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Show 312 SLAVERY IN TIIE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. sustained by tho unanimous voice of my own constituents. there were many among them, persons ns respectable and' as entitled to cousitleration as any others, who disapproved of the course I pursued on that occasion. .Attempts were made within tho district I then represented to get up meetings of tho people to instrnct me to pursue a different course, or to multiply petitions of tho same character. These cfl'orts wcro continued during tho whole of that long session of Congress ; but, I am grn.tificd to add, witbout any other result tban thai, from one single town of the district which I had tho houor to represent, n solitary petition was forwarded before the close of the session, with a request ibat I would present it to tho Uouso. Sir, I did present it, and it was referred to the same committee on ibo District of Columbia, and I believe nothiiJg more has been heard of it since. From tho experience of this session, I was perfectly satisfied that tho true and only method of keeping this subject out of discussion was, to take that course ; to refer all petitions of this kind to tho committee on the District of Colnmbia, or some other committee of tho llouse, to receive their report, and to accept it unanimously. This docs equal justice to all parties in the country; it avoids the discussion of this ngitating question on the one hand, and on tlte other, it pays due respect to ih~ right of the constituent to petition. Two years afterwards, similar petitions were presented, and at that time an effort made, without success, to do that which has now been done successfu11y in one instance. .An effort was made to lay these petitions on the table; tho House did not o.ccedo to the proposition : they referred the petitions as they had been before referred, and with tho same result. For, from the moment that these petitions arc referred to the committee on the Distt·ict of Columbia, they all go to the family vault 11 of all the Capulcts," and you will never hear of Uwm afterwards. SLAVERY IN 'riiE J)IS'l'RTC'l' OF COLUMBIA. 313 Extract from tho speech of lion. Silas vVri~ht, of New York, in tho Senate, J an. 19, 1 :3G, on tl1e subject of abol· ishing lav ry in the District of Columbia. M1•• Wright sn id he wns not to diHcnss the subject of slavc1·y in the abstract. lie kn w il, ancl the people of tho North, as a hocly, knew it only a. it cxist<'Cl under tho Constitution of the Unit <l tatef:l, and waH sn.tH.:tioncd by it. 'J.1hey thought of it in that light, and in th:tt light on ly, 80 ftu' as its exiHtcncc in these tales is concerned, nnd . o fnr as the qniet of lhc country and the preservation vf the Union arc involved in any agitation of the subject. In that senRe, it was not a que tiou for eli. cus ·ion in that body. Neither wns he to debate the question of Hl:wery in tho sovereign Slates of this Union. 'rhe sn.crccl and invalnnulc compact which constitutes ns one people, had not given to Congress tho juris<licLion over ihaL question. IL was left solely an<l exclusively to t:!Jose States, uml, in his humblo judgment, it ought never to ue debated here in any manner whatever. Mr. W. said he would go far ther, antl sny that he did not purpose to trouble the Senate with a eli. cussion upon tl1e propriety of any action 011 the pnrt of Congress in rcf'ercnco to the abolition of lavery in the District of Colnmbia, or in regard to the constitutional power of Co11gress OYer that sul>ject. lie bad listened with pleasure aml profit to tho able ar,rurucut of the honorable senator from Virginia (Mr. b Leigh), upon the powers of Congrcs , and had marked his conccs ·ions of power equal to that poHsessed by the lcgi la· tures of tho respective Slates of 1\1.arylun<l and Virginia over tho same sulJjcct within those States. lie had not studied the question himself, because he was al>lo to mark out his own connw, with perfect satisfaction to his own mind, without examining either the constitutional powers of Cougress, OI' il10 powers of those State lcgi 'latnrcs. lie was ready .to declare his opiuion to be, that Congress ought |