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to answer the question how it could be saved. There was but one way certain. Justice must be done to the south, by a full and final settlement of all the questions at issue. The north must concede to the south an equal right to the acquired territory, and fulfill the stipulations respecting fugitive slaves ; must cease to agitate the slave question, and join in an amendment of the constitution, restoring to the south the power she possessed of protecting herself, before the equilibrium between the two sections had been destroyed by the action of the government.

Mr. Webster, on the 7th of March, spoke at length on the resolutions of Mr. Clay, and in reply to Mr. Calhoun. In the course of his history of the slave question in this country, he remarked, that a change had taken place since the time of the adoption of the constitution. Both sections then held slavery to be equally an evil, moral and political. It was inhuman and cruel ; it weakened the social fabric, and rendered labor less productive. The eminent men of the south then held it to be an evil, a blight, a scourge, and a curse. The framers of the constitution, in considering how to deal with it, concluded that it could not be continued if the importation of slaves should cease. The prohibition of the importation after twenty years was proposed; a term which some southern gentlemen, Mr. Madison, for one, thought too long. The word “slaves" was not allowed in the constitution ; Mr. Madison was opposed to it; he did not wish to see it recognized in that instrument, that there could be property in men. The ordinance of 1787 also received the unanimous support of the south; a measure which Mr. Calhoun had said was the first in a series of measures which had enfeebled that section.

Soon after this, the age of cotton came. The south wanted land for its oultivation. Mr. Calhoun had observed that there had always been a majority in favor of the north. If so, the north had acted very liberally or very weakly; for they had seldom exercised their power. The truth was, the general lead in politics for three-fourths of the time had been southern lead. In 1802, a great cotton region, now embracing all Alabama, had been obtained from Georgia by the general government. In 1803, Louisiana was purchased, out of which several large slaveholding states had been formed. In 1819, Florida was ceded, which also had come in as slave territory. And lastly, Texas--great, vast, illimitable Texas, had been admitted as a slave state. In this, the senator himself, as secretary of state, and the late secretary of the treasury, then senator, had taken the lead. They had done their work thoroughly; having procured a stipulation for four new states to be formed out of that state; and all south of the line of 36° 30' might be admitted with slavery. Even New England had aided in this measure. Three-fourths of liberty.

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loving Connecticut in the other house, and one-half in this, had sup ported it. And it had one vote from each of the states of Massachusetts and Maine.

A part of the remainder of Mr. Webster's speech has been highly disapproved by some of his former friends at the north, as pro-slavery, and inconsistent with his sentiments as previously expressed on the subject. Mr. Webster attributed any supposed discrepancy between his present and former sentiments to a change in the state of the question. He had in 1836 and 1837 publicly expressed himself warmly against the admission of Texas and the extension of slavery. He had nothing to add to, or take back from those sentiments. In 1847, he had made a speech at a whig state convention at Springfield, Massachusetts, in which he said:

“We hear much just now of a panacea for the dangers and evils of slavery and slave annexation, which they call the Wilmot proviso.'

" This certainly is a just sentiment, but it is not a sentiment to found any new party upon. It is not a sentiment on which Massachusetts whigs differ. There is not a man in this hall who holds to it more firmly than I do, nor one who adheres to it more than another.

“ I feel some little interest in this matter, sir. Did not I commit myself in 1838 to the whole doctrine, fully, entirely? And I must be permitted to say, that I can not quite consent that more recent discoverers should claim the merit, and take out a patent. I deny the priority of their invention. Allow me to say, sir, it is not their thunder. We are to use the first, and last, and every occasion which offers, to oppose the extension of the slave power."

Mr. Webster said he had repeatedly expressed the determination to vote for no acquisition, or cession, or annexation, believing we had territory enough. But Texas was now in with all her territories, as a slave state, with a pledge that, if divided into many states, those south of 36° 30' might come in as slave states; and he, for one, meant to fulill the obligation. As to California and New Mexico, he held that slavery was effectually excluded from those territories by a law even superior to that which admits and sanctions it in Texas—he meant the law of nature. The physical geography of the country would forever exclude African slavery there; and it needed not the application of a proviso. If the question was now before the senate, he would not vote to add a prohibition—to reaffirm an ordinance of nature, nor reënact the will of God. If they were making a government for New Mexico, and a Wilmot proviso were proposed, he would treat it as Mr. Polk bad treated it in the Oregou bill. Mr. Polk was opposed to it; but some government was necessary, and he signed the bill, knowing that the proviso was entirely nugatory.

Both the north and the south had grievances. The south justly complained that individuals and legislatures of the north refused to perform their constitutional duties in regard to returning fugitive slaves. Members of northern legislatures were bound by oath to support the constitution of the United States; and the clause requiring the delivery of fugitive slaves was as binding as any other. Complaints had also been made against certain resolutions emanating from legislatures at the north on the subject of slavery in the district, and sometimes even in regard to its abolition in the states. Abolition societies were another subject of complaint. These societies had done nothing useful; but they had produced mischief by their interference with the south. He referred to the debate in the Virginia legislature in 1832, when the subject of gradual abolition was freely discussed. But since the agitation of this question, the bonds of the slave had been more firmly riveted. Again, the violence of the press was complained of. But wherever the freedom of the press existed, there always would be foolish and violent paragraphs, as there were foolish and violent speeches in both houses of congress. He thought, however, the north had cause for the same complaint of the south. But of these grievances of the south, one only was within the redress of the government; that was the want of proper regard to the constitutional injunction for the delivery of fugitive slaves.

