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SPEECH OF Mil. BADGER. On the Territnri.ii I Question, and against Secession, Disunion, and Forcible Resistance on account of tlie Wilmol Proviso end for itie Union and the Contitntion, and for constitutional remedies in the Union. The Senate, Angnst 3, 18,50, having under con sideration the bill fur the ailiijission of California intollie Union, and the pending question being on 4 the amendment offered by Mr. Foote Mr. BADGER said : I do not propose, Mr. Pre sident, to add an obituary notice to those that have been already delivered in the chamber upon the Itle bill for the d mission of California, and for other purposes, nor to enter at all into the investi gation as to the mode of treatment pursued with it or to inquire whether its untimely death is really to hft attributed In th mratultpn administration nf n reineilirs hv its friend, nrto tha infusion ofnoison- nits matter into it by its enemies ; but, as the yeas and naye have been callW for upon the amendment, and have been ordered by the Senate, and ns I shall give a rote contrary to my individual wishes and opinions, often expressed in conversation with my friends, I desire to bring to the consideration of the Senate, as briefly as lean, and yet so that they may be distinctly understood, the reasons which will govern me in giving that vote. : The present amendment, Mr. President, if I un derstand it aright, proposes to take from California, which til ii bill will admit as a State, a certain por tion of the territory included within (he boundaries established for that State by herself. Now, sir, I wish, in the first place, to say that, for myself I much prefer California, if admitted at all, admitted with the whole extent of boundary which she claim. I prefer it because, if we are to have a free State upon the Pacific, without any arrange ment of compromise or compensation, it is far bet tor to have one than two free States there ; and, although I know that if California be admitted as a State, with nnmutilated dimensions, it is compe tent for Congress, with the consent of that State, at any time to establish another within her limits, and though I think it very probable, that at no dis tant day, that result will be produced, yet, sir, it is obvious, at least it seems obvious to my mind, that, by admitting California with a portion of territory cut off as proposed by this bill, we shall invite, en courage, and at once precipitate upon ourselves, the establishment of another free State upen the Pacific. But further, Mr. President, I am not desirous of adding to the numberof these States, whether the ad dition be of free or of slaveholding States. I look upon it as a great calamity that the country should be placed in a situation which makes it necessary that other States shall be admitted into the Union. I think the value of a place in this Union Is in the inverse ratio of the number of States that compose it : the smaller the number the greater the honor, the power, the influence, the relative strength in the Union of the different members that compose it ; and , if my own wishes could prevail, there should never be another State added to it from this day forth to the end of time. , - But, sir, npon this, as npon every other subject, I desire to act like ft practical man, looking at the condition of things in which the country is placed- considering not what is the desirable merely, but what is the practicable ; not what would be the best in itself, but what Is best relatively, by being a less evil than something else. Hnpeless, therefore, entirely hopeless, in the possible accomplishment bf what I desire, of having the number of these States fixed at present and forever the question which is presented for consideration in this amend ment, as affecting this bill, offers, I think, these al ternatives : to admit one State npon the Pacific, with a possibility or a probability that another will soon be there, or to admit one State npon the Pa cific, with a provision in the very bill for her ad mission which almost necessarily and certainly draws after it the admission ol another. I ins, air. President, is (Be view which I have taken, both as a Southern man and as an American considering both what 1 would desire for that portion of the country in which I live and from which I come, " dud what I would desire in that far higher and no bler tense considering myself a citizen of this great American Republic, in either view, I my self prefer, If California is to be admitted, that she should be admitted with' the whole of her bounda ries the larger the better for me. But, looking at this matter as a practical man, and in reference to other considerations, I am tot disposed to persist in the view of the subject which Btrikes me as be ing in itself the best. Southern gentlemen hero think that if California is admitted if California comes into the Union by a separate and indepen dent measure, that admission will be more accep table to the people of the South, to the Southern Country generally, if shecomeain short of her vast size and present dimensions.