A Plan Of Adjustment By Mr. Douglas

Ou December 24th, Mr. Douglaa introduced a joint resolution iatq the United States Senate, proposing uniendineuts to the constitution of the Unilod Statos, with a view of restoring peace and preserving the Uoion. His proposition was read a first and seeond time, and reforred to the committee of thirteen. It is as folio ws : JOINT RBSOLDHON. Resolved hy the Senate and House of Representativa of the United States uf America in Congress assembl d (twothirds nf both house concu, ring), Tlmt the follovving articles be and are hereby propoaed and submittei is aincn iraen 8 to the constitution of the United States, whieh shail be valid, to all intents and purposes, as part of said constitution, when ratified by conventioas of threefourths of the several States : ARTICLl Xin. Congress shall make no laws in ro speet to slavery or servitude in any Territory of the United States; and the status of each Territory in respect to yservitude, as the same now exists by law, shall renaain anchanged until the Territory, witn such boundaries as Congress may prescribe, shall have a population oí fifty thousand white inhabitants, when the white male citizens thereof over the age of twenty-onc years raay proceed to forra a State con stitution and governmont for themselvos, and esercise all the Hghts of self-governmoni consistent with the eon stitution of the United States ; and when suoh nevv State ehall contain the reqaisite population lor a member of OongrWB, uccording to the then Federal ratio of reprosentation, it shall bo aömiited into ihe Union on an eqnal footing with the original States, with or without slavery, as the constitution of sLich new State shali provide at the time of adrnission ; and in the meantime such nevv State shall be entitlod to ono De egate in ihe Senate, to be ohosenby the uegislature, and one Delegatu in tiie House of Representatives, to he ohosen by the peoplo having the qualifications requisito íor electora oí' the most numerous branches of the Legislature ; and said delegutes shal! have al! ihö rights and privileges of Senators and Representativos, respective))', except that of voting. Sec. 2. No more territory shall be acquired by )he United States except by treaty or by the concurrent vote of two-thirds of each house of Congress, and when so acquired the status thereof in respect to servitude, as it existed at the time of acquisition, shall remain unchangsd until it shall contain the popu'.ation aforesaid for the formation of new States, when it shall by subject to the terrns, condition, and privileges herein provided for the existing Terri torios Sec. 3. The área oí all new States shall be as qearly uniform in size as rnay be practicable, having due regard to convenient boundaries and natural capacities ; and shall not be less than sixty uor more tt)an eighty thousand square miles, except in cases of islan..'.s which itiay contain leas than thut amount 8ec. 4. The second and third clauses of tlie second section of the fpurth article of the constitution, wbmh provides for delivering up fugitives from justice and fugitives irom service or labor, shall have the same forcé in the Territories and new States as in tbe States of the Union ; and the said clause in respect to fugitives from justice shall be constrned to include all crimes eqrnmitted within and against the Uuvs of the State frotn which the fugitive fled, whether the acts charged be criminal or not in the State vvhere the fugitive was found. Sec 5. The second section of the third article of tbe constitution, in respeot to the judicial power of the United States, shall be deemed appiicable to the Territorios and new States as well as to the States of the Union. akticle xiv. Sic. 1. The elective franchise and the right to hold office, whether Federal, State, Territorial, or municipal, shall not b,e exercised by persons of the African race in whole or in part. Sec. 2. The United Slatea shall have power to acquire, from time to time, districtá of country in África and South America for the co'omzation, at the expense of the Federal treasury, of such ireo negroes and mulattoes as the several States may wish tp have removed from their limits, and trom the District of Ooluinbia and such other places as may be under the jurisdictioo of Congress. 60,1. Congress sljall have no power to abolish slavery in the places under its exclusive jurisdiction and sitúate within the limits of States that permit the holding of slaves. Sec 4. Congre88 shall bave no power tq abolish slavery within the District of Oolumbia so long as itexists in the adjoming States of Virginia and Maryláttd, or either, nor wi Jiout the consunt ui' the inhabiUints, nor without just compensatton tirst made to auch wnersot sluves as do not consent to stich itboliöhmeot. Nor shall Oorigrese, at any time, prohibit officers ol the Federal governmont or inembers ol Oon giuss, whose duty requires tbem to be in said Distri i, from bringing with them their slavas and holding them as such during the time their duties may require them to remain there, and warus liiKing tñem trom the JJistnot. Beo. 5. Congres shali hiive no power to prohibit or hinder the traUsporëation öl' slaves frorn orie State to another, or to a Territory in which slaves are pennitted by law to be held, whethor suoh ransportation bo by land, navigable riverw, or by ?ea ; bui ihe Afnciui elave brade f huil bö forevur suoprossed, and it shall bc the duty of Oougress to inake such laws as shall be neoessarv and efteetual to prevent the migration or iinportation of' aluvus or paitouna owiiig servioo or labor inio tlia United States froin any foi"tl country, placo, or jufUdiction wnatsoover. Sec. (. lu addiiion to the provisoas :ï ilie tlin-ii puragraph of tlie seond saution of the louitli article of the itution, Congress shall have powei to provide by law, and it nhall bb te duty so to provide, that tlfe Uuited Suites Bhxll pay to tho ovvner who shall apply lor it the full value ot his iugitivo slavo in all case.i whuii the Marshal, or other otiicer whoáe du;y it wa.-i to arrest said fugitivo, was pravonted lro:u so doing by violence or tion,or when, ifler arrest, said lugitive was rescued by force. and the ovynor thereby prevented and obstructed in the pursuit of his romedyfor the recovery of his fugitivo slavé under the said elauee of the"coi!stitution and the laws made in pursuunce thereof, And in all such cases when tho United States shall pav for such fugitive, they sha'll have the right in thüir own name to sue the coun'y in which said violence, intimidation, or rescue was committed. and to rocovor from it, with interest aud clumages, the amount paid by them for eaid fiTgitive slave And the said county, after if has paid said amounts to the United States, may, for it indernnity, BÜ8 and recover froin tho wrong1 doers, or rescuers, by whom the owner wi pruvented froin the recovery of his fugitivo slavein like raanncr as tho own er himslf might nave suod and recoyered. Sko. 7. No future amondrnent of the constitution shall effect this and the precediug article, nor the third paragraph of the seeond section of the first articla of the constitution, nor the third paragraph of the seeond sec, ion of the iburth article of said constitution, and no amoudment shall be made to the constitution which will authorize or give to Congress any power to abolish or interiore with slavery in any of the States by whose laws it is or may be llowed ór banctione.d.