you run from him, will follow and bite you. I took at once a different view, and was disposed to meet the question; taking the ground calmly then that we had better confront our enemies face to face. The great discussion which has since occurred, I am quite confident, has strengthened our position all through the North. Liberal men in that section now find less difficulty in sustaining themselves The Northern and the Southern people agree better and better as they come to understand each other's views. There is a great amount of common sense and good feeling among our people everywhere; and the discussion, sir, of all these questions has been productive of nothing but benefit. Remember that we cannot prevent the Abolitionists debating these things. They will go all through the North, and spread their pamphlets far and near. They will have their preachers and lecturers. I have had a great many sermons sent to me lately. They have two striking qualities-rhetoric and ignorance; and the very fact that so many of these Northern preachers-I mean Abolition preachers have neglected their holy calling to embark in politics, is probably the reason why infidelity is making such a great headway among the Abolitionists. I am very sorry to see it. Laughter.] I think that it would be better for them to discuss religion. Unless they cease we shall be compelled to send missionaries among them. [Laughter.] I read many of their papers, and, in common with the rest of the community, am shocked with witnessing their infidelity and blasphemy. They will eternally keep up this discussion about slavery. Then why not let it be calmly and temperately debated, since it is necessarily before us in connection with this bill, and will be brought up occasionally by kindred topics? As my time has expired, I omit some points that I had intended to discuss, and I shall now take my seat, thanking the committee for the attention with which they have heard me. NOTE. The passage of the Kansas and Nebraska act, produced great excitement, especially in the North. Inflammatory meetings were held, and bodies of men were armed and sent into the territory, even while the measure was under consideration, in order that they might control it, and prevent its ever becoming a slave State. When emigrants from Missouri and other Southern States went in, collisions occurred, which added to the high political excitement. Even in the South, there was division; many of the Whigs, though in 1850, they had all been in favor of the principle, that no law of Congress should be allowed to interfere with the right of the inhabitants of every territory to establish or reject slavery now changed their ground. From the influence of party feelings, they sympathised so much with their associates in the North, that such men as Messrs. Badger and Kerr were censured by their former admirers. The state of feeling thus produced in the country both North and South, may be understood perhaps from the reading of the letter given below: ASHEVILLE, Sep. 21, 1854, GENTLEMEN: On my return, after an absence of some days, I found your letter of the 2d instant, inviting me to be present at a dinner to be given "irrespective of party" to the Hon. John Kerr, as a compliment to him for his course, especially with reference to the Nebraska bill of the last session of Congress. Entertaining the highest respect personally for your distinguished representative, and heartily approving his course on the occasion referred to, if my engagements permitted it would give me the greatest pleasure to accept the invitation. The importance of the Kansas and Nebraska act cannot be overrated. It removed from the statute book an odious and unjust discrimination which had existed there for nearly half a century. That restriction, a mark of inferiority, was degrading to the South, and as such, ought never to have been originally submitted to by her. In consequence, however, of the want either of wisdom, or manliness and courage on the part of the men of 1820, there rested the highest obligation upon every right thinking and right feeling son of the South, to avail himself of the first fair opportunity to place his section back again where it orginally stood, on an equal footing with the North. This result has now been accomplished, and we stand as equals in the Union with our brethren of the North. All who have taken a part in this transaction, may well feel proud of the accomplishment. I declare to you, gentlemen, that after a Congressional service of nearly ten years, I would rather that every vote of mine on all other question should be obliterated from the Journals, than be deprived of my participation in that one act. As a citizen of this great Republic, I would rather that my name should go down to posterity associated with those of the true and brave men who carried this measure, than to have had part in all the legislation that has been transacted in my time. Whether the territory of Kansas will ever constitute a slaveholding State, as it inevitably would if left to voluntary settlement and the usual course of things, or whether the extraordinary combination between northern capitalists and abolition associations shall prevent this, will not, in my judgment, materially diminish the importance of the measure. The Federal Government has done us justice, however much reason we may have to complain of the acts of a portion of the northern people. We now stand in a position of equality, and we