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Show 278 'l'llB lt1 LSSO UHI QUJ£S'l'lON. for the first time, all Europe is seen united us n. single gov .. crnment, to maintain their monn.n:hicn.l forms. Such is, 110 doul>L, their llele. tation of everything like republicanism, that, were the United Stutes in Europe, where they could be reachcc.l by land, I have not the smallest doubt, they would long siuce have been atLacked, and every at tempt made to reduce them to a monarchy. "'v\T c n.ro considered, sir, as an evil example to the mona.rchicn.l world. vV e aro considered as the only repository of those principles which have lately appeared and flouri shccl for a time in Europe, and which it hns cost them so much blood uud treasure to suppre ·s; and should our divi!:don , from friends to enemies, ever afi'ord them an opportunity of stdk ing at us, witb the least probability of success, no douLt they will do so. I will not trespass further ou your patience, but thank the committee for tho honor they have clone me by their attention. I hope the great importance of the snhjcct will be my excuse; and that, considering the relation in which I have stood to the Western country aucl the Mississippi, for the salvation of which, so far as means the keeping it annexed to this Union, as I have already said, I think I may claim to a genLicman, now high in office, and myself, us much as any other two can cluim, tho happine s of bciHg the in struments, and having thus, in the early part of my life, labored wiLh success for the parent, I cannot but think iL a little extraordinary that I ·hould, at this dir:;tnnt period, bo called upon to defend the ri ght of her children. My fervent wit:;h is, that I may be aLic to do it with tho same success. Extract from the speech of Mr. Whitman, of Massachusetts, on the MiHsouri l>ill, which may be found in the sixteenth volume of Niles's l"tcgistcr. It wus delivered upon the occasiou of a motion to apply tho slavery restriction iu the .Arkansas territorial Lill : Tlil!.: MlS::)OUUl QU.I£S'l'LON. 279 "Wo should consider that we have, by our common and joiut funds, acquired a large tract of vacant territory west of the Mississippi : that it is valuable to our country, as furni ·hing a fertile region for the citizens of our country to resort to for the purpose of bctlcring their condi Lion, acquiring property, and providing for their children. ~l'ho two great sections of the Union-to wit, the slavcholding and nou-slavcholding sections-have an equal righ t to ils enjoyment. lly pcrmi lting slavery in every part of it, the non-slavclwlding portion will bo deprived of it; if not ontiroly, certainly in a very great degree. On the other hand, if tho people of the South cannot cn.rry their slaves with them when they emigrate, the l>enoflt will be equally lost to them." Extract from the speech of Mr. Shaw, of Massachusetts, on tho Missouri bill, in 1820. 11 'rho opinion of mutual interest, is the chain which binds these States together. Chango this opinion, for one, that a section of this country is hostile to tho interest of another, and distrust and jealousy ensue : make that hostility palpable, and the Union would not last a day. 'rl10 slaveholding States, liko the non-slavcholding States, arc alive to all questions that touch their property: and, howover humiliatiug it may bo to speak of human l>cings as property, the Constitution and laws of our country consider the slaves of tho South as Fmch. .Any question calculated to a[cct the. value, or the right to this species of population, could not but be regarded by our countrymen of the south with the utmost jealousy. 'J.1he country west of tho Mississippi was purchased with the joint funds of 1ho nation; all, therefore, had a joint interest in it~ But the amenclm 'nt propose<l, l>y cxc:luding Hlaves, absolutely oxcludcu the population of nil the southern ancl a part of the western States from that fertile dornuin. This fur- |