Lynchburg Virginian

FORTICAL:
Fox The Truxian,
Written in Miss I. A. D.'s Album,
Lady, and this blooming wreath,
In cuburn of fair like thine,
Fruit a world thought to breathe
A syvtea kraf to intrrtriuc:
low trite the thought. that sweetest flowers
Are ever first to feel decay :
That gloomy clouds and chilling showers
Roll on, and blot the brightest day!
Hope, like a gleaming meteor, lures
Along the flowery hills of youth,
Experience all delusion cures,
And teaches cold and painful truth.
Our path is chequered here below.
With soothing joy and anguish stern,
They who have never found it so.
Have yet their hardest task to learn.
B.

Mr. STANARD said he had lived long enough to ascertain the wisdom of the caution contained in the two Latin words, nil admirari. If he did not avail himself of that sentiment, he should waste himself in continual wonder at what he saw and heard on that floor. The very recent exhibition they had witnessed, was one not the least calculated to induce them to call to their aid the maxim to which he had alluded, in relation to useless wonder. Would the House believe, after all they had heard from the gentleman from Mecklenburg, on a former occasion (the introduction of the resolution of the gentleman from Albemarle, Mr. Gilmer) after all the gentleman had said about his being prepared to offer resolutions, for the consideration of the Committee of which he was Chairman, and of the action of that Committee being delayed and diverted by the resolution of the gentleman from Albemarle-would the House believe, after all this, that instead of the gentleman from Mecklenburg being so prepared with resolutions, and his being so prevented from offering them to the consideration of the Committee, by the resolution of the gentleman from Albemarle, he had not only not prepared them, but the resolutions cited as the resolutions so prepared, were, in a great part, copied from the resolutions passed upon this subject by the Legislature at North Carolina ! [Mr. S. here read the parts of the resolutions shewing this fact.] Sir, said Mr. S. Let me here address myself to that portion of the House who, I believe, will not be led, at the bidding of partizans, to the suppression or falsification of the sentiments they maintain before their constituents; let me exhibit before them, some portions of the history of that drama which has been enacted within these walls during the past few days-let me do this, in order to show how far facts and evidence bear out the professions of sincerity which have been so lavishly made by certain gentlemen in connection with this subject. I beg to be permitted to use this history, for the purpose of furnishing grounds on which the people at large may judge of the public acts of public men. To show that I have grounds for the sentiments of distrust I have expressed in the candor, of disgust at the dissimulation of public men, I beg the House to recollect that when the resolution offered by the gentleman from Albemarle was under discussion some days since, the gentleman from Mecklenburg hazarded the groundless and hardy assertion, that those who supported that resolution and acted with the mover, had no desire to act upon this subject-that they wished to delay it-to keep it from the consideration of the House. I beg the House to recollect that the member from Mecklenburg said he was desirous to have the question disposed of by the Committee- that he had prepared resolutions for the Committee, —and that he would present such resolutions as soon as the Committee could be induced to convene.

Mr. GARLAND: Did I say I had endeavored to get the Committee to convene?

Mr. STANARD: No; but the gentleman said when the Committee did convene, he would lay his resolutions before them, and that he had been anxious to do so, thus clearly intimating that he had before prepared his resolutions. I ask the House if the impression was not clearly and distinctly made by the gentleman from Mecklenburg. that he had maturely prepared a set of resolutions for the consideration of the Committee, and that he was only prevented from offering them by the proposition which had been introduced by the gentleman from Albemarle ? And now, Sir, what is the fact ? Why that on that very morning, when the gentleman addressed the House, against the resolution of the gentleman from Albemarle, on that very morning the mail brought the North Carolina resolutions, and from these, are copied in part the resolutions which the gentleman then read in his place, and has since offered through the Committee to this House. Let the House read the resolutions offered by the gentleman, and then compare them with those passed by the Legislature of North Carolina, and it would be seen, that some of them were in substance-nay, almost literally transcripts of each other. You have then, Sir, the fact, that at the time the gentleman was manifesting such eager zeal upon the subject, saying that he desired to present his resolutions to the Committee, such resolutions had not in fact been proposed by him, and that those he professed to be eager to lay before the Committee, must have been in a great part hastily copied that very day from the resolutions of the Legislature of North Carolina.

