ntil it was abolished.
The colliers of the North of England were once, to all intents and
purposes, as much slaves as any negro on the Southern plantations,
except in the matter of separation of families. I can refer you to a
precedent on this subject, which you will find in a book of no very
high authority. I mean the novel, _Red Gauntlet_.

The general principle applicable here is this: Whenever you establish
the right--no matter how, if you _establish_ it--the common law
asserts the remedy. There is no crushing out about it. The simple
proposition is this: Slavery exists already in that little worthless
territory we own below the proposed line. Will we agree that it shall
remain there just as it is now, so long as the territorial condition
continues? That is all. There is no mystery or question of
construction about it.

Mr. FIELD:--The questions now before the Conference I suppose arise
upon the report presented by the majority of the committee, and upon
the motion to substitute for that report the propositions of the
minority of the same committee.

I propose to add to this report the three following propositions; and
I will read them for the information of the Conference.

I. "Each State has the sole and exclusive right, according
to its own judgment, to order and direct its domestic
institutions, and to determine for itself what shall be the
relation to each other of all persons residing or being
within its limits.

II. "Congress shall provide by law for securing to the
citizens of each State the privileges and immunities of
citizens in the several States.

III. "The union of the States under the Constitution is
indissoluble; and no State can secede from the Union, or
nullify an act of Congress, or absolve its citizens from
their paramount obligations of obedience to the Constitution
and laws of the United States."

These additions would render the majority report much more acceptable
to the northern people than it is in its present shape, though even
then, I am bound to declare, I could not support it. I prefer the
substitute. In what I have now to say, I shall not confine myself to a
discussion of these propositions, but availing myself of the latitude
of debate hitherto allowed to gentlemen who have addressed the
Conference in favor of the report of the majority of the committee, I
shall endeavor to bring to the notice of this body, mor