- Well, if so if any considerable body of people will be pleased by that arra ngement if it will tend to make the Southern portion of this Union either better satisfied or' less discontented with whatever may be the issue of the proceedings of this session of Congress I set no such value upon my own opinion npAn that subject, and by no means esteem so highly what seems to me to be on the whole the best, as to refuse to con cur in such an amendment. Gentlemen have ex- - KM-asJ iIia ni.itj.n fli.jl ilia arTmt.amn nrPuliFMrma the simple admission of California by itself the passage of the Wilmot proviso in a Territoral bill the abolition of slavery or the slave trade in the District of Columbia one or all will produce a suit it which will or amv lead to forcible resistance ill some one or more of tbe Southern States.' If they have such an opinion with regard to the effect of the ailmisiion of California without a diminu tion of her size, It affords to them, of course, still higher motives for pressing the reduction now be fore the Senate. I do not undertake to refer at all io wli.it may be the state of opinion upon that sub ject in any other portion of this Union than tha t Btate one of whose repiesentatives on this Boor I am. " One or two Senators yesterday I think the Senator from Virginia,. (Mr. Masos) without naming North Carolina particularly, by a general description, skeined to include her among those Stales which have, by some public act, or in some ntlier authentic manner determined upon resistance k' some or u It of these measnres. Now, repealing wij.it I hare had occasion to say heretofore, and vJiat has bwa several limes said by other genti lumi, thai I claim no right as a Senator here to 'Oii!id-r or decile in thai char.iptir,or as an indi vidual ofmy iitatis when or how, or for what rea sons, or atiiter what circumstances, or with what measure of resistance any of the proceedings of this Government will be met, I still must say that no gentleman is authorized, by any public act done in North Carolina, to proiw"te that she, in her capacity na a State, or her people collective mass of individuals, have at any time resolved or intimated that, upon the adoption of any or all of these measures, they would resort to any opposition, either directly or indirectly, threatening the disso lution of this Uniou. I presented last session to the Senate resolutions adopted by the Legislature of my State, concerning these slavery questions, and they were printed. I beg the indulgence of the Senate, while, in order to make myself under stood, 1 read certain of these resolutions.: 3. Rnolved, That we view with deep concern and alarm the constant aggressions on the rights of trie slaveholder by certain reckless politicians of the North ; and that the recent proceedings of Con gress on the siibicet of slavery are fraught with mischief, well calculated to disturb tbe peace of our country, and should call tortli the earnest and prompt disapprobation of eveiy friend of the Union. 4. Resolved, That the enactment of any law by Congress, whioh shall abolish slavery or the slave trade in the District of Columbia, or shall directly or indirectly deprive the citizens of any of the States of the right of emigrating with their slave property into any of the Territories of the United States, and of exercising ownership over the same while in said Territories, will be an act not only of gross injusticeand wrong, but the exercise of power con trary to the true meaning and spirit of the Consti tution, and never contemplated by the framers thereof. ,v 5. RusoUed, That while we do not intend here by to be understood is conceding that Congress has the power, nnder the Constitution, to enact a aw prohibiting slavery in any portion of the Terri tories of the United States, yet, for the sake of pre serving the peace and promoting the perpetuity of the Union, we are willing that the basis of '.lie Mis souri Compromise should be adopted in reference to the 'ecently acquired Territories of New Mexico and California, bv extending the line then agreed Upon to the Pacific ocean. 6. Kesolwd. That wc believe the people of North Carolina, of all parties, are devotedly attached to the Union of the States ; that they regard it as the main pillar in tbe edifice of real independence ; the support of tranquility at home, of peace abroad, of safety, nf prosperity, and of that very liberty they so highly prize; that they cherish a cordial, habi tual, and immovable attachment to it, and that they watch lor its preservation with jealous anxiety ; that they believe it is the duty ef their public ser vants to discountenance whatever may suggest even a suspicion thai it can in any event be aban doned, and to repel indignantly every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred tiea which now link to gether the various parts. Now, I say that though the Legislature of North Carolina have spoken, as they had a right to speak, the feelings and opinions which they entertained and cherished npon these vexed and debated subjects have spoken them in