8 because they are repugnant to the laws of nature, as recognised by nearly all civilized States. Pardon, I pray you, Senators, the prolixity of the next chapter, which I extract from the Kansas code: c: Every person who may he sentenced by any court of competent jurisdiction, under any law in force within this Territory, to punishment by confinement and hard labor, shall be deemed a convict, and shall immediately, under the charge of the keeper of such jail or public prison, or under the charge of such person as the keeper of such jail or public prison may select, be put to hard labor, as in the first section of this act specified, (to wit, ‘on the streets, roads, public buildings, or other public works of the Territory ’—[See. 1, page 146;] and such keeper or other person, having charge of such convict, shall cause such convict, while engaged at such labor, to be securely confined by a chain, six feet in length, of not less than four-sixteenths nor more than three-eighths of aninch links, with around ball of iron, of not less than four nor more than six inches in diameter, attached, which chain shall be securely fastened to the ankle of such convict with a strong lock and key; and such keeper, or other person, having charge of such convict, may, if necessary, confine such convict, while so engaged at hard labor, by other chains, or other means, in his discretion, so as to keep such convict secure, and prevent his escape; and when there shall be two or more convicts under the charge of such keeper, or other person, such convicts shall be fastened together by strong chains, wi:h strong locks and keys, during the time such convicts shall be engaged in hard labor without the walls of any jail or prison.” I have devoted, heretofore, no unimportant part of my life to mitigating the severity of penal codes. The Senate of the United States now informs me, that if I desire the privilege of voting for this bill, which is designed to maintain the army of the United States in its integrity, I must consent to send that army into the Territory of Kansas, to fasten chains of iron six feet long, with balls of iron four inches in diameter, with strong locks, upon the limbs of offenders guilty of speaking, printing, and pub- Kshing, principles and opinions subversive of the system of Slavery. Sir, I have no excessive tenderness in regard to taking life or liberty as a forfeiture to the majesty of the laws, for the invasion of the peace and safety of society. Yet I do say, nevertheless, that I regard chains and balls, and all such implements and instruments of Slavery, with a detestation so profound, that I will sooner take chains upon my own frame, and wear them through what may remain of my own pilgrimage here, than impose them, even where punishment is deserved, Upon the limbs of my fellow-men. I cannot consent to go backward, and restore barbarism to the penal code of the United States, even for the sake of an appropriation to maintain the army of the' United States for a single year. The Kansas code rises, as you advance through it, to a climax of inhumanity. Here is the next chapter: “ If any person shall aiff or asswiin enticing, decoying, or persuading, or carrying away, or sending out of this Territory, any slave belonging to another, with intent to procure or effect the freedom of such slave, or with intent to deprive the owner thereof of the services of such slave, he shall be adjudged guilty of grand larceny,'and on conviction thereof shall suffer death, or be imprisoned at hard labor for not less than ten years.” Pray tell me, Senators, what you think of that. This statute has been promulgated in Kansas, a Territory of the United States. It can have become a law there only, directly or indirectly, through the exercise of the legislative power Of the Congress of the United States. The Constitution of the United States confers upon Congress no power whatever to consign any human being to a condition of bondage or slavery to another human being, but, on the contrary, prohibits the exercise of a power so inhuman and barbarous. The Constitution of the United States, consequently, confers on Congress no power, directly or indirectly, to make it a crime in one man to persuade another, reduced to bondage or slavery, to seek his freedom. I repudiate this pretended law, therefore, and I will not consent to send the army of the United States to Kansas to execute it. Mr. MASON. Will the Senator allow me to ask him whether the law to which he has just adverted is not a law of the State of Missouri, adopted by the Territory of Kansas ? Mr. SEWARD. I presume it is, but I do not know that fact. Mr. MASON. Doe's not the Senator know the fact, that it is part of the body of laws of the State of Missouri, adopted by the Territory of Kansas? Mr. SEWARD. I say I presume it to be so ; I do not know the fact. Sir, I am here asked, while voting twelve millions to support the Federal army, to make it a crime against the United States, punishable with death, to persuade a slave to escape from bondage, and to command the army to execute that punishment. I cannot do that. Mr. REID. I dislike to interrupt the Senator, but there is one point on which I desire to know his opinion, for it is important, certainly, to one section of the Union. The course of the Senator’s argument seems to incline to the opinion,
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