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33D CONG....2D SESS.

weight of one quarter ounce and under than by British packets; and, consequently, much the larger part of the correspondence is still diverted to the British lines. For instance, taking the weight of the French mails received at New York by the Cunard packets to be the same with that received by these packets at Boston, and reckoning four letters to the ounce, the number of French letters brought by the Cunard line during the year was 237,576, while the number received by the Collins steamers, performing just half as many trips, was only 41,608-less than one fifth. The present treaty in other respects gives an undue advantage to Great Britain, and operates to the serious injury of the United States. Under its provisions, as will be seen by a statement in appendix A, an excess of at least $75,000 British postages has, during the last year, been collected by the United States for the British office over and above the whole amount of United States postages collected by Great Britain. This large balance of British postages has been collected at an actual expense of about $61,000 in the shape of commissions to our postmasters; and this Department suffers also the additional loss by exchange, &c., necessary to place the money in possession of the British office in London, of not less than $3,500. When it is considered that all this outlay is made on our part without receiving any equivalent in return, one of the most striking inequalities of the existing arrangement is pointedly exhibited. No satisfactory progress has been made since my last report toward effecting a postal convention with France, nor has the contemplated arrangement with Belgium been yet consummated.

Some steps have been taken with reference to a postal convention with Mexico. A mutual exchange of dead letters has already been agreed upon and carried into effect; and I now await a project, which Mexico is to propose, for a more perfect arrangement, by which it is expected the rates of postage between the two countries will be materially reduced.

Under our postal convention with Great Britain, the Philadelphia post office, with the concurrence of that Government, has been constituted an office of exchange for United States and British mails. The articles of agreement on this subject are hereto annexed. I regret to state that my proposition for the reduction of pamphlet and magazine postage between the two countries to one cent an ounce on either side has been positively declined by the British Post Department. The combined rate is at present altogether too high, being eight cents an ounce for all works of this kind above the weight of two ounces.

Report of the Postmaster General.

matter received and sent by the different mail
steamship lines during the year; the amounts of
letter postages on British, Prussian, Bremen, and
Havre mails; the portion thereof collected by the
United States, Great Britain, Prussia, and Bremen,
respectively; and the amounts of unpaid and paid
matter received and sent by each of the lines of
mail steamers. The gross and net revenues re-
ceived by the Department from each of the trans-
Atlantic mail lines are shown, and also the rev-
enue derived from the correspondence with Great
Britain, Prussia, and Bremen, respectively, under
the existing postal arrangements with those coun-
tries, both including and excluding the United
States inland postage. It also shows the number
of letters and newspapers exchanged during the
year between the United States and Great Britain
in British mails, between the United States and
Bremen in Bremen mails, and between the United
States and the Kingdom of Prussia in closed
mails; the number of letters (in ounces) received
and sent in closed mails under each of our closed
mail arrangements, and the number of letters and
newspapers conveyed by the several home lines
of ocean steamers. Other valuable statistics con-
nected with the foreign mail service are also fully
stated.

The usual report of fines and deductions will be
duly furnished for the information of Congress.
These fines and deductions for the year ending
the 30th June, 1854, amount to $110,486 59. The
amount for the previous year was $37,920 31.
The increased amount has been mainly caused by
a more rigorous exaction than heretofore of for-
feitures incurred for defective service. The ag-
gregate amount of fines and deductions for the
last year has thus been greatly increased.

I am pleased to say that the introduction into
the post offices of a better system of responsibility
for mail bags has resulted in checking the waste of
this species of property. The consequence has
been a decrease of twenty per centum in the num-
bers of letter mail bags procured during the year
ending 30th of June last, as compared with the
preceding year; though the ordinary increase in
the transportation of letters has required the use
of a greater number of bags than were actually
used before,

My assistants and chief and other clerks have
faithfully attended to all their duties during the
past year.
JAMES CAMPBELL.

To the PRESIDENT.

APPENDIX A.

The report of the Auditor of this Department,
shows that the aggregate amount of postages, in-
land, sea, and foreign, on letters and other maila-
ble matter received and sent by the following lines
during the fiscal year, was:

By Collins line, New York and Liverpool-
On letters......

On newspapers..................................................................

$288,273 55
9,643 58
$307,917 13

By New York and Bremen line-
On letters....
On newspapers.......

$135,687 07
2,349 62
$138,036 69

By New York and Havre line-
On letters

$92,424 56 2,353 52 $94,778 08

In the month of March last an arrangement was made with the proprietors of the Australia pioneer line of monthly packets to convey mails regularly between New York and Port Philip, Australia, at two cents a letter, one half cent per newspaper, and one quarter cent an ounce for pamphlets and magazines; and, with the view of affording to our citizens the cheapest practicable means of communication with that country, I have fixed the rates on all out-going matter by that line at five cents a letter, two cents each for newspapers, and one cent an ounce or fraction of an ounce for pamphlets and magazines, prepayment required. These rates embrace both the United States inland and sea postage. As the United States postage cannot be prepaid on incoming letters by this line, they On newspapers........................................... are treated as ordinary ship letters. Similar arrangements have been made during the year with the proprietors of the steamers Black Warrior and Cahawba to convey mails semi-monthly between New York and Havana, and New Orleans and Havana, at two cents a letter, and also with the proprietor of the steamship Jewess to convey mails once in every twenty days between New York and Nassau, New Providence, returning by way of Havana, at the same rate of compensation.

By these agreements an important point has been gained in sustaining the Department in the efforts which should be made in all future arrangements to keep the cost of the ocean service, if possible, within its receipts.

To the appendix (marked A) I invite your particular attention and that of Congress.

It exhibits full statistical information on the subject of the foreign mails; embracing the amount of postages, inland, sea, and foreign, on mailable

By Charleston and Havana line, on letters and
newspapers

By New York and California lines, on letters
and newspapers, including receipts from
British and California closed mails pertaining
to the lines....

By New Orleans and Vera Cruz line, on letters
and newspapers..

