NEW-YORK.—Daniel Cruger, David A. Ogden, | question (Feb. 15th) appears in the Appen Henry R. Storrs-3. NEW JERSEY.-Joseph Bloomfield-1, States.] DELAWARE.-Louis McLane-1. MARYLAND.-Archibald Austin, Thomas Bayly; Thomas Culbreth, Peter Little, George Peter, Philip Reed, Samuel Ringgold, Samuel Smith, Philip Stuart-9.. dix to Niles's Register, vol. xvi. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FEB. 15, 1819. Mr. Tallmadge, of New York, having moved the following amendment, on the Saturday preceding "And provided that the introduction of Slavery, or involuntary servitude, be prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party VIRGINIA. William Lee Ball, Philip P. Bar- has been duly convicted, and that all children bour, Burwell Bassett, William A. Burwell, Ed-born within the said State, after the admission ward Colston, Robert S. Garnett, James Johnson, thereof into the Union, shall be declared free at William J. Lewis, William McCoy, Hugh Nelson, the age of 25 years." Thomas M. Nelson, John Pegram, James Pindall, James Pleasants, Ballard Smith, Alexander Smyth, Henry St. George Tucker, John TylerNORTH CAROLINA.-Joseph H. Bryan, William Davidson, Weldon N. Edwards, Charles Fisher, Thomas H. Hall, James Owen, Lemuel Sawyer, Thomas Little, Jesse Slocumb, James G. Smith, James Stewart, Felix Walker, Lewis WilliamsSOUTH CAROLINA.-James Ervin, William Lowndes, Henry Middleton, Wilson Nesbitt, Elbert Simkins, Sterling Tucker-6. 18. 13. GEORGIA.-Joel Abbot, Thomas W. Cobb, Zadoc Cook, William Terrell-4. KENTUCKY.-Richard C. Anderson, jr., Joseph Desha, Richard M. Johnson, Anthony New, Thomas Newton, George Robertson, Thomas Speed, David Trimble, David Walker-9. TENNESSEE. William G. Blount, Francis William G. Blount, Francis Jones, George W. L Marr, John Rhea-4. MISSISSIPPI.--George Poindexter-1. LOUISIANA.-Thomas Butler-1. Total Nays, 76-10 from Free States, 66 from Slave States. The House now proceeded to vote on the residue of the reported amendment [from the word "convicted" above], which was likewise sustained.-Yeas 82; Nays 78. . in the admission of new States into the Union, he Mr. FULLER, of Massachusetts, said, that considered that Congress had a discretionary power. By the 4th article and 3d section of the them; but nothing in that section, or in any part Constitution, Congress are authorized to admit of the Constitution, enjoins the admission as imotherwise, he would request gentlemen to point perative, under any circumstances. If it were out what were the circumstances or conditions precedent, which being found to exist, Congress must admit the new State. All discretion would, and deliberation would be useless. The hon. in such case, be taken from Congress, Mr. F. said, speaker (Mr. Clay) has said that Congress has no newly-organized States, but must admit then by a right to prescribe any condition whatever to the simple act, leaving their sovereignty unrestricted. to be understood in so broad a sense as Mr. F. [Here the speaker explained-he did not intend stated.] With the explanation of the honorable gentleman, Mr. F. said, I still think his ground as untenable as before. We certainly have a right, and our duty to the nation requires, that we should examine the actual state of things in the proposed State; and, above all, the Constitution expressly makes a REPUBLICAN form of government in the several States a fundamental principle, to be preserved under the sacred guarantee of the national legislature.-Art. 4, sec. 4.]. It clearly, therefore, is the duty of Congress, before admitting a new sister into the Union, to ascertain that her constitution or form of government is republican. Now, sir, the amendment proposed by the gentleman from New York, Mr. Tallmadge, merely requires that Slavery shall be probibited in Missouri. Does this imply anything more than that its constitution shall be republican? The existence of Slavery in any State is, so far, a departure from republican principles. The Declaration of Independence, this time, a citizen of a State which admits Slavepenned by the illustrious statesman then, and at ry, defines the principle on which our national and state constitutions are all professedly founded. The second paragraph of that instrument begins thus: "We hold these truths to be self-evidentdowed by their Creator with certain unalienable that all men are created equal-that they are enrights; that among these are life, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of happiness." Since, then, it cannot are, in a purely republican government, born free, be denied that slaves are men, it follows that they and are entitled to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. [Mr. Fuller was here interrupted by seve ral gentlemen, who thought it improper to question in debate the republican character of the slave-holding States, which had also a tendency, as one gentleman (Mr. Colston, of Virginia) said, to deprive those States of the right to hold slaves as property, and he adverted to the probability that there might be slaves in the gallery, listening