owe it to those who are to come after us, and to the cause of truth, justice and of political liberty in all time to come, never to surrender that favorable position. No consideration, either pecuniary or political, no love of temporary ease and quiet, can atone for such a sacrifice, because no people have ever been permanently prosperous, who have admitted their inferiority to others, or consented to be degraded to a state of political vassalage. A sense of sectional or national ignomity unmans and in time destroys any people. To this, like other law of Providence, no exception can be found in history. We must, therefore, I repeat, maintain our present position at any cost. Any one of our citizens who is capable of doubting on such a point, ought to be regarded as unfit to occupy any public station. This great measure was not passed without extreme difficulty. In fact I know of no parliamentary act that has been carried in the face of such formidable, obstinate, and unscrupulous opposition. Those Southern representatives who contributed by their efforts to its success, are worthy of great praise, but no applause which language can express, is adequate to do justice to the representatives from the North who stood by us in the struggle. These gentlemen, against all calcula tions of personal or political advantage, in defiance of the opposition of sectional prejudices, of abolition clamor, and all the denunciations of fanaticism, with unwavering firmness, and a courage never surpassed for its magnanimity, came into the struggle and carried the measure triumphantly. They well knew the peril they incurred, but their manly love of right and justice caused them to disregard all selfish considerations. Those who saw that they would be put down for the time, felt confident, nevertheless, that in the end truth would triumph over all opposition, and full justice be done to their motives. We ought, therefore, to lose no proper occasion for bestowing merited commendation on these men. Those individuals in the South who assail their motives, ought to be covered with contempt and execration as deep as that which would bury him who should sneer at the motives of, Lafayette or Kosciusko, and charge that they marched under the banners of Washington merely from a selfish hope of reward. Undoubtedly the original yielding, renders it more difficult now to defend our just rights, but I do dot despair at all of our being able, by proper efforts, to maintain our position in the Union, provided our resolution to do so is sufficiently decideded and general. Permit me in conclusion, gentlemen, to express my grateful sense of the complimentary manner in which you have been pleased to refer to my own course in this connexion. With sentiments of the highest regard, your obedient servent, There can be no question but that the passage of this act with the attending circumstances, added to the strength of the anti-slavery party of the North. Still the effect thus really produced by the measure, was not so great as it appeared. Though there was apparent quiet then, it was because the North as a section, had nothing really to complain of, on account of the measures of 1850. But any practical issue, which might have the appearance of strengthening the South, would at once have created excitement. So strong and settled had become the opposition to permitting the South to acquire any additional territory, that might tend to strengthen it, for purposes of defence, that any such measure would have arrayed the majority of the Northern people against it. In addition to this, however, the repeal of the restriction of 36 degrees 30 minutes, had the appearance of extending slavery into territory previously made free, and also violating an old compromise. This added strength to the former purpose, to resist the extension of slavery and caused the Freesoilers and Abolitionists to obtain such power as to enable them to beat so many of the Democratic candidates, as to give them the control of the succeeding House of Representatives. They were greatly aided, however, by a new and singular movement in American politics, that took place about this time. It was the creation of the "American" or "Know-Nothing" party. This organization suddenly acquired great strength, especially in the North. Not only did the Whigs generally enter it, but the Democrats who were hostile to the Kansas and Nebraska act, also joined it in large numbers. Though they would not generally have been willing to join an organization called Whig, to which they had been opposed, yet they were not adverse to uniting in making a new party. After the overthrow and destruction of the new organiation, having already been separated from the Democracy, they were more easily induced to assist in forming soon afterwards another new party which adopted the name of Republican. Not only did this result flow from the Know-Nothing organization, but it seems to have been the original parent of the "Wide Awakes" of the Lincoln campaign, “Loyal Leagues" of a later period, and of those other organizations popularly designated as "Kuklux " There can be no doubt but that such secret political organizations have exerted a demoralizing and mischievous effect on the country. [So extraordinary has been the advance in the amount paid as compensation to officers, and such has been the general increase in the public expenditures of the country, that the following remarks may be of some interest, as tending