Total.......

10,156 53

324,005 19 4,675 99 .$879,570 61

The total amount of letter postage on British
mails collected in the United States and Great
Britain was $979,648 30.

Collected in the United States.
By Collins line.............
By Cunard line....

By Havre line...............................
By Bremen line.......

Total......

.$182,100 23
372,119 42
42,101 67
43,464 29

$639,783 61

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.120,491 73 97,171 45 23,320 28

Amount collected in Prussia......
Amount collected in United States.
Excess collected in Prussia....

Of the amount collected in Prussia there was of unpaid received $104,494 74; of the amount collected in Prussia there was of paid sert $15,996 99; of the amount collected in the United States there was of unpaid received $41,903 64; of the amount collected in the United States there was of paid sent $55,267 81.

The total amount of paid and unpaid sent from Prussia was $57,900 63, conveyed, as follows: By the Cunard line, $28,186 29; by the Collins line, $16,772 42; by the Havre line, $6,882 21; by the Bremen line, $6,059 71.

The total amount of paid and unpaid sent from the United States was $159,762 55, conveyed, as follows: By Cunard line, $84,062 30; by Collins line, $51,603 06; by Havre line, $17,110 35; by Bremen line, $6,986 84.

The total amount of letter postages on Havre mails during the year was $18,732 43; all of which was collected in the United States; amount received by Havre line, $10,540 70; by Collins line, $102 90; amount sent by Havre line, $8,088 83:

The total amount of letter postages on Bremen mails during the year was $82,979 86; amount collected in the United States, $69,367 69; amount collected in Bremen $13,612 17; excess collected in United States, $55,755 52.

Of the amount collected in the United States there was of unpaid received $50,138 41; of the amount collected in the United States there was of paid sent $19,229 28; of the amount collected in Bremen there was of unpaid received $9,657 63;

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of the amount collected in Bremen there was of of postages accruing to the United States on Brepaid sent $3,954 54.

The total amount sent from Bremen was $54,092 95, conveyed, as follows: by United States steamers $45,914 58; by Bremen steamers $8,178 37.

The total amount sent from the United States was $23,886 91 conveyed as follows: by United States steamers, $22,168 62; by Bremen steamers, $5,090 12; by Collins line $1,628 17.

British Postages collected by the United States. Amount by Cunard line.....

Deduct United States inland, 5-24.

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$372,119 42
77,524 88
$294,594 54

33,458 28 $328,052 82.

.$152,685 71

.$175,367 11

This calculation is based on the assumption that all the letters originated in the United Kingdom or the United States, which is not the fact. It, however, gives the result in the most favorable light possible with respect to Great Britain, inasmuch as a very considerable portion of the unpaid matter received from Great Britain is from Australia, China, and other countries, in transit through the United Kingdom, on which the British proportion of the whole postage is proportionably much larger than it is on matter posted in Great Britain. On the other hand, the amount of unpaid matter received in Great Britain from countries in transit through the United States, on which the United States proportion of the postage is increased, is comparatively trifling.

Statements are annexed, from the Auditor's office, showing the revenues derived to the United States, and also to the United States Post Office, from each of the trans-Atlantic mail steamship lines, as follows:

The gross revenue to the United States, without deducting commissions or the United States inland postages

.....

From the Cunard line was..
From the Collins line was....
From the Bremen line was..........
From the Havre line was......................

Total gross revenue.....

.$139,830 50
274,741 16
123,507 11
86,864 35
$624,943 12

The net revenue to the United States post offices, deducting commissions, but including the United States inland postages: From the Cunard line was $1,483 91; from the Collins line, $208,670 89; from the Bremen line, $84,817 01; from the Havre line, $63,928 97-total, $358,900 78. The net revenue to the United States post offices, deducting commissions, and also the United States inland postages: From the Collins line was $153,377 61; from the Bremen line, $37,906 66; from the Havre line, $46,303 82total net revenue by the three United States lines is $237,588 09. Statements are also annexed showing the revenue derived during the last fiscal year by the United States and by the United States post offices on the correspondence exchanged with Great Britain, Bremen, and Prussia, respectively, under the existing postal conventions with each of those countries, as follows: The amount of postages collected by the United States on British mails, was $660,219 03; the net revenue to the United States Post Office, with United States inland included, but deducting the amount paid Great Britain, difference on British mails, and also commissions to United States postmasters, was $253,431 78; the net revenue to the United States Post Office for the ocean postage, deducting the United States inland, was $39,988 09; the amount

Ho. OF REPS.

Sent by the Cunard line, 4,338 ounces; by the three United States lines, 1,963. Total sent, 6,3011.

Bremen closed mails sent by Collins line, 2,773

ounces.

Havana closed mails received, by Cunard line, 2,916 ounces; by the three United States lines, 985. Total received, 3,901.

men mails was $69,621 42; the net revenue to the
United States Post Office, with the United States
inland included, was $39,983 09; deducting the
United States inland there was a deficit to United
States Post Office of $1,501 84; the amount of
postages accruing to the United States in Prus-
sian closed mails was $172,737 39; the disburse-
ments by the United States for the conveyance of The number of letters and newspapers conveyed
those mails, including $91,962 58 paid to Great during the year was, by the New York, New Or-
Britain and commissions paid United States post-leans, Aspinwall, and Pacific mail steamship lines,
masters, was $178,132 95; showing a deficit to
the United States Post Office Department of
$5,395 56.

The number of letters exchanged between the United States and the United Kingdom in British mails, during the year, by the Cunard line was, 2,740,866; by the Collins line, 1,086,495; by the Bremen line, 253,540; by the Havre line, 255,803. Total, 4,336,704.

The number of newspapers by the Cunard line was, 1,571,299; by the Collins line, 630,685; by the Bremen line, 122,787; by the Havre line, 148,005. Total, 2,472,776.

The number of letters received by the Cunard line was, 1,491,458; by the three United States lines, 707,635. Total received, 2,199,093.