manly, distinct, and fear less terms that Legislature has not only given no countenance to the idet that they would consider any ur all of the measures against which they p ro tes as the grounds for dissolving or for weakening this Union by any act of theirs, but they have, by their concluding resolution, expressed the contrary in language unmistnkeable, for they have declared that the Union is not to be looked upon as " in any event to be abandoned." ' And whatever deduction is to be made from tbe force of that broad and com prehensive expression, in asy event," it is cer tain that irt their view, neither one nor all nf the measures against which they protested as unjust and oppressive would constitute an event to justify an abandonment of the Union. It is as clear and undeniable as any conclusion of a well-formed syl logism that the Legislature of North Carolina have declared this : "" we protest against what we deem a spirit of aggression and injustice ; we shall view certain acts of legislation on the part 61 the Con gress of the United States as unjust, and as contra ry to the true spirit of the Constitution, as not de signed or looked to by the framers of it ; but, un just as they are, contrary as we believe them to be, to the true and proper spirit in which the Govern ment should be administered, either separately or all put together, would not furnish an event in which this Union ought to be abandoned." This is the sentiment, clear and unmietakeable. ' I have heard this subject alluded to often. ' ' I have heard observations made, implying' that,1 by some act or acts, the State which I have the hon or to represent here had pledged herself in some mode or form to take some course directly tending or indirectly looking to a dissolution. J have long desired to put this matter right before the Senate ami the country. I have availed myself of the present opportnuity to do It. ' It seems to befit, proper, and germane to the subject now nnder con sideration. .'"' v . ' , ';. -'..il.- ; i - I have slid that no one is authorized to pro nounce for the State of North Carolina that tins legislation would produce any such results as 1 have referred to. -1 go further. I believe I do not propose to speak th voice of North Carolina npon that subject, I give my own opinion, and but my own opimoa, just for what that opinion is worth , independent of these resolutions ay, I have no doubt that the people of North Carolina will refuse, for any such cause, to embark in any proceed ings which, either directly or indirectly, look or tend to a dissolution of . the Union, This is ray clear and decided opinion. In the first place, strong as my opinions are upon this subject look ing with a degree of abhorrence, which I want language to express, upon, movements that have been made ) reference to this delicate and much agitated slavery subject feeling as I do, as a Sou thern man, that we have much to complain of in our friends upon this floor, who have beep unwil luig to make the smallest sacrifice, not of principle, but the smallest sacrifice of pride, the smallest sacrificeofanytiiing.for the purpose of yielding the smallest boon that men have ever asked from their eqaals ret looking upon this conduct as I do, aal cannot but look at it, I say that, in my judgment, it constitutes no case to justify, excuse or palliate ft measure calculated to put this Union in jeopardy. When I speak about the dissolution of this Union,! do not consider myself as arguing about the dissolving of a contract for the building ol a house.or the supply of su many thousand of shingles, or of a merchant'ile partnership to trans act business for the pecuniary benefit of the part ners I do.ot -on&ider it as a question of dissolve ing "co)ifttkracy,u as this Union is so emphati cally railed npon this floor ; 1 do not look npon this Union as a 'itiif-oVfary,a league. From the day that the Constitution of t'le United P'.ates was adopted, it became a union of Government: The Constitution is a constitution of Government, ami not a Confederacy in any proper and just sonac of that term. The Constitution speaks of our con nexion not as a Confederacy, but as a Union, and of itielt not as articles of a league between the States, but as a Constitution established by the people. Oms is a national Union, consummated by the Constitution into a national Government. When lam thinking or speaking about the causes which will justify a movement for the purpose of dissolving such a Union under such a Government, I consider myself as bound to make out a ease which would justify my resistance to the State Government under which I live. It must be a case of abuse, of oppression so great, as that not only shall the just and reasonable limits of power be overpassed, but the consequence of submission must be more intolerable than that which attends resistance. When we look abroad upon this coun try, 'I cannot consider the dissolution of this Union otherwise than as an event fraught with tho most frightful consc411enc.es to ike people of every por tion, and to the people of my own, followed with inevitable