Congressional

Mr. $ddd in gsw rites from Washington Jan. loih. u Wc have fot thc time being laid asid( Ihe Mexioan war, and are discussing tlx subject oC slavery. I ihink ve shiíl pass '.Vihiírtt proposition, in some shape amí i( vedo, ihcte will be no territorv obt;iiriCd by the'war, for unless it is lo be slave territory, the President will have ttoue. Under these circumstances I air fencouraged to hope the war mny soon be brought lo a close. These are however. oAly upinions, ihough I ihink them well fuunded. "Theslave power have nevcr been s hard pushej sinoe we have been a natiu as at lliis time." By a torn in the discussion of Congres the ba'tle respecting the extensión o Slavery was fought on the Oregon bi! instead of the Volunteer appropriatio bilí. A large part of the week was con sumed on the Oregon bill. It is contended by one party thatSlave ry shaïl be excluded north of the lin 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude, boundary with which the South is by n means satisiïed. We copy frotn the Na tional Inlelligencer asketch of the debat on tñe final questioti for the passnge 01 the bilí. The last araendment offered lo the bill was thatof Mr. Burt of South Caiolina which extended the line of the Misáour compromise to the Pacific, and providec that all souih of t (36 deg. 30 min.' should be slave, and all north of it, free States. It was defeated by a volé of 113 nays, to 82 yeas. Every Southern mem ber voted yea of course. And whh the exceptionof Stephen S. Docglas?, of Illinois, S. Clinton Hastinos, of lowo, Charles J. Ingersoll, of Pa. SiiEPrERD Leffler, of Iowa, and ROBERT S.MITH, of Illinois. all the Northern delegalion voted nay ! This. is hopeful : The question then recurring on the passage of ihe bill - A long and very interesting debate tooi place in the House, occasioned by the re jection of Mr. Burfs amendmeni. It oc cupied to an unusuaüy late hour, and ou limits pneclude as f rom doing more than giving a memorandum of the gentlemen who took part in the discussion, and a word or two to show the prominen ground taken by each. it is impractica ble for a single reporter to keep up with the excited debate now in ;rogres, so as togivean extended report of every speeel delivered. The debate to-day was openeJ by - Mr. Leake, of Virginia, who spoke under a good deal of excitem3nt, as he presente:! reasons which would induee him to vote against the bill, and against all similar legislation. He compluined that the House seemed to have been converted into a magniñeent abolition society,and expressedhis fears that the Abolitionisls. after laying their profane hands on ihe altar of religión and the halls of legislation, would next assail the buhvarks ol the Constitution itself, and break in like an avalanche on the peace and security of the entire South. ' He was sick and tired of compromies : the South had entered into many, and lhey had all been violated. He considered the vote of this morning as an indication that the Missouri compromise was considered as no longerofany obligaron, and an intimation that the institutions of the South were no longer tobe respected. Mr. McClernand disclaimed this interpretation oí his vote, and went into an explanation asto the motives which hac governcd him. Mr. Wiek and Mr. Kennedy also explained. Mr. Leake then went on to state what he considered as the ultimatum of the South, .which amounted to this, that if the present attempt o impose limitations with respect to the extensión of Slavery shoulc be persisted in, and should prevail, the South must stand in self-defence, for they could not and would not, submit to it - He went into a review of ihe Wilmot proviso - complained of the North for having thrown a firebrand into the House - appealed to their justice and patriotism, and warned them to abandon their crusade 8gainst the righis of the South, o r lhey mightsee, before long, "the beginning of the end," bul God only could see its termination, &c. Mr. Douglass deprecated the forcing ot this question on the House at present ; it would come up legitimately on the bill appropriating funds tor the war, or on the bill providing two millions to effect a peace ; and intima'ed his intention when Mr. King's bill should come up, to move to ameñd it, by ntroducing the Missouri compromise, instead of the total prohibition t contemplated in all the new territory we might acquire. As he thought that both sides had now been heard about equally in the debate, he moved the previou3 question on the biil. He, however, though with much hesitat-in, cónsented to withdráw'the motion al the reqjest of his col.lLagufi,___. Mr. McCJernand, who explained his jreasons "" for haviag yoted ogainst . the amendnient moved by Mr. He deprecated this dispute about slavery as promoting división and weajiening ourstrengt h while n the midst of a war. - _ He had ópposed tho bringing forward of Mr..King's,.and also of Mr. Burt's ainendment; he considered both as having a dangerous tendencry. The fixing' of a " line which was to separate between frte s Sta íes and slave States luid a lendeucy to . hasten a dissulution of the Union. He ' was opposcd to all interfereuce with Slavc; ry within any State. He suggested as n , nieans to mitígate mutual pirejuJices, that the new States to be admiited hereafter, , should tolérate Slavery fora limi:eJ time only, ar.dgavesome reasons in favor of such a plan. He held that Coi.gress has jjrisdiction over Slavery in ihe territorie, bccause the acquisition of lerritory ivas a neccisary attribute of all Governments, and the power to acquire involvoi the power to gnern. He considered the prohibition in the ordinance of 1787 as superceded by the subspquent adoption of the Coiislitution. He depreooted the ngi:ation of the question as leading to no possible good, but to certain evil. Mr. Rhett followed in a close constitutional argument, intending to prove that neither Congress nor the entire Federal Government had the sovereignty over the Territories ; but that it lay in the States as joint tenant?, and that they had not given tü Congress as their agents an) authority to make regulations in the Territories which could touch the subject of Slavery in any way. All the States were sovereigns and jointly owned the Territories. and the States of the Norlh could not turn those of the South out of their sovereignty over it, and so could not prevent their people from entering there. - 1 f they could, it would amount to a power to amend the Constitution, since represen tation in Congress must be nflected and changed by the exclusión of