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which he had referred, for the purpose of showing its identity with the bill now introduced by him.

"The honorable senator will surely now do me the justice to say that the bill was not drafted with reference to any particular case, such as that to which he refers. I had not the remotest reference to the protection of individuals concerned in transactions of that character; but if I should undertake to say that I had not reference to demonstrations growing out of that transaction, I should be saying what was false, for it was these demonstrations which induced me to introduce the bill.'

"Mr. Foote. In one breath, the senator makes two directly contradictory as sertions. He says that he did not draw the bill in reference to this case, and in the same breath declares that he did! He disclaims in one moment that which he avows in the next! I am sorry that I have occupied the attention of the Senate so long. I have felt deeply on this subject. We have witnessed this morning the first attempt on this floor to violate the constitutional rights of the South, and I hope it will be the last. I trust that the indignation of the country will be so roused, that even in the quarter of the country from which he comes, the senator from New Hampshire, although his sensibilities are not very approachable, will be made to feel ashamed of his conduct.'

"Mr. Manguin. It has been now about fourteen years, I believe, since the Senate, very wisely, by the concurrence of the ablest and most distinguished men on both sides, came to the resolution to exclude discussion upon the inflaming topic of slavery; and that when abolition petitions were presented, upon the question of reception a motion should be entertained, which motion is not debatable, and the vote taken upon it to lay the motion for reception upon the table. There has been, ever since this rule was established, a steady, uniform adherence to it; but I am sorry to perceive that there is latterly a disposition manifesting itself to depart from the salutary rule of action which the Senate thus wisely prescribed for itself. Upon this question of slavery we know there are different opinions entertained in different quarters of the Union. I stand here represent ing the interests of one portion of that Union; but I could not, if I would, bring myself to a state of excitement and alarm in consequence of any menaces that might be thrown out. I stand upon the constitutional compromises; and while I would not invade the rights of others, I am very sure that the sound portion of the community will not invade our rights. Why should we pursue this discus sion? Is it believed that we are to be reasoned out of our rights? No, sir. Then why discuss the subject? Why not stand upon our rights-upon our constitutional compromises? Why not stand thus perfectly passionless, but prepared to defend them when they shall be assailed? But are they to be assailed? Sir, nothing has occurred during this session that has afforded me more satisfaction than to hear from some of the ablest and most distinguished men in this Union the declaration that, while they are opposed to an extension of the area of slavery, they are not disposed to trample upon the compromises of the Constitution. This is our strength. It is to be found in the patriotism of those who love the institetions of our country better than party. I believe the great body of the people are prepared to stand upon the compromises of the Constitution. It is upon this ground that I stand content and passionless; and, if I know myself, I shall ever continue to do so.

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Sir, no good can result from this discussion. I shall vote against the recep tion of the bill at this time. And why? Because I think that the occasion which is selected for its introduction is a very unhappy one. It seems to grow out of the occurrence of an unwarrantable trespass recently committed upon the rights of the citizens of this district, without being directed to the prevention of such

aggressions in future; but, on the contrary, having for its object the suppression of the manifestations of the feelings of indignation which such acts naturally create. We, who are the only legislators for the District of Columbia, are not informed of their wants and wishes in regard to legislation upon this subject. If the people of this district require any other laws than they already have, for the purpose of protecting their property against unlawful violence, let them indicate to us their wishes, and I shall be ready to lend a willing ear to their request, and to aid in passing such a law as, in my judgment, may be necessary for their protection. If, on the other hand, the citizens of this district should require other and more penal laws for the purpose of protecting their slave property, I shall be as ready to vote for a bill for that purpose; but I shall never vote for the one nor the other when I find them pressed forward by gentlemen of extreme opinionsgentlemen from remote portions of the Union, having few feelings in common with the citizens of the district.

"Sir, upon these subjects I am accustomed to look to the silent operation of the law for the protection of all our rights. In the state from which I come, there is no excitement in regard to these subjects. If I know any thing of the character of that loyal, steady, fixed, and moderate state, there is no state in the Union which will hold to her principles and her rights with more firmness than that state. But we appeal to the silent operation of the law; we know nothing of mob law or of Lynch law; we know nothing of excesses of this description. Although I have lived to be an old man, most of the time in North Carolina, I have never seen any thing in that state approximating even to a spirit of popular tumult.'

"Mr. Foote. Will the honorable senator allow me to ask him whether, in the case of a conspiracy to excite insurrection among the slaves, it would not, in his opinion, justify mob proceedings?'

"Mr. Mangum. 'Oh! my dear sir, in former years we had a compendious modo of disposing of such cases. We have now a mode equally certain, though not so compendious. Upon a matter of that nature, we take a strong ground. But I am not to be driven hastily into legislation that is proposed by gentlemen who entertain extreme opinions on either side. I am accustomed to look to the people of the district for an exposition of their wants in regard to legislation. They nec essarily understand them better than we can do. Upon their suggestion I am prepared to act, either in providing penal enactments for the protection of their slave property, or for protecting other descriptions of property from mob violence. I do not intend to enter into the question as to the propriety of making property holders, to some extent, answerable for any damage that may accrue from such violence, where they have a police in existence. I understand that in Maryland they have such a law applicable to towns and cities where they have a police. But, entertaining the views I do-believing that this movement is wholly inexpedient on this occasion-having no evidence that it would be proper on any occasion, but perceiving that the proposed measure has grown out of excitement—I move that the motion for leave to introduce the bill lie upon the table, and upon that question I ask for the yeas and nays.'

