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428 DOUGLASS' MONTHLY MARCH, 1861. [[line]] [[column 1 of 3]] tions. He said he honored such people, and felt cheered by such a voice from Massachusetts. It showed them devoted to the Union for which their ancestors fought. MR. SUMNER (Rep., Mass) said : These petitions ask, as I understand it, for the passage of what is familiarly known as the Crittenden Propositions. Their best apology for this petition is their ignorance of the character of those propositions. Had they known what they were they never would have put their names to that petition. Those resolutions go beyond the Breckinridge platform, which has already been solemnly condemned by the American people. They foist into the Constitution of the US. constitutional guaranties of slavery, which the framers of that instrument never gave-which Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Patrick Henry, and John Jay, if we may credit the testimony of their whole lives and opinions, would have scorned. Had any such proposition been made the condition of union, this Union never could have been formed. Mr. Mason told us in the Convention that it was wrong to attempt to put in the Constitution the idea of property in man, but these propositions propose to interpolate that idea, and, practically carrying it out, they run a black line on the latitude of 36 ^[[degree symbol]] 30 min., and give constitutional protection to slavery in all the territory south of that line now belonging to the Republic ;- and to make the case still more oppressive, and still more impossible to be received at the North, they make it applicable to all the territory hereafter to be acquired, so that the flag of the Republic, as it moves southward, shall always be the flag of slavery, and every future acquisition in that direction shall be Africanized, and that by virtue of the Constitution of the United States. That is about enough in this age of civilization. But that is not all. Still further, they insist upon guaranties to slavery in the National capital and in other places within the Federal jurisdiction. Nor is this all. As if to make it especially offensive to the people of the North, and to the people of Massachusetts, they propose to despoil our colored fellow-citizens of their political franchise, a long time secured to them by the institutions of that honored Commonwealth. Sir, it is for these things that these petitioners now pray. They insist that they shall be interpolated in the Constitution of the U.S. I have an infinite respect for the right of petition, and I desire always to promote the interests, and to carry forward the just and proper desires of my fellow-citizens. But I must express my regret that these gentlemen have missed the opportunity, after uniting in such numbers, of calling plainly and unequivocally, as savers of the Union of their fathers, for two things- two things all sufficient for the present occasion, and with regard to which I should expect the sympathies of the Hon. Senator from Kentucky. First-the Constitution of the United States, as administered by George Washington, to be preserved intact and blameless in its text, without any tinkering or patching. And, secondly, the verdict of the people last November by which Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, to be enforced without price or faltering. There is ground upon which every patriot and loyal citizen of the land can stand, and he has over him then the Constitution and the flag of his country. You had better have that, Sir, than any scheme device jugglery, or hocus pocus called a compromise. On such ground all men who really love the Union and the country, can take their stand without an 'if' or a 'but.' I remember, Sir, on the night of the passage of the Nebraska bill, it was after midnight, I made the declaration in debate that the time for compromise had passed. The events now taking place all verify this truth. It is obvious that the existing difficulties can now be arranged only on permanent principles of justice, and freedom, and humanity. Any seeming settlement founded upon an abandonment of principle, will be but a miserable patchwork, which cannot succeed. It was only a short time ago, [[/column 1 of 3]] [[column 2 of 3]] you will remember, Sir, the whole country was filled with shame and dismay, as the report came to us of the surrender of southern forts, and when it was known that Fort Sumter, too, was about to be given up, a cry went forth from the heart of the people, by which that fortress was saved at least, for the present. Propositions are now made and bro't forward by the Senator from Kentucky, and now enforced by a petition from the people of my own State, calling upon the North to surrender its principles-to surrender its impregnable principles of human rights, which constitute our Northern forts. It is even proposed now to surrender the principle of freedom in the Territories-the Fort Sumter of the North. I trust, Sir, that they will yet be saved, and as their safety depends upon the President, I trust that the cry will go forth for the people like that which went forth from them a few days ago to save that other Fort Sumter when it was menaced. For myself, if I stand with many or with few, or alone, I have but one thing to say-no surrender of any of our Northern forts. No, Sir, not one. But the bankers and merchants throw out their fears, and they tell us the Government shall not have money if we do not surrender our principles. Then, again, Sir, I appeal to the people. I believe the American people are not more unpatriotic than the French, and only want the opportunity to show it-to come forward and relieve the necessities of the Government, as the French people recently, at the hint of Louis Napoleon, came forward with a loan composed of small sums. Our Government stands upon the aggregate virtue and intelligence of the people, and it only remains now that we should make an appeal to the aggregate wealth of the people-the farmer, the laborer, the mechanic. Every man who truly loves his country, will be willing to give of his earnings to uphold the Constitution and the national flag, and out of these small earnings [[missing text]] a genuine patriotism, we shall have a full treasury.