The number of letters sent by the Cunard line
was, 1,249,408; by the three United States lines,
888,203. Total sent, 2,137,611.

The number of newspapers received by the
Cunard line was, 716,864; by the three United
States lines, 243,241. Total received, 960,105.

The number of newspapers sent by the Cunard
line was, 854,435; by the three United States lines,
658,236. Total sent, 1,512,671.

The number of letters exchanged between the United States and Bremen, in Bremen mails, during the year, by the Bremen line was, 377,530; by Bremen steamers, 65,797; by the Collins line, 8,631. Total, 451,958.

The number of newspapers, by the Bremen line was, 10,453; by the Bremen steamers, 2,228;|| by the Collins line, 1,035. Total, 13,716.

Of this number there were received, by the
Bremen line, 238,032 letters, 5,773 newspapers;
by the Bremen steamers, 35,304 letters, 393 news-
papers. Total received, 273,336 letters, 6,166
newspapers.

There were sent, by the Bremen line, 139,498
letters, 4,680 newspapers; Bremen steamers, 30,493
letters, 1,835 newspapers; Collins line, 8,631 let-
ters, 1,035 newspapers.
7,550 newspapers.

Total, 178,622 letters,

The number of letters exchanged between the United States and the Kingdom of Prussia in closed mails during the year, by the Cunard line was, 366,642; by the Collins, Havre, and Bremen lines combined, 345,652. Total, 712,294.

The number of newspapers by the Cunard line was, 25,025; by the Collins, Havre, and Bremen lines combined, 25,031. Total, 50,056.

The number of letters received by the Cunard line was 91,633; by the three United States lines, 96,655. Total received, 188,288.

The number of letters sent by the Cunard line was, 275,009; by the three United States lines, 248,997. Total sent, 524,006.

The number of newspapers received by the Cunard line was, 3,356; by the three United States lines 4,584. Total received, 7,940.

The number of newspapers sent by the Cunard line was, 21,669; by the three United States lines, 20,447. Total sent, 42,116.

The number (in ounces) of letters received and sent in closed mails during the year was, as follows: Prussian closed mails received by the Cunard line, 30,059 ounces; by the three United States lines, 31,717. Total received, 61,776.

Prussian closed mails sent by the Cunard line, 85,350 ounces; by the three United States lines, 77,657. Total sent, 163,007.

Canada closed mails received by the Cunard line, 97,980 ounces; by the three United States lines, 2,847. Total received, 100.8273.

Sent by the Cunard line, 102,551 ounces; by the three United States lines, 2,8443. Total sent, 105,396.

California closed mails received by the Cunard line, 6,398 ounces; by the three United States lines, 2,145; by the West India British packets, 6,276. Total received, 14,819§.

2,958,681 letters and 3,482,410 papers; Charleston and Havana line, 80,012 letters and 35,820 papers; New Orleans and Vera Cruz line, 21,528 letters and 22,486 papers. Total number of letters, 3,060,221. Total number of papers, 3,540,666.

The amount received from Great Britain on loose letters collected during the year on board the Atlantic mail steamers was $981 74; amount paid Great Britain on same, 87cents; the amount of postages collected by the United States, and accounted for to Great Britain on letters to and from foreign countries in transit through the United Kingdom was, on unpaid letters received, $21,282 51; on paid letters sent, $11,550,43; on unpaid newspapers received, $1,155 97; on paid newspapers sent, $692 06. Total, $34,689 97.

The amount collected by Great Britain, and accounted for to the United States on similar matter in transit through the United States, was, on unpaid letters received, $1,854 40; on paid letters sent, $13 96-$1,868 36. Excess collected in United States on this class of correspondence, $32,812 61; amount received from Great Britain on dead letters to the London office, $1,587 73; amount paid Great Britain on dead letters returned to Washington, $2,086 02; amount received on dead letters returned to Prussia, $44 588; amount paid on dead letters received from Prussia, $945 58; amount received on dead letters returned to Bremen, $1,705 30; balance due the United States on the adjustment of the accounts with Prussia at the close of the last fiscal year, $70,412 13; balance due Bremen on the adjustment of the accounts at the close of the fiscal year, $13,823 46; balance due Great Britain on adjustment of the accounts at the close of the fiscal year, $195,522 68.

The amount of postages for the year on mails received and sent between the United States and the British provinces, under the postal arrangements with Canada and New Brunswick, by which each party retains what it collects, was $156,768 41. Of this amount the British provinces have collected from letters-received unpaid, $48,302 43; sent paid, $30,928 77. Total collected in British provinces, $79,231 20.

The United States have collected from letters, received unpaid, $38,161 79; sent paid, $39,375 42. Total collected in United States, $77,537 21. Balance in favor of the provinces, $1,793 99.

The balance in favor of provinces during the previous year, as per last annual report, was $1,543 22.

EXECUTIVE POLICY.

The original Policy avowed in the President's Inau-
gural Address; in his first Annual Message; in his
Message on the "Black Warrior;" his Change of
Position in his second Annual Message; his Secret
Efforts; the " Higher Law" which should guide
Statesmen.

SPEECH OF HON. J. R. GIDDINGS,
OF OHIO,

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
December 11, 1854.

The House being in the Committee of the Whole
on the state of the Union on the President's
Message--

Mr. GIDDINGS said:

Mr. CHAIRMAN: In the earlier days of the Republic the President's annual message was regarded as the most important State paper of the session. It was supposed to express the whole policy of Government; and was usually discussed, examined, and scrutinized until the holidays were passed, when we usually enter seriously upon the work of legislation. From this forum gentlemen spoke to the people of the nation, calling public

33D CONG....2D SESS.

attention to whatever they deemed important in the message. That practice, I think, was salutary, it was a great saving of time, and I am unwilling to see it abandoned. This is a Government of the people, and we cannot communicate with them too freely in regard to our national affairs; and I may be permitted to add, that if the speeches made on our appropriation bills, respecting the policy of the Government, were pronounced in committee on the President's message, they would be far more appropriate, and we should become better practical statesmen.

