4 3S 
 
Class ^4-M. 
 
THE TERRITORIAL SLAVE POLICY; THE REPUBLICAN PARTY; 
 WHAT THE NORTH HAS TO DO WITH SLAVERY. 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 
 OP 
 
 HON. THOMAS D. ELIOT, OF MASS. 
 
 Delivered in the House of Representatives, April 25, 1860. 
 
 -o 
 
 The Houso being in the Committee of the Whole en the | 
 state of the Union — 
 
 Mr. ELIOT said : 
 
 1 desire, Mr. Chairman, to address an argu- 
 ment to the Committee this morning on the slave 
 territorial policy of the present Administration. 
 I desire to speak upon that subject which, as 
 has beeii truly said by several gentlemen, draw^s 
 to itself all questions besides. And I wish to 
 speak to that particular phase of the question, 
 because it is one which must enter into the delib- 
 erations of the people, into the action of the 
 freemeti of this land. North and South, during 
 the coming canvass for the Presidency. That 
 territorial slave policy is at conflict with the 
 theory of the Government and with the princi- 
 ples of the fathers ; and it ignores and discards 
 rights which have heretofore been recognised, 
 conceded, and acted upon, during the entire his- 
 tory of our National Government, down to the 
 Administration that preceded that of Mr. Bu- 
 chanan. Out of that policy, and as one necessary 
 result of it, the Republican party of this Union 
 has sprung into existence. 
 
 To restrain slavery within its present limits ; to 
 keep it within the States whose laws recognise it; 
 to prevent its expansion ; to exclude itfrom the Ter- 
 ritories ; to keep it from being a blight upon the free 
 lands of the United States, is the confessed duty 
 of that party. And there are convincing reasons, 
 social, moral, and political, why that duty should 
 be performed. Il was said here the other day, 
 by the gentleman from Georgia, [Mr. Love,] that 
 so far as that question was to be considered in 
 its political and in its moral aspects, it was fair- 
 ly a subject for discussion upon the floor of Con- 
 gress. But in the course of his argument, certain 
 facts were stated, and certain statistics given, to 
 ■which I desire, in the course of my remarks, to 
 call the attention of the Committee. 
 
 Mr. LOVE. I understand the gentleman to say 
 that I admitted that that question was properly 
 discussable in this House, in its moral and its 
 social relations. 
 
 Mr. ELIOT. Moral and political. 
 Mr. LOVE. I wish to correct the gentleman 
 in that respect. I did say then, and I do say 
 now, that it is proper and legitimate to discuss 
 that question politically here or elsewhere. 
 
 Mr. ELIOT. I said nothing about its social 
 aspects. 1 do not propose to discuss them. I 
 am willing, however, to discuss the question 
 ■upoa either ground — social, moral, or political. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, this question now before the 
 American people, demanding adjustment, is one 
 of protection. If Mr. Jefferson could be heard 
 now in these Halls, his own words would echo 
 back to him, and he would declare it to be one 
 of protection to that life and liberty and pursuit 
 of happiness with which he boldly taught that 
 all men were endowed, as with 'inalienable 
 rights. 
 
 Whatever public interest calls for considera- 
 tion, whether it be one of revenue or of educa- 
 tion, of our relations with foreign nations, of 
 commerce between the States, of internal im- 
 provements, of national justice, of domestic 
 tranquillity, for common defence, or the promo- 
 tion of our general welfare, the same great ques- 
 tion faces us as we legislate, demanding discus- 
 sion and adjustment, as the condition of legisla- 
 tive action. From time to time, that question 
 has presented itself to the statesmen of this land, 
 in different forms, according to the exigencies, 
 real or supposed, of Southern interests ; for it is 
 a political truth that our history demonstrates, 
 that when one position or principle or policy has 
 been advocated and sustained and secured by 
 the political advocates of human slavery, a step 
 in advance has been forthwith taken, and, as 
 soon as taken, defended and insisted on, as 
 though the last doctrine advanced were the ver- 
 itable principle and policy of the fathers. Such 
 has been the Russian career of the slave power — 
 autocratic always — yielding nothing unless, by 
 seeming concession, a substantial vantage 
 ground for future attack was thereby secured. 
 
 It is now but about twenty years since first, in 
 Congress, an intimation was made, by legislative 
 resolution, that the slaveholder, under the pro- 
 tection of the Constitution, might eavry his hu- 
 man chattels into the Territories of the Union, 
 in defiance of the action of Congress. 
 
 On the 19th of February, 1847, Mr. Calhoun 
 ofiFered in the Senate four resolutions, and they 
 are now the basis and the substance of the Dem- 
 ocratic creed. 
 
 The first three of those resolutions are as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 <• Reinlved, That the Territories of the United States belong 
 to tlie soveriil States comprising this Union, anil arc hold by 
 tlieni as llieir .joint iiuil commou properly. 
 
 " H/solvcd, Tli.1t Congress, ns the joint agent and repre- 
 sentative of the States of the Union, has no right to mnkc 
 .any luw, or do any act wh.itever, that shall directly, or by 
 its cirocts, make any di-'criinination between the Stiites of 
 this Union, by which any of thwm shaM bo dcprivci of ita 
 
full and equal right in any Territory of the United SUxtos, 
 acquired or to bo acquired. 
 
 " Hesnlvedjllvdl the enactment of any law which should 
 directly, or by its effects, deprive the citizens of any of the 
 States ul this Union from emigrating with their property into 
 any of the Territories of the United States, will make such 
 discrimination, and would thoroforo bo a violation of the 
 Constitntion, and the rights of the States from which such 
 citizens emigrated, and in derogation of that perfect equality 
 which belongs to them as mombersof this Union, and would 
 tend directly to subvert the Union itself." 
 
 Mr. Benton, upon the spot, condemned these 
 resolutions as a " string of abstractions ; " atid 
 during the conversation that ensued between 
 him and Mr. Calhoun, he said that Mr. Calhoun 
 must have known, from his whole course in pub- 
 lic life, that he never would "leave public busi- 
 ness to take up firebrands to set the world on 
 fire." 
 
 To-day, standing upon that bold and unheard- 
 of doctrine ; standing upon it as upon the broad 
 foundation of our liberties which the fathers 
 laid ; sustained by a false and partisan and law- 
 leas declaration of certain men clothed with the 
 ermine of our highest judicial tribunal, the Pres- 
 ident of the United States declares to us, in his 
 message to the present Congress, that 
 
 " The right has been established of every cJtizen to take 
 his properly of any kind, including slaves, into the common 
 Territories, belonging equally to all the States of the Confed- 
 eracy, and to have it protected there under the Federal Con- 
 stitution. Neither. Congress, nor a Territorial Legislalare, 
 nor any human power, has any authority to annul or to im- 
 pair this vested right." 
 
 And that is the politic.-.! phase now assumed 
 by that question which demands adjustment by 
 the freemen of this Union. 
 
