CHAPTER XXVIII.

FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT IN CONGRESS.

Caucuses of both parties.

Resolutions indorsing the compromise measures.Debate thereon. · Linn Boyd, Speaker. Foote's resolution. - Petition of the Friends for repeal of the Fugitive Slave Act. - Sumner's amendment and speech. The Fugitive Slave act defended by Clemens, Badger, Dodge, Douglas, Weller, Bright, Dixon, Clay, Butler, Mason, and Pettit. -Sumner's rejoinder.

-

THE XXXIId Congress met for its first session in December, 1851. The panic-makers demanding congressional indorsement of the compromise measures, there were caucuses of both parties to discuss and decide upon the policy to be adopted. In a caucus of two thirds of the Democratic members of the House, a resolution indorsing these measures, introduced by Mr. Polk of Tennessee, was, with a proposition to refer the matter to the next national convention, laid upon the table. A caucus of a little less than one half of the Whig members was held on the morning of the first day's session, and a resolution indorsing the measures was adopted. On the assembling of the House a brief debate sprang up on the action of those preliminary meetings. James Brooks of New York, announcing the action of the Whigs, by which they presented an harmonious and united front to the country, said it was dangerous for the Democratic party, with its large majorities, to organize the House by pandering to the abolition Democracy of the North or slavery Democracy of the South. Orrin Fowler of Massachusetts denied the binding obligation of the caucus resolution, and revealed the fact that one third of the members present wished to lay it on the table.

The debate at once elicited and exhibited the party tactics that controlled the nation, showing not only the disposition of the slave-masters to dictate terms to the rival parties, but the auxi

ety of party leaders to conciliate and control the political strength of the slave-masters. Thus Mr. Cabell of Florida expressed his thanks to God that the Whigs had taken their position, and he intimated that those who seceded from the caucus were no longer Whigs; while Mr. Meade of Virginia denounced the action of the Whigs as a trick,- an attempt to impose their "rotten party" and its principles on the South. During the continuance of the debate, a Southern Democrat paraded the fact that eighty-two Democrats and only twentysix Whigs voted for the Fugitive Slave Act; that of fifty Northern Democrats twenty-eight voted for it, while of seventy-six Northern Whigs only three voted for the measure.

Linn Boyd of Kentucky, who had distinguished himself by his earnest advocacy of the compromise measures, was elected Speaker. President Fillmore, in his message, referred to his previous annual message, reiterated its sentiments and recommendations, and congratulated Congress and the country on the general acquiescence in these measures of "conciliation and peace."

Soon after the assembling of Congress, Mr. Foote of Mississippi introduced into the Senate a resolution declaring the measures of adjustment to be a final settlement of questions growing out of the existence of slavery. Several speeches were made upon the resolution, but it was never brought to a vote. Resolutions were introduced into the House, substantially to the same effect, by Jackson and Hillyer of Georgia, where they were adopted by decisive majorities.

On the 26th of May, Mr. Sumner presented a petition from the Society of Friends in New England, asking that the Fugitive Slave Act should be repealed; but there were only ten votes for its consideration. On the 27th of July, he submitted a resolution requesting the Committee on the Judiciary to consider the expediency of reporting a bill for the immediate repeal of that Act. The consideration of the resolution was opposed by Mr. Mason of Virginia and Mr. Brooks of Mississippi, who asserted that such a measure would dissolve the Union, and only ten Senators were prepared to vote

therefor.

VOL. II.

45

In the Senate, on the 26th of August, he moved to amend the civil and diplomatic bill, so as to provide that no allowance should be made for expenses incurred in the execution of the Fugitive Slave Act, and that such act be repealed. In his speech on their introduction he alluded to the immeasurable importance of the slavery issue, dwarfing all others, and constantly casting its shadow across those halls. Referring to the impotent and inconsistent attempts of the propagandists to enforce silence, while always provoking discussion, he denounced the attempt to repress the liberty of speech, protested against the wrong, and claimed the right to be heard on slavery, as on every other subject. "The convictions of the heart," he said, "cannot be repressed. The utterances of conscience must be heard. They break forth with irrepressible might. As well attempt to check the tides of the ocean, the currents of the Mississippi, or the rushing waters of Niag ara. The discussion of slavery will proceed wherever two or three are gathered together, by the fireside, on the public highway, at the public meeting, in the church. The movement against slavery is from the Everlasting Arm. Even now it is gathering its forces, soon to be confessed everywhere. It may not yet be felt in the high places of office and power, but all who can put their ears humbly to the ground will hear and comprehend its incessant and advancing tread.”

