 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
|
Maryland State Archives Maryland Colonization Journal Collection MSA SC 4303 msa_sc4303_scm11070-0101 Enlarge and print image (5M) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
|
Maryland State Archives Maryland Colonization Journal Collection MSA SC 4303 msa_sc4303_scm11070-0101 Enlarge and print image (5M) |
| MARYLAND COLONIZATION JOURNAL,. CONDUCTED BY THE COMMITTEE ON THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE MARYLAND STATE COLONIZATION SOCIETV, UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE MANAGERS OF THE STATE FUND Vol. I. Baltimore, March, 1839. No. 26 When gratuitious please circulate. Speech of Mr. Clay, ON THE SUBJECT OF ABOLITION PETITIONS. Thursdayj, February 7, 1839. Mr. Ci.ay, of Kentucky, rose to present a petition, ami saiil:—I have received, Mr. Presi- dent, a petition to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, which 1 wish to present to the Senate. It is signed hy several hundred ol the inhabitants of the District of Coluinliia, and chielly of the city of vVsah- iiillton. Anions lln'iu 1 recognise the name of the highly esteemed mayor of the city, and other respectable names, some of which are personally and will known to me. They express their regret that the subject of the abolition of slavery within the District of Columbia continues to he pressi'd upon the consideration of Congress by inconsi- derate and misguided individual! in other parts ol the United States. They slate thai they do not desire the abolition of slavery within the District, even it Congress possess the very unquestionable power of abolishing il, without the consent of the people whose interests would be immediately and directly affected by the measure; that it is a question Solely between the people of the District and their only constitutional legislature, purely municipal, arid one in which no exterior influence or intenst can justly- interfere) that, if at any Altera period the people of this District should desire the abolition of slavery within it, they will doubtless make their wishes known, whin it will be tine' enough lo take the matter into considera- tion ; that they do not, on this occasion, present themselves to Congress because they are slave- holders—many of them are not—some of them are conscientiously opposed to slavery—hut they appear because they justly respect the rights of those who own that description of properly, and because thev cnlertain a deep conviction that the continued agitation of the question by those who haw no right to interfere wilh it, has an injurious influence on the peace and tranquillity of the community, anil upon the well-being and happi- ness of those who arc! held in subjection; they finally protest as well against the unauthorised intervention of which they complain, as against any legislation on the part of Congress in compli- ance therewith. But, as I wish these respectable petitioners to be themselves heard, I request that their petition! may be read. [It was read ac- cordingly, and Mr. Clay proceeded.] I am in- formed by the committee which requested me to oiler this petition, and believe, that it expresses the almost unanimous sentiments of the people of the District of Columbia. The perlbrmance of this service afford* me, said Mr. C. a legitimate opportunity, of which, with the permission of the senate, I mean now to avail myself, to say something, not only on the particular objects of the petition, but upon the great and interesting subject with which it is inti- mately associated. It is well known to the senate, said Mb. Ci.ay, that I have thought that Hie most judicious course with abolition petitions has not been of late pur- sued by Congress, I have believed that it would have been wisest to have received and referred them, without opposition, and to have reported against their object in a calm anil dispassionate and argumentative appeal to the good sense of the whole community. It has been supposed, how- ever, hy a majority of Congress that it was most expedient either not to receive the petitions at all, or, if formally received, not to act definitively upon them. There is no substantial difference between these opposite opinions, sines both look to an absolute rejection of the prayer of the peti- tioners. Hut there is a ureal difference in the form of proceeding) and, Mr. President, BOAS experience in the conduct of human affairs has taught me to believe that a neglecl to observe established forms is often attended with more mischievous consequences than the infliction of a positive Injury. We all know that, even in pri- vatelife, a violation of the existing usages ami ceremonies ol society cannot take place without serious prejudice, 1 fear, sir, that Ihe abolitionists have acquired a considerable apparent liuee by blending with the object which Ihey have in view a collateral ami totally different question arising out of an illegal violation of the right of petition. 