-There is but one thing now for the North to do-that is, to stand firm in their position.-They may be guided by one of the greatest patriots of the age - I mean Lafayette - who, in his old age, when his experience had been ripened by time, and while looking over the unutterable calamities of the old French Revolution, said, 'It was his solemn duty to declare that, in his opinion, they were to be referred not to the bad passions of men, but to those timid counsels that sought to substitute compromise for principle.' Lafayette may well speak to his American fellow-citizens now, to caution them against any timid counsels that would substitute compromise for principles. Mr. CRITTENDEN said he supposed the signers of the petition were intelligent men. When he presented the propositions he presented them as a basis of peace, but why had not gentlemen offered to amend? Mr. SUMNER said he thought them wrong in every word and every line. Mr. CRITTENDEN-Had the gentlemen no propositions to make? Mr. SUMNER said he had-the Constitution as administered by Washington and our fathers. Mr. CRITTENDEN-Why did he not move that then? MR. SUMNER said he had voted for the resolutions of the Senator from New Hampshire, which expressed his idea. [[line]] --The Kentucky Colonization Society, in order to relieve the free people of color in that State from the embarrassing position in which they have been placed by its Free Negro law, which went into operation on January 1st.1861, has offered to such of them as are willing to emigrate to Liberia, a free passage thither and support for six months after their arrival. Those having families are offered, in addition, ten acres of land as a free gift upon condition that they will settle on it. Five acres are offered, upon the same terms, to every unmarried adult, male and female. --By recent letters from Liberia, it appears that the Liberian Republic had captured two slave schooners. [[/column 2 of 3]] [[column 3 of 3]] SLAVERY AND THE IRISH ELEMENT [line] Thos. D'Arcy McGee recently delivered a lecture before the St Patrick's Literary Association of Montreal, from which we take two brief extracts: Twice within a few years, I have had cause to hang my head in shame, for Irish honors in America. Once, when a brilliant and honest writer, but whose sanity is very uncertain, Mr. Mitchell, publicly advocated the reopening by the South of that traffic accursed of God and man-the African slave-trade. The second time was recently, on reading the vigorous speech of Mr. Charles O'Conor, at the Union meeting in New York, where that gentleman laid down the extraordinary proposition, 'political parties should never be divided upon moral questions.' If Mr. O'Conor withdraws every ethical foundation from politics and parties, I should like to know upon what other foundation will he plant them? If he disarms his politics and his party of all moral force, how can he longer speak of 'the duty' of the citizen to the Constitution he has 'sworn' to uphold? What, indeed, becomes of oaths and duties, if morals and politics are to be divided by so great a gulf? There was not an intelligent Pagan in the ancient world, two thousand years ago, who would not have rejected with horror this maxim, which was welcomed, we are told, with 'applause' by many of the most intelligent citizens of New York! For my own part, I feel that some Irish voice should utterly repudiate it, and I do so as heartily as I repudiate the other iniquitous notion of the reopening of the African slave trade. [Renewed applause.] * * * * I freely admit that citizens, whether native or naturalized, but especially the naturalized-have not so plain and straight a line of duty before them in the United States ; but while I would not exact too much, nor blame too severely those less free to speak and act on this subject than we are here, I cannot conclude the observations I have offered you on this subject, without sending forth, in my own name, in your name, and the name of all the Irish in Canada, to our brethern in the United States, our fraternal prayer and petition, that they will not, for the honor of the common Fatherland, dear to us all-that they will not, as countrymen of those great orators of Ireland, who, from Burke to O'Connell, were sworn foes to human slavery in every clime, and under every pretext-that they will not, for their own sake, for Ireland's sake, suffer themselves to be enlisted in this last struggle among the forlorn hope of the pro-Slavery or philo Slavery party in the neighboring Republic. [Enthusiastic applause.] [[line]] --At a meeting of the Rochester Ladies' Anti Slavery Society, held Feb 4th, 1861, the following preamble and resolutions were passed: Whereas, from the unfortunate state of money matters, and the present unsettled state of public affairs in this country, the friends of anti-slavery find it more difficult than ever to raise the funds neccssary to carry out tho objects for which they strive ; therefore, Resolved, That to their friends in Great Britain this Society and the anti slavery cause have deep and even new reasons for thankfulness ; that in this time of need, their donations are larger and more frequent ; and that to them, and not to us, is due the efficiency of this Society in the work. Resolved, That the above resolution be published in [[italics]] Douglass' Monthly [[/italics]]. [[line]] --The Patriot, a paper published at Greenville, S. C, prints the following significant item of intelligence :-'Peter, the slave of Mr. Francis Davenport, was last week tried and convicted of insurrectionary conduct, and was sentenced to be hung on the fourth Friday in February.' --The colored population in New York City, according to the last census, is 10,831, showing a decrease of 2,984 in ten years. They hold $326,475 of real estate and $218,785 of personal estate. There are fourteen clergymen, and eleven doctors. [[/column 3 of 3]]