and irremediable ruin. This, is my 0 pinion that is my settled conviction. Now, sir, whatever my views, sentiments, and opinions with regard to the proposition of allowing us to diffuse our slaves over any territory belonging to the United States, they have been before ex pressed in the Senate, and I do not propose to re capitulate what I have said. It is clear and dem onstrable -so at least it seems to me" that the true duty of every man connected with this Gov ernment, as a patriot, as a Christian, as a human man, as a friend to the African race (and I admit no man to be a better friend to that race than I am) it is the duty of every such man, in my judg ment, to permit the diffusion of slave population wherever the climate and mode of cultivation will permit its profitable employment. But to speak to me personally as an individual, to appeal to my judgment aa a man, about taking measures, in any way looking to a dissolution of this Union, because we are not at liberty to carry slaves to California, New Mexico, or Utah ! why, there seems to be no proportion under heaven between the comparative ly small, almost indiscernible premises and the vast portentous conclusion. I wish Northern gentle men would think otherwise than they do of thiB matter of slavery, and the diffusion of the slave population. They take up this idea : slavery Is an evil ; it is a great evil ; it is a physical evil ; it is a moral evil : therefore, as soon as possible, we must bring about the abolition of it must at once adopt measures for that end, or, at any rate, prompt ly prevent the extension of its area. That is the whole argument, v And how does it stand ? Why, when the gentlemen express these views, and urge the conduct founded upon them, one might suppose them speaking of a world, where evils had been heretofore unknown, where everything had been in harmonious order in the moral and physical state, and suddenly this one single evil had fallen among us to disturb our peaceful condition ; and we need but to eradicate it, and restore ourselves at once to universal happiness and virtue I But it is not so. ' We live, and our race have lived, save fora brief space, in the midst of evils . necessary, which cannot and ought not to be at once removed, Physical pain is an evil, But yet do we not know that, without looking at the higher moral purposes which it ia made to serve, the moment we consid er man as a mortal being, subject to various diseas es which produce death, if not met by proper rem edies, but which may be relieved by their timely application, and regard pain as in truth it is the sensation by which nature warns us of the exis tence of disease, and points out its locality, the whole character of the subject is changed, and what is in itself undeniably an evil, becomes, un der the circumstances, an evil necessary to pro tect us from a greater, and therefore relatively a good ! The necessity of labor that man should be obliged to work to day that he may eat to-morrowis in itselfanevil. We know that it is an evil, because It was first pronounced upon man as a punishment for transgression. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eatbrcad.'- A curse, la pun ishment yet not merely penal, but remedial also ; fordoes hot every one see that though in itself it is an evil, yet, in the actual moral condition of man , it is an evil necessary to prevent far greater evils, and therefore a blessing ; since we must all perceive that if man, with his present passions and corrupt nature, were turned loose in a world producing spontaneously everything to maintain his strength and gratify' his appetites, he would be a mon ster of revolting crimes and misery ; and therefore this necessity of labor, in itself an evil, becomes in cidentally ft good. Is it not so with every thing, or nearly every thing ? '' It was very well said by the Senator from Louisiana, (Mr. SoTtle,) a few days ago, that government ia an evil. - It 1s true, all government is an evil. That one man or twenty men should be authorized to exercise "authority Over another man aa good as themselves is an evil. We know it is In kself an evil. ' The first institu tion of any government on this earth was a curse pronounced upon Eve : "Thy desire shall be unto thine husband ; he shalt rule over thee." - Before that there was no such authority upon this earth. Tbey lived perfectly equal '; AH government it an evil The best of government in itself is an evil, because it involves the control of one man ever another. But does not every body know that such as man is, there must be government to prevent the most frightful crimes, and consequences the most destructive to every thing that is excellent virtuous, and desirable upon earth t .