slaves. The Southern States were as sovereign in the Territories as they were in their own limits, and Congress had no more rigl toexclude Sluvëry in the one than in ih olher. He replied with greal warmth t the language which had been used by M Pc:tit. Mr. Thurman, of Oh o, summed up b the charges which had been made b Southern gentlemen against those wh voted againit the amendment of Mr. Bur and had introduced the subject of tb proliibition of Slavery in all new'terri tory. He explr.inod ihe reason why h had voted against the amendment, becaus iis effect would be to extend the line o tíie Mis-souri compromise quite to th Pacific, (whereas it stopped at theRocky Mountains,) thus throwing open a boune less extent of territory to Slavery, whil it restricted that which was free from it to comparatively narrow boundary. He held that that compromise had been already executed, and he had no wish to interfere with it. He denied that the subject had been thrust on the House by the North ; on the contrary, the debate hnd again and ngain been introduced by Southern gentlemen. He was glad it had been ; fo-, if slavery was to be exetuded, as proposed, it was only fair that the South should be apprized of it. Let both sides know exacily where they stood. He scouted the charge of any intention to embarrass the Adniinistration in conduciing the war, & stül more strongly that of britiging forward the question with a view to court the support of the Aboütionists, or because, those who wished for the restriction were all Abolitioniststhemselves. If so, the Abolitionists had suddenly got a grtíat accession of strength ; for Mr. Burt's amendment had been rejected by 130 votes. The Abolitionists were for interfering with Slavery in the States and out of them, and would see the Constitution and the Union go to destruction if thereby there was a chance of general emanciparon. The great mass of Northern gentlemen here, whether Whigs or Democrats, were utterly against interfering with Slavery within any State, and resulved to abide by the compromises of the Constitution. Mr. T. briefly responded to the argument of Mr. Rhett, concluding that the constitution, by empowering Congress to make all necessary rules and regulations resnecting the territory belonging to the United States, gave them authority to malie laws nccessiry to promote the good ol the territorios. Though sovereignty resided in the people of all Governments, yet Congres3 was made by their act the supreme power, and had a a right to make laws for the territories ns such. They had used this power in every territory, and why might they not n those won from Mexico? He admited that Congress could not prohibit the entrance of citizens of the United States nto the territory. of the United States, but they could prohibit the admission of negroes, who were not citizens. If it vere asked why prohibit it, he should ay, because Congress, as the mnnicipal jegislature of the territory, was bound o consult the best good of ïhe Territory, nd, as the National Legisla-ture, to conult the best good of the Union ; and the North were unanimous in the opinión lat is could best be done by excluding Slavery from these Territories forever. In Senaté, Jan. 22.- Mr. Cilley, of New Hampshire, submitted the following-1 ... .W hereas a speedy and honorable pene wiih Mexico is exceedingly desirable and whereas "the Cunstiiïiiion of th United States hos made no provisión fo our holding fjre'g.i territories, stil less for incorporating fureign nations in to our Union," Rcsohedx That the President of th United States be requestcd to order ih nrmy of thc United Siates now in Mexi co to somo place in the United States nea j the frontiersof the Uo countrie.. Mr. Speight inquired if it was th pnrpose of ilie mover to press the imme diate consideration of ihis resoluti m ? Mr. Cilley repHed that it could lio uve oiie day. Mr. Alien expressecj the hope that, i l the resolution was to lie over, it wotild b for a very short time. The ntroductio of a propositan of this srt, in the pres ent state of public afFairs, was one of th greatetc;ilamities that cou!d be inflicte upon the country, and he trusled- [crie of " Order ! " Order !"] that the hon orable mover would embrace the ver earliest opportunity to bring it forward. In the Senate, Jan. 25.- Mr. Bento made a speech in vndication of the Pre ident for having proposed thecreation o the office of Lieutenant General of th nrmy. The plan was his and not th President's. In September the Presiden " had offered him ihe mission to France which he positively refused. In No vember, hesent for him and asked hi opinión rel.itive to the future conduct o thc war. He (Mr. B.j gave his plan and afterwards put it in writing, but wouk not disclose it. He would say, howeve that it required one head for the whol arrny, and that the war should be prose cuted vigorously, living on the enemy and levying contributions. Gen. Jack son hadofferedhimthe command of th army m 1836, in case of war with Me. ico. In 1812 hc (Mr. B.) was the mil tary supporter of every general in th service. In the House, Mr. Schenck oflere a long series of resolutions iñ favor o peace, withdrawingur troops from th coast and the RioCrande, dischargin the volunteers, aiío in fevor of the prose cution of the war by occupying the Mex ican ports, levying duties on articles im ported thereinto, and against war of con quest. The House refused to receiv them. Washington, Jan. 27. In Senate- Treasury Ñute Bill pass ed, ayes, 42, nays 2. Cilley's resolu tion wasl.'iid on the table. The army bill was discussed but no vote taken. The bill to increase thc pay of, and grant bounty lands to the legulars and volunteers, was final ly passed as amended, 171 to 18. January 28. In the Senate, Mr. Cameron presented resolutions from citizens of Pennsylvania, praying for nid in the formation of a colony in Oregon, and oflering to serve in the war against Mexico withouj pay. The committee on naval affaire reported a bill lo provide for the construction of fourships of war. Mr. Niles offered a resolution declaring it necessary to raise addilional revenueof 5 or 10,000,000 annually by increasing the tax on artidlfes now taxed, and impoáing a duty on articles now free, to meet the expenses of the war. The ten regiment bill was taken up and debated. An amendmeni was proposed providing for 3 regimenis of volunteers and 1 regiment of foot riflemen insfead of nine regiments - rejected, 22 to27. Mr. Upham presented resolutions from the Legislature of Vermont against the Mexican war, and the acquisition of slave territory.x