1 know full well, and take great pleasure in teeti- lying, that notions was remoter from the intention of the majority ol Ibe senate, from which I differed, than to violate Ibe right of petition in any case in which, according lo its judgment, that right could be constitutionally exercised, or where the object of the petition could he safely or property granted. Still, it mttSl be owned that the abolitionists have seized bold ol Ibe fact of the treatment wl Ich their petitions have received in Congress, and made injurious impressions upon the minds of a large portion of the community. This, I think, might have been avoided by the course whieli I should have been glad lo have seen pursued. And I desire now, Mr President, to advert to some of those topics which I think might have been usefully embodied in a report bv a committee of Hie senaie, and which 1 am persuaded, would have checked the progress, if it had sot altogether arrested the efforts, of abolition. I am sensible, sir, that this work would have been accomplished with much greater ability and with much happier effect, under the auspice- of a committee, than it can be by me. lint, anxious as I always am to ¦contribute whatever is in my power to the har- mony, concord, and happiness of this great people, I feed myself Irresistibly impelled to do whatever is ill my power, incompetent as I foal myself lo be, to dissuade the public from continuing to agi- tate a subject fraught with the most direful conse- quences. There are three classes of persons opposed, or apparently opposed, to the continued existence of slavery in the United States. The first are those who, troiii sentiments of philanthropy and hum m- |ty, are conscientiously opposed to the existence of slavery, but who are no less opposed, at the same time, to any disturbance of Ihe peace and tranquillity of the Union, or the Infringement of the powers of the -tales Composing tbe confede- racy. In this class may be comprehended that peaceful and exemplary society ol -Friends,' one of whose established maxims is, an abhoirence of war in all its forms, ami the cultivation of peace aval good will amongst mankind. The next class consists of apparent abolitionists—that is, those who, having been persuaded that the right of peti- tion has been violated by Congress, co-operate with the abolitionists for the sole purpose of as- serting and vindicating that right. And the third class are the real ultra-abolitionists, who are re- solved to persevere in the pursuit of their object at all hazards, and without icgaid to any conse- quences, however calamitous they may be. With them the rights of properly are nothing; the defi- ciency of the powers of the general government is nothing) the acknowledged and incontestable powers of the states are I othing; civil war, a dissolution of the Union, and the overthrow of a government in which are concentrated the fondest lopes of the civilized world, are nothing. A sin- gle idea has taken possession of their minds, and onward they pursue it, overlooking all barriers, reckless ami regardless of all consequences. With this class, the Immediate abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and in the territory of Florida, the prohibition of the removal of slaves from state to state, and the refusal to admit any- new state. Comprising within its limits the institu- tion of domestic slavery, are but so many means conducing to the accomplishment of Ihe ultimate but perilous end at which they avowedly and boldly aim; are but so many short stages in Ihe long and bloody road to the distant goal at which *hey would finally an ive. Their purpose is abo- lition, universal abolition, peaceably if it can, forcibly il it must. Their object is no longer con- cealed by the thinnest veil; it is avowed and proclaimed. Utterly destitute of constitutional or other rightful power, living in totally distinct Communities, SS alien to the communities in which the subject on which they would operate resides, so far as concerns political power over that sub- ject, as if they lived in Africa or Asia, they nevertheless promulgate to the world their pur- pose to be to manumit forthwith, and without compensation, and without moral preparation, three millions of negro slaves, under jurisdictions altogether separated from those under which they live. I have said that the immediate abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia and in the territory of Florida, and the exclusion of new states, were only means towaids the attainment of a much more important end. Unfortunately, they are not the only means. Another, and much more lamentable one is that which this class is endea- vouring to employ, of arraying one portion against another portion of the Union. With that view, in all their leading prints ami publications, Ihe alleged horrors of slavery are depicted in the most glowing and exaggerated colours, to excite tbe imagina- tions, and stimulate tbe rage of the people in the free states against the people in the slave states. The slaveholder is held up and represented as the most atrocious of human beings. Advertisements of fugitive slaves and of slaves to be sold are care- fully collected and blazoned forth, to infuse a spirit of detestation and haired against one entire and the largest section of the Union. And like a notorious agitator upon another theatre, they would hunt down and proscribe from the pale of civilized society the inhabitants of that enlire section. Allow me, Mr. President, to say, that whilst I recognize in the juslly wounded feelings of the minister of the United Slates at the couit ol St. James much to excuse the notice which be was provoked to take of that agitator, in my hum- ble opinion, he would belter