Elizabeth-Town gazette. [volume] (Elizabeth-Town, N.J.) 1818-1821, 1820-05-02
FOR THE GAZETTE.
no THE non. u. SMITH.

/ SiR,-Your letter, intended TO justify
your last vote on the Missouri restriction
bill, cannot but excite surprise and regret.
Surprise, that gentleman processing au
adherence for slavery, should have yield
| ed The convictions of reason, and the rights
Of his constituents, to Regret
that the interests Of Jerseymen should have
been intrusted to one whose iirmDess and
consistency were SO easily TO be shaken,
aud whose political fears could so readily
induce him 10 aid il, extending an aekBow.
lodged evil lest a remote aud imaginary
danger might occur.
Treason, Sir, does net vannt; its ma
chinations are secret. Whatever belief
you may have entertained of the personal
ambition of those who threatened DISCO
luton of the union, and however well you
may have thought them disposed TO further
such measure, decent acquaintance
with the history of men would have taught
you, that those who mean to act do not
threaten. Besides, Sir, had you no con.
fidence in the virtue or the common sense
Of the people? Did you seriously think
they would hazard every thing fer the
sake Of extending slavery into the wilder
ness? Are you so ignorant OF the charac-
ter Of your countrymen as to believe them
ripe for opposition to law whenever a
public measure shalinot comport with the
immediate interests of the district they
inhabit?
1t requires 10 common charity to be-
lieve in the sincerity of one who assigns
such reason for voting for such mea-
sure; measure which reflects disgrace
on our national councils; aims a death.
blow at the fair influence of the Northern
states in the federal senate, and will ulti-
mateiy prove injurious TO the state 10
which it has been extended as BOOM
You have placed yourself in dilemma
and must be content to incur the blame OF
being weak, if you wish to be thought
sincere.
The private opinions of Mr.. Jefferson,
although entitled to respect, are not infal-
Iible, and when expressed on subject in
which he was personally interested as
STAKEHOLDER and Virginian, should have
been well weighed before you adopted
them; and you pay but an i'll compliment
to the intelligence and discernment of the
public if you think its sense Of right is to
be changed by the influence Of name.
What damned error, but some sober brow
VIII bless it, and approve it with text,
Hiding the grossness with fair ornament.
Your quoting the opinions of the Father
Of our country, is a complete illustration
Of the lines have cited. When WASH
ington wrote the address you have either
misunderstood or pufposeIy misrepresent-
ed, we did not own foot of land beyond
the Mississippi, and the question of slave
ry, SO far as it respected the old United
States and its territories, had been finally
settled at the adoption of The constitution.
The representation Of three-fifths of the
slave population was supposed to be for
ever limited within the territory where
slavery was then permitted--to the natural
increase of the slaves then held and such
as might be imported previous to the day
fixed for the abolition Of the slave trade.
In conceding this the northern states had
made great concessions for the sake Of
union, and they justly thought that they
had done enough.
BY advising the cultivation Of spirit
of Cancellation, Washington never meant
to counsel us 10 abandon important rights
without receiving fair equivalent. Con
Citation is only to be effected by mutual
concession. What have we gained by the
Missouri compromise What have the
advocates for the extension Of slavery
yielded?
Sir, the illustrious man whom you have
quoted understood the language 10 which
he wrote, and wrote intelligibly: he never
meant to advise any portion of the union
to compromit its political power and influ.
ence for the sake Of hushing every self
interested clamor, far less TO yield what
sound reason and the institutions of our
country unite in establishing as fundamen.
tai principles. He aud his pure coadiu-
tors made compromises about matters of
policy they never yielded principles.
| SIDNEY.
THE MISSOURI QUESTION.