“Mr. Calhoun. Will the senator be good enough to withdraw that motion for a moment?'

"Mr. Mangum. 'Certainly.'

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Mr. Calhoun. If there is any responsibility in regard to this question, that responsibility is on me.'

"Mr. Mangum. No, sir, I do not take it so. I feel that the responsibility is upon the inopportune presentment of a bill of this sort, so soon after the transactions which have recently taken place in the district. That is my notion. I think the responsibility is upon the introducer of such a measure at a time when excitement exists all around us.'

"Mr. Calhoun. I am very happy to hear that such is the opinion of the honorable senator; but I disagree with my worthy friend, the senator from North Carolina, in several particulars. I do not look upon a state of excitement as a dangerous state. On the contrary, I look upon it as having often a most wholesome tendency. The state to be apprehended as dangerous in any community is this: that when there is a great and growing evil in existence, the community should be in a cold and apathetic state. Nations are much more apt to perish in Consequence of such a state than through the existence of heat and excitement. Nor do I agree with the senator from North Carolina in thinking that this is an analogous case to that of the question as to the reception of petitions on the subject of slavery; for we all know that in reference to the latter, the question was whether the Senate was not bound to receive petitions in all cases and on all subjects. Now here is a case in which there is no doubt whatever. All admit that the question of granting leave is a question depending upon the voice of the Senate as a matter of discretion: there is no question of right whatever. Now I submit to the senator from North Carolina whether, under the circumstances, a bill of this kind, introduced at such a moment, to subject the worthy citizens of this district to a high penalty, without containing a single clause for the punishment of those who commit outrages upon them, and deprive them of their property-without a single expression against such marauders-must not be consid ered a most extraordinary measure, let it come from whatsoever quarter it may? Can any man doubt that, whether intended or not, the object of this bill is to dis. arm the worthy citizens of this district, so as to prevent them from defending their property, and to arm the robbers? That is the whole amount of it. The Congress of this Union is the Legislature of the District of Columbia; and what is our duty on this occasion? It is to protect these our constituents, who have no other protection but ours. It is our duty to stand forward in their behalf when the extraordinary spectacle is presented to us of a vessel coming to our wharves under the color of commerce, and of the men belonging to that vessel silently seducing away our slaves, and getting nearly a hundred of them on board, and then moving off with them under cover of the night, in order to convey them beyond our reach. What is our duty under these circumstances? Is it not to take up the subject, as I trust the Committee on the Judiciary will do, and pass a bill containing the highest penalties known to the law against pirates who are guilty of acts like these? "I differ also from my honorable friend from North Carolina in this respect. He seems to think that the proper mode of meeting this great question of differ ence between the two sections of the Union is to let it go on silently-not to notice it at all-to have no excitement about it. I differ from him altogether. I have examined this subject certainly with as much care as my abilities would enable me, and if I am not greatly deceived-if I have any capacity to perceive what is coming, I give it as my most deliberate opinion, that if such course is pur sued on our part, and the activity of those influences on the other side be permit ted to go on, the result of the whole will be that we shall have St. Domingo over again. Yes, and worse than that. Now, sir, we have been asleep; and, so far from the thing being stationary, it is advancing rapidly from year to year. What has taken place within the last few weeks in the Legislature of New York? There is a provision in the Constitution protective of the rights of the South on this subject; and what is it? That the states shall deliver up fugitive slaves that are found within their limits. It is a stipulation in the nature of an extradition treaty -I mean a treaty for delivering up fugitives from justice. Now, what duty does this impose upon the states of this Union? It imposes upon them, upon the known principles of the law of nations, an active co-operation on the part of their Legisla ture, citizens, and magistrates, in seizing and delivering up slaves who have es

