The Congressional Globe, Volume 13, Part 1: Twenty-Eighth Congress, First Session Page: 288
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the charge not knowing tjiat the declaration origma*
ted withPatri'ck Heiir'y, aiid not with the gentleman
from-Massachusetts. ' , '
If, then, the State governments possessed the power
to .abolish slavery within their respective limits at
their pleasure, -why could not Congress, as the legis-
lature of .this District, abolish slavery within these
fen miles square? There was no doubt th&t Con-
gress possessed the power to do it. The State of
Mississippi, he believed, had'introduced a provision
into its constitution, providing that slavery should
not be abolished except on the payment of Compen-
sation to the owners of slaves; but that provision
could be altered by the people of the State, and they
could determine the question of abolition, with or
without compensation, as they might think fit. This
power existed in all States. The power to repeal or
alter was -co-existent with the power to enact. Why,
even this House (to say nothing of its power to re-
peal) had nullified a law heretofore enacted by Con-
gress, and approved and signed by the President. If
fliat, then, could be done, there could be no doubt of
the power to repeal existing in a body which pos-
sessed the power to create. Slavery exists in this
District at this time, by virtue of a law of Congress;
and would any gentleman say that Congress could
not repeal a law which Congress had made?
The gentleman from Mississippi .[Mr. Hammett]
tolargea somewhat upon some statistics, which he
found in the late census returns, in relation to insan-
ity in the North. Now, this matter of insanity
among the colored population at the North was all a
mistake, occasioned by the misplacing of some
figures in the returns, one column having been put
in the place of another. The gentleman from Mas-
sachusetts said those returns showed that, in the
State of Maine, the colored people were insane or
idiots, in the proportion of one in 14; and he would
give the House a specimen of the accuracy of these
returns. There were six towns in the State of
Maine in which these returns gave 19 insane or idi-
ots, as among their colored population, when the
truth was, that in those six towns, there was only
one colored individual of any sort. As, then, the
gentleman's argument was founded in error, it was
unnecessary to do more than to show the existence
of the error, which he had done. But the gentle-
man also enlarged on the amount of crime in such
large cities as Philadelphia, committed by colored
persons; and he (Mr. S.) would admit that that
class of our population, throughout the country,
was placed in circumstances which were sufficient
to drive them to the commission of crime, The
serfs of Russia were a degraded class; they were
kept as a separate class; the motives of ambition
which operated on other classes, were not permitted
to influence them: and so it was with our colored
people; and was it at all strange that such results
should foljow? But he must be -permitted to say,
that in the* matter of pauperism, if he was rightly
informed, in the city of Philadelphia the colored
people—the free blacks—paid more than they drew
for the use of the poor, though so great a proportion
of them were poor; and were driven, by their pov-
erty, to seek for employment in the streets, or in the
meanest menial employments. The gentleman from
Mississippi also told them that the condition of
their slaves was such that the white popoulation had
no apprehension from them, and that they never
locked their doors, and had no use for locks what-
ever. He said they had no crime, except in some
petty towns which were inhabited by some Yan-
kees". Now, it might be true that there were some
Yankees there who were not very honest; they had
had some in New England, who, to avoid the pay-
ment of their debts, or perhaps the consequences of
crime, had gone to Mississippi; but at the North,
they had, at least, a decided majority of honest
men—a majority that not oi,ly paid their own debts,
hut preserved the faith of the Stoles to which they
belonged. In Mississippi, he was sorry to say, the
majority was not so. But was it reasonable to sup-
pose that the few Yankees of whom the gentleman
irom Mississippi spoke, had got possession, not of
thr. petty towns which he said they occupied, but of
the government of the entire State? It that were not
f,o. lie really hoped the honest portion of the in-
habitants of Mississippi would themselves take pos-
session of the government of their own Staie, and
restore its character. The stock of their Yankee
States was, in every instance, good; and the State
of Maine was obliged to pay a premium on the
purchasing up of hejjpwn stock, which had some
tune to jui). They could not take it up in any other
•way; and the credit bf the other New-England States
was equally as good, nobody doubting that they
would pay their debts; nobody ejecting "that the
dishonest portion of their population would ever be
in the majority-
He next alluded to the remarks of the gentleman
from Mississippi in l-elation the petition of certain
ladies of Massachusetts, praying for a repeal of the
law which prohibited the intermarriage of blacks
and whites. He -admitted the truth of the state-
ment, and also that the prohibitory law had been re-
pealed; but to what did it amount? He asked if
there were any such law in any other State prohibit-
ing the marriages of blaeks with the whites? He
believed'there was not. It might possibly be said
that there was no necessity for such a law
in the South, and he would remark that the
same answer would apply to Massachusetts; but it
■was fully evident there was some amalgamation in
the South, for there were observable, people of va-
rious colors. He took up other remarks of the
gentleman from Mississippi, and replied to them
seriatim; and spoke of the, abolition of slavery in
South America. In some cases it had been accom-
plished by revolution. He likewise told the gentle-
men of the South that their reliance was on the law
and order party of the North and East, rather than
the democracy, to whom the gentleman from Mis-
sissippi had appealed.
He quoted from the resolutions of certain demo-
cratic meetings in the East, to show the extent of
their radical principles, in proof of his position that
the democrats were in danger of coming in conflict
with the right of property.
There was but one way in which the excitement
which exists could be quieted; and, that was for
Congress to perform the duty incumbent upon it,
and to abolish slavery within its own jurisdiction.