have consulted Ihe dignity of his station and of his country in treat- ing him with Contemptuous silence. He would exclude us from European society —be who him- self can only obtain a contraband admission, and is received with scornful repugnance intuit! If he be no more desirous of our society than we are of his, he may rest assured that a slate ol eternal non-intercouise will exist between t|s. Vis, sir, 1 think the American minister would have best pursued the dictates of true dignity by regarding the language id' ihe member of the British House of Commons as the malignant ravings ol the plun- derer of his own country, and tbe libeller of a foreign and kindred people. But the means to which I have already adverted are not the only ones which this third class of ultra-abolitionists are employing to effect their ultimate end. They began their operations by proteasing to employ only persuasive means in appealing to the humanity, and enlightening Ihe understandings of the slave-holding portion of the Union. If there were some kindness in this avowed motive, it must he acknowledged that there was rather a presumptuous display also of ,m assumed superiority in intelligence and know- ledge. For some time they continued to make these appeals to our duty and Interest) but impatient with the slow intluence of their logic upon our stupid minds, tiny recently resolved to change their system of action. To the agency ol their powers of persuasion they now propose to substitute tbe powers of the ballot box ; and he must be blind to what is passing before us, who does not perceive that the inevitable tendency of their proceedings is, if these should be Ibund insufficient, to invoke, finally, the more potent powers of the bayonet. Mr. President, it is at this alarming stage of the proceedings or the aftra-abolitionista that I would seriously invite every considerate man in the country solemnly to pause, and deliberately to reflect, not merely on our existing posture, but upon that dreadful precipice down which they would hurry us. It is because these ullra-aholi- tionists have ceased to employ the instruments of reason and persuasion, have made their cause political, and have appealed to the ballot box that 1 am induced, upon this occasion to address you. There have been three epochs in the history of our country at which the spirit of abolition dis- played itself. The first was immediately alter the formation of the present federal government. When the constitution was about going into ope- ration, its powers were not well understood by the community at large, and remained to be accu- rately interpreted and defined. At that period numerous abolition societies were formed, com- prising not merely the society of Friends, but many other good men. Petitions were presented lo Congress, praying lor the abolition of slavery. They were received without serious opposition, referred, and reported upon by a committee. The report stated that the general government had no power to abolish slavery as it existed in the several states, nnd that these states themselves had exclu- sive jurisdiction over the subject. The report was generally acquiesced in, and satisfaction and tran- quillity ensued; the abolition societies thereafter limiting their exertions, in respect to the black population, lo offices of humanity within tbe scope of existing laws. The next period when the subject of slavery, and abolition incidentally, was brought into notice and discussion, was that on the memorable occa- sion of the admission of the state of Missouri into the Union. The struggle was lone;, strenuous, and fearful. It is too recent to make it necessary to do more than merely advert to it, and to say, that it was finally Composed by one of those com- promises characteristic of our institutions, and of which the constitution itself is the most signal instance. The third is that in which we now find our- selves. Various causes, Mr. President, have con- tributed to produce the existing excitement on the subject of abolition. The principal (me, perhaps, is the example of British emancipation of the slaves in (he islands adjacent to our country. Such is the similarity in laws, in language, in institutions,and in common Origin, between Great Britain and the United States, that no great mea- sure of national policy can be adopted in the one country without producing a considerable degree of intluence in tbe other. Confounding the totally different cases together, ol the powers of the British parliament and those of the congress of the United States, and the totally different situations of the British We-1 India islands, and the slaves in the sovereign and independent states of this confede- racy, superficial men have inferred from tbe unde- cided British experiment the practicability of the abolition of slavery in these slates. The powers of the British parliament are unllmitrd, and are often described to be omnipotent. The powers of the American congress, on the contrary, are few, cautiously limited, scrupulously excluding all that are not granted, and. above all, carefully arid absolutely excluding all power over Ihe exis- tence or continuance id' slavery in the several states. The slaves, loo, upon which British legis- lation operated, were not in the bosom of the kingdom, but in remote and feeble colonies having no voice in parliament. The