Mr. GARLAND: Will the gentleman from Richmond, undertake to say that I had not prepared resolutions previously to the arrival of those from North Carolina ?

Mr. STANARD : I cannot say. I only know the fact that the resolutions presented by the gentleman are not his own, but copied, in great part, on the morning the gentleman spoke, from the North Carolina ones ; and that he gave them to the House, as those which he declared he had felt such anxiety to offer!

Mr. GARLAND said unless the gentleman from Richmond, knew his, (Mr. G's.) heart, it was impossible for him to say that resolutions had not been prepared by him prior to the arrival from North Carolina.

Mr. STANARD repeated that he only knew the fact he had last stated, and did not know that the gentleman had or had not prepared other resolutions. I give this information, Sir, said Mr. S. to justify the distrust I have expressed of the sincerity of those who have been loudest in their protestations of sincerity upon this subject, in their desire for action, and in their denunciations against the motives, of others. And to prove that gentlemen are not sincere in this matter, that their acts do not correspond with their words, that they do not wish, as they say they do, to carry out the feeling of the people-I ask the House to compare the draft of the project of the member from Mecklenburg, with the North Carolina resolutions. They will find that though in some respects, the member from Mecklenburg has copied from those resolutions almost verbatim et literatim, he has in one particular made a most significant omission- an omission by which the strength of the North Carolina resolutions is most materially diluted. (Mr. S. here read from the 2d of the North Carolina resolutions to this effect : Resolved, that we are ready and willing to make on this subject a common cause with the rest of our sister slaveholding States.)
The gentleman from M., Sir, has left out this. He has discarded the declaration made by the Legislature of North Carolina, that they are ready and willing to make a common cause with their sister slaveholding States. In evidence of the fact. that the resolutions of North Carolina, were in fact copied hastily, and without consideration, I take leave to notice one circumstance. The 3d resolution, as originally published in the newspapers, was obviously ungrammatical, in consequence of the omission of a word; yet such was the haste with which it was copied, that this grammatical error was retained in the copy, and so little consideration was bestowed on it by the gentleman and his co-laborers, that it was offered in the select committee, first by the gentleman, and then by his friend, with the same blemish. But let me call the attention of the House to another fact. The House will observe, that after all the primary meetings held by the people upon this subject—after all the resolutions passed at those meetings indicative of the people's wishes ; the resolutions offered by the gentleman, contain not one word about the right of Virginia to call upon the non-slaveholding states to suppress those associations.

Mr. GARLAND : Not by penal laws.

Mr. STANARD : Does the gentleman say we have not a right to call upon the people of the non-slaveholding States, to suppress these incendiary associations by penal laws ?

Mr. GARLAND: I say we have no such right.
We have no right to call upon them to suppress associations of their own citizens. They have no right to suppress such associations.

Mr. STANARD : I am speaking not of associations generally, but of those societies the object of whose enterprise is the destruction of southern peace and property, and the endangering of southern life ; and we have now from the gentleman from Mecklenburg, the distinct declaration, that so far from our having a right to call upon the Northern States to put down these Societies by penal laws, the Northern States have not themselves the right to pass such laws. Let us, sir, examine the gentleman's claims to consistency, too, in this matter-let us see by what means he proposes to arrest the practices of the abolitionists. Mr. Stanard here read the 5th resolution from the report of the minority, It is as follows :
"5. Resolved, That confiding in the justice and loyalty to the principles of the Union, of the non slaveholding states, reinforced by the strong sympathies of common dangers. sufferings and triumphs, the identity of interests. great and multifold, the social and political ties that connect, and that ought to bind in fraternal concord, the states and the people of the Union, the danger with which that Union will be menaced, should these societies, emboldened, by impunity, persevere, in their infatuated or incendiary schemes, the General Assembly of Virginia respectfully but earnestly request that the legislatures of the states in which such societies have been formed, or may be projected, will take prompt and effectual measures of penal inhibition to suppress or prevent the formation of them, and by adequate penalties prevent or punish the printing or circulation of the prints, pamphlets and pictorial representations aforesaid."

