Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/636

 believe what lie chooses with regard to the constitution; but he has no right, as an honest man, to seek office, and obtain it, and then talk about its being so immoral that he can not fulfill its obligations. It is the duty of every man, who has sworn to support the constitution, fairly to carry its provisions into effect; and no man can stand up before his fellow-citizens and maiutain any other doctrine, whatever reasons he may urge in his vindication. In one of the most disingenuous portions of the speech of the honorable senator from New York (Mr. Seward) — which itself was one of the most disingenuous I have ever heard — he speaks of "slavery having a reliable and accommodating ally in a party in the free states," and he says he "bears witness to its fidelity to the interests of slavery."

Now, I ask the senator from New York, if he believes there is a man in this senate from the north, whose course is influenced by his fidelity to slavery; and if he does, what right he has to cast odium upon gentlemen who are associated with him in the high duties which belong to his position?

Mr. Seward. The senator addresses a question to me, and I rise for no other purpose than to answer it. I think it was Mr. Jefferson who said that the natural ally of slavery in the south was the democracy of the north.

A senator. It was Mr. Buchanan.

Mr. Seward. I have heard it attributed to Mr. Jefferson. However this may be, I believe it. I assail the motives of no senator. I am not to be drawn into personal altercations by any interrogatories addressed to me. I acknowledge the patriotism, the wisdom, the purity of every member of this body. I never have assailed the motives of honorable senators in any instance, I never shall. When my own are assailed, I stand upon my own position. My life and acts must speak for me. I shall not be my own defender or advocate.

Mr. Cass concluded his speech the next day. He said: I was remarking yesterday, when I resigned the floor, that there were certain things we could not accomplish, and others that, with equal certainty, we might take for granted we could do. Among the latter, was the bill providing for the recapture of fugitive slaves; and another object, which I trust will be accomplished, is the providing of a government for the new territories. I think it essential to calm this agitation, and so long as these territories are left without a government, so long will the present state of things continue, and this agitation be kept up, which is so harassing to the tranquility, and dangerous to the peace of the Union. That a law may be passed authorizing the people of the territories to govern themselves, without any Wilmot proviso being attached to it, is my wish and my hope. Sir, we cannot stand before the country, and before the world, and object to the admission of California on the ground that has been urged. The objection is not to her boundaries, though that topic has been much debated. I myself was at first startled at the boundary claimed, stretching as it does along the coast of the Pacific one thousand miles — a much greater extent than any one state in the Union ought to possess. But the country between the ocean and the sea is a narrow one, and east of the mountains is a