- And this government, in itself an evil, because an evil ne- cearary to prevent worse, becomes a good. - We all look upon arbitrary and absolute government as specially .aa evil, and yet every man knows that even that may be ft blessing. , If a people are In such a state and circumstances as to be totally unfit to govern themselves, it is far better that they should be governed by one man than be left without any government at all. That it undoubted. . . ... Aga in, te refer to another instance : polygamy a ild divorce are evihv undoubtedly evils, because, contrary to the original institution of marriage by God himself. They ate evils existing amongst a large portion of mankind, and have existed from the earliest times,, , , , ...'-. .- ; s , . Now, wbrtJ the course of our friends1 reason ing npou their j.i'iiicipU'S respecting this evil of slavery ? Why, it mus! be eradicated; it must be no further diffused ; i' must not be treated as you would t eat aught cles; it must sot be gent ly handled, but instantly extirpated, or forcibly circumscribed. Is ther any justice in this rea soning T Would it be applied to other objects ! Why, si', this very case of polygamy and divorce to which I have referred, existed for hundreds of years under a government established by God -himself. It was tolerated; and we have authori ty for Baying it was allowed and tolerated on ac count only ofthe hardness of heart of the people for which that government was established. Even in the view ol Omnipotence, it was belter to per mit for hundreds of years the breach of his own in stitutions, by which one man and one woman were to be united together as man and wife, and for life, than to interfere by law, and restrain the peo ple from habits and usages to which they had been so long accustomed and were so devoted. It is not too much to say , that it waa seen by him to be impossible, without a miraculous interposition, in consistent with his designs for the government of free and moral agents, suddenly to change the habits and character of that people. He could not, therefore, do it without sacrificing the ends for which that government was established. Now, Mr. President, it is said that slavery is in itself an evil. Be it so. . Does it follow that it is to be removed 1 Are! we about to set up our rash judgments, and maintain that we cannot endure for an hour what heaven itself endured under the Jeish theocracy for hundreds of years? When it was said by our Saviourlo him who had a with ered hand,"Stretch forth thy hand," and he stretch ed it forth whole, a miraculous power produced health, strength, and restoration. Butwhat should we say if a miserable empiric, seeing that same withered hand, and pronouncingthatthe withering of a hand was an evil, and ought to be removed, had, by violent manipulations, forced it to its for mer length I The result would have been seen of this insane folly, in the ruptured vessels, and in the agony of the unhappy sufferer. Sir, I hold myself to be as decided a friend to the African race as any man in America, and I un dertake to lay down two propositions with regard to them as they exist in this country : The first is, that there are no three millions ot Africans up on the face ofthe globe who are, either physical ly, morally, or intellectually, in as good a condition as the three millions of slaves in the United States. The second is, that there is no man of sense in A- merica, who knows anything about their condition and the condition of the count ry , who believes that their circumstances would be better, or rather would not be infinitely worse, were they now e- nancipated. Then what are we to do ? Here is, the problem to be worked out. My own judgment is, that the true policy of government and people, the true course to be pursued by Christian men, acting in accordance, with what we have teen de veloped in the Divine procedure ir. the past history of the world, is to allow this institution, (which God has permitted, for some great and good pur pose, to be transmitted to our shores,) to diffuse it self where climate and soil invite it to behave with humanity and consideration to those depend ant npon our power, and ti .1st to that wisdom which overrules all tilings, '0 discover to us or our posterity how it is to be made productive of higher if not of the highest good. Io the mean time any unwise tampering with it is, in my judg ment, a proof either of presumptuous ignorance or of great disregard of the well being of the commu nity. . . . ; ,r ;' Let me here repeat what was said, and so well said, by the honorablo Senator from Louisiana, (Mr. SoytE,) that when we speak of property in slaves, we do not speak in tbe same sense as we do when we speak of property in horses and in cattle. We do not mean property in the absolute sense of the term, as excluding all consideration for the subject of that property, except as a thing. Property, in that sense, is not applicable to the na ture ofthe case. We acknowledge our relative duties. We recognise the slave at a fellow-being, inferior in social condition, but yet our fellow creature. ' .,. . I do not doubt at all that there it an obligation on every community where this institution exists, when the period shall come in which these res traints can be lessened, more or less, with advan tage to the parties who are under them, and without injury to those who have the control when it can be done so as to produce real and true good to make