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Show 248 THE MISSOURI QUES'l'ION. every trial, and now bear upon their hoary heads the crown of honor-elected by their fellow-citizens to this station, I feel a confidence that they will sustain the canso of the Union. Then, when this excitement shall subside, the deliberate, settled sentiment of the people will ju tify your decision. But, should your determination to cfl'ect this restriction so completely overcome every consideration of ricrht that you deem it paramount to all constitution and b I compact, you will pay dearly for the object. Victory will be worse than a defeat. You will violate the plighted faith of the nation, under the sacred sanction of your own laws, which have heretofore held out an invitn.tion to the citizens of every section of the country to embrace the advantages which this newly-acquired wilderness promised. You will violate the solemn stipulations of the treaty by which this territory was gained. You will violate the Constitution of the United States, that sacred instrument which once had power to compose the jarring interests and passions of the nation; the offspring of our former su[ering; the pledge of our futnre harmony; and the standing bulwark of our liberty and independence. You will alarm the fears and destroy the confidence of the States, by abridging their prerogatives and usurping their rights. You will check the progress of humanity, aud strengthen the chains of the captive. You will prolong the time of slavery, and augment its evils. You will divide the sentiments and affections by hills and uaics, by rivers and mountains, and by imaginary lines, drawn only for convenience, and not for hostility. You will excite to action every discordant pas ion of the soul ; produce jargon, animosity, and strife, which may eventuate in murder and devastation. And shall I proceed to enumerate the crimes which belong to this black catalogue? The heart sickens, the tongnc falters, nnr1 I forbear. Ponder well your doings; let wisdom n nc1 jnst icc direct yon; confine yonr measures to the Icgitimatr ol1j('ct 'l'UE MJ 'SOUHI Q U ~~~' l'IO~. of the confederacy, and we arc still n. united and happy pco pie. Mr. Pinckney, of South Carolina, the only member of Congress who was a member of the ll'c<lc ral Convention, addressed the chair as follows : Mr. Chairman: It was not my intention at fil'st, and it is not now my wi::;h, to rise on this important question ; one that has been so much and so ably discussed iu both branches of Congress; one that has been the object of so many meetings or the people of the different Slates, and of so many resolutions of the lcgi ·latnrc , and instructions to ·their members: but I am so particularly circumstanced that it is impossible to avoid it. Coming from one of the most important of the Southern States, who e interests are deeply involved, and representing here a city and district which, I believe, export more of our native prodncts than any other in the Union ; having been also a member of the Old Congress, some important acts of which are brought into question on this occasion, and, above all, being tile only member of the General Convention which jor1ned the Constitution of the United Stales, now on this floor, and on whose acts rest lhe g'reat que lion in conl'rover ·y, how far you arc or arc not authorized to adopt this measure, it will, from all these circumstances, Uo con that it is impossible for me to avoid requesting your permission to state some observations in support of the vote I shall give on a question, certainly, the most important that can come before Congress; one, to say the least of it, on which may depend, not only the peace, the happiness, and the best interest , but, not improbably, the cxi ·tcncc of that Union which has been, since its formation, the al1miration of t1H1 world, and the pride, the glory, and the boast of every American bosom that beats within it. In performing this solemn duly, I trust I shall do iL wilh that deference to the opiuions of others which it is n.lwuys |