to show the beginnings of the movement:] REMARKS ON THE PUBLIC EXPENDITURES, MADE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, APRIL 17, 1854. MR. CLINGMAN said: Mr. Speaker: I hope the gentleman from Tennessee will withdraw his demand for the previous question for one moment. I promise to renew it. Mr. JONES. I withdraw the demand for the previous question. Mr. CLINGMAN. I desire to say only a word or two to the House in regard to this bill. It may be unpleasant to gentlemen who have inade up their mind to vote for it to hear any remarks; but I do not think that the bill in all its features is thoroughly understood. I promise not to be tedious, as I desire only to make a few suggestions. The proposition now under consideration is a very important one, as it increases, by several hundred thousand dollars, the annual expenses of the Government; and I think that we may be likely to hurry it through without due examination, and without giving members an opportunity for that discussion and consideration which all bills making appropriations of money ought to receive. It is a bill which appropriates a large sum of money; but the principal effect is more objectionable than the waste of money even. We have lately got into great difficulty in regard to the subject of the appointment of clerks. It is well known that there is an immense rush here for offices. Every man here is pressed from time to time with applications from their constituents to get them situations in the different offices of the Government. I believe that the action of Congress during the last session has contributed very much to produce this evil of which I speak. Everybody admits that the fact of there being so much office-seeking under the Government is a very serious vice. There is a very great desire to get into public offices, and there is a constantly increasing number of men who are seeking for them. The result is, that whenever we have a State or a presidential election, there is an immense excitement in the country; and Congress ought not to legislate in any way that will tend to increase this mischief. At the last session of Congress there was a proposition brought in to increase the salaries of the clerks. The eight-hundred-dollar clerks were raised up to a salary of one thousand dollars, and all classes of these employees were moved forward to a higher rate of compensation. During the discussion upon that occasion I remember very well that an eloquent friend of mine [Mr. Gentry, of Tennessee,] made a handsome plea in favor of the increase. He told us of a young man in the practice of the law in his own State who came here and obtained a thousand-dollar clerkship. He brought his wife and family here, and he found that he could not conveniently sustain himself upon his salary. He presented the case very feelingly and ably, and the consequence was that the House went forward, and passed a bill for the increased compensation. The present bill raises the salaries of the lower class of clerks to twelve hundred dollars per year; the second class to fourteen hundred, and so on. It also gives back-pay, additional, to the clerks that have already been in office. It thus appears that there is a greater demand for an increased salary than before. Let us see how that is brought about. Here, for instance, is a young man practicing law in Tennessee. He is informed that men obtain at Washington what he regards as a high salary. He makes an application through his friends, obtains an appointment to an office in one of the Departments, and comes on here and enters upon the performance of its duties. He finds that his expenses are considerable; holds office for a few years, and then probably leaves it, or is turned out under an incoming Administration. In nineteen out of twenty such cases the individual goes home insolvent, or nearly so a great many of them, perhaps, having contracted bad habits from their associations in Washington. Now, if the public service required this, I would vote the money, and let the men be sacrificed, just as men are sacrificed in battle, or die by disease contracted upon the frontiers. But if the public service does not demand it, there is no just principle which requires that we should give it. The rule which an individual adopts for his government in like cases, is to give that sum which will secure a competent man to perform the duties which he desires. I know of no other principle which the Government should adopt for the guidance of its action. If you want a mere copying clerk, any man who can keep a country school in your district or mine, or who would be employed as a merchant's clerk to keep books, is competent for that purpose. Such individuals are glad to get three or four hundred dollars a year in the country; and we have such individuals constantly coming to us to obtain employment in directing speeches and documents, or to seek places as messengers in the Departments, at that rate of pay. I remember a case which will, perhaps, illustrate the principle. I will state it. At the beginning of this session a lady came to me with a letter of introduction, who stated to me that she had a husband who was a messenger in one of the Departments, and got thirty dollars per month; that his health was very bad, and that he was barely able to discharge his duties. He was not able to attend to any other sort of business when not performing office duty, and he had half a dozen children. She was very anxious |