that relaxation, ; just as I believe it to be the duty of the Emperor of Russia, so, far and so toon at hit people are sufficiently advanced to be capa ble of taking part in governing themselves, to mo dify or surrender that supreme and despotic author ity which he now, exercises oyer them j , but it Is suf ficient Tor us, to say that that nme has not yeicqme, j and cannot yet be foreseen. , .the time ,lias not come when eveni initiatory and prospective mea sures can be looked to. We must.therefore, leave the present generation to struggle on with the dif ficulties, whatever they may be, that are incident to their position, trusting for every thing depends in this respect, npon a higher and ft wiser foresight than ours trusting that In the future perhaptt probably in the iSar distant futures-good maybe worked out of this institution, more than commen surate with alt Its present evU.1, ' '" ' ' '' v " 1 . Now, Mr. President, although t have these views although 1 entertain them strongly although I feel deeply what I think is an unauthorized dis position to tamper, with or without improper de signs, With our domestic institution of slavery it is my deliberate opinion that no measures now ac- : complished, or now threatened, can furnish jflstifv able, reasonable, or excusable grounds for taking any measures of resistance calculated to lead to a dissolution of thtl Union. ' But, sir, there it thii I will tav : here is a mode of resistance Which no man Will resort to more cheerlully ' than I; it ia standing upon the platform laid down by the hon drable Senator from Kentucky, (Mr. Ci'ay,) of remaining in the Union, and fighting for our rights in the Union. . . . ,'.:' .-Now, bow are we to do it? It nippers, fortu nately for us, tkit, a' ' 'h taking the whole coun try, we are, 011 the s!, i -ryqiieatUtn, in a minority, there are some cases of legislation in which our Northern friends have a deep interest in which we are not entirely insignificant. Our friends of the North are exceedingly anxious to have some remedial measures ; such at will help their maim factories, and brighten the prospects of their lan guishing operatives, and give renewed prosperity and happiness to their formerly prosperous nd thriving people. Well, sir, I am one ol those who balieve in the absolute power of Congress over this whole subject. I believe Congress has the power to establish prohibitory, protective, or any duties that Congress may choose. I believe, also, that it is right and proper, when no other considerations intervene, to use that power so as to give the indus trial pursuits of this country a decided advantage over the industrial pursuits of every other country. Now., here were my friend from New Jersey fMr. Miller,) and my friend from Rhode Island, (Mr. Gbeede,) not long since presenting petitions, in which are strongly depicted the sufferings of their portions of the country for want of adequate pio tection, and Congress it earnestly called to their relief. Now, sir, my mode of contending for our rights is a very simple one. It wants the aid of no Nashville Convention.no Southern Convention, no amount of armed men, no disunion, no secession We just stand right here, and ask for and enforce our reasonable claims. What have we asked of our Northern friends ; and how have we asked it? We have used certainly I have used no lan guage either of defiance or even of demand. We have been content earnestly and affectionately to ask yes, to entreat, not insolently to dictate or require. We have said, do not, wantonly what you know will be regarded amongst ns as affront-, ful, unkind ; do not apply to these Territories the Wilmot proviso. You can have no motive to ap ply it, unless it be a paltry pride, which leads you to persevere, at all hazards, in what you have once purposed the Bimpie willingness to offer an af front because you have the power to offer it. There is nothing of value to be accomplished by it, no result to be produced none in the world. Ours has been simply asking, on the part of men who can hold out no longer, to be permitted to march out of their fortification with their tide arms and their flag flying. What has, go far, been the an swer the answer in effect ? Surrender at dis cretion : we care not for your feelings. It is no motive for our action that you have a sensitive ness upoit this subject, and that what will, offend you is unimportant to us :. we will have the Wil mot Proviso ; we will vote for it ; we will vote for no bill without it. . . . The Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Davis) candidly avowed his reason for being opposed to the compromise bill to be that it did not contain the Wilmot proviso. It waa not the combination of subjects in the bill.it waa not the undiscoverable insult to California in putting her alongside of New Mexico and Utah, which dictated his opposi tion, but the want of the Wlimot proviso. - ' Mr. DAVIS, of Massachusetts, (in hit seat.) I did not say that thai was my only ground of ob jection to the bill. , ! Mr. BADGER. Not the only ground ; but the honorable Senator said that