the waves to roll. 
 And heat the buckler verge, and bound the whole." 
 
 _Mr C.\LHOu.v — Mr. President, I rise to correct what I conceive to he the error of the- 
 distill 'iiished Senator from Massachusetts, as to the motives which induced the admis- 
 sion ( ; Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. I have heard with regret the statement that it 
 was t .:> desire of the 8oulhcrn people to get an extension of territory, with the view of 
 cultiv.iring otitton witli more success than thoy would iu a crowded settlement. Now 
 I thin;c the liistory of this ac<iuisition will not sustain sucli a view. It is well known 
 that ti'.c acquisitii'U of Florida was the result of an Indian war. The Seminole Indians 
 crossc I over land and took one of our fortre.sscs. The troops were ordered out, but 
 •were driven back. Then, under the command of General Jack.son, Pensacola was 
 taken. It was these acts, and not the desire for more territory, that caused the acqui- 
 sition .'f Florida. I admit, however, that it ]>ad been for along time the desire on the 
 part (.f the South, and of the administration, I l>elieve, to acquire Florida ; but it was 
 very different from the reason assigned by tlie Senator. There were collected togetlier 
 in that territory four tribes of Indians — the Creek, the Choctaw, the Ciiickasaw, and 
 the Ciierokee— about thirty thousand warriors, who held connection, almost the whole 
 of them, with the Spanish authorities in Florida and had their trade principally with 
 them. It is well known that a most pernicious intiuence was at work there ; and it was 
 in the desire of preventing any conflict Vjetween these Indians and otirsolves and Spain, 
 that may be found the motive whicii induced the desire to acquire Florida. 
 
 I come now to Louisiana. You weU know that the immediate cause of that acquisi- 
 tion was the suspension of our right of deposit at New Orleans. Under the treaty with 
 Spain, wc had the right of navigation of the river as far as New Orleans, and to mako 
 deposit* there. The Spanisli authorities interrupted that right. This brought on 
 great agitation in the West, and I maintain, throughout the whole of the Uniteil States. 
 Some gentlemen then, in opposition to a highly respectable party, if I mistake not, 
 took the lead in the desire of resorting to arms to acquire that territory. Mr. Jkf- 
 FEKso.v, more prudent, desired it should come in by purchase. The.purchase was 
 made to remove that difficulty, and to give to the West an outlet to the ocean. That was- 
 the immediate cause of the admisssion of Louisiana. 
 
 Now, sir, I come to Texas. Perhaps no gentleman had more to do witli the aci]uisi- 
 tion of Texas than myself; and I aver that I would have been among the very last in- 
 dividuals in the United States to have made any movement, at that time, towards tiie 
 acquisition of Texas : and I go furtiicr and say, if I know mj-self, I was incapable of 
 acquiring any territory simply on tlie ground that it was to be slave tarritory. No, 
 sir ; a very different motive actuated me. 1 knew at a very early period that the 
 Britisli government had given encouragement to the abolitionists who were represented 
 in the World's Convention. Tiie question of abolition was agitated in that Convention ; 
 and one gentleman stated that Mr. Adams informed him that, if the British (iovern- 
 ment chose to abolisli slavery in the United States, they must Commence at Texas. A 
 committee from tlic World's Convention was sent to the Secretary of State. It so hap- 
 pene.l, that this very gentleman was present when the intercourse took place between 
 Lord Aberdeen and that committee, ami he gave him a full account of it shortly after 
 that occurrence, stating that Lord Aberdeen fell into tlie project to give encouragement 
 to the abolitionists It is well known that Lord .\berdeen was a pretty correct, and, 
 in my opinion, a very lumest man. Mr. Pakenliam was sent here to negotiate rela- 
 tive to Oregon — and incidentally about Texas. He was tu-dered to read hisdeclaratioa 
 to this government, stating that the I'ritisli Government was negotiating relative to 
 putting an end to slavery all over the world, and in Texas especially. It was well 
 known, further, that at the very time France and Fn.dand had negotiated with Ameri- 
 ca to effect that purpose, andotir government was thrown out by a — [The remaitiderof 
 the sentence was inaudible to tl»e reporter ] The objict of that was to induce Mexico 
 to recognize the independence of Texas upon the ground that she had abolished slave- 
 ry. Now, all these are matters of fact. 
 
 Well, sir, where is the manso blind as not to sec that if the project of Great liritain 
 had been successful, the wlndo State of Louisiana, Arkansas, and the adjacent States, 
 would have been open to the inroads of tlio Britisli emissaries. 
 