that nothing was farther from his thoughts, than to the debate.] Mr. F. assured the gentleman to question on that floor, the right of Virginia and other States, which held slaves when the Consti tution was established, to continue to hold them. | then, the same compact contains certain excepWith that subject the National Legislature could tions. The States then holding slaves are pernot interfere, and ought not to attempt it. But, mitted, from the necessity of the case, and for the Mr. F. continued, if gentlemen will be patient, sake of union, to exclude the republican principle they will see that my remarks will neither dero- so far, and only so far, as to retain their slaves in gate from the constitutional rights of the States, servitude, and also their progeny, as had been the nor from a due respect to their several forms of usage, until they should think it proper or safe to government. Sir, it is my wish to allay, and not conform to the pure principle, by abolishing Slato excite local animosities, but I shall never re- very. The compact contains on its face the frain from advancing such arguments in debate as general principle and the exceptions. But the my duty requires, nor do I believe that the read- attempt to extend Slavery to the new States, is in ing of our Declaration of Independence, or a dis- direct violation of the clause, which guarantees cussion of republican principles on any occasion, a republican form of government to all the States. can endanger the rights, or merit the disapproba- This clause, indeed, must be construed in connec tion of any porton of the Union. tion with the exceptions before mentioned; but it cannot, without violence, be applied to any other States than those in which Slavery was allowed at the formation of the Constitution. The honorable speaker cites the first clause in the 2d section of the 4th article-" The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the several States," which he thinks would be violated by the condition proposed in the Constitution of Missouri. To keep slaves-to make one portion of the popula tion the property of another, hardly deserves to be called a privilege, since what is gained by the masters must be lost by the slaves. But, independently of this consideration, I think the observations already offered to the committee, showing that holding the black population in servitude is an exception to the general principles of the Constitution, and cannot be allowed to extend be exception is provided, are a sufficient answer to the objection. The gentleman proceeds in the same train of reasoning, and asks, if Congress can require one condition, how many more can be re My reason, Mr. Chairman, for recurring to the Declaration of our Independence, was to draw from an authority admitted in all parts of the Union, a definition of the basis of republican government. If, then, all men have equal rights, It can no more comport with the principles of a free government to exclude men of a certain color from the enjoyment of "liberty and the pursuit of happiness," than to exclude those who have not attained a certain portion of wealth, or a certain stature of body, or to found the exclusion on any other capricious or accidental circumstance. Suppose Missouri, before her admission as a State, were to submit to us her Constitution, by which no person could elect, or be elected to any office, unless he possessed a clear annual income of twenty thousand dollars; and suppose we had ascertained that only five, or a very small number of persons had such an estate, would this beyond the fair import of the terms by which that anything more or less than a real aristocracy, under a form nominally republican? Election and representation, which some contend are the only essential principles of republics, would exist only in name-a shadow without substance, aquired, and where these conditions will end? With body without a soul. But if all the other inhabit ants were to be made slaves, and mere property of the favored few, the outrage on principle would be still more palpable. Yet, sir, it is demonstrable, that the exclusion of the black population from all political freedom, and making them the property of the whites, is an equally palpable invasion of right, and abandonment of principle. If we do this in the admission of new States, we violate the Constitution, and we have not now the excuse which existed when our National Constitution was established. Then, to effect a concert of interests, it was proper to make concessions. The States where Slavery existed not only claimed the right to continue it, but it was manifest that a general emancipation of slaves could not be asked of them. Their political existence would have been in jeopardy; both masters and slaves must have been involved in the most fatal consequences. regard to a republican constitution, Congress are obliged to require that condition, and that is enough for the present question; but I contend, further, that Congress has a right, at their discretion, to require any other reasonable condition. Several