 If now we go back for s, few years, it is easy 
 to see how the Southern Democratic party, sus- 
 tained by Northern friends under the lead of a 
 Northern President, and the false and treacherous 
 counsellings of a Northern Senator, have forced 
 into life, and combined into a solid and over- 
 powering organization, the Republican party of 
 the Union. Sir, during all the weary weeks that 
 preceded the organization of this House, while 
 the confusion of tongues prevailed, and our tor- 
 tured language was made the unnatural vehicle 
 of anathema and abuse against men who were 
 representing upon this floor the " sentiment" for 
 which the fathers contended— during all those 
 weeks, when the red hand of the South seemed 
 to be raised in menace against us, and the voice 
 of disunion, unchecked and applauded even, 
 echoed madly in these Halls, one great fact was 
 always recognised, the fact of this national power 
 which was tauntingly, but harmlessly, styled the 
 " Black " Republican party. If any man can pa- 
 tiently work his way through those harangues 
 "to the country"— where the main and con- 
 trolling end and aim appeared to be, not to con- 
 vince, but to inflame ;• not to persuade, but to 
 enracre constituencies already too much and too 
 wildfy excited— he will be struck, as I was, who 
 hoard them, with the manifest sense of national 
 greatness with which that Republican party had 
 impressed the Democracy of the South. It was 
 the premonition of coming defeat, and not the 
 "Helper book," which lashed into fury the 
 champions of Southern slavery ; and yet, if a 
 constitutional majority, iu a constitutional man- 
 ner and form, shall enable that political party to 
 inaugurate in these modern times an Adminis- 
 tration that shall claim to represent the policy 
 of Washington, and to carry out into effective 
 
 reality some of the ardent yearnings of the heart 
 of Jefferson, I apprehend that no man will rise 
 on this floor and say to us that a way will not 
 be found to meet the crisis according to the law 
 in such case provided. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, when the theory of Mr. Cal- 
 houn was becoming crystallized into a political 
 creed, the possibility of a Republican party be- 
 came a necessity. At that time, two great par- 
 ties — the Whig and the Democratic organiza- 
 tions — contended for political power; and these 
 resolutions of Mr. Calhoun contributed greatly 
 to disquiet the public mind of the whole North. 
 The " firebrand " took effect. The millions of 
 men in the non-slaveholding States were con- 
 founded at the bold advance of the slave power. 
 Distinguished Democratic politicians perceived 
 at once that such new aggressions of the South 
 would make them all slaves, by a logical neces- 
 sity, if such doctrines were admitted as Demo- 
 cratic, and the party which announced them 
 should have power to vitalize them by legisla- 
 tive laws. In many of the Northern States, in 
 caucus and in Convention, resolutions were 
 adopted by both political parties, to the end that 
 the men enrolled under their banners who loved 
 freedom, and believed in its nationality; who 
 dreaded the slave law and the slave trade, and 
 the institution they fostered ; and who believed 
 as Washington and his co-patriots, in the Senate 
 and in the field, at the South and at the North, 
 believed, that it must be restricted, anq, that it 
 ought to be abolished — to the end that such men 
 should be retained within their ranks, resolu- 
 tions were adopted declaring in advance the 
 substantial doctrines of our Republican party as 
 their true and accepted faith. For, Mr. Chair- 
 man, it was beginning to be felt that sober and 
 thinking men, who had not been politicians, were 
 getting to be alarmed. Third parties were be- 
 coming strong ; and both the Whig party and 
 the Democratic party found it to be expedient, 
 for th ;ir own preservation, and to conciliate the 
 growing discontent among themselves, to put 
 upon the record their opinions upon subjects 
 that were assuming such alarming significance 
 in the popular mind. 
 
 Sir, if the newspapers of that period should be 
 consulted, it would be found that the Northern 
 Democrat of the straitest sect— brought up at 
 the feet of Gamaliel himself— iu State Conven- 
 tion, would rival the Whig of most anti-slavery 
 proclivities in the art of framing resolutions m 
 defence of freedom. I do not stop to prove by 
 historic reference— it could not be done in the 
 hour you assign lae— the truth of what I say. 
 But there are men now on this floor. Republican 
 Representatives, then belonging to both parties, 
 who can attest its truth. We were actors and ob- 
 servers, and I am speaking of what I know. Then 
 came the session of the compromises. Mr. Calhoun 
 had, three years before, denouuced; all compro- 
 mises He did not believe in them, when principles 
 were involved. It would have been better for all 
 of us, perhaps, on both sides of the House, if some 
 of those measures, which together were styled the 
 compromises, had never become laws, but it 
 did at one time seem that the " conflict, so far 
 as it depended upon the action of the two con- 
 trolling parties in the country, was to be re- 
 pressed. 
 
I do not mean to say, nor to permit it for a 
 moment to be supposed, that I approved of the 
 whole legishxtioa of 1S50, or of the subsequent 
 political action of either of those parlies resjiect- 
 ing it. I speak now as an individual, and not 
 for any party. There are different opinions and 
 various judgments here upon this side of the 
 House regarding it. The honorable gentleman 
 from Ohio [Mr. Coitwis'] has taken occasion to 
 restate his approval of one of those measures, 
 known as the fugitive slave act, which were 
 placed as laws upon the statute books of Con- 
 gress while he was a distinguished member of 
 Sir. Fillmore's Cabinet. Other gentlemen have 
 stated, in more or less general phrase, their wil- 
 lingness to submit to what was done. I cannot, 
 as a legislator, assent to their opinions. What- 
 ever we may do, or whatever we may feel bound 
 not to do, as citizens, we stand here in Congress 
 clothed with higher power, and burdened with 
 different duties. I prefer the doctrine of Mr. 
 Buchanan, not the President, but the Senator. 
 I appeal from Jlr. Buchanan in the White House 
 to Mr. Buchanan in the Senate. Hear what he 
 said, speaking upon the bank question, in the 
 Senate, in July, 18-il: 
 
 '• Now, if it were not unparfiamontary language, and it I 
 did not desire to treat all my friends on this [Whig] side of 
 the House with tlie respect" which I feel for them, I would 
 Bay that the idea of the question having been settled so as to 
 bind the cotiscicnces of members of Confess, when voting on 
 the present bill, is ridiruJous arul absurd. If oil the judges 
 and all the lawyers in Christendom had decided in the alfirm- 
 ative, when the question is thus brought home to one as a 
 legislator, bound to vote lor or ;igainst a new cluirtor, upon 
 oath to support the C(inslitutiou,/»t,«^-« exercise my iwmjmif/- 
 titent. I would treat witlx profound respect the arguments 
 and opinions of judges and constitutional lawyers; but if, 
 after all, they fail to convince me that the law was constitu- 
 tional, I should be guilty of perjury before high Heaven if I 
 voted in its favor. 
 
 "But even if the Judiciary had settled the question, I 
 should never hold myself bound by their decision whil(^ act- 
 ing in a legislative character. Unlilic the Senator from 
 Mass-ichusetts, [llr. Bates, i I shall never consent to place the 
 UbertUs of the people in the hatuls of any judicial tribunal. 
 
 " No man holds in liigher esteem than I do the memory 
 of Chief Justice M:irt--liall ; but I should never have ctnuenlcdi" 
 make even him the final arbiter liettueen the (lox-emmenl arul the 
 people of this country on qu&itions <f ajnstiluiional liberty." 
 
 My own examination ofthe constitutional power 
 of Congress to pass the act of 1850 has induced 
 a conviction that I am unable to surrender; and 
 independent of the peculiar provisions of that 
 act, which seemed to me at the time of its enact- 
 ment to characterize it as a law unfit for the ap- 
 proval of civilized and Christian lawgivers, it 
 has seemed clear lo me, that when the several 
 States adopted, as a bond of common union, the 
 provisions of our Federal Constitution, it was 
 not within their intent to confer upon Congress 
 the power which such legislation involves. 
 
 But T go further back than the gentleman from 
 Ohio [Mr. Sherman] did yesterday, and would 
 be willing, altogether, to meet the gentleman 
 from Virginia, who discussed one portion of the 
 act of 1850, and discuss the question with him. 
 If the question were a new and open one now ; 
 if the right under the Constitution to pass any 
 law, either that of 1793 or that of 1850, could 
 be argued in the Congress of the United States, 
 I think that all constitutional lawyers must 
 come together upon ihat proposition. All that 
 can be said now is, that an early Congress, after 
 the adoption of the Constitution, passed an act; 
 that the Supreme Court have decided upon its 
 
 constitutionality ; that the courts of the various 
 States have sustained it ; that the legislation of 
 1850 is claimed to be in pursuance of it; and 
 because of the action of Congress and of the Ju- 
 diciary, that the question ought to be deemed 
 and taken to be settled. 
 