that was with him a sufficient ground.; Now, air, beyond this omission of a useless and amongst Southern men offensive proviso we have asked only a good and effectual law for the- surrender of fugitive, slaves a meas ure which the Constitution makes a clear and im negative duty a measure which no man can re fuse ut without utter disregard of our rights and of constitutional obligations. . Well, then, sir, if they will persist in refusing these most moderate claims if they will not listen to our remonstrances, but will, fromiClives of re al or affected humanity, ditreganflhe injunctions of the Constitution, and in the wantonness of pow er insist on unnecessary and offensive legislation, what remedy have we 1ot have we any 1 Noun tenons, as a celebrated editor it or wat in the hab it of saying. Sir, our course under such cir cumstances It plain. Vhen their applications come into this chamber for relief and assistance for their suffering manufactures when they pre sent to us an account of the discharge of workmen and the closing of workshops, the drooping of all their industrial pursuits I will, as far as I am concerned, resist all their.' applications and reject their petitions. They will be addressed not to on willing ears, but to ears reluctantly though sternly closed to their appeal by a sense of justice, neces sity, and self'-protection. Yes, sir, though every manufactory in the North should be stopped, though her whole industrial pursuits should be withered, though her streets should be filled with sturdy beg gars, and her asylums and poor-houses should eve ry where be crowded, her public and private char ities oppressed and overburdened, and though the remedy lay in my tingle vote, that rote should hot be given. Not, Mr. President, (God forbid ft !) that I should rejoice to look apon their sufferings not that I wish to mar their prosperity, or that I wunld deny relief1 if there were any other possible meant by which we eoultf contend for reasonable claims', for just consideration. " Reason they e- j ect ; persuasion and entreaty tbey spurn : they an swer bur' claims with their notions, with, senti mentality' ; they treat with tcorn our opinions,' and judgment, and wishes and feehngs. What, then, it left to us, of at least to me ? I hold myself at hav ing no right to go out of the Union no right to destroy it and I have ho Wish, If I had the right to do so. ' Then 1 mutt (tay here, and, by such means ai the Constitution has put In my hands, endeavor to bring our Northern friends to a pause for reflection. , Though on this slavery matter they are with a numerical majority in this Union, they cannot protect their industry without Southern help. And where will they get it, if Southern Whig Senators refuse It, according to (he intima tion of the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Berrien) the other dav, and according to what I say now for myself, and what I am authorized, I think, to say for my colleague, anij what, though not par ticularly authorized, t have no doubt I may be permitted to tav for my other honorable friend from Georgia, now in my eye, (Mr. Dawson, f) .'If we give them no assistance , can yon tell us how they will reanimate their interests, and. restore again those once glorious palaces of .labor in which wealth and prosperity had made their' abode, and from which this wealth and prosperity spread over their whole country T Theythmw ut back upon the necessity of refuting them onr aid, if they per sist in their course. I envy not their prosperity ; God knows 1 do not. I glory in it, and in : that noble enterprise which sought out and built it up. But for the duty, the hard duty upon me of using flits only legal means of defence and resibtan would stand ready at all timet to help them 1 ward in their career, in a just and reasonable w which, whilst it builds up themselves, may be g ing strength and vipr to our common country. Mr. President, I do not state what I would do a threat. NotalalL' In the language of my h. orable Triend from Virginia, (Mr. MAso,)spea ing some time ago respecting the State he rep senis, I simply "declare a resolved purpsoe." Mr. President, at well from the resolutions . our Legislature, which 1 have read to the Sena! as from the view I have offered ofthe propriety 1 things, in which I hope to find a cordial suppo at home, 1 believe, and deem it proper and corre to affirm, that North Carolina will not be four disposed, upon any occasion which ia even remob ly probable, to look either directly or indirectly t the dissolution of the Union. If I am mistake) still, sir, here occupying a positional a Senate of the United States, I must act upon every auhjei which comes before me upon my own delibera judgment.' I acknowledge the right of noma: or set of men, to command, or authoritatively d red my conduct, whether they are the Legislat or even the People of the State I represent, Whatever respect is due and great and profoun respect is due to their opinions and judgment, an however important an element for consideratio that opinion and judg ment constitute still tr own concience and my own understanding mu. always ultimately rule my own conduct, wheneve these come Into irreconcilable conflict with tit opinion and judgment of others. ( One word more, Mr. President, and I will eeas to trespass upon tbe Senate. There is anothe capacity the capacity of an individual in whici I wish to say a word or two about my view of th obligations resting upon me. Every gentlema must entertain and act upon his own opinions. 