others were required of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Mississippi. The State of Louisiana, which was a part of the territory ceded to us at the same time with Missouri, was required to provide in her Constitution for trials by jury, the writ of habeas corpus, the principles of civil and religious liberty, with several others, peculiar to that State. These, certainly, are none of them more indispensable ingredients in a republican form of government than the equality of privileges of all the population; yet these have not been denied to be reasonable, and warranted by the National Constitution in the admission of new States. Nor need gentlemen apprehend that Congress will set no reasonable limits to the conditions of admis sion. In the exercise of their constitutional discretion on this subject, they are, as in all other cases, responsible to the people. Their power levy direct taxes is not limited by the Constitution. They may lay a tax of one million of dollars, or of a hundred millions, without violating the letter of the Constitution; but if the latter enormous and unreasonable sum were levied, or even the former, without evident necessity, the people These provisions effectually recognized the have the power in their own hands-a speedy right in the States, which, at the time of framing corrective is found in the return of the elections. the Constitution, held the blacks in Slavery, to This remedy is so certain, that the representatives continue so to hold them until they should think of the people can never lose sight of it; and, conproper to meliorate their condition. The Consti- sequently, an abuse of their powers to any contution is a compact among all the States then ex-siderable extent can never be apprehended. The isting, by which certain principles of government are established for the whole, and for each individual State. The predominant principle in both respects is, that ALL MEN are FREE, and have an EQUAL RIGHT TO LIBERTY, and all other privileges; or, in other words, the predominant princicle is REPUBLICANISM, in its largest sense. But, To guard against such intolerable evils, it is provided in the Constitution, "that the migration or importation of such persons, as any of the existing States think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited till 1808."-Art. 1, sec. 9. Art. 1, sec. 9. And it is provided elsewhere, that persons held to service by the laws of any State, shall be given up by other States, to which they may have escaped, etc.-Art. 4, sec. 2. to same reasoning applies to the exercise of all the powers entrusted to Congress, and the admission of new States into the Union is in no respect an exception. One gentleman, however, has contended against the amendment, because it abridges the rights of the slaveholding States to transport their slaver said, that we are bound, by the treaty of cession with France, to admit the ceded territory into the Union, "as soon as possible." It is obvious that the President and Senate, the treaty-making power, cannot make a stipulation with any for eign nation in derogation of the constitutional powers and duties of this House, by making it imperative on us to adinit the new territory according to the literal tenor of the phrase; but the additional words in the treaty, "according to the principles of the Constitution," put it beyond all doubt that no such compulsory admission was intended, and that the republican principles of our Constitution are to govern us in the admission of this, as well as all the new States, in the national family. to the new States, for sale or otherwise. This argument is attempted to be enforced in various ways, and particularly by the clause in the Constitution last cited. It admits, however, of a very clear answer, by recurring to the 9th section of article 1st, which provides that "the migration or importation of such persons as any of the States then existing shall admit, shall not be prohibited by Congress till 1808." This clearly implies, that the migration and importation may be prohibited after that year. The importation has been prohibited, but the migration has not hitherto been restrained; Congress, however, may restrain it, when it may be judged expedient. It is, indeed, contended by some gentlemen, that migration is either synonymous with importation, or that it means something different from the transportation of slaves from one State to another. It certainly is Mr. TALLMADGE, of New York, rosenot synonymous with importation, and would not Sir, said he, it has been my desire and my intenhave been used if it had been so. It cannot mean tion to avoid any debate on the present painful exportation, which is also a definite and precise and unpleasant subject. When I had the honor term. It cannot mean the reception of free blacks to submit to this House the amendment now under from foreign countries, as is alleged by some, be- consideration, I accompanied it with a declaracause no possible reason existed for regulating tion that it was intended to confine its operation