If no other gentleman is prepared, at this time, to speak upon this message, I will occupy the attention of the committee for a few minutes, although I am not prepared. But it will be my purpose to speak of what the message avoids, rather than of what it expresses; of its silence rather than of its declarations. It is true that what is said in regard to the destruction of Greytown is open to animadversion. Our national honor has been compromitted: the act was disreputable to our Navy. But so far as the President's elaborate argument goes to exculpate his administration, or the nation from a transaction so unworthy of the American people, I wish him all success. His attempt, however, to cast odium upon the people of Greytown by characterizing them as "a heterogeneous assemblage of blacks, and persons of mixed blood," was unworthy of an American Magistrate. Had he spoken of their intelligence, their virtue, or their patriotism, his remarks would have been understood; but the attempt to impute demerit to the people of Greytown to justify the destruction of their dwellings and property on account of their complexion, shows a distrust of his own position-a want of fact and of argument to justify himself. The disreputable proceeding at Greytown arose from one of the basest murders ever perpetrated. It was committed upon a man of mixed blood, in the presence of our Minister, who, by a display of mob violence, protected the murderer and made himself accessory to the crime. He is a slaveholder, accustomed to witness all manner of outrages upon colored people, and no doubt supposed that a white man had the right to commit murder on a colored person; but this attempt of our President to carry out this slaveholding principle, this absurd doctrine, was not expected. It must fail of its object.

Executive Policy-Mr. Giddings.

take the oath of office, while avowing the most important measures which were to characterize his administration, the President announced to the country his convictions that the domestic servitude of our southern States was based upon the same principles as other recognized rights. His convictions that slavery and freedom stood upon the same moral level, based upon the same law of our Creator, were thus publicly avowed. He solemnly placed on record the declaration that a holy and righteous God ordained and sanctified the institution of human servitude, with its attendant crimes, as plainly as he did the right to life, liberty, and happiness. This lamentable perversion of his moral faculties might have been passed over without attracting attention, except for the inference which he drew from this extraordinary predicate. Having laid down this principle, he proceeded to announce to the country that our slave States were entitled to congressional legislation in order to sustain their slavery.

This doctrine was novel, important, and startling to those who examined the address with critical

attention. No former President had presumed to declare the people of the free States thus implicated in the crimes and disgrace of slavery. Of all the slaveholders who have filled the Executive chair, none had thus boldly and unequivocally attempted to nationalize an institution which the people of the free States abhor and repudiate. The declaration was clear and distinct to every man accustomed to the diplomatic language of the President. There was apparently no disguise on his part. For many years we had seen cur influence as a nation occasionally prostituted, in a silent manner, to the support of slavery, while the advocates of freedom opposed the practice, and called on slaveholders and their "northern allies" to throw off their disguise, to stand forth before the nation, and openly maintain or deny the right of the Federal Government thus to pervert its power. Mr. Pierce met this demand in a manner becoming a President of determined purpose. He promptly accepted the issue which his predecessors and his party had so long evaded. And when the slaveholding press of the country called on him and on Congress to take measures for obtaining Cuba, in order to prevent the example which emancipation in that island would have upon the slaves of our southern States, Mr. Pierce responded, in his message on the Black Warrior, that if Cuba persisted in a policy thus endangering the honor and safety of our slave States, she could not expect that peaceful relations would long subsist between this Government and Spain; and he proceeded to intimate the propriety of Congress making provisions for carrying this war

In urging this measure the people of the South relied on the doctrine avowed by the President. If the nation be bound to sustain the slavery of the South, then, sir, we must prevent emancipation in Cuba, whatever may be the expense of blood and treasure. If the policy and doctrine of the President's inaugural be correct, then are the southern people correct in urging this Government into a war with Spain, unless we can prevent emancipation in Cuba by other means. Accordingly, in his annual message of last year he endeavored to prepare the public mind for obtaining that island. A long paragraph of that message was devoted to this subject; and it was well understood by all intelligent men that a Minister to the Court of Madrid was selected for the very purpose of obtaining Cuba by purchase, or of involving our nation in a war, to open the way for its conquest.

But, Mr. Chairman, I repeat that I intend calling the attention of the House and country more to matters which the message avoids, than to those which it discusses. Firstly, I ask attention to the fact that this important State paper does not contain the word slavery, nor does it make any direct reference to that institution. The import-like policy into effect. ance of this omission will be appreciated when I state that for twenty-five years no annual message of our Presidents has omitted direct reference to human servitude, and I think in every instance the Executive has assured the slaveholders of his intention to protect their "peculiar interest " against all improper influences. This fact shows an important change, a revolution in the Executive mind. Of this omission, however, I do not complain. In truth, no President ever ought to have expressed any such assurance in favor of slavery; nor had the Executive or legislative branch of Government any right to extend any influence or aid in maintaining oppression. The duty of both those branches of Government ever has been, and now is, to sustain freedom, protect the liberties of all men under our exclusive jurisdiction, and to leave slavery with the States in which it exists. And if the President was now exerting no secret, no clandestine influence in favor of slavery, had his acts on this subject cor-will responded with his silence, I should not have now troubled the House with any remarks. But I ask why this ominous silence? Why has the President abandoned the practice of his predecessors for the last quarter of a century? Why has he abandoned the practice adopted by him in his inaugural address? repeated in his first annual message? enlarged upon in his message upon the Black Warrior, and carried out, so far as able, by the efforts of his most distinguished political and personal friends?

On the 4th of March, 1853, standing in the eastern portico of the Capitol, as he was about to

||

Sir, the people, particularly those of the South, read this message with astonishment, when they find that it contains no allusion whatever to Cuba. Why this silence upon a matter so important? Has the President given up the policy avowed in his inaugural address? If so, he ought to let it|| be known. All must understand, that if he carries out the doctrine avowed at his entrance upon office, he must obtain Cuba; and the inquiry of every man is, what are the prospects? The people have a right to know. Yet, here is a total silence in the message in regard to that measure. Civilization is advancing in Cuba. The authorities there are more active than ever in arresting the slave trade; in setting the emancipadoes free.