4 undertake to arraign none. I acknowledge i each a right to entertain, to express, and to at upon his own opinions; I claim only the tarn privilege for myself. Now, sir, with regard to thy obligations under which 1 stand to the Govemmei of the United States, I entertain views widely dii, ferent frotn.if notdirectly opposite to those intitfi' ated by the Senator from Virginia, (Mr. Mason, and the Senator from South Carolina, (Mr. But ler.) Sir, I was born a citizen of the Unite. States the first breath I drew was as a citize owing allegiance to the United Statess. I did nc come into this world as a citizen of North Carol na only, and have my allegiance transferred I her act to the United States. I was born a ctt zen of the United States : I owe allegiance to tl United States'aa my country ; and the Covernme of the United States the Government of my com try. I acknowledge no more a power of d; posing of the Obligations I have undertaken to d charge to that country and that government, a which I hope I shall endeavor to fulfil I at nowledge, I say, no more authority in the State North Carolina to dispose of that obligation th In the State of Virginia or the State of New Han shire to do it If the State of North Carolina h not united herself wirti tbe other States of the I ion nnder the Contwution if the bad chosen remain, in the absolute sense, an independt sovereignty, I would have owed allegiance to k and to her alone ; but she thought proper to rati: the Constitution of the United States, by which t' whole state ofthe case was altered. That Ci atitulion U not a mere confederacyit is a unic it forms a constitutional government, and I owe paramount allegiance to that government. Wb air, is not the Constitution express to' -that effect Surely It It; and tha very form nf the oathpt scribed for public officers by the State or Not Carolina, immediately after her acceptance of t! Constitution, declares authoritatively the sense i which she understood the obligation to the nt government' By that oath she taught me, wh under her laws i look it, on my admission to tl bar, that the authority of the United States supreme, and hers subordinate. By that oat!; bound myself to support her constitution, only wh not Inconsistent' with the Constitution of the t nlted States. ' I wastworn to support the Com tution of the United States Bnreservedly, and wk oat exception' or qualification.' Therefore; I President, without undertaking to determine w influence the views and sentiments of the people my own State might have upon my own judgnif as to the propriety bf any particular course certainly the general opinion ofthe State in wh' a man lives it entitled to great weight and influei and to have a very considerable effect upon bin I must say that I acknowledge no right in the L Islature bf North Carolina to exercise tbe Pa, , authority of absolving me from my oath, or transfer my allegiance to turn me over to Barb from the United States, or to withdraw my alls' ance from the United States and make me siir a citizen of hers.' 'Therefore I should hold my at liberty yea, bound by every corwideratior. duty to myself and country, by that integrity wl. binds me to maintain and fulfil thr oath I I. taken to consider for myself, under any tup p circumstances, whether a case exlstd ofunn gated oppression or of dangerous and obsth usurpation, which constitutes t known and ur, stood exception from the general duty of tub lion to ft government, and justifies the opprr in falling back upon the natural right of resis; and self preservation. ' To my own SttoI love ; I owe obedience, but not a blir.j and u iteil obedience. I owe her a large, and gra and devoted attachment She has genen honored and advance me beyond any merit 0! own, and has thereby added force to the eh wihch she always bad upon me at heruative toti, whose ancestors on one tide, for fourge tiont.have lived and died upon her toil. ' acknowledge these claim. I feel all that ful and devoted attachment, and I hope to ! ready t ptuve it by more than Words. " But not forget that she Is but one State of the X and that tha Whole Union it my country. ' are my sentiinents.aod upon these I must til, by advqnate reasons, lam Induced to t them. Hence you will perceive, Mr. Tr that looking upon tlie subject In the light I d ing a supreme allegiance to be due to the States, disowning all right, under tbe Con of secession, and perceiving no reason in poeed disposition of the questions, to jus! cuse disunion or any form of revolution;
Raleigh Times [1847-1852] (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 23, 1850, edition 1
2
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