their admission by the Constitution; no free to the newly acquired territory across the Missisblacks ever came from Africa, or any other coun- sippi; and I then expressly declared, that I would try, to this; and to introduce the provision by the in no manner intermeddle with the slaveholding side of that for the importation of slaves, would States, nor attempt manumission in any one of the have been absurd in the highest degree. What original States in the Union. Sir, I even went alternative remains but to apply the term "migra- further, and stated that I was aware of the delition" to the transportation of slaves from those cacy of the subject--and, that I had learned from States, where they are admitted to be held, to southern gentlemen the difficulties and the danother States. Such a provision might have in gers of having free blacks intermingling with view a very natural object. The price of slaves slaves; and, on that account, and with a view to might be affected so far by a sudden prohibition the safety of the white population of the adjoining to transport slaves from State to State, that it was States, I would not even advocate the prohibition as reasonable to guard against that inconvenience of Slavery in the Alabama territory; because, as against the sudden interdiction of the importa- surrounded as it was by slaveholding States, and tion. Hitherto it has not been found necessary with only imaginary lines of division, the interfor Congress to prohibit migration or transport-course between slaves and free blacks could not ation from State to State. But now it becomes the right and duty of Congress to guard against the further extension of the intolerable evil and the crying enormity of Slavery. mutual pledge in the adoption of our Constitution-a new territory acquired by our common fund, and ought justly to be subject to our common legislation. be prevented, and a servile war might be the result. While we deprecate and mourn over the evil of Slavery, humanity and good morals require us to wish its abolition, under circumstances conThe expediency of this measure is very appa- sistent with the safety of the white population. rent. The opening of an extensive slave market Willingly, therefore, will I submit to an evil will tempt the cupidity of those who, otherwise, which we cannot safely remedy. I admitted all perhaps, might gradually emancipate their slaves. that had been said of the danger of having free We have heard much, Mr. Chairman, of the Colo- blacks visible to slaves, and, therefore, did not nization Society; an institution which is the fa- hesitate to pledge myself that I would neither advorite of the humane gentlemen in the slavehold- vise nor attempt coercive manumission. But, sir, ing States. They have long been lamenting the all these reasons cease when we cross the banks miseries of Slavery, and earnestly seeking for a of the Mississippi, into a territory separated by a remedy compatible with their own safety, and the natural boundary-a newly acquired territory, happiness of their slaves. At last the great deside-never contemplated in the formation of our govratum is found-a colony in Africa for the eman-ernment; not included within the compromise or cipated blacks. How will the generous intentions of these humane persons be frustrated, if the price of slaves is to be doubled by a new and boundless market! Instead of emancipation of the slaves, it is much to be feared, that unprincipled wretches will be found kidnapping those who are already free, and transporting and selling the hapless victims into hopeless bondage. Sir, I really hope that Congress will not contribute to discountenance and render abortive the generous and philanthropic views of this most worthy and laudable society. Rather let us hope, that the time is not very remote, when the shores of Africa, which have so long been a scene of barbarous rapacity and savage cruelty, shall exhibit a race of free and enlightened people-the offspring, indeed, of cannibals or of slaves; but displaying the virtues of civilization and the energies of independent freemen. America may then hope to see the developement of a germ, now scarcely visible, cherished and matured under the genial warmth of our country's protection, till the fruit shall appear in the regeneration and happiness of a boundless continent. One argument still remains to be noticed. It is Sir, when I submitted the amendment now under consideration, accompanied with these explanations, and with these avowals of my intentions and of my motives-I did expect that gentlemen who might differ from me in opinion would appreciate the liberality of my views, and would meet me with moderation, as upon a fair subject for general legislation. I did expect, at least, that the frank declaration of my views would protect me from harsh expressions, and from the unfriendly imputations which have been cast out on this occasion. But, sir, such has been the character and the violence of this debate, and expressions of so much intemperance, and of an aspect so threatening have been