Ho. OF REPS.

The cause of freedom is going forward there, and the work of immediate and total emancipation will commence at no distant day; indeed, it has already begun. This influence must tell upon the slaves of our own States, and why is the President silent at this important juncture? The reason of this silence-this obvious timidity-is understood by every member. The condemnation of his policy by the people, at our recent elections, is seen and read of all men. It is written upon the tablet of the moral Universe. It came to the President like the voice of the Almighty to the rich man. He trembles, falters, retires before the storm of popular indignation which now overspreads the northern heavens. That is right-it is proper. So far, I approve his course on this subject. It is his duty to yield his sentiments and views to the instructions of those who wield the sovereign power of the nation.

But it cannot be disguised that while the President is thus silent in his message, he continues his efforts in a secret, a clandestine manner, to obtain Cuba. Through the Ministers of other Governments, resident at Madrid, we are informed that our representative at that court is making all possible exertions to attain that object. It is a humiliating consideration that we are indebted to the representatives of other Governments, and the press of other nations, for information which should be communicated by the President in his annual message. These attempts to evade popular scrutiny cannot avail the President. They are unworthy of the station he occupies. If his policy be just, the people will sustain him; if unjust, he should abandon it; but no circumstances can excuse these secret efforts. His organ, too, the Union, of this city, is silent on this subject. So are his friends.

Now, Mr. Chairman, we all like to see men bold and manly in their conduct, and I hope the advocates of the President's avowed policy will stand up to their work like men, or surrender at discretion. If that policy be carried out, we must have Cuba to give strength to slavery; if they abandon Cuba, they must abandon the President's policy. What do the President's friends intend doing? Let them speak out, show their colors, and prove themselves men. Why, the battle has scarcely commenced; yet as the supporters of slavery see their black flag trailing in the dust, they cease firing and spike their own guns. Does the President and his friends understand that if a treaty for the purchase of Cuba be obtained, another Congress, composed of other men, will pass upon the bill to make the necessary appropriation to pay the purchase money? Or, if war be waged, that another Congress, composed of men who repudiate the President's doctrine, must either carry on such a war, or constrain the President to make peace and do justice to the Spanish Government. In short, the decree has already been entered, the fiat has gone forth from the American people, that if Cuba comes into this Union, it must come free. Her slaves can never breathe the air of this Republic.

Again, in pursuance of the general policy avowed by the President, he strongly urged us, in his last annual message to make an appropriation from our national treasury to compensate the Cuban pirates who claimed to own the people on board the slave ship Amistad. He evidently deemed this incidental to his avowed policy of sustaining the institution. It was well calculated to soothe the Spanish authorities, to assure them that we had no moral objections to the business of dealing in human flesh, and thereby show them that all the interests involved in Cuban oppression would be sustained and upheld by us if that island were annexed to our Government. I took occasion to expose the depravity of that proposition at the first moment in my power.

The honorable chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, assured the House that his committee would report a bill in conformity with the President's recommendation. He declared my speech to be full of errors of law, errors of fact, and errors of logic which he would, at an early day, expose. One year has passed, and we have not heard from him on this subject. I would respectfully inquire whether he will expose my errors in this world, or will he postpone it to the next? If he delay it to the future, it must go

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before a Plutonic Congress, where alone slavery will be respected, and of that Congress I hope not to be a member..

Mr. BAYLY, of Virginia. At the last session of Congress I distinctly explained to the gentleman from Ohio why I did not report the Amistad case. In my statement at that time, I said that our : affairs with Spain were so unsettled that I was not disposed to move in that matter until we had disposed of the Black Warrior case, and several other cases before our committee. My anxiety to expose the errors, of fact and argument in the gentleman's speech was not so great as to cause me to obtrude myself upon the attention of this House merely for the sake of that exposure, when it might inflict injury upon our public interest and pending affairs with Spain.

Mr. GIDDINGS. I thank the gentleman for the explanation. This statement was made subsequently to his promise to which I alluded; but I do not see very clearly how the exposure of my errors would have very dangerously affected our relations with Spain. I frankly let the gentleman off at this time, hoping he will not postpone his promised exposure until after my death.

But my object in calling attention to this subject, is to notice the silence of the President, of his organ, of his friends, in regard to it; while one year since he so strongly urged its consideration upon us. Why this backing out? Have the recent elections paralyzed these Goliahs of the slave dealing interest? Are they struck dumb at the recent manifestations of the people's displeasure? Is the chill of political death already upon them? Are they beginning to look into their political graves?

We have been informed, though not by the President, that negotiations have been entered into by which this Government has obtained from the Dominican authorities territory upon the bay of Samana, for the purposes of a naval depot. The object of this is obvious. For many years the Executive has been exerting its influence to encourage and sustain the mulattoes of San Domingo in their resistance to the legitimate authority of Hayti, for the evident purpose of eventually subverting that colored Republic. The example of a colored people sustaining the position of an independent nation among the Powers of the earth, is at war with the pretense of slaveholders and their apologists, that colored people are ignorant, stupid, and incapable of protecting themselves. It is at war with slavery. Our Government has therefore exerted its influence to blot out this example of the Republic of Hayti. The mission of Mr. Green, and other agents sent there, was to bring about that result. It is necessary to carrying out this policy of supporting slavery by our Federal power. Although it is said that a treaty has been effected by which we have obtained this cession of territory, the President says nothing in regard to it. So far as the President has power, we and the people are kept ignorant of all that has been done, and all that is doing, in this matter. Fortunately, however, the negotiation was confided to the judgment and discretion of a lady minister, who donned the cocked hat and small clothes of her office, and bidding her husband to follow as one of the attachés of her legation, proceeded to the discharge of her important mission. I hope no lady will think me opposed to "women's rights," [laughter;] for really, I am an ardent advocate of that doctrine, and regard this as one of the best diplomatic appointments the President has yet made; and if Mrs. Partington, or some other experienced lady, could take the place of a certain European Minister, I doubt not it would be a great improvement. It is an old adage, that "ladies never keep secrets." I do not believe in political secrets, nor in governmental secrets. Indeed, this is a Government of the people, and they have an indisputable right to know what their servants are doing. This principle seems to have been appreciated by the lady referred to, and from her we derive our information. My object, at this time, is to call attention to the President's silence on this subject. He breathes not a word in relation to it; with him, all is silent, all is secret, all unknown to the people, except as the woman has disclosed facts. I repeat, this studied silence in regard to everything touching slavery, or connected with the important doctrine proclaimed by the President at his advent NEW SERIES.-No. 3.)

