opinion, moreover, that new territory could not be acquired by purchase, that the several States consented to that provision of the Constitution, which allows three-fifths of the slave population of the country to be enumerated, as the basis of representation in the electoral colleges, and in the House of Representatives. But, without any change of the Constitution, the whole policy of the government seems to be changed on this subject. Vast territories have been acquired. Five new slave States have been admitted into the Union from territory purchased with the common treasure of the country. The number of slaves has increased from 697,897, in 1790, to 3,204,313 in 1850, now represented by twenty-one votes in the electoral colleges and in Congress.

I trust that there is no citizen of Iowa, who desires the general government to interfere with slavery in the States of this Union. It is a local institution, and to the States that maintain it, belong its responsibilities and its perils. But whilst the people of the North should scrupulously regard the rights of others, they should manfully maintain their own. They are recreant to their own interests; they betray the rights of their posterity; they give a fatal blow to the principles of free and equal government, when they consent to the creation of new slave States and a consequent further representation of slave property.

The removal of that great landmark of freedom, the Missouri Compromise line-when it had been sacredly observed until slavery had acquired every inch of soil south of it, has presented the aggressive character of that system broadly before the country. It has shown that all compromises

with slavery, that are designed to favor freedom, are mere ropes of sand, to be broken by the first wave of passion or interest that may roll from the South. roll from the South. It has forced upon the country an issue between free labor, political equality and manhood on the one hand; and on the other, slave labor, political degradation and wrong. It becomes the people of the free States to meet that issue resolutely, calmly, and with a sense of the momentous consequences that will flow from its decision. To every elector, in view of that issue, might appropriately be applied the injunction anciently addressed to the Jewish King: "Be strong, and shew thyself a man.

It is both the interest and duty of the free States to prevent the increase and extension of the slave element of power, by every constitutional means. To do so successfully, they must adhere to the principles of the founders of the Republic. In the view of those principles, slavery is a local institution, depending wholly on State laws for its existence and continuance. Freedom being the natural condition of all men; and no authority being delegated to the general government to establish or protect slavery, Congress can pass no law establishing or protecting it in the territories. If Congress can pass no such law, much less can it delegate such authority to the territorial legislatures, over whose acts it has ever exercised a supervisory and restraining power. By a wide departure from constitutional principles, slavery has been tolerated in some of the territories. Let such toleration forever cease. Let the government be brought back to its original purity. Let the principle be authoritatively announced and persistently adhered to, that there can be no slavery outside of State sovereignties. Let the government,

in all its relations, be divorced from the system, and the agitation of this subject will cease, the conscience of the North will be quieted, and the rights of the people of the South fully sustained. It is only by an entire disconnection of the general government from the institution of slavery, that the people of the free States can find safety and honor. In no other way can they maintain their political equality, and stand acquitted before the bar of an enlightened public sentiment.

It becomes the State of Iowa,-the only free child of the Missouri Compromise,-to let the world know, that she values the blessings that compromise has secured to her, and that she will never consent to become a party to the nationalization of slavery.

I desire to co-operate with the General Assembly in every measure that may tend to promote the prosperity of the State.

I trust that our mutual counsels will be characterized by calmness and prudence; and I devoutly pray, that in our respective spheres, we may be guided by "that wisdom which is from above."

[JAMES W. GRIMES]

SPECIAL SESSION MESSAGE

JULY 3, 1856

From the Journal of the House of Representatives, p. 10

Gentlemen of the Senate, and House of Representatives: By an act of Congress, approved May 15th, 1856, there was "granted to the State of Iowa, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of Rail Roads, from Burlington, on the Mississippi river, to a point on the Missouri river, near the mouth of the Platte river; from the city of Davenport via Iowa City and Fort Desmoines, to Council Bluffs; from Lyons city, northwesterly to a point of intersection with the main line of the Iowa Central Air Line Rail Road, near Maquoketa; thence on said main line, running as near as practicable to the forty-second parallel, across the said State, to the Missouri river; from the city of Dubuque, to a point on the Missouri river, near Sioux City, with a branch from the mouth of the Tete Des Morts, to the nearest point on said road, to be completed as soon as the main road is completed to that point, every alternate section of land designated by odd numbers, for six sections in width on each side of said roads."

The act provides, that if it shall appear, when the lines of said roads are definitely fixed, that the United States have sold any sections or parts of sections so granted, or that the right of pre-emption has attached to the same, then it shall be lawful for any agent or agents to be appointed

by the Governor of said State, to select, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, from the lands of the United States nearest to the tiers of sections, as shall be equal to such lands as the United States have sold or otherwise appropriated, or to which the right of pre-emption have attached, as aforesaid.

On the 10th of May last, all the lands lying within the probable limits of the grant, were withdrawn from market, and there is now an entire suspension of business in all of the United States Land Offices in the State, except in those at Decorah and Fort Dodge. The interests of the State require that the lands not embraced within the grant, should be opened to purchase and settlement, at as early a day as practicable. Under the construction of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, the title of the State does not vest in the alternate sections until the several lines of roads have been surveyed and maps of their location properly certified and returned to his office. He has therefore urged upon me the necessity, that the State take immediate measures to secure the lands granted, by an early compliance with the provisions of the act of Congress, and with the instructions of his department.

Hence I have convened you, gentlemen, in special session, that you may determine,

1st. Whether or not the State shall accept the grant made under the 15th of May last, and if so,

2d. Whether the lands granted shall be transferred to any specific railroad companies, and if so, to what companies they shall be transferred, and

3d. Upon what terms shall the transfer be made.