 That doctrine was not the doctrine which con- 
 mended itself to Mr. Buchanan, for he said, and 
 said well, that he was unwilling that the liber- 
 ties of the people should rest in the judicial tri- 
 bunals ofthe country. But when, in the course 
 of time, the judicial tribunals came to say that 
 the negro has no rights the white man is bound 
 to respect; when, going out of their proper 
 sphere, outside of the case before them, they 
 sought to pass upon a question of constitutional 
 law, then the President, forgetful of the past, 
 and of his early love and reverence for the lib- 
 erties of the people, is willing to endorse the doc- 
 trine ofthe Supreme Court, and to declare to us 
 that the question is settled, and that now no power 
 upon earth. Congressional, territorial, or judicial, 
 can affect the right of the slaveholder to carry 
 his slave within the Territories ofthe Union. 
 
 Sir, I do not care to stop now to discuss the 
 question of the constitutionality of that law. I 
 should not have felt myself called upon to refer 
 to it at all, except for the fact that several gen- 
 tlemen upon this side of the House have thought 
 it proper for them to say that, in their judgment, 
 the law was constitutional. The Republican 
 party, it is true, has nothing, as a party, to do 
 with it; but I felt unwilling to let this occasion 
 pass, and have it for a moment supposed that I 
 concurred in the opinion to which I have alluded. 
 Nor do I feel at all willing to rest under the sug- 
 gestions which have been made the other day, in 
 regard to the question of slavery in the District of 
 Columbia. I speak as a man, as an individual, 
 as the representative of no party ; but I love 
 this District with the affection of a child. Du- 
 ring my early years here, I learned my lesson 
 from books ; during my boyhood here, I listened 
 to the eloquence of men from the North and 
 South ; and I tell you it would be a proud and 
 happy day to me, could I aid the men of this 
 District to strike off the shackles from the slaves. 
 It would be a glad day to me, could I aid them 
 under the law, and under the Constitution that 
 covers us all, in that most happy work. 
 
 No, sir, I could not agree that I would not vote 
 for the abolition of slavery in this District. We 
 shall see that time, my friends. Ought we not 
 to do so, when the laws are brought to bear 
 here to suppress free speech? Were I to say 
 outside what I am saying here, I ask what se- 
 curity I have that I should not be put under 
 bonds to keej) the peace? I might be put under 
 bonds, were I to say in this capital of the nation 
 that I should not be afraid to defend John 
 Brown. I tell gentlemen such things cannot 
 happtn without attracting the attention of the 
 whole land. 
 
 But, .Mr. Chairman, I am a<lmonir!iied that my 
 lime is passing. These compromise mcivfurcs 
 were incorporated among our laws. How long 
 the apparent peace would have been real, no one 
 can delermiiie. But we all know how the war 
 began again, and from what quarter the decla- 
 ration of hostilities was made. It was reserved 
 for the Senator from Illinois to marshal and to 
 
conduct the army of the South to what seemed 
 a yictory, but will prove a sacrifice of the party 
 which followed him so valiantly and fought so 
 well. It is only a question of time. But that 
 violation of honor and of compact, consummated 
 by the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, fol- 
 lowed quickly, as it has been, by territorial out- 
 rages and by judicial or extra-judicial action, as 
 surely indicates that the party must die, as the 
 axe at the root of the settler's tree foretells its 
 fall. At once, the anti-slavery sentiment of the 
 whole nation was aroused. It was felt and pro- 
 claimed here in Congress, that no compromises 
 could be relied on. Those who had sustained the 
 action of 1850 declared themselves fully exon- 
 erated from that day, and political aspirants for 
 the power which the people hold in their own 
 
 gift, as well as the thinking and reflecting men 
 all over the land who sought no political ad- 
 vancement, united in condemning the Democratic I States was at that time a Virginian 
 rescission of the line of freedom as a wanton | that words were sometimes things 
 
 Gentlemen, that remains to be proved. But 
 surely it is time to discontinue these threats of 
 disunion. T wonder if gentlemen remember 
 when these threats began. There is nothing in 
 them new or original. I will give you one of 
 early date. The following notice was published 
 in a Virginia paper, under date of July 31, 1795 : 
 
 " Notice is hereby given, that in case the treaty entered 
 into by that damned arch traitor, John Jay, with the British 
 tyrant, should bo ratiflod, a petition will be presented to the 
 next General Assembly of Virginia, at their next session, 
 praying that the said State may reo'^d'; from the Union, and 
 be under the government of ouo hundred thousand free and 
 independent Virginians. 
 
 ■' r. S. As it is the wish of the people of the said State to 
 enter into a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, with 
 any State or SUites of the present Union, who are averse to 
 returning agam under the galling yoke of Great Britain, the 
 printers of the (at present) United Stales are rocjuestod to 
 publish the above notification. 
 
 " Richmond, July 31, 1795." 
 
 Mr. Chairman, the President of the United 
 
 He knew 
 He knew 
 
 and gratuitous aggression of the Southern in- 
 terest, in defiance of a compact whose consid- 
 eration had been fully enjoyed. 
 
 From that moment, the Republican party came 
 into conscious life. The people demanded it. 
 And the people intend that the party shall do its 
 proper work. It is not a work of aggression, but 
 of defence. But no threat can intimidate, and 
 no denunciation can repress it. The simple 
 truth is, that the people of the United States de- 
 mand that the theory of this Government sh.all 
 be carried into practice. The theory of the Gov- 
 ernment is anti-slavery. The Government is pro- 
 slavery. The free people of the United States 
 demand that the rights of the slaveholder shall 
 be recognised only where the State laws recog- 
 nise them. The Government has declared that 
 those rights exist, without law; that wherever 
 the master leads his slave upon the lands of the 
 United States, and witliin the Territories of the 
 Union, there the rights of the master must be 
 protected under the Constitution. And, what is 
 still more bold and daring, the Southern Demo- 
 cratic statesman avows, and the Northern Presi- 
 dent declares, that no power upon the earth — 
 not the people within the Territory, nor the Con- 
 gress of the United States, nor any other tribu- 
 nal, legislative or judicial — can do an act, or say 
 an effective word, to interfere with or diminish 
 the vested rights of the sovereigns of the land to 
 carry their vassal slaves where they will, within 
 the public lands or the organized Territories of 
 the Union. Nor is this the whole that must be 
 said now to the slave power of the Government 
 and its supporters. 
 
 The Southern party, sectional always, is not 
 content with argument. The Representatives 
 upon this floor have not stopped upon logic, or I 
 rested upon the reason of their faith. Their 
 modest proposition is : " We are right, and you 
 are wrong. You must disband, no matter 
 whether you represent a majority or a minority 
 of the people of the United States ; but if you 
 do not disband, and let us keep the Government 
 and its patronage and power, we will shatter 
 the Union, and destroy, if we cannot govern, 
 the United States. The election of a Republican 
 President is of itself an act of such aggression 
 upon our vested rights that we will not submit to 
 the deep disgrace involved in its consummation." 
 