caped from their owners. What has been done by the Legislature of the State of New York? I speak on the statement of newspapers, which have not been contradicted. They have passed a law almost unanimously-there being but two votes against it—making it penal for a citizen of that state even to aid the Federal officers in seizing and delivering up slaves. They not only do not co-operatethey not only do not stand neutral, but they take positive and active measures to violate the Constitution, and to trample upon the laws of the Union; and yet we are told that things are going on very well, and will go on well, if we only let them alone; that the evil will cure itself. This is what has been done in the State of New York. The only stipulation in the Constitution which confers any benefit upon us, is, without the least regard to faith, trodden in the dust. And New York stands not alone in this matter; many other states have adopted similar measures. Pennsylvania, at the session before last, adopted one, not going to this extreme, but not falling greatly short of it. And what has taken place under that law? A most worthy citizen of Maryland, upon his attempting to recapture his slave, is murdered—that is the proper term-and the perpetrator of the act goes in a great measure unpunished. There was a trial, and some one may have been found guilty, but little was done. I could go on and consume the whole day in tracing, step by step, the course by which every stipulation in favor of this description of property has been set at naught in the Northern States. Now, if all this is the fact, I put it gravely and seriously to our brethren of the Northern States, Can this thing go on? Is it desirable that it should be passed without condemnation? Is it desirable that the South should be kept ignorant of all this? I put these questions. No, no. The very inaction of the South is construed into one of two things-indifference or timidity. And it is this construction which has produced this bold and rapid movement toward the ultimate consummation of all this. And why have we stood and done nothing? I will tell you why. Because the press of this Union, for some reason or other, does not choose to notice this thing. One section does not know what the other section is doing. The South does not know the hundredth part of all that has been done at the North. Now, since this occurrence has taken place, a suitable occasion is presented for gentlemen to rise here and tell the whole Union what is doing. It is for the interest of the North as well as the South. I do not stand here as a Southern man. I stand here as a member of one of the branches of the Legislature of this Union, loving the whole, and desiring to save the whole. How are you to do it? It can be saved only by justice; and how is justice to be done? By the fulfillment of the stipulations of the Constitution. I ask no more; as I know myself, I would not ask a particle that did not belong to us, either in our individual or confederated character. But less than that I never will take. Sir, I hold equality among the confederated states to be the highest point; and any portion of the confederated states who shall permit themselves to sink to a point of inferiority-—not defending what really belongs to them as members-sign their own death-warrant; and in signing that, sign the doom of the whole. Upon the just maintenance of our rights, not only our safety depends, but the existence and safety of this glorious Union of ours; and I hold that man responsible, and that state responsible, who do not raise a voice against every known and clear infraction of the stipulations of the Constitution in their favor. This is a proper occasion, and I hope there will be a full expression of opinion upon it. I hope my friend from North Carolina will reconsider his motion, and not press it. Let us meet this question at once.'

Mr. Douglas. I have listened to this debate with a good deal of interest. But while I have seen considerable excitement exhibited on the part of a few gentlemen around me, I confess that I have not been able to work myself into any thing VOL. I.-X

like a passion. I think that, probably, the senator from New Hampshire has done much to accomplish his object. His bill is a very harmless thing in itself; but, being brought forward at this time, and under the present circumstances, it has created a good deal of excitement among gentlemen on this side of the chamber.' "Mr. Calhoun (in his seat). Not the bill-the occurrence.'

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"Mr. Douglas. On the occurrence I desire to say a word. In the first place, I must congratulate the senator from New Hampshire on the great triumph which he has achieved. He stands very prominently before the American people, and is, I believe, the only man who has a national nomination for the presidency. I firmly believe that, on this floor to-day, by the aid of the senator from South Car olina and the senator from Mississippi, he has more than doubled his vote at the presidential election, and every man in this chamber from a free state knows it. I looked on with amazement, for a time, to see whether there could be an under. standing between the senator from New Hampshire and his Southern friends, calculated to give him encouragement, strength, and power in the contest. But I know that those distinguished senators from the South, to whom I have referred, are incapable of such an understanding; yet I tell them that, if they had gone into a caucus with the senator from New Hampshire, and, after a night's study and deliberation, had devised the best means to manufacture abolitionism and abolition votes in the North, they would have fallen upon precisely the same kind of procedure which they have adopted to-day. A few such exciting scenes sufficed to send that senator here. I mean no disrespect to him personally; but I say, with his sentiments -with his principles, he could never have represented a free state of this Union on this floor but for the aid of Southern speeches. It is the speeches of Southern men, representing slave states, going to an extreme-breathing a fanaticism as wild and as reckless as that of the senator from New Hampshire, which creates abolitionism in the North. The extremes meet. It is no other than Southern senators acting in concert, and yet without design, that produces abolition.'

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Mr. Calhoun. Does the gentleman pretend to say that myself, and Southern gentlemen who act with me upon this occasion, are fanatics? Have we done any thing more than defend our rights, encroached upon at the North? Am I to understand the senator that we make abolition votes by defending our rights? If so, I thank him for the information, and do not care how many such votes we make.'

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Mr. Douglas. Well, I will say to the senator from South Carolina, and every other senator from the South, that far be it from me to entertain the thought that they design to create Abolitionists in the North or elsewhere. Far be it from me to impute any such design! Yet I assert that such is the only inevitable effect of their conduct.'

"Mr. Calhoun (in his seat). We are only defending ourselves.'

Mr. Douglas. 'No, they are not defending themselves! They suffer themselves to become excited upon this question-to discuss it with a degree of heat, and give it an importance, which makes it heard and felt throughout the Union. It is thus that abolition derives its vitality. My friend from Mississippi (Mr Foote), in his zeal and excitement this morning, made a remark in the invitation which he extended to the senator from New Hampshire to visit Mississippi, which is worth ten thousand votes to the senator; and I am confident that that senator would not allow my friend to retract that remark for ten thousand votes.' "Mr. Foote. Will you allow me?'

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"Mr. Foote. If the effect of that remark will be to give to that senator all the abolition votes, he is fairly entitled to them. Had the senator from Illinois lived where I have resided-had he seen insurrection exhibiting its fiery front in the

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