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Show 338 Congress, and tho totally different conditions of tho slaves in tho BriLL h WeRt India Islands and the slaves in the • ovcrcign and independent State· of this confct1erary, super~ ficitd men have i11fcrrcd from the und cided Briti:h expcri~ ment the pracLibility of the abolition of slavery in th e. e State . All these arc different. ':rhc powers of tl1c Briti. h Parliament arc unlimited, and often described to be omnipo~ tent. 'The powers of the American Congress, on the contrary, arc few, c::wLiously limited, scrupulo11sly excluding nil that arc not granted, and above all, carefully and absolutely excluding all power over the existence or continuance of slavery in tho several States. 'rhc slaves, too, upon which British legislation operated, were not in the bosom of the kingdom, but in remote and feeble colonies, having no voice in Parliament. The West India slaveholder was neither representative nor represented in that Parliament. And while I most fervently wish complete success to the British experiment of West India emancipation, I confess that I have fearful forebodings of a disastrous termination of it. Whatever it may be, I think it must bo admitted that, if the British Parliament treated the West India slaves as freemen, it also treated the West India freemen as slaves. If, instead of these slaves being separated by a wide ocean from the parent country, three or four millions of Africnu negro slaves had been dispersed over England, ScoLiund, Wales, and Ire] and, and their owners had been members of the British Parliament-a case which would have pre- . en ted some analogy to that of our O\Yn country-docs any one believe that it would have been expedient or practicable to have emancipated them, leaving them to remain, witll all 1 heir embittered feelings, in the U nitcd ICingdom, boundless as the powers of the British Parliament arc? * * * * * * .And now, Mr. President, allow me to consider the sev· eral rases in which the authority of Congrc~s is invoked by STJA V F.RY AGI'l'ATION. abolition petitioners upon tho subject of domestic these . 'l'he first rcln,tcs to 1. t as 1. L cx1·s Ls m· th c D 1·S 41 11•'1 C t slavery. 1 . . f th C of Columbia. 'l'he following i~ t 1e provision o c on· sL.t tutJ·O n of the United States 111 refe.r ence to that matter: ,1 To exercise <'xelnsi ve legiHlaiion 111 all cases whatsoever over sue 11 D1·• trict (not excecdi ng ten miles square,) as may by cesst·o n of pa" rticular States, and the accepta.n ce of Con,- gress, 'u· e come the scat of government of the Uruted States. I • • • 1.'his provision preceded, w pomt of t11ne, the actual cos- . 1 ·0t1 were made by the States of Mo.ryland and SlOllS W ll . . Vt.r gu· n·a . T11e obJi ect of the cess1on was to establish a• scat of government of the Unite~ l.alcs, and the grant.m the Constitution of cxcl usi vc Iegtslatwn, m~st be u~dcr stood, and should be alway· int rprcted, as havmg relat10n to tl:e object of the ces ion. It was with a full knowledge of th1s cla u.ew· tile Cort""'"1 itution ' tlutt those two States ce.cle.cl to the gcncml government_ the ten mil_cs square co~stttullllg the District of Columlna. In makrng the cess1on, they suppos ed tll ·"~ t it was· to be al)J>l ied, and appli ed sole. ly, to the purposes of a scat of croverHmcnt.' for .which 1t was asked. 'iVhcn it waR made, slavery cx1 ·ted m both those commonwcnlthR, an<l in the ced ·d territory, as it now co.n-t. m ue s to exist in all of the Ill. N ei Lhcr Mu ryland. not.· V.n ·- ginia could hctvC anticipate<l~ tlt~L, .whi.lst the. I.nstttulton remained within their re. pcctJvc hmtts, 1ls aboiJtwn would be attempted by Congress without their consent. Neither of lhem woulu probably have made an unconditional cession if they could have nnlicipatcd uch a resnlt. . . From the natnrc of the provi. ion in the ConstJtntJOn, and the avowed ohj ct of the ncflnL iti on of tho territory, two duties arise on the part of Congress. The fir· t is, to rcn clcr the District availahlc, comfortable, and convenient, ns a scat of government of the whole Union; the other js, to govern the people within the District so as best to promote their happiness and prosperity. Thm;c objects are totally |