used, that continued silence on my part would ill become me, who had submitted to this house the original proposition. While this subject was under debate before the Committee of the whole, I did not take the floor, and I avail myself of this occasion to acknowledge my obligations to 7 my friends (Mr. Taylor and Mr. Mills) for the | expressions, really intending the meaning which manner in which they supported my amendment, at a time when I was unable to partake in the debate. I had only on that day returned from a journey, long in its extent and painful in its occasion; and from an affection of my breast I could not then speak. I cannot yet hope to do justice to the subject; but I do hope to say enough to assure my friends that I have not left them in the controversy, and to convince the opponents of the measure, that their violence has not driven me from the debate. Sir, the hon. gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Scott, who has just resumed his seat, has told us of the ides of March, and has cautioned us to "beware of the fate of Cæsar and of Rome." Another gentleman (Mr. Cobb) from Georgia, in addition to other expressions of great warmth, has said, that if we persist, the Union will be dissolved; and with a look fixed on me, has told us, "we have kindled a fire which all the waters of the ocean cannot put out, which seas of blood can only extinguish.' Language of this sort has no effect on me; my purpose is fixed, it is interwoven with my existence; its durability is limited with my life; it is a great and glorious cause, setting bounds to a slavery the most cruel and debasing the world has ever witnessed; it is the freedom of man; it is the cause of unredeemed and unregenerated human beings. If a dissolution of the Union must take place, let it be so! If civil war, which gentlemen so much threaten, must come, I can only say, let it come! My hold on life is probably as frail as that of any man who now hears me; but while that hold lasts, it shall be devoted to the service of my country-to the freedom of man. If blood is necessary to extinguish any fire which I have assisted to kindle, I can assure gentlemen, while I regret the necessity, I shall not forbear to contribute my mite. Sir, the violence to which gentlemen have resorted on this subject will not move my purpose, nor drive me from my place. I have the fortune and the honor to stand here as the representative of freemen, who possess intelligence to know their rights; who have the spirit to maintain them. Whatever might be my own private sentiments on this subject, standing here as the representative of others, no choice is left me. I know the will of my constituents, and, regardless of consequences, I will avow it as their representative, I will proclaim their hatred to Slavery in every shape-as their representative here will I hold my stand, till this floor, with the Constitution of my country which supports it, shall sink beneath me-if I am doomed to fall, I shall, at least, have the painful consolation to believe that I fall, as a fragment, in the ruins of my country. the words seem to import, and which had been uttered against the gentleman from New Hampshire. [Mr. Nelson, of Virginia, in the Chair, called to order, and said no personal remarks would be allowed.] Mr. T. said he rejoiced the Chair was at length aroused to a sense of its duties. The debate had, for several days, progressed with unequaled violence, and all was in order; but now, when at length this violence on one side is to be resisted, the Chair discovered it is out of order. I rejoice, said Mr. T., at the discovery, I approve of the admonition, while I am proud to say it has no relevancy to me. It is my boast that I have never uttered an unfriendly personal remark on this floor; but I wish it distinctly understood, that the immutable laws of self-defense will justify going to great lengths, and that, in the future progress of this debate, the rights of defense would be regarded. Sir, has it already come to this: that in the Congress of the United States-that, in the legislative councils of republican America, the subject of Slavery has become a subject of so much feeling of such delicacy-of such danger, that it cannot safely be discussed? Are members who venture to express their sentiments on this subject, to be accused of talking to the galleries, with intention to excite a servile war; and of meriting the fate of Arbuthnot and Ambrister? Are we to be told of the dissolution of the Union, of civil war. and of seas of blood? And yet, with such awful threatenings before us, do gentlemen, in the same breath, insist upon the encouragement of this evil; upon the extension of this monstrous scourge of the human race? An evil só fraught with such dire calamities to us as individuals, and to our nation, and threatening, in its progress, to overwhelm the civil and religious institutions of the country, with the liberties of the nation, ought at once to be met, and to be controlled. If its power, its influence, and its impending dangers, have already arrived