 Sir, as far as I was concerned 1 never did, and never wouM run into the folly of re- 
 annexation, which 1 always held t<j be unconstitutional and alisurd : nor would I put it' 
 upon what 1 might have put it — upon couimercial and manufacturing considerations, 
 because these v^cre not my motives princijially. And I choose to say whai was my mo- 
 tive. So fir as commerce and manufactures were concerned, 1 would not have moved at 
 that time. 
 Now, the senator objects to many Northern men throwing the weight of their influ- 
 
31 
 
 ence to support the measure of annexation. Well, it was perfectly right that thoy 
 should be desirous of fulfilling the obligations the constitution imposes. What man, at 
 that time, doubted but that the compromise of 36 degrees 30 minutes was constitutional? 
 That territory would have fallen, any how, to the south. All the reasonable men at 
 the North agreed to the extension of that line, so that part of Texas might fall within 
 it. The course was, in my opinion, eminently right and patriotic. 
 
 Now, Mr. President, having made tliese corrections, I must go back a little further, 
 and make a statement which 1 think the honorable senator has left very defective, in. 
 reference to the ordinance of 1787. He stated very correctly that it commenced with 
 the old confederation ; tliat it was afterwards confirmed by Congress ; that Congress was 
 sitting in New York at the time, and while the convention was sitting in Philadelphia. 
 Now, I have not looked at that ordinance very recently, but my memory will serve me 
 thus far : JeflFerson introduced a proposition to exclude slavery in 1784. There was a 
 vote upon it, and I think upon that vote every southern state voted for it. I am not 
 certain upon this point: therefore, I will not venture my memory upon it. But one 
 thing I will venture further; that it was three years before that ordinance was passed. 
 It never passed until 17S7 ; and it was then only passed, I have good reason to believe, 
 on the principle of compromise, as the ordinance contained a provision similar to the 
 one in the constitution about fugitive slaves, that it should be inserted in the constitu- 
 tion ; and this was the compromise upon which that provision was made to commence in 
 1787. We supposed that iu that we had an indemnity. In that, too, we made a great 
 mistake; for \vliat possible advantage do we derive from this stipulation in the ordi- 
 nance or in the constitution .' Broken faith has deprived us of our due share in the 
 Northwest Territory, by an entire exclusion of slavery. 
 
 This was the leading question wliich destroyed the equilibrium. And then followed 
 the Missouri compromise, which was carried mainly by Northern votes, although now 
 disavowed and not respected by the North. That was the next step which caused the 
 equilibrium to be broken and destroyed. 
 
 Now, sir, having made these remarks, let me say that I took great pleasure in listen- 
 ing to the honorable senator from Massachusett,^. He put himself upon tiic fullilment 
 of the contract in regard to the admLssion of these four states, stipulated for in the reso- 
 lutioas of annexation. His position was manly and statesmanlike, and calculated t-o 
 produce a better state of feeling between the different portions of the Union. He went 
 further ; he has condemned — rightfully condemned, (and in that he ha,s shown great 
 firmness) — the course of the North relative to the stipulations in the constitution con- 
 oerning fugitive slaves. But permit me to say — for I desire to be candid upon all sub- 
 jects — that the senator, I think, as well as many of the friends on the other side, put 
 confidence in a bill which has been reported, to e.^tend the laws of Congress in relatioa 
 to the recapture of slaves further, and to make them more penal. It will prove falla- 
 oious. It is impossible to make any law of Congress on the su' joct operative, unless 
 the people of the states shall feel themselves bound to cooperate. 
 
 I heard the gentleman also say he would not vote for the Wilmot Proviso — that he 
 believed that nature had already excluded slavery from the new territories. Now, a« 
 far as new acquisition is concerned, I am disposed to leave the question to nature her- 
 self That is what I always insisted upon. Let that portion of our country whiclt has 
 more naturally a nou-slaveholding population be occupied and governed by them, and 
 the other portions by us, destroying the artificial line, although that is, perhaps, better 
 than none. Mr. Jeiferson spoke like a prophet upon the Missouri compromise. Indeed, 
 I am willing to leave it to nature to settle and organize these territories. Organize 
 them upon the principle of the gentleman, and give us free scope, and a suiEcient time 
 to get in — we ask nothing but that, and we never will ask it. When the gentleman says 
 he is willing to leave it to nature, I understand that he is willing to remove all impedi- 
 ments now put in our way, deterring our people from going there — I mean the consam- 
 mate folly of citing the Mexican law prohibiting slavery inNew Mexico and California. 
 