 that certain words a brother Virginian had re- 
 cently uttered, declaring certain inalienable 
 rights which man had received from God, were 
 words which were full of life, and could impart 
 life. But he was a man not of action only, but 
 of intuition ; and he knew that words were 
 sometimes vox et pretcrea nihil, and the treaty 
 was ratified which John Adams and Benjamin 
 Franklin and John Jay had made. And the 
 Union did not slide ; and the one hundred thou- 
 sand free and independent Virginians remained 
 within the Union, free and independent still. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, we all know something of the 
 history of John Jay, that arch traitor! He waa 
 a Blai-k Republican ; that is what John Jay was. 
 But Washington rather liked him; for he was 
 a good deal of a Black Republican also I Wash- 
 ington offered him any office that he desired. 
 And it will not be forgotten that he was the 
 first man who filled the office of Chief Justice 
 of the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 There have been few men iu that chair since 
 his appointment who have been his equals. 
 Indeed, the history of that court will show that, 
 with the exception of a very few years, that 
 ofifice has been filled by three men— Jay, Mar- 
 shall, and Taney. Do you think that Jay would 
 have endorsed the message of the President to 
 us ? No, sir ; he was too arch a traitor, I fear. 
 Hear him : 
 
 " Little can be added to what has boon said and written 
 on th(; subject of slavery. I concur iu the opuuon that it 
 ouiiht not to bo introdacod nor permitted m any ol Uie 
 new States, and that it ought to be gradually dmimished 
 and tinallv abolished in all of theiu. To me, the constitu- 
 tional authority of Congress to prohibit the migration and 
 importation of slaves into any of the Suites does not appear 
 questionable. The first article of the Constitution specilies 
 til" legislative powers committed to the Congress. The ninth 
 section of that article has these words : ' The migration or 
 importation of such persons as any of the now existing States 
 shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the 
 Congress prior to the year 1SU8. .But a Ux or duty rnay be 
 imix-sed on such importations, not exceeding ten dollars lor 
 each person.' »„ v, 
 
 '• I undersund the sense and moaning of this clause to De, 
 f 
 
 that the power of the &)Bgress, although competent to pro- 
 hibit tlie migration and importation, was not to be exercisea 
 with respect to the then existing States (and those only) 
 until the year 1808 ; but that the Congress were at liberty 
 to make such prohibition as t.^ any new State which mignt 
 m the mean time, be establLshed ; and further, that fioin 
 and after that period, they were authorized to niako such 
 prohibition as to all the SUtes, whether new or old. It w U, 
 I presume, be admitted that slaves were the Pf"'«f °; 
 tended. The word slaves was avoided probably on account 
 
of the exiBtias toleration of slavery, and of discordancy with 
 tlie principles of the Revoliilicm, and from the consciou.sQi;s.s 
 of its being rcpugnuut (o the followiug positions in the Dec- 
 laration of Independence : ' We hold these truths lo be self- 
 evident — that all men are created equal ; that they are en- 
 dowed by their Creator with certain nialionable rights ; that 
 among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of h.^ppiuess." 
 
 Sir, these doctrines, of John Jay, as they pre- 
 ceded, so they will outlive, the modern doctrines 
 recently declared by the successors of John Jay, 
 from the same chair. 
 
 Mr. MAYNARD. Will the gentleman tell us 
 from what authority he is reading? 
 
 Mr. ELIOT. I am reading from what I believe 
 to be an extract from Mr. Jay's writings. 
 
 Mr. MAYXARD. But which of Jay's writings 
 is the extract taken from ? 
 
 Mr. ELIOT. If the gentleman will call upon 
 me by-and-by, I will go into the library with him, 
 and endeavor to satisfy him. 
 
 Mr. MAYNARD. I was asking not for my own 
 individual ueueflt, but for the benefit of the coim- 
 try, which listens Vith pleasure to our speeches. 
 Mr. ELIOT. The gentleman says he does not 
 ask for his own benefit, but for the benefit of 
 others who are ignorant. Now, if the gentleman 
 knows where to find it, I will not stop at this time 
 to instruct these ignorant people while my friend 
 is himself quite familiar with the fact. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, at this time, when the freemen 
 ia all the States of this Confederacy are pre[)aring 
 to inaugurate a new Administration, it is of some 
 importance to determine by the record who the 
 men are that mean to enforce the principles of 
 the fathers, and who they are that disregard 
 and nullify them. 
 
 The Democatic party proposes to elect a Presi- 
 dent upon a Southern platform. The Republi- 
 can party proposes to elect a President upon a 
 platform that was consecrated by the founders of 
 the Government, and upon principles that have 
 been always recognised until desperate counsels 
 compelled "revolutionary action, and political 
 heresies have come to be regarded as the truth 
 of history. There is not one doctrine of the Re- 
 publican party that does not find its origin in 
 the confessed and rtc irded judgment of the wise 
 statesmen who decreed that it had been " the 
 pride and boast of America, that the rights for 
 which she contended were the rights of human 
 nature." 
 
 There is not one doctrine of the Southern party 
 which we deny, so far as it concerns the vital 
 question of human freedom, that does not conflict 
 with the declared faith of the very men who are 
 vouched as their ancient teachers and guides. 
 ■■ Let us see how true these propositions are. It 
 P" is wholly in vain for politicians from the North 
 or the South to discharge their anathemas 
 against the historic scripture which has come 
 down to us from the prophets of the past. 
 
 Our earliest legislative anti-slavery society 
 was our first Continental Congress. On the 5ih 
 of September, 17M, they sought to prohibit the 
 import acd purchase of slavus after the fir.st day 
 of December, 1771, and to decree, by an article 
 of their association, that they would discontinue 
 the slave trade, and neither be concerned in it 
 themselves, nor hire vessels nor sell commodi- 
 ties to such as were concerned in it. On the I'Jth 
 of April, 1784, the first Territorial report was 
 made. Mr. Jetlerson, of Virginia, and Mr. Chase, 
 
 of Maryland, were two of the three raembera of 
 the committee who made the report. By the 
 terms of that report, it was provided that, after 
 1800, 
 
 " No .slavery nor involuntary servitude .-ihould exi.st in any 
 of the saiil States, otlierwise than initio punishment of crimes, 
 wliereof th'' party shall liavo been convicted to be person- 
 ally guilty." 
 
 This report covered all cessions made and an- 
 ticipated, and called for a division of the whole 
 land into seventeen States, of which eight were 
 to be below the falls of the Ohio, and nine above 
 them. The report referred to them as " States," 
 although then existing as Territories. Six States 
 and sixteen members voted for this report, and 
 three States and seven members voted against 
 it. The Articles of Confederation required nine 
 States to vote affirmatively, and therefore the 
 proposition did not succeed. Mr. Jellerson, of 
 Virginia, and Mr. Spaight, of North Carolina, 
 voted in the aflirmative. Three years after ttaA, 
 the ordinance of Nathan -Dane was passed, for 
 the government of the Northwestern Territories, 
 embodying the anti-slavery clause in the lan- 
 guage of Mr. Jefferson. It will be remembered 
 that, at this time, North and South Carolina 
 and Georgia had not ceded the territories within 
 their boundaries to the United States. 
 
 During this same year, 1787, the Constitution 
 of the United States was adopted, and by the 
 several States it was afterwards ratified. No ar- 
 gument is required to prove that the statesmen 
 who assumed to control the question of slavery 
 in the Territories at that day were not the advo- 
 cates of the principles of the Cincinnati platform, 
 and could not have assented to the proposed 
 doctrines of 18ti0. 
 
 By the terms of the cessions made by Georgia 
 and North and South Carolina, the Territories 
 ceded were to remain slave Territories ; and 
 therefore, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama, 
 became slave States. But no statesman of that 
 day contended that Congress had not the power 
 to protect the magnificent wilderness of the 
 Northwest from the baleful effects of domestic 
 slavery. That is the doctrine of Mr. Calhoun, 
 and of more recents converts to principles which 
 Mr. Benton prophetically ciUled "firebrands." 
 It is one of the purposes of the Republican par- 
 ty to extinguish those firebrands forever. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, the territorial policy initiated 
 before the adoption of the Constitution in 1784, 
 and recognised by the action of 1787, nas main- 
 tained unswervingly and unques'ioned until 
 about the period of Mr. Calhoun's resolutions, 
 in 1347. That policy has bt-en confirraeil by 
 sixty-three ye;\r3 of substantial national legisla- 
 tion, initialed by the South, approved, main- 
 tained, and enforced, by the South. But, ia 
 these latter days, we of the Republican party are 
 notifidd that if we do not rPi)iulialo and abandon 
 that doctrine which lies at the fonnd.ttion of our 
 political organization, and especially if we shall 
 make the doctrine incarnate in a Ri'publican 
 President, wo must carry on the Government, if 
 wc can, without the countenance of Southern 
 men. 
 