at such a point, that it is not safe to discuss it on this floor, and it cannot now pass under consideration as a proper subject for general legislation, what will be the result when it is spread through your widely-extended domain? Its present threatening aspect, and the violence of its supporters, so far from inducing me to yield to its progress, prompt me to resist its march. Now is the time. It must now be met, and the extension of the evil must now be prevented, or the occasion is irrecoverably lost, and the evil can never be controlled. Sir, extend your view across the Mississippi," over your newly-acquired territory-a territory so far surpassing, in extent, the limits of your present country, that that country which gave which_gave birth to your nation—which achieved your RevoSir, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Colston)lution-consolidated your Union-formed your has accused my honorable friend from New Constitution, and has subsequently acquired so Hampshire (Mr. Livermore) of "speaking to the much glory, hangs but as an appendage to the galleries," and by his "language endeavoring to extended empire over which your republican excite a servile war;" and has ended by saying, government is now called to bear sway. Look "he is no better than Arbuthnot and Ambrister, down the long vista of futurity; see your and deserves no better fate." When I hear such empire, in extent unequaled, in advantageous language uttered upon this floor, and within this situation without a parallel, and occupying all the house, I am constrained to consider it as hasty valuable part of one continent. Behold this exand unintended language, resulting from the tended empire, inhabited by the hardy sons of vehemence of debate, and not really intending the American freemen, knowing their rights, and inpersonal indecorum the expressions would seem heriting the will to protect them-owners of the to indicate. [Mr. Colston asked to explain, and soil on which they live, and interested in the insaid he had not distinctly understood Mr. T. stitutions which they labor to defend; with two Mr. Livermore called on Mr. C. to state the ex- oceans laving your shores, and tributary to your pressions he had used. Mr. C. then said he had purposes, bearing on their bosoms the commerce no explanation to give.] Mr. T. said he had none of our people; compared to yours, the governto ask-he continued to say, he would not be- ments of Europe dwindle into insignificance, and lieve any gentleman on this floor would commit the whole world is without a parallel. But, sir, BO great an indecorum against any member, or reverse this scene; people this fair domain with against the dignity of this house, as to use such the slaves of your planters; extend Slavery, this bane of man, this abomination of heaven, over your extended empire, and you prepare its dissolution ; you turn its accumulated strength into positive weakness; you cherish a canker in your breast; you put poison in your bosom ; you place a vulture preying on your heart-nay, you whet the dagger and place it in the hands of a portion of your population, stimulated to use it, by every tie, human and divine. The envious contrast between your happiness and their misery, between your liberty and their slavery, must constantly prompt them to accomplish your destruction. Your enemies will learn the source and the cause of your weakness. As often as external dangers shall threaten, or internal commotions await you, you will then realize, that by your own procurement, you have placed amidst your families, and in the bosom of your country, a population producing at once the greatest cause of individual danger, and of national weakness. With this defect, your government must crumble to pieces, and your people become the scoff of the world. Sir, we have been told, with apparent confidence, that we have no right to annex conditions to a State, on its admission into the Union; and it has been urged that the proposed amendment, prohibiting the further introduction of Slavery, is unconstitutional. This position, asserted with so much confidence, remains unsupported by any argument, or by any authority derived from the Constitution itself. The Constitution strongly indicates an opposite conclusion, and seems to contemplate a difference between the old and the new States. The practice of the government has sanctioned this difference in many respects. The third section of the fourth article of the Constitution says, new States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union," and it is silent | as to the terms and conditions upon which the new States may be so admitted. The fair infer ence from this is, that the Congress which might admit, should prescribe the time and the terms of such admission. The tenth section of the first article of the Constitution says," the migration or importation of such persons as any of the States NOW EXISTING shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year 1808." The words "now existing" clearly show the distinction for which we contend. The