Mr. GARLAND said, the South had a right to call upon the Northern States, to pass laws for suppressing the publications issued by these Societies.

Mr. STANARD continued-In the preamble also, which the gentleman had given to the House (and which, by the bye, contained a libel upon the whole southern states, and the principles they had promulgated) the gentleman had adopted the very language of one of the resolutions of the majority which he now proposed to strike out.—[ Mr. S. here read from the preamble of the minority the following sentence, for the purpose of showing the similarity of the ideas and language contained therein, to the 5th resolution, reported by the majority.]
"After the undoubted evidence which our northern friends themselves have had of the nefarious attempts of some of their citizens to disturb the peace, and to bring destruction on life and property in the south, we appeal to their candor, and ask, whether it be not politic and just-whether it be not required by good faith and the obligations of duty, that they should not only try the force of public opinion, but if necessary, should enact such laws as shall be ample to secure us forever from similar dangers and aggressions?-Public opinion, it is true, has frowned indignantly on them, and denounced their schemes as "treasonable and beastly," yet we would respectfully suggest the propriety of taking advantage of the present state of public feeling, and prevent in future the agitations of fanatical men by penal inhibitions."
Penal inhibitions! the very language of the resolutions the gentleman would strike out ? But to return. My purpose here, Sir, said Mr. S., is to show that although the gentleman has omitted even to invite the non-slaveholding states to suppress these societies, he calls upon them to pass laws to prevent them from printing ? He would not let them print, Sir, but they may form themselves into companies of 10, 20 or 100-into battalions and regiments-for the better promotion and carrying out their schemes-they may even establish a magazine, for the use of, and conveniently contiguous to, rebel slaves, and the gentleman would not call upon the Northern States to arrest the progress of such proceedings? You may prevent their printing-prevent the promulgation in part of the declaration that the southern slaves ought to be emancipated, and that societies ought to be formed, and by their confederate action, endeavor to effect that end; but the societies when formed are beyond the reach of law-that no law can rightfully be made to reach them. The declaration of a wish that an act shall be done is punishable, but not the act itself. They may conspire and carry into effect their murderous designs, and we may call on the States to punish the printed invitation to form the conspiracy, but not the conspiracy, or even the measures in execution of it. These societies may complot schemes, and even commit acts levelled against the peace, lives, and property of the South, and you cannot call for laws? nay, the States in which they conspire cannot pass laws to suppress them-but yet, they may pass penal laws to prevent them from printing. I say, sir, that here is manifest inconsistency. And that in these inconsistencies, in these unfounded pretensions, in these disingenuous allegations of purposes which are now shown to exist, I find grounds for distrusting the sincerity of gentlemen, in relation to this subject-I disregard professions, however earnest and violent. of a wish to protect the rights of Virginia, when I find that those who make them, when called upon to act-when their opinions and propositions are analysed—would leave us without any protection. But sir, let us narrow down the question to a comparison between the resolution of the majority and the one proposed to be substituted for it. "The former contains, even according to the gentleman himself, some proper principles. So far as it declares that neither the General nor State Governments have a right to interfere with the slave property of the South, the gentleman agrees with it; but he contends that it is not proper for us to say that the citizens of the States have not a right so to interfere with us. Yes, sir, this is the question now before the House. We have no right to tell the citizens of the non-slaveholding States, that they shall not interfere with our property! Who is prepared to second the gentleman's heretical proposition ? The whole population of the North may embody themselves, and march to give freedom to our slaves, and they do not invade our rights! Sir, is the question of invasion of our rights confined to the State and federal governments? Is not the constitutional obligation, connected with this subject, binding upon the citizens of a State as well as its Government? When you say the Federal and State governments cannot interfere with the property of the South, do you not say also, that the citizens of the various States cannot so interfere? By what metaphysical process has the gentleman arrived at that construction of the constitutional obligation of non-interference, by which he says the State governments cannot interfere with us but by which he tells the citizens of the non-slaveholding States, you, and you, & you may send among us incendiary publications- place arms in the hands of our slaves--and you do not invade our rights or violate the Constitution ? True, the gentleman says they shall not print. They may assemble-embody themselves--and take any measures they please to liberate our slaves ; they may do all that : they may act with perfect impunity ; but the thunder of the law will be brought to bear upon them if they print -if they declare their intentions through the medium of their publications. Now, sir, I ask who will venture to support these views of the gentleman? Who will say that the citizens of the North do not violate the constitutional obligation when they interfere with the slave property of the South ? The only object of the resolution of the majority, now proposed to be stricken out, was to affirm the truism that the Northern States and their citizens, had not such right to interfere. This then, the gentleman deemed. He considered that such interference would not be an invasion of the obligations of the Constitution.