 Now, sir, it is a fact that, by nearly all the lead- 
 ing statesmen, and by every political Adminis- 
 tration, without a single exception, down to that 
 which preceded the Administration of Mr. Bu- 
 
6 
 
 chanan, the policy of intervention for freedom 
 was enforced. No man can disprove that prop- 
 osition. The written history of the Government 
 declares its truth. In some form or other, the 
 right of Congress to act in the Territories to- 
 wards the restriction of human slavery will be 
 found to have been asserted. Before 1820, this 
 policy had been settled, and the constitutional 
 power upon which it rested had been repeatedly 
 recognised. And in that year, the compromise 
 which the South advocated, and which the North 
 resisted at first, and then yielded to, was effected, 
 under which Missouri became a State. 
 
 In IV 98, the importation of slaves from abroad 
 into the Southern Territories was forbidden. 
 
 In 1803, the Territory of Indiana was forbid- 
 den to hold slaves. 
 
 In 1804, restrictive legislation was applied to 
 the Territory now included in the State of Louis- 
 iana: 
 
 I do not propose to defend the principle upon 
 which the Missouri line was established in 1820. 
 It was one of the compromises which the North 
 made for the sake of peace, but out of which no 
 permanent peace has come. 
 
 Gentlemen upon the other side of the Houce 
 have declaimed, with earnestness, and with ap- 
 pearance of sincerity, against what they call the 
 aggressions of the North ; but they fail to show 
 upon what historic ground these charges rest. 
 From the beginning, the men of the North and 
 of the great West, which New England blood and 
 Northern institutions have so largely contributed 
 to form, have been opposed to the extension of 
 human slavery. Within their States they have 
 protected their own citizens, especially since the 
 act of 1850 made legislation necessary, by euch 
 laws as they judged sufficient for the purpose. 
 Whether at any time any provision of any law 
 infringed in any respect upon the Federal Con- 
 stitution, or the laws fairly passed by Congress, 
 by virtue of powers conferred upon it, has always 
 and everywhere among us been held a fit sub- 
 ject for judicial decision. Upon a proper case, 
 legitimately brought before our courts, there 
 never, within my knowledge, has been hesitation 
 on the part of Northern judges to meet and to 
 decide upon the binding force of any statute 
 whose constitutional foundation had been called 
 in question. The liberty laws of Massachusetts, 
 and of other New England States, have been in- 
 voked in the discussions we have listened to, 
 and their provisions made the subject of fierce 
 and angry comment. 
 
 Mr. Chaiimau, this is not the tribunal beforo wliich I 
 choose to maintain the right of Massncluisctti? t<j enact any 
 law-s that are found upon hor rccor<is. Tliat Commonwealth 
 i.')- not to be brought to the bar of Congress t« answer lor her 
 legislation. But what I me;in to say is this — and because it 
 is an answer to the charge of aggression, I find it within the 
 lino of my argument to say it — that the example was set by 
 Southern" StaU'S of passing State laws to protect. Southern in- 
 stitutions and Southern citizens. They have no right to crit- 
 icise, in that respect, the action of the North. But, sir, when 
 the courts of the South are open; as those of the North al- 
 ways are, to the freest intpiiry and the fullest latitude of ex- 
 amination ; when the rights "of free discussion and of ftec 
 speech are acknowledged, not by word of mouth, but in 
 deed and truth, it will be time enough for us to compare and 
 to contrast with them our several laws. But whether a 
 particular State law is wisely or unwisely enacted, at the 
 South or at the North, there is no logic nor common sense in 
 saying that thereby the institutions of oUier States are at- 
 tacked. The legislation of each State is for the citizens of 
 that State, and those who bring themselves within its juris- 
 dictioh. 
 
 But it is said that men in the freo States road and write, 
 and discuss questions of human freedom, and hold public 
 meetings, and pvss resolutions ; and that the free press 
 spreads before the world the arguments advanced to prove 
 that Irien of whatsoever color are to be regarded as men, 
 and not as the beast.s that perish. So they do. So they al- 
 ways have. So they always will. 
 
 The right of free discussion is claimed in every State within 
 our Confederacy. The exercise of that right must, perhaps 
 of necessity, be aflfected, qualified, controlled, in a degree, 
 by the character of the social or domoslio institutions within 
 the State. If a S(nithern Legislature judge it tu bo unsafe, 
 conducive to insurrectionary violence, to permit me to de- 
 clare publicly within that State the opinions which I hold 
 upon the subject of slavery, and sliall pass a law prohibiting 
 such discussion within that Slate, I have no right to violate 
 that law. It is plain enough that free speech is, to thai ex- 
 tent, controlled. If a Northern Legislature, for reasons of 
 State policy or necessity, should prohibit the dissemination 
 of doctrines subversive of the laws of God , to that extent the 
 right of tree speech would also be controlled. But if, in a 
 Northern State, a man should disobey, claiming that Die law 
 itself was in violation of his constitutional rights, ho would 
 act at his peril, but it would be a peril uyider the law. He 
 might discuss its constitutionality with perfect safety. If the 
 law were sustained, punishment would tdlow his o.tenco. 
 That ho would expect. If not sustained, his right of free 
 speech would bo vindicated. No gentleman will say , I think, 
 that a like security would be afforded in a Southern Stat*. 
 Well, sir, let it be so. Forbid discussion by law, if it be 
 thought best ; punish discussion by summary administration 
 of Lynch law, if you will ; deny, if you choose, all appeals 
 by which the constitutionality of prohibitory laws may be 
 tested. But that must exhaust your power, and more than 
 exhaust the rightful exercise of any power under the law. 
 But you cannot be permitted to control free discussion within 
 the limits of a free State, nor have you any right tu hold that 
 discussion aggressive. 
 
 ■Wby, sir, the institutions of freedom are not discussed 
 more fearlessly and boldly and uncompromisingly at the 
 North, than the practices of slavery arc at the South. I have 
 a letter beforo me, published by Colonel Jacobs in a Mary- 
 land paper, to which I intended to make reference. He dis- 
 cusses what he calls the " white shivery " of the free Suites. 
 No one objects to it. Let the '■ holy institution," the " or- 
 dinance of God," bo discussed. Let the curse of labor — of 
 free white labor — be exposed. But while the Sduthcrn slave- 
 bolder talks, the Northern freeman will not remain dumb. 
 
 Sir, the Missouri compromise was the result of a political 
 Contest, in which the South gained a victory — as she always 
 has — by the faithless action of Northern men. But when 
 Missouri had been gained, and Arkansas was secHred, and 
 all the benefits derived to the South which that line had 
 promised, nothing was left to freedom but the unsettled re- 
 gions of Nebraska and Kansas. The wicked attempt to take 
 from the free laborer the right to live upon that soil, and to 
 work for himself and for his children without the contact and 
 the Uiiut of slave labor at his side, was an aggression upon 
 the North, and upon the free institutions of the land, which 
 Elands out in unapproachable meanness upon the annals of 
 our Congressional history. No wonder th.it, from the polit- 
 ical turmoil of that legislation, the Republican party sprang 
 into existence. One leading idea compelled its formation. 
 Such has been the case at all times. Parties cannot be forced 
 into life, niey grow themselves out of events, aud because 
 the people call for them. 
 