word slave is nowhere mentioned in the Constitution; but this section has always been considered as applicable to them, and unquestionably reserved the right to prevent their importation into any new State before the year 1808. that all amendments and conditions are proper, which suit a certain class of gentlemen, but whatever amendment is proposed, which does not comport with their interests or their views, is unconstitutional, and a flagrant violation of this sacred charter of our rights. In order to be consistent, gentlemen must go back and strike out the various amendments to which they have already agreed. The Constitution applies equally to all, or to none. Sir, we have been told that this is a new principle for which we contend, never before adopted, or thought of. So far from this being correct, it is due to the memory of our ancestors to say, it is an old principle, adopted by them, as the policy of our country. Whenever the United States have had the right and the power, they have heretofore prevented the extension of Slavery. The States of Kentucky and Tennessee were taken off from other States, and were admitted into the Union without condition, because their lands were never owned by the United States. The Territory northwest of the Obio is all the land which ever belonged to them. Shortly after the cession of those lands to the Union, Congress passed, in 1787, a compact, which was declared to be unalterable, the sixth article of which provides that "there shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said Territory, otherwise than in the punishment for crimes, whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted." In pursuance of this compact, all the States formed from that Territory have been admitted into the Union upon various conditions, and, amongst which, the sixth article of this compact is included as one. Let gentlemen also advert to the law for the admission of the State of Louisiana into the Union: they will find it filled with conditions. It was required not only to form a Constitution upon the principles of a republican government, but it was required to contain the "fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty." It was even required as a condition of its admission, to keep its records, and its judicial and its legislative procedings in the English language; and also to secure the trial by jury, and to surrender all claim to unappropriated lands in the Territory, with the prohibition to tax any of the United States' lands. After this long practice and constant usage to annex conditions to the admission of a State into the Union, will gentlemen yet tell us it is unconstitutional, and talk of our principles being novel and extraordinary? It has been said, that, if this amendment prevails, we shall have an union of States possessing unequal rights. And we have been asked, whether we wished to see such a "chequered union?" Sir, we have such a union already. If the prohibition of Slavery is the denial of a right, and constitutes a chequered union, gladly would I behold such rights denied, and such a chequer spread over every State in the Union. It is now spread over the States northwest of the Ohio, and forms the glory and the strength of those States. I hope it will be extended from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean. Congress, therefore, have power over the subject, probably as a matter of legislation, but more certainly as a right, to prescribe the time and the condition upon which any new State may be admitted into the family of the Union. Sir, the bill now before us proves the correctness of my argument. It is filled with conditions and limitations. The territory is required to take a census, and is to be admitted only on condition that it have 40,000 inhabitants. I have already submitted amendments preventing the State from taxing the lands of the United States, and declar- Sir, we have been told that the proposed ing that all navigable waters shall remain open amendment cannot be received, because it is to the other States, and be exempt from any tolls contrary to the treaty and cession of Louisiana. or auties. And my friend (Mr. Taylor) has also" Article 3. The inhabitants of the ceded terrisubmitted amendments prohibiting the State from taxing soldiers' lands for the period of five years. And to all these amendments we have heard no objection-they have passed unanimously. But now, when an amendment, prohibiting the further introduction of Slavery is proposed, the whole house is put in agitation. and we are confidently told it is unconstitutional to annex conditions to the admission of a new State into the Union. The result all this is, tory shall be incorporated in the Union of the United States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights ad. vantages, and immunities of citizens of the United States. and in the mean time they shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, their property, and the religion which they profess." I find nothing, said Mr. T., in this article of the treaty, incompatible |