Mr. GARLAND : I do not say so.

Mr. STANARD : In the name of heaven, then, where are we? and how are we to understand him? Has he not just denied it, & if he does not, why oppose the resolution? But why, said Mr. S., should I argue further upon this point, in face of the fact. that while the sole objection he has urged to the resolution is, that it denies that the citizens of the other states have a right to interfere, his own substitute denies that the people of the other states have such right. I should not consider myself justified in detaining the House further upon this subject, but that I think it due to the House and the people, to exhibit in full relief, these glaring inconsistencies and heresies--that they should be enabled to decide how far evidence has been furnished of the sincerity and capacity of those who aspire to take the lead upon this floor ? Having said thus much in the way of explanation, let me make one further observation. It has been my most anxious wish that the proceedings of this body should exhibit upon this subject, as much unanimity as possible; and as a guarantee for the sincerity of this declaration, I refer to the resolutions which have been reported by the majority. I refer to those resolutions-to their tone and temper--to show how far, how much, I have been influenced by the consideration to which I have alluded. When my attention was first called to this subject, agreeably to the desire which I have stated, to keep it separate and distinct from party feeling, it appeared to me necessary and proper (for I well knew that many in this House, who, though they might agree with me in the resolutions, would not agree with the process of reasoning by which I arrived at them) that I should present them unaccompanied by any preamble. I felt assured that the presentation of a preamble. especially in the existing jealous state of feeling of the House, would afford a pretext for destroying unanimity ; and hence I avoided offering such a document, to the reasoning of which I knew I might encounter the honest opposition of some members. I thought that the best means of attaining the object I had in view, (unanimity) would be the presentation, in firm but temperate language, of the mere principles which ought to govern our action upon this question, and which principles the people had, at their primary meetings, so clearly defined and laid down. With a view to this end. Sir, were the resolutions of the majority drawn and presented, keeping incessantly before our minds the purpose of unanimity, and at the same time adapting them to the taste and sense of propriety-and to secure that, avoiding the use of all exaggerated, inflammatory and gasconading language-indulging in sentiments of respect and good feeling towards the Northern States and alluding in no single instance, to a coalition of the Southern States in connection with this matter. Now, Sir, let this spirit (and that it existed among, and has governed the majority, I appeal to the resolutions) be compared with the spirit and feeling manifested in almost every line of the resolutions reported by the gentleman from Mecklenburg. The preamble, Sir! What does it deal in but insinuations and denunciations against parties, reaching even the members of Congress of the Administration party, who have sought a disclaimer by Congress of the power to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia ? and containing, as I can prove by the records of the House, a perversion of historical truth, and one of the most outrageous libels against the principles and sincerity of the Southern States, when the Missouri Question was in agitation, that was ever penned-and charging upon Members of Congress, that they have wantonly attempted to obtain from Congress a disclaimer of the right of legislating in relation to slavery in the District of Columbia. But it is not proper now to go into a discussion of the whole of this document; and I have only said as much I have, to show the spirit in which it was concocted, as evidence of the schemes devised to frustrate or render powerless, the voice that has come to us from the primary meetings of the people. I now submit to the House whether they are prepared to say that the citizens of the Northern States may form associations of the kind in question, without invading our rights; whether those individuals may conspire against the peace and lives of the Southern people, and yet be beyond the reach of punishment or suppression?

[Debate to be continued.]