West India slave- holder was neither represented nor representative in that parliament. And whilst I most fervently wish complete success to the Hi it ish experiment of West India emancipation, I confess that I have fearful forebodings of a disastrous termination of it. Whatever it may be, I think it must be ad- mitted that, if the British parliament treated the West India slaves as free men, it also treated tbe We-t India freemen as slaves. If, instead of these slaves being separated by a wide ocean from tbe parent country, three or four millions of African negro slaves had been dispersed over England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and their owners had been members of the British parliament—a case which would have presented some analogy to that of our own country—does any one believe that it would have been expedient or practicable to have emancipated them, to remain, with alt their embittered feelings, in the United Kingdom, boundless as the powers of the British parliament are > Other causes have conspired with the British exempts to pioduce the existing excitement from abolition. 1 say it with profound regret, but with no intention to occasion irritation here or else- where, that there are persons in both parts of tbe Union, who have sought to mingle abolition with polities, and to array one portion of the Union against the other- It is the misfortune in free countries that, ill high party times, a disposition too ollcn prevails to seize hold of every thing which can Strengthen the one side or weaken the other. Charges of fostering abolition designs have been heedlessly and unjustly made by one parly against the other. Prior to the late election of the present piesident of the United States, he was charged with being an abolitioni-t, and abolition designs were imputed to many of bis supporters. Much as I was opposed to his election, and am to his administration, I neither shared in making nor believing the truth of the charge. He was scarce- ly installed in office before the same charge was directed against those who opposed his election. Mr. President, il is not true, and 1 rejoice lhat it is not true, that either of the two great parties in this country has any designs or aim at abolition. I should deeply lament if it were true. I should consider, if it were true, that the danger to the stability of our system would be infinitely greater than any which does, I hope, actually exist. Whilst neither party can he, I think, justly ac- cused of any abolition tendency or purpose, both have profited, and both have been injured in par- ticular localities, by tbe accession of abstraction of abolition support. If the account were fairly stated, I believe the party to which 1 arn opposed lii- piofiled much more, and been injured much less, than that to which I belong. But I am far, Ihr that reason, from being disposed to accuse our adversaries of being ahobtii nists. And now, Mr. President, allow me to consider the several cases in which the authority of Con- gress is invoked by these abolition petitioners, upon the subject ol domestic slavery. The first relates to it as it exists in the District of Columbia. The following is the provisions of the constitution of the United States ill reference to that matter:— 'To exercise exclusive legislation ill all cases whatsoever over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of congress, become the seat of government of the United States.' This provision preceded, in point of time, tbe actual cessions which were made by the stales of Mary land and Virginia. The object of the cession was to establish a seal of governemnt of the United States ; and the grant in the constitution of exclu- sive legislation must be understood, and should be always interpreted, as having relation to the object of the cession. It was with a full knowledge of tins clause in the constitution that those two states ceded to the general governement the ten miles square, constituting the District of Columbia. In making the cession, they supposed that it was |g be applied, and applied solely, to the purposes of a seat of government, for which it was asked. When it was made, slavery existed in both those commonwealths, and in tbe ceded territory, as it now continues to exist in all of them. Neither Maryland nor Virginia could have anticipated that, whilst the institution remained within their respective limits, its abolition would be attempted by congress without their consent. Neither of them would probably have made an unconditional cession, if they could have anticipated such a result. From the nature of tbe provision in the consti- tution, and the avowed object of the acquisition of the territory, two duties arise on the part of congress. The fust is, to render the District available, comfortable and convenient, as a seat of government of the whole Union; the other is, to govern the people within the District so as best to promote their happiness and prosperity. These objects are totally distinct in their nature, and, in interpreting and exercising the grant of the power of exclusive legislation! that distinction should be constantly borne in mind, is it necessary, in order to render this place a comfortable seat of the general government, to abolish slavery within its limits ? No one can or will advance such a pro- position. The government has