Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/646

 in this capitol. Then no agitation seemed to disturb the political, elements. Two of the great political parties of the country, in their national conventions, had announced that slavery agitation was at an end, and that henceforth that subject was not to be discussed in congress or out of congress. The president, in his annual message, had referred to this state of opinion, and had declared his fixed purpose to maintain, as far as any responsibility attached to him, the quiet of the country.

"The agreement of the two old political parties, thus referred to by the chief magistrate of the country, was complete, and a large majority of the American people seemed to acquiesce in the legislation of which he spoke. A few of us, indeed, doubted the accuracy of these statements, and the permanency of this repose. We never believed that the acts of 1850 would prove to be a permanent adjustment of the slavery question. But, sir, we only represented a small, though vigorous and growing party in the country. Our number was small in congress. By some we were regarded as visionaries — by some as factionists; while almost all agreed in pronouncing us mistaken. And so, sir, the country was at peace. As the eye swept the entire circumference of the horizon and upward to mid-heaven, not a cloud appeared; to common observation there was no mist or stain upon the clearness of the sky. But suddenly all is changed; rattling thunder breaks from the cloudless firmament. The storm bursts forth in fury. And now we find ourselves in the midst of an agitation, the end and issue of which no man can foresee.

"Now, sir, who is responsible for this renewal of strife and controversy? Not we, for we have introduced no question of territorial slavery into congress — not we, who are denounced as agitators and factionists. No, sir: the quietists and the finalists have become agitators; they who told us that all agitation was quieted, and that the resolutions of the political conventions put a final period to the discussion of slavery. This will not escape the observation of the country. It is slavery that renews the strife. It is slavery that again wants room. It is slavery with its insatiate demand for more slave territory and more slave states. And what does slavery ask for now? Why, sir, it demands that a time-honored and sacred compact shall be rescinded — a compact which has endured through a whole generation — a compact which has been universally regarded as inviolable, north and south — a compact, the constitutionality of which few have doubted, and by which all have consented to abide.

"It will not answer to violate such a compact without a pretext. Some plausible ground must be discovered or invented for such an act, and such a ground is supposed to be found in the doctrine which was advanced the other day by the senator from Illinois, that the compromise acts of 1850 'superseded' the prohibition of slavery north of 36° 30', in the act preparatory for the admission of Missouri. Ay, sir, 'superseded' is the phrase — 'superseded by the principles of the legislation of 1850, commonly called the compromise measures

"It is against this statement, untrue in fact, and without foundation in