The north complained of the south, that, when the former, in adopting the constitution, recognized the right of representation of the slaves, it was under a state of sentiment different from that which now existed. It was generally hoped and believed, that the institution would be gradually extinguished ; instead of which, it was now to be cherished, and preserved, and extended ; and for this purpose, the south was constantly demanding new territory. A southern senator had said, that the condition of the slaves was preferable to that of the laboring population of the north. Said Mr. Webster: "Who are the north? Five-sixths of the whole property of the north is in the hands of laborers, who cul. tivate their own farms, educate their children, and provide the means of independence. Those who were not freeholders, earned wages, which, as they accumulated, were turned into capital.

Another grievance at the north was, that their free colored citizens employed on vessels arriving at southern ports, were taken on shore by the municipal authority, and imprisoned till the vessel was ready to sail. This was inconvenient in practice; and was deemed unjustifiable, oppressive, and unconstitutional. It was a great grievance. So far as these grievances had their foundation in matters of law, they could and ought to be redressed; and so far as they rested in matters of opinion, in mutual crimination and recrimination, we could only endeavor to allay

the agitation, and cultivate a better feeling between the south and the north.

Mr. Webster expressed great pain at hearing secession spoken of as a possible event. Said he "Secession! Peaceable secession! Sir, your eyes and mine are never destined to see that miracle. Who is so foolish-I beg every body's pardon-as to expect to see any such thing? There could be no such thing as peaceable secession-a concurrent agreement of the members of this great republic to separate? Where is the line to be drawn? What states are to secede? Where is the flag of the republic to remain? What is to become of the army?—of the navy?—of the public lands? How is each of the states to defend itself? To break up this great government! to dismember this great country! to astonish Europe with an act of folly, such as Europe for two centuries has never beheld in any government! No. sir! no, sir! There will be no secession. Gentlemen are not serious when they talk of secession."

In regard to Texas, he said, if she should please to cede to the United States any portion of her territory adjacent to New Mexico, north of 34 degrees, to be formed into a free state, for a fair equivalent in money, or in the payment of her debt, he would concur in the measure. He was willing also to appropriate the proceeds of the public lands to defray the expense of promoting the colonization of free colored persons in any part of the world, if the south would propose such a scheme.

On the 13th of February, 1850, the president transmitted to congress, by message, a copy of the constitution of California. Mr. Doug las moved that the message and accompanying documents be referred to the committee on territories. Mr. Foote moved their reference to a special committee of thirteen," whose duty it should be to consider them, together with the various other propositions before the senate on the same subject, in connection with the question of domestic slavery, and to report a plan for the definitive settlement of the present unhappy controversy, and rescue from impending perils the sacred union itself."

Mr. Clay thought it improper to throw all these subjects before one committee to be acted on together. He wished the question of the admission of California kept separate and distinct. Three or four members of congress had come all the way from the Pacific, with a constitution of a state asking admission into the union; and it was not right to subject them to the delay which would result from the combination of all these subjects. After some discussion, Mr. Benton, on the 14th, moved to amend Mr. Douglas' motion, by adding, "with instructions to report a bill for the admission of the state of California, unconnected with any other subject."

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Mr. Badger, of North Carolina, was opposed to the admission of California as a state, organized, as she had been, without the previous authority of congress. Other new states had first been organized as territories. A few other territories, he admitted, had moved in the matter of their admission, and formed state constitutions, without authority from congress; but the cases were different. He was inclined to adhere to established precedents.

Mr. Hale said, as regarded one step in the progress of this question, the senate was not without precedents. It might produce a smile to mention them : they were “Texas” and “ Oregon." They went together through the presidential election like the Siamese twins. When these questions came into congress to be settled, the two loving sisters had to be separated; and Oregon had to wait in the cold latitude of 54° 40', until Texas had been disposed of. He was for first taking care of California by herself, and giving her the entertainment to which she was entitled; then they could turn their attention to New Mexico, and dispose of her ; then to Deseret; and then to San Jacinto, because this came next in order.

Mr. Seward was in favor of the admission of California, disconnected from all other questions; and, in a speech of great length, expressed his views upon the several topics embraced in the debate, as well as upon the question of slavery itself. Copious extracts from the speech will constitute a material part of the next chapter.

Among the numerous propositions to dispose of the territorial and slavery questions, in both houses, most of which we can not notice, was a series of resolutions, nine in number, offered in the senate, on the 28th of February, by Mr. Bell, of Tennessee, providing for the future division of Texas, and the admission of the different portions as states. Also, by consent of Texas, that portion of lands claimed by Texas, lying west of the Colorado, and north of the 420 degree of latitude, was to be ceded to the United States for a sum not exceeding millions of dollars. California was to be admitted as a state; but in future, the formation of state constitutions by the inhabitants of the territories was to be regulated by law; and the inhabitants were to have power to settle and adjust all questions of internal state policy, (including, of course, the question of slavery.) The committee on territories to be instructed to bring in a bill in conformity with the spirit of the resolutions.

On the 17th of April, pursuant to a proposition of Mr. Foote, previously made, a select committee of thirteen, (Mr. Clay chairman,) was elected by the senate, to whom were to be referred the compromise resolutions of Mr. Bell, in regard to the slave, California, and territorial

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