 So it has been with evcrj- party formed since the founda- 
 tion of our Government. The Federalist, tho Democratic, the 
 National Repubhcan, the Whig, the Free Democratic, the 
 Aflti-Masonic, the American, and now the Republican, have 
 rested mainly, each in turn, upon one distiiiclivo principle. 
 When a party has gained power, and has tho responsit'ility 
 of conducting the Government, it must adopt a certain 
 course of policy. Tho platform of the Republican party is 
 simple, comprehensive, and national. It proposes to restrict 
 slavery, and to administer tho Govornmi lit upon principles 
 nationalized by its ablest statesmen. Democratic suecesB is 
 slavery extension. The Kan.sas bill of Judge Douglas, and 
 the Dred Scott decision of Judge Taney, cover the ground. 
 We have been asked, why should wo restrict slavery? The 
 answer has been given over and over again, because it is 
 wrong in itself, because it is the source of wrong in others, 
 because it is a blight upon the laud which tolerates it, bo- 
 cause it justly brings our nation into reproach, because it is 
 against the spirit of our Constitution and the policy of its 
 fnuners. You .^av, restrain slavery within its present limits, 
 and it must die" Very well ; let it die. VTliy should we 
 contribnt(i of our subpt^ince to preserve its life ? But you 
 say, further, with singular inconsistency, let us alone. 
 What has the North to do with slavery? Why do you 
 discuss it in pulpit and in pew and in parlor, in Senate and 
 in street? If it is a curse, it afflicts us, and not you. 
 
 Stop there. If you are content to let slavery remain where 
 it now is, the terrible irony of the question might go without 
 
robuke. But you arc not. You press it upon iw. Senator 
 Douglas opens the Territory ; Judge Taney curries in the 
 slave ; rresideut Butluaum lurbid.s us to say ho must coine 
 out. Anil yet, you demand to know what Iho North ha.s to 
 do with lilavory. This Territorial policy of the new Democ- 
 racy opens to the North the whole question of slavery. We 
 mu.sl discuss it. You demand to know what the North has 
 to do with slavery. 
 
 In the time remaining to lue, my answer must be concise 
 and brief. I had hoiked to discuss this subject more at 
 length. Sir, slavery extension will give undue and oppres- 
 sive political p*wer to the new StaU-3, to be exerted against 
 tliti interest of every free Stiite. Vi'hy should the non-slave- 
 hohling States consent that new Stales should bo made from 
 free territory, where live slaves shall represent three free 
 men in politiail power? The inequality of represontiition is 
 now groat enough. We are now tlie otiicial associates of 
 twenty geiilieiuru, and more than that, whose chairs would 
 1)0 vacant here if it were not for the slaves of the South ! 
 The honorable gfutlemim from New York [Mr. Cl.\rk] re- 
 ferred, some time ago, to Uie fact that he represented on this 
 floor the most wealthy constituency in thi; country. His 
 constituents own ships and houses, slocks, manufacturing 
 establishments, niiius, and banks. But they own no ne- 
 groes, and Uierelore their property cannot give to them po- 
 hlical power. With $1,000,000 in property, not one vote the 
 more is created ! The humblest and jioorest freeman wields 
 us great political power at the North ;4S the man who counts 
 by miUions his vast possessions. One slaveholder, with 
 $i,OtX),000 invested in slave property — valuing the human 
 ch-itt»ls at $1,000 each — will represent the jiolitical power of 
 SIX hundred men besides himself! That is to say, politically, 
 this slaveholding millionaire reprosonls quite a Tiliago of 
 true white lui-a "roiled into one." 
 
 Now, sir, wc of the North can aoo no reason why this un- 
 jjist ine(.iualily .should be increased by the croation from free 
 territory ot slave States. Wiieu the subject of •' equalizatiun 
 of representation " was first considered in Iho Cnuttitutional 
 Convention, Mr Martin, of Maryland, in discussing this 
 three-hflhs question, said : 
 
 •' As hvc slaves, in the apportionment of Representatives, 
 ' wore reckoned as equal to three froemou, such a permis- 
 ' sion amounted to an encouragement ol the slave trade. 
 ' Slaves weakened the Union, which tho other parts were 
 ' bound to protect; the privilege of importing them wius, 
 ' therefore, unreasonable. Such a f..',luro in the Constitution 
 ' was inconsisleat witli tl»e principles of tho Revolution, and 
 ' dishonorable to tlie American character." 
 
 Mr. Mason, during the same discuiision, remarked that — 
 
 '• Slavery discourages arts and manufactures. The poor 
 ' despise labor when ix^rformed by slaves. They prevent 
 ' tho nniaigralu'ii of whites, who really enrich and strengthen 
 ' a country. They produce a pernicious eflect on manners. 
 ' Kvery master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring 
 ' the Judgment of Heaven on a country."' 
 
 Upon what fair ground are Northern men invoked to with- 
 hold discussion? How can it be argued that the North hius 
 nothing to do with slavery, when tiro Democracy of tho South 
 would carry slavery into all the Territories, to bo at some 
 future day organized uito slave States, with the political 
 power now guarantied to them ? 
 
 Mr. Chairman, the cxleusiou of slavery into the Territories 
 will drive out from them free labor. Hut free labor comes 
 ni.iiuly from the free States. Their men and women desire 
 11 . conUict with the slave, or with the labor of the slave. To 
 dishonor labor is to degrade them. Tins thing must not be 
 done ; and it c-iunot be done, unle.ss faithless counsels and 
 timid men shall make aiKJiher compnuuise, and secure for 
 the interests of freedom luiother defeat. 
 
 Sir, the tree Slates own the land within tho Territories, in 
 common with the South. IJul if free labor is driven out, the 
 value of Uieir lands is greatly reduced ; tlio standard of ed- 
 ucation falls ; the material interest.s of tho people decline, 
 ■ and their moral condition is lowered. 
 
 The honorable gentleman from Georgia [Mr. LovB] said, 
 tlie other dvy, as I find his argument reported : 
 
 " But I propose to test this moral question by another 
 ! f"!''- \. '.V''' "• ^. ^*-" ^'"° »hal '•I'" l>''St rule by which to 
 
 i facilities 
 
 Now, sir, 
 
 -^ „ bo dis- 
 
 putod, lor It IS the rule upon which is foundod every cfTort 
 
 I" evangelize the woi'ld." 
 
 Well, sir, let us apply tlial rule for a siugli* moment. I 
 wit^h that I liad time to d.. so thoroughly. lii one small 
 county in Ma.s.sachusctt.';— llampshiro county— where tho 
 toUkl iwpulation, as given by Mr. Do How, w;ia, in 1850, less 
 than Uiirty-six thousaml, while and colored, it appears from 
 a report rco«!ntly published by tho American Hoard of Com- 
 missioners of ihe Foreign ilissiou Society, that the contribu- 
 tions to the American Hoard Irom that one county, during tho 
 pxst yi'ar, were $«,'21U,40. 
 