 No man would feel more happy than myself to believe that our Union, foundc'd by 
 our ancestors, could live forever. Looking back, through the course of forty years I 
 have spent here, I have the consolation to" believe, that I have never done one" act in 
 which I have not done full justice to all sections; and if [ am ever exposed to the im- 
 putation of a contrary motive, it will be because I have been ready to defend my section 
 against unconstitutional laws, 
 
 But I cannot agree with the declaration of the senator, that this Union cannot lie dis- 
 solved. Am I to understand that no degree of oppression, that no outrage, tliat no 
 broken faith, can prevent the destruction of this Union.' Why , sir, if that becomes a 
 fixed fact, it will be the great instrument of introducing oppression and broken faith. 
 No, sir; the Union can be broken. Great moral causes will do it, if you go on; ami it 
 can only be preserved by justice, faith, and rigid adherence to the constitution. 
 
 Mr. Webster — I have listened to the honorable member, but the crowded state of 
 
32 
 
 the room hns prevented me from hearing all his remarks. I have onlj one or two ob- 
 servations to make ; and, to begin, I take notice of the honorable senator's last remark, 
 and ask him if I held that this Union could not ho broken? I wish to be distinctly 
 understood on that subject. 1 hold that the breaking up of this Union by any such 
 thing as voluntary secession of state is impossible. I know that the Union can be 
 broken, as other governments liave been ; una I admit that there may be sucli a degree 
 of oppression by one part, being the majority, upon the minority, as will warrant re- 
 sistance anil forcible severance. That is revolution. On tliat ultimate right of revo- 
 lution I have not been speaking. I know that law or necessity does exist. I forbear 
 from going further, because I do not wish to run into discussion upon the nature of this 
 government. The honorable member and myself have broken lances sufficiently often 
 heretofore 
 
 Mr. 0-A.LHorN (in his seat) — I do not desire it now. 
 
 Mr. Webster — I presume the honorable senator does not desire to do it now. I have 
 quite a.-' little desire as he. 
 
 The honorable gentleman states the issues on wliicli the old acquisitions of territory 
 ■were mule on the south side of t!ie Union. Why, undoubtedly, wise, skilful public men, 
 having an object to accomplish, took advantage of occasions. Indian wars were the oc- 
 casions. A fear of the occupation of Texns was an occasion. Ancl when the occasion 
 came umler the pressure of which, or under justification of which, the thing could be 
 done, it was done — d(uie skilfully. 
 
 Let me say one thing further — and that is, if slavery were abolished, as it has been 
 supposed to have been done througiiout all Mexico, before the revolution in Texas and 
 the estaV)lishment of the Texan government, tiien, if it were desii-.ible to take posses- 
 sion of Texas by purchase, aa a means of preventing its becoming a British possession, 
 I suppo.se that object could have been secured by making it free, as well as by making 
 it slave territory of the United States. 
 
 Sir, in my great desire not to prolong this debate, I have omitted what I intended to 
 gay upon the particular question, under the motion of the honorable member from Mis- 
 souri (Mr. Benton,) proposing an amendment to the resolution of the honorable senator 
 from Illinois, (Mr. Douglass) and that is, upon the propriety and expediency of admitting 
 California, under all the circumstance, just as she is. The more general subjects are 
 now before the Senate, under the resolutions of tlie honorable senator fmm Kentucky, 
 (Mr. Clay.) I must say I feel greatly obliged to that member for introducing this sub- 
 ject, and for the lucid speech which he has made, and which is so much read throughout 
 the whole country. I feel obligations to the honorable member from Tennes.«ee (Mr. 
 Bell) for the light which ke has ohpd upon this subject ; and in many respects it will be 
 seen that I do not differ much Irom the leading propositions submitted l\v either of 
 them. Now, wlien the subject of tlie admission of California on the direct, ijuestiou 
 shall be brought before the Senate, I propose — not before other gentlemen shall have 
 addressed the Senate, who have a desire to do so — to say something upon the boundaries 
 of California, upon the constitution of California, and upon the expediency, under all 
 the circumstances, of admitting her into the Union under that constitution. 
 
 Mr. Cai.hou.-v. — One word I omitted to state in my explanation. KutwifhstandinL' 
 the vast addition of Texas referred to by the senator from Massachusetts, it is a l:i. 
 that all this addition to our territory made it by no means equal to that from whicli t!iu 
 Northern States had excluded us before that acquisition. The territory lying west, be- 
 tween tlie Missouri and the Rocky Mountains, is three-quarters of all Loui-iana, and 
 that which lies between Missouri and Ohio, added to it, makes a much grcatei extent of 
 territory than Florida, Texas, and the portion of Louisiana which has fallen louur share 
 
 Mr. Walker moved that the further consideration of the subject be postponed until 
 to morrow. 
 
STRINGER & TOWNSEND'S 
 
 €^t dprtnt listurinil llnmanru 
 
 THE COUNT OF MONTE-CRISTO 
 
 BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS. 
 
 Author of "Tlie Three GuartUriien," "Twenty Years After," etc., etc. 
 
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 1146 
 

 
 
 
 
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