and when they come to frame their state constitutions, preparatory to their future admission into the union, they will voluntarily form them in conformity with their habits and principles; for, I desire to be understood as denying the authority of Congress to make any regulations for a territory, which can be binding upon the people against their consent, when they come to make their constitution, and after their admission into the union. I sanctify no irrevocable ordinances. But their territorial regulations will accomplish the object by creating a population whose interests it will be voluntarily to adopt the restriction. In this way, too, Missouri will be seated in the midst of non-slave-holding states, and the force of public sentiment will soon lead to the emancipation of her present slave population. For the accomplishment of all these objects, gentlemen are called upon merely to abstain from the assumption of a doubtful power over a resisting people!

Mr. Chairman, the union of these states is the production of the spirit of harmony and compromise. Do we remember how much our fathers surrendered to compose, and shall we refuse to surrender any thing to preserve it? It was founded in common confidence, and for common benefits; it must be cherished by a common affection and forbearance, or it will scarcely survive the hands which planted it. The founders of the union had their own advantage and the welfare of their children to recommend its adoption; we have our interests, the welfare of our posterity, and the duty we owe to those who transmitted it to us, to perpetuate its blessings. Shall it be said, that we will not sacrifice one prejudice on the altar of the union for its preservation, when they offered up thousands to rear it! They not only tolerated the existing slavery, but in the spirit of mutual compromise, consented to its augmentation from abroad for twenty years! We are only required to leave undisturbed that which they entailed upon us; nay, sir, we are merely required to abstain from encroaching upon the rights of the people, and, in doing so, multiply the

chances of emancipation, and meliorate the condition of the slave.

Sir, if the cause of this restriction upon the people of Missouri, is deaf to all these considerations, and stubbornly sacrifices all, rather than yield a part, I pronounce it an unholy and an unprofitable cause. It carries no peace to the bosom of the enslaved African now on your shores, it neither casts off his fetters, nor lightens his burden. Pass this restriction, and his chains are rivetted as tight as ever; his doom is fixed as irrevocably, nay, more so than before. It may serve, however, Mr. Chairman, to foment political cabals, and promote the unhallowed views of the ambitious and designing. I do not say that such was its object in its origin; I am sure it was not; and I do not believe there is any gentleman on this floor who could be the tool in such an intrigue. But may there not be men out of this House, who would avail themselves of such a state of public excitement, to accomplish the possession of power? Sir, may there not be men out of this House, who are now adding to the impetus which this subject has received for such a purpose? Gentlemen will remember, that the objects of an ambitious man are generally more than half accomplished, before he is willing to avow them. I will not say that there are such, but I will say, if there are, they are unworthy of any public trust in this nation. Nor, sir, will they have much reason to rejoice in their triumph, should they be successful. No political power can be permanent in this country, which shall be founded on local jealousy, and geographical distinctions. Public honors, to be durable, must be won by public services and distinguished merit; they must be sought through the affectionate confidence of a virtuous and intelligent community; they must be the offspring of public gratitude for public worth. Power, acquired in any other way, will not be worth possessing: he, who acquires it by these divisions and distinctions, will not lie upon a bed of roses; his honors will be worn by a fretful if not a criminal brow, and, in the

midst of a discontented and distracted empire. He will come to the councils of a people disordered by intestine feuds, with feelings embittered by the recollection of domestic strife: his triumph would be as evanescent as uncomfortable. I repeat it, sir, that it will be well for gentlemen to consider whether there are not men who will take advantage of the present agitation, to engender all this mischief. Sir, if there should be one such, it is our duty to defeat his machinations; he is unworthy our confidence; sir, he sits a cormorant in the tree of life,

SPEECH OF JOHN SERGEANT,

ON

A BILL TO ENABLE THE PEOPLE OF THE MISSOURI TERRITORY TO FORM A CONSTITUTION AND STATE GOVERNMENT, AND FOR THE ADMISSION OF SUCH STATE INTO THE UNION;

DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, FEBRUARY 9, 1820.

The question before the committee was on agreeing to the following amendment:

"And shall ordain and establish that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said state, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. Provided always, that any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any other state, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid. And provided also, that the said provision shall not be construed to alter the condition or civil rights of any person now held to service or labor in the said territory."

MR. CHAIRMAN,

THE important question, now before the committee, has already engaged the best talents and commanded the deepest attention of the nation. What the people strongly feel, it is natural that they should freely express; and whether this is done by pamphlets and essays, by the resolutions of meetings of citizens, or by the votes of state legislatures, it is equally legitimate, and entitled to respect, as the voice of the public, upon a great and interesting public measure. The free expression of opinion, is one of the rights guaranteed by the constitution, and, in a government like ours, it is an invaluable right. It has not, therefore, been without some surprise and concern, that I have heard it com

plained of, and even censured in this debate. One member suggests to us that, in the excitement which prevails, he discerns the efforts of what he has termed an "expiring party," aiming to re-establish itself in the possession of power, and has spoken of a "juggler behind the scene." He surely has not reflected upon the magnitude of the principle contended for, or he would have perceived at once the utter insignificance of all objects of factious and party contest, when compared with the mighty interests it involves. It concerns ages to come, and millions to be born. We, who are here, our dissensions and conflicts, are nothing, absolutely nothing, in the comparison: and I cannot well conceive, that any man, who is capable of raising his view to the elevation of this great question, could suddenly bring it down to the low and paltry consideration of party interests and party motives.

Another member, (Mr. M'Lane,) taking indeed a more liberal ground, has warned us against ambitious and designing men, who, he thinks, will always be ready to avail themselves of occasions of popular excitement, to mount into power upon the ruin of our government, and the destruction of our liberties. Sir, I am not afraid of what is called popular excitementall history teaches us, that revolutions are not the work of men, but of time and circumstances, and a long train of preparation. Men do not produce them: they are brought on by corruption-they are generated in the quiet and stillness of apathy, and to my mind nothing could present a more frightful indication, than public indifference to such a question as this. It is not by vigorously maintaining great moral and political principles, in their purity, that we incur the danger. If gentlemen are sincerely desirous to perpetuate the blessings of that free constitution under which we live, I would advise them to apply their exertions to the preservation of public and private virtue, upon which its existence, I had almost said, entirely depends. As long as this is preserved, we have nothing to fear. When this shall be lost, when luxury and