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Executive Policy—Mr. Giddings.

to office, is unmanly and undignified. I ask, will the President's friends in this body follow his example? Will they sit here during the present session with their lips hermetically sealed on this policy? We shall see what we shall see.

HO. OF REPS.

were based on the same moral and political principles; and he, too, like Mr. Pierce, attempted to carry the doctrine into practice; but the people denounced such infidelity to God, to our Constitution, and to mankind; and the press spoke out in thunder tones; and Mr. Tyler, a slaveholder, had the grace to recede, and leave the claims of the slave merchants without pressing them farther, and to abandon the doctrine since proclaimed by Mr. Pierce at his inauguration."

It has been said with great propriety, that the principal distinction attained by the present Administration, consisted in the fact that it had, by way of contrast, added dignity to that of Mr. Tyler. It is certainly true that the present Executive has assumed doctrines which Mr Tyler discarded. I shall wait to see whether Mr. Pierce will have the grace to repudiate them as his illustrious predecessor did, or will he, in the midst of this political etorm, imitate the sailor who, when the ship was going to pieces, under directions of the captain for every one to seize upon something on which to float ashore, laid hold of the anchor and went down with it.

In direct and obvious accordance with this doctrine of the President, we saw a distinguished personal and political friend of the Executive, in the other end of the Capitol, at the last session of Congress, move to restore the African slave trade, with all its attendant crimes, its unutterable guiltto bring back the horrors of the "middle passage" in board our slave ships, and to sustain them with the influence and power of the nation. The proposition is most reasonable, if the President's doctrine be correct. If we sustain slavery, it follows that we must sustain the traffic in slaves. If slavery be right, the slave trade cannot be wrong, and if we protect one we must protect the other. It is idle to pronounce him who sells slaves a pirale, and hang him, and then turn round and uphold and encourage him who buys and flogs | them. We cannot sustain the President's policy without restoring the African slave trade. And the movement in the other end of the Capitol for that Again, we are all aware that the Administration purpose was an effort to carry out the President's is called on to obtain a treaty with Great Britain doctrine. It was an important movement; one for the return of the fugitive slaves now resident that has excited wonder and astonishment through-in her Canadian Provinces. This, too, is but an out the Christian world. Captain Smith, now incident in carrying out the President's avowed awaiting, in the prison of New York, the time at policy. If that policy be correct, it follows that which he is to expiate upon the gallows the crime the nation is under obligations to obtain those fugiof slave dealing, has done no more than the Pres- tives. Why does the President falter or hesiident and his friends now propose authorizing tate? He must depart from his pledged devotion every American citizen to do with impunity. If to that institution, or he must put forth whatever the President's doctrine be correct and just, this influence he can command to obtain those fugiman ought not to suffer. If the President's ideas tives. Yet he is silent on the subject. He apbe correct, the law pronouncing the slave trade pears unwilling to say anything respecting the piracy is unjust and cruel. If the President be matter. Why, sir, all these subjects to which I morally innocent, Captain Smith cannot be morally have called attention are matters to which the guilty. Nor do I blame the President so much as Executive stands solemnly pledged before the some do for this attempt to restore the African country. He must violate that pledge, or maincommerce. It is no worse, indeed it is not so tain to the extent of his influence and political aggravated in some respect as the commerce in power, these and many other measures which, if slaves, now carried on upon our southern coast, and carried out, will operate beneficially for oppresin this District, for the sole purpose of encouraging sion. and sustaining slavery. Here, in this District, as well as on the coast, we authorize the sale and transportation of civilized and christianized men and women. We authorize the sale and transfer of Methodists and Baptists, Episcopalians and Catholics, and even preachers of the gospel are made merchandise. We authorize the sale and purchase of the Savior of mankind in the person of his followers. This traffic in Christians is sustained by the President and his friends; he insists that we are bound to uphold it. Indeed we have, under former Presidents, silently lent our national influence to encourage it, to obtain indemnity from Great Britain for slave dealers who were far more deserving the halter than Captain Smith. We legislate to encourage one and to hang the other.

But my object in referring to these attempts to restore the foreign slave trade, was to exhibit the President's silence in regard to it. He makes no allusion whatever to the subject; and I shall await with interest the movement of his friends in the other House, and in this body. Will they, too, recede? I am curious to see whether they will follow the President's silent example. In short, I am anxious to learn the precise effect which the late elections have on the advocates of slavery in the two Houses of Congress.