He did not mean to say that agitation would even then
altogether cease; but it would, at least, be confined to
the States where slavery exists. The people out of
those States would have nothing to do with the
matter. There would be no strife of parties; there
would be no political abolition parties, such as there
were now. He did not regard the efforts of the
abolitionists of the North as at all to be deprecated,
so long as they confined themselves within the lim-
its of the constitution, within which he meant al-
ways to confine himself. But there was a party in
the North, in the process of formation—a party
which was increasing, and which would con-
tinue to increase, if Congress neglected its
duty—a party which denied to every man who
was a slaveholder, or or who abetted slavery,
any participation in the government of the country.
He did not belong to any such party, nor was fie
willing so far to interfere with the rights of others;
while the Union existed, they were bound to ex-
tend the benefits of the Union to all parties. They
had no right to interfere in the question of slavery,
further than they possessed legislative power to act
upon it. But that little party which now seemed no
bigger than a man's hand upon the verge of the
horizon, if Congress neglected to do its duty might
eventually overspread the whole horizon, and dash
this Capitol in fragments by its lightning.
One word as to the policy of abolishing slavery
within tie District of Columbia. He believed the
example of such abolition would have a salutary ef-
fect, There had been frequent manifestations of the
wishes of the people of this District to get rid of
slavery. If there were no slaves, (here would be a
rapid increase of free population. Here was a noble
f'ver, having excellent water-power, equal, if not
ipenor, to any in the United States; and the me-
chanics and workmgmen of the North would collect
here in great numbers, if there, were no slaves, and
trade and commerce would increase and flourish.
But so long as slavery existed, the artisans and oth-
ers of the North would never be induced to come
and mingle with the slave population.
It was said to be a law of physics that every tenth
wave of the sea which breaks upon the beac.h, is
larger than the rest. Whether this were true or
not, it would be found to be true in political econ-
omy that every tenth northern wave would sweep
down upon the South with increased force. He
hoped to see the day when their friends of the Sou'li
would be satisfied that it was for their interest to
take away the cause of all this warfare. They
talked with much feeling about being deprived of
the advantages of the representation based upon
their slave population.
They might have a much larger representation
than they now have, if they would permit all their
inhabitants to be counted, instead of taking three-
fifth's. .
TH'e - resolutions whicli had been presented to
Congress from the legislature of Massachusetts,
seemed to have' caused great excitement. Gentle-
men cried out that the constitution was about to be
destroyed. What did those resolutions ask for?
That the constitution should be altered, so that
none other than free citizens of this Union should
be represented here. Was this an unreasonable re-
'qufjBfcTlie slave States (with one exception, he
believed) paid no attention to the provision of the
constitution which permitted them an additional
representative on account of their slaves. In the
States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and South
Carolina, he believed the apportionment of repre-
sentation was arbitrarily fixed. In North Caroli-
na the basis of representation was federal popula-
tion. In Kentucky it was based upon the number
of qualified electors. In Tennessee it was based up-
on the number of taxable citizens. In Louisiana it
was arbitrarily fixed
The SPEAKER announced the expiration of the
morning hour.
Mr. WELLER moved that the House resolve
itself into Committee of the Whole.
The SPEAKER remarked that there were sev-
eral private bills upon the calendar, which would
be the first business m order.
Mr. ELMER asked leave to' report a bill; but,
objection being made, leave was not granted.
PRIVATE BILLS.
The House proceeded to talfe up the calendar of
pi j-^mu'll- the first of which was a bill for the
reliflHKe widows and orphans of the officers and
marnror }f the United States schooner "Grampus,"
lost at sea, the pending* question being upon the
amendment proposed by Mr. Frick, that where
there were no parents of the deceased, the allow-
ance should go to the minor brothers and sisters.
Mr. HALE inquired if that had not been once
voted on already.
The SPEAKER replied that the vote had been
taken upon striking out "brothers" and "sisters;"
but the present motion was for the insertion of
"minor brothers and sisters."
Mr. BARNARD asked if it would now be in order
to move to recommit the bill, with instructions to in-
sert the words which had been stricken out when
the bill was last before the House.
The SPEAKER replied that it would be in order.
Mr. BARNARD then submitted that motion.
Mr. CAMPBELL said he thought it was not
competent for the House to amend a clause of a
bill which had gone to the Senate and been returned
without any amendment of that clause.
The SPEAKER remarked that the gentleman
was mistaken; this bill had not been before the Sen-
ate at all.
Mr. BARNARD hoped the House would consent
to recommit the bill, and restore the words which
had been stricken out. He knew of cases of great
hardship, where the representatives of the unfortu-
nate persons who went down in the Grampus were
entirely dependent upon the current pay of their de-
ceased relations.
[A message from the President of the United
States was here delivered by John Tyler, jr., private
secretary, who announced to the Speaker that the
President had this day signed the act to refund the
fine imposed upon Genera! Jackson at New Orleans.]
Mr. HAMLIN hoped the bill would not be re
committed.
The gentleman said that this bill was in ac-
cordance with precedent; but, (said Mr. H.) though
1 regard precedent as much as I should, when it
is based on right and justice, and jvill be bound by
it then only, 1 do not believe we should hind our
hands, or shut up our mouths, because some gen-
tleman has found out. a precedent. He would not
go for precedents with that blind devotion which
makes the wrong of yesterday the right of to-day.
He would vote for the bill as it now stood, but he
would vote for it more cheerfully had it been limited
to the wives of the deceased. One single suggestion
more. The gentleman from Louisiana had placed
this bill upon another _ and different ground.
He had called in to its support the commercial
laws regulating insurances, and contended that
Congress should give to these individuals one year's
pay, because it was an established usage among
underwriters, that payment shall not be made till
one year after the loss of the vessel, where that loss
is not proved directly. Nov,-, he did not see the
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United States. Congress. The Congressional Globe, Volume 13, Part 1: Twenty-Eighth Congress, First Session, book, 1844; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2367/m1/312/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.