"

He arraigned the enactment in the name of the Constitution. it violated, of the country it dishonored, of the humanity it degraded, of the Christianity it offended, and affirmed that every attribute of God united against it. Referring to the requirements of the Act that every citizen, when summoned, should aid and assist in its prompt and efficient execution, he boldly affirmed that "by the supreme law which commands me to do no injustice, by the comprehensive Christian law of brotherhood, by the Constitution which I am sworn to support, I am bound to disobey this Act." He closed his speech with an earnest demand for the repeal of an act so incompati ble with every dictate of truth and every requirement of justice. In the words of Oriental adjuration, he said: "Beware of the wounds of the wounded souls. Oppress not to the ut

most a single heart, for a solitary sigh has power to overset a whole world." This speech-learned, logical, exhaustive, and eloquent, worthy of the cause it advocated-placed the new Senator at once among the foremost of the forensic debaters of America.

Mr. Clemens of Alabama replied in language significant of the barbarism he fitly represented. Expressing the hope that none of his friends would reply, he said, "I shall only say that the ravings of a maniac may sometimes be dangerous, but the barking of a puppy never did any harm." Mr. Badger followed with a labored reply, in which he characterized the speech as "an elaborate oration, carefully written, studied," and "interspersed with curious quotations from modern learning and ancient lore."

Mr. Dodge of Iowa denounced with great bitterness the Abolitionists, and charged them with entertaining the idea of the equality and amalgamation of the races. He also charged them with "panting for the experiment" of introducing "black-skinned, flat-nosed, and woolly-headed senators and representatives," and seeking to break down all distinctions between whites and blacks in respect to "suffrage, offices, marriage, and every other relation of life."

Mr. Douglas denounced the arguments against the Act as against the Constitution of the country. He maintained that the real objection to the law was not in the "form of the trial," but the fact that "the fugitive is sent back to his master." Mr. Weller said it was the first time in his life he had ever listened to the whole of an Abolition speech; but that speech had been so handsomely embellished with poetry, both Latin and English, so full of classical allusions and rhetorical flourishes, as to make it palatable." But he charged its author with making an inflammatory harangue, and indirectly counselling forcible resistance to the law. Bloodshed, he declared, was inevitable, if the constituents of the Senator obeyed his counsels. Turning to Mr. Sumner, he said, with fierce energy: "Murder, I repeat, is inevitable; and upon your hands, sir, ay, upon your hands, must rest the blood of these mur

dered men."

be

Mr. Bright of Indiana avowed himself in favor of silencing fanaticism, putting down agitation and agitators, and against all propositions to disturb the compromise measures. Mr. Cass said the law was then in force, and should " never touched, or altered, or shaken, or repealed by any vote of mine." Mr. Dixon of Kentucky would say "to the Abolitionists, as Cicero said to Catiline and his wicked associates: 'Let them get from within the walls of the city.' Let any patriotic party cut itself loose from them; let them stand alone in the solitude of their own isolated infamy,-the scorn of all, as they are now the reproach of every honorable man."

Mr. Clay of Alabama commented with great acrimony upon the position assumed and defended by Mr. Sumner. He spoke of the avowal that he would not personally aid in returning alleged fugitives in a style of remark, considering the relative character and standing of the two, as ill-mannered as it was ill-tempered, as suggestive as it was scandalous. Alluding to Mr. Sumner's alleged "violation of the dignity and proprieties of the Senate," he expressed his regret that there was not some "penal statute" for its punishment. He spoke of him as a sneaking, sinuous, snake-like poltroon, feeling the obligation neither of the Divine law, nor of the law of the land, nor of the law of honor," to be excluded from the pale of society, neither shown nor allowed to offer the ordinary courtesies of social life. He compared him to Uriah Heep, and concluded by saying: "If we cannot check individual abuses, we may preserve the dignity of this body and rob the serpent of his fangs. We can paralyze his influence by placing him in that nadir of social degradation which he merits."

Mr. Butler expressed the opinion that primarily there ought to have been no Fugitive Slave Act at all, and that each State was bound to carry out the mandates of the Constitution. He complimented Mr. Rockwell on the soberness of his speech, as of one expressing his real convictions; but he declared that if his were the sentiments of those for whom he had spoken they made the issue of separation inevitable. Turning to Mr. Sumner, he asked if Massachusetts would