Sir, one other Administration attempted to prostitute the influence and powers of the nation to protect the coast-wise slave trade. It was the Whig Administration of John Tyler. I speak not of past parties to injure the feelings of any one, and it would be no more than justice to say that Mr. Tyler was abandoned and repudiated by the Whig party. Yet I, as a Whig, voted for him, (God forgive me.) When the victims on board the slave ship Creole, in 1841, asserting that God had endowed them, too, with the inalienable right to liberty, took possession of the ship, landed on a British island, and, by the magic influence of British laws, were transformed into free men and free women, the slave dealers, who richly deserved the halter, returned and called on President Tyler to assist them in obtaining compensation for their loss. Mr. Tyler (honest soul that he was) really thought, as Mr. Pierce does, and as many members of this body do, that slavery and freedom

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It is true, that when the inaugural address was delivered, the Whig and Democratic parties had, in national conventions, resolved to resist all agitation of the slave question. While they stood thus bound to observe silence, the President seized upon the opportunity to go farther in favor of agitating for the benefit of that institution than any other President or statesman ever went; and one of his followers in the Senate subsequently, in imitation of his example, declared that he would yet call the roll of his slaves under the shadow of the monument on Bunker's Hill. Neither Whig nor Democratic presses at the time appeared willing to discuss the subject of slavery, notwithstanding the important avowal of the President; nor did they appear generally to appreciate the importance of the doctrine to which he pledged his Administration; but the people now see its application, and appreciate its bearing.

But another subject, incidental to this policy of the President, has proven of paramount interest. I refer to the repeal of the Missouri prohibition of slavery from our western Territories. This, too, was but carrying into practice the President's doctrine of sustaining slavery by Federal legislation. His silence on this exciting topic is more astonishing than it is on any other. While this question was pending at our late session, the Executive organ, the Union of this city, assured us repeatedly that the President was anxious for the repeal of that prohibition. It exhorted all friends of the Executive to stand up manfully and fight the battle which then raged, assuring them that he would not suffer any to be driven to private life for adhering to his policy. He sent his agents into this Hall, openly proclaiming these terms, to buy up support for his favorite measure; converting this forum into a political slave-market, in which to buy up the representatives of the people; placing his patronage in competition with the will of our constituents. His friends, too, in this body, apparently speaking by authority, boldly proclaimed the President's views, threatening with expulsion from the party those who should prove recreant to his avowed policy. Now he is silent, and his organ is inexorably dumb.

From day to day we were told that the passage

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of that measure would bring peace to the country— would quiet all agitation among the people and in this Hall, and effectually seal the lips of those who were advocating the doctrine of man's "inalienable right to liberty." I need not say how far this prophecy was from truth. The result has shown it to have created a hundred-fold greater agitation on this subject than ever existed in the nation before. Indeed, if I were to hazard an opinion, I should say that this great, this unpardonable error showed the Executive and those who united in this assurance, wholly incompetent to guide any political party, much less qualified to control the Executive power of Government. And we have good evidence, that the people of the free States concur in this opinion.

The bill passed. The prohibition excluding slavery from those Territories was repealed, slavery was admitted there, and the newspapers now give us the "price current of human flesh upon the territory which our fathers, thirty-four years since, solemnly consecrated to freedom. We are now told, through the public press, that men are worth from $1,000 to $1,500 per head, and women from $800 to $1,100. And this informaation was given us at the very moment that northern serviles were endeavoring to make the people believe that slavery would never go there. Why, sir, these men had voted for the very object of sending slavery into that fertile region. It had long been excluded, and they voted to remove the exclusion for the purpose of permitting it to be established on that soil. And let me say that this was most obviously a fair and legitimate carrying out of the President's avowed doctrine. It was solely with a view to aid and encourage slavery. If his doctrine were correct, the admission of slavery into those Territories was correct. I have never regarded this measure in any other light than a fair and honest carrying out of the President's doctrine. It comes as legitimately within his avowed principles as does the acquisition of Cuba, the restoration of the African slave trade, the treaty with Great Britain, or the obtaining territory in St. Domingo.

The President and the country have witnessed some of the effects of extending slavery into Kansas and Nebraska. The recent elections have demonstrated the light in which the people of the free States view that measure. He and his friends have listened to the emphatic condemnation pronounced against them by the popular voice. He sees his policy repudiated, his influence prostrated, his political friends stricken down, his administration doomed to an unenviable notoriety, yet he makes no reference to these things in his message. He has witnessed some of the consequences of this first carrying into practice the great policy which was to distinguish his administration, and he remains silent. Why does he not inform us whether he adheres to his original plan, or whether he intends to abandon it? This silence is extraordinary.|| We cannot account for it. He sees his friends stricken down on his right hand and on his left by scores, by hundreds, ay, almost by thousands. To those who voted for the Nebraska bill he is bound to extend his protection against the people's indignation. How will he do it? He has not offices enough at his disposal to meet these engagements. Will he follow the example of many commercial men at this day, and declare his administration to have failed? The people have already done that; but will he, or some friend of his, inform us why he is so silent on this important matter? It is true that his friends were, at the time, cautioned against the surrender of their judgments, and the consciences which God had bestowed upon them. They were told that the extension of slavery into those Territories would awaken popular indignation. I myself kindly assured them that it would consign them to early political graves; that before we should again meet in this Hall, a political cholera would sweep over the free States, carrying those who voted for the extension of slavery to that political" bourn from which no traveler returns." This prophecy has proven literally correct. Why, sir, in Ohio there is not a soul left to tell the sad tale of their overthrow. Judgment has been speedily executed against them and their works. I would speak with feelings of kindness towards those who are about to take their final departure from us. I regret that they should have

Executive Policy-Mr. Giddings.

thus sinned against light and knowledge; but having transgressed the law of justice, they must receive the appropriate penalty.

Mr. INGERSOLL. Will the gentleman from Ohio inform me whether those gentlemen so recently candidates in Massachusetts for reelection, and now defeated for Congress, were the peculiar friends of the President?

Mr. GIDDINGS. I believe that they did not vote for the bill. I am speaking of those who voted for it, at the President's invitation. I had particular allusion to the gentleman from Connecticut, who has just taken his seat. [Laughter.] As he is about to take his departure to the shades of private life, I will say that I rejoice not in the death of any sinner. [Laughter.] I would rather that he would have repented and lived, and received the approbation of the people.

Mr. INGERSOLL. The gentleman, perhaps, is not aware that no nominations for Congress have been made in Connecticut, and, therefore, that I have not been put in nomination. Mr. GIDDINGS. And never will be. [Laughter.]