 During tlie soxne time, from fourteen 3l*vo States, inclu- 
 
 ruiu. I oom a lo ue Uno that tho best rule by w 
 ' judge of tlie moral condition of any poople, is the fi 
 ' which that people have for roUgious instruction. Ni 
 ' I suppose that the correctuoss of this rule will not 
 
 ding tho District of Columbia, the contributions to tho same 
 Bjard are stated to be $S,1'.21.63 ; that is to say, the single 
 county contributed to tliat cau.se within $1,90.'} us much as 
 all tho.se States 1 Kacililies for instruction are be.sl detcrnilucd 
 by results produced. 
 
 la a volume which I find in our C>ngre.ssir>nal library, 
 purporting to be written by the liev. Mr. Tower, the author 
 inserts an extract from a report drawn up by a Southern 
 ecclesiastical body. Here irt ihit testimony : 
 
 " The iulluence of the negroes upon the moral and religions 
 ' interests of the whites is destruclivo in tlio extromo. Wo 
 ' cannot go into siiocial detail. It is unnecessary. We muko 
 ' our apiieal to uuiversil (experience. We are chained to a 
 ' putrid carcass 1 It sickens and destroys us. W» have a 
 ' miUstone hanging about tho neck of our society, to sink us 
 ' deep in the sea '(f vice. Our children are corrupliHg from 
 ' their infancy, nor can we prevent it. Many an anxious 
 ' parent, like the missionaries in fi>roign laiuLs, wishes hia 
 ' children eouM be brought beyond the reach of the corrupt- 
 ' ing inllueoce of the depraxtd Ittallum. N(ir is this iulluence 
 ' confined to mere childhooil. If that were all, il woul'l be 
 ' tremendous. But il follows into youth, into manhood, 
 ' and into old age. And when we Come directly into contact 
 ' with their depravity in tho iniinagemenl of them, then 
 ' come temptations, and provoc;ai(jns, and trials, that un- 
 ' searchable grace only can enable us to endure. In all our 
 ' intercourse with them, we are undergoing a process of in- 
 ' tellectual .»nd moral detorioration ■ and il require.s almost 
 ' superhuman eflorts to maint;iin a high stajiding, cither for 
 ' intelligence or piety." 
 
 I olfer now, as bearing upon the moral and political aspect 
 of this question of slavery extension, the following statistical 
 proofs. But first, let me refer to the language u.scd by tho 
 gentleman from Ceorgia, jMr. Lovk :] 
 
 " As to the other point, whether slavery is a political evil, 
 ' I hold it to be legitimately discussable. Not tliat Congress 
 ' has any powur over it, but because, as yet, we .iro citizens 
 ' of a common country, and should consult together iu a 
 ' proper temper and spirit, as to what is best li)r us as a ua- 
 ' tion. If, upon a full in vesiigation of the facts, we of the South 
 ' should become satisftod that slavery is a great political 
 ' evil, it would bo our duty, as patriots and good citizens, to 
 ' get clear of it as .soon as possible. What is a political evil ? 
 ' 1 have given this suhjoet some reflection, sir ; ami the best 
 ' delinition which I can llx in my mind is, that a |iolitical 
 ' evil is something which, frr>m its very nature, must impair 
 ' our national reputation abroad, or Uiiuinish our malerLil 
 ' strength at home.'' 
 
 Ttiat IS a fair and manly statement ; and I am content 
 with the delinition of what is a " political evil," and ear- 
 nestly commend the fullest investigation of the facL^;. 
 
 Here is a statement taken from De Bow's Census, by Mr. 
 Tower. It concerns rennsylvaiiia and Virgini.i. What 
 cause has operated to elevate ihe one, and to depress tho 
 material strength of the other ? If slavery has thus aR'ocled 
 a Commonwealth like Virginia, which was the '■ Old Domin- 
 ion," where God has lavished with unsparing hand His 
 richest gifts of climate and of soil and of inland stream, has 
 not tho North something to say when the master would loud 
 his slave into our common lands? 
 
 Virginia contain.<i 61 flWi .iquaro mllcfs. 
 
 Ponn.sylvania contains JC'jOOO " " 
 
 Both, at first, wore slave States. 
 
 Virginia has a shore line of six hundred and flfly-fonr 
 miles. IVnnsylvania has ocean access through n river and 
 bay channel. 
 
 wnrnt I'opuLATioN. 
 
 J'tniiwtj/laiitia. Virr;x»in. 
 
 1790 4J4,0'J9 44'"!,1I5 
 
 1«00 fisn.094 5U.-2SO 
 
 1R20 1 ,017,0<<4 6(»;{,087 
 
 ie:!0 1 ,a0<),9i« 694,y<W 
 
 1840 l.rtTfi.n.') 74i),S,'>;{ 
 
 1S50 a,-.'6S,lii0 894,S00 
 
 What has produced this result? 
 
 There are in rnnulylvania 8,n'23,619 acres of improv<>d 
 land. In Virginia there are 10,300,135 acres. 
 
 Tlie average yield per aero iu Virginia is not one-liairthat 
 of I'oimsylvania. 
 
 nie average wheat crop in Penusylvania is 15 busholsper 
 acre ; snd in Virginia 7 bushola. ' 
 
 Tho aver:^;Q corn crop in I'ounsylvania is '20 bushels ; afid 
 in Virginia 18 bushels. 
 
 Tlie average rye crop in I'onnsylvania is 14 bu.shels ; and 
 in Virginia 5 bushels. 
 
 The relative value of land Is what junsl bo oxpocted from 
 those facts. 
 
 The vahio of Uio lmpnivo<l lands in PonusylTanla is 
 $407,876,099 : and In Virginia, $210,401,543. 
 
 The ten million acres in Virginia are worth lilllo more 
 than half tlie eight million in Pennsylvania. 
 
 Private property owned In Pennsylvania is $720,144,880 ; 
 and in Virginia, $391,C4f.,430. 
 
I now offer some facts respecting sixteen free States, con- 
 taining an area of six hundred and twelve thousand six hun- 
 dred square miles, and fifteen slave States, containing an 
 area of eight h\indred and fifty-one thousand four hundred 
 and lifty square miles. 
 
 These facts are collected, in part, from Mr. Pe Bow's Cen- 
 sus and in part from Mr. Helper's book, which certainly 
 contains much statistical information illustrating the ques- 
 tion we are discussing : 
 
 SrXTKES rKKK STATKS. FTFTEEN SI-A^■E STATES. 
 
 I^opulalidn. 
 
 •White 13,233,070 White 6,184,477 
 
 Negroes 190,116 Free black 228,138 
 
 Slave, 3,200,364 
 
 1855. 
 
 Tonnage 4,252,615 Tonnage 855,511 
 
 -Exports .'. $167,520,093 Exports $107,480,688 
 
 Importe $230,847,810 Imports $24,586,528 
 
 Annual rrodutt—lSbO. 
 Manufactures. . .$842,586,058 Manufactures. . .5165,413,027 
 
 Invested $430,240,051 Investment $95,02t>,879 
 
 Operatives 780,576 Operatives 161,733 
 
 1867. 
 
 Miles of railroads 17,S55 Miles of railroads 6,859 
 
 1855. 
 
 Bank capital $2SO,100,.'i40 Bank capital.... $102,079 ,000 
 
 Whyclc Postage. 
 
 Collected $4,070,725 Collected $1 ,.553,198 
 
 Cost of mails 2,608,295 Co.stofmui]s 2,385,953 
 
 Balance in favor of 
 Department $2,0 62,430 
 
 Balance against De- 
 partment $832,755 
 
 Massachusetts — 
 
 receipts $532,184 
 
 cost 153,091 
 
 New York — 
 
 receipts 1,383,157 
 
 cost 481,410 
 
 Pennsylvania — 
 
 receipts 583,013 
 
 cost 251,833 
 
 Alabama — 
 
 receipts S104 ,51 4 
 
 cost 226,810 
 
 Georgia — 
 
 receipts 149,063 
 
 cost 216,003 
 
 South Carolina — 
 
 receipts 91,600 
 
 cost. 192.216 
 
 1850. 
 
 Public schools 62,483 Public schools 18,507 
 
 Teachers 72,621 Teachers 19,307 
 
 Pupils 2,769,901 Pupils 561,801 
 
 I'ulilio libraries 14,911 Public libraries 095 
 
 Books 3,888,234 Books 649,577 
 
 1S50. 
 Newspapers and periodicals Newepajicrs and periodicals 
 
 published 1 ,790 pubUshed 704 
 
 Copies yearly 334,146.281 Copies yearly 1,038,693 
 
 Natii'e White AdulU—\SbO. 
 
 riliter.ate 248,725 Illiterate 493.026 
 
 Population 13,233,670 Population 6,184,477 
 
 CSiurches, value.. §07,773,477 Churches, value. .$21,674,681 
 1856. 
 
 Patents issued 1,929 Patents issued 208 
 
 CuiUrihuiitins — 1855. 
 
 Bible cause $319,667 Bible cau.sc $68,125 
 
 Tract cause 131,972 Tract cause 24,725 
 
 Missions 502,174 Missions 101,934 
 
 Colonizx^tioa 51 ,930 Colonization 27 ,618 
 
 Jax<*-^1866. 
 New York — North Carolina — 
 
 acres of land.... 30 ,080 ,000 acres of land 32,450,560 
 
 valued at... $1,112,138,136 valued at $98,800,636 
 
 per acre 36.97 per acre 3.06 
 
 The following facts are taken from original letters, which 
 will be found in Helper's Crisis, and concern nine cities at 
 the North and South, in 1856-'67 : 
 
 NORTITEUX CmES. 
 
 Name. Population. Wealth. Per capita. 
 
 New York 700,000 $511,740,492 $731 
 
 Philadelphia 500,000 325,000,000 650 • 
 
 Boston 105,000 249,1 62,.500 1 ,510 
 
 Brooklyn 225,000 95,800,440 425 
 
 CincinnaU 210,000 88,810.734 422 
 
 Chicigo 112,000 171,000,000 1,.V27 
 
 Providence 60,000 58.064.516 967 
 
 Buffalo 90,000 45,474,476 505 
 
 New Bedford 21 .000 27 ,047 ,000 1 ,288 
 
 SOUTinSHN cmES. 
 
 Baltimore 250,000 $102,053,859 $408 
 
 New Orleans 175,000 91.188.195 .521 
 
 St. Louis 140,(100 63,000,000 450 
 
 Charleston 60,000 36,127,751 602 
 
 Louisville 70,000 31,500,000 450 
 
 Richmond 40,000 20,143,520 503 
 
 Norfolk 17 ,000 12,000,000 705 
 
 Savannah 25,000 11,999,015 480 
 
 Wilmington 10,000 7,850,100 785 
 
 But, Mr. Chairman, if free labor is driven out from tJie 
 
 Territories, and slave labor occupies its place, slave hws 
 must be enacted to protect that labor and its owner. 
 
 In tliat fact the North is deeply interested. The free col- 
 ored citizens of Northern St.ates cannot travel in Southern 
 Stat'i^s without danger of imprisrmmenl and .sale. I know not 
 whether this is true in all the slave States ; but I believe ,1 
 to be so. 
 
 I have had occasion, quite recently, to feuow something ef 
 the laws of Maryland in this respect. A free colored citjzeu 
 of Massachusetts was imprisoned there for travelling through 
 the State without the proofs of his freedom upon his per8cn. 
 He was at the mercy of the law. After an imprisonment of 
 two months, upon payment by his friends of the costs of 
 his imprisonment into the treasury of Maryland, he was re- 
 leased. While in jail, > ime friend induced the British con- 
 sul to interfere for him, under the belief tliat the mau him- 
 self was a subject of Grea. Britain. But the man, not know- 
 ing that the paw of the British lion was a sure dofence, while 
 the talon of the American eagle closed upon the victim, as- 
 serted his true ciiizenship, and remained in prison until ths 
 laws were vindicated and the prison door was opened. 
 
 This may be necessary ; it may bo right ; the North can- 
 not prevent it. But surely it is not hard to see -what the 
 Nortli has to do with slavery. Why, sir, wo have every- 
 thing to do with it, if the doctrine.'? of Jlr. Buchanan and tlu 
 Southern Democracy are to be enforced. And because the'.r 
 doctrines are claimed to be true ; because it is the purpoFJ 
 of that partj', which now holds tlie power of this Goverr- 
 ment, to enforce those doctrines, if thoy are permited to re- 
 tiiin that power, this Republican party is hero now in Con- 
 gress, and before the people, to declare what are the const.- 
 tutional right.s of freedom, and wliat nAist be the constitu- 
 tional restraints of slavery. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, the Republican party, from the necessitieg 
 of the case, must succeed, if it be not faithless to its«If. Th-3 
 Soutliern Democracy will not be content until they have 
 driven to the wall the entire conservative element upsoii 
 which tliey have heretofore relied at the North. Every step 
 they take, every arrogant dem.and they make, every new 
 claim of riglit they institute and contend for, drives from 
 their support an army of men at the North, and disconcert* 
 and embarrasses at the South more than venture at tho 
 present time to express their opinions openly. Why, sir, 
 if every slave could be put afar cjtT, so that no discussicii 
 could reach Iiis ear, and free discussion could bo hud, let us 
 come among you, and stand upon your hill-sides, as you 
 may stand on Plymouth rock, toannounce and to discuss and 
 to demonstrate' political truths, and it would not be a twelve- 
 month before, in nearly every Southern State, our KepublU 
 can party would find more supporters than tho DciviocracJ 
 of 1860 will find in its most favored Northern State. 
 
 Mr. Cliairman, it has been declared hero, by some of tb" 
 ablest speakers from the South, that the success of our 
 party — which seeks to do nothing that may not be clearly 
 done within the protection and under tho authority of that 
 Constitution which they profess to admire and venerate— 
 will compel them to withdraw from this Union of sovercigr 
 Slate's. I have no desire to Ji.scuss a stitemont which alway . 
 when made assumes the attitude of a threat. But Jo yoi 
 not see, gentlemen, that to make such threat is to reude 
 certain of success, beyond the peradvcnture of defeat, tbi 
 party you threaten ? The Repuhlican party proposes to as 
 certain whether the Union is not strong enough to sustain ai 
 Administration which will rest upon the theory of our Con 
 stitution, and upon the foundation which the fathers laid. 
 
 You may shatter, if you can, this fair fabric of our free- 
 dom ■ you" may make desolate tho temple, and strike down 
 tho statue ; but the terrible responsibility shall rost upon 
 yourselves. 
 
 In the earlier ages of the world, within one of the ol 
 temples of Memnon,a coloss,al statue had been erected ; an< 
 it w.as said that daily, in the morning, as the rays of the su 
 fell upon the image, sounds of sweet music went from it 
 inspirit and to encourage the votaries at the shrine. But an 
 Egyptian king caused the statue to be shattered and the 
 miisic to be hushed, that he might find whence the strains 
 proceeded, and whether the priests within tho temple had 
 not deceived the people. Sir, upon this land our fat'ieri 
 reared the.r temple, and within it the colossal statue of Lib' 
 erty has stood. Not in the morning alone, but at high nooi 
 and at set of sun, day after day, sounds of heavenly har 
 mony have gone from it, calling upon the oppressed am' 
 down-trodden to come and to be free. Rude hands hav 
 been laid upon that temple ; hard Southern blows have fall 
 en upon the sUitue ; but when, if ever, the power shall com' 
 that will shatter the edifice and lay the colossal image low, 
 in order that the mystery of the music may be revealed, il 
 will be found, I believe, in the providence of God, that otherl 
 hands will rebuild and reconsecrate them both ; but no 
 Washington, nor Jefferson, nor Madison, nor Hamilton, nw 
 such like artificers, will be commissioned for the work, untf 
 tliat institution, which dishonors man and debases labor, am 
 steals from the stooping brow the sweat which should ear] 
 his bread, shall be forever overthrown. 
 [Here the hammer fell] 
 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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