remained here mar forty years without the slightest inconve- nience from the presence of domestic slavery. Is il necessary to tbe well being of tbe people of the District that slavery should be abolished from amongst them? They not only neither ask nor desire, but are almost unanimously opposed to it. It exists here in the mildest and most mitigated form. In a population of 39,834 there were, at the last enumeration of the population of the United States, but 6,119 slaves. Ihe number has not probably much increased since. They are dis- persed over the ten miles square, engaged in the quiet pursuits of husbandry, or ill menial offices in domestic life. If it were necessary to tbe efficiency of this place as a scat of tbe general government to abolish slavery, which is utterly denied, the abolition should be confined to the necessity which prompts it, that is,to the limits of the city of Washington itself. Beyond those limits, persons concerned in the government of the United States have no more to do with the inhabitants of tbe District than they have with the inhabitants of the adjacent counties of Maryland and Virginia which lie beyond the District. To abolish slavery within the District of Co- lumbia, whilst it remains in Virginia and Mary- land, situated, as that District is, within the very heart of those states, would expose them to great practical inconvenience and annoyance. The District would become u place St re/iige and escape for fugitive slaves from the two states, and a place from which the spirit of discontent, in- subordination, ami insurrection might be lostered and encouraged in tbe two states. Suppose, as was at one time under consideration, Pennsyl- vania had granted ten miles square within its limits lor the purpose of a seat id' the general government: could congress, without a violation of good faith, have introduced and established slavery within the bosom ol' that commonwealth, in the ceded territory, after she had abolished it so long ago as the year 1780? Yet the inconve- nience to Pennsylvania in tie case supposed would have been much less than that to Virginia and Maryland in the case we are arguing. It was noon this view of the subject that the Senate, at Its last session, solemnly declared that it would be a violation of implied faith, resulting from the transaction of the cession, to abolish slavery within the District of Columbia. And would it not be? By implied faith is meant that when a grant is made lor one avowed and de- clared purpose, known lo the parties, the grant should not be perverted to another purpose, un- avowed and undeclared, and injurious) to the grantor. The grant in the ease we are consider- ing, of the territory of Columbia, was lor a feat of government. Whatever power is necessary to accomplish that object is carried along by the grant. But the abolition of slavery is not neces- sary to the enjoyment of tins sits as a seat of the general government. The grant In the constitu- tion, of exclusive power of legislation over the District, was made to insure the exercise of an exclusive authority of the general epvernmesrt to render this place a safe ami si cine seal ol govern- ment, and to promote the well being ol the inhabi- tants ol the District The power granted ought to be interpreted and exercised solely to the end for which it was granted. The language ol the grant was necessarily broad, comprehensive, and exclu- sive, because all the exigencies which might arise lo render this a secure seat of the general govern- ment could not have been foreseen and piovided for. Tbe language may possibly be sufficiently comprehensive to include a power of abolition, but it would not at all thence follow that the power could be rightfully exercised. The case may be resembled to that id' a plenipotentiary invested with a plenary power, but who, at the same time, has positive instructions from his government as to the kind of treaty which he is to negociate and conclude. If he violates those instructions, and concludes a different treaty, his government is not bound by it. And if the foreign government is aware of the violation, it acts in bad faith. Or it may be illustrated by an example drawn from private life. I am an en- dorser lor my friend on a note discounted in bank. He applies to me to endorse another fo renew it, which I do in blank. Now. this gives him power to make any other use of my note which he pleases. But if, instead ol applying it to the intended purpose, he goes to a broker and sells it, thereby doubling mv responsibility for him, he commits a breach of trust, and a violation of the good faith implied in the whole transaction. But, Mr. President, if this reasoning were as erroneous as I believe it to be correct and conclu- sive, is the affair of the liberation of six thousand negro slaves in this District, disconnected with the three millions of slaves in the United States, of siilficient magnitude to agitate, distract, and embitter this great confederacy ? The next case in which the petitioners ask the exercise ol the power of congress, relates to slavery in Ihe territory of Florida. Florida is the extreme southern portion of the United States. It is bounded on all its landsides by slave states, and is several hundred miles from the nearest free state. It almost extends within the tropics, and the nearest impoitant island to it |