Mr. INGERSOLL. The gentleman may have more information in the matter than I or my friends here. I can, however, inform the gentleman from Ohio of this: with the question of popular sovereignty involved in the Nebraska bill, I feel that I can, with safety, go before my constituents, and look for their approval of my course in sustaining that great principle in this House.

Mr. GIDDINGS. The gentleman says that I may know more on the subject than he does. I cannot say how that may be. But he speaks of popular sovereignty-a term iterated and reiterated by every servile press of the North. Popular sovereignty, indeed! Do you, my dear sir, mean, when you speak of popular sovereignty, that all the people of Kansas and Nebraska shall participate in the government?

HO. OF REPS.

They neither have, nor can have, such right. We may as well talk of the right to commit piracy. Popular sovereignty consists in the combined influence-the united power of all the people of a State. It is an abuse of language, a perversion of the term, to say that "popular sovereignty" allows one portion of the people to tyrannize over another portion-to flog, to buy, and sell them as they do brutes.

Sir, one of the best illustrations of this term "popular sovereignty," as used by the supporters of the Nebraska fraud, was given during the late canvass up in the Wolverine State. Å speaker was addressing a crowd there upon the sublime truth that all men are endowed by their Creator with the inalienable right to liberty. A man with a" rich brogue" interrupted him with the inquiry, whether he denied the doctrine of " •popular severeignty." The speaker replied, "No, sir; it is the very foundation of my political faith. I hold that every human being is sovereign of his own conduct, while he interferes with the rights of no other person. Now, sir, what do you understand by the term 'popular sovereignty?'" "Well, indeed," said he, "I think the language is perfectly plain; how can a man be a sovereign unless he have one or more subjects on whom to exercise his sovereignty?" [Great laughter.]

That is precisely the popular sovereignty" given to the people of Kansas and Nebraska. It was the right to buy and sell, and flog men and women. It is the question on which my friend says he would be willing to go to the people of Connecticut. Were he to go to them on that question, I predict he would never return.

Now, my friend is about to leave us forever. We must separate. I cannot say, as is usual on funeral occasions, that our loss will be his gain, [laughter;] but I may say, in all kinduess, that the political death of every supporter of the repeal of the Missouri prohibition will be liberty's gaina gain to the cause of truth, justice, and humanity -a gain to "popular sovereignty."

Mr. INGERSOLL. I mean by popular sovereignty that the people in Kansas and Nebraska have the right, under the Constitution, to determ- This sending of northern serviles to early poine for themselves any questions affecting their litical graves illustrates in a striking manner the domestic relations, the same as they have in Con-power of truth on the popular mind, when wielded necticut and Ohio. Is the gentleman answered?

Mr. GIDDINGS. Does the gentleman mean by people, all who bear the image of God? Mr. INGERSOLL. I mean citizens of the United States.

Mr. GIDDINGS. My friend need not equivocate, nor quibble. We understand him. Does he mean by the term people, all who are impressed with the likeness of the Almighty?

Mr. INGERSOLL. If I have read correctly the report of a decision recently made, I believe in the gentleman's own State it has been decided that a negro is not a citizen of the United States.

Mr. GIDDINGS. That is the most direct answer I ever did get from a Yankee. [Laughter.] I ask you, my friend, and I do it with all respect and kindness, do you hold with Jefferson, Hancock, and the Adamses, and their associates, that all men are endowed by their Creator with an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Answer, if you please.

Mr. INGERSOLL. I believe in all the cardinal principles of Jefferson-that included.

Mr. GIDDINGS. I am glad that I have made one convert. [Laughter.] Certainly his vote for the repeal of the law which secured to all the people of Kansas and Nebraska this "inalienable right to liberty," looked as though he did not believe in that self-evident" truth; and when he now says that the people of Kansas and Nebraska possess the right to enslave and brutalize a portion of our race, he denies the doctrine asserted by the patriots to whom I referred. They declared "that Governments are constituted among men to secure these rights" of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to all men. Most emphatically did every man who voted to permit slavery in those Territories deny this fundamental, this selfevident truth.

The gentleman refers to "popular sovereignty" as though it were contained in this bill, while he asserts that the people or citizens of the United States, resident in those Territories, have the right to hold slaves, if they please. I most unequivocally deny the right of any people to enslave, to brutalize the humblest individual of our race.

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with earnest sincerity. When looking over the fields of our late political combats, and viewing the massacre-the destruction of the "allies of slavery"-we are constrained to admire that universal law of God's Providence which visits retributive justice upon mankind for every transgression of that infallible rule of "doing unto others as we would have them do unto us."

That man is unqualified for the position of a statesman who, while he is unwilling to be a slave himself, would authorize the people, or any portion of the people, of Kansas and Nebraskato hold others as slaves. In giving such vote he tramples upon the plainest dictates of God's " "higher law;' avows his disbelief of the responsibility of human conduct, and proclaims himself an infidel to God and a traitor to mankind. The time has come when men should speak frankly; and 1 repeat, that the statesman who will vote for any law authorizing any oppression of other persons to which he is not himself willing to be subjected, has failed to learn the first lesson of a "Christian statesman," and is wholly unqualified for the duties of such an office.

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But I was speaking, when interrupted by my friend from Connecticut, of those who are doomed to suffer the popular indignation, for having voted to extend slavery into our Territories. Yet the President does not even notice them in his message He attempts no justification of them, or of himself; nor does he inform us whether he will adhere to or abandon his policy. Was he destitute of the moral courage necessary to speak his determination? Will he attempt to evade the popular displeasure by silence? Sir, it will be in vain. may call on the rocks and the mountains to fall on him and hide him from the popular indignation, but it will be in vain. He has been weighed in the balance and found wanting;" and like his great prototype, he will be "driven out" from the confidence of men. But it is due to his position, to his friends and his opponents, that he should deal in frankness with the people. Will he persist in using his